Korean Krab Sudden Attack
Click to viewSo I feel that I have been mostly rapping about the news lately rather than documenting La Vida Coreo. Not sure why, but it seems that some music bands and certain news items have really been capturing my attention lately.
Last night we (the EPIK Kidz +Allison) went out for crab in Jukdo market. It was EPIK Netty's first time eating crab and we where able to make her jump by telling her that the crabs might still be alive. Thats the thing about Koreans they know how to enjoy crab: No frills. Boil the S.O.B. and slap them on a tray whole and accompanied by scissors. I have learned that there is a bunch of meat in the head that is worth eating, the guts are an enticing delicacy here, and that they serve rice with the guts mixed in, using the top of the head as a bowl.
Last nights crab was the best that I ever had. Not only was it as fresh as possible (I picked the fiesty one!) but it was served hot. It is a messy affair but like all the joyful food in the world it is a labor of love.
So I am super busy these days. The new president is emphasizing "reform" in Englsih education. These "reforms" may be a thinly veiled attempt to undermine the teachers unions. The reason I think this is his goals far exceed the ability of most teachers and will mostly likely only serve to make the owners of cram schools rich.
Regardless of the reason this also means that I will be teaching over double the amount of teacher's classes this semester over last semester. Two hours after school on Tues. and Weds. I also took up teaching a Saturday class in a poorer rural district for some extra cash. While this will help my finances, it has certainly killed off my Friday nights and saturdays through foul play.
I am working with many new teachers this year. Now the English deptartment at both schools is almost evenly split between men and women. I was happy to be invited by Mr. "Bruce" Lee to go out for some dinner and drinks. That was until he was piss drunk after only two hours and in typical Korean fashion couldnt keep his hands to himself (HANDS ABOVE THE BELT!!!) I kinda feel bad for him he has 3 kids (his youngest is one of my third grade students at Changpo) and his wife died a bit ago from cancer.
At Changpo I have been bugging this one teacher who is friendly but speaks little English to teach me guitar. It turns out that one of the new English teachers not only is good friends with him but also plays drums. So sometime next month we are supposed to grab some drinks and play some music. I am very excited about this. If I can learn to play at least one Korean song, I am sure it will go a long way towards charming Koreans.
On a much more sad note, one of the teachers in Yanghak has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Sometimes I wonder if I am just bad luck when I travel abroad. First when I went to Japan, my mother died. Then When I went to Spain, the Uncle (nieghbor) of my host family died and now this.
On a happier note, I must be doing something right, as my students from last year, who are now 8th graders and therefore not the grade that I teach seem to be really upset that I am not teaching thier grade. Also at Changpo, where I was ineffectively teaching every grade and only seeing each class 3 times a semester, one of the new teachers started inquiring about how we do things at Yanghak. After which he ask my opinion about which was better and I told him that I prefer to teach only first graders. About an hour later he came back and told me that he spoke to everyone and I will be teaching 7th graders from now on. It was very uncharacteristic of what I have seen so far, where change comes from top down rather than bottom up.