Bizarre Birthday....
Hello All,
I am sorry that I have not made much contact recently. I have no excuse so will not insult you by trying to justify myself now.
It was my birthday yesterday though the celebrations really started almost two weeks ago with the arrival of a box from home courtesy of my mother. It contained 25 packets of crisps and chocolate and a CD. I agreed to share the crisps with my friends here and did well in not eating them until the pub on Saturday night where it was great to have beer and crisps rather than the dried squid and fish that we usually get offered here. One of my classes decided that we should have a party on Thursday for the event and they brought presents and biscuits. I was handed a small gift wrapped box by one girl who looked very pleased with her. After much careful opening by self (after being shouted at for turning it upside down to undo the tape) I discovered that I was now the proud owner of two hermit crabs! This was very odd and I spent much of the rest of the day trying to stop all of my other students (and many of the teachers) shaking the box to try and get the crabs to come out of their shells. Needless to say it had the opposite effect. I have bought them a new home and they are happily keeping me awake at nights scraping in the sand.
On Friday it was the Hagwon's birthday and I had been told by the director that we would be spending the day 'playing soccer and running about'. Great... two of my least favourite things especially on such a warm day. This was combined with a nine o'clock start (remember that I don't usually start until 3 and therefore often go to bed around 5am) to ensure that I didn't think that I was going to have any fun at all on the day. I was right to begin with- the other teachers are nervous to talk to me and Tim and so generally don't bother. I managed to get out of the soccer (by hiding in the toilets as they selected the teams!) and the volleyball was a man only event. Just when I thought that I was now able to relax and lounge about in the sun all day drinking the lemon soju that I had brought with me my name was called. Boo!! And they insisted that I take part in the ladies' arm wrestling. Which to my great surprise I won! Now all of a sudden all of the teachers were talking to me! I have to admit that I only won the first match as one of the Korean teachers told me that if I won I would get three days off work- she lied but it worked! And imagine my delight as I walked away from the tournament area leaving behind many Korean women all rubbing their biceps in pain when I discovered that I was now the proud owner of 20kg rice! Which I couldn't lift as my arm hurt from all the wrestling (and in fact for the next two days but it was worth it because my victory ensured my team's overall win and we are going out to dinner to celebrate!) so I gave the stuff away to someone who actually cooks rice at home! I do eat a lot of rice here (no surprise really!) but I usually go out to eat it as I don't really know how to recreate Korean dishes at home. My joy at winning was only made greater when later I won 24 toilet rolls later in the raffle! Hooray! I was ready to settle down for a weekend of eating rice and going to the toilet before I remembered that it was my birthday weekend and I had better get to the pub!
Which I duly did on Friday night and Saturday night and yesterday (Sunday) we went on a cruise around Mokpo harbour. Saturday night was a good one- one bar then the soju tent and then the nori bang (where I was allowed to sing 'Take on me' twice in a row because I got so sulky when they tried to put on another song... quote 'It is my bloody birthday when do I get to sing my bloody song??' accompanied with truly sullen face and much sticking out of my bottom lip!) Two of my adult students came along and they brought me a cake, which I ate, in traditional Korean style- with chopsticks!! I got many presents including an ashtray in the shape of some poo with a smiling maggot inside (no I haven't taken up smoking rather I am fascinated with the Korean fascination with poo), a t-shirt with a cute photo of a puppy in the front (which came in handy as I ordered some pizza to be delivered to the pub and then spilt it all my front!), soju cups, some knives (from a friend who was disgusted when she found out that I have been buttering my bread with the back of a spoon for the last five months) and hundred and one cute Korean character things!
All in all a very good birthday and the gifts from home have caused much excitement at school (and made me look pretty popular as I got five parcels at the school last week and one the week before!). This morning I have been catching up on some much needed sleep, spending some quality time with the hermit crabs and generally doing bugger all!
I will try and write again later this week with more Korean news!
