chickpeas

Chickpeas are some of my favorite things, people!  And for the first time, I'm cooking them from the dried form. This is because until about two weeks ago, I couldn't find canned chickpeas in Korea.  They recently materialized at Kim's Club - but are rather pricey.*  I don't mind paying a lot for a food like that, since usually a few will go a long way with me (I mainly use them as a salad topping) but since I'd bought a bag of dried at the foreign food market in Itaewon, I haven't yet taken advantage of the newly available canned beans.  Anyway, ha.

I bought the dried chickpeas to make chili.  I made chili, they tasted great in it.  Success, I guess.

Now I'm cooking some I had soaked at the same time as my chili chickpeas.  These were a portion to be set aside for salads, but I just forgot about them in my refrigerator and they ... they started growing.  This makes me think that my fridge is *still* not cold enough, despite the fact that it freezes portions of salsa and tofu.  Must be really uneven air in there, or chickpeas just love growing in freezing temperatures.  Not sure what the case really is.

I am excited about these legumes ~ they smelled great while boiling/simmering.  Even though they aren't quite done, I've turned them off since I'm going to sleep soon, ha, and can't watch them through the night.  Maybe I'll turn them on again when I shower in the morning, haha.

*Kim's Club also recently started carrying cannelloni (they already had kidney) ~~ so if you're a bean fan, you might want to stock up.  Never know when they might disappear.

american boy and korean boys

Hi, peeps!  So, it's Monday!  I had a little work to do today.  But now I am not working.  No, now I am just humming along to "American Boy," so I am going to share it with you.  I support nothing else this woman has done.  Just this song.  And Kanye's opinion on coats.

What?  Embedding disabled? Hmm.   so go here, mmkay?  american boy

Regarding korean boys, ha, they are still just as adorable as ever.  Nothing particularly new to report.  Well, I did go to the YG Family concert, so I got to see some of those famous korean gentlemen (and ladies.)  They were cute.  But, some could not sing.  At points, it was painful.  Not the boys, no, they sang fine - the chicks, though.  Ouuuuch.  Not all could really pull off what they were attempting.

It all reminded me that I don't really dig the Korean tendency to belt things out - I mean, not everything needs a melodramatic crescendo to be cool.  Just my opinion, yo.  Maybe I'll write a more detailed report on the concert later, but probably not, haha.

perks of a small apartment

There are a lot of nice things about living in a tiny apartment.  (There are a lot of bad things about living in a tiny apartment too, but let's think about the positive today.)

Good things that I'm thinking of right now:

• Whenever I need something, it's always at hand.
• My food-related pleasures are only a glance away.  For example, when I make a pie, it has to go on the table or the counter.  That's where it will live until I eat it all.  Its mere presence can make me happy.  Tonight, I'm soaking three different kinds of beans.  Every once in a while, I lean forward in my bed so I can check them out on the counter.  Red kidney beans, white chickpeas, black ... black beans.  Mmm.

Actually, come to think of it, food-related things take up most of my apartment.  Big fridge, oven, kitchen area, microwave.  Microwave is chilling on the floor right now because oven replaced it.  Oven actually has a microwave function, but I'm a little afraid to use it.

My bed also takes up a huge amount of room.  I constantly think how much easier (and more comfortable) it would be just to have a futon of some sort (Japanese/Korean style) but I'm stuck with this bed.  At least it keeps me off the really hot floor, ha.

Today I spent a lot of time cleaning, but my apartment is still not clean. :(  I am slow and messy, apparently.  Maybe I can finish it up tomorrow morning.

observations from the last class

The class I just finished tends to be one of my favorites: it's full of "characters."  I have recently discovered that the main gangster of the room is really smart, and thank heavens, he seems to be generally on my side.

Things they said today, and how they made me feel:

:(
Jin Sol said: "Teacher, arms, oh no."
My hairy arms really bother this guy, apparently.  It's like the tenth time  he's mentioned it, but at least it's always with a smile.  Initially it was funny, but now I'm like, geez, kid, my arms bothered me a little when I was at home with other hairy barbarians.  Here in the land of the hairless I'm starting to feel a mite more insecure about it all.

:(
Frankenstein said: "Internet shopping ..."  (other boys talking to my co-teacher, "internet shopping blah blah blah") -- finally, Frankenstein again: "Teacher, GMarket.  You, internet shopping."  Me:  "Actually, I got this at Uniqulo.  And this from Forever 21.  But I do like internet shopping."
I am pretty sure that he meant my clothes looked cheap.  I guess this outfit doesn't please them ... But it's so comfortable.  Still, I know I could do better, style-wise.  I think whether I wear it again will depend on how grouchy I feel, haha.  I'll definitely wear it on grouchy days.

:) / :-O
Sweetheart: "Teacher!  You girlfriend, my girlfriend!  Come here baby."  Me:  "I'm a little old, and you're going to get yourself in trouble."
This kid is adorable, but he better watch it, ha.  "Come here baby" is a phrase a lot of my boys try to use on me before I turn "death ray glare" on them.  I've heard them say it to other female teachers too -- wonder where they picked it up.  They just use it when they want help with their work, ha.

:)
Kid who actually has facial hair: "Teacher, me English, no." Me: "Okay.  This one - where do you live?  You house?  I live in ---, you live in ---?"  (blank gaze of confusion in response) I then proceeded to ask where his house is in Korean - freaked him out a little, haha.  But he understood and gave me an answer, way too fast for me to catch it.  So I sat down and tried to talk through things with him, but his main response was, "Mm.." with a vaguely distressed look of incomprehension.  Which I understand.  Poor guy.  I think we made a little progress, and I'm surprised that I didn't notice him before today.  Seems like a good kid.

too much punishment, etc.

Since teachers aren't allowed to hit the kids anymore, my school has had to be a little more creative with punishment methods.  It's become a lot more noisy in my hallway as a result - kids have to do more punitive yelling, apparently.  I think this hurts me more than it phases the students.  Anyway, what's worse than yelling is the cleaning - they've had the kids put some potent-smelling stuff on the floor and I feel sick from breathing the fumes.  I imagine the kids must feel worse than I do, since I'm sitting here in a room instead of out in the hallway itself.  Anyway, I wish they'd pick something non-toxic for the children to do, ha.

In other news, my co-teacher is humidifying our office by running an open hot water pot.  Pretty sure that is both against the manufacturer's instructions and almost totally ineffective.

the danger of cooking for yourself

People!  I think it's risky business to cook for yourself.  Not because you may cut yourself, light yourself on fire, or inadvertently poison yourself; no, the real threat lies in addiction.  Addiction and elitism!

Once you've made something you're really happy with, you'll start to judge all other versions of that dish against your own.  You'll be spoiled.  If that elitism isn't bad enough, add to that that to find satisfaction you'll always have to work!  In some ways, that's good.  You can make yourself happy, save money, time, etc.  If your favorite restaurant that makes the rolls 'just so' closes down and those rolls were the paragon of rolls, well, you'd be out of luck!  But not if the paragon of rolls for you are the rolls you roll yourself.  Then you're blessed with the knowledge that as long as you have the power and wherewithal to do so, you'll always have rolls.  But.  You'll always have to make them.  You can never "treat yourself" to a night out with rolls.  Sure, maybe you like cooking - maybe you love it!  But your self-made food addictions can only be satisfied through your own labor.  It's a blessing and a curse.

This is what's on my mind as I stuff myself with some of the food that I love.  I used to cook this stuff all the time at home and back at school, but for some reason not that often in Korea.  (It's American Chinese food, haha.  Simplicity perfected, people.  Or nearly so - the only thing that could make this better is the right kind of tea to drink with it, and I won't bother - I've got darjeeling made and I won't waste the oolong.)

regarding disappearing products

Less than two weeks after I bought it, that delicious butter from Homeplus is already gone.

WHAT THE CRAP, Homeplus.  I'm so upset.  Seriously.  It was soooo good.  Good enough to eat on its own, people, and that's kind of a disgusting thought, I know, but I think it was that tasty.

Just posting this to remind you that I wasn't joking when I suggested you seize the moment when you see things you like in stores here in Korea.  Buy while the product is within your reach.  I think I'll go around to different Homepluses (ha) and see if they have any of the other butter hanging around.

exposed skin! gasp

My students are adorable in their concern over my state of dress.  They generally compliment me if they think my outfit looks good, something along the lines of, "Oh teacher, beautiful!" or "Good fashion!  Teacher, fashionista!" All cute, right?  Right.  I know the boys are often lying because they want to be charming, but regardless, it's a flattering practice of theirs.

Sometimes, though, my students get very serious.  This happens when I am inadvertently showing some amount of skin.  Examples:

• Scene: I'm seated, slightly leaning forward at an all-girls' table, my shirt collar slightly open.
• "Oh, teacher!"
• "Yes?"
• "Shirt - oh!" She gestures to her chest, covers her neck, and looks at me.  I nod and sit up straight, covering any centimeter of previously exposed skin.
• "Thank you!" I say to my student, mirroring her solemn face while inwardly "aww-ing" over her concern.
• "Teacher.  There are boys outside." (She points to the door.)  "So be careful."
• One boy pulled at the back of my shirt once so that the front would pull up - I think I've mentioned this before.  That was rather odd, especially since he didn't try to say anything about it, and it was a break in his "generally acting obnoxious" behavior which I was trying to address at that time.
• Today I heard, "Teacher!  English teacher!" as I was walking around the classroom helping kids with their work, so I figured that's what the student calling me needed.  However, when I turned around, the boy that addressed me just pointed to a girl near me, and she reached over and patted my back.  Apparently some of the shirt that I'm wearing under my sweater was showing - maybe even a little of my waist moments before, as I'd leaned over helping a nearby student.  I thanked them and pulled my sweater down a bit.

