My second and third weeks have been pretty interesting...nothing like the encounters I had week one but still pretty crazy....
I was given a toothbrush because they want us to brush our teeth after lunch. Kind of weird going into a messy bathroom with little kids running around and brushing my teeth, but I am not about to blatantly ignore something as "important" as that is right after I've begun working.
And bathroom doors are wide open. Anybody can watch a guy pee along the stall wall, which is kinda creepy. The girls' bathroom is open too, but they have stalls to protect themselves from 'peeping Sung-il Jin's'. There is also no form of drying your hands in the bathrooms, and since I always am washing my hands to get childrens' dirt off, its usually a problem. And in Korea soap dispensers are rare; there is only a bar of soap attached to a pole coming out of the wall. Not quite soap-on-a-rope, but awfully close. And you are not supposed to flush soiled toilet paper. You are to put it in a wastebasket next to each toilet. I have yet to do that, though, and if I get caught I'll obviously plead ignorance. But seriously, I think its in the school's best interest to let me flush them. I haven't been able to digest these spicy foods as well as I could have, and I wouldn't want any kids telling on me that I've been stinking up the bathroom. (Oh and I recently found out that there is a bathroom for teachers! Everytime I've needed to use it, however, the door has been locked...)
And as far as I know every teacher eats lunch at the school. The lunch can be hit or miss, I've liked it about 50% of the time...only when they serve something that is actually filling as opposed to a bunch of pathetic seaweed and tofu samples. Gross. And there is kimchi every single meal everyday...which is nothing more than spiced cabbage. I have tried to eat a little bit most meals, but it is honestly one of the grossest things I have ever voluntarily eaten. Radishes are also a huge part of Koreans' diet. But after eating them I understand why neither I nor most Americans regularly eat radishes. They usually taste similar to kimchi, but are a little easier to stomach.
Every morning at my school at 8:45 AM "Let it Be" by the Beatles is played over the P.A. system. I was told that this was because the principle really believes in the students learning English, and so thats one more way to incorporate the language into the everyday schedule. Whats weird is that I am responsible to be the lone native English speaker in the biggest elementary school (over 1700 I found out, larger than Knox) in the biggest suburb of one of the biggest cities in the world...searching for more superlatives...
All persons inside the school are required to wear sandals. They say its for comfort, but I don't buy that, especially when they say I have to get some. I secretly think its a ploy to make themselves feel taller. I'm going to get my very own pair later this week! Hopefully they have sandals made by LUGZ?
For some reason Dunkin Donuts is rarely open in the morning.
After volleyball last week the whole crew went out to eat at a traditional Korean place. I knew I was screwed with the seating again, but fortunately some of the teachers provided a wall that I could sit against so that I could stretch my legs. This was immediately after volleyball, where I had been sweating my balls off. Didn't have time to shower. So we eat, and out comes a few dishes containing a dark nutty looking thing, similar to walnuts I believe. Great, methinks, I can eat walnuts.
When I inquired about what they might be, I was told "pupa". Hmmmmm. When I hear that word I think of some sort of insect larva or something but couldn't quite put my finger on it. They told me it was a great source of protein, and they were all chowing down on this stuff so I figured I would give it a shot. It didn't taste good, in fact it tasted like a combination of poop and dirt. I then asked Kyun exactly what it was, and he typed it into his translator on his phone. "Silkworm pupa" was the result....Oh great! I love worms! Below is what they looked like, except the ones I ate were a lot less plump and soaked in water:
Funny thing is that the taste was dead on! Just as I thought....poop and dirt. Aren't worms the best!?!? I couldn't believe these people.
After dinner all the men ditched the women to go play pool. Except in Korea you don't play normal billiards, you play what is called "four ball":
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I had a bit of a hard time adjusting, but I see a lot of potential there for me.
Anyway, that whole scene was weird. So we left there and then after getting a couple beers some of the guys wanted to go to karaoke. I'm not the biggest fan, especially when I am relatively sober, but had no other choice really. So we went in and sat down. At karaoke you go into a building with lots of different small rooms where you can sing and eat and drink and be loud without any interference from other parties. My friends all start singing these really passionate, slow Korean songs. I couldn't tell if they were serious or if they were playing a trick on me. I mean, these guys had good voices and were dead sober---which scared the hell out of me. They asked me to pick a song but there weren't any that I felt comfortable with. I had to choose one at the last minute and went with Metallica's "Fade to Black". Wow, you should have seen the look on these guys' faces. They probably thought I was an absolute nut--especially singing that on the heels of their slow Korean love songs. Fortunately I was able to save my standing with them by doing a rip rousing rendition of Nickelback a few minutes later. Phew, I was back on top.
I was told at the last minute (which is not an unusual form of communication in Korea) on Thursday that I will be the new basketball coach. Out of the blue, actually. So I threw some shorts on, went outside, gave each 4th grader an American name that I could remember, and we played basketball. And I thought it was fun playing against 8th graders at the last school I taught at! The rims here are maybe 9 feet high on a good day. I might start calling myself LeBron for these kids' sake, its ridiculous.
And finally, I have brought "the pound" to the Far East. All these kids love saying "hallo teacher tighe/meester tighe" and giving me high fives, so I introduced the pound and they love it. Saves me a good 2 minutes of high fives between classes.
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