Ever since I met the other teachers here, I've been going more or less nonstop. We're in the middle of a big turnover time so there are a lot of teachers leaving. That really sucks. A lot of the wicked cool people I met here have less than a month left. Tonight was Carlos' last night. A bunch of us went to dinner at Chicken Palace for his farewell meal. I can't even wrap my head around being here for 3 years, traveling all across Asia, and then having to go home. At least there will be a steady stream of new people, so there is a good side to people leaving. After dinner we went to the Mini Stop for drinks. Its a strange but wonderful thing how you can just pull tables out of the Mini Stop and have a drink on the sidewalk. I think one of my students was the cashier that sold me my beer. Oops.
On a lighter note, the food was great. We had chicken that they bbq right at the table for you with a bunch of veggies in a sweet and spicy sauce. You eat it rolled up in a lettuce leaf, and of course there are a ton of little side dishes. As much as I love the flavors of Korean cuisine, I'm not used to the cuts of meat. Its no boneless skinless neatly trimmed chicken breasts like back home. The meat here is more...rustic. The flavor is some of the best I've had, but the texture...thats a different story. I was always the kid who needed to trim every morsel of fat off of every piece of meat. Eating strangely chopped chicken bits still on the bones with skin and cartilage is a little out of my comfort zone. Whatever the meals lack in texture appeal for me they make up ten fold in flavor.
School today was better than yesterday. I started my 8th period class which runs from 4:15-5pm. I was told that I can just do the same lesson that I give during the day to the class, but I don't want to teach the kids the same thing twice. Their english may be poor but they're not stupid. Only two more days of my "I'm from Rhode Island, we drink coffee milk, I like to go swimming at the beach" presentation. Then I can get into real teaching. I think thats why I liked 8th period so much. I got to actually teach. We did an exercise about when two things have something in common. At first the kids looked at me like I was crazy but the quickly got the hang of it. My period 8 class is a lot smaller than my normal classes which is nice. About 24 as opposed to 35.
Tomorrow during my breaks Mrs. Lee and I have to go to the hospital to get my health check form and then to the Immigration Office to get my alien registration card. Finally haha. Then I won't have to carry my passport around with me everywhere. One of the Korean English teachers is leaving to go to some 6 month training workshop so tomorrow all of the teachers are getting together for dinner. From what Carlos, Brad, and everyone else told me, one thing is for certain. Many shots of soju with the male teachers. I don't even know how I'm going to survive. Its not polite to refuse a drink when a superior offers. Even if you are already too drunk. Maybe I'll just blame jet lag. After all, all the teachers keep saying I look tired...but they think its because I have swine flu.
I do Not have swine flu and I have 3 medical tests to back it up.
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