It may come as a shock to all of you living in the Western world, but I have not seen a single Christmas commercial on TV yet and it's less than a month away. Don't get me wrong, you can find Christmas here, for example in small displays in large department stores, but it's not shoved in your face day and night suffocating the holiday spirit right out of you. I'm not gonna lie - it's refreshing. I have rediscovered my excitement and joy for the Christmas season and it feels great. On the eve of the first day of December I already have christmas lights, a tree and even presents under it! I've also been on a Christmas music binge for the past few days (including the Channukah Song by Adam Sandler :P). After years of working in a grocery store during the Christmas season I slowly became immune to the Christmas spirit. Sure, I would feel happy, I knew that I was losing that excited, jittery feeling that I would get as a kid, I just chocked it up to "not being a kid anymore". I got good news for y'all: I'm still a kid and I love Christmas!!
Oh, get this! One of my students even told me that, although her family is Christian, she doesn't get presents on Christmas because they celebrate Jesus' birthday. What a novel idea! I tell ya, these Koreans and their crazy ideas...
Thanks to Korea for being a kind of Christmas-overkill rehab. I'm renewed...refreshed...uh...re...capitulated?
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
EVALUATE'D!!
Last friday the Boseong Education Supervisor paid my school a visit. It is the time of year when the bigwigs leave the office to come and hobnob with the lesser folk in the education world. I had to prepare a lesson plan so the supervisor could see what I was doing, should he want to come and see my class. Luckily for me, the supervisor, Mr Jang, is very interested in English so OF COURSE he wanted to come and see my class. I wasn't all that nervous, but all the teachers sure were...not because they thought I would bomb, but mostly because it was THE SUPERVISOR *insert diabolical music here*. The lesson came and went without incident. My grade twos were unusually well behaved and the lesson was a hit. They actually asked to play a game a second time...weird. I think they may have drugged the kids that day to make them more docile...
After class I had a "briefing session" with Mr Jang. He said many nice things...good class, engaged the students, etc, etc so I feel pretty good about that. He did say I should focus a bit more on pronunciation, which is fair. He may have been talking about the girl who said the word "Affectionary" instead of "affectionate"...I figured she was trying and she was close enough :P What?! it's a difficult word!
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This weekend Carol and I made our way to Gwangju to meet up with Riann, the chap who helped us get our cellphones. He's ridiculously friendly and occasioanlly silly, so naturally we get along. We ended up sitting in a bar from 4:30 until maybe 10pm watching K1 ultimate fighting. I have never seen this, but I tell ya..it's quite entertaining. It's like boxing, only with kicking. So I guess you could call it kickboxing (I'm a genius). Anyway, it happened to be the world championship and Riann and his girlfriend had a bet going to see who would win. K1 is really popular in Korea because there is a Korean fighter who is a GIANT. No jokes, he's over 7 feet tall. Anyway, the Korean guy lost in the quarter finals, which pissed off a lot of the Koreans in the bar, especially when Riann (noticeably NOT Korean) started cheering at his loss. All fun and games though...everyone is a good sport :D.
After that we relocated to a neat little jazz bar, drank some yummy wine, listed to the Commitments and waxed nostalgic on popculture. Good times.
A big hello to Shane! I didn't know you were tunin' in, but thanks for stoppin' by!
Today is my Mom's birthday. She's a great lady and I hope to be like her when I grow up. If you see her, tell her I said so!
Mom, sarang eyo!! (I love you!)
After class I had a "briefing session" with Mr Jang. He said many nice things...good class, engaged the students, etc, etc so I feel pretty good about that. He did say I should focus a bit more on pronunciation, which is fair. He may have been talking about the girl who said the word "Affectionary" instead of "affectionate"...I figured she was trying and she was close enough :P What?! it's a difficult word!
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This weekend Carol and I made our way to Gwangju to meet up with Riann, the chap who helped us get our cellphones. He's ridiculously friendly and occasioanlly silly, so naturally we get along. We ended up sitting in a bar from 4:30 until maybe 10pm watching K1 ultimate fighting. I have never seen this, but I tell ya..it's quite entertaining. It's like boxing, only with kicking. So I guess you could call it kickboxing (I'm a genius). Anyway, it happened to be the world championship and Riann and his girlfriend had a bet going to see who would win. K1 is really popular in Korea because there is a Korean fighter who is a GIANT. No jokes, he's over 7 feet tall. Anyway, the Korean guy lost in the quarter finals, which pissed off a lot of the Koreans in the bar, especially when Riann (noticeably NOT Korean) started cheering at his loss. All fun and games though...everyone is a good sport :D.
After that we relocated to a neat little jazz bar, drank some yummy wine, listed to the Commitments and waxed nostalgic on popculture. Good times.
