Maggot Melon / Oil Ear

DAY 6

Acceptance of this fact: my wake cycle is the sleep cycle of another. There are few hours of overlap.

Also: Duk - some food that is good that has no english name...The Government of South Korea is considering adding some new English names to popular dishes.

*G.I. Soup ~ Spicy Sausage Soup

However, I think this primarily applies to Seoul and other tourist destinations...
The Korea Herald is a main source of my information regarding Korea and beyond. Luckily, one is provided daily by the school.


Day 7

Seriously
Ethereal
Vortex
Entirely
Nonexistent (in my memory)

OOH!! The woman who runs the Hagwon took everyone out to dinner to say Farewell Angela, Welcome Candida. Low tables, floor seating on pads, I learn some dining etiquette, drink soju, and "cider" (think 7-Up). Also, I am told my hair is like a doll's. There is some confusion but we finally spell it out and understanding unfolds.

Oh! OH! MAGGOT MELON! maggot melon and oil ear.
1) I cut into a melon. There are maggots in it.
2) A student in the adult conversation class had a bad day because a mosquito flew into her ear, she put oil in it to kill the mosquito and subsequently couldn't get it out. Neither could the doctors at the emergency room. They eventually put a tiny camera in her ear to see well enough to scoop out the mosquito. After that she came to the school, realized she had no socks* with her and went to buy some so she could come to class. This is D-E-D-I-C-A-T-I-O-N.

This day unfolds like a dream


DAY 8

Day one of teaching. How did it go?

First class: "Tony, stop that."

Second class: "Repeat after me: S Shh She. They are not the same. Good job."

Third-Fifth classes: "Hi, My name is Candida. Are you being shy? It's okay, let's have some Homonym Fun...'does the hare have hair?' I'll draw a picture. 'Your sister ate eight pears and got a stomachache'. Funny, right??"

Sixth class: "Okay, let's read together. I'll be the NARRATOR, Tom, you be Teen Reader, Manfred, you read the part of Miss Teen America, okay? Go!"

Seventh class: "Hi Lisa, nice to meet you. Being an adolescent is difficult, right? Let's read about best friends. Very good! We'll have a good year together."

Follow that with yoga class, and it's a pretty decent day, eh?


Day 9

I finally discover the mountain behind my home. I hike to the top where, lo and behold, lies a mini-gym. Okay, actually let's call it a "mini fitness zone"; chin-up bars, something with little rotating platforms that you stand on and balance (with a place to hold on), something with pegs on it, I don't know, and a neon yellow hula hoop. So, for my moment of mid-day zen, I hula hoop on top of a mountain. This is great.
Classes are fine, if one dismisses utter confusion on the part of teacher and students for multiple hours of the day. We'll work through it. I think they like me anyway. The adult class informs me that I CAN, in fact, use a korean 220V printer with my american 110V computer. (please, let me know if this is wrong before I fry my computer.)
I wear too many stripes during yoga and get dizzy looking at my pants and shirt while in plow pose.


Day 10

All is well. I have taken a stab (chopstick style) and perhaps a slurp at gimbap, duk guk, asian pear, Naengmyun, some mystery vegetarian buckwheat noodle dish, various kimchi, some other pork dishes (including feet).
I will start Hangul lessons in exchange for looking over a friend's English compositions. She and I may also make kimchi together. We went to E-Mart and she pointed out herbs, dried plants, and various rices and grains next to many seaweeds on display in a prominent location. I believe, at one point, I exclaimed, "I love Korea!" and again when I saw the ginseng bedded in moss in the produce section.
MY FELLOW AMERICANS: Jujubes are part of a real plant. They are not just a candy you buy at the movie theater when you are 8 and think it's funny when you can't open your mouth because your molars are stuck together.

Angela left this afternoon. She is headed to Seoul, then on to Sussex for graduate school. I am so glad to have had an introduction to this country. The alien-ness of it is sly. Things seem relatively normal until a truck blaring something drives by at 3 mph with shoes made of rope swinging off the back while the tidiest woman I've ever seen clicks past in her kitten heels.

Concerning my speech pattern: cadence is starting to sound like an ESL tape recording.
For much of the night, I have been sorting through the kitchen, re-arranging, as I tend to do, listening to "This American Life", and the contents of the iTunes library on random. A peaceful evening. I look forward to further furniture arrangements.


*In South Korea, one removes one's shoes upon entering a school, resturaunt, home, etc. It is considered impolite to be barefoot.