Fishy

Well this post is a tad delayed. I had been managing a fairly regular Friday update up till this point. Having only two classes on Friday’s my teaching day effectively ends at 10:30am, leaving me a fair bit of time to post to my blog. Such was not the case this past Friday.

 

Well, where to begin?

 

Where I left off I suppose.

 

Two Fridays ago, I had my first Teacher Workshop. I didn’t really have much planned other than a slide presentation as a means of introducing myself to the other teachers. Mostly I just wanted to figure out what it is that they wanted to do with the time. About eight teachers showed up, with six actually lasting the entire time. Without much surprise mostly what they want to learn about is formal English, some music and …

 

Not really all that much help.

 

Friday night was pretty good. There was a fundraising event at the local foreigner bar here in Suncheon. A foreigner from the area had been in quite a bad motorcycle accident and had unfortunately run up a fairly high medical bill. So about fifty or so foreigners got together to support him, his wife and soon to be born child. They held a blind auction. There were five items up for bid; however what they did was had people bid on envelopes. What item the envelope represented was unknown. I won the first auction for a whopping 20,000 won ($20) and made out with a bottle of what was supposed to be Saki.

 

Saturday and Sunday were pretty uneventful. The weather forecasters had been calling for a major rain storm, so I stuck pretty close to home. Of course it didn’t rain till the middle of the night.

 

With the weeks starting to pile up, the routine is becoming more entrenched. Monday was spent doing routine house chores. Tuesday was the night for Korean Language classes. Wednesday brought with it some change fortunately.

 

Usually on Wednesday’s we play volleyball at school, have some food and a few drinks afterwards and then head home. This particular Wednesday though was different. I was told about a half hour prior to game time that we would be travelling to another school to play volleyball.

 

Okay, no big deal, could be fun.

 

When we get there I met another foreign teacher whose school had also travelled to play. We walk inside and sure enough there were four schools in total and the one that was warming up was all done up in uniforms. The other foreign teacher reminded me that they do take their volleyball seriously and eased my fears by telling me that this would keep us out of the games.

 

No such luck.

 

Actually it all went pretty well. I felt pretty bad though, as they pulled my school’s gym teacher off the court so that I could play. We started off by playing the host school, which was all duded up in matching black uniforms. Fortunately, we won both games and were left to wait for the outcome from the other two schools. This gave me some time to talk with the other two foreign teachers that were there.

 

For our next two games they pulled me and another teacher to allow the two teachers who had sat out the first two games to play. This was good for me. The last thing I wanted to do was screw up and cost my school the tournament. It turned out that the gym teacher made an impressive block in the final game to help secure victory for my school. This of course was followed by drinking and food. Luckily my VP came over and told me to eat a nice big piece of kimchi. He was even kind enough to watch to make sure it was eaten properly.

 

After a quiet car ride home with my VP, I met one of the teachers that I had been talking with at the volleyball game for dinner. His wife was going out with some ladies from school, so he and a friend of his treated me to duk-galbi (if you remember this was the dish I mentioned previously that had come with the two octopuses). The food was good and there was not an octopus in sight. Afterwards we went for coffee and it turns out that the three of us had a lot in common. We all read comic books, liked many of the same tv shows and movies, read similar books and by the end of the night I was invited to join their gaming group.

 

Thursday was another interesting night; my first teacher dinner. I had heard about several of these from other foreign teachers so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It turned out that the dinner was for the grade five and six teachers, the Principal, VP and a few parents who wished to celebrate the election of their children in the recent student elections.

 

It was quite the experience to be sure. There were about six courses in all, if I remember correctly. It started off with some light appetizers of roasted chestnuts, small conch shells and a rice soup. At first I thought that the shells were for decoration, but my co-teacher assured me that they weren’t and proceeded to show me how to pluck out the meat and eat it. I didn’t partake. With this were the standard bottles of soju, beer and some berry wine. The berry wine, I found out, was for the men only and it was actually pretty good. It had a sharp taste at first but a sweet aftertaste. I actually enjoyed it.

 

The main course was then served; raw fish. Tuna to be precise served on a bed of shredded cabbage and the head of the fish. Till this moment I was unaware of the fact that the eye of a tuna was about the size of a baseball. The protocol was to take a piece of raw tuna, wrap it in some seaweed, dip it into the sauce of your choice and eat it. For me the process had the additional step of gagging. One male teacher was nice enough to recommend the dark red meat from the head of the fish. It was supposed to be particularly good.

