Noelle. You like drink beer?

Today was a pretty no big deal type of day...  I taught.  The students learned.  (Hopefully!)  And, (Bonus!) I learned some new things too.

I have not seen the classes I taught today and and the ones I teach tomorrow since before Chuseok (at the end of September) because of all of my random time off.  Before Morning English started today, I was warmly greeted as I entered the broadcast room. One girl (the one who wrote me the note to ask if we could be friends) ran up to me and told me how excited she was to have my class today and how much she had missed it the last couple of weeks!  What a gem!  I'm lucky to have such delightful students!

Apparently, there is some custom or tradition in Korea (that I can't find a link to on the internet...sorry!) that says that on Wednesdays, you have to eat everything on your plate.  So, Wednesday = Clean Plate Club Day.  When we eat lunch in the cafeteria at school, we empty what we don't eat into a rubbish vat that gets thrown away and probably recycled somehow.  Some schools follow the cleaning your plate custom so closely that they don't allow any food to be thrown away on Wednesday.  Other schools make you explain why you are throwing away food.  Apparently, Kyung-Hwa wised up to this custom because they serve their best meals of the week on Wednesdays to ensure that food will be less likely to be thrown away.  So, I guess Wednesdays are the cream of the crop meals at school.  I had no idea before today.  As promised, lunch today was awesome!  There was good kimchi, some sort of crunchy soy saucey root vegetable, glass noodles wrapped in seaweed and fried, yellow chicken curry, rice and some sort of potato and fish soup.  Dessert was a banana.  The girls in my class before lunch are always hungry, as am I, so the first thing we talk about in every class is what is served for lunch that day.  Now I understand why they get so excited about their lunches.  I always teach them on Wednesdays, ergo, best lunches of the week!

The newspaper for which I proofread several articles came out today!  It is beautifully done and I was included on the staff list!  I was reading it and Mr. Shin came up beside me, touched my arm and quite sincerely thanked me for helping him with the English.  It was one of the most fulfilling moments I have had here so far.  He's a great man and I am happy my helping him meant so much!

Wednesdays are also when the weekly teachers' meeting is held.  Dionne (the new English teacher that replaced Emily) and I skipped out on the meeting because Mr. Shin told her it wasn't necessary for her to go.  The meetings are held in the same room as my desk, so I usually find an alternate location to hang out during the meeting.  Today, when the meeting was over, I came back to the room to find a couple of teachers eating chicken wings and fried rice cake that someone had bought for everyone to celebrate something (I didn't really understand the occasion...)  They insisted that I join them, and who was I to refuse?!  We had a great little snack time and talked a lot.  They told me about what a strong relationship they had formed with the first Native English Teacher at the school (they still keep in contact through e-mail and send cards and pictures to each other ten years later!) and they hoped that I will have the same strong bond with them.  I was so touched!  Another teacher came over and had the following conversation
Teacher: Noelle Teacher.  You like drink beer? 
Me: (maybe a little too excitedly...) Yes!
Teacher: Ah.  Me too.
Pause.
Another Teacher:  He thinks you should join us to drink beer sometime.
Original Teacher: (puts his finger to his mouth in the "Be Quiet" gesture) But, is top secret!
Other Teacher: Yes.  No one knows we all drink beer together.
Everyone laughs.
Apparently, these teachers like to have a good time and they think I have the potential to join them.  I think this sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.