Unrelated to skin exposure:

Two of my boys just said hello to me in the hallway as I was walking back from lunch with my co-teacher.  They said their formal hello to her, and to me, "Oh, hello!" accompanied by a crazy elaborate bow from one of them -- not the traditional Korean on-the-floor bow, just something involving a lot of arm motions and a waist-deep bend.  Curious.  Then, of course, singing.  They started some 2am or 2pm song (my co-teacher told me, I didn't recognize it) and then - as we looked at them - they started dancing in sync, and kept it up as we walked away from them towards the office.  Um.  Cute, weird, over the top, ha.

tip! on rubberbands

The talented and wise gyopo wife mentioned this wonderful tip somewhere on her blog: I probably found it when I was spending waaaay to much time reading past posts some months ago, ha.  Sorry for acting like a creeper by reading up on your past experiences, gyopo wife!  But your writing is good, and it's fun to follow along.  That, and after getting the invaluable rubberband tip, I can't stop myself from gleaning for more kernals of great knowledge.

If you find yourself in need of a big rubberband, gyopo wife has come up with a great solution: make one from a rubber glove!  This works wonderfully, people.  I haven't looked for rubberbands in stores.  I honestly don't need dozens of them even if I were to find them.  I just need a few.  In order to make a rubberband from a glove, all you have to do is cut off part of the glove with scissors.  Pretty simple!  I use one to keep a too-small trash bag open and secure in a too-large trashcan, and I have two on duty keeping a bag of pasta and a bag of flour sealed.

A note on the flour and other ingredients: I have been advised to keep many things in the fridge.  I understand that some things stay good longer that way, and that it might discourage/delay the appearance of things like weevils.  (Eeek!)  I have only seen weevils once here, and I'm not even sure they were the sort that I had seen occasionally back in the States.  Whatever they were, they appeared after a couple of weeks in a bag of red adzuki beans that I had purchased from Homeplus (Homeplus brand.)  Since the bag was closed and no other grains were in that cabinet, I can only assume the creatures came in with the beans.  And I had already eaten some the week before - the beans, I mean.  I guess I probably ate some creature eggs too, if they hadn't washed off when I cleaned my beans.  So appetizing, right?  Eh.  Anyway, from that point on I decided to not buy Homeplus brand beans, ha.  I can't keep something like flour in the fridge because I am positive that it will pick up a kimchi taste.  I really need to do something about that, ha.  It's delicious kimchi, but because of the way the fridge is made, even my ice cream is now kimchi flavored.  The store-bought kimchi is well-sealed enough to not leak odors in the fridge, but the stuff I got as a gift is pungent and emits a kimchi odor through a lock and lock container and two sealed bags, ha.

welsh cakes, illustrated

This is the the welsh cakes recipe that I started with, by Stephanie Jaworski.  Actually, that's a lie, now that I think about it!  This is the welsh cake recipe I really started with, and it's by Chichi Wang?  I'm rather confused.  I know Chichi Wang posted the post and photographed the food, but who is responsible for testing the recipe and adapting it from A Baker's Odyssey?  Probably Chichi Wang, right?  Hmm.  I found that recipe because I was in one of my "oh my gosh, I just really want some lard" moods, so I googled up a bunch of recipes that used lard one day during my spare time.  I really ... love lard.  I haven't been able to get up the courage to ask Korean butchers about getting my hands on leaf fat, so my time in Korea has so far been lard-free.  Alas.

Since I don't have access to lard, I can't make that exact version of welsh cakes.  So I looked at this bbc welsh cake recipe, then at the recipe by Stephanie Jaworski.  I went with Jaworksi's when I decided to get baking - I suppose guess because it didn't call for lard so I wouldn't have to bother with substitutions.  Here's my take on that recipe.

Cranberry Orange Spice Welsh Cakes
kimchipress, fall 2010

• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 white granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• --
• 1/2 cup cold, lightly salted butter, cubed
• --
• 1 tbs orange zest, finely chopped
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup dried cranberries.  I left half whole, chopped the other half.
• --
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3-4 tbs heavy cream

Salted butter is all I have access to, but at least this is a good import from - let me see, Denmark?  It's called Lurpak.  So it's not horribly dyed or oddly sweet, like some Korean butter. I really love the taste of this stuff, and it's my first time using it.  Now that I know it's good, I'll go buy a bunch.  New arrivals to Korea beware: your favorite ingredients may disappear without warning here.  Stores like Homeplus and Emart love to switch things up frequently.  Land o' Lakes and Prego have both vanished since my arrival. : (

You may have noticed I didn't call for any salt.  I think things went fine without it, especially considering my salted butter.  I don't know if it would have affected the rise, texture, or taste of the final product that much.  I also didn't turn my welsh cakes.  Hah.  Basically they just look like flat scones, but the taste is decidedly different, if only just.  The spiced flavor is mild, but lingers on the tongue.  If you really want "Christmas" taste, increase the amount of spices you use.   But go easy on cardamom - that stuff is potent.

1. Heat oven to 350 F, or 175 C - the latter is what I went with, since I'm playing with my new oven.  Butter a pan.  I used a ceramic cookie sheet type thing that came with my oven.
2. Blend the dry ingredients (not the zest or cranberries) together until things are thoroughly mixed.  Add the cubes of butter, a few at a time, and cut in with a fork or a pasty cutter - since I don't have one here, I went with the fork.  Continue mashing the butter about until you don't seem big blobs of butter.  Garbanzo bean sized chunks are okay, though.
3. Mix in the zest and cranberries.  Mix a tablespoon or two of cream into the egg, beat briefly, then add the egg cream to the mix.  Blend to form a rough dough, adding a tbs or two of cream if need be.
4. Turn the mix out onto a floured surface and work the thing into a somewhat manageable blob.  You don't need it to be super smooth, just enough to look relatively uniform.  Press it flat (roll it, if you wish) to 1/4 or 1/2 inch in height.
5. Cut into desired shapes.  Ideally, cut into rounds with a cookie cutter.  I cut my dough into pie wedges with a knife because I don't have a cookie cutter, ha.  A drinking glass would work, but will tend to crush a sharp edge.  I'd rather have a sharp edge in this instance instead of a round shape.
6. Brush floured hands over rounds or wedges and place them on baking sheet, leaving an inch between the pieces.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until top is barely beginning to show touches of gold.
8. Leave on sheet for as long as you can bear (5 minutes? ha), then sprinkle with sugar and devour with a cup of good tea.

welsh cakes

Well!  I have turned my oven on for the first time today.  I've had it for quite a while, but couldn't bring myself to test it out on anything less than cookies or welsh cakes.  Since the welsh cakes require cold butter instead of soft, ha, that was the easier/speedier choice for the evening.

From what I've read (all two recipes?) welsh cakes are generally baked on an open griddle, not in an oven.  But since I know my stove works and didn't know if my oven did, I switched my methodology.  Though for those that cannot bake, welsh cakes would be a great thing to be able to make, especially here in Korea, eh?  Bread (cake?) like this is a treat.  Sure, there are bakeries, but most of them bake Koreanified bread.  Not welsh cakes, ha.  I'll have to try the griddle method out before I can suggest it to my baked-goods-deprived fellow expatriates.

The cakes themselves are amazingly tender, somewhat -- flaky, maybe?  They crumble easily, but are not dry.  I flavored mine with dried cranberries, orange zest, and a faint hint of a variety of Christmas-y spices, because it's November and I'm totally in the holiday mood, ha.  I'll post the recipe I was inspired by, my own modified version, and pictures of the finished product as well.  As long as I can restrain myself from eating them until I've taken pictures?  Haha.  Had hoped to give some to my co-teacher tomorrow, but I ate my first two so quickly ... I fear for the wellbeing of the rest.

camera issues

I've been thinking about getting a new camera for a while now.  Maybe ... 6 years?  Hahaha.  I did buy one, and it's been darling, but I wonder now if it's time to get one of the other cameras I had been considering.

I currently use a sweet little Fujifilm Finepix - it works well as the "keep it in your purse" outing camera, and it really shines in low light conditions.  That's why I bought it, actually.  I knew that it could take decent pictures at concerts, and it was small enough that I'd actually cart it around and use it.  It has done its job well.  Though it has a "sports" setting, I just don't have the speed with it to take pictures quickly.

That's why I sometimes think of a DSLR.  I want to be able to snap shots of people, especially, before they notice, haha.  My students are totally my intended main target - it would be really sad if during my time here I acquired only a few photographs of them.  Especially since they are so adorable!  Their faces are super precious, ha, so I want to keep a record of them in their shining youth.