Love H xxx
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I am sorry that I have not made much contact recently. I have no excuse so will not insult you by trying to justify myself now.
It was my birthday yesterday though the celebrations really started almost two weeks ago with the arrival of a box from home courtesy of my mother. It contained 25 packets of crisps and chocolate and a CD. I agreed to share the crisps with my friends here and did well in not eating them until the pub on Saturday night where it was great to have beer and crisps rather than the dried squid and fish that we usually get offered here. One of my classes decided that we should have a party on Thursday for the event and they brought presents and biscuits. I was handed a small gift wrapped box by one girl who looked very pleased with her. After much careful opening by self (after being shouted at for turning it upside down to undo the tape) I discovered that I was now the proud owner of two hermit crabs! This was very odd and I spent much of the rest of the day trying to stop all of my other students (and many of the teachers) shaking the box to try and get the crabs to come out of their shells. Needless to say it had the opposite effect. I have bought them a new home and they are happily keeping me awake at nights scraping in the sand.
On Friday it was the Hagwon's birthday and I had been told by the director that we would be spending the day 'playing soccer and running about'. Great... two of my least favourite things especially on such a warm day. This was combined with a nine o'clock start (remember that I don't usually start until 3 and therefore often go to bed around 5am) to ensure that I didn't think that I was going to have any fun at all on the day. I was right to begin with- the other teachers are nervous to talk to me and Tim and so generally don't bother. I managed to get out of the soccer (by hiding in the toilets as they selected the teams!) and the volleyball was a man only event. Just when I thought that I was now able to relax and lounge about in the sun all day drinking the lemon soju that I had brought with me my name was called. Boo!! And they insisted that I take part in the ladies' arm wrestling. Which to my great surprise I won! Now all of a sudden all of the teachers were talking to me! I have to admit that I only won the first match as one of the Korean teachers told me that if I won I would get three days off work- she lied but it worked! And imagine my delight as I walked away from the tournament area leaving behind many Korean women all rubbing their biceps in pain when I discovered that I was now the proud owner of 20kg rice! Which I couldn't lift as my arm hurt from all the wrestling (and in fact for the next two days but it was worth it because my victory ensured my team's overall win and we are going out to dinner to celebrate!) so I gave the stuff away to someone who actually cooks rice at home! I do eat a lot of rice here (no surprise really!) but I usually go out to eat it as I don't really know how to recreate Korean dishes at home. My joy at winning was only made greater when later I won 24 toilet rolls later in the raffle! Hooray! I was ready to settle down for a weekend of eating rice and going to the toilet before I remembered that it was my birthday weekend and I had better get to the pub!
Which I duly did on Friday night and Saturday night and yesterday (Sunday) we went on a cruise around Mokpo harbour. Saturday night was a good one- one bar then the soju tent and then the nori bang (where I was allowed to sing 'Take on me' twice in a row because I got so sulky when they tried to put on another song... quote 'It is my bloody birthday when do I get to sing my bloody song??' accompanied with truly sullen face and much sticking out of my bottom lip!) Two of my adult students came along and they brought me a cake, which I ate, in traditional Korean style- with chopsticks!! I got many presents including an ashtray in the shape of some poo with a smiling maggot inside (no I haven't taken up smoking rather I am fascinated with the Korean fascination with poo), a t-shirt with a cute photo of a puppy in the front (which came in handy as I ordered some pizza to be delivered to the pub and then spilt it all my front!), soju cups, some knives (from a friend who was disgusted when she found out that I have been buttering my bread with the back of a spoon for the last five months) and hundred and one cute Korean character things!
All in all a very good birthday and the gifts from home have caused much excitement at school (and made me look pretty popular as I got five parcels at the school last week and one the week before!). This morning I have been catching up on some much needed sleep, spending some quality time with the hermit crabs and generally doing bugger all!
I will try and write again later this week with more Korean news!
Love H xxx
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posted by Helen @ 5:05 PM
