Well this is my last week teaching Grade 5 and 6 for a month. Thankfully I'll still see them in the halls. Now its on to the wacky off the wall Grade 3s and 4s. I'm very excited; my new CT is crazy organized and has mad scheduling skills and lesson plans for miles.
So this Tuesday was my first payday so I bought that fancy red bean rice cake for the entire staff. My new CT says it is good luck when you start something new, so if you open a new store you make/ order some red bean rice cake and everything should be smooth sailing afterwards. Fingers crossed. The whole staff was very courteous to me for the whole day and some of Thursday too. I wish I did more though. Since my Korean is limited to several words I was unable to a) find this rice cake store and b) order it. But, like always, the staff are more than willing to help me with this (I would too if cake was involved). So my broadcasting buddy orders the cake for my school which has around 70 staff, and it was all delivered the following day. The bill was just under 140,000 won, which seemed fair. At the end of the day my VP comes up to me as I'm walking out of the school, unzips my knap-sack without even asking and pours in a bunch of asain pears. I almost had a jizz in my pants moment - I haven't bought fruit since I've been here because the prices are absurd. This was a big deal. And then a teacher I have never seen before offers me a ride home with the other VP. Even though I don't break even from these gestures I still appreciate them. This staff feels very close to one another and now I feel I have been brought into their circle. Just goes to show, respect and follow traditions in a foreign land and you'll be treated as if your one of their own.
In celebration of this development I went out to half-price (and half-cooked) steak. Never again. I got the baseball cut of top sirloin, requested it to be medium, and the middle was like eating sushi, so bloody it could have mooed. To be fair, their salads were good but not worth mentioning beyond this.
The following day, Trivia Thursday, Ju and I went to get hair cuts, and of course a couple of drink,s at probably the sickest looking house I've seen in Korea. Very modern two story house, with an open concept cafe on the first floor and the hair saloon on the second. Resting on top of a hill it couldn't have looked anymore prestine. The stylist was a hip looking chap and had mostly Ex-pats for clientele. His English was really good and knew what he was doing. Very good conversationalist and well-travelled guy, I'd recommend him to anybody. It cost 20,000 but at home it could have been $80+ trim. I'll take it as a win. Trivia night was also a success, and because I have found this I no longer have an addiction to sporcle.
Now, Friday, I'm wrapping up my week at the office rocking my vacation vest (a sweet value village christmas themed vest) to celebrate the beginning of Chuseok, aka Korean Thanksgiving. The big bonus instead of 3 days off we have 5! Hopefully I'll survive the bender-palooza.
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