On Tuesday, at the girls' school, one of the other teachers struggled to tell me that she liked my new haircut. I thought it was nice, and I tried to tell her that I cut it because it was hot in Thailand... "Hot... Thailand... haircut!". Needless to say, she did not understand. Mr Lee came to my rescue, and she gave an awkward laugh, and then returned to work. Mr Lee told me "She likes you!".
And then, he turned around, gave me a sly wink, said "I really mean it, it's true!"
It was really strange, I didn't know what he meant by it. I still don't.
On Wednesday, I taught two classes, and then I was told that I would have the afternoon off, but that there was a school dinner that I was invited to for all the teachers and staff. That was pretty great, I got to go home and have a nap beforehand. SukGyeong called at around quarter to five and came to pick me up. We went, as a group, to Gangjin, which is about half an hour away, to a traditional Korean restaurant.
For those of you who don't know, I will tell you:
TRADITIONAL KOREAN = RAW FISH
So, that was less than great. I was game though, I thought I would try everything, at least. A words of advice, DO NOT EAT RAW BLOWFISH. It actually hurts your mouth. The rest was okay, but not amazing. There was fresh-cut squid, which was wriggling around on my plate, and really reminded me of:
They were fresh cut tentacles, wriggling around, attaching to the plate, my chopsticks, and my teeth as I chewed. They really grab on, it was like trying to pull a suction cup off of a window, when you have to pull it to the edge to get it off, because you can't pull it off straight.
I made a few really bad gaffs, one being when my vice principal poured me a cup of soju. I did the correct head turn and cough...er, cover my drink and sip, but when he held out the bottle again and said "more?" I assumed he wanted to pour me another, so I chuggalugged and held out my cup again. Bad idea. He wanted me to pour for him, which I should have known would have been the right thing to do. Oh well...
Dinner went alright. I actually had a lot of fun! SukGyeong and I had an opportunity to catch up, which was great. And I actually am at a point where I catch some of what people are saying! Not a lot though. Definitely not a lot.
When the eating was over, SukGyeong left, and I was supposed to leave too, with another woman (from the admin office), but then the admin guys and the vice-principal decided that it would be better for me to stay and get pissed drunk. But I did not want to drink! So I just sat there with the office and cafeteria ladies while the admin guys got drunker and drunker. By that time, I was getting tired and I could not follow conversation anymore, but I did notice that the principal had pencilled in his eyebrows, which was cool by me. but funny.
I had the next day off, so I just sat around. I went to Kwangju, to buy some snacky western stuff, including some chicken-ham and bean with bacon soup. Jessie's school was having her dinner, and I managed to snag an invite, so I hopped on the bus, dropped off the food, and went to Samho to meet her. When I got there, we hung out in her english lab for a while, and crowded around the heater behind the desk. It was actually pretty nice, but it also would have been nice to not have had to crowd around the heat source.
It's called closing windows, Korea. Looks into it, it does wonder to save on your gas bills.
We got a ride to the restaurant with one of the young admon guys from the office. It was neat to be in the car with young people. It reminded me of my first days in France on exchange, piling into a car with no idea where we were going or what was happening/being discussed. But knowing that these werepeople that maybe I could relate to, if I knew how to. Unfortunately, I don't.
The restaurant was Japanese, so that meant more raw fish. Yay! I gave everything a cautious sniff before I put it in my mouth, which meant that I avoided another exposure to raw blowfish, which unfortunately made it past Jessie's defenses. Dinenr was pretty fun, and I had more fun with Hyeon-mi (Jessie's coteacher) than I remember ever having before. That is, until she started saying that I should come play guitar at a church event. Yikes, no thanks. If I do go to church, it won't be in Korea, and it won't be to perform to aid worshipping that I can't do myself right now.
But that's another rant entirely.
So we stuffed our faces with whatever was most edible, and I ate some things that I can't even describe, things with shells that were almost indistinguishable from the parts I was told to eat, and some things that were literally filled with shit on close inspection. And not even cooked shit, which I think I would be okay with.
We actually reached a state of contentment after a while, and at that point we were informed that it was the first course of about four, and by the way, they next course will be the best thing you've been served since you got to Korea! Too bad you're full!
Then, of course, there was the rice and soup course, which we had also not planned for, so that pretty much put us near the point of vomiting from being so full.
Today, Jessie was given the day off, so luckily she did not have to attend her school's graduation. The way she falls asleep in things, it's for the best, I mean, she fell asleep on a tuktuk inThailand, so there's no way she'd make it through all of the speeches at a Korean grad ceremony (especially given the Korean love of speech/recognition giving). We did absolutely nothing but lie around.
We watched 17 episodes of the American version of "The Office", which is surprisingly good, even compared against the British one! I didn't think it would come out as well, but they have done a really good job of it. Problem is, I keep thinking of Steve Carell as the 40-year old virgin (if you haven't seen it, watch it, and SIT THROUGH THE END CREDITS, it's totally worth it). I only got out of my pyjamas when at 4:40 I remembered that I had a piano lesson at 5:00. I made it a little late, but I left early, because I developed a headache, probably from dehydration(we'd run out of water the night before). When I got back, we finished off the remaining episodes, ate dinner, and now I am watching "I want to be a Hilton", which is just a horrible horrible show, it's like a car-wreck, you just can't look away.
Speaking of, I hate Tara Reid. I watched "Taradise" the other day (I was home, Jessie was not, I was bored, the TV was there), and it actually made me die a little inside. She is so unbelievably shallow and horrible and self-centered. What really got me was when she looked at an air-brushed photo of herself and sighed, saying "I'm so fat now, I wish I was this thin again!" But seriously, it was probably altered, so shut the hell up. She just irritated me so much, was so secure in the idea that anyone would give her anything she asked for, when she has no redeeming qualities demonstrated on the show, aside from the fact that she wanted to party and get laid. Wow, ambitions.
In other news, I am going to be signed up for another Athabasca University biology course, and I'm going to go for that second teachable over the next couple years. Maybe a third, if they ever offer another suitable course, maybe in physics.
Okay, that's all for now.
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