Sweet Toast!

I love days at school when there is a snack waiting for me after second period that is NOT Ddeok (glutinous rice cake, aka, ew). Sometimes fruit (yay!), sometimes nothing (so I eat some candy from my desk). Today was a special day. I don't know where it came from, but there was "toast" for everyone. I put "toast" in quotations, because like many things of similar names here, the concept and/or execution is somewhat different.

When I say "toast" to a westerner, it conjures an image of slightly burned bread with a combo of any number of spreads available. I'm a fan of PB and J (raspberry), or recently, nutella. Probably cuz it's hard to find here and I seem to be developing a taste for food easily available in canada, but basically nonexistent in Korea. Perhaps I'm a bit of a masochist. Aaaaaanway, toast in Korea is a completely different monster. Whether you like it or not depends on if you like something sweet that you assume is going to be salty.

Toast is a popular snack among the young ones and has various combinations. I describe for you the generic toast sandwich:

Start by putting copious amounts of butter on a flat burner and put two pieces of bread in the melted butter so you get a "toasted" effect (ie: fried). In more pools of butter, crack an egg into a square-shaped cut (so it fits on the bread nicely), and fry up a square of the most processed "ham" you can find. Add cheese if you want (processed only). While the egg and "meat" are frying, take the bread off and put sweet ketchup on one piece and sweet coleslaw with sweet pickles on the other slice. Add the egg and "meat", and viola! Korean toast.

I ate mine today (voraciously!) and this time, I almost enjoyed it. I think that's as close as I'll ever get. If you can be at the actual making of the toast, you're able to stop the people from putting unwanted condiments on there, thus rendering the toast a "Fried egg sandwich". deeelightful.

I was so hungry today after the first two periods because I was co-teacherless. My co-t is away at a TEE training course (TEE = Teaching English in English). It's the grade 3's I'm alone with and it could've gone two ways = car wreck, or sunshine and rainbows. I had a bit of anxiety this morning before the first class because I envisioned the car wreck. Grade 3's are curious creatures who can either be really into what you're doing, and therefore the BEST students ever. Or they can be so apathetic that it makes you want to stick fork in your eye. I was expecting the latter out of my first period class today because they are "low level". All of my classes have been split into high level and low level. Sometimes good, sometimes not. Anyway, while my lesson was not the best thing that ever happened, the students were basically respectful, if somewhat inattentive, mostly because they don't understand/don't care. the GREAT thing is having a student in the class who respects you, telling every one else to shut up. It's especially awesome when it comes from an unexpected source.

I recognize this one kid as a volleyball player, or an athlete of some kind (lots in my school). I've probably inadvertently gained his respect through my wicked awesome (for a girl) volleyball skillz. [*I say 'for a girl", because most girls here can't do anything with a ball beside duck out of the way screaming. Adults included.]. Or, he saw me take a volleyball to the face at high velocity last year and respects me for not sobbing like a baby. At any rate, his presence helped me a bit, which I very much appreciate.

I really gotta start putting more faith in the Grade 3s. They really are cool!

according to...

hmmm, i'm just leafing through my grade 1 (grade 7) english text and learned that a deer crossing sign actually means Santa Claus is ComingOf course, the instructions for the exercise are in Korean, so there could be a reason for such fallacy. But I quite enjoy it!

restart, again!

Ah, the beginning of a new school year. Suddenly the alarm is interrupting my dreams, my legs are anxiously taking me to the bus stop because i left about 2 minutes later than i should have and may have to wait an extra 10-15 minutes for the bus. My days (so far) are spent desk bound, waiting for someone to tell me what's going on, or alternately, asking teachers questions as apologetically as possible. None of this is new to me yet they still manage to catch me off guard.

1) At the behest of the new English teacher here, I will now be teaching lessons from the textbook for grade 1 and 2. I've never done this and abhor the thought of deciphering the "English" that many of these textbooks teach. After I begrudgingly agreed, of course, I took a deep breath and said to myself. "yo, self. take it easy. you're gonna have to teach from a textbook eventually, so why not embrace the moment and go with the flow." so I'm now flowing.

2) My new co-teacher this year, Mrs Kim (taught with her last year, but she wasn't my co-t then), just informed me that she will be the county's new TEE teacher. One teacher in every county is responsible for creating demonstrations for Teaching English in English. Trust me, this is a title you don't want. So due to her new situation, she has asked me to create Grade 3 lessons based on the skills of Reading and Writing. (I was specifically hired to teach conversation, but whatever). Writing I have taught, reading I have not. This should be interesting.

3) I will be going back to the Yeonsuwon (education training centre) one day a week. Remember how i was there twice a week last semester until a crew of 8 new fulltime English teachers took over. Yeah, well, apparently they have their hands full and need me back. I don't mind really. As much as the politics of the Yeonsuwon can get ya down, I enjoy the change in scenery during the week.

4) Finally, the last change to my schedule (hopefully?!) is that every Monday afternoon I have to go the county's office of education to teach the supervisors there how to speak English. This is the one that hurts the most. I don't know how many supervisors actually WANT to learn English, but I can guarantee that whatever the class size is to begin with, it with dwindle exponentially as the term drifts on. What would you rather do, go for a smoke (or 10), or listen to some lady drone on in a language you can't understand? Yeah, me too *puffs*

On a happier note (or at least, less sarcastic)... Sari's coming to Korea!!! w00000000000t! Yep, she arrives this Saturday for 10 days of Korean style f-u-n.

Also, very briefly, the rest of my vacation was great, there are lots of pictures on my Flickr website (link on the right). ENJOY!