pictures!

Wow, this is like… five nights in a row? Crazy. And today was definitely a doozy—all I want at the moment is to go to sleep, but it’s only 8:30, so I should probably wait. Plus, I need to stay up so that I can apologize to my host mother. More on that later.

So just as I was starting to get settled in at NMS, today I visited my second school. The day started well enough. I amazingly, as I mentioned in my previous entry, slept the entire night through, and when I woke up I didn’t feel too awful. Dry throat, painful nose, but otherwise okay. My host mother walked me to the place where I was meeting my ride to school, and he showed up promptly at 8:10. He doesn’t speak any English, so it was a very quiet drive. Mostly just he and the other woman in the car talking in Korean about me (maybe I’m paranoid, but when I hear 외국 (foreigner) or 미국 (American), I rationally assume it’s me that’s being discussed.

Once we got to school, things went really well. The teachers at DMS were much friendlier right off the bat than at NMS. The math teacher introduced himself as “handsome man” in Korean, which was funny to all of the other teachers, and funny to me once it was explained. The next guy introduced himself as “second handsome man.” The women were very friendly too, and DMS wins points against NMS because they had my desk ready for me, with internet-connected computer too. So I surfed the web for a bit before my first class. They lose a few points for having my teach second, third, and sixth periods, because it means I’ll have to be there all day, but really, that’s for the best anyway, because then I’ll spend that time doing something productive, like lesson planning, or even better, studying Korean.

I met all three classes today, and I liked them. They seemed shyer than at NMS, and maybe a little sassier, but I like them—especially the second graders. Tomorrow I will see 2nd and 3rd grade, and we’ll do a lesson on pronunciation, and then starting next week we will use the new books that came in today. They’re pretty boring, but I guess it will be good to have that structure, and I can focus my efforts on coming up with games and other ways to make the very basic lessons fun. Plus, my co-teacher at DMS is a lifesaver—she speaks almost perfect English and is really really friendly (and quite young-thirty, I think). The arrangement isn’t turning out quite the way I imagined: she was in the room for my lesson today and translated most of my directions, which isn’t exactly ideal, but I suppose it’s helpful, and good for the lower-level students. I’ve pretty much accepted that nothing is going to go quite as planned this year, so I’ll just roll with the punches and let the chips fall where they may (and use as many clichés as possible). That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

After school, the principal, all the teachers and some of the administration of our school went out to dinner, partly to welcome me, and partly to celebrate some award they’d gotten. We went all the way to Gwangju, which was a pretty long drive, and we had duck bul-go-gi. I’m not sure how that works, because I thought bul-go-gi was broiled beef, but I guess maybe it’s just broiled meat, so duck bul-go-gi is broiled duck. Whatever. It was pretty good. Two of the teachers got really drunk and a little loud, which was socially interesting. It’s so interesting to be the only person at the table who is a foreigner. I just listen to conversations and do my best to deduce what’s going on (like watching Spanish soap operas), but most of the time I have no idea. That’s not true—my co-teacher is really really good about translating all the important things for me. I genuinely can’t imagine what life would be like if I didn’t have her to help me. I would just be completely oblivious, I guess, as opposed to only mostly oblivious, which is what I am now. Anyway, the teachers are all very funny and nice—much less uptight than at NMS. Probably, I would guess, because a lot of them are younger, but I don’t know.

At one awkward point, the two drunk teachers invited me to go out in Naju with them. I hesitated uncertainly, because I assumed they were kidding but I didn’t know—and then the principal and my co-teacher enthusiastically informed me that they were both married, and kidding. Then I got an amused (and amusing) lecture from my principal as we were walking out that I shouldn’t go out with the male teachers outside of school (no shit?—and definitely not to a hotel). Except for one guy, she clarified, pointing, because he’s single, young, and a Christian. ahahahahaha. Anyway, my principal and co-teacher made sure that I got safely into someone’s car to get home. The single young Christian (SYC) ended up driving me, another teacher, and one of the super-drunk teachers (Mr. Kim) home in Mr. Kim’s car. Mr. Kim is the one who picked me up in the morning, so it’s good to know they’re all very responsible. I wonder how you say ‘designated driver’ in Korean. The meal was okay, but I spent the whole time worried about who was paying. When someone buys you a meal in Korea, you’re supposed to say before you eat “I will eat well” (in Korean, obviously), and then after, “I ate well”—but since I didn’t know what was going on, I didn’t know who to say it to, and I didn’t have much money with me. It was a little stressful. And then in the middle my NMS co-teacher (Mrs. O) called by DMS co-teacher, Mrs. Kim, because my host mother apparently didn’t get my text message telling her that I wouldn’t be home for dinner, so she was worried about me. Hence, I’m sitting here blogging and waiting up for my host mother to get back from the store so that I can apologize for worrying her and try to explain that I did text her, in English.

The trip home was pretty awkward, because it was half an hour, and Mr. Kim was in the backseat with me drunkenly trying to convince me to go out for second round (more drinks) at 노레방 (singing room), and also to speak dismal English to me. Nonetheless, I made it back. Most disappointingly, I realized halfway home that my bag/purse was in the other car, the one in which I rode to the restaurant, so I don’t have my housekey, my USB key, my planner, or… a number of other things. I do have my wallet, because I brought it into the restaurant with me, but I won’t see the rest of my stuff until tomorrow. Oh yeah! I don’t have my handphone either! BAH!

Hmm… what else? I think that’s about all of my exciting news for the day. My host kids just appeared and are playing with my camera, looking at the pictures. Today’s bonding: accomplished.

ETA: Okay, I had definitely saved this and turned off my computer when something totally blog-worthy happened, so because I don’t really have anything better to do, I turned it back on. We must really be becoming a family after all, because grandmother just came out of the bathroom topless, sat down at the table, and proceeded to eat some dinner that way. Awesome. And the kids have gone crazy taking pictures with my camera, but quite responsibly are now going through them and deciding which to delete and which to keep. Curious.

And then... Mom came home drunk. She walked in, I said, I'm so sorry! She said... "I... drinking." Amazing. Awkward.

And... the pictures I promised:
Saying Goodbye in Seoul and Hello to Naju (Part I)

Saying Goodbye in Seoul and Hello to Naju (Part II)