Day 11: Waiter? More Water Please!

One of the many great things about being a foreign teacher is the opportunity to teach the kids many fun games that they have never been exposed to, yet are omnipresent in North America. In the last week or so I've had a blast introducing my kids to hangman, musical chairs, "Simon Says", and their new recent favourite - the High Five Game. (You know the one - "Gimme five, up high, down low, TOO SLOW!") They absolutely love that one and would honestly play it with me for hours if I let them (more like if I had the energy!) Today I introduced them to a new game that I stole from the movie Liar Liar. There's a scene in that movie (at least I think it's that one, could be another Jim Carrey movie) where Jim Carrey chases his son around the room with THE CLAW. "THE CLAW" is merely his own hand in a grotesque claw-like position, pretending that it is alive and evil, and wanting to eat his son. I brought out THE CLAW to the kids today and they went crazy - they loved it! I made sure to do this after school hours knowing that it was going to cause a lot of excitement. I chased them around the school, and into the play room where we turned off all the lights. They absolutely loved being chased and screamed at (imagine a mangled scream, and that's what THE CLAW sounds like!) and even the older 12 and 14-year old students couldn't resist joining in. I think that play time is important with the kids, so that they can see there's more to me than just great English, and it's good for teacher-student bonding! :-)

After a good hour of THE CLAW I had worked up quite the appetite! One of the part-time teachers who tutors the kids with their math and science skills invited me out for dinner after work, and it was my first "real Korean" meal since I've arrived! We went to this Korean restaurant near Bucheon Station and it was quite the experience! Once again, we had to remove our shoes, and sat cross-legged at small table that's barely higher than the floor. In the middle of the table is a large grill used to cook our meal, and we were brought a large plate full of several ingredients for dinner. She ordered some sort of chicken stir-fry like meal and it was very tasty. Accompanying the main course were several small side dishes, including a bowl of sprouts and Thousand Island dressing (Koreans are all about Thousand Island), a bowl of pickled radishes, a small plate with seasoning, spicy sauce, and the ever-present kimchee (pickled vegetables - not for the faint of heart). There was also a side of large lettuce leaves so that we could build lettuce wraps with the chicken and steamed vegetables.

The dinner was delicious actually, but so spicy!!! And we're not just talking "I'll have the hot sauce from Taco Time spicy", this is "take a deep breath, hold on tight boy, and pray you don't shit your pants holy fuck is this ever spicy, SPICY!!!" I've eaten a lot of spicy food in Vancouver before, but this was the spiciest dish I've had in recent memory. Maybe I've just been out of practice for a while... Either way I went through several glasses of water, while Hye-Young barely touched her glass!

The dinner is also supposed to be eaten with chopsticks, an art that I have yet to master. (Korean cutlery includes only chopsticks and a spoon - nothing else.) I attempted, rather pathetically I must admit, to eat my dinner with chopsticks but was getting more on the table and all over myself rather than in my mouth, so I just stuck with the spoon! After the chicken and vegetables dish the same grill was used to cook a feast of rice, vegetables, seaweed, and some other spicy seasonings. This was a spicy dish as well, but much easier to handle than the first one. The meal was healthy and delicious and will certainly make my immune system stronger!!!

After dinner we went out for hot chocolate at a nearby coffee joint and sat and relaxed while chatting. Hye-Young's English is fairly basic, but she's really friendly and likes to ask a lot of questions. Koreans are very inquisitive, and will ask you unabashedly questions regarding your height and weight, marital status, economic background, and personal sentiments regarding love and romance. This is not done in a nosy or invasion-of-privacy way, but rather in just wanting to get to know you, and also in order to establish where you lie in the 'social hierarchy' chain. Koreans place a lot of value on the above questions to determine the proper and most polite way to speak to you - it's all part of their tradition and relates back to their Confucian history - one that is based on respect towards elders and those in certain professions. It's all very interesting for me because in Western culture these are all questions that one would not normally ask a stranger, or someone that they don't know very well. Here it's a different story though. Many Westerners unfamiliar with this part of their culture become offended when asked such personal questions, but lucky for me I've done my research, and had been given a good 'heads-up' by others before arriving here. It all makes for another interesting night out on the town in Korea.