A big hello to Shane! I didn't know you were tunin' in, but thanks for stoppin' by!
Today is my Mom's birthday. She's a great lady and I hope to be like her when I grow up. If you see her, tell her I said so!
Mom, sarang eyo!! (I love you!)
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Bow to the Pig
Today, I experienced a kind of Korean traditional ritual. All of the teachers in my school gathered outside to "Bow to the Pig". This ceremony is supposed to bring good fortune...or protection from evil. The details are a little hazy for me, but I will describe what happened. We all go outside and there is a place set aside in the parking lot with a picnic blanket and a table. On the table is...a boiled pig's head. The principal read something in Korean, then put a 10,000 Won bill into the pig's mouth (like a $10 bill) then bowed on the ground twice to the pig. Then a few other teachers did the same thing, all the while the money went into the pig's mouth or the pig's nostrils. I looked at the pig's head with horror/fascination, then quickly realized that since I was in Korea, the chances that we would have to eat the pig's head were pretty good.
Before I describe the events to follow, I will stop to remind you of Korean customs.
1) You always eat the food you are given
2) To refuse food is considered a very big insult
3) Koreans love kimchi which is ridiculously spicy fermented cabbage and/or radish and they eat it with everything.
4) A Korean "dessert" is called "ddok" and is a chewey, bland rice goo that they call "cake". Occasaionally, like today, it is covered in black beans.
(NOTE: it is quite apparent by my, uh, tone of font, that the ddok and the kimchi are not my favourite korean foods. I've had to swallow them on many occasions. I thought I was getting better at it. I was wrong...)
So, all that being said, you can imagine the events to follow.
I walk into a room with all the teachers. Sitting on the tables were plates of DDOK, KIMCHI, APPLES and.... SLICED, BOILED PIG'S HEAD. I'm handed a pair of chopsticks and motioned to dig in. I gingerly pick up a piece of pig skin... (are y'all cowering in your seats with anticipation?). I put the pig skin in my mouth and chew.
I have never had my gag reflex stimulated as instantaneously or as violently.
Let me describe the experience to you in detail. It was, infact, boiled skin that I was eating. It had three distinct layers. the two outer layers were pinkish and rubbery and the inner layer was white and slightly crunchy. Those of you who know my food habits are aware of the complex I have about food textures, so you can imagine the culinary experience I was having. Thankfully, I had enough control to chew and swallow, but that one piece was it for me. UNTIL (oh yes) the principal motions me over to eat with him. He gestures to the pig, kimchi and ddok in a "help yourself" kind of way. And help myself I did. Oh mercy.
I better get extra protection from evil after that.
Before I describe the events to follow, I will stop to remind you of Korean customs.
1) You always eat the food you are given
2) To refuse food is considered a very big insult
3) Koreans love kimchi which is ridiculously spicy fermented cabbage and/or radish and they eat it with everything.
4) A Korean "dessert" is called "ddok" and is a chewey, bland rice goo that they call "cake". Occasaionally, like today, it is covered in black beans.
(NOTE: it is quite apparent by my, uh, tone of font, that the ddok and the kimchi are not my favourite korean foods. I've had to swallow them on many occasions. I thought I was getting better at it. I was wrong...)
So, all that being said, you can imagine the events to follow.
I walk into a room with all the teachers. Sitting on the tables were plates of DDOK, KIMCHI, APPLES and.... SLICED, BOILED PIG'S HEAD. I'm handed a pair of chopsticks and motioned to dig in. I gingerly pick up a piece of pig skin... (are y'all cowering in your seats with anticipation?). I put the pig skin in my mouth and chew.
I have never had my gag reflex stimulated as instantaneously or as violently.
Let me describe the experience to you in detail. It was, infact, boiled skin that I was eating. It had three distinct layers. the two outer layers were pinkish and rubbery and the inner layer was white and slightly crunchy. Those of you who know my food habits are aware of the complex I have about food textures, so you can imagine the culinary experience I was having. Thankfully, I had enough control to chew and swallow, but that one piece was it for me. UNTIL (oh yes) the principal motions me over to eat with him. He gestures to the pig, kimchi and ddok in a "help yourself" kind of way. And help myself I did. Oh mercy.
I better get extra protection from evil after that.
Friday, November 11, 2005
beware the chocolate covered sticks!!
While today is a somber holiday for us Canadians...or rather...tomorrow for most of you reading this and today for me...or today for you, and yesterday for me...GAH! *head explodes*
Anyway, november 11th is a somber holiday for Canadians, it is a special day (but not holiday) for school kids. In a ridiculous marketing ploy by the makers "Pepero" which is a prezel-like stick covered in or filled with chocolate, they have claimed Nov 11th as "perpero day". Students gives teachers and eachother these delicious treats, for no apparent reason. And they also eat many themselves. On the 11th hour, 11th minute, 11th second everyone is supposed to confess their love to whomever is deserving. There is one girl student here who proudly admits that she is deeply in love with the technology teacher. and everyone knows it...even the teacher.
