A Tale of One City

Stick 'em up!

Courtney and I recently started walking around the stadium after work Mon-Wed as a way to get out, exercise, enjoy the nice weather, and catch up from the weekend. But we rarely walk in peace. There is always someone trying to talk to us. Last Monday it was the track coach, a big man with cigarette stained teeth and an imposing personality that screams domineering. He was really weird. At first we were laughing at his insistent efforts to engage us in conversation, but it wasn't too long before we were just plain annoyed. He kept saying something about his friend Jason who worked at city hall--apparently Jason speaks English?? At one point he decided to call Jason at work and shoved the phone into Courtney's hand as if too say she should talk to him. We were so confused and so was the city hall operator who answered (of course they didn't speak English and we don't speak Korean). The old man just laughed hysterically and took the phone away. Courtney and I saw this as the perfect moment to walk off but he got up and started following us along with the track team who were laughing so hard at they could hardly walk upright. We were both a little perturbed. We just wanted to walk in peace. Then the coach starts saying he wants to take us out to dinner... Um, no... Then his runners start saying something to us about him being a bad man and not to go to dinner (as if we would!). We couldn't get the guy to stop talking to us so we eventually just walked off while he was still talking. I know that was pretty rude thing to do but necessary. The track team then followed us around the rest of the stadium with us, trying to practice their English and making awkward conversation, asking things like, "How old am I?" (They wanted us to guess their ages.) When we finally made it around the track, they all walked off because their practice was over, but the coach wasn't ready to leave. He walked up to us and pulled out the starter gun and pointed it at us saying, "Up! Up!" We looked at him like he was mental and everyone started laughing. We gave him a courtesy laugh as well and then continued walking away, after which he fired a blank at the ground, making everyone jump. Oh how weird... Korea is a strange, strange land...

"Teacher!! Peer-shing!! Sick??"

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked this question about my nose ring. They all want to know if it hurt. I always tell them, "Just a little. Maybe for 5 minutes." They usually shake their heads in disbelief as if I must have forgotten what it felt like. I guess I did. On Saturday my nose ring fell out at my friend's house and I didn't notice until it was too late. By the time we noticed, the ring was gone and I had nothing else to put in it. All I could do was hope that the hole didn't close before I went home Sunday and put a old one in. But alas, the nose is a funny part of the body and heals rather quickly. In one day, half of the hole had closed up and I had to push my nose ring back through last night. Ouch. It obviously didn't hurt as much as the first time but I had forgotten how sensitive your nose can be afterwards. Today my nose is really red and itches a little. Note to self: carry a spare nose ring and don't let yourself go a whole day without one in.

Just call me Julia Child.

Lately I've found myself quite inspired to cook. I've been dreaming up all sorts of creations. Last week I fried some chicken in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, crushed red pepper, and Italian herbs. It was delicious and smelled so good that it drew Tyler out of his dwelling and to my door. I was quite pleased he showed up because I needed someone to confirm it's goodness, and to my great satisfaction, he practically inhaled the chicken, moaning between bites, "This is sooo good." I've also discovered a fool proof way to fry up bell peppers for fajitas and Friday night I made peanut sauce for the first time which won the approval of a self-proclaimed peanut sauce master. Here's how I did it: 1/3 cup of chunky peanut butter, 3 tablespoons of coconut milk, 3 teaspoons of water, 3 teaspoons of soy sauce, 3 tablespoons of lime juice, 2 teaspoons of hot chili oil, 1 teaspoon of fresh ground ginger, and 2 teaspoons of fresh ground garlic. Mmmmm... Delicious!

Private Lessons

I started my private English lessons last week and I'm so happy with the way things are going. I'm tutoring three boys--twin brothers (Andy and Jason) and their cousin (Danny)--for twice a week for a total of three hours. Then, on Monday nights, I get to tutor their mothers (Susan and Debbie) for an hour as well. The boys are great. All three of them lived in Australia for a couple years so their English is really good and we have lots of fun together. The mom's are great too. Susan has a pretty high English ability while Debbie is pretty low, but both of them are enthusiastic and I really enjoy their company (which is basically all we do at our lessons--drink tea and talk). I'm really quite pleased with this arrangement. I'm glad I can keep everything within one family which keeps things nice and clean with less confusion. The best part: it works out that I'm making an extra $250 a week doing private lessons or an extra $1,000 a month.

Pressure from the Powers That Be

Part of my frustration with Lindsey is that her complaining has created extra work for all of us teachers. Now the office of education in my city is asking all of us teachers if we will work two Saturdays a month and teach English in a weekend camp setting. Apparently they think they can get six teachers to do it (that would mean all of us) but no one except Romeo has agreed. The kicker: they're offering $30 and hour but a school in Sangju is offering us $40 an hour to teach those same Saturdays at their school. Personally, I said, "No thanks, I like having free weekends and I don't need the money that bad." However, you must credit them for being persistent. Apparently the office of education has been calling my school every week and trying to pressure my VP into making me teach. Silly administrators... Don't they know that my contract says I don't have to teach Saturdays? Anyhow, it's nice to know you're wanted...