Next I arrived at school in my grade 6 English classroom. This is where my desk is and so it's my home base. A grade 5 student came into the class, highly unusual. She called me over and proceeded to give me a paper corsage. I was then told that the following day, Wednesday (aka today), was teacher day, but since the kids would have no classes on Wednesday, we would get tokens on Tuesday. So she had bravely found her way to my room just to give it to me! I name many students in my head since I don't know their Korean names. She is "Braces" for obvious reasons. I had no idea Braces liked me so much! What a cutie.
Next I had my first class. While I was fiddling around on the computer, then said "Teacher! Come here!" and pointed to the front of the room. I walked over, and then suddenly they all got up, walked to the front of the room, bowed so low they were one the floor, and in unison said "Thank you teacher!!" I almost died. I thanked them back, saying how lucky I was to have such amazing students, and hoped they would understand my sincerity.. and I think they did! I was later given a letter from a girl in that class that said the following:
"Maybe you were very surprised by our surprised bow! You loved it? I think it was quite fine! I'm really happy! Because you are my teacher and teach us very fun and happy play games. Your jokes I really love your everything. I want to meet you after I graduate. U kuje ti send you mail very often. Will you like it? Happy teacher's days!"
I died. I got another from the same class that said "Teacher is everything perfect." Can't really top that now can we?
My other classes were much more normal, once even included some drama that made a girl cry (I never know what's happening) but it was still pretty magical. I got a few more little gifts at lunch time, including a bouquet from a class!
Today, Wednesday, was actual teacher's day. There were no classes, and instead I went to a big interscholastic teacher's sports day! There was a yunnori tournament indoors and a volleyball tournament outside. I must admit yunnori was super confusing, but still amusing to watch.
Not being on any teams, my day consisted of marathon eating. I really think I might explode. SO much food!!! After a delicious picnic brunch of some kind of fatty pig meat (I thought it was trotters, but was told it wasn't this time. Something about meat from the bone? Who knows..), we went to a traditional Korean place for lunch. Lunch was never ending and none of the food was particularly yummy for me (I love Korean food.. but cold pickled stuff and raw fish are boring and not very savory to my pallet) but did include some super strange looking frilly... mushrooms? I really couldn't tell you. Some kind of non animal frilly things that kind of tasted like coffee! I ate a bunch, and as I'm less shy than I was, didn't even attempt to tackle the massive pile of rice I was given.
Not being on any teams, my day consisted of marathon eating. I really think I might explode. SO much food!!! After a delicious picnic brunch of some kind of fatty pig meat (I thought it was trotters, but was told it wasn't this time. Something about meat from the bone? Who knows..), we went to a traditional Korean place for lunch. Lunch was never ending and none of the food was particularly yummy for me (I love Korean food.. but cold pickled stuff and raw fish are boring and not very savory to my pallet) but did include some super strange looking frilly... mushrooms? I really couldn't tell you. Some kind of non animal frilly things that kind of tasted like coffee! I ate a bunch, and as I'm less shy than I was, didn't even attempt to tackle the massive pile of rice I was given.
Afterwards we went back to watch our men's volleyball team in semi finals. It was SO exciting, I really wanted them to win. They all looked very dashing in their uniforms. I almost melted away in the heat in my very modest covering outfit, but I stuck it through and stood in the sun to cheer our guys on. Sadly, they lost their second set 11-15, and then game was over. Bummer.
An amusing interaction was when a woman who I don't recognize me sat next to me and said "N, you are good girl. Good girl."(The way Koreans with limited English pronounce my name sounds like N). It was very confusing. But I think maybe my decision to stay and watch the volleyball game made people happy? I never know!!
An amusing interaction was when a woman who I don't recognize me sat next to me and said "N, you are good girl. Good girl."(The way Koreans with limited English pronounce my name sounds like N). It was very confusing. But I think maybe my decision to stay and watch the volleyball game made people happy? I never know!!
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| Throwing amusingly, and I believe purposely, awkward yunnori logs. I just cheered when others did. |
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| Lunch.. about 10 other courses were added throughout the meal. |
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| What are these! I have no idea. I was sitting far from anyone who could speak English. So crazy looking! The brown one tasted like coffee, and the white tasted like.. hmm.. nothing really. Chewiness. |
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| Raw fish. Wish bones in it. Meh. |
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| Sweltering volleyball game. I couldn't help but wonder if the Koreans' heads were super hot from their jet black hair. Most people wore pants, hats, and jackets, to hide from the sun. In capri leggings, a light dress, and a light cardi to cover my shoulders, I literally almost melted. Koreans are so heat resistant!! |
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