At any rate, all morning I have had students thrusting these cookies in to my hands and even into my mouth. They are all ridiculously hyper from the sugar...and now so am I. So in the spirit of this Korean day, to you all I say:
sarang eyo! (I love you)
Anyway, november 11th is a somber holiday for Canadians, it is a special day (but not holiday) for school kids. In a ridiculous marketing ploy by the makers "Pepero" which is a prezel-like stick covered in or filled with chocolate, they have claimed Nov 11th as "perpero day". Students gives teachers and eachother these delicious treats, for no apparent reason. And they also eat many themselves. On the 11th hour, 11th minute, 11th second everyone is supposed to confess their love to whomever is deserving. There is one girl student here who proudly admits that she is deeply in love with the technology teacher. and everyone knows it...even the teacher.
At any rate, all morning I have had students thrusting these cookies in to my hands and even into my mouth. They are all ridiculously hyper from the sugar...and now so am I. So in the spirit of this Korean day, to you all I say:
sarang eyo! (I love you)
Monday, November 07, 2005
a weekend full of waiting and children - my two favourite things
So, those of you who know me well may ask yourselves "Why on earth would Vanessa volunteer to spend her weekend with kids at a camp? She hates kids and camp!"
Well folks, the answer is this - peer pressure. It's hard to say no when your friends tempt you with lines like this "C'mon Vanessa, it'll be a blast! We don't have to do much except for talk to the kids a bit." Of course, being the naive 22 year old I am, I neglected to read between the lines. What they really meant was "C'mon Vanessa! For three days you will alternate between waiting around for things to start, being subjected to schedule changes at random, entertaining 15 year old boys and girls and then waiting around some more. And after all this, you get the luxury of sleeping in a bunk bed in a room with 6 other girls, with a toilet that doesn't work!" Jeepers creepers! That sure does spell F-U-N to me!
Actually, while the description above is not in anyway an exaggeration, I did enjoy myself at many moments during the camp. My kids were pretty cool, and I wasn't really all that responsible for them. In fact, I was just that cooky waygook (foreigner) with whom they could identify if they wanted to. Some did, some didn't. The camp had 150 kids and 37 foreigners. It was a cultural camp, so some of the foreigners were not from Canada. Most of us were...we may have been obnoxious at times, but I blame it solely on large numbers. It had nothing to do with soju, beer or maekso (which is soju AND beer together). Other countries which were represented at the weekend were Romania, Bulgaria, Tanzania, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. On Saturday morning we had a cultural cooking contest. Holy heck that food is good! I particularly enjoyed to niblets from Nepal and Pakistan. Yes, I know, another big surprise from Vanessa...liking different food *GASP*!
I have to give my mom a few minutes to get herself up off the floor as I am sure she just fell over. I love you Mom and I'm sorry I didn't eat your food as a child.
Well folks, the answer is this - peer pressure. It's hard to say no when your friends tempt you with lines like this "C'mon Vanessa, it'll be a blast! We don't have to do much except for talk to the kids a bit." Of course, being the naive 22 year old I am, I neglected to read between the lines. What they really meant was "C'mon Vanessa! For three days you will alternate between waiting around for things to start, being subjected to schedule changes at random, entertaining 15 year old boys and girls and then waiting around some more. And after all this, you get the luxury of sleeping in a bunk bed in a room with 6 other girls, with a toilet that doesn't work!" Jeepers creepers! That sure does spell F-U-N to me!
Actually, while the description above is not in anyway an exaggeration, I did enjoy myself at many moments during the camp. My kids were pretty cool, and I wasn't really all that responsible for them. In fact, I was just that cooky waygook (foreigner) with whom they could identify if they wanted to. Some did, some didn't. The camp had 150 kids and 37 foreigners. It was a cultural camp, so some of the foreigners were not from Canada. Most of us were...we may have been obnoxious at times, but I blame it solely on large numbers. It had nothing to do with soju, beer or maekso (which is soju AND beer together). Other countries which were represented at the weekend were Romania, Bulgaria, Tanzania, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. On Saturday morning we had a cultural cooking contest. Holy heck that food is good! I particularly enjoyed to niblets from Nepal and Pakistan. Yes, I know, another big surprise from Vanessa...liking different food *GASP*!
I have to give my mom a few minutes to get herself up off the floor as I am sure she just fell over. I love you Mom and I'm sorry I didn't eat your food as a child.
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