Year 2 - Party Time and Observations

Another one from the 2nd year E-mail bag.

*****

Howdy

What a wild weekend, and it is only saturday morning.

I had no classes until Friday afternoon and evening. My friend Sunny got back from the Phillipines. So, we had a welcome home party for her Thursday night. That was fun. Wine Sum Kyub Sal (bbq pork) and lots of soju. Sunny is a really nice person and a good friend. We ended up going to Albatross for a while before ending the night. It was a good time.

Friday I went to Seowon Middle School. My friend CS is a teacher there. We were supposed to go out for lunch at 11 AM. I agreed to go see the festival being put on at the school before lunch. It was actually interesting. They had art exhibits by all the students, and in the new gym there was a variety show with traditional and modern acts being performed by the students.

We had bori-bop for lunch. It is barley, rice, and vegetables. It is also very delicious. The only down side was the Christers we met. There were 2 ajummas sitting at the table beside us. They started talking with CS. Their conversation quickly turned to religon, they wanted to know if I was Christian. I should have said nothing, but I said so-so. Then they wanted to give me religous literature and have me come to their church on a sunday. They were very persistent and annoying. I played nice and didn't say what I wanted to.

This is one of the big problems I have with most Christians over here. If you say you aren't a Christian they want to convert you. If you say you are they want to be your church buddy and drive you crazy. The ones who are that bothersome don't take subtle hints to stop, you have to be rude to get them to shut up and leave you alone. And that doesn't always work.

He wanted to go to a nori bang after lunch. Since I had a few hours to kill I said sure. After getting there he invited a couple of female friends to join us. I barely made it to school in time for my first class. Classes were literally starting when I got there.

When I got into my class the kids looked at me funny. One of them ponted and said "Flint Teacher, pe! Pe!" and pointed at my face. Pe means blood. It wasn't blood, it was lipstick from one of CS's friends. I had to go clean my face off before I could start class. Luckily the director and other teachers didn't see that. ;)

After work there was a staff party. Two of the Korean teachers had birthdays, one thursday and one friday. Plus there is a new teacher, from Ireland. So it was a combination welcome and birthday party. It was also my welcome party. They did have one planned for me, but never told me about it, so I didn't go. ;)

You have to keep something in mind about going out with colleagues. At my old school it wasn't just frowned on, it was actively discouraged. The director and her husband were mormons and didn't drink. They also didn't want the Korean teachers and staff fraternizing with the foreign teachers. They wouldn't say anything to us, but they would call the Korean's into the office and take them to task. Especially if they thought they were getting "too close" to a foreigner. So, we rarely had all the staff out together, and it was always a sedate sort of affair.

At Ivy School, the director and her husband don't mind us all getting together. In fact, they join in! They want everyone to party together. Last night was a blast.

We started with dinner, sum kyub sal. That included champagne for the birthdays, soju, and beer. Except for one teacher who was ill all of the foreign teachers were there. Most of the Korean staff was there too. It was a fun meal, very relaxing and a good way to get ready for the rest of the evening. The director picked up the bill. They ended up paying for the entire night!

After eating we went to a bar called Jjocki Jjocki. It is a nice place, for a western bar. There is an outdoor area with a big waterfall fountain. In the summer you can sit out there and drink. We drank a lot of beer and vodka coolers there.

After several pitchers and coolers we went to a nori bang. The room we got was huge. It had to be to fit all of us. I have been to a nori bang with small groups of people, never with 12-15 people. I expected it to be like the smaller groups, but I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone was up and joining in on songs, dancing. It was a lot of fun. We spent a couple of hours there.

Our group broke up after that. Most people headed home, it was almoost 1 AM. 6 of us decided to go to Casanova, a night club. I hadn't been to one in all my time in Korea. It was a fun experience. Yes, I was dancing. :) One of the Korean's I work with is very shy and quiet ay work. When she is out patrying she is pretty wild. It was a great night out.

So far I like this new school. :)

Take care

Flint

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I am pretty sure I mentioned the incident with the Christians in another post. While out to lunch with a friend I ran into one of the bitches again and she tried to ruin our lunch with Christ talk. My friend got rid of her. :)