 

After this came the sliced raw fish along with raw squid. I had had the fish before, but I didn’t try the squid. To my surprise the squid was a translucent white colour. All during this time I was being served by the several women that sat around me. In Korea it is impolite to fill your own glass. So any time I went to pour myself a drink, the bottle would be taken away from me. Of course they wouldn’t let me serve them.

 

In addition to the squid and raw fish, we had a course of cooked shrimp, some eggs from flying fish, a course of cooked fish (pretty good), cooked crab (pretty good as well) and then more shrimp. At first I simply thought that they were a different kind of shrimp. That was until someone went to grab one and they all started flipping out because they were still alive. This was a strange moment for me; watching the waitress rip the head off of the shrimp for those who were to partake. One was offered to me, but the women around me declined in my stead (thankfully). It was the first time I had ever seen anything alive be eaten. I’m not too sure of how to exactly describe my feelings at that moment but I wasn’t really happy about it.

 

The meal was capped off with some special wine. I was told that this wine, which was being served out of a ordinary kettle, was very expensive and only for VIPs. The Principal told the waitress to serve me some. Okay. It was a clear colour and seemed to be a bit thick in its texture. My co-teacher was kind enough at this point to tell me that it was wine made from the eyes of fish. I drank it. To not drink it would have been an insult. It didn’t really have much of a taste to it thankfully, but it’s still not something I want on a regular basis.

 

My one co-teacher, who is Mormon it turns out, was thankful to me for drinking all the alcohol that she was served. She tried to turn it down as much as possible but there are just some times when a woman must accept the proffered beer or soju. So we would wait for the person to turn their back or walk away and then I would drink it down quickly for her. When she saw me Friday morning she asked how I was feeling, and when I assured her that I was fine, she made a big deal about how much I could drink. In actuality I had about the equivalent of two pints of beer, two soju shots and a shot each of the berry wine and the fish eye wine; to her though this was an amazing amount of alcohol.

 

Thursday was also pay day. My first in Korea. So on Friday, I along with my co-teacher went out and bought me a cell phone. I only hope that I can keep this one longer than my previous one. I almost lost it though in less than an hour. I spent the remainder of my open time on Friday trying to prepare the lesson on formal English for my Teacher Workshop.

 

I really had no idea what to do. I finally managed to find an article on proper English in different situations: greetings, farewells, offering advice, etc. So I made up a slide presentation and had everything ready to go for four o’clock. Four people showed up. Yay. They were very nice about things and quite interested it seems in learning the differences between casual and formal language in these different situations. I was also able to talk about the differences between Canada and Korea during this time. I thought it went okay, of course they won’t tell me anything other than that it was great.

 

On Saturday I travelled to Gwangju (where I had spent my first week in Korea for orientation) with some friends to see a Kia Tigers baseball game. We got the most expensive tickets they sold: $20. We sat right behind home plate and had a great view of the game. During the third inning they came out and served us tea and Krispy Kreme donuts as part of the ticket price. The game itself was pretty boring; a scoreless tie into the eleventh inning. The Korean fans though were quite the spectacle.

 

They had a drummer and cheerleaders for the home team section. There was also a guy there with a whistle that would lead the section in different cheers. Most of the fans had red and yellow inflatable ‘whackers’ that they would use to beat out different rhythms or in orchestrated movements with everyone else. One of the most memorable moments was when the home team pitcher hit a batter in the leg. As the batter hobbled off to first base the home team fans were chanting “we hope you liked it” in English.

 

The seventh inning stretch, was also quite unlike games back in Toronto where they advertise the quickest grounds crew in baseball. Here the bench players go out to the outfield and do sprints and stretches. A group of about twenty women gathered near second base and did a mass jump rope routine (twenty women, one rope). They managed to reach 25 I think. The crowd was pretty pumped. This was followed by a beer drinking contest between two young women who after about two minutes, neither had managed to finish their beer.

 

The game was followed by a night out in Gwangju with some friends from Yeosu, Gwangju, and Mokpo. It was a good night capped off by a bus ride home at five thirty in the morning. This of course led to a pretty lazy Sunday.

 

***

 

Observations:

- Koreans seem oddly conceited and simultaneously insecure. It shows up in little things, most predominantly with food, but in other things as well. They seem to really want me to find Korean women attractive. I had been asked once by a Korean woman, since then I've been asked by a couple of men. One asked me to compare Canadian women with Korean women, and of course to agree that Korean women are the most beautiful. Don't get me wrong, Korean women are beautiful, but go anywhere in the world and you will find beautiful women. I guess I just don't understand why they are worried about whether or not I find them attractive, especially when they hate the idea of foreigners being with Korean women.

