I should learn to write things as they happen so there aren't gargantuan posts that result after almost a week's worth of escapades... Buckle your seatbelt - here's the Christmas edition of my Korean adventure:
On Wednesday, during the teacher's meeting that I attended for some reason, the third graders gave a short presentation thanking the teachers for everything they have done for them and basically saying goodbye. They also gave us gifts. There was a wrapped package and a bag of fruit and cookies. It was at this time that the school's Christmas gift to us was also presented. So, when I got home, I had a little Kyunghwa Christmas. I opened up a wall clock with the school's crest on it and a five pack of toothpaste from the third graders. Koreans are so practical with their gifts! I think I have about 10 tubes of toothpaste in my apartment now!
During lunch on Thursday, the founder approached Dionne and me to invite us to join him in his office for a drink after lunch. We walked into his office in the middle school and shared some tea with him as he told us all about the journey he took to be where he is today. He grew up in North Korea and escaped by himself shortly after the armistice was signed in 1953. He worked as a houseboy on an air force base and befriended an American electrical engineer there. The engineer took him under his wing, financing college for the founder. He built one of the largest steel companies in Korea, which has exclusive contracts with the nuclear facilities all over Korea. Once he had garnered enough money, he bought the entire mountain on which our facilities sit and began building up the school complex. He started with the middle school, then the cafeteria ("because students were hungry," he said), then the high school, auditorium, dormitories and last, the EB school in 2006. They are currently building more dorms with the goal of being able to house 1000 students on the grounds. He also really wants to build a high school for the arts, but doesn't have any concrete plans for that yet. Quite a man! Later that night, he treated the entire staff to a Christmas banquet. The whole school gathered in the auditorium where we enjoyed a large buffet of finger food, soups and salads. Such a great meal!
Friday was our school's Christmas program which involved hymns, dancing, handbells and a short video depicting the birth of Jesus. I took some videos of the performances but it was too dark for them to turn out very well. Dionne and I were also presented with homemade Christmas cards from the worship team which were given out during about 16 counts of one of their dances. Adorable! Also during this service, Hyunjoo invited me to spend Christmas Eve with her family. I already had plans with Diane, but it was so comforting to know that if I hadn't had the plans, I would have had a great environment in which to spend Christmas with an amazing family. I really cherish the people I have met here and each day, I grow closer to them!
Later, toward the end of the day, random bits of food kept showing up in the teachers' office. Someone ordered about 10 pizzas that were distributed throughout the offices and another teacher sprang for kimbap and duk boki because his daughter achieved the highest grades among the second year students. As we were finishing up the kimbap and duk boki, the principal insisted that I take home a leftover roll of kimbap. She said, "You take this kimbap. I insist. I Principal. I do what I want." Adorable.
Later that evening, I met Diane at a bus stop near my apartment and we went out to dinner for Christmas Eve. On the way, we were waiting for a walk signal and were chattering away about the day's events when a man kept staring at us. We weren't sure if he was just intrigued that we were speaking English or if the sight of my white face and big eyes were so foreign to him that he couldn't look away. It is common for people to stare at me since I look so much different that the average person on the street, but he was blatantly gawking at us. Suddenly, he began asking if I was cold and where I was from, etc. It turned out that he just wanted to demonstrate his strong grasp of English. As we walked down the street, we had a nice conversation with the man, who was on his way to church. Diane and I enjoyed a lovely dinner of duck and pork lettuce wraps with various side dishes like kimchi (two kinds!) and a pumpkin salad. On the way to Paris Baguette to buy a Christmas cake, we ran into one of my favorite students who was on her way to aerobics. She was so excited to see me that she hugged me several times. She's a third grader. I'll miss her when she graduates. The funny thing is that she rarely speaks English to me but she has such an adorable personality and is always so excited to see me. We ended up buying a green tea chiffon cake and were given a bottle of champagne for free with our cake. We decided to save that for New Years.
When we arrived back at my apartment, frozen from the chilly air, we opened our cake, I prepared a plate of Christmas cookies and fudge that I had saved from the goods people sent me (thanks again to everyone who sent me Christmas goodies!!) and opened a bottle of wine. We enjoyed all of these treats as we watched The Family Stone. This is the first Christmas Eve that I have not attended church and it felt a little un-Christmas-y, but it was a good time nonetheless spent with a good pal. The next day, we had planned to go into Seoul, but it was too cold for us so we stayed in our pajamas all day and watched movies (five to be exact)! We prepared a large brunch of omelets, hash browns, grilled cheese, fruit and mango juice. We ordered pizza for dinner, which took two hours to arrive because of some miscommunication over where I live, but when it finally arrived, it proved to be well worth the wait! Very early the next morning, I called Grandma and Grandpa Plueger while everyone was still gathered at their condo for Christmas. It was fun to talk to everyone even if just for a brief moment!
Yesterday, the first thing the principal said to me was, "So many people all over world say your name yesterday. I bet your ears busy!" Lots of laughing ensued after this comment. She's so clever! Yesterday also marked the end of my TEFL course as I finished it! I am so excited to have that off my shoulders! At about 4:45, Dionne and I were informed that the English Department decided to go out for dinner together to a tofu house. There were five of the six of us there and it was such a great time. We really bonded over great conversation and lots of great food!
It began snowing yesterday afternoon at about 4:00 and didn't stop until sometime early this morning. When I was walking to school today, it looked like about an inch and a half or two inches had accumulated and cars were not allowed to drive up the mountain! Many teachers either walked or parked away from the school today. Dionne, Chan Yang and I went shopping this morning for Winter Camp supplies and we saw several soldiers removing snow from the city streets. Korea is not used to this accumulation of snow! I think it's gorgeous.
Today is the last day of school before winter break. There were no classes and the students left at 10:00. Right now the teachers are all in a meeting so I'm taking this time to update my blog before I delve into Winter Camp preparations like cutting paper into squares and making powerpoint presentations. We're pretty much ready for everything, which if you know me at all, is a miracle as I'm quite the procrastinator! Mr. Shin just delivered a box of seven Dunkin' Donuts to every teacher to celebrate the success of the English Department this year. They smell so good!
Jill gets here on Friday and Saturday we embark for Vietnam! I'm so excited!!! Until then, it's packing, preparing for Winter Camp and trying to stay as warm as possible! Stay tuned for "Jill and Noelle take on Vietnam with Maren's help!" It's bound to be a doozy.
12.28.2010
12.22.2010
Getting my Internet Fixed
Since Friday, I've been pilfering someone's wireless signal because my land line internet was not properly functioning. On Monday, I told Hyunjoo my problem and she arranged for someone to come fix it last night. Forty-five minutes late, two young hipster Korean men arrived at my apartment. They encountered my busted modem and were unprepared to fix it. They didn't speak hardly any English and since most of the Korean I know involves food, it was very difficult for us to communicate. After a few successful attempts to understand each other using Charades, they spent a couple of moments looking at the pictures on my wall before they left. They told me (via a phone call to Hyunjoo) that they would be back with a fully functioning modem tonight. Mr. Fix-it (only one of last night's duo showed up tonight - the one with the hipster-stache, in case you were wondering) just left and now my internet is back in business. But, not without a few awkward moments. Behold:
On the second attempt with a new modem, he leaned over the arm of my couch to fiddle with my computer. I invited him to sit on the couch where he might be more comfortable in messing around on my computer. Upon realizing that all of my computer was in English, he uttered the stock phrase that it seems every Korean knows, "Oh. My. God." (My girls have perfected this expression, complete with a little sassy attitude. I'm so proud.)
Next, he clicked on the Internet Explorer icon, which is only used by me when I have to peruse Korean websites for whatever reason. (Korean websites do not work in any other browser but Internet Explorer.) It took forever to load. While it was loading, the following conversation ensued:
Noelle: (pointing to my computer) It's very slow! And old!
Mr. Fix-It: Yes. Very slow. (laughs)
N: (pointing to my computer) Five years old!
MFI: How old you?
N: 23 (holds up two fingers on one hand and three on the other)
MFI: Oh? (points to himself and holds up two fingers on one hand and four on the other)
Awkward silence ensues as he looks at the display of pictures on my wall.
MFI: American?
N: Yep!
MFI: Chicago?
N: Close.
MFI: Friends?
N: Yes.
MFI: (points to himself) Friend?
Noelle = confused - was he asking if the two of us were friends, or if I had a boyfriend? This language barrier makes for some pretty great situations...
Just then, Internet Explorer successfully loaded. He cheered and put his hands in the air in triumph. I laughed and he ran out the door, bidding me good night as I thanked him for fixing my internet.
Oh Korea.
On the second attempt with a new modem, he leaned over the arm of my couch to fiddle with my computer. I invited him to sit on the couch where he might be more comfortable in messing around on my computer. Upon realizing that all of my computer was in English, he uttered the stock phrase that it seems every Korean knows, "Oh. My. God." (My girls have perfected this expression, complete with a little sassy attitude. I'm so proud.)
Next, he clicked on the Internet Explorer icon, which is only used by me when I have to peruse Korean websites for whatever reason. (Korean websites do not work in any other browser but Internet Explorer.) It took forever to load. While it was loading, the following conversation ensued:
Noelle: (pointing to my computer) It's very slow! And old!
Mr. Fix-It: Yes. Very slow. (laughs)
N: (pointing to my computer) Five years old!
MFI: How old you?
N: 23 (holds up two fingers on one hand and three on the other)
MFI: Oh? (points to himself and holds up two fingers on one hand and four on the other)
Awkward silence ensues as he looks at the display of pictures on my wall.
MFI: American?
N: Yep!
MFI: Chicago?
N: Close.
MFI: Friends?
N: Yes.
MFI: (points to himself) Friend?
Noelle = confused - was he asking if the two of us were friends, or if I had a boyfriend? This language barrier makes for some pretty great situations...
