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Tuna Dinner
Just the main course of our fabulous sushi dinnerIt's been forever since I've posted so I thought I'd sit down and write something.
Daniel has been gone since last Sunday to work the range. He will be gone for another 2-3 weeks. I have filled my weekend time with going to the pool, walking around Dongducheon, and going to dinner with friends. On Friday we had a company dinner since two teachers are leaving in the next few days. We went to a restaurant where you cook your own food, but what was ordered for us looked like pork and it was 50% fat. As much as I love meat, I just can't eat anything that fatty. So I grilled onions, mushrooms and tofu and took full advantage of not having to pay for my own alcohol. Soon we were taking shots of SoJu, drinking Cass (a Korean beer comparable to Keystone) and Raspberry wine (I will HAVE to bring some of this home, its too good).
After dinner the foreign teachers (that would be us) went a few bus stops away to a Tae Kwon Do party. Several of the teachers here have been taking Tae Kwon Do lessons and so the school owner, a couple
instructors, and a few other teachers from other schools got together on the rooftop of a restaurant to hang out. It was a beautiful night, and the rooftop was covered in gravel/rocks, with potted trees and rice lights- very relaxing. I met a girl from Ireland who is teaching at another school. She is leaving in a couple months and will spend 3 months traveling from country to country before she goes home. Needless to say, I adored her accent, and since she is doing something Daniel and I are in the midst of planning, I asked her a million questions. I made sure to get her email so as to keep in touch.
Since it got to be very late and there was no way I'd catch the train home, I hitched a ride with some of the Korean instructors who happen to live in my area. They were really nice and I took full advantage of their attention by asking all sorts of questions, like "Why don't you stop at red lights?" They said they will only stop if police are around. I explained that in the U.S. you must pay a lot of money for a
Stacey and I
At the LCI dinner- I found out she's a fan of "Lost" so we talked about our favorite episodes! ticket and if you get too many you can lose your license.
Last night I had dinner with Kelly (whose husband is gone to the range as well) and Patricia (English teacher dating a Air Force guy). We had an amazing tuna dinner. It started out with rice porridge, then they brought 6 or 7 dishes, like seaweed salad, oysters, shrimp, crab, greens with spicy dressing, california rolls, octopus, raw calamari, and some other unidentifiable items. Then they brought out this amazing platter of tuna, all different cuts. We could barely get 1/3 eaten. What a waste! But there was more food coming- tempura vegetable and crab, sushi cones, and soup. It was more than worth the $35 a person- I just wish we would have eaten more of it!
This past week we took our students to the African Museum. It was interesting for several reasons. First, the kids learned absolutely nothing. We didn't have the chance to explain anything. Instead, we were ushered quickly from one photo op to the next. There are professional photographers who come on every field trip and to every birthday party. I will explain about birthday parties in a minute. After
Raspberry Wine!
Silver pouring raspberry wine for the table about 20 minutes in the museum we sat outside and ate snack, immediately followed by lunch (??) then watched the children play. There were several African women sitting at a picnic bench and a few of my girls went up to them to say hello. This was very surprising to me, since seeing anyone outside their own race is extremely odd to them. One of my girls cried and clung to me when she saw a black man.
Something that really annoys me here is how everything is based on image- at least at my school. The second Wed. of each month we celebrate birthdays after lunch. Each classroom is set up so the birthday student(s) can sit in front of a cake, presents, and candy and will have their photos taken. Over and over. My first and only experience with a birthday so far was for Janet. First, we had to wait 40 minutes for the photographer to come, so 12 five-year-olds had to sit in front of a cake and bags of candy, unable to touch it. Then the poor girl had to blow out her candles three times, have the photographer's aide pulling and prodding and
African Museum
My students fascinated by African people fixing her hair, and kept re-posing so that he could get the perfect shot.
On Friday, I was in the main office on my lunch break when one of the teachers busts into the room, cries out "Erin! Come! Help!" then grabs my hand and pulls me upstairs to my classroom. I thought something horrible had happened. Instead I find my classroom filled with students who aren't mine, each with a notebook and pencil in hand and photographers ready to take pictures. They wanted me to ask questions, call on students and smile, so they could get images for the LCI website. Not only was I not asked ahead of time (or at all), but shouldn't the children's parents give consent? Everything seems so odd and the English teachers are never given any kind of warning or heads up about anything that happens.
I titled this blog "Baby One More Time" after a song here by a girl group called Jewelry. I hear it everywhere and my kids sing it all the time while doing the dance. Go on "You Tube" and watch the video- the song is pretty addicting.
Hope all are well!
P.S. I
Me and My Class
My eyes are half closed- the sun was bright!! found out that that "Peace" sign held up in all the photos actually means "V" for Victory.
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Mom
non-member comment
Hi, Sweetie, We're in Portsmouth NH for the wedding and Kathy T (who doesn't have a computer) got to see your blog for the first time. She really enjoyed it. Glad you're getting out while Daniel is gone. Your kids are adorable, but wish everyone could see them like Dad and I did - in a live video feed. They're the cutest! Your pictures are fantastic. Keep them coming!