A DSLR is big and expensive.  Not too big, not too expensive - I have one that I've picked out that's around $1,000, and I'd pay that for a good camera.  But what worries me more is the fact that I don't really know how to use one well, and I don't care to spend my life editing images.  I know the color is off with them - it's usually too unkind, the borders with white a little odd.

I'd really like a film camera.  I don't know how in the world to go about picking out a good film camera, ha.  And I don't know much about how they operate, technically.  I've read a little, but it hasn't stuck.  But the look of film!  I like the detail of it, the tone of it - and, I'll be honest, the darn "oldness" and tangibility of it.  Film prints are so different than digital prints.  And slides!  Don't even get me started on slides, people.  I freakin' love slides.   And to top it all off, I don't just want a regular, portable 35mm film camera.  I want ... I want a medium format camera.  Haha.  The kind you have to set up on a tripod with a sweet box and billows and etc.  I want that AND a portable camera.  Future ambitions, probably?  Hmm.

Since I haven't made up my mind on the camera front, I did go ahead and buy myself an expensive little baby Instax Mini.  It's super precious, and I'm really happy with the photos it produces.  I doubt they'll last long - I'll have to make digital copies.  But for now, they'll do.

thanksgiving update

I have:

an oven
canned corn (creamed and whole kernal)
cornmeal
a turkey*

I need:

... On second thought, this list would be too long to bother posting at this point.  Basically, "a lot."

If you find yourself in Korea and in need of a raw turkey, the rumors are true: you can indeed purchase one at Costco.  That is where I bought my 17lb bird.  I carried that baby home, people.  Along with other stuff!  It can be done.  Costco also has delicious looking 6000 won pumpkin pies - I really want one, ha.  I'll try to get one soon - hoping they aren't sold out yet.  There were only 5 turkeys on display when I picked mine - I'm not sure if that's because they only want a few on display, or if that's because that's all they had left.  I could have bought mine later, but I chose to get it early because I have a fear of being Turkey-free.  Pie-free -- I can handle that.  (Maybe it's a marketing ploy?)

fall planning time

It's fall here in Korea now.  The weather is decidedly cool and the leaves have started to change color.  I think this season will be shorter than it was back home.  Sad, because fall is my favorite season.  I like the food, the weather, the clothes, the holidays, the family, friends, etc. - it just seems like fall offers so many wonderful things!  (Ha, it doesn't give me family and friends, but certain falltastic events let me see them more often, at least in usual circumstances.)

This year, however, I'm away from my family and my home-friends, and here in Korea with my new friends.  The plan, at the moment, is for us to simply eat out on the US Thanksgiving Day.  That is okay.  I'll probably do it.  However!  On the Thanksgiving Day weekend, I have decided to make a mini-feast for a few of my Korean friends.  I'm not going to invite my foreign friends ... ie, when and if they find out, they will kill me.  But I can only fit so many people in my tiny apartment, so I'll just have to feast with the rest at a later time.  Since Thanksgiving is only two months away (haha) I've of course started planning my menu.  The turkey is going to be hard to acquire - I might have to special order it somehow.  Complications.  Here is my menu, without any thought as to whether or not certain things will be hard or difficult to find in Korea.  Suggestions welcome~!

• Turkey - I'm not going to stuff it.  That's physically impossible, given the dimensions of a turkey and the oven that I will (soon) have.  I'll have to cook the parts separately.
• Cranberry sauce
• Stuffing (cooked separately)
• Mashed potatoes (regular)
• Biscuits
• Cornbread
• Apple butter
• Corn pudding (Thanksgiving is all about corn, after all)
• Sweet baked squash (maple syrup, brown sugar, pecans)
• Collard Greens (spicy with bacon)
• Jello Salad (I've never made this, but if I'm showing Koreans Thanksgiving, I feel like I need at least one '70s dish)
• Soup - I'm thinking cold carrot coconut w/ cumin and ginger, but I might change my mind
• Dessert:
• Apple pie or peach cobbler (with vanilla ice cream?)

Do you realize how much sugar is in this menu?  Holy crap.  American Thanksgiving is so sweet.  But soooo good.  I think my Korean friends will like the food, but will overeat and feel terrible.  I'll have to warn them.

back to school

classes have started again

it's actually not that bad to be back.  yet, haha.  I'm hoping that I won't come to dread school or anything, but I've yet to see how things will pan out.  Schedule changes and new classes, etc.  Could be rocky.

In other news, I think I may run.  Not tomorrow, because that would mean an absurdly small amount of sleep for me.  But maybe Wednesday morning.  If I can find shorts in my closet.  I'm not sure if I actually brought any with me, ha.  If not, I'll pick some up at the store in the afternoon.

honesty

i'm some kind of confession magnet?

i mean i don't get all the dirt, but i get a lot more than i expect

maybe it's genetic.  my mom tries or doesn't try and gets life stories in 5 seconds

i don't try and get life truths without much time either.

hmm.

but it's kind of a burden, you know.  knowing people is tough, peeps!  tough stuff.

i love monsoon season?

so yeah, maybe it puts a damper on some plans, but really ~ i dig this heavy rainfall.  i like the look, the smell, the sound ~ the fun of trying to stay dry, or the hilarity associated with getting absolutely soaked.  seriously, people - monsoon season in korea is not as wet as i was expecting.  it's not a tropical place, but there is a bit of rain.  still nothing really surprising yet.  (i say that now, watch the next three weeks be non-stop downpours, haha.)

i do kind of still want those rainboots that i never bought, though.  just so i can tromp through those extra-deep puddles without fear of falling or losing a flip flop, haha.

i should go shopping right now, but i really don't want to go alone.  i do most of the time, and that's fine, but eventually clothing shopping alone gets tiresome here ~ it's not that i'm bored, but i weary of having to deal with the lack of english company, haha.  it's all gestures and limited korean to figure out where the dressing room is, etc.

maybe i should just pull out a bunch of cash and go to hongdae to get some cool threads.  or apgujeong.  the trendy, off-the-main-drag areas that i can actually afford, haha.  i would love to have a new outfit to wear to meet this new fellow tomorrow, but i'm probably too lazy to bother, haha.

what i really need to do is my darn dry cleaning.  egads, it has been taking up a corner of my room for months because i'm too much of a pansy to go try it and sign up and whatnot.

absurd

so it's around 8, i haven't had dinner.  i open the fridge.
i see a bag and think, "Oh, are those my eggplants?"
but no, they aren't - the eggplants are in the bottom drawer.  the black bag is full of plums i bought off a guy on the side of the street.  they were so-so fresh - not the sweetest things in the world, and lacking an intense plum flavor.  so i had just abandoned them up there in the "cool shelf" whose actual purpose i have not yet discovered.

anyway, i immediately forgot about my immediate hunger and decided that something had to be done with the plums.  i figured, "Hey, plum freezer jam?"

looked up a recipe - didn't want to really follow it.  it would involve measuring - and i have no measuring utensils aside from teaspoons, and i am actually not sure where those are right at the moment.  so i just guessed myself some plum jam.  spiced, because i had a lot of brown sugar and not a lot of white - and because those plums were so boring when fresh.  my current verdict on the product is that it's really, really sweet -- gah.  i mean, i guess jam just is that way, but i don't know, people.  i'll still find some use for it, regardless of how it tastes once it's set and on toast, ha.  if it's too sweet, i'll just use it as a glaze.  too sour, and i can either add juice and reboil, or just serve it on ice cream, ha.  that's my current plan, at any rate.  ideally, though, i can put it on welsh cakes.  as soon as i get some form of fruit, welsh cakes are happening.

after i finished my jam i remembered the egglplants and my previous hunger.  i tore up an eggplant and tossed it in a pan with a dab of oil.  cooked that while i washed and cut broccoli, which i tossed in after the eggplant along with some garlic once the broccoli got a little brighter in color.  got to watch that garlic or it'll burn, you know.  whipped up a very mild sauce - i didn't want a real stir-fry sauce taste, just something to make things a little more exciting without making me crave rice, ha.  because i don't have rice.  so after that cooked i tossed on some sliced green onions and ate my veggie stir-fry.  it was great, oddly enough?  i guess i just love eggplant.

now i am boiling water for my jam container -- a mug with a lid, haha.  i have a couple jars, but i won't be able to get the jam out of them if i use them, ha.  so.  since it's just freezer jam (or, in my case, fridge jam) in a small quantity, i figure one or two lidded mugs should be enough since i plan on consuming this stuff quickly.  we'll see!  why am i bothering with boiling if i know there won't be a seal or anything?  no idea.  it just seems like the morally right thing to do, ha.

p.s.  i still think my fridge isn't cool enough.  i need to buy a real thermometer for that thing - i'm currently using a meat thermometer, but it means absolutely nothing to me, ha.  who knows if it is even accurate at cold temperatures.  again, i think that was a morally justified move and nothing rooted in practicality.

potato salad

as happens whenever i make this potato salad, i have eaten enough to feel vaguely near death, but also as usual, i'm somehow not too upset about it.  the taste is so worth it, hah.

pineapple

I had some pineapple that I'd neglected in the fridge for about ... two weeks.  So I was a little surprised that it still felt firm and looked fine -- it was one of those cored and peeled but not sliced dealios that comes wrapped in way too much plastic.  Anyway, so put that thing on my cutting board, cut a slice, cut a bite from that slice, and --

weird!  fermented pineapple!  like, just alcoholic, it didn't really taste "spoiled" in the usual sense of the word.  super odd!  but also not what i was expecting, or needing, ha - so it's all been trashed.  still.  interesting.

the good thing about korean offices

we can eat cake and make the secretary clean up for us!  score.

pssst, korean teachers

"Tip!  Pointing at me while whispering blows your cover!"
imagine it in the bubbly font that they put on korean products

so i pricked my finger

i pricked my finger when i was digging though my purse the other day.  on what, you ask?

why, fish hooks (fishhooks?) of course.  i found a slew of them (really, maybe 6 or so) on the sidewalk by the bus stop the other day, so of course i picked them up.  tiny little hooks on tiny braided strings.  the hooks are the eyeless sort.  i will post pictures sometime soon.

right now, i have to decide whether or not to stay up until i finish some work, or go directly to sleep and rely on my early morning time to finish things.  i'm nervous about both options. good grief, i will be glad when ... well.  when next thursday rolls around?  yes.  maybe.

i need constant wake-up calls

Ack!  Friends.  Korea is dangerous.  I know - I know that this place is foreign, that the people generally do not think and feel and act as I do or would.  The people are different, the society is different.  It's not a Western country, it's not my country, it's not my state, it's not my home.