Just then, Internet Explorer successfully loaded. He cheered and put his hands in the air in triumph. I laughed and he ran out the door, bidding me good night as I thanked him for fixing my internet.
Oh Korea.
12.21.2010
English Festival
Today was the 3rd annual English Festival at our school. For weeks, students have been scrambling around, preparing themselves as has the English Department!
Before the actual festival began, all of the students had to take the TTP test. TTP stands for Triple Three Project. It is the goal of the English Department that by the time each student graduates, they will know 3,000 words and sentences. For about a week, all of the students have been pouring themselves into studying a list of 50 possible sentences that they would be tested over. During the test, the principal came to my desk and said she needed my help. She brought me to her office, which I had never seen before, and asked me, since I am her English teacher (she warms my heart!), to help her perfect the opening speech she would give to kick off the festival. I read each sentence to her and she repeated after me to get the pronunciations down and where would be good places for her to breathe. Then, she read each sentence to me so I could tell her where she needed different intonation. Korean is a very monotone language, so the fact that our words ride and fall is very hard for them to master. She is a star student and I really enjoy working with her. She is so appreciative of my help and gets really frazzled when she doesn't have time to practice with me on Wednesday mornings.
For the morning portion of the festival, Dionne and I were the judges, along with various other Korean teachers, for a speech contest, a singing contest and a skit contest. The speeches were done by one or two girls from each homeroom class and were all fully memorized. It brought me back to my elementary ELP days when I had to memorize a speech about Annie Wittenmyer for a famous Iowans showcase for our sesquicentennial in third grade. The amount of work the girls put into these projects and the courage they have to get up in front of the entire school and recite a three to four minute piece in what is a second language (or third for some!) is truly amazing to me. The singing contest was mostly Christmas carol medleys sung by large groups, but they wore costumes, worked out choreography, handed out candy and one group even had candles! So creative! One girl, with an amazing voice, sang "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. She was awesome! The skits were done by the first year students. One group read the lines in English while another group acted out the skit onstage. I coached one of the teams. They performed Little Red Riding Hood. When we were practicing after school on Friday, they kept pronouncing the words: Riddle Led Liding Who'd, among other difficult sounds for any Korean to form. After a little work and some really cute actions, costumes and musical enhancements, I am proud to say that my group won the first prize! I was sooo proud of them!
Then, we had a break for lunch. At lunch, we were greeted by the principal and vice principal asking us what we thought of the festival. They were so proud of their students (as were we!) and loved being able to share this with us. Dionne and I marveled at how lucky we were to have been placed in the school we were. Many people are not placed in the best of situations and each day, I grow more and more thankful for my place here.
On the way back from lunch, Dionne and I caught up to many of the other teachers from our school. They were taking pictures in front of a big rock with Korean writing all over it and asked us to join them. Then, as we were walking down the hill to return to the building, they stopped us again to take pictures with us walking down the hill. We taught them a new phrase: action shot. They were obsessed with getting a picture of about five of us walking and kept giggling and repeating action shot, action shot, action shot. Adorable Korean ladies. I so enjoy them!
The afternoon was filled with various English games that were fun to watch. I sat next to the principal while she gave me commentary on what was happening and asked me questions about phrases being used that she had never heard. The whole day's competition was both for individuals and each homeroom class, much like wrestling or track meets where there are both individual and team winners. This really caused a lot of team camaraderie and spirit to be displayed. When all of the final awards were presented at the end of the day, each class that won a big prize was awarded a large sum of money (90,000, 70,000, and 50,000 won for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places respectively) to be used for, I assume, some sort of class party. I was impressed that the school would shell out that kind of money to the winners! Then, each of the winning classes posed for pictures. Dionne and I were dragged into the pictures with one of the winning teams and when I forgot to put up the requisite peace sign, the students all me sure to point out my gross oversight and show me the correct peace sign technique!
Walking home after school today, I stopped into the kimbap shop to grab some dinner before the man comes to fix my internet (I'm stealing wireless from someone nearby and the land line internet man is half an hour late!). Literally every table in the shop was filled with EB students and they all excitedly greeted me as I entered the shop. They always get so excited to see me in public! One group even invited me to sit with them while I waited for my kimbap to be made. I'm really going to miss these little buggers when I'm on winter break in a week!
Here are a couple of pictures I snapped of the girls in the kimbap shop:
I will never understand why they look so somber in pictures! Moments before they were smiling and laughing like the little school girls they are. Regardless, they make this job amazing. I love my students and my school!
Before the actual festival began, all of the students had to take the TTP test. TTP stands for Triple Three Project. It is the goal of the English Department that by the time each student graduates, they will know 3,000 words and sentences. For about a week, all of the students have been pouring themselves into studying a list of 50 possible sentences that they would be tested over. During the test, the principal came to my desk and said she needed my help. She brought me to her office, which I had never seen before, and asked me, since I am her English teacher (she warms my heart!), to help her perfect the opening speech she would give to kick off the festival. I read each sentence to her and she repeated after me to get the pronunciations down and where would be good places for her to breathe. Then, she read each sentence to me so I could tell her where she needed different intonation. Korean is a very monotone language, so the fact that our words ride and fall is very hard for them to master. She is a star student and I really enjoy working with her. She is so appreciative of my help and gets really frazzled when she doesn't have time to practice with me on Wednesday mornings.
For the morning portion of the festival, Dionne and I were the judges, along with various other Korean teachers, for a speech contest, a singing contest and a skit contest. The speeches were done by one or two girls from each homeroom class and were all fully memorized. It brought me back to my elementary ELP days when I had to memorize a speech about Annie Wittenmyer for a famous Iowans showcase for our sesquicentennial in third grade. The amount of work the girls put into these projects and the courage they have to get up in front of the entire school and recite a three to four minute piece in what is a second language (or third for some!) is truly amazing to me. The singing contest was mostly Christmas carol medleys sung by large groups, but they wore costumes, worked out choreography, handed out candy and one group even had candles! So creative! One girl, with an amazing voice, sang "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. She was awesome! The skits were done by the first year students. One group read the lines in English while another group acted out the skit onstage. I coached one of the teams. They performed Little Red Riding Hood. When we were practicing after school on Friday, they kept pronouncing the words: Riddle Led Liding Who'd, among other difficult sounds for any Korean to form. After a little work and some really cute actions, costumes and musical enhancements, I am proud to say that my group won the first prize! I was sooo proud of them!
Then, we had a break for lunch. At lunch, we were greeted by the principal and vice principal asking us what we thought of the festival. They were so proud of their students (as were we!) and loved being able to share this with us. Dionne and I marveled at how lucky we were to have been placed in the school we were. Many people are not placed in the best of situations and each day, I grow more and more thankful for my place here.
On the way back from lunch, Dionne and I caught up to many of the other teachers from our school. They were taking pictures in front of a big rock with Korean writing all over it and asked us to join them. Then, as we were walking down the hill to return to the building, they stopped us again to take pictures with us walking down the hill. We taught them a new phrase: action shot. They were obsessed with getting a picture of about five of us walking and kept giggling and repeating action shot, action shot, action shot. Adorable Korean ladies. I so enjoy them!
The afternoon was filled with various English games that were fun to watch. I sat next to the principal while she gave me commentary on what was happening and asked me questions about phrases being used that she had never heard. The whole day's competition was both for individuals and each homeroom class, much like wrestling or track meets where there are both individual and team winners. This really caused a lot of team camaraderie and spirit to be displayed. When all of the final awards were presented at the end of the day, each class that won a big prize was awarded a large sum of money (90,000, 70,000, and 50,000 won for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places respectively) to be used for, I assume, some sort of class party. I was impressed that the school would shell out that kind of money to the winners! Then, each of the winning classes posed for pictures. Dionne and I were dragged into the pictures with one of the winning teams and when I forgot to put up the requisite peace sign, the students all me sure to point out my gross oversight and show me the correct peace sign technique!
Walking home after school today, I stopped into the kimbap shop to grab some dinner before the man comes to fix my internet (I'm stealing wireless from someone nearby and the land line internet man is half an hour late!). Literally every table in the shop was filled with EB students and they all excitedly greeted me as I entered the shop. They always get so excited to see me in public! One group even invited me to sit with them while I waited for my kimbap to be made. I'm really going to miss these little buggers when I'm on winter break in a week!
Here are a couple of pictures I snapped of the girls in the kimbap shop:
I will never understand why they look so somber in pictures! Moments before they were smiling and laughing like the little school girls they are. Regardless, they make this job amazing. I love my students and my school!
12.20.2010
Impromptu Teacher's Dinner? Okay!
At about 4:55 this afternoon, just as I was starting to think about the yummy duk boki that was waiting for me at E-Mart, a gaggle of Korean women carrying plastic bags filled with food began streaming through the door to the teachers' office. I thought maybe many of the teachers had ordered in since they looked to be working well into the night as usual. I went about my business, putting my computer away, emptying and rinsing my tea tumbler, and packing up my desk for the night. As I got up to put my coat on, one of the head teachers looked at me funny and said, "Noelle, you stay for dinner!" Since it's terribly rude to refuse things that are offered to you, and the food looked really interesting, who was I to turn down a perfectly good dinner offer?! I came over to the table and began helping them unwrap the several plastic platters filled with different types of meat, several side dishes, cups of dipping sauces and plates of lettuce wraps. Just as I finished unwrapping the last side dish, another head teacher came in and said, "Noelle. Change (pronounced: changEE). Come with me." He led me to the conference room where I usually hold class with the principal. There, I began unwrapping the same dishes and spreading newspaper all over the table to minimize the cleanup. (I am continually blown away by Korean efficiency, for real. So many things that they do just make complete and total sense to me.)
Here's what the spread included:
Two kinds of kimchi (one of them was literally the best kimchi I have ever had -- sweet, but spicy and so fresh. YUM!)
