Food!

Recently, I've had a few new experiences with food.

There's a place by my work called "2900" and they boast that everything on their menu is less than 3,000 won. (Which it isn't.) But it's not bad for how cheap it actually is! Jin and I went because they advertised Korean curry... but apparently they had run out of it for the day. So... I got "omu rice" (오무라이스)--which is basically a rice omelet with some chicken on the side. And Jin got "deop-bob" (덮밥) which was a bit like fried rice, with veggies and meat.

Then yesterday, Jin took me to this Korean flea market! It was pretty amazing and so funny because all I could think of was my mom and how she would've loved it. haha.

But there was this guy at the entrance by the food tents, and he was making this "snack." It looked like a feathery cookie! It's called "kkool-tae-rae" and means "bunch of honey." Jin said it used to be a favorite snack of the king. I was curious, so I went over and the guy (with Jin translating) explained to me how he made it. I had forgotten my camera so I couldn't film it and I was so upset with myself because this was so cool! BUT being the resourceful person I am, I found it on youtube!

Step 1: takes a small ball of dough and throws it into this big bucket of cornstarch
Step 2: molds the dough into a small donut shape
Step 3: heats up the dough with his body heat so it's malliable (otherwise it's as hard as a rock!)
Step 4: then--almost like magic--twists the dough and doubles it so many times over!
Step 5: breaks the thousands of little feathery strings into smaller chunks
Step 6: fills it with a honey/nut mix that tastes almost like a sweet peanut butter!

Yum! ^^

Ups and Downs

Work has been a little bit of a rollercoaster lately.

Teaching has been great--the usual good points and not-so-good points. However, making the textbooks for the school as been a pain in the neck. Or something else. Ugh.

First, we edit the Reading and Listening sections for the month. Then we record them at the studio (which is a tedious 3 to 4 hours). Then we edit the Speaking and Writing sections for the month. We rewrite the sample reading for the Speaking and Writing parts, and create a whole new grammar section. Yikes! The deadlines are pretty close together... we only have about one week for the R/L and two weeks for the S/W.

What's especially hard is going from writing the books on our "breaks" from teaching, to teaching classes and dealing with the kids. On one hand, it's good to write the material we're teaching... on the other hand, we don't have much say on what goes into the material! So we see the flaws while teaching, but can't edit it much... Frustrating to say the least. What is also very frustrating is that some of the students in the level can't do the what their level books say they should be able to do. *sigh*

So when I did the books pretty slowly last month, my boss called me in and "nicely" asked me why. I expressed my frustrations but I don't think I quite made myself clear. Or it didn't quite translate. I don't know. After giving it another month to try the books out, next month I have the option of only teaching if I want. Hmm... it's tempting. But the conversation ended on a testy note... working slowly makes it seem like I don't care about my work. Bah.

I care about teaching the kids, not about freakin English grammar.

Festival Frenzy

So that's the story folks. All that practice for the festival down the drain. As Jin says... "Welcome to Korea." Ha.

Good news: They were stressing us out, so if we had gone anyway... it would've not been very good.

More good news: I'll do the performance for a party in 2 weeks, so I'll eventually get to do it!

Bad news: All dressed up and no where to dance.

2nd Frustration

Ok... one more thing I do NOT like about the Korean "private education" system:

If you belong in a level 3 class, but you're in Middle School... they will stick you with the rest of the other Middle School kids who are in level 8 JUST because it would be "shameful" or "embarrassing" for you to be in the level with the kids who are 7 years younger than you. Where you belong.

UGH.

On the one hand, I feel bad for them... it's their parents who are doing this to them, and they don't have much say. On the other hand, the freakin hogwon should grow some balls and politely say "Sir, your child is not English-savvy." Humph. I wish.

Teaching is like...