But!  Sometimes, when things just keep on moving along, it's easy to forget how essential, how ingrained these differences really are.  I feel as if I'm driving on a long straight road.  I'm used to the scenery, I know where to pull over to get good snacks, etc.  I don't consciously think that everything is fine, but I do consciously think that nothing is really wrong.

It's in that moment of false security that I tend to receive little jolts to my consciousness, ha.  Something unsettling and uncomfortable happens, and then I remember that regardless of how reasonable and safe things may seem over here -- they aren't.  Not for me, anyway.

I'm not talking about physical safety, of course.  I'm thinking more along the lines of mental safety - or emotional security, if you will, ha.  I'm not one to really engage myself too quickly, but I think I do allow myself to make basic assumptions about people much too fast.  I usually decide whether or not I like a person shortly after meeting him or her.  What I need to focus on now is my ability to not act on silly assumptions, ha.

These people, for the most part, do not trust me.  At all.  Some of them trust my honesty, ha, but they don't really trust every aspect of me - and for me, that's problematic.  I've been trusted in every aspect of my personality, my behavior - I've had people accept and rely on the whole package of faith in my person.  So for someone to pick and choose between what I can be trusted with - well, for me, that breaks everything down.  Even if it is possible for them to trust me with money, for instance, if they think that I will behave rudely in some situation, I don't even care if they trust my ability to not steal, ha.

That's just because of the behavior I'm accustomed to experiencing, really.  I do trust other people in that fractured way, ha - but that seems okay to me because it's familiar to my brain.  Say Sally never tells a lie, but you couldn't bet on her making it to one out of ten meetings on time.  If you know these things about people early on, they aren't even really faults to deal with, ha, just quirks.  Or if they are severe enough to be faults, you adjust your expectations and requirements accordingly.  If I had been sanctioned for some failings of character earlier in my life, I think it would be easier for me to accept such sanctions now.  But with no precedent and no justification, I take these sanctions a little more seriously than I should.

It breaks down my trust in the person who has such limited trust in me, really.

But it's good to know this now!  It is not too late, ha.  I can still step back and readjust my mindset.  I'm glad, now, that I haven't disclosed as much about myself as I could have.  I had some doubts before, thinking that perhaps I shouldn't censure my life in trivial matters.  Now, though, I think it's going to have to be sharing on a need to know basis.

I know there are people here that I can relate to more fully than the person that I'm upset with right now, and I'm very thankful for those souls, ha.  It's just this dash of water that has me a bit out of sorts.  And it's good to remember that her case is the rule, not the exception.  I'm a stranger in a strange land, ha, so I should expect to deal with strange things.

PS!

This all sounds so dramatic, ha.  I am fine, ha.  Upset, but fine.  If I told you what happened, you wouldn't see  why it irks me so much.  It's a big sociological pickle.  I'll explain the issue further if you like, but meh, I think that's all I'm going to say on this subject for now.

somewhere, someone in my apartment building is listening to rather unusual vocal music.  i can't really describe it well - sort of feels like romantic classics from the '30s or '70s.  (Did those periods have similarities?  More than you might think!)

i think it's time to put away the k-pop for a while and go back to classier stuff, actually.  i'll still k-pop it up, i'm sure, but it's time for a change of pace.

it's late, i'm hot, and i'm afraid of the monsoon season.  i feel like i should be preparing for y-2k all over again, but really, people.  it's just rain.  what is more worrying is the potential for conflict with the country to the north.  maybe i should buy a flashlight?  i mean, out of all of the things i'm lacking, i feel like a flashlight could help a lot in any sort of conundrum, be it a lack of power due to heavy rain, ha, or something else that i don't even want to contemplate.  i think i'll buy one next time i'm out.  a flashlight and some jerky, ha.

people are still up all over the place!  i bought new cereal!  interesting things to contemplate, ha, but i should go to sleep.  it is way, way past my bedtime.

cute guy sleeping on the subway bench: you are adorable, ha, and I'm glad that you smiled back when I smiled at you as you woke up to catch that train, ha.

i'm miffed!

I've never typed that before, ha.  What does miffed even mean?  I will find out later.  Right now though, I want to tell you what is up in brief - I'll write more later.  (Maybe.)

1.  I hate it when I can't get out of awkward social situations.

2. I hate it when the people causing them know that.

3. I hate it when foreigners here act like they know more than I do.  Maybe they do in general, sure, ha - I haven't been here long, I'm not omniscient.  But.  Those people that offer to supplement or override my politely voiced thoughts with their clearly incorrect ones just drive me nuts.  No, know-it-all-foreigner, you're actually wrong.  Just because I'm not going to correct you in front of all of these people doesn't mean you're not an idiot.

...

Just sayin'!  Also: I don't correct them because I am a) lazy, and b) not really up for battling their illogic.

Grocery boy sighting yesterday - the first in weeks.  Didn't talk to him though (I was with someone, he was busy), but he did recognize me and smile.  Ah, I need to hurry up and learn Korean.

That's part of the plan for today, actually.  We'll see how it goes, ha.

Also, I still love my students, and I can tell that I am going to miss them SO MUCH this summer.  Oh man.  They are cute.  One of them - whose picture I really want to take and share with you - totally looks like a devil bunny from Death Note, apparently.  I don't watch it, but my kids do, and they showed me a side by side comparison - it's ridiculous and hilarious and adorable how similar they are.  Especially since the boy in question was smiling a sweet, "aaah?! What's going on, why are you laughing and smiling?" smile during the comparing time.

student update

one of my favorites was apparently not paying attention or doing his work at one point in class because my co-teacher moved him across the room.  i, and the rest of his table, thought this was hilarious -- it was hard not to laugh.  it's just that he's clearly the most advanced kid in the room, and usually he pays the most attention out of everyone.  so it was funny to have him get in trouble.

in great news for that class, perhaps my most disruptive student was EXCELLENT today.  dare i hope that my positive reinforcement and genuine concern for his survival is getting through to him?  !  let's hope that our relationship continues to grow.  or something like that.

another kid in that room -- who, for the record, seems to have not attended very often because he is super unfamiliar, ha -- anyway, this kid said, "Marry?" and looked at me while gesturing to himself.

"How old are you?"
("What?  What did she say?" -- in Korean.)
"Age.  Your age?  18, 17?"
"Oh! ... 25! Haha!"
"25!  Right.  You lie."

then we talked about soccer, about how he's going to be in the world cup next time it comes around, "representing Korea" -- and after that, we got back to marriage.

"Marry?"
"Uh."
"Merry ... Christmas!  Hahaha."

Goofy adorable children.  He, however, could actually pass for 25.  But I'm sure he's like, 16.  Hah.

urgency and my students

My students all tend to have an exaggerated sense of urgency concerning their desires.  They aren't very patient little people.  Sometimes, though, I think they complain just for the fun of it.

Generally, this sort of behavior amuses me as well.  One of my favorite student whining scenes takes place when I do not have the classroom doors unlocked and they want to get in.  They'll flatten themselves against the glass doors and yell desperately, "Teacher!  Open the door!  Open the door, Teacher!"  There is usually at least five minutes left before class is supposed to start when they do this, so it's not like the situation is as dire as they make it out to be.  Even if it were ten minutes after the class bell, it wouldn't matter because I am their teacher, and if I lock them out intentionally, clearly I wouldn't mark them late.  Anyhoo, this all leads me to think that I should lock them out more often just for fun.

The most common instance of whining, though, has to do with the summer heat.  The first thing my kids say when they walk into the room these days is, "Teacher!  Air con!"  to which I reply, "Students!  'Air con' - Air conditioner.  'Teacher, please turn on the air conditioner.'  I turned on the air conditioner.  It will be cold soon.  Wait."  Then, throughout class, some will beg for it to be turned up, others will want it turned off.  I am thinking about letting one of my classes roast next week as punishment for being downright obnoxious regarding the temperature of the room (among other things, ha.)  We'll see - I'm not sure that I want to punish myself and my co-teacher to that extent yet.

meaningless update #234

um, why do I have to eat constantly?  It's getting really annoying, people.  Let's review what I had today.