 

- Another strange dichotomy is how sex is handled in the society. I'm told that to show off your shoulders is to advertise yourself as a tramp, whereas wearing an incredibly short skirt is normal. In fact it is so normal that half of the girls in my grade five and six classes show up in mini-skirts and knee high stockings. The other day as I was walking for the bus there was a Korean woman walking towards me. It became obvious to me that she was having an problem with her panty hose when she hiked up her skirt to her waste and simply adjusted them as she walked down the street. Yet, when you I'm around Korean women, they seem to go out of their way to seem prim and proper. Then there is the fact that unlike in North America there is little use of sex in advertising (comparatively) yet it’s virtually impossible to go anywhere and not see a ‘special’ barber shop (the ones with the two barber polls rather than just one) where you get a hair cut and so much more. I guess I’m just finding it hard to understand how they can be so open about it at one moment and so secretive about it the next. I guess that comes from growing up in North America where it’s seemingly sex 24/7.

Mind numbing excitement

Another week has passed and things here are quickly settling into a routine. Some of that is good, some of that is bad. This adventure not only offers me the opportunity to earn money and experience Korea; it also allows me to rectify some of the mistakes that I had made previously. Mistakes that I am discovering are rather well ingrained in my psyche and need to be purged.

Last Friday I went out for dinner with a friend. We finally discovered, what I describe as 'the walking market'. It is simply an area of the city where there is a massive collection of clothing shops, bars, restaurants and the like. While there are streets the majority of them are used more for walking than driving. But you still better be on your toes. After dinner (pizza) we toured the area and discovered that it has virtually every type of clothing brand available, all with their own individual shops. It was a great place to find.

Saturday was fairly uneventful for the most part. The day was spent shopping for various items of need for the apartment while the evening was spent on a street corner in Gwangyang.

Sunday was Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving and with it came an impromptu trip to the beach in Yeosu. After a nice lunch at the Outback Steakhouse (the first one I had ever been to) we took the bus to Yeosu. It was nice to finally get to Yeosu, and the beach, during the day. The beach was surprisingly deserted, but the water was warm so the swimming was nice (I later mentioned to one of my co-teachers that I had gone swimming and they thought I was crazy - the water is freezing according to her). After the beach we went for dinner. We were going for a type of chicken stir fry called duk-galbi (I don't know if that is how you spell it, but that is how its pernounced). Yeah, chicken would have been good, except they brought us octopus. Two of them in fact.

Monday was a holiday and was spent doing not much of anything, which was good. I managed to call back home and speak with the family and I managed to talk with my friend in Ulsan.

Tuesday brought a return to school and tedium. I am going mad with nothing to do but stand/sit in class and parrot the teacher. Frankly I find it rather absurd, especially when the only thing she has me doing is the introduction and constantly feels the need to interrupt and take it over. I believe that she means well, but she doesn't seem interested in talking with me about it, as each time I try to talk with her about the classes she just keeps telling me to do the intro and the game. This is quickly followed with her leaving.

Wednesday went fairly well. Volleyball was fun as usual. This time though they started with me in the middle row (they play with 9 people a side) and it seemed that they did this to help isolate me and allow for the front and back row players to help me. Unfortunately we lost the game which prompted them to reshuffle the playing order, so once again I was front right. We ended up winning five of seven games and two boxes of kleenex! I'm still a little lost as to what they want me to do. The apparent captain of my team kept telling me 'two' and mimicking the setting of the ball. I figured that he was worried about form: 1 - bump, 2 - set, 3 - spike (I've seen them simply let the ball fall and lose a point because it wasn't 'theirs' to get given the position they played, even though they could have played it). So then I try setting the ball and I'm told the same thing. I'm not going to worry about it too much though. I'm having fun playing and many of the teachers say I'm playing well. So if they are happy, I'm happy.

Wednesday was also the day that I gave my gifts to my Principal and Vice Principal. They of course were gracious in receiving them, told me that it was completely unnecessary and then had me and my co-teacher leave fairly quickly. They are fairly busy people after all. Hopefully they will remember the gifts when it comes time to giving me a day of for the UNESCO weekend in October. My co-teacher told me that the teacher I replaced had requested to go last year, but the Principal would not allow her the day off. I hope that I fare better.