A cold noodle and cabbage salad with various greens whose name escapes me
Raw oysters laying on a bed of green onion tips and romaine lettuce wraps (oysters = slime, but the flavor was tolerable, though I prefer them in the Meyer family Christmas Eve oyster stew, where it is expected that they will be wet.)
Green onion and seafood pancake (I have tried to replicate this dish at home, and I've come close, but, in the words of my 7th grade History teacher, Mr. Kedley, no cigar, )
Three kinds of dipping sauce - all red and all spicy, though of varying degrees and thicknesses, accompanied by a cup of fresh garlic cloves and hot green peppers
Two kinds of lettuce for wrapping the meat
Korean miso soup - made with bean paste - the flavor is growing on me, slowly.
Samgyeopsal - pork belly, which is similar to bacon, but is not cured like the bacon you all think of. Instead of being fried, this was boiled, so the teachers all insisted it was healthy, despite the thick layer of fat overtaking every single slice of meat.
Pig feet meat - literally. On the plate was a pig's leg. Like, when they butchered the pig, they just hacked off it's entire leg and sold it to the restaurant for this dish. The leg, hoof (is that what a pig's foot is called?) and all, had been boiled with ginger, garlic and other herbs and slapped onto this plate. There was also a thick layer of fat over the length of the leg that looked like the brown icing on a Casey's donut. I was told it was collagen, so eating it would be healthy for my face. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that they use every single part of whatever it is they are eating, whether it's an animal or a vegetable. Also, everything, and I mean everything, has a specific health purpose. Oh Korea.
That's a butt-ton of food, right? There were at least four different spreads, with two of each side dish, soup and lettuce wrap stashed around the school wherever there was room for six to eight people to gather around a table. My school doesn't mess around when it comes to food.
I was told to sit next to the principal and during the whole dinner, lively passionate stories were exchanged (90% of which were in Korean) but I could tell they were all having a great time, as was I. After the meal was over and everything was cleaned up, we retired to the teachers' office. I began putting on my coat and getting ready to leave. Before I left, I wanted to thank someone for including me in the dinner, but I didn't know who, so I thanked the teachers with whom I ate. One of them side-hugged me and thanked me for staying, and always being cheerful, etc. Then, she told me that she loves me and I am like a daughter to her. She then proceeded to tell me that she has a 23 year old son who just applied to the PhD program in Pharmacy at Seoul National University. Uh, set us up, please!
Here's what the spread included:
Two kinds of kimchi (one of them was literally the best kimchi I have ever had -- sweet, but spicy and so fresh. YUM!)
A cold noodle and cabbage salad with various greens whose name escapes me
Raw oysters laying on a bed of green onion tips and romaine lettuce wraps (oysters = slime, but the flavor was tolerable, though I prefer them in the Meyer family Christmas Eve oyster stew, where it is expected that they will be wet.)
Green onion and seafood pancake (I have tried to replicate this dish at home, and I've come close, but, in the words of my 7th grade History teacher, Mr. Kedley, no cigar, )
Three kinds of dipping sauce - all red and all spicy, though of varying degrees and thicknesses, accompanied by a cup of fresh garlic cloves and hot green peppers
Two kinds of lettuce for wrapping the meat
Korean miso soup - made with bean paste - the flavor is growing on me, slowly.
Samgyeopsal - pork belly, which is similar to bacon, but is not cured like the bacon you all think of. Instead of being fried, this was boiled, so the teachers all insisted it was healthy, despite the thick layer of fat overtaking every single slice of meat.
Pig feet meat - literally. On the plate was a pig's leg. Like, when they butchered the pig, they just hacked off it's entire leg and sold it to the restaurant for this dish. The leg, hoof (is that what a pig's foot is called?) and all, had been boiled with ginger, garlic and other herbs and slapped onto this plate. There was also a thick layer of fat over the length of the leg that looked like the brown icing on a Casey's donut. I was told it was collagen, so eating it would be healthy for my face. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that they use every single part of whatever it is they are eating, whether it's an animal or a vegetable. Also, everything, and I mean everything, has a specific health purpose. Oh Korea.
That's a butt-ton of food, right? There were at least four different spreads, with two of each side dish, soup and lettuce wrap stashed around the school wherever there was room for six to eight people to gather around a table. My school doesn't mess around when it comes to food.
I was told to sit next to the principal and during the whole dinner, lively passionate stories were exchanged (90% of which were in Korean) but I could tell they were all having a great time, as was I. After the meal was over and everything was cleaned up, we retired to the teachers' office. I began putting on my coat and getting ready to leave. Before I left, I wanted to thank someone for including me in the dinner, but I didn't know who, so I thanked the teachers with whom I ate. One of them side-hugged me and thanked me for staying, and always being cheerful, etc. Then, she told me that she loves me and I am like a daughter to her. She then proceeded to tell me that she has a 23 year old son who just applied to the PhD program in Pharmacy at Seoul National University. Uh, set us up, please!
12.15.2010
Chicken Dinner Vows
Today during the weekly teacher's meeting, Mr. Shin bought everyone chicken wings because our English department won an award and a $1,000 grant from the Education Ministry (or something like that...). Anyway, I never go to those meetings because they are conducted all in Korean, so when I returned to my desk, I found a dixie cup full of chicken wings and a carton of the accompanying sweet pickled radishes (to fight the spice?) waiting for me. As I ate the chicken and checked my e-mail to kill time until 5:00, the principal invited me to sit at the community table in the middle of the teacher's office to share the rest of the chicken. She wanted to chat, so she lured me in with food. Like I've said, she's a smart lady :) When she asked me to join her, she said, "Noelle teacher. Join me. We have dinner party! (Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.)" I joined her, and soon we had accrued quite a group with the vice principal, Mr. Shin and another big wig guy who always has something funny to say. The principal insisted that everyone speak English and we had quite the conversation. Here are some snippets:
Principal: Noelle. I buy you food. You teach me English. Okay?
Noelle: Like a bribe?
P: Yes. Yes. Bribe. Okay?
N: You know me too well.
-------------
Other Teacher: Noelle. I hear you go Vietnam for winter break. I have been.
Noelle: Oh? Where?
OT: Ho Chi Minh City. Where you going?
N: Hanoi.
OT: You will like Vietnam. I recommend everyone go there. In park, I saw young couple make love.
(Everyone looks at him funny. I start laughing)
OT: Oh, oh. Just hug. And kiss.
More laughing.
OT: You won't see that in Hanoi. They are much more .... ..... (searching for word) open in Ho Chi Minh City.
N: Darn!
-----------
Principal: I must meet friend Jill.
Noelle: You will! She's coming to school with me.
P: She a good person.
N: Yes!
P: I know she must be. You good person and she your friend.
N: Thanks.
P: I think we have party at end of Winter Camp. When Jill leave to go America?
N: Jan. 18
P: (Camp goes until the 21st) Oh. We have midterm party then! We eat chicken! Jill like chicken?
N: Yes! That would be great. Jill would love that!
P: You are witness. Don't let Mr. Shin forget we decide to have party!
Everyone at the table agrees not to let Mr. Shin forget that he was told to throw a party. Mr. Shin just shakes his head...
P: You have other American friends?
N: Yes...
P: They come to Korea?
N: I hope so...
P: You tell them they come, I buy them chicken dinner.
N: Haha... Okay! I'll tell them!
P: Parents too. I want meet them!
N: Oh, you will! They want to meet you too!
P: I like you. You stay at school long time. 2014?
You heard it here first. If you visit me, the principal promises to treat you to a chicken dinner! What more motivation do you need?!
Principal: Noelle. I buy you food. You teach me English. Okay?
Noelle: Like a bribe?
P: Yes. Yes. Bribe. Okay?
N: You know me too well.
-------------
Other Teacher: Noelle. I hear you go Vietnam for winter break. I have been.
Noelle: Oh? Where?
OT: Ho Chi Minh City. Where you going?
N: Hanoi.
OT: You will like Vietnam. I recommend everyone go there. In park, I saw young couple make love.
(Everyone looks at him funny. I start laughing)
OT: Oh, oh. Just hug. And kiss.
More laughing.
OT: You won't see that in Hanoi. They are much more .... ..... (searching for word) open in Ho Chi Minh City.
N: Darn!
-----------
Principal: I must meet friend Jill.
Noelle: You will! She's coming to school with me.
P: She a good person.
N: Yes!
P: I know she must be. You good person and she your friend.
N: Thanks.
P: I think we have party at end of Winter Camp. When Jill leave to go America?
N: Jan. 18
P: (Camp goes until the 21st) Oh. We have midterm party then! We eat chicken! Jill like chicken?
N: Yes! That would be great. Jill would love that!
P: You are witness. Don't let Mr. Shin forget we decide to have party!
Everyone at the table agrees not to let Mr. Shin forget that he was told to throw a party. Mr. Shin just shakes his head...
P: You have other American friends?
N: Yes...
P: They come to Korea?
N: I hope so...
P: You tell them they come, I buy them chicken dinner.
N: Haha... Okay! I'll tell them!
P: Parents too. I want meet them!
N: Oh, you will! They want to meet you too!
P: I like you. You stay at school long time. 2014?
You heard it here first. If you visit me, the principal promises to treat you to a chicken dinner! What more motivation do you need?!
12.14.2010
The Yarn Shop, Chex Mix and the Worst Movie of my Life
Thursday night, I met my friends Joe and Tara who are also teachers and live right across the street from me for dinner. We ate at a fried chicken restaurant where we enjoyed a couple pieces of fried chicken, french fries and a beer. It was a nice dinner to end a quiet day spent at home. After dinner, they showed me where the yarn shop is in Gwangju. I want to crochet Baby Plueger a blanket, but I didn't know where to buy yarn. In the TINY shop, a woman was passionately teaching three other women how to knit as we browsed the selection of yarn. It seemed fairly picked over and I couldn't find any of the colors I had in mind. Then, Joe found a box of yarn that was in front of the shop that was on sale. I found some good stuff in there for the baby's blanket and for one for myself. They aren't quite the colors Jess suggested (or at all, really...) but I think the blanket will turn out pretty sweet.