Even though I really do enjoy teaching... teaching English has it's own set of difficulties. Which, once I get past how cute the kids can be, are quickly made apparent. Sometimes teaching is like playing charades. Except more frustrating. Mostly because it's even more important that you understand what they kids are trying to say because you're trying to help them. Class the other day went something like this:

Kid 1: Teacher, what is [hand gesture relating to fighting]?
Me: Fighting?
Kid 1: No, teacher. [Another hand gesture--not as clear this time]
Me: Um... bully?
**Kid 2 now jumps in**
Kid 2: No, teacher! Like at baseball... [dances around crazy] when music plays!
Me: Dancing?
Kid 1: [Frustrated sigh] NO, teacher! This! [Runs down the middle of the classroom]
Me: Running? Playing? Soccer?
Kids 1 and 2: No...
Me: [Absolutely confused and not sure what the heck they are talking about.]

Yeah, I definitely need to learn Korean. Which, on that note, I'm getting "private lessons!" haha. Jin is helping me learn the alphabet, and Brendan downloaded Rossetta Stone Korean onto my computer. So... hopefully I'll catch on quick...

Favorite class

I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but it's really hard not to with these kids. They're just so good and cute! They're my Level 3-ers. They're just learning how to make paragraph stories and complete sentences, and use words like "happy" and "baseball" and "school" a lot. haha.

Here's a little example of how good they are...

I pulled out my camera and they started yelling for "jumping pictures." haha. Well, how can you say no to faces like these?

Rachel in the front, Sally next to her, Dean spreading his arms wide (their english names, of course)

Danny is my rambunctious student... he's the one on the table. (But he's a really good kid)

Teacher and students!

Tomorrow is a Korean holiday called "Children's Day" and kids get gifts from their parents! Well, my gift to my students was a game day! (Mostly because they were so good and finished their work early!) So here's a little snippit of me teaching them "Go Fish."

The 14th

So Jin told me that the 14th of every month is "special" and marked by some couples holiday... that merchants made up, of course! (And I thought America was bad...)

Well, I was definitely intrigued by this... especially since Jin couldn't remember what the days were marked by. Needless to say, I decided to do a little research on my own and this is what I've found:

	May 14th	"Rose Day" ★ On this day, couples exchange roses.
	June 14th	"Kiss Day" ★ Kiss everyone you meet on this day.
	July 14th	"Silver Day" ★ On this day, people exchange silver accessories.
	August 14th	"Green Day" ★ On this day, couples seek nature and relax while singles drink Soju to drown their loneliness.
	September 14th	"Photo Day" ★ On this day, take a picture together with your significant other in a romantic place and put it in a special place to look at.
	October 14th	"Wine Day" ★ On this day, enjoy wine with someone special.
	November 14th	"Movie Day" ★ On this day, couples go to watch a movie at the cinema.
	December 14th	"Hug Day" ★ On this day, couples hug each other in the winter to chase away the cold.

These are in addition to the more popular ones, being: Valentines Day (Feb 14th), White Day (March 14th) and Black Day (April 14th).

V-day differs a little here. The girls get the guys things--like chocolate. And then White Day is when the guys get the girls things--like candles and candy. Then Black Day is for all the single people! They get together and eat black noodles, called Jjajangmyeon, and drink soju to down their sorrows and comfort each other for having been single a whole 2 months. Apparently that's rare here?

Bulgogi!

Yesterday, I finally had bulgogi! It's the most "famous" dish that Koreans have... it's their Korean BBQ. Marinated grilled beef. Yum!

I begged Jin to take me to get some real Korean food so he could explain things to me, so on Saturday we searched for an hour to find a place that had what we were looking for! We had to wander all around downtown (and almost gave up completely!) before we found a hole-in-the-wall place tucked into a back corner down an alley. It was definitely an experience.

This is almost the complete spread of what we had for lunch. It was pretty amazing too! You order one main dish and you get 15 side dishes "for free!" Which is how they do it here. In the middle you can see the bulgogi on the grill plate. Then in the little tins is the rice. Directly left of the rice is one kind of kimchi--we were served two different kinds. Neither of which I'd had before! But Jin couldn't tell me what plants they were made from. Apparently it wasn't the typical cabbage though.

Then there's the spicy tofu soup that is commonly served and which I never eat. haha. Jin tried it and even his mouth was on fire! --Which tells me that if I want to live, I will never eat that.

