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Published: September 14th 2008
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When I got to school I mentioned my flood to Mrs. Ahn and she said she would get a repair man right away. She made a couple of calls and said he would be there at 6pm and I would just give my key to her and she would run over with him. I said that would be fantastic and I really appreciated it. I then went upstairs and got ready for class.
Today was singing day for all of the elementary classes. My Kinders did their morning seat work and then for the last 40 minutes, we sang “The Ants Go Marching” about 50 times with the other classes. Before I knew it, it was time for me to go to lunch! So at 11:40, all of the foreign teachers left. Some went to McDonald's, some went to other restaurants, and some, like me went home. Joni walked with me and asked where I was yesterday at 1 because I missed my gym class that I was supposed to teach. I had a little freak out moment, but then remembered what I was doing. I told her that Mrs. Ahn told me to be at my apartment at 1pm
for the maid. I just assumed she had either canceled it or had it covered. Joni then understood because things are funny here. Whatever Mrs. Ahn tells you to do, you do, even if you have a class. She said that it’s very different from America because we would never think on missing a class. I got to my apartment so I temporarily said bye to Joni and went up for some lunch. I was then off again to school. It was Thursday, so I had Free Play with Cookie. In-Suk was there and she said they could either free play or draw. I decided they needed to sit and concentrate because they were pretty wild, and for some reason, drawing relaxes them and they all pay attention. So I took requests from the Peanut Gallery and they wanted to draw a butterfly. So I did a step-by-step butterfly. It was kind of like the old show “Pappy Drew-It,” except I didn’t look like a grizzly old cowboy (Google it if you can’t remember 😉 ). They did surprisingly well. Instead of crayons, they use oil pastels here, and their crayons are similar to colored pencils. I hope to go
to the Man Won (Dollar) Store and get my hands on some, as well as other school supplies.
While they were drawing, In-Suk pulled me out of the room and told me she had to show me something. We walked to the common area on the 4th floor and she went to a pile of boxes that had been delivered. She moved the top box and pointed to the second box and said, “Apples for you from Jin-Sun for Chusok.” I was kind of taken aback because it was such a large gift. Chusok (Pron. Chew-SOCK) is the Korean Thanksgiving and it is their largest holiday besides the Lunar New Year. Every year, schools take off many days for this holiday. Public schools get Friday through Tuesday and our Hogwan gets Monday off. The foreign teachers said that prices spike at this time because everyone wants to get gifts, and here it is not the thought that counts as in Western culture. Here in Korea, the size of the gift is directly proportional to your appreciation of the person. So the bigger and more expensive the gift, the more appreciated the person is to you. They like to give
gift sets like the ones we give at Christmas time, but instead of meats and cheeses or perfumes, they like to give Spam, specialty rice cakes, and expensive boxes of fruit. I was lucky to get a delicious box of 14 huge apples! They taste so good. They’re freshly picked and crisp and juicy. It’s nothing like I’ve ever tasted. After my drawing class was over, I carted my box downstairs so I wouldn’t forget it and Tom, who is British was in the lounge and said (in his accent), “You’ve been here 10 minutes and you’re already getting gifts?!” I just laughed and said, “I’m that good.” Then Tom mentioned that I had already had a parent in on Tuesday and I wasn’t there to meet him. I ran through my mind and remembered that it was Damien’s father, whom I met at Gymshule. Later in the day, Tom got a beautiful handmade paper box with specialty rice cakes in it. The box was then wrapped in a pink silk cloth which is very common, I hear. It was so beautiful and I asked where you would get something like that and the teachers told me about a market
near Hanok Village, where we will be going tomorrow. Joni received a Dunkin Doughnuts brownie cake that had baked apples in it. It was also very good.
At 6pm, Mrs. Ahn came and got my apartment key and went over with the repair man. Not even a half hour later, she returned saying that he could find nothing wrong and she would come to visit me after school at about 8pm. I said that would be fine because I’m not meeting with people until 8:30 or 9. So after school, I went home and had a yogurt for something to hold me over since we were going to a bar later for dinner. Mrs. Ahn came at 8:30 and tried to instruct me on how to use the washer:
1. Throw the hose out the door. Check! Did it!
2. Push the green button and then the red button. Check! Did it!
Then she thought she was done, and I was like, “You have to hook up the water.” So I pointed to the hose and where to screw it on. Then she pressed the green and red button and I said, “Now you have to turn on the
water. Turn the lever out there.” So when she did, water sprayed everywhere! We turned the water off and I tightened the hose to the washer and we turned it on again. Water started filling the tub and I knelt down on the floor, and sure enough, water was leaking out the front bottom of the washer. Apparently, the repair man didn’t hook the water up to the machine! So she said she would get me a new washer immediately, but it might be next week before I get it because of the holiday. I said that would be fine and there is no rush because I have plenty of clothes and if I need to do an emergency wash, I have plenty of friends who I think would gladly loan me their washers. She said I was very generous and then went on her way.
After that I went down the street and turned the corner toward J.R.’s Pub. It is the foreigner bar that everyone frequents on Thursday night for Ladies Night. I met Joni, Pauline, and her daughter there, and at the time, they were the only ones there. They said they had ordered the “Joni
Pizza” and some chicken and it should be up shortly. We had some good conversation and then the food came. The pizza was excellent and the chicken was delicious. Joni said if I wanted this pizza, all I would have to say is, “Joni Pizza” and they would know exactly what I wanted! By 10, the bar started to fill up, and it was the biggest gathering of foreigners I had yet to see! There were about 30 or 40 of us, and we were all teachers in one school or another. It was nice to mingle with people who shared the same interests and language. I talked to many different people and met some new friends. Hopefully, I’ll get more comfortable here and talk to many more of them because I’m sure they’re all nice people. I talked to a girl named Angela or Andrea for quite a while, swapping stories and such, and we were both getting pretty tired, so we decided to leave at the same time and then go our separate ways. I got home about 11:30 or midnight and managed to catch Mom and Dad before I went to bed, which was nice, but since
I was so tired, I cut it a little short and got some shut-eye.
Until next time! An-nyeong-hi-kye-se-yo!
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Aunt Marshy
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yummy
Glad you are meeting people. Learning and living a different culture is so rewarding and interesting. HUGS!!!