Friday, I received the Christmas package my mom sent. It only took a week to get here! In it, she included two types of chex mix for me to share with the teachers at my school. When I started to pass it out to the teachers, along with mini candy canes, they went bonkers. They couldn't believe that she would take the time to make such a wonderful homemade treat for them. They kept saying that she must be an angel or Santa Claus and other cute, appreciative comments of the like. And, they LOVED the chex mix! They each only got about a dixie cup's worth of the stuff, but they were in love. I was glad to be able to share something with them that reminds me of Christmas time (thanks, again, Mom!). I don't think it has fully dawned on me that I won't be spending Christmas in any of the traditional ways. Time for new traditions, I guess.
Friday night, I was snuggled up in my pajamas, crocheting and watching a movie when Hyunjoo called to invite me to her apartment for dinner. The last of our foreign exchange students was leaving that night, so she had us over for dinner. We had several traditional Korean side dishes and she also ordered in two main dishes for us to enjoy. I shared some peanut clusters with the group, which they also loved. After dinner, we watched Letters to Juliet. Hyunjoo and Ji Hye's reactions to the movie were so delightful...almost more entertaining than the movie :) What a perfect way to spend a Friday night!
Saturday was spent wrapping up my Christmas shopping with Diane. We started the day in Namdaemun Market which is a traditional market that sells almost anything you can imagine from fresh fish to wholesale jewelry. We walked down a darkish alley in search of food and knew we were in business when we were in the way of several women carrying trays of rice, kimchi and ramen on trays balanced on their head. We settled into a small busy restaurant after a very smooth man in a bow tie tried to entice us into his fish soup restaurant with the promise of a warm place to sit. His promises of heat couldn't make up for the unappetizing look of his fish soup and we chose a different place to eat. We sat down and ordered our respective kinds of soup (tofu for me and kimchi for Diane), which was accompanied by about six side dishes. Everything was delicious except for the light brown mystery fish (?) whose texture weirded me out even more than the seeming absence of flavor. Odd. The soups we ordered (and the poached egg souffle side dish) were served steaming hot, and with the direction of the wind blowing through the front and back doors of the small tent where we ate caused all of the steam to blow in the direction of my face, giving me a free egg facial in the process of enjoying lunch. It was annoying at first, but after we couldn't change the direction of the steam, I decided it was funny.
Later, after our shopping excursion took us to Insadong and we enjoyed some tea at a cute tea house called Tea Time, we headed to Myeongdong for dinner. We weren't hungry and it was still early, so we decided it would be a good time to see a movie. There were two options: the latest installment of The Chronicles of Narnia (a movie I was not interested in in the least) and The Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. I've never been a huge fan of either of those two (aside from What's Eating Gilbert Grape, of course!), but Diane and I were willing to give it a chance. We purchased our tickets (you choose the seats when you buy the tickets!) and walked around for awhile to kill time. Two hours later, we entered the theater and prepared to enjoy the movie. Aside from a few clever jokes which seemed to be lost in translation as Diane and I were literally the only people laughing in the theater, the best part of the movie was the 20 or so minutes when I fell asleep. The overall plot was weak, the action wasn't there and the lukewarm romance plot was completely unbelievable. (I'm sorry if you've seen in and enjoyed it... Diane and I found this movie laughably terrible!) Nonetheless, we were happy to have figured out how to navigate a Korean movie theater as the big show comes this weekend with the Korean debut of the latest Harry Potter movie. I haven't read any of the books since the first 50 or so pages of the the fifth book and I haven't seen hardly any of the movies, so I hope I'm not completely lost! Oh well. I have to know what all of the fuss is about!
This week's classes are back to normal for the most part, but since all of their exams are over, the students are in no mindset to learn new things. So, we're showing movies for the rest of the time before Winter Break. By Friday of next week, I will have watched Home Alone 15 times! It's a good thing much of that movie will never get old for me. Also, Hyunjoo, Ruth Teacher, Dionne, two students and I will sing for chapel this week. Since it will be too cold to have chapel in the auditorium (Mr. Shin told me that some teachers refer to the Samsung Memorial Auditorium (our school's auditorium) as the Samsung Refrigerator because it is so cold in there during the winter!), we will record our performance Thursday after school and it will be broadcast along with the rest of the service throughout the school on Friday morning.
Tomorrow is supposed to be really cold. I'm trying to figure out which pair of leggings will be the warmest to wear under my jeans :)
Friday, I received the Christmas package my mom sent. It only took a week to get here! In it, she included two types of chex mix for me to share with the teachers at my school. When I started to pass it out to the teachers, along with mini candy canes, they went bonkers. They couldn't believe that she would take the time to make such a wonderful homemade treat for them. They kept saying that she must be an angel or Santa Claus and other cute, appreciative comments of the like. And, they LOVED the chex mix! They each only got about a dixie cup's worth of the stuff, but they were in love. I was glad to be able to share something with them that reminds me of Christmas time (thanks, again, Mom!). I don't think it has fully dawned on me that I won't be spending Christmas in any of the traditional ways. Time for new traditions, I guess.
Friday night, I was snuggled up in my pajamas, crocheting and watching a movie when Hyunjoo called to invite me to her apartment for dinner. The last of our foreign exchange students was leaving that night, so she had us over for dinner. We had several traditional Korean side dishes and she also ordered in two main dishes for us to enjoy. I shared some peanut clusters with the group, which they also loved. After dinner, we watched Letters to Juliet. Hyunjoo and Ji Hye's reactions to the movie were so delightful...almost more entertaining than the movie :) What a perfect way to spend a Friday night!
Saturday was spent wrapping up my Christmas shopping with Diane. We started the day in Namdaemun Market which is a traditional market that sells almost anything you can imagine from fresh fish to wholesale jewelry. We walked down a darkish alley in search of food and knew we were in business when we were in the way of several women carrying trays of rice, kimchi and ramen on trays balanced on their head. We settled into a small busy restaurant after a very smooth man in a bow tie tried to entice us into his fish soup restaurant with the promise of a warm place to sit. His promises of heat couldn't make up for the unappetizing look of his fish soup and we chose a different place to eat. We sat down and ordered our respective kinds of soup (tofu for me and kimchi for Diane), which was accompanied by about six side dishes. Everything was delicious except for the light brown mystery fish (?) whose texture weirded me out even more than the seeming absence of flavor. Odd. The soups we ordered (and the poached egg souffle side dish) were served steaming hot, and with the direction of the wind blowing through the front and back doors of the small tent where we ate caused all of the steam to blow in the direction of my face, giving me a free egg facial in the process of enjoying lunch. It was annoying at first, but after we couldn't change the direction of the steam, I decided it was funny.
Later, after our shopping excursion took us to Insadong and we enjoyed some tea at a cute tea house called Tea Time, we headed to Myeongdong for dinner. We weren't hungry and it was still early, so we decided it would be a good time to see a movie. There were two options: the latest installment of The Chronicles of Narnia (a movie I was not interested in in the least) and The Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. I've never been a huge fan of either of those two (aside from What's Eating Gilbert Grape, of course!), but Diane and I were willing to give it a chance. We purchased our tickets (you choose the seats when you buy the tickets!) and walked around for awhile to kill time. Two hours later, we entered the theater and prepared to enjoy the movie. Aside from a few clever jokes which seemed to be lost in translation as Diane and I were literally the only people laughing in the theater, the best part of the movie was the 20 or so minutes when I fell asleep. The overall plot was weak, the action wasn't there and the lukewarm romance plot was completely unbelievable. (I'm sorry if you've seen in and enjoyed it... Diane and I found this movie laughably terrible!) Nonetheless, we were happy to have figured out how to navigate a Korean movie theater as the big show comes this weekend with the Korean debut of the latest Harry Potter movie. I haven't read any of the books since the first 50 or so pages of the the fifth book and I haven't seen hardly any of the movies, so I hope I'm not completely lost! Oh well. I have to know what all of the fuss is about!
This week's classes are back to normal for the most part, but since all of their exams are over, the students are in no mindset to learn new things. So, we're showing movies for the rest of the time before Winter Break. By Friday of next week, I will have watched Home Alone 15 times! It's a good thing much of that movie will never get old for me. Also, Hyunjoo, Ruth Teacher, Dionne, two students and I will sing for chapel this week. Since it will be too cold to have chapel in the auditorium (Mr. Shin told me that some teachers refer to the Samsung Memorial Auditorium (our school's auditorium) as the Samsung Refrigerator because it is so cold in there during the winter!), we will record our performance Thursday after school and it will be broadcast along with the rest of the service throughout the school on Friday morning.
Tomorrow is supposed to be really cold. I'm trying to figure out which pair of leggings will be the warmest to wear under my jeans :)
12.09.2010
Hyunjoo's Concert
Yesterday was a half day at school, so Dionne, Scott (her husband), Jonah (her son) and I journeyed into Seoul in the afternoon to beat the rush hour traffic and outsmart the snow that we were supposed to get. Here is Dionne and her family:
We started our journey by driving to the next city with a subway stop. It was about 20 minutes away. We parked their car in a parking ramp that was free of charge. Then, we took the subway two stops. After a quick stop for coffee and tea, we caught an express bus into downtown Seoul. What might have taken several hours by car, factoring in traffic and finding a parking spot, took about 25 minutes by bus. We got off the bus and began walking around. This is the same part of town as the lantern festival took place several weeks ago, so things looked quite familiar to me. They're starting to decorate the area for the Winter Festival, which will be on until the Lunar New Year in early February. We saw the U.S. Embassy, which is probably one of the ugliest buildings in Seoul. It is under constant police protection because of bomb threats from other countries and it is surrounded by a stone wall, complete with barbed wire. It is so weird to look around and see all of these gorgeous buildings and other embassies in relation to how unapproachable and prison-esque our embassy looks. Bummer.