Woke up late, so no real breakfast.  Legit skip, right?  Right.

Had okonomiyaki for a late lunch - a big serving of it, too.

Had a tuna (and tofu and lettuce) salad for dinner, with a side of grapes.

I had a billion (okay, like, 7) of those tasty seaweed fortune cookie-like things and a few chocolates as a snack throughout the day.  Drank a lot of water, had some milk.  And I finished my Coke from yesterday.  Also had two unripe apricots (don't eat them, people!  wait until they are ripe) and just a few minutes ago I finished two sticks of celery with a bit of cream cheese on them for flavor.  Oh, and I almost forgot: I had two packaged milkshakes.  Those Lotte vanilla things ... are so good.

I shouldn't be hungry.  But I feel like stuffing my face.  This is so annoying!  It is not easy to carry food back from the grocery store.  It is also not hard to carry food home from the grocery store.  It's a task of middling difficulty.  But I don't really like shopping on the weekends.  Too many people out - makes maneuvering through the stores hectic.  UGH I need more food so that when I feel like this at night I can just eat, and then, eventually full, I will be able to go to sleep.  What are some good late night snacks?

The only one that comes to mind as being ultimately satisfying is ... cold pizza!  I don't have an oven.  I could order pizza, or go buy it, and then bring it home to put in my freezer, though.  But I want my pizza.  Spoiled, yes.  What else works as a late night snack?  PBJ?  I haven't eaten that in years.  Maybe a PBB -- that might work.  I wish I could go to Shinsegae tomorrow to buy bread and a couple of Japanese food items for ye olde larder.  But I have plans.  Why do I keep making plans!?  I am at heart not that social of a person!  And yet I am so busy!  What gives!  AUGH.  I am not going to be able to stop being frustrated with myself and sleep until I eat something.  The current options:

I could make more okonomiyaki.  I am too tired to contemplate that.
I could eat some tiny oranges - mandarins, I think.  I do not want to taste a citrus right now, and those aren't filling, anyway.
I could have an egg.
I could try one of those weird melon fruits that I have in the fridge.
I could put on normal clothes and go out to the convenience store to get some kimbap.  I do like kimbap, and it is filling.  But I am lazy, alas.
I could eat some more tuna salad?  I at least have all the ingredients already prepped for that.
I could eat some tofu.
I could have more chocolate.

I think, however, that I will just drink a lot of water and will myself to not be such a big baby.  Tomorrow I will buy some bread or something that will fill me up when I get these late night snack cravings.

the day in review

As I was prepping the classroom for my co-teacher's after-school class I had a student come in to visit me.  He visits my co-teacher and I somewhat regularly, sometimes just to talk, sometimes to ask for candy.  He and my co-teacher tend to chat for 5 to 10 minutes, but when it's just the two of us, we usually exchange only a sentence or two.  Communication is hard since both of us know little of the other's language.  Today, though, he had something to show me - his ear.  It seems as if he or a friend pierced it today ... with a ballpoint pen.  Excellent.  It actually doesn't look that bad.  The hole is huge, the back is a little bloody - but overall, the ear could be in a worse condition.  I wonder how many students of mine have had their ears pierced by their friends?  Probably most, now that I think of it, ha.  Yikes.  I hope his heals well.  I think his plan is to gauge it, but right now he doesn't have anything in there - ugh, he'll have to re-pen the thing if he doesn't find something soon, right?

In other, less exciting news, today was not bad!  Decent in-class behavior and excellent between-bells communication.  On Thursdays, I have on of my best and most animated classes.  By best, I just mean that they try hard and are generally good - and by animated, I mean they don't sleep and answer my questions, ha.  They are unique in that they like to come in early and get a head-start on the lesson.  They'll pick up the worksheets and read through them, asking me questions occasionally.  After that, they'll start the usual calling-of-names that seems to precede most of my classes.  I have no idea how this can be so perennially entertaining, but girls and boys in every single class of mine seem to pre-game the lesson by calling each other silly things.

My last class of the day (a bunch of first graders) was a lot of fun.  They talked too much and had to be scolded, but aside from that they really were sweet.  The girl that sits closest to the front of the room almost always gets the right answers (no surprise, ha), but even (especially?) the kids that know nothing are fun and endearing.  One of them tried to teach me Korean today.  I told him that it was English class and not Korean, and I think his friend translated that for him, ha.  But that didn't deter him from trying to get me to read something he wrote for me on his paper.  I'm always really suspicious about that sort of thing - I remember my boys earlier in the term trying to teach me all sorts of Korean cuss words.  I read "kimchi jigae" (i knew that was safe) but hesitated on the next word he wrote.  Annnyhoo, whenever I repeated after him or read on my own, he'd given me a big pat on the back and say oh, great job!  Good!  in korea, haha.  Kid.  Whatevs.  And now, I appear to be super duper tired, so I'm going to have to stop.

park jae bum to appear in upcoming film

Hah!  I know, this may be old hat to some of you who actually keep up with this stuff, but I happened to come across it by chance and thought I'd share.

It appears that Jae Bum is doing quite well for himself these days.  I figured he'd be fine - leaving an idol group doesn't mean the end of one's career, certainly, and the kid has some promise.  Looks like he'll be in a movie soon,  if all goes well.  It'll be one of those dancing dream things, so not generally my fav genre -- but if I get to see sweet moves and hear decent music, I'll take a looksie.

on cooking

It has been a long time since I've really busted up a meal here in Korea.  And by "busted up a meal," I mean, made something that actually has any artistic merit, ha.  I'm still lacking the basic cooking supplies needed to make the things I want to make, so lately I've mainly done simple things - cooking to survive, really.

Tonight, though, I made Chinese style broccoli - the oyster sauce staple you get at Chinese restaurants.  I was a little worried about how it'd be - it's been so long (months) since I've made it.  But friends, let me tell you - I put that first piece in my mouth and my worries vanished.  It was delicious.  It was Chinese - or as close to Chinese cuisine as I've ever come, anyhow.  Eating that broccoli made me remember how much I really, really like Chinese food, and made me a little sad that I've left my favorite Chinese cookbook back in the States.

I need to start cooking again, in earnest.  I'm not sure where I'll start, or what I'll make.  I've got a few ideas, though.  I don't think I can do much this weekend - I need too many supplies that I will have trouble buying in my limited time -- unless ... Unless I force one of my outing companions to derail our adventure into a shopping district.  I need better knives, a whetstone, a cutting board, a steaming rack ... Hmm, maybe a big spoon, ha.  Perhaps some travel tupperware to take vittles on picnics -- it's my Dream to host picnics, friends.  I love hosting gatherings and feeding people, but I have no space - cryfest.  So, picnics it is - or will be, if I can get my act together before it gets to be hot-o-clock 24/7 and people don't want to be outside, hah.  Get ready for a slew of cooking posts as I realign my brainwaves.

current situation

I think this might be bad, people.

A bit worried, I'll admit it, but what's a girl to do?

If there's a war, get out, right?  If there's not a war, but an economic crash or some sort or other?  Hmm.  Will I still have a job?  If so, why not stick around?  If I get fired, obviously, I'd head for the hills.

The won is dropping like whoa and I should have transferred cash before now.  Oh well.  I think I'll still transfer some even with the bad rate - I don't really see it getting a lot better in the near future, and maybe it will get a whole lot worse.  Things to ponder.

korean pricing + staring at people

korean clothing pricing makes almost no sense.

some obvious junk is very cheap.  yay.
some obvious junk is very expensive.  boo.
imports - junk or nice - are usually expensive.  boo, but whatever, understandable.

I would like to find *nice* clothing at *cheap* prices.  There are stores that sell this sort of thing in the US.  Do they exist here?  I do not know.  I have found moderately priced clothing of good quality in the smaller shops, so that's nice and all.

Hmm.  I guess I need to be a more serious shopper.  With all the crap that is around, I need to hone my skills, ha.  Also need to set a clothing budget.

as far as staring at people goes, today was a good day, hah!

I had tons of fun catching the eyes of people who looked my way -- and while usually I turn away, this time I hesitated a couple of moments to size them up.  Ridiculously amusing, friends.  As long as you keep your face relatively disengaged, you can do this without issue and garner much enjoyment -- examples!

-- guys standing in front of me in some palace courtyard.  young.  looked at me, looked away, then looked back - i caught this second glance and held it.  later (much later, like 10 minutes, haha) they asked to take a picture with me for a report.  do i believe that?  sure!  whatevs, ha.  cute fellas and i loved their English.  It was so accent-free and easy to understand, albeit very simple.  since i was chaperoned we couldn't talk much, alas.

-- guy walking with his girl in myeondong.  he bumped into me a little, so i looked up -- and oddly, he looked back and at me, so our eyes met for a while.  this is highly unusual in crowded areas.  he was cute.

-- babies everywhere.  i love looking right back at the munchkins, smiling when appropriate, ha.