Next to the soup by the bulgogi is the dipping sauce, which is mainly onions and soy sauce. Other things in the picture that you can't really see are: diced mushrooms, spicy pickled radishes and spicy cucumbers (both of which Jin "gave a bath" for me so I could eat them! haha), and deep fried peppers...which are not spicy except if you eat the puffy end.

In the back of this picture is the cooked ham smothered in ketchup, then there's a better shot of the spicy cucumbers. There's also the different kind of kimchi along with some acorn noodles... which were slippery and slightly strange. Then on the bottom right is chopped up dried squid in red bean sauce, and that was actually good! Kinda difficult with the texture... but all in all not bad. But the red sauce with the jalepenoes floating around in it I definitely did not touch!

The meal was definitely an adventure in and of itself. And, again, it was perfect to have a friend there to help me out! I'm finding that I enjoy this culture so much more when I can learn what is going on!

First Bible Study!

On Friday night I got together with the women from my church for the first time so we could introduce each other and get to know one another better... and it was so great!

Right before I met up with the girls, I was feeling pretty nervous. A whole bunch of new people that I had to get to know--some of which already know each other--and then figure out a way to lead/teach them... yikes! Definitely made me feel slightly pressured.

But I am still very excited about it all! Still feel pressured a bit... but, not necessarily in a bad way. And I am so excited to get to know these women better! They are all so beautiful and different! I know they're going to challenge me through all of this, and I'm looking forward to it.

Please pray for us!

(Btw, we are calling ourselves DOEs. "Daughters of Eve." hehe. Cool name, eh?)

Update: Seomun Market

So I went back to Seomun with my very own tour guide! My Korean friend Jin offered to take me and I conveniently left out the fact that I had already been just so I could have someone that actually knows what they're talking about. And it was so worth it!

I'm sure I wore Jin out with my million questions... but I learned so much!

For example:

There this small fish that they cook pretty inhumanely. They have two ways of doing it too. Either they put it into a blender while it's still alive and squirming, and blend it into a sticky jelly pulp. Or they boil it alive in water (but wait, it gets better!) and then throw tofu in there. Which, in case you didn't know, gets hotter than the water... but the fish don't know that. So, when the fish feel the water getting hotter, they burrow into the tofu--only to be burned alive. Then when the soup is done, they take out the tofu and chop it up... and you can see burrowed bits of fish inside the tofu. Nice, huh?

Also (I think it's the same small fish)-- this fish is "commonly" used as a male enhancement drug. hehe.

There was also this root that looks similar to a yam on the outside and is roughly the same size as well, but inside it has holes! Apparently it's a lotus root. I was definitely surprised since the lotus flower doesn't seem big enough to have such a large root! But tis true.

While at the market I tried a dried jujube! The taste was familiar, but I couldn't place it... and then Jin pointed out that it tasted like ketchup! Which hit the nail right on the head.

I also tried a dried and "candied" persimmon. Which, apparently we do have in America even though I've never heard of the fruit in my life! At first, it was a strange texture... chewy and mushy at the same time... but then as I ate it, I realized I was really enjoying it! Yum dried fruit! The actually fruit itself when not dried kinda looks like a tomato to me...

The last thing I tried was some black bean tofu. It looked like normal tofu, except with some black specks. However, I think it tasted better than normal tofu! (But that doesn't mean I'm going to eat more of it...)

We also explored more of the seafood section and the animal section. This culture defintely has an affinity towards seafood! Squid, octupus and fish are everywhere in all shapes, sizes and textures!

Dried sting ray.... I can't believe they actually eat these!

Fish on a stick... yum.

Dried octopus, anyone?

The animal section... with the live hares for eating, the dead quails for eating, the live chickens for eating, and the live... puppies for eating? Hmm... (I will say that Jin swares they're not for eating, but I dunno.)

All in all it was a fantastically productive trip! I learned much more than this... but it's all I can remember off the top of my head. Other things I kinda remember include: chinese herbal medicine, bottom-of-the-pan rice cakes, grilled seaweed, and pickled shrimp.

Let's just say that having a Korean friend to explain things is definitely a blessing.