The Gang Becomes Encased in Cocoon, Lose Steve: Part II

Last weekend Malia and I were lucky enough to host RJ and Steve. Now it is complete: the trio of cities have been visited by all, and all is well. We had such a fantastic day/night/morning on Saturday that some of it must be recounted. 

     It seemed a bit unlikely that we would do anything at all besides laze the day completely away. After some delicious lunch Saturday in Gongju, we all quickly fall into a food coma, and just barely make it back to my place to "nap". 2 hours later, at roughly 5:30, we try and shake off the grogginess with a variation of coffee and chit chat, and eventually come to the conclusion that this cannot be how we spend the rest of the night. No way. We muster up the energy, and get on a bus to the Chungnam provincial capital called Daejeon, 대전, which only takes about 35 minutes. I was told by a few Koreans that if we were looking for good restaurants and nightlife, check out Time World Galleria in the Dunsan-dong area. We make it there pretty easily, and right away we're astounded by the size of this area. I remember commenting after dinner that it was so bright from the neon one could safely assume it was just midday. All 4 of us were starving, and finally just settled on a restaurant that looked popular and decent from what pictures it had on the door. We order the usual samgyeopsal and soju, only to find out it was anything but "usual". This was easily the best samgyeopsal any of us has ever had, hands down, without a doubt, no hesitation. Part of me truly regrets not having a camera handy. The meat wasn't the standard bacon-esque strips cut into squares, rectangles, or other geometric shapes, but thick-yet-tender strips about thumb-width and -length, seasoned to perfection. It looked pretty just sitting on the platter uncooked. We had the standard garlic slices to cook, as well as the thinly stripped green onion (green onion here is far bigger in size and popularity than those found in the US by the way), red pepper sauce, lettuce leaves, et al. Everything about the place was pleasing. We left the restaurant completely satisfied; even our wallets were happy.
     We made our way to a 7-Eleven to get some playing cards, and found a bar to keep us company until we could go to a nightclub. Most bars in Korea require ordering food along with drinks, so we gorged some more "since we had to".
     Leaving the bar, we ran into some Korean girls, who were nice enough to show us around a little bit and eventually led us right to the "happening" club, named Cocoon 코쿤 (a fit name, as you fall into a music coma for the duration of the visit). I think it was around 1 when we made it into the club (thanks for getting separated and lost again, Steve). There was a 15000 won cover that all 4 of us ultimately came to terms with. At first it was sad to see those bills go; we had become somewhat close, and it's never fun when your wallet has an eating disorder and is constantly becoming thinner. However, getting downstairs to the club more than made up for my wallet's weight problem; a multi-level epilepsy-inducing-laser-and-fog-palace filled with 99% Koreans methodically bouncing and moving to the beat, the womp-womp bass that lingers in the ear drums far too long. Korean dancing is so enjoyable here. We always end up with a big group of Koreans, and at times form a large circle, where everyone is rotated to the center to perform their almost-ritualistic interpretation of the womp-womp bass. It's a ton of fun, almost everyone is friendly and up for seeing Americans dance the wee-hours-of-the-morning away. Highlight of the night: Steve and I getting pulled on-stage to dance in front of the masses. We stumble out of there, eardrums bleeding, and around 5 decide it's time to flag a cab in hopes to get home, as it's too early for the buses to start up again. Luckily, try number one lands us with a guy willing to drive us the 25-30 minutes, no problem. Go us.

Me Duhs a Eenglush Festuh Vall

This past Friday, November 18th, I helped out with an English Festival for 4 schools, along with another English Teacher. I am told for a while that really all I have to do is have a short introduction of myself, and come up with a riddle for the students. Note to self: Koreans do not know what a riddle is. They think it is simply a question, like "What color is grass?" and not something with a twist or some sort of enigma. Anyway, as the Festival comes closer, I discover my time slot is 5 minutes, so my riddle needs to be longer, and I should throw in a couple more just in case. Okay, easy. I already have a whole list from before (I used some for my classes).

Fast forward to the event. I have 30 minutes beforehand, which the other English speaker uses to go over everything we're supposed to do, none of which I have seen before. However, most of it is straightforward and simple enough to wing it. That improv class I did back in Summer '03 really got its money's worth!

Fast forward to 5 minutes before. The coordinator for it all, who speaks pretty good English, tells me I need a microphone, and fits me with one of those infomercial, clip-to-the-tie microphones. Only, there's too much interference to have it on my shirt, so I have to hold the tiny mic in my hand. Pretty funny, to be honest.

Fast forward to the act just BEFORE my slot. Coordinator says I should have around 10 riddles, because she has 10 prizes for me to give out and doesn't want any left over. "Is that okay?" This is when I start feeling inadequate as a teacher and human being, because I can't think of riddles at the top of my head while children dance and sing in the background. Then she gives me the suggestion "What color is my shirt?", and I begin to think she is not familiar with the word "riddle." 

Long story short, the whole event is riddled with tech errors (knee-slapping pun intended), so when I get up there and the mic is between a shrill scream and fuzziness, I think it goes slightly unnoticed. It's over before I know it, everyone gives us a hurrah, and we're on our way.

Side note: We did a scavenger hunt at one point, and it was pretty cool to see my students push through the masses to find me for help, and not one of the other Korean teachers like I would've assumed. Pretty neat.

A Must See! Gongju-si At Its Finest!

