Happy Peppero Day!

Oh yes- that's right folks, today is a very special day- Peppero Day!

For those of you who may not know *gasp!* what PEPPERO is- let me tell you. Peppero is something like Pocky. A long skinny cookie stick covered in chocolate or whatever. And why would this tasty treat have it's own day every 11/11? Because the Peppero company decided to declare November 11th Peppero day- that's why! So to celebrate all the kids come to school and give boxes of Peppero to each other, and to their teachers and whoever else... including me- which means I now have a big bag full of Peppero... that as you know, will take me months to eat :) Ahh corporate holidays.

But I digress. So much has happened the last few days!

I had a pretty good weekend here in Suncheon, and am meeting more and more "waygooks" (foreigners) all the time. It makes a world of difference to not feel so lonesome here in this faraway land. On Sunday I met a wonderful lady named Jodi from NB, who took me on a tour of the (new) downtown, Yun Hyang. There are many sights to take in here, with the old and the new existing side by side. Walking the narrow streets surrounded by neon signs and stores carrying designer labels, you can find rows of vendors on the sidewalk selling vegetables and fresh fish, most of which I've never laid eyes on before. The fish are everywhere really, it's in most everything that you eat, and you smell it when you walk by every other restaurant. If you're not in an area with sidewalk vendors with fish laid out on display, then you can see them swimming in a small tanks outside the stores. All of which means that I have unwillingly reverted back to my "flexitarian" self, and now once again include fish in my diet. Resistance is futile.

Something that I found especially hilarious in my explorations of downtown were the English translations found on various things for sale- particularly in the dollar/discount stores. So entertaining in fact, that I'm going to make this a regular part of my blog-

"English Translations Gone Wrong!"

Today's bad translation was found on the cover of a notebook:

"Hello my friend! I want to protect and love with your side." lol

That night I went with Jodi and bunch of other waygooks to Shi dae, which is the old downtown, to grab a bite to eat and catch a movie. It was James Bond- not my favourite, but I wasn't about to turn down a chance to socialize. My new dining experience that day was at a little hole in the wall, which sold fries, chicken and shrimp nuggets. Not exotic, I know- but they have the most brilliant way of selling it! Korean people are always rushing around and don't like to take much time eating, so this restaurant has cleverly combined your drink and food into one. For about $2.00, they sell you a cup of Coke with a straw, and sitting inside on the top part of the cup is another small cup which holds your nuggets! It's great really. You only need one hand to eat and drink all at the same time. Now that is a tasty snack on the go if I ever heard of one!

All in all, the weekend was a success. My spirits were most definately boosted :)

Next hurdle- my first day of school! Monday I taught four grade 5 classes, and today I taught some grade 4 as well. The classes are all very different, and have a very wide range of English abilities. In an nutshell, Korean English classes can be likened to Canadian French class. Enough said. Just because English is taught from grade 3, does not mean that all the students can understand it in grade 5. Or even middle school for that matter. So you have some students who have no clue what I'm saying, others that are just terribly shy, others that are keeners and pay attention, and the handful who go to 'English academy' in the evenings, and are so advanced that they're bored stiff by the lesson.

Korean children have an enormous amount of pressure on them to get ahead. Most kids spend their free hours after school going to different 'academies'- English, science, music, tae kwan do, you name it, and then go home to homework. This pressure continues throughout school, acculminating in a test they write at the end of highschool to get into university. This test essentially determines their whole future- successful or not in an equally competitive job market. yikes!

Another unique thing about the schools is that they don't even have much of a break over lunch, since before they go down to eat all of the students have to clean the school. Yep, sweep the floors, do the bathrooms and all the rest- there are no janitors!

Lunch time for me is pretty good for the most part- the food is all very different, although it is going to take some time to get used to. As I sit with the other teachers, I'm also made to feel very self conscious over my chopstick skills. Some of them seem especially judgemental, and will point at the spoon for me to use to eat instead! I'm really not that bad- I guess I just don't look natural ;)

The kids themselves have been great though. I feel it's kind of hard to keep them under control if their teacher leaves the room- it's no different than how we used to act with a music or french teacher in charge. Some of the classes were lots of fun though- one spent 10 minutes asking me different questions about myself before class started- how old are you? do you have a boyfriend? do you speak Korean? did you pick Obama? aww they're great ;) They also like to say hello to me... all of them, all the time. I can't walk anywhere in the school without being greeted by little kids bowing saying hi, hello, or hello teacher- which means I say hi about 100 times a day. This happens in public sometimes too! It sure keeps a smile on your face.

Tomorrow I'm on to grade 6, and then Thurs-Fri I'll be at the country school, Pungduk Elementary.

In other news- I got Skype internet phone working!

Till soon.....