-- random salespeople who put their English to work for my sake, ha.  I guess I appreciate it.  Most of the time it just makes me feel guilty for not buying things (perhaps the intended effect, ha.)  Today, i was forced to stop for a photo op in front of the kkultare guys in insadong.  one of them saw me slowing and said, quietly - cutely! - "welcome to korea - " haha -- i think he could tell that i wasn't really able to listen or come closer.  he and his buddies smiled at me and my suffering, especially since i flashed them a "i am dying" look when my chaperones were distracted.  freaking photo ops, i wanted to run away - there were so many, and i was embarrassed and tired of them.

compliments

I'm still getting compliments and declarations of love from my students, though I'll admit that the frequency of such things has decreased since my arrival here.  Ah well.  I still do pretty well, though.

Today my one of my troublemakers decided to bring up the topic of marriage.  This hasn't happened before, actually, which is a little surprising.  When I say troublemakers, understand that I usually love these little hooligans - they just happen to make it hard for the rest of the class to focus, so I have to continually redirect their craziness towards productiveness.  But back to the subject at hand.  After bringing up the marriage idea they decided it would be good to figure out my thoughts on the matter.  Here is an approximation of what went down -- with a bit of the back story that led to the marriage thing in the first place, ha.

Student 2: "Teacher, how old are you?" (a huge sentence coming from this guy)
Me: "Korean, 25, US - 23."
Student 2:  "Korean."
Me:  "25."
Student 2:  "Oh! Old.  Teacher, so old."
Me: "Yes.  Very old.  You, very young.  You are young, I am old."  (we're practicing adjectives)
Student 2: "Yes! Candy?  Teacher old, me - young - candy?"
Me: No.

(pause of 20 seconds as I move around the table to look at their worksheets)

Student 1:  "Teacher.  Hot.  You - teacher.  Hot."
Me:  "I'm hot?  Well, thanks."
Student 1, gesturing across the table:  "He's - marry?"
Me:  "What?"
Student 1:  "Marriage.  You -"
Student 2:  "You married?"
Me: "No, I'm not married."
Student 2: "When marry?"
Me: "I don't know.  Not soon.  I don't have a boyfriend."
Students 1 + 2: "Why?  No boyfriend?  Me boyfriend - no, him!  Him.  You marry --"  (gesturing to a guy that has talked to me before - they probably know  we have a closer relationship and were teasing him, ha)

At that point, I abandoned them, ha.  I went to the next table over where the guys were calling each other garbage and ugly.

Student 3 talking about Student 4:  "Teacher!  His face, garbage.  Ugly face."
Me: "No, that's not true.  He has a good face."
Student 4: (punches student 3)
Student 3: "No, teacher!  Ugly, ugly face."
Me: "He has a handsome face, not ugly.  Handsome."
Student 4: (blushes like whoa, hahaha)

I left them and they continued teasing and punching each other throughout class - but at least they stopped when I caught their eye and gave them The Look, ha.

new fav song - big bang - tell me goodbye

I have listened to this at least 20 times today.  Intense.  But - I like it?

Also - it is so much easier to sing along with Japanese than Korean. In my opinion.

talking to a teacher!!

let me just say -- virtually, here -- "Gasp!"

That is what I would say if it wouldn't creep my co-teacher out for me to talk to myself over here.  But peeps!  I am surprised!  A fellow female teacher (not a co-teacher) is sending me nice messages on the school system!  I am so impressed / happy, ha.  The female teachers, especially, don't usually talk to me much.  I want to be their friiiiiieennnnd.  I am like some dumb dog, haha.  But people -- networking -- friendship -- it's hugely important over here in Korea, especially.  Not only that, it just feels nice, right?  Right.

In other news, to update with that last post - I didn't really call my student lame.  I said, "You guys - I think you are funny, cool.  But today - not funny.  Not cool.  Today you are being lame.  This - no work?  Lame."

He didn't care, of course, because he was too distracted with his own theatrics.  Oh well.

speaking of lame!

GOODNESS.  Lame reminds me - I called one of my students lame today, but I don't think he understood what I meant.  I think there was a whole lot of misunderstanding going on, actually.

First of all, let me explain that the class he is in is tied for first place in my "Worst Behavior" class contest.  There are actually only two classes now that give me trouble, thank heavens, so the competition isn't that big.  But back to this class.

The kid that was misbehaving is the class leader - already a bad sign when your class leader is also class troublemaker, right?  Yes.  He's hilarious - some of the time.  He's crazy - all of the time.  Supposedly he really likes to dance.  He tells me this, other students tell me this -- "Teacher!  He's crazy.  Korean psycho!"  and then, shortly after that, "Teacher!  He's dancing man!"

Today he and his cronies told me that they were on the dancing team.  I could believe this - there are all sorts of teams and clubs over here.  But then they all started laughing really hard - so now I doubt the validity of this claim.  Maybe they just thought it really hilarious to say "dancing team" in English and they really are on one, or maybe they are making it all up.  Who knows.  Anyway, this kid was totally challenging me in class - at one point I told him, "Shh - " with my finger over my lips - he looked at me, nodded, and then kept talking!  WHAT the -- kid!  I corrected him, but I don't think any of it sunk in.  Later on we had some bizarre 5 minute ... face off? conversational impasse? during which I tried to convince him to look at his paper and he insisted on staring intently into my eyes.  I think this is pretty rude, especially given the cultural context, but he and his friends thought it was hilarious.  Then I gave up with the work and asked him if he was bored, if class wasn't fun.  He actually got a little serious for a minute - long enough to check the meaning of "boring" with his friend, after which he replied with "Oh, no, no teacher!  Class -- funny."  Great.  Then - weirdest thing - he reached up to my back and pulled back on my t-shirt a little bit.  What?  There are only two logical reasons for that, in my mind.  1 - maybe he was pulling so my tag would be tucked in again, if it was exposed?  I am not sure if it was or not.  2 - maybe it would make sense if I were flashing someone when I was bending over at his table.  I wasn't quite at that angle (I checked later to be sure, ha), and even if they could see down my shirt, they'd just see my bra.  (I apparently consider that not a big deal?  Not when I am in the middle of trying to convince my students to do their work, I guess, ha.)  And the student that touched my shirt wasn't at an angle to see anything anyway, even if the possibility presented itself. The one student that could have seen something was the only one at the table who made any semblance of participation, so I don't think that he was distracted by anything that I was or was not inadvertently displaying.

So.  Dancing Man Leader Kid is not the only troublesome one in the class, but I do believe he influences the others.  Even the higher level kids are a pain - they act like they are all that because they can do their worksheets well enough, but they disregard a lot of my verbal instructions.  And then there are a few other low-level disrupters scattered throughout.

I am going to have to Do Something about this class.  It makes me sad, a little.  I really like them - as individuals, they are funny and good kids - good as in "good hearts," ha, not really "well behaved."  But I'm bored with the shenanigans.  If I get tough, they will also be sad for a while, ha, but it is for their own good.  I think I'll go at things with a combination of rewards and punishments.  So tedious, ha.  Anyway, I'll keep you updated on what methods I pursue and how it turns out.

grocery boy, the weekend, etc.

Had a good but busy weekend - wish I could catch up on sleep, but I don't think that is going to happen until ... Thursday night?  Yikes.

Anyway, pushing that depressing thought aside, ha - I did get to see Grocery Boy today.  I felt pretty enough to make an appearance, ha - and I needed soda.  Didn't see him outside of the store, but after a minute of aisle browsing, I saw him at the back.  Avoided him since his back was turned and he was busy ... but figured that he would say hi to me when I was buying my soda a little later, ha, since that would put me on a parallel with him.  Annnd he did, of course.  A big hi, a ridiculously gorgeous smile.  I said hi back, asked him how he was doing.  He paused a moment, I inwardly blanched thinking, "Crap.  He doesn't know that phrase?" but after a second he replied with, "I'm fine.  Thank you."  The real "I'm fine" and "Thank you" - not the usual stuff my students run together, haha.  So I said, "Oh, I'm happy to hear that," smiled, nodded, and turned back towards my Pepsi selection because -- well -- I didn't know what else to say?  If he had wanted to, he could have kept talking.  But he was busy with some sort of stocking and there were a couple other staff people working with him as well.  So no more talk.

Gosh, he's cute, ha.  Some of my friends don't think that there are a lot of attractive guys here in Korea - I totally beg to differ.  Cute guys all over the place.  Not that that means much, ha, but it's fun to look, I guess.

I went shopping this weekend, thank heavens.  But I only bought two things.  LAME.  I need more clothes.  I need to make myself buy more clothes.  The only way that I can envision myself doing this is if I go out this weekend -- but with the holiday, things might be packed.  A little worried about that.  But almost more worried about not having warm weather clothing when things get hot here, ha.  Maybe I can find a spare hour or two to at least grab some items from the nearby shops on Thursday afternoon?  I'll hope ...  Also, I need pink shoes.  I think a dirty pink would be a lot of fun - something vintage-y to go with random girly items, ha.

presents and teacher's day preview

i freaking love presents
i don't care what i get, but getting stuff (and giving stuff!) is great!

today was not teacher's day!  tomorrow is teacher's day.  today is friday.  but i think that many schools try to play down teacher's day on the actual day because of bribery complaints.  honestly, i don't think that will do anything in regards to bribery issues, but whatevs.  since i don't come in on saturdays anyway, i doubt i will miss much.  anyway!  point: today was teacher's day preview activity day?  i guess?

