10:30 Sat in on an English class, to
get a feel for what it’s like. The American teacher said that these
second-grade boys are about the lowest level, so it was good to get a look at what
that kind of class is like. We spent 45 whole minutes just learning the
phrases “Have you ever____” and the responses “Yes, I have” and “No, I haven’t”.
The boys were rowdy and sleepy at the same time, but they weren’t bad. One of
them had me count his play-money for the game they were playing.
11:30 YH-Teacher bought me shoes! I
have cute shoes to wear at school, now! They’re yellow and green with little
flowers on the top. I had been wearing these worn, functional brown mens’ shoes
that the school gives to visitors. YH-Teacher noticed, and she bought me my own
pair of ladies shoes. I squealed a bit when I put them on, because it was such
an unexpected surprise. I’m getting a present for YH-Teacher tomorrow, because
she’s the best.
1:30 Had lunch outside of school with
the other English teachers—it was a fish stew restaurant, and it was great. I
swear I go into this mental happy place of idyllic food consumption at Korean
restaurants—at mealtimes here I’m on cloud nine. In traditional Korean
restaurants, they only specialize in a few dishes, so you pick a restaurant because
you like the 6-8 things they serve, not because of their variety. It’s not like American food chains,
where you can go to a steak restaurant and order steak, chicken, shrimp, and
pork chops, and still get chicken nuggets and fries for the kids. But when each meal comes with about 9 side dishes, you don't lack for variety in taste.
For group
outings to restaurants, whoever’s in charge orders food for everyone, then we
all sit down on flat cushions at a low table. In the center of each table,
there is a heating range, upon which sits a simmering pot of something. In my
first day in Sejong, the pot was full of Korean beef stew. Today, I ate from
two separate pots of tang (탕) or soup, each with a different
kind of fish in it. After I’d eaten a bowl of each, further questioning
revealed that bowl number one contained cod:
The Average Joe of Edible Fish.
And bowl two contained agu. When
our eldest teacher couldn’t tell me and the other American the English word for
agu, we looked it up on our phones. Brace yourself.
THIS IS
AGU, DESTROYER OF WORLDS.
I'm glad I didn't see a picture of it before I ate it. It looks like sentient beef jerky, but it tastes pretty good. This is the most pleasant-looking picture I could find--Google "goosefish" for a more accurate idea of the fish's original form. We had super-strong,
super-sweet coffee to finish dinner, and JY-Teacher tells me that this is Korean-style
coffee---it’s basically exactly how I took my coffee at home. Then B-teacher
bought a few of us ice cream, too. The ice cream comes in squeezy packets that keep your hands cold while you eat, which is a great product design choice for summertime.
I keep
meeting faculty members with great English, though many of them didn’t speak to
me on day 1. I have two brand new potential female friends in the office,
including JY-Teacher, who may be able to help me find a post office. She and I had some great talks today
The boys
are still yelling compliments at me, like it’s their mission in life to keep my
self-esteem at 1000%. I want to tell them how precious they are, but I still don't know what's precisely appropriate to say to them. English teachers who have been here for a few years keep telling me to act tough and not smile and not be their friend when classes start, but I don't think that sort of dour attitude is very godly...there must be some way to be kind to a 12-year-old without acting as if you yourself were twelve. There must be a way to smile and laugh without being a pushover. I'll pray that the Lord helps me strike a balance.
Oh, and here's a picture of the juice bottle I was given yesterday for helping with a phone call.