As we walked to the King's Palace, Scott and Dionne told me a lot about Korean history, especially all of the nasty things the Japanese did to the Koreans between WWI and WWII. If you want to know more, google it or ask me about it. The King's Palace was closed to tours by the time we reached it, but we were able to step inside the grounds for a little while.
Seoul continues to amaze me. It has all of this ancient architecture sandwiched in between cutting edge, new buildings. The juxtaposition is soooo interesting to me. At Thanksgiving, Kim was telling me that in 1987 (the year of my birth), Korea was still fairly undeveloped and still recovering from the devastation of the Korean War. All that Korea represents and is in the world now has been accomplished in the last 23 years. That blows my mind. In the span of my life, Korea has gone from a developing country to the twelfth largest economy in the world. Even in the last five years, things have become much more opened up to the rest of the world as far as the availability of foreign goods. It is crazy to think that five years ago, you had to search high and low to find coffee and now there seems to be a cafe on every corner.
After we ate dinner, we still have about an hour and a half before we needed to arrive at the concert. To kill some time, we continued to walk around the neighborhood some more. We happened upon an underground shopping center where we purchased some flowers to present to Hyunjoo and we saw this restaurant:
When we arrived at the concert, we were warmly greeted by several staff members from our school. We spoke with the Founder of the school, who, we found out, is Hyunjoo's father. He was a glowing parent last night, which was very fun to see. We sat with Mr. Shin (the head of the English department), the Vice Principal and another teacher. Mr. Shin gave me all sorts of travel suggestions for when Jill is here. He is such a sweet man!
Hyunjoo's performance was AMAZING. She sang six different sets of songs, all very difficult and impressive. She and her husband sang a duet from La Traviata and later, as an encore, the sang All I Ask of You from The Phantom of the Opera. She was all dolled up in these huge party gowns and looked like a princess. It was so great to see a huge turnout from not only the EB High School but also the academic high school as well. It was a fun event and it was so great to see everyone in a non-school setting.
Hyunjoo is in the blue dress, holding all of the flowers. Her daughter Evelyn is standing next to her, wearing the blue plaid dress and the principal of the school is on her other side in the blue coat. Some of the other people are teachers at the school and I have no idea who others of them are.
I'm glad we have the day off today because we got home at 12:30 last night. Yowza. Sleeping in felt quite nice this morning :) Off to E-Mart now to buy some groceries and eat some duk boki. It's been almost two weeks since I visited the shop. They probably think I'm dead.
 |
| Scott, Dionne and Jonah Husted |
As we walked to the King's Palace, Scott and Dionne told me a lot about Korean history, especially all of the nasty things the Japanese did to the Koreans between WWI and WWII. If you want to know more, google it or ask me about it. The King's Palace was closed to tours by the time we reached it, but we were able to step inside the grounds for a little while.
 |
| The palace (and me :) ) |
 |
| The gate to enter the palace grounds and the modern buildings that surround the area |
After we ate dinner, we still have about an hour and a half before we needed to arrive at the concert. To kill some time, we continued to walk around the neighborhood some more. We happened upon an underground shopping center where we purchased some flowers to present to Hyunjoo and we saw this restaurant:
 |
| That poor lady... |
Hyunjoo's performance was AMAZING. She sang six different sets of songs, all very difficult and impressive. She and her husband sang a duet from La Traviata and later, as an encore, the sang All I Ask of You from The Phantom of the Opera. She was all dolled up in these huge party gowns and looked like a princess. It was so great to see a huge turnout from not only the EB High School but also the academic high school as well. It was a fun event and it was so great to see everyone in a non-school setting.
Hyunjoo is in the blue dress, holding all of the flowers. Her daughter Evelyn is standing next to her, wearing the blue plaid dress and the principal of the school is on her other side in the blue coat. Some of the other people are teachers at the school and I have no idea who others of them are.
I'm glad we have the day off today because we got home at 12:30 last night. Yowza. Sleeping in felt quite nice this morning :) Off to E-Mart now to buy some groceries and eat some duk boki. It's been almost two weeks since I visited the shop. They probably think I'm dead.
12.08.2010
This job continues to get better and better...
I just found out the most glorious news: No classes at all this week. And, I get to leave at noon today. And, I might not even have to come to school on Friday. Potential four day weekend? OK. This job continues to be bonkers.
I'm trying to use this time to plan Winter Camp. What is Winter Camp, you ask? Dionne and I teach two sections of one lesson for 10 days in January to 30 students total (so, 15 students per section). (Jan 10 - Jan 21, in case you care...and even if you don't :) ) We've planned on a theme of Getting to Know You or something like that... Basically, they're all new students to our school and since they're teenage girls, they love talking about themselves. So, figuring out 10 different avenues in which they can talk about themselves shouldn't be too challenging...hopefully. Anyway, through my planning research, I found this video made by students at an elementary school in Seoul. This will give you an idea of how Korean-accented English sounds, and it features dok buki! And, it's funny. I laughed out loud. In the teachers' office. Embarrassing. But, worth it. Watch it.
Tonight, we journey to Seoul for Hyunjoo's concert. I'm excited for it, but apparently, there's supposed to be some nasty weather headed our way. Chan Yang made sure to warn me about it. What a peach! Tomorrow, no school for this kid. If Chan Yang is right, I might have to trudge through mounds of snow to get to E-Mart to grocery shop, and visit my duk boki pals, who I have been sorely neglecting as of late. I miss them, and their food!
I'm trying to use this time to plan Winter Camp. What is Winter Camp, you ask? Dionne and I teach two sections of one lesson for 10 days in January to 30 students total (so, 15 students per section). (Jan 10 - Jan 21, in case you care...and even if you don't :) ) We've planned on a theme of Getting to Know You or something like that... Basically, they're all new students to our school and since they're teenage girls, they love talking about themselves. So, figuring out 10 different avenues in which they can talk about themselves shouldn't be too challenging...hopefully. Anyway, through my planning research, I found this video made by students at an elementary school in Seoul. This will give you an idea of how Korean-accented English sounds, and it features dok buki! And, it's funny. I laughed out loud. In the teachers' office. Embarrassing. But, worth it. Watch it.
Tonight, we journey to Seoul for Hyunjoo's concert. I'm excited for it, but apparently, there's supposed to be some nasty weather headed our way. Chan Yang made sure to warn me about it. What a peach! Tomorrow, no school for this kid. If Chan Yang is right, I might have to trudge through mounds of snow to get to E-Mart to grocery shop, and visit my duk boki pals, who I have been sorely neglecting as of late. I miss them, and their food!
12.07.2010
Oh, this job...
A couple quick things before I begin slaving away at my TEFL course:
The prayer in school today involved french fries and potato chips. Those are the only two words I understood, so I'm curious as to what the prayer entailed...
Also, the one class I was supposed to teach today has been canceled. For what? Sex Ed. Chan Yang just told me and seemed a little embarrassed to tell me it was about sex. Haha... I'm not surprised. This is the same guy that asked me if I understood what I needed to do with the paper cup at the doctor's office my first day here. Oh boy. So, no class today. I'm surrounded by jolly Koreans, I have a nice tumbler of hot peppermint tea and a sweet playlist on my itunes. I'm a happy camper.
And, I got paid today for my tutoring sessions with Gemma. We only had seven sessions but she insisted on paying me for ten. I'm going to miss talking with her, even though we haven't actually had a tutoring session in almost a month because of her new mornings-only schedule.
Upon seeing me this morning, the principal apologized to me because I had to come to school today, but the academic high school's teachers didn't have to because of finals. I thought Ma'am. This is my job. I'm not even upset that I have to be here! The fact that I have to come to school for a couple of days that I have one (or no) classes is that last thing I would complain about. This job is gem. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.
The prayer in school today involved french fries and potato chips. Those are the only two words I understood, so I'm curious as to what the prayer entailed...
Also, the one class I was supposed to teach today has been canceled. For what? Sex Ed. Chan Yang just told me and seemed a little embarrassed to tell me it was about sex. Haha... I'm not surprised. This is the same guy that asked me if I understood what I needed to do with the paper cup at the doctor's office my first day here. Oh boy. So, no class today. I'm surrounded by jolly Koreans, I have a nice tumbler of hot peppermint tea and a sweet playlist on my itunes. I'm a happy camper.
And, I got paid today for my tutoring sessions with Gemma. We only had seven sessions but she insisted on paying me for ten. I'm going to miss talking with her, even though we haven't actually had a tutoring session in almost a month because of her new mornings-only schedule.
Upon seeing me this morning, the principal apologized to me because I had to come to school today, but the academic high school's teachers didn't have to because of finals. I thought Ma'am. This is my job. I'm not even upset that I have to be here! The fact that I have to come to school for a couple of days that I have one (or no) classes is that last thing I would complain about. This job is gem. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.
12.06.2010
Cultural Experiences
Yesterday, Diane and I went to the YG Family Concert in Seoul. It was bonkers.
First, I should explain about the concert: YG is a music label here. They have some of the most popular groups in Korean music signed to their label. These super popular groups all performed at the same show. So, it would be the same idea if Berry Gordy-era Motown were to put on a show with their five biggest acts. The show featured the following performers: 2NE1 (a group of four girls), Pys (a solo man who has been in music in Korea for over 10 years but recently signed with YG), Gummy (a solo pianist and singer of mostly ballads), Se7en (pronounced like the number seven - solo male performer who released an ill-fated rap album in the U.S. a couple of years ago...he came back to his strengths in Korea) and Big Bang (a group of five guys). There were three shows put on for this rare concert in Olympic Park (where the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games were held) and we went to the second of the three. All of the songs are predominantly in Korean, but many of the choruses have English in them and despite the language barrier, the songs are super catchy.
