May 2012 in review

A new month has begun, so it's time to look back at the previous one. May was a good time. There'll be more to come...the following comprises some of the best times:

• Getting a cab ride from central Seoul to Wasu at 3am with Kirsten. We rode around 110km and paid 100,000won including tip. This came at the end of a long night that began with Claire’s choir concert downtown and ended with a long after party in a neighborhood near the Noksapyeong Station.

• Pub Golf with most of the Cheorwon Crew. Claire put this together: Nine holes spread across all three of our towns, replete with 3 legged races, flip cup, beer pong, bowling, beer chugging. The opening hole had us chugging a beer through a mouth full of marshmallows and then eating the marshmallows. I did this in two long swigs. Most everyone else did it in one. Those marshmallows burned on the way down the throat.

• Meeting some of teachers and students of my two schools’ sister school in Heffei, China.

• Having the distinct pleasure of teaching a 90 minute joint class of Korean and Chinese students from middle school and high school. The principal, vice principal, and many of the teachers watched. The class had students from middle school grade 3 to high school grade 3. I and my co-teacher Ms. Jeong taught the students how to write a comparison paragraph about the two schools on a piece of poster paper and the kids did wonderfully. The paragraphs they wrote exceeded our expectations and the kids had a great time working with each other. All of them listened attentively and showed enthusiasm. This day will forever stand as one of my best (and favorite) classes. Credit goes to the principal for the comparison idea and Ms. Jeong for preparing the posters and 90% of the lesson. She outdid herself there.
• Drinking free makgeolli on the street at the Cheonggyecheon Festival.
• Riding on a motor  scooter for the first time—on a Friday night in the gridlocked Dongdaemun area of Seoul. Weaving between cars made for one fun near-death experience.

Mountain Climbing #2

At the top of Bokgye Mountain, near Wasu. My schools took a trip there in the afternoon during exam week last week. The climb and the descent were steep and slippery, but getting there and back felt good.

Mountain climbing and galbi!

The school staff and I went mountain hiking on Mt. Myeongseong Wednesday afternoon. Day II of mid-terms had finished and the principal wanted to celebrate...Had one hell of a good time talking to the teachers and enjoying the scenery. The meadow at the top looked gorgeous and the views couldn't be beat. These were snapped about 3/4 of the way up. The rocky and sometimes steep path turned into a rolling meadow. When I got to the top I cried out "YEAH!" because, well, sometimes you have to do something like that when it's your first time climbing a mountain. If you know the bit in Rocky where he climbs up those steps after a long workout--or if you've done some climbing yourself, you know the feeling.

More pics will come as I get them. For now, here's a few taken on the way up:

I didn't know this picture was being taken. I'd snapped a photo on the cell phone and was looking to see how it turned out when Ms. Kim (purple sweater) and Ms. Yeo decided to catch me in the act.

W/ Ms. Yeo (left) and Ms. Lee (right) on the way up the mountain. Lovely scenery!

w/ Ms. Kim and Ms. Yeo

w/ Ms. Yeo and Ms. Lee.

And then...

What happened after we got to the top? We walked back down and went to a large outdoor dinner and ate galbi (grilled beef that's been marinated overnight; simply delicious), drank soju, and sang karaoke. By now I've figured out the drinking rituals enough to move around on my own and do shots with people. It went down pretty well, I'd say. People seemed impressed. Again I ended up trading some more shots with the principal, or the gyojang seonsangnim, as they say in Korean. The dinner and drinks felt good after that strenuous hike.

A bit about drinking alcohol, Korean-style: in Korean culture, you never fill your own glass--someone else will do it for you in one of two ways. The first way involves asking "would you like more?" or not saying anything and filling the glass anyway. The second way has more intricacies: the first person offers the second person her glass, the second person takes it, then the first one fills it up. Person two drinks, then hands the glass back to person one so she can pour her a drink as well. Make sense?

In both instances drinks get accepted with both hands out of politeness. Older people can take one arm and put across the chest, pledge-style and accept the drink with the right hand, but most everyone does the two handed way. There's also a specific way of pouring the beer/soju/booze: basically, right hand grips the bottle and the left hand supports the neck. The bottle usually touches the glass, too.

This system took some getting used to, given the Western every-man-for-himself approach where we drink at will. The Korean way involves looking out for people and the drinking rituals show respect. They allow everyone to move around the table, too. The system does allow for people to gang up on each other, which sometimes happens with the male teachers offering drinks to the female teachers. Or it allows people to get each other drunk. Both things have happened. Now the system's second nature, but there are moments I'd frankly rather fill my own glass and not wait around. On the other hand, getting drinks offered to you means the other person likes you, so I'm okay with that.