I'm in love with a beautiful lady

Her English name is Nicole. She's the cook/cleaner at Feinschule. I have never eaten food this fantastic at a school. Today we had jjajang-bap, which, loosely translated, means jjajang and rice. I'm a linguist, I know. I can't show a picture because blogspot is messing with me, but basically it's nothing fancy to look at. But the taste...at least this particular jjajang was absolutely fantastic. Basically it's a thick black sauce that's soy-esque and filled with vegetables (carrots, some kind of squash, other veggy things that they eat here constantly) and a little bit of meat for flavor and consistency, all topped over steamed rice. Simple. Elegant. Fantastic.

I haven't gone hungry this entire week because of Nicole's genius and kindness. As it is, Koreans eat entirely too much food. They eat way more than the average American I think. But they have some seriously insane metabolisms to counteract that silliness. I don't understand them. Anyway, my lunch at school consists of me trying to eat as much as possible in a 30 minute time period (we have about 45 minutes, but I gotta walk Issa as well). And there is never a dearth of food. Ever. It's insane. So Nicole in all her goddess-like grace packs the extra for me and sends it home, saying "dinner" and smiling. This brings me to the next Korean phrase I've learned (probably the first actual phrase):

Sarang-he: I love you.

Nicole - Sarang-he.

Facebook poking just isn't intimate enough

Everything is going famously. Besides little things like we we'll be a teacher short this week. That's 25% of our staff gone! Generally I teach 21 classes a week: this week I'll be teaching 27. Fortunately we found a replacement pretty quickly, so I'll only be overloaded this week. It's okay though: teaching the kindergarteners is pretty joyous. Mostly they just laugh a lot and don't understand what I'm saying at all. I'm okay with that though!

That being said, there are some things I've had to get used to. For instance, my kids touching me incessantly. There they are hanging onto me, the 5 year olds trying to massage my back, I'm literally being swarmed to the point where I fall over. I know what you're thinking: lawsuit. But no, not here. The Korean teacher is right there telling the children to do it and giggling. No, it's a different place where I am. The older children will actually KICK me! With their feet! One little snot tried to shove his thumb up my rectum. And this is absolutely 100% normal treatment. You literally have to squeeze some pressure points, flick ears, pull hair to dissuade them. It's so strange. As is all of Korea.

On a side note, the 5 year olds give pretty good massages. And there's Cherry (Korean teachers can use English "names" as well) telling Johnny to massage my arm, Cutie to massage my other arm, Dorothy to get my neck, and Lily to punch on my back. It freaks me out. But it's normal. At least, all the other ESL teachers complain about the same thing.

I can't get the pictures to work. I think it has something to do with Mac being very feisty about using a non-Mac blogging system. I'm posting all my pictures on Facebook though, so don't be discouraged.

Forced vacation and other anecdotes

Yes, this week (week 3) marks my first forced vacation week! I'm off until Friday, then I go back to the cute little Korean kids to do my English song and dance. I really like my children. They're strong-willed but adorable. But enough about them: I'm on vacation!

A few other ESL teachers and I went to Haeundae beach in Busan. It is supposedly the best beach in SoKo, and the way the Koreans act there you'd have to believe it! It's also the big waygooken beach. Oh, there were plenty of Koreans, but it was crazy to see so many non-Korean people there. For instance, the ESL teachers had some volleyball fun with...Uzbekistani people? Yup, that's correct. And then tossed around a football with some Koreans and...a Sri Lankan? Yup, also correct.

Also somehow it became August. I'm sure someone's to blame for this, and if I ever find that someone I will have words.

TEACHER WHY?!

This is what the children say when they are confused. Most of the time why actually means what, but try telling that to the children. No, seriously. Try for me. It doesn't work! TEACHER WHY?! Because I said so Peter. No, WHY?!

This is a universal thing the children in SoKo say. My fellow ESL teachers have come to infer the many meanings of TEACHER WHY?! and I'm sure I will too.

SoKo is...a different culture. I've been through a bit of Europe (continental and otherwise) and so I can appreciate differences in culture. But when my employer urges me to take my shoes off in my own apartment, I know something is truly different. And when you hear things like "YOU HAVE BIG NOSE! PINOCCHIO!" and you respond "uhh...good or bad?" and they respond "VERY GOOD! VERY GOOD!" you know you're in a truly different sort of place. Everyone is fantastically nice. They love us white waygooken (the word of the day means "foreigner". Waygook is a more derogatory word for it, so if you hear "waygook" then someone is trying to mess with you). Pictures soon. I haven't figured out how to get to them just yet, but I will do that tomorrow.

the first post is the most boring

but i have to start somewhere! so...i made it to my place in Onyang-eup, Ulju-gun, Ulsan City, SoKo at 5 am after traveling for over 24 hours in planes and bus. it was harrowing for me and for my dog Issa, but that's not important anymore! everyone is fantastic, everything is fantastic.

Wurd: Anyong-haseo. it's the honorific "hello", which is what you would say to someone you are on formal terms with. children tend just to say anyong to each other, i.e. arrested development.

BOOM! first post defeated!