The concert we had tickets to started at 2 pm, but in order to get in line for a good spot in our section, we met around noon. In the subway station, I saw two students from school. They aren't in my classes, but they recognized me and were really excited to hear that I was going to the YG concert. We saw them again as Diane was getting our wristbands. They had an impassioned conversation with Diane over who their favorite group members were. It was delightful to see them in public!
After we found where our section was to line up, we waited maybe two minutes before we were allowed to enter the building. We were supposed to be in section 009. As we wound our way through the maze of hallways and people, we came to a fork in the path. Diane showed her wristband to the security man and he pointed us to the right. We found our way to the section to which he had directed us. Diane quickly realized we were in the wrong section, but this section was much better than where we were supposed to be, and as it was a standing section anyway, we figured we could claim being dumb foreigners if anyone called us out. Here's a diagram of the sections:
If you look at the above diagram, you'll notice that section 009 is the last standing section in the back. Because the security guard read Diane's number upside down, we were sent to section 006. We secured positions toward the back right corner of the section, so when the performers walked in the red areas, we were within 10 feet of them. SOOO COOL!
Instead of people holding up lighters or cell phones to express approval of a song, fans of K-Pop hold up over sized glow sticks that correspond to their favorite group or performer. They bop their glow sticks to the beat of the song, so at any given moment during the three and a half hour show, there was a sea of yellow, green and white flashing, glittering glow sticks held in the air. No wonder Diane's arms are sore today :)
Here's a video of one of the songs someone took. You can see the vigorous waving of the Big Bang themed glow stick in the foreground. The song they're singing is a duet between Big Bang and 2NE1 that was used to promote a cell phone last year. Diane told me that this concert was the first time it was performed live. You're watching K-Pop history unfold :)
Whoever took this video had to be pretty crafty because the security in this show was crazy. There were a couple of people per section whose job it was to squash fans' attempts at taking pictures and videos. Diane tried to take a video of one of the first songs and the security man caught her and made her delete it in front of him. There was another girl who wrapped her SLR camera in a bandanna to help camouflage her efforts, but she got nabbed close to the end of the show and was physically removed by the security man. Like I said, they don't mess around.
At another point, Se7en, one of the male performers, was singing a ballad. Then, all of a sudden, he sat down and started to change his shoes. Ho took off his leather boots and donned a pair of sequin and glitter adorned Heelys (the shoes that double as roller skates) and began heelying around the different parts of the stage. It was so strange to see a grown man in glittering roller skate shoes belting out a ballad as he skated from one side of the arena to another. Only in Korea.
You can't see the Heelys in the this video, but you can see the man who wore them. He's the one in the black tux and the bejeweled collar that occasionally appears on the left side of the screen. The other guy is a member of Big Bang. His hair is dyed silver. Also, this video was taken pretty close to where my "seat" was, so this was my view for much of the concert when they were on the parts of the stage close to us. Pretty sweet.
The last number of the show featured all of the groups and performers singing We Are the World. I've always liked that song, and probably more of what is was trying to do, but it was all I could do not to laugh when they were signing it last night. Aside from the concert being hella entertaining in general, the whole show was an epic people watching feast for me. It was probably one of the best opportunities I'll have to experience modern Korean culture first hand...you know, other than actually living here. :)
This week is finals week at school, so I only teach third year students since everyone else will be busy with their exams. That means that the days that there are no third year classes (today - Monday and Thursday) I don't have to come to school! And, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, I only teach one class, with a possibility of getting the afternoon off. Teaching high school is bonkers.
First, I should explain about the concert: YG is a music label here. They have some of the most popular groups in Korean music signed to their label. These super popular groups all performed at the same show. So, it would be the same idea if Berry Gordy-era Motown were to put on a show with their five biggest acts. The show featured the following performers: 2NE1 (a group of four girls), Pys (a solo man who has been in music in Korea for over 10 years but recently signed with YG), Gummy (a solo pianist and singer of mostly ballads), Se7en (pronounced like the number seven - solo male performer who released an ill-fated rap album in the U.S. a couple of years ago...he came back to his strengths in Korea) and Big Bang (a group of five guys). There were three shows put on for this rare concert in Olympic Park (where the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games were held) and we went to the second of the three. All of the songs are predominantly in Korean, but many of the choruses have English in them and despite the language barrier, the songs are super catchy.
The concert we had tickets to started at 2 pm, but in order to get in line for a good spot in our section, we met around noon. In the subway station, I saw two students from school. They aren't in my classes, but they recognized me and were really excited to hear that I was going to the YG concert. We saw them again as Diane was getting our wristbands. They had an impassioned conversation with Diane over who their favorite group members were. It was delightful to see them in public!
After we found where our section was to line up, we waited maybe two minutes before we were allowed to enter the building. We were supposed to be in section 009. As we wound our way through the maze of hallways and people, we came to a fork in the path. Diane showed her wristband to the security man and he pointed us to the right. We found our way to the section to which he had directed us. Diane quickly realized we were in the wrong section, but this section was much better than where we were supposed to be, and as it was a standing section anyway, we figured we could claim being dumb foreigners if anyone called us out. Here's a diagram of the sections:
Instead of people holding up lighters or cell phones to express approval of a song, fans of K-Pop hold up over sized glow sticks that correspond to their favorite group or performer. They bop their glow sticks to the beat of the song, so at any given moment during the three and a half hour show, there was a sea of yellow, green and white flashing, glittering glow sticks held in the air. No wonder Diane's arms are sore today :)
Here's a video of one of the songs someone took. You can see the vigorous waving of the Big Bang themed glow stick in the foreground. The song they're singing is a duet between Big Bang and 2NE1 that was used to promote a cell phone last year. Diane told me that this concert was the first time it was performed live. You're watching K-Pop history unfold :)
Whoever took this video had to be pretty crafty because the security in this show was crazy. There were a couple of people per section whose job it was to squash fans' attempts at taking pictures and videos. Diane tried to take a video of one of the first songs and the security man caught her and made her delete it in front of him. There was another girl who wrapped her SLR camera in a bandanna to help camouflage her efforts, but she got nabbed close to the end of the show and was physically removed by the security man. Like I said, they don't mess around.
At another point, Se7en, one of the male performers, was singing a ballad. Then, all of a sudden, he sat down and started to change his shoes. Ho took off his leather boots and donned a pair of sequin and glitter adorned Heelys (the shoes that double as roller skates) and began heelying around the different parts of the stage. It was so strange to see a grown man in glittering roller skate shoes belting out a ballad as he skated from one side of the arena to another. Only in Korea.
You can't see the Heelys in the this video, but you can see the man who wore them. He's the one in the black tux and the bejeweled collar that occasionally appears on the left side of the screen. The other guy is a member of Big Bang. His hair is dyed silver. Also, this video was taken pretty close to where my "seat" was, so this was my view for much of the concert when they were on the parts of the stage close to us. Pretty sweet.
The last number of the show featured all of the groups and performers singing We Are the World. I've always liked that song, and probably more of what is was trying to do, but it was all I could do not to laugh when they were signing it last night. Aside from the concert being hella entertaining in general, the whole show was an epic people watching feast for me. It was probably one of the best opportunities I'll have to experience modern Korean culture first hand...you know, other than actually living here. :)
This week is finals week at school, so I only teach third year students since everyone else will be busy with their exams. That means that the days that there are no third year classes (today - Monday and Thursday) I don't have to come to school! And, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, I only teach one class, with a possibility of getting the afternoon off. Teaching high school is bonkers.
12.02.2010
Samuel and Evelyn
I have just returned from hanging out with Hyunjoo's six year old twins, Samuel and Evelyn. I had such a great time.
Today at the end of school, Hyunjoo came to my desk and said that we would meet for duk boki at the kimbap shop that is in my building (not the same one I went to last night...) and then we would go back to her apartment to play with the kiddos, She also asked me how much I wanted her to pay me for playing with her kids. I didn't know what was appropriate, plus I felt weird that she wanted to pay me for playing games with her kids. It wasn't like I was babysitting them or taking care of them in any way. I was just having fun with them. So, I told her it was not necessary to pay me. We agreed that she would buy me dinner each time I hang out with her kids. Sounds like a plan to me!
When Hyunjoo was done with work, she called me and I wandered down to the kimbap shop to meet her. Waiting for me was duk boki, complete with ramen noodles, cooking on a table, and a roll of kimbap. My two favorite Korean foods, right at my disposal! We started eating and talking, enjoying each other's company. A couple of times, different students wandered into the shop as well, so we had a nice chat with them too. Then, Hyunjoo suggested we also try japaghetti, which is a traditionally Chinese dish that Koreans have adapted. It is like spaghetti in that it is noodles covered in sauce. Japaghetti entails ramen noodles cooked in a sort of sweet black bean sauce and ours was served topped with a fried egg. SOO GOOD! Japaghetti is the comfort food for Korean kids just as macaroni and cheese is for American children.
After we had consumed our fair share of tasty Korean fare and were both complaining about over eating and how full we felt, we headed to her apartment. I was greeted at the door by Evelyn and Samuel was playing hide'n'seek by himself. Both are adorable. Evelyn started playing the piano for me as Hyunjoo made me some tea to settle my stomach. On the tea saucer, she also gave me three swizzle sticks (those cracker sticks with chocolate filling...I can't think of the name...) I set my tea aside as we began to set up a game of Monopoly and Samuel kept eating my swizzle sticks. He was so adorable and I was too full to want them anyway, so I let it happen. As we were setting up monopoly, one of the kids knocked over Hyunjoo's tea cup, sending it to the floor. The handle broke from it and Evelyn and I cleaned up the mess. She was so quick to help me and was very careful. Such a cute girl!
We played Monopoly for quite a while and the kids caught onto the game very quickly. They are very, very smart kids, so full of energy and humor. We played for almost an hour, and it surprised me that they would have that long of an attention span. They took me home about about 8:45 and we made plans for next time. I'm going to be a bit sad when they move to Seoul next month! Hopefully we can still get together every once in a while because I had such a great time tonight! Hyunjoo definitely spoils me and I feel very honored that she would welcome me into her home to play with her children. She is such a sweet lady and I have grown quite fond of her and her family!