We got together out by the athletic field and ate all sorts of food - as per usual, ha.  Considering that we had only finished lunch an hour or two earlier, I was impressed by the quantity and quality of the stuff that was laid out for us.  Our consumption was occasionally interrupted by activities.  At one point we went on a "treasure hunt" for little slips of paper.  I didn't find any.  Another teacher found two, though, and he gave one to me - cue aww-fest, haha.  This paper translated into a pack of shampoo.  Later, the same teacher gave me some soap, the principal gave me toothpaste, and then I got some candy from a nice lady who shared her prize.  A nicely wrapped towel was delivered to me during school.  Thank heavens it was only a towel and not something delicate - the method of delivery fitted the deliver, ha - the kid is rough and likes to slam things to scare me.  I just find it annoying, really - but anyway, he slammed the package down on my desk.  I really should get on him for being disrespectful - I am in to the whole "respect your teacher" thing.

all right!  this was a fractured post, but i have things to do and less than two hours of time left.  waaaaa

blood in the halls

So when I went down to pick up my "prints" from the office downstairs (down four flights of stairs.  Mannnn...) I happened upon a splotch of blood.  That led to another spot, and then another -- and basically, it appears as if someone bled their way down two flights of stairs, through the main lobby, and to the nurse's office.  Yipes.  Recently, too - it's all bright red.  I told my co-teacher in hopes that she'd call someone to get it cleaned up, but all she said was, "Oh my god."  No accompanying action.  If anyone visits our school today, I hope they somehow miss that mess.

i don't understand, students

Wah!  I get so sad when my students come and find me (almost always when I am alone, ha - they must fear my co-teacher) to ask me questions, and I can't understand what they want.  They are being brave and trying really hard, but ... things just don't make sense.  : (  I hope that this whole "learning Korean" thing helps with these sorts of issues.

grocery boy sighting! (from afar)

Friends!

It has been weeks -- weeks! -- since I last talked with Grocery Boy.  What gives, you ask?

Well!

There are a number of things that were going on.  I was out of town, I looked ugly, I crossed the street a different way, we had school holidays, he didn't appear when I walked past his workplace, etc.  While four out of five of the reasons make sense, the remaining "I look ugly!" excuse needs to change, haha.  I don't look ugly every day, but if it's been a particularly tough day or if I was lazy in the outfit making department that morning, then I feel kind of ugly.  Too ugly to talk to Cute Grocery Boy, haha.  Also, that meeting requires mental energy.  Even if I feel pretty, if I also feel tired than I'm less inclined to chat with Grocery Boy.

Today my last class was a little rough, so that downed my mental cheer.  In addition to that, I was leaving the school a little late.  If I took the alternate no-crossing-in-front-of-Grocery-Boy's-workplace route, I had a better chance of catching my bus and saving myself twenty minutes of standing time.  With those thoughts on my mind, I went with the alternate route and missed out on the Grocery Boy Chat opportunity.

Today, though, as I walked on the opposite side of the street, I looked over to see if I could spot him doing anything outside.  He was there!  Pink shirt.  He was unloading a truck - standing up in the open bed and handing things down to someone else on the ground.  Grocery Boy!  If I had passed that way, we would have said hello to each other.  But I chose the other path.  Ah well!  We'll try again some other time.

To prepare for that, I need to lessen my "ugly" days, haha.  This will increase my chances of actually talking to him because I won't intentionally avoid him if I don't feel ugly/tired.

The Pretty Plan:

- Sleep!  This is vital.
- Plan Awesome Lessons!  Lately they have been good, so yay for that.
- Discipline the Horror class!  They really aren't horrors, but comparatively speaking, they are my worst kids.  If they do well, my day is much brighter.  I need to find more effective ways to manage these munchkins.
- Exercise!  I need to get brave and join a gym.  I'm afraid to try it - I've never been a gym member before, though I have worked out in gyms, just not as a regular member.  I also dread speaking in English/Korean to actually get the membership.
-Buy New Clothes!  I am still way short on the spring and summer wardrobe.  I need to shop a lot more.  Think I'll go to Myeongdong and Apgujeong to stock up on clothing.  I'm going to have to mentally prepare myself to Spend Some Money, haha.  I haven't bought a new wardrobe in a while, so my brain isn't really prepared for cost, I don't think, but I need to get used to it, ha.

So!  There you have it.  Essential steps - in no particular order - to feeling better about my appearance.
woo

reading affects my life

First off, the part that has to do with Korea --

I'm eating a "glutinous rice doughnut" with red bean filling.  It's basically a bun of some sort with paste inside.  It's delicious.  Puffy, chewy, sweet -- and very oily.  I'm not positive, but I'm guessing this sucker was deep fried.  Regardless, eating these things makes my lips really shiny and greasy, ha.

Now for the part that relates to reading --

I read a book in fourth grade about some sort of indigenous arctic/alaskan people that really enjoyed eating fat.  They were out there in the cold, food was hard to get -- but when they finally got it, they really appreciated the "rich fat."  Ever since reading that book, I've had more of an appreciation for fat.  This doesn't apply to everything - I still can't swallow really fatty bacon, ha - but it does make me appreciate grease, for some reason.  Kind of ew, I know.

One of my favorite authors relates a story about a man that he heard of when he was young.  The man's family was poor, but in order to keep up appearances, the man smeared grease on the faces of his children so that it would appear that they'd eaten lots of fatty meat.  I think that's awesome!  Keeping up appearances to that extent is perhaps silly, but I like the mental image of some old man rubbing grease on his kids' faces.  Just kind of amusing/endearing/sad, I guess.

So!  There you go.  Two reasons why I'm not put off by my lips being covered in fried bun oil.

monday conclusion

Classes were fun!  Even my rough ones weren't all that terrible today.  True - they didn't participate 100%.  But they were way more into things than they have been in the past, and, thank heavens, they are really starting to respond to me as a teacher.  I can tell that they're adjusting to my methods.  This is great, and really exciting for the rest of the year!  (Teacher's Enthusiasm ahoy, haha.)

My favorite classes were, as usual, ridiculously great - as in, ridiculously hilarious, and despite tons of protest that they were tired and didn't want to do any work, they actually were quite gung-ho with the activities of the day.  Sweet.

I still have my way tired, way low level classes to go this week, so I know this feeling of satisfaction that I have at the moment won't last.  But that's okay!  I'm good with taking what I can get, ha.

Also, why do I feel so good?  I don't get it.  I slept two hours but I'm working more efficiently than I often do -- future lesson planning has been smooth during my spots of free time.  Cool.  (Tomorrow I'll crash, hah.)

monday predictions

I have a good feeling about today.  This is totally unwarranted: I didn't sleep a lot last night, and Mondays are always my "let's see how this lesson goes!" day, which means that this morning I will figure out how well my material meshes with my students' abilities.  This shouldn't be a big guessing game, ha, and the next two weeks won't be since this lesson will determine the pace and complexity of the month's plans.  This pilot, though - it could be rough, haha.  I think it will be way easy for my kids today and hard for the kids that I teach during the rest of the week.  For some reason my smartest classes are all on Mondays.

--written this morning around 8:00am, published around 4:30pm

skype!

someone in my apartment building is getting a skype call!  (they must have the volume turned up to WHOA because i can hear the little "someone is calling you!" tone pretty easily down here, ha.)

this makes me so happy, haha.  I like to know that somewhere, someone in this building is most likely talking to someone far away.  I hear that there are at least five other foreigners in this building!  i have met two.  do you think this is a foreigner to foreigner call?  or is a korean gabbing it up with someone in distant lands?

i will never know!

my poor chicken ...

Friends!  I have to throw away beautiful food!  The victims: pork, chicken, maybe ice cream.  The pork had been frozen improperly, so maybe it's not such a loss.   But the chicken!  A mega-pack of chicken breasts, recently purchased and meant for tonight's dinner ...  Maybe my $12 ice cream will also have to be discarded unless it refreezes miraculously well.

Seriously, I think there are few things that get me as depressed as lost food, haha.

My fridge cut off at some point within the last 24 hours.  Darn.  It was 60 degrees in there when I opened it this evening, and that's not safe for meat in my book.  I wish I could cook it.  Some parts of me would like to take the risk, but I know I'd just feel sick with dread while consuming it, ha, and then there's the threat of actual sickness later on.

I'm a bit peeved at the fridge, though.  What gives with the random cut-offs?  It has done this before, but those times I thought I triggered the problem by using appliances.  But I didn't do anything this time.  Maybe I need to have the wiring checked.  Also, speaking of wiring, how in the world can this be a Korean apartment without an electrical outlet available for a rice cooker?!  Gads, people.  You would think that in a country where "rice" is considered the basis of all meals the apartments would be set up to cook it.  I can cook it on the stove, sure.  But I don't think that many people in Seoul do that anymore, and this apartment isn't ancient.

Honestly, I just want the outlet for an oven.  But a rice cooker would be nice too.  Maybe someday.