I Meet Pepero and His Bloody Friends

Today is Pepero Day!-Especially festive because of the year (11-11-11)

To prevent future confusion: pepero are biscuit/cookie-like sticks covered in chocolate. Look at my stash from the day down below. I was told by Mr. Jang, the second grade teacher at Hyopo Elementary, that Pepero Day was comparable to Thanksgiving Day. At first I thought he was joking, but then I remembered last night...People ransacking GS Market for all the pepero they could get, literally running through the store. I wonder what they stock up on during a natural disaster. Thoughts, anyone? Anyway, this is my new favorite holiday. Yes, it's the only holiday I have experienced here thus far. But, I love chocolate. I love it even more when it's free. And I love it even further when it's personally handed to me with a bow, accompanied by a "Happy Pepero Day!"

My glorious stash

-Now, just a quick note on some things I have had, that I think should be public knowledge. I won't even beat around the bush for these...

1. Beetle larvae 번데기, served as a side dish for 삼겹살 one night. It looked like bugs, but I quickly dismissed the idea as absurd. This is the 21st century for typing out loud! We don't eat bugs anymore! That's what they do on Lion King, in Africa, back in the 90s. Long and gone, right? No. Still thriving. Crunchy outer shell, grainy and mushy innards. Sorry Timon, they were slimy, but fa sho were not satisfying.

2. Congealed block of cow's blood 선지해장국, served in a stew. Malia had it, and said it looked like a darker kind of tofu, even tasted like tofu. Must be tofu. I honestly thought nothing of the taste, seemed normal. One try is good enough for me.

3. Pig's head, but this was honestly tasty, I just put it on here because of the obscurity. I have never had it before, and I would enjoy it again sometime. It was cut into squares, served cold, eaten with some rice and kimchi. 

The Gang Sees Fireworks and E.T.; Hilarity Ensues

-Okay, I know my sorry little metaphors are tiresome or, as Aldous Huxley loves to say (just re-read Brave New World), indefatigable, but I have one more. Promise. At my small rural school (~40 students Kindergarten to 6^th grade), I was teaching my 1^st and 2^nd graders (since it’s so small, they put the two grades together) a little story, and noticed, not for the first time, mind you, the difficulty they were having with some of the letters and their corresponding sounds. I think a lot of these kids have been learning on a faulty system; one based off their own language’s pronunciation. They have no /f/ sound in Korean, and for some reason replace it with /p/ for English words. “Fish” becomes “pish” for example. There are numerous others (/z/ becomes /dz/, “zebra” is “jebra”; /l/ becomes /lr/ and /r/ becomes /lr/, “really” is “lrealry”; etc.). Anyway, I was trying to help them with pronunciation, and everything I said, they would repeat… And I mean everything. I immediately thought of E.T., where he learns to speak for the first time with baby Drew Barrymore (“Beeeeeeeeee,” “Elllliooott”…you remember, right?). Let’s see it in instant replay.

Teacher Jeremy: “Andy likes blocks. Repeat!”

Students Unknown: “Andy..lrikes blrocks. Lrepee!”

Teacher Jeremy: “Andy.”

Students Unknown: “Andy.”

Teacher Jeremy: “Good. Likes. La la la la la la. Lllllllikes. Llllllllikes.”

Students Unknown: “Good. Lllllerikes. (Amid laughter) La la la la la la. Llllllllerikes.”

Teacher Jeremy: “Ha ha. Okay.”

Students Unknown: “Ha ha. Okay!”

You can see how some lessons take for ever. For one measly little sentence. No, it's really funny how cute and innocent these kids can sometimes be. Like when one of my 6th graders, ha, I am even laughing aloud as I type. Okay. I was going over an awesome vegetables and fruits slide show for the kids to draw and label. My 6th graders knew the image of "pepper", but only one kid tried to voice the English term, and insisted it was "penis" when I slowly started spelling it out. (On board) P.........E......... "Penis? It's penis?" he asks (completely serious too, he wasn't trying to be funny). I really don't want to laugh OR explain to this kid why that's incorrect, so I jump straight to "It's a pepper!"

Floor 8/14 I think

-A quick QUICK recap of our Halloween weekend in Busan, Korea’s second largest city in Southeastern Korea. Malia, RJ, Steve and I went for 2 nights, and luckily stayed with a friend of RJ’s the first night. We got in pretty late, as it’s a good distance from all 4 of us (even though we took a glorious ride on the high-speed KTX train). On Saturday we made our way to the world’s largest department store, as dictated by Guinness Book of World Records. This 14-store mall devoured hours of our day time, but it was a pretty cool experience. And they had 2 levels of food, so I mean, yeah. Can’t complain there right? I just closed my eyes and let the Fox nose take over. Of course it took me straight to a cheeseburger that I was very happy to dive into. Saturday night, after the now-routine samgyopsal dinner, we enjoyed the world’s largest fireworks festival, atop our friend’s apartment building rooftop in the rain. It was an amazing, freezing, why-won’t-this-end? yet don’t-stop-with-the-fireworks experience. We kicked it old school that night and stayed out until the sun started getting out of bed, which made the trip back horrendous (they fill up trains endlessly, there is no such thing as maximum capacity at all, so if you have any hint of claustrophobia, steer clear of the trains!). Oh by the way, the second night we stayed in a jjimjilbang, which is a public bathhouse (separated men's women’s floors) and a communal hotel. Garage-rag-like pajamas are given to you, as well as a nice wooden block pillow for the ole thinker to rest. “At least it was cheap!”.....What I had to tell myself all night to stay sane.

Good start to any day!

From inside a Gongju restaurant

Eating dumplings (mandu) and bulgogi in that restaurant above this pic