Today at the end of school, Hyunjoo came to my desk and said that we would meet for duk boki at the kimbap shop that is in my building (not the same one I went to last night...) and then we would go back to her apartment to play with the kiddos, She also asked me how much I wanted her to pay me for playing with her kids. I didn't know what was appropriate, plus I felt weird that she wanted to pay me for playing games with her kids. It wasn't like I was babysitting them or taking care of them in any way. I was just having fun with them. So, I told her it was not necessary to pay me. We agreed that she would buy me dinner each time I hang out with her kids. Sounds like a plan to me!
When Hyunjoo was done with work, she called me and I wandered down to the kimbap shop to meet her. Waiting for me was duk boki, complete with ramen noodles, cooking on a table, and a roll of kimbap. My two favorite Korean foods, right at my disposal! We started eating and talking, enjoying each other's company. A couple of times, different students wandered into the shop as well, so we had a nice chat with them too. Then, Hyunjoo suggested we also try japaghetti, which is a traditionally Chinese dish that Koreans have adapted. It is like spaghetti in that it is noodles covered in sauce. Japaghetti entails ramen noodles cooked in a sort of sweet black bean sauce and ours was served topped with a fried egg. SOO GOOD! Japaghetti is the comfort food for Korean kids just as macaroni and cheese is for American children.
After we had consumed our fair share of tasty Korean fare and were both complaining about over eating and how full we felt, we headed to her apartment. I was greeted at the door by Evelyn and Samuel was playing hide'n'seek by himself. Both are adorable. Evelyn started playing the piano for me as Hyunjoo made me some tea to settle my stomach. On the tea saucer, she also gave me three swizzle sticks (those cracker sticks with chocolate filling...I can't think of the name...) I set my tea aside as we began to set up a game of Monopoly and Samuel kept eating my swizzle sticks. He was so adorable and I was too full to want them anyway, so I let it happen. As we were setting up monopoly, one of the kids knocked over Hyunjoo's tea cup, sending it to the floor. The handle broke from it and Evelyn and I cleaned up the mess. She was so quick to help me and was very careful. Such a cute girl!
We played Monopoly for quite a while and the kids caught onto the game very quickly. They are very, very smart kids, so full of energy and humor. We played for almost an hour, and it surprised me that they would have that long of an attention span. They took me home about about 8:45 and we made plans for next time. I'm going to be a bit sad when they move to Seoul next month! Hopefully we can still get together every once in a while because I had such a great time tonight! Hyunjoo definitely spoils me and I feel very honored that she would welcome me into her home to play with her children. She is such a sweet lady and I have grown quite fond of her and her family!
12.01.2010
A Couple Tid Bits...
Two Things:
First, tonight, I triumphed. Until tonight, I had yet to go to a new restaurant by myself and order food. I have always stayed in my kimbap and duk boki comfort zone, but after my (mostly) successful effort at ordering a pizza last night, I was flying pretty high this evening. I ventured down the street to a chain restaurant that specializes in Korean comfort food and order a roll of tuna kimbap and a roll of cheese kimbap (the usual kimbap ingredients, plus a Kraft single wrapped in a sesame leaf). No problems, no misunderstandings, just the food. NICE. Also, as I was walking out with my dinner in hand, I noticed that Kathy, my other neighbor who is from New Zealand and teaches at the middle school, was sitting at a table eating her rice. So, I joined her and we had a delightful chat. I haven't spent much time with her, so it was great to sit and chat and get to know each other a bit better. Such a great dinner from both the food and company standpoint!
Also, MTV has started airing commercials between scenes on their online episodes. What's that about, MTV? They're just minute segments of two commercials, but they're the same two commercials each time and one of them keeps saying the word awesomer, which my first year students could tell you is incorrect. Because awesome is a two syllable word, it's comparative version is more awesome. It almost hurts my ears to hear it :)
First, tonight, I triumphed. Until tonight, I had yet to go to a new restaurant by myself and order food. I have always stayed in my kimbap and duk boki comfort zone, but after my (mostly) successful effort at ordering a pizza last night, I was flying pretty high this evening. I ventured down the street to a chain restaurant that specializes in Korean comfort food and order a roll of tuna kimbap and a roll of cheese kimbap (the usual kimbap ingredients, plus a Kraft single wrapped in a sesame leaf). No problems, no misunderstandings, just the food. NICE. Also, as I was walking out with my dinner in hand, I noticed that Kathy, my other neighbor who is from New Zealand and teaches at the middle school, was sitting at a table eating her rice. So, I joined her and we had a delightful chat. I haven't spent much time with her, so it was great to sit and chat and get to know each other a bit better. Such a great dinner from both the food and company standpoint!
Also, MTV has started airing commercials between scenes on their online episodes. What's that about, MTV? They're just minute segments of two commercials, but they're the same two commercials each time and one of them keeps saying the word awesomer, which my first year students could tell you is incorrect. Because awesome is a two syllable word, it's comparative version is more awesome. It almost hurts my ears to hear it :)
Thanksgiving... In Korea
Thanksgiving Day didn't seem like Thanksgiving this year, not only because I had to work as if it was any normal Thursday (because, here, it was...), but also because I didn't spend it with my family, eating the traditional fare and playing cards and board games, though I was able to skype with Mom, Dad, Kirk, Kandie and Mike in Texas Thursday night, which made it feel a little more like a holiday :). Though I still haven't become homesick in the depressed and sad sense, I certainly miss the people, food and traditions that happen during this time of year. Saturday's Thanksgiving celebration was just what I needed to fill the slight void I felt.
Thirty one people gathered in Dionne and Scott's apartment, which was about a fifteen minute bus ride from E-Mart, to celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving. We had all of the usual food, save sweet potatoes, including a turkey they found at Costco that was imported from Australia! In addition to the turkey, we had two kinds of sage stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, two green salads, corn relish, rolls, a relish tray and cranberry sauce that someone found at a black market store in Seoul for five dollars a can! For dessert, we had pumpkin pie, Boston creme pie, bread pudding and a cranberry apple pie. Everything was so good! And, for those of you wondering about eating turkey for the first time in a couple of years, here's the verdict. I like meat in Korea because it's covered in sauce or other flavors. I will never enjoy the taste or texture of meat. I slathered the small piece I took with gravy.
I contributed a green salad to the dinner and dressed it with this delightful lemon vinaigrette dressing that Kirk and I made all the time last summer. Even though I had to make a couple of changes to the ingredients based on availability, prices and utensils, it turned out quite nicely! Here's the recipe. Try it. It's easy. And, it will blow your mind.
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 1/2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Whisk all ingredients in bowl to blend (or make in a jar and vigorously shake with the lid on). Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.) Makes about 3/4 cup.
Aside from eating, we played many, many games. Banana-grams (like scrabble), cribbage, euchre and a new guessing-type game called family were what occupied the rest of the day, as well as several deep conversations and singing Christmas carols. I made some new friends and am going to start gathering with them on Sunday nights for a dinner and worship time. Because everyone comes from a different religious background, though all are Christians, I feel very safe in opening up and exposing myself to this new group of people. I think it will be a great time for learning and expanding my faith and outlook. Perfect! The women also meet on Wednesday nights, so I think I'll start gathering with them after the new school year starts in March. I'm very excited to have been connected to this new community of people.
During the night on Friday, I was woken up by a full blown storm. Lightning, thunder, rain, etc. So, on Saturday morning, when I woke up to a light covering of snow, I was a little surprised. There was less than half an inch of snow, but it was very heavy and wet snow. I was surprised by people's reaction toward the snow. I guess it takes some getting used to since it's been several months since they last dealt with it...
Before I journeyed to the Thanksgiving gathering, I was taken out to lunch by Hyunjoo and her family. She has the most adorable six year old twins, Samuel and Evelyn and her husband, Bong Kye, is very sweet. They picked me up and had planned to go to one of their favorite restaurants, though I'm not really sure what the restaurant was to serve. I never found out, either, because they weren't open due to the snow. So, Samuel and Evelyn requested shabu shabu, so they took me to a newly opened chain restaurant that specializes in shabu shabu. It was amazing! This restaurant provided many more types of food than the other shabu shabu restaurant I have tried. Hyunjoo and I opted for a spicy broth. Instead of getting merely thinly sliced beef, greens and mushrooms, we got fish cake, a beef compound with the consistency of braunschweiger, mandu, radish and probably other things that I am forgetting, as well as noodles and rice at the end. The rice wasn't as much fried rice and rice porridge because they left more broth in the pot. It was yummy and warm on the chilly day. There was also a tasty salad and a very mild kimchi that was more like a relish tray than actual kimchi. It was sooooooooo good and cheaper than the other restaurant too! I'll be back, for sure! During lunch, Hyunjoo also asked if I would be willing to play with Samuel and Evelyn once a week. They were born in America and learned some English very early on, and continue to use it sparingly. Hyunjoo is concerned that they are losing what English they know, so she wants me to hang out with them, so that, at least once a week, they are forced to speak English. Tomorrow is our first "play date" and I'm pretty excited about it! I'm hoping to teach them to play Go Fish...