AH my chicken.  I had such hopes.  We were going to have fun tonight!  Butter!  Garlic!  Maybe rosemary!  I hadn't really decided yet, but I'm sure our future together would have been brilliant.  RIP.

on being cheap

I think that when one is hosting cheapness is poor form and in many cases rude.  I'm not saying that a host should go out and spend hundreds of dollars to prepare for a guest or care for a guest once that person arrives, but guests should be made to feel welcome, and yes, sometimes that requires some spending.

My Rules of Hospitality:

The Rule of Family + Guest

If you invite someone (just one person) to join your family for an outing or a meal, you as the hostess should be comfortable with paying for things that come up.  Say, for instance, that a family invites someone to join them at an amusement park.  If this someone is a young single adult (wow, just like me!  but, ha, this situation is mostly hypothetical) then I think it would be polite to offer to pay for everything, actually.  Sure, I would pay for myself in the end, but I would think a family that invited me out and didn't offer to pay would be kind of stingy.  I appreciate the battle of good will here, ha.  That, and doesn't everyone sort of hope that someday their child will be taken in in the same sort of way?  It's general friendliness to act as family to someone who is away from their own.  But say I pay for my ticket - the host family should,  if we all go for ice cream or something, still offer to pay for my ice cream.  It's a pittance, basically, and it shows so much friendliness.

Now, it's all right if a host family in this sort of amusement park scenario doesn't pay for the ticket or the ice cream.  Those are things that aren't offensive to overlook and were anticipated by the guest.  But say that the mom of the family decides that everyone needs to see a special sideshow, and it's going to cost three dollars a person.  She makes her husband pay for their family, and then tells you, "Oh, it's a great opportunity.  And it's just three dollars, not so much."  In this sort of spot you, as the guest, have to pay to go to something you might not even like.  You can't not go because that would cause discomfort, and to not pay would be rude and put pressure on the host family.  It's just three dollars, as she said, so she's right - it's not that much.  But instead of making it seem like a simple thing, that three dollars actually makes it a bigger deal - if it's so cheap, why exclude one person from the whole by asking her to pay for herself?

Note to Readers:  These opinions only apply to the Family + 1 Guest scenario.  Everything is different if it's two peers, or two guest, etc.  So just take this as one set of opinions for one set of circumstances.

i'm not cheap

I may be a lot of things, friends, but cheap isn't one of them.  I don't mind being thrifty or sticking to a budget - handling money responsibly and being able to save is great.

But being cheap bothers me.  I am so tired, but I really want to talk about this.  Can you wait until tomorrow or Saturday or Sunday for a real update?  I don't really know my weekend plan yet.

For starters, though -

Cheap people make weird hosts.

the hurt locker

-- a fractured response to the film The Hurt Locker (Bigelow, 2008)

What bothered me most was the use of artsy war imagery.  I object to shots of shoes and schools in films about war, unless the film is a documentary or a comedy.  It's just so done.  Aside from done, it's blatantly manipulative - the most uncreative form of emotional manipulation.  I like my emotional manipulation to be a little more subtle, ha.

Now, the whole pulling parts out of a kid thing, that was original - I liked how that brought the more human aspect of James back to the surface, how his comrades were confused by his change to humane behavior (humane = not blowing the kid up, but dismantling the bomb and bringing back his body.)

I think the movie, as a whole, was just far too predictable.  I don't think any of the deaths in that film were surprising.  Do they need to be surprising to be effective?  No, I suppose not.  But then the range of their efficacy is limited when it's so obvious that they aren't going to be around for long, that they're just "pawns in the game of war."  I've heard that before.  Does that mean it shouldn't be said?  No.  But it means you're going to have to say it in a better way if you want us to spend our time watching your movie.

I did think that James and Sanborn had pretty strong characters - they are the ones that asked the sensitive questions.  What's it mean for a soldier to ride another, for a black man to be in that position with a white man?  What is the film's commentary on power and the justification of its use, both on the field and off?  I'm asking the race question because it's pretty darn obvious that it's meant to be asked.

Edit: I guess my blog has a theme, and this doesn't technically fit.  What if I say that I saw this movie last week - here in South Korea?  There you go - all groovy now, right?  Right.

it's a national holiday! time to ... sleep?

I've been pretty busy lately.  Actually, I have been out every day/night for a week -- except for today!  This morning I woke up at 8:00am, but thought, "Heck, 8:00am is not late!  I need to sleep until it is late."  So then I slept for another hour or two, and am currently just extending my laziness by lying in bed, reading others' blogs, and pondering my future.  Not the distant future - just the short term, "What will I do today?" future.

Since it's a national holiday I feel like everything will be really busy.  That doesn't change the fact that I still need to get things done today, and aside from these "chores," I have four social activity options.  We'll see what happens.  In the meantime, how about some pics?

People picnicking in the park at Namsan -- egads, picnics all over the place!  It was perfect picnic weather.  I'd like to do this too, but my favorite picnic staples might be hard to make over here.  I'll have to Quest it Up in order to get all of the ingredients.  Or I could make Korean picnics.  We'll see.

The evident tenderness between parents and their children here is so beautiful.  I think this dad was feeding his daughter something, but maybe he was just wiping something off her face, haha - I can't remember at this point.

Haha.

i love eating in korea

Last night I went out to dinner with mah homies.  We had Korean BBQ, if you want to call it that.  Basically, a lot of meat cooked on a wire grill over beautiful wood charcoal.

The three of us shared one order of samgyeopsal (thick uncured bacon, basically), one order of galbi (beef), and one order of galmaegisal (delicious dark pork.)  I have no idea if I romanized any of that correctly and I'm not going to look it up right now either, ha, but that is how it sounds to me.  You grill the meat yourself and wrap it in delicious lettuce or sesame leaves - or both.  The sesame isn't really sesame - it's called "wild sesame," or kkaenip or perilla.  I think I ate this wild sesame (or a variant of it) when I was a child - I picked it from wild plants in my yard, and, uh, ate it straight.  I know that was probably dumb, but at the time it really smelled good and I was a curious young person.  Anyway.  You put the meat in a leaf and then add some of the condiments on the table to your meat-leaf.  When you are satisfied, you wrap it up into a tiny package and stuff it in your face!  So good!  My favorite combination might be wild sesame leaf + galmaegisal + bean paste + green onions + pickled radish + mushroom + grilled garlic.  Yum!

Aside from the meat and meat condiments there were several other items of note on our table.  We all got our own soups - they were refilled when we were running low.  We also got our own (refillable) cabbage salads.  Then there were the regular sides - kimchi and seaweed, I think.  I'll go ahead and list all of the meat condiments for your edification, ha: bean paste, oil and salt, greens and onion salad, seasoned scallions, pickled radish, garlic ... and well, I guess you can count the mushrooms that came with the meat as condiments as well.

All of this and some accompanying beverages ran us just about 37000 won.  That's about $33 USD for soup, salad, sides, beverages, and a ton of meat.  How cool is that?  Very cool!

Anyhoo, I've done this before, but my friends are new to Korea, so they hadn't experienced it all yet.  It was fun but a little intimidating to be the "Korean specialist" in the group since I was the only one that knows any Korean, and I don't know much at all, really.  But we got through things all right.

i'm mostly busy

I've been out every night and/or day since Tuesday.  My throat hates me, my feet hate me.  I don't know if my kids have exams tomorrow or not -- I think some of them do.  I'm confused on the subject.  It definitely says "Exam" on the calendar, but I don't know if it's for all grades and classes.  Either I'll get to school and find out that I have to teach all of my classes, some of my classes, or none of my classes.  If I'm teaching anything, it will be 100% gametastic, so at least that's settled already.  I'm trying new games.  I'm a little bit worried about that.  Also worried that my students will be so dead from their tests that they won't even want to play a game.  In which case, ha, we will watch a DVD.  Poor kids.

Now I need to make sure the lesson for the week after this one is all set.  I'm trying new stuff for that week as well -- eeeeeh, trying new things just makes me nervous!  But hey, if it fails, I'll just change it up for the next day. No biggie, right? ... Haha.

girls' generation

Who has more members, Girls' Generation / SNSD or Super Junior?  I haven't bothered to count yet.

favorite student update

For the past two weeks or so I've had one student "training" me to remember his name, ha.  I've had him in class since the term started, of course, but I see him only once a week and have hundreds of students.  With those sorts of circumstances, remembering names can be a challenge.  The "training" itself started out when he asked me if I knew his name during a pause in class, and I admitted that I didn't.  I told him that I would learn it if he would write it down - I can't remember any Korean if I can't see the written form, for some reason.  Names are especially hard because of their confusingly subtle variations and my students' unusually (for them) quiet voices when it comes to personal stuff, ha.

The day after he wrote it for me he said "Teacher!  What's my name?" in the hallway and I could only remember his given name.  The next time, though, I got it all, so now he just uses it as a greeting.  It's pretty sweet, actually, and I think it makes both of us pretty happy.  Yesterday he asked me as I was walking down the stairs to leave school, and just a few minutes ago he came to ask me through the office doors, ha.  He's done that a couple of times.  Since they are glass, he doesn't even have to come in to ask.  He stands outside, waves, and mouths, "Teacher, my name?" and I silently and slowly enunciate the syllables, after which he gives me a big smile and either claps or gives me a thumbs up.

I think my next few lessons are going to be name-use intensive.  I wonder how long it will take to learn all of them?