Thursday was quite uneventful. Four classes in the morning followed by hours of boredom. At the very least I have a computer to use, so there is some means of distraction.

Today brings with it my first Teacher's Workshop. It was to be last Friday, but with it being the day before the Chuseok weekend, it was cancelled and many teachers left early. Hopefully it goes well. I had to submit a proposal for the workshop to the VP, outlining the different subjects that I planned on covering throughout the semester. I have a feeling that this will change though as much of today's lesson will revolve around figuring out what it is that they want me to go over, rather than me forcing subjects on them.

***

Observations:

- One must beware of Korean ice cream. A young student was handing them out to teachers last week and I was given one. I figured that ice cream was ice cream. Not quite. It turned out to be a bunch of beans frozen in a block of ice, covered in a chocolate-like coating. The top inch was something akin to ice cream though. Overall it was rather disgusting, but like everything one must simply smile and nod.

- Korean students have no concept of silence. They constantly make noise and despite many efforts to get them to be quiet, each are met with resounding failure. On Thursday I tried to have a class remain quiet for one minute. If anyone talked a further minute would be added to the total. Three people talked within the first 13 seconds. It was amazing. Another class wouldn't stop talking and pay attention, so I kept them in class for twenty minutes during lunch, telling them that if they are going to waste my time, I'll waste theirs. Surprisingly the co-teacher didn't mutter a word of disapproval concerning either case. She of course probably would have started hitting the kids to get them to behave. This is something that I don't want to happen, especially if she decides to use the half a pool cue she has in the classroom.

The Gwangyang Gambit

So Chuseok is here and it's a big deal here in Korea. With there being tons of travel and it being a long weekend, the plan was to spend a nice evening in Gwangyang with some friends. Not a hard task, not very daunting, or was it?

The plan: Take a taxi from Suncheon to Gwangyang and arrive at the String Bar for a pot luck dinner.

The outcome: Standing in the rain.

The story: Despite some pre-departure complications that delayed our departure, my friend Ali and I finally left Sidae at approximately 7:50pm. We headed over to the Kim's Mart to gather up some goodies for the pot luck dinner. As we were leaving we ran into anther friend, Mike and invited him to join us. All was good. A little behind schedule perhaps, but still good.

A Lovely Night with a Shooting Moon

So we catch a taxi and give him the onl directions we have: Gwangyang - Jungma dong - String Bar. The taxi driver nodded profusely and said something that sounded positive. So we were off.

It turns out that the driver has no idea where the String Bar is once we are in Gwangyang. He takes us to the Jungma-dong district, tries to find out where the bar is from some taxi drivers from Gwangyang to no avail. So we decide to simply get out and wander on our own.

After wandering the four square block area where we were dropped off, which had numerous bars, we were left with nothing. We tried asking a few people but they didn't seem to know of the String Bar. Just as we were about to ask the taxi drivers lined up along street, a couple of young guys say hello to us in English.

Why not ask them?

So I do. They talk a bit in Korean, and then tell us to come with them. They take us to a parked SUV, in which is two other guys. The two that we were talking with tell the guys in the SUV to get out, and for us to get in. The driver takes us to a different area of town about a two minute drive away up the main drag and starts going down some side streets. A couple of cell phone calls later, we stop in front of a place that he says is the String Bar but it's closed. So he takes us back to where he picked us up and recommended a bar for us before leaving.

The three of us look at the bar, at the bag of food we've been carting around this whole time and decide that the Mini-stop patio is good enough for us. So we retire to the corner store, a few beers and our own pot luck dinner on the street corner.

The Gwanyang Night Life

Us Enjoying the Night Life

After a few beers, it starts to rain, leading us back to Suncheon.

The Gwanyang Gambit was a failure, but not markedly so, as beer, food and friends help to salvage any situation.

***

This story leads me to another story involving a night out and the kindness and generosity of Koreans.

A couple of weeks ago a few of us are wandering around looking for the Elvis Bar. With incorrect directions we are left with few options and no cell phone. We find a family outside a restaurant and ask if we can use their cell phone (I have yet to see a Korean without a cell phone - in fact it's hard to walk a block anywhere around here without having the opportunity to buy a cell phone). He lets us call, but when we can't get proper directions he takes over the phone and starts speaking Korean with someone. He's having a great time, his family seems to be enjoying the whole situation as well. He flags down a taxi for us, tells the taxi driver how to get to the Elvis Bar and the night is saved.

All thanks to the kindness and generosity of a Korean stranger.

I'm sensing a recurring pattern.