Last night, I ordered a pizza for the first time. I had it delivered to my apartment and I was so scared to order it! It took me about 15 minutes to psych myself up to order it and when I did, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was! A woman answered the phone and when she heard a foreigner on the other end, she put me on hold and found someone who spoke really great English to help me. I ordered a potato pizza (which had Korean bacon, which isn't cured like at home, small pieces of beef, potato wedges, corn, onion and a sauce that tasted like a seasoned mayonnaise on top). Since I called from my land line phone, I thought my address automatically appeared in their system, which was perfect because I don't know what my address is... When they asked if the address they told me was correct, I said, "Sure!" The wait time was supposed to be 35 minutes, but over an hour had gone by and I hadn't yet received my pizza. I thought the problem was that there are two buildings that have the same name and sure enough, I got a phone call asking me to verify my address. This time, I made sure to tell them I lived above the hapkido studio and about 15 minutes later, I heard a knock at the electronic door. I opened it to a pizza delivery man who looked a little agitated. Today at lunch, I was telling the lunch table about my pizza ordering experience and Toni said, "Oh. That was your pizza?" Last night, the pizza man walked through our electronic door that must have been left open for some reason and tried to deliver the pizza to Toni because the apartment number they had on the order was 402, which I thought was my number. It turns out I'm 403 but since I was a foreigner, they assumed it was Toni ordering the pizza. That poor delivery kid came to our building twice last night with the same pizza...
I'm excited to try different kinds of take out delivery here now that I know how it's done. It is super cheap because they don't have extra delivery fees and you don't tip them either. And, in the case of most delivery food, they serve it to you on actual plates instead of stryofoam boxes. When you're done with your meal, you leave your dished outside your door and they come back to retrieve them later. How crazy is that?!
On Monday, I wore dark skinny jeans, a light blue v-neck sweater, a pink, blue and teal plaid scarf and my Ugg boots. I was little surprised to have the following exchange while I was brushing my teeth after lunch:
Grace Teacher: Oh. Noelle Teacher. I like your outfit today.
Noelle (holding my toothpaste covered toothbrush, and speaking with a mouth full of toothpaste as I waited for an open sink): Thanks!
Grace Teacher: Look like cowboy today.
Noelle = baffled.
All week, I've been playing the same game with my students. We all stand in a circle with one person in the middle. They spin in a circle and when they stop, they point to someone and say a letter. The person that was pointed to sits down and the people on either side of her have to say a word that starts with that letter. (We also played a variation where they have to say a word that ends in that letter, which was much harder.) Whoever says it first wins and goes to the middle and whoever loses is out. Some of them get so into it and it's so funny! Sometimes they say a word over and over to prove they won. So, there's a chorus of EAR EAR EAR EAR EAR or TIGAH TIGAH TIGAH (tiger, but when they say it, the r sounds like an h). I also play, so when a student realizes they have to play against me, they often make funny noises because they're sure they're going to lose. What they don't know is that before I answer, I count to ten to give them a chance to think of something. Sometimes, I also can't think of a word that fits whatever variation we are playing. Whenever a student beats me, the whole class breaks into a low sounding OHHH as I sit down. It's so funny. Also, no third graders this week so far. They've had to attend various lectures and programs, so we even haven't seen them all week. I'm starting to miss the little boogers.
Now for the last bit of excitement: yesterday, I booked Jill's and my tickets to Vietnam!!!! We're going to spend eight days with our pal Maren in Hanoi, which is in northern Vietnam. We're sooo excited!
Thirty one people gathered in Dionne and Scott's apartment, which was about a fifteen minute bus ride from E-Mart, to celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving. We had all of the usual food, save sweet potatoes, including a turkey they found at Costco that was imported from Australia! In addition to the turkey, we had two kinds of sage stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, two green salads, corn relish, rolls, a relish tray and cranberry sauce that someone found at a black market store in Seoul for five dollars a can! For dessert, we had pumpkin pie, Boston creme pie, bread pudding and a cranberry apple pie. Everything was so good! And, for those of you wondering about eating turkey for the first time in a couple of years, here's the verdict. I like meat in Korea because it's covered in sauce or other flavors. I will never enjoy the taste or texture of meat. I slathered the small piece I took with gravy.
I contributed a green salad to the dinner and dressed it with this delightful lemon vinaigrette dressing that Kirk and I made all the time last summer. Even though I had to make a couple of changes to the ingredients based on availability, prices and utensils, it turned out quite nicely! Here's the recipe. Try it. It's easy. And, it will blow your mind.
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 1/2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Whisk all ingredients in bowl to blend (or make in a jar and vigorously shake with the lid on). Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.) Makes about 3/4 cup.
Aside from eating, we played many, many games. Banana-grams (like scrabble), cribbage, euchre and a new guessing-type game called family were what occupied the rest of the day, as well as several deep conversations and singing Christmas carols. I made some new friends and am going to start gathering with them on Sunday nights for a dinner and worship time. Because everyone comes from a different religious background, though all are Christians, I feel very safe in opening up and exposing myself to this new group of people. I think it will be a great time for learning and expanding my faith and outlook. Perfect! The women also meet on Wednesday nights, so I think I'll start gathering with them after the new school year starts in March. I'm very excited to have been connected to this new community of people.
During the night on Friday, I was woken up by a full blown storm. Lightning, thunder, rain, etc. So, on Saturday morning, when I woke up to a light covering of snow, I was a little surprised. There was less than half an inch of snow, but it was very heavy and wet snow. I was surprised by people's reaction toward the snow. I guess it takes some getting used to since it's been several months since they last dealt with it...
Before I journeyed to the Thanksgiving gathering, I was taken out to lunch by Hyunjoo and her family. She has the most adorable six year old twins, Samuel and Evelyn and her husband, Bong Kye, is very sweet. They picked me up and had planned to go to one of their favorite restaurants, though I'm not really sure what the restaurant was to serve. I never found out, either, because they weren't open due to the snow. So, Samuel and Evelyn requested shabu shabu, so they took me to a newly opened chain restaurant that specializes in shabu shabu. It was amazing! This restaurant provided many more types of food than the other shabu shabu restaurant I have tried. Hyunjoo and I opted for a spicy broth. Instead of getting merely thinly sliced beef, greens and mushrooms, we got fish cake, a beef compound with the consistency of braunschweiger, mandu, radish and probably other things that I am forgetting, as well as noodles and rice at the end. The rice wasn't as much fried rice and rice porridge because they left more broth in the pot. It was yummy and warm on the chilly day. There was also a tasty salad and a very mild kimchi that was more like a relish tray than actual kimchi. It was sooooooooo good and cheaper than the other restaurant too! I'll be back, for sure! During lunch, Hyunjoo also asked if I would be willing to play with Samuel and Evelyn once a week. They were born in America and learned some English very early on, and continue to use it sparingly. Hyunjoo is concerned that they are losing what English they know, so she wants me to hang out with them, so that, at least once a week, they are forced to speak English. Tomorrow is our first "play date" and I'm pretty excited about it! I'm hoping to teach them to play Go Fish...
Last night, I ordered a pizza for the first time. I had it delivered to my apartment and I was so scared to order it! It took me about 15 minutes to psych myself up to order it and when I did, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was! A woman answered the phone and when she heard a foreigner on the other end, she put me on hold and found someone who spoke really great English to help me. I ordered a potato pizza (which had Korean bacon, which isn't cured like at home, small pieces of beef, potato wedges, corn, onion and a sauce that tasted like a seasoned mayonnaise on top). Since I called from my land line phone, I thought my address automatically appeared in their system, which was perfect because I don't know what my address is... When they asked if the address they told me was correct, I said, "Sure!" The wait time was supposed to be 35 minutes, but over an hour had gone by and I hadn't yet received my pizza. I thought the problem was that there are two buildings that have the same name and sure enough, I got a phone call asking me to verify my address. This time, I made sure to tell them I lived above the hapkido studio and about 15 minutes later, I heard a knock at the electronic door. I opened it to a pizza delivery man who looked a little agitated. Today at lunch, I was telling the lunch table about my pizza ordering experience and Toni said, "Oh. That was your pizza?" Last night, the pizza man walked through our electronic door that must have been left open for some reason and tried to deliver the pizza to Toni because the apartment number they had on the order was 402, which I thought was my number. It turns out I'm 403 but since I was a foreigner, they assumed it was Toni ordering the pizza. That poor delivery kid came to our building twice last night with the same pizza...
I'm excited to try different kinds of take out delivery here now that I know how it's done. It is super cheap because they don't have extra delivery fees and you don't tip them either. And, in the case of most delivery food, they serve it to you on actual plates instead of stryofoam boxes. When you're done with your meal, you leave your dished outside your door and they come back to retrieve them later. How crazy is that?!
On Monday, I wore dark skinny jeans, a light blue v-neck sweater, a pink, blue and teal plaid scarf and my Ugg boots. I was little surprised to have the following exchange while I was brushing my teeth after lunch:
Grace Teacher: Oh. Noelle Teacher. I like your outfit today.
Noelle (holding my toothpaste covered toothbrush, and speaking with a mouth full of toothpaste as I waited for an open sink): Thanks!
Grace Teacher: Look like cowboy today.
Noelle = baffled.
All week, I've been playing the same game with my students. We all stand in a circle with one person in the middle. They spin in a circle and when they stop, they point to someone and say a letter. The person that was pointed to sits down and the people on either side of her have to say a word that starts with that letter. (We also played a variation where they have to say a word that ends in that letter, which was much harder.) Whoever says it first wins and goes to the middle and whoever loses is out. Some of them get so into it and it's so funny! Sometimes they say a word over and over to prove they won. So, there's a chorus of EAR EAR EAR EAR EAR or TIGAH TIGAH TIGAH (tiger, but when they say it, the r sounds like an h). I also play, so when a student realizes they have to play against me, they often make funny noises because they're sure they're going to lose. What they don't know is that before I answer, I count to ten to give them a chance to think of something. Sometimes, I also can't think of a word that fits whatever variation we are playing. Whenever a student beats me, the whole class breaks into a low sounding OHHH as I sit down. It's so funny. Also, no third graders this week so far. They've had to attend various lectures and programs, so we even haven't seen them all week. I'm starting to miss the little boogers.
Now for the last bit of excitement: yesterday, I booked Jill's and my tickets to Vietnam!!!! We're going to spend eight days with our pal Maren in Hanoi, which is in northern Vietnam. We're sooo excited!
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