Krazy Koreans
A while ago one of the Korean aid teachers (which is worthy of distinguishing from the full Korean teachers in that the aids don't really speak much English) invited herself to my apartment for dinner. So I invited all the aids to make it a little less weird, but it kept getting pushed back for one reason or another which began to be a bit of a problem when the girl who first invited herself quit and left last Friday so we had to do it by then. It was all set for this one day but a work dinner got canceled (a whole other issue) so they said that we should do it that day (and of course this was all decided about an hour before I was going to go home and my apartment was a bit messy and not ready to host people). So I ran home and got everything ready. We had penne and alfredo, which they have never had before. I bought the penne the week before because 1 I like it more then spaghetti (which I have a ton of) 2) it wasn't that expensive and I like buying stuff from the good ole USofA, 3)because I figured it would be something different for the Korean teachers since the only pasta they ever seem to eat here (not that they eat it a lot but you can find it in most small food stores ). I've mentioned before that Koreans are all a bunch of sticks, and I think I know how they do it...they don't eat. They had like 5 pieces of pasta (though they did like the sauce with they seemed to like it much more with bread) and were full. Even if lunch is the big meal here (I'm not sure and I think in general they eat the same types of food for all their meals [rice and gimchi for breakfast, yick] so I don't know and honestly don't really care, what they ate would not even sustain me for a mid afternoon snack.
Which brings me to my observations on Korean culture. I don't know if I've said any of this before, but it all kind of became a bit more clear lately. Koreans are very concerned with image. They all want to be ranked number one, and rank things all the time (and don't just stop at 1 or 2, but go all the way down to the bottom). My kids at lunch 'rank' themselves on when they finish lunch (or get their books out or whatever) everyday. I would think they would get bored or see no reason in mentioning that Lucy and Sharon got 7th and 8th (last). Why should it matter when they finish lunch or get their book (which is not of their control since one person hands out the books in the order they were put back on the shelf). Koreans also are a bit, um, less squeamish about asking personal questions (I went out to dinner and the one girl tapped my nose and asked 'silicon?'). So I've been asked my opinion on everyone we know pretty much. They also generally tend to tell you their opinion of you (like saying that you are fat or that you need to wear makeup).
Back to dinner. The Korean girls invited two of the other American teachers over (the non-creepy ones) and we were sitting around for a bit and decided to play a Korean drinking game (not that we were drinking much as we had like 4 beers and 6 people). But the games works like this: you sit around in a circle and each person take a turn as the person to ask a question starting like 'who looks like the most...'. Then on 3 everyone points to someone and whoever get the most points has to drink. This is just so Korean because not only do you have to choose is the most (whatever) as a non-Korean it is hard to know what is appropriate to ask about. But it was alright. Very Korean.
Also at dinner. They brought over a couple of beers and a little gift for me (I guess). I think usually when someone has a party and you want to bring something over as a thank you you bring wine, dessert, maybe even some little vasey dishy thing, or soap, or something that you would expect to receive as a generic gift. Well, I got a pack of 10 rolls of toilet paper. While more useful then most of the things I mentioned, it was still kind of like, tp? really? thanks. It made me think of an essay by David Sedaris who talks about how he got practical gifts like lightbulbs for his mom and he was the only one of his siblings to give mom gifts that she ever used. I like practical gifts (which is why a blanket is one of my default-out-of-ideas-gift). But when you give a gift it usually says something about the giver. With a blanket I think it says something along the lines of something nice that you can enjoy and actually use and even if you don't use all the time it still isn't a bad thing to have extras of, so practical yet still a bit of a treat. tp makes you think of wiping your butt. Practical, yes, but in no way a treat.
Which brings me to my observations on Korean culture. I don't know if I've said any of this before, but it all kind of became a bit more clear lately. Koreans are very concerned with image. They all want to be ranked number one, and rank things all the time (and don't just stop at 1 or 2, but go all the way down to the bottom). My kids at lunch 'rank' themselves on when they finish lunch (or get their books out or whatever) everyday. I would think they would get bored or see no reason in mentioning that Lucy and Sharon got 7th and 8th (last). Why should it matter when they finish lunch or get their book (which is not of their control since one person hands out the books in the order they were put back on the shelf). Koreans also are a bit, um, less squeamish about asking personal questions (I went out to dinner and the one girl tapped my nose and asked 'silicon?'). So I've been asked my opinion on everyone we know pretty much. They also generally tend to tell you their opinion of you (like saying that you are fat or that you need to wear makeup).
Back to dinner. The Korean girls invited two of the other American teachers over (the non-creepy ones) and we were sitting around for a bit and decided to play a Korean drinking game (not that we were drinking much as we had like 4 beers and 6 people). But the games works like this: you sit around in a circle and each person take a turn as the person to ask a question starting like 'who looks like the most...'. Then on 3 everyone points to someone and whoever get the most points has to drink. This is just so Korean because not only do you have to choose is the most (whatever) as a non-Korean it is hard to know what is appropriate to ask about. But it was alright. Very Korean.
Also at dinner. They brought over a couple of beers and a little gift for me (I guess). I think usually when someone has a party and you want to bring something over as a thank you you bring wine, dessert, maybe even some little vasey dishy thing, or soap, or something that you would expect to receive as a generic gift. Well, I got a pack of 10 rolls of toilet paper. While more useful then most of the things I mentioned, it was still kind of like, tp? really? thanks. It made me think of an essay by David Sedaris who talks about how he got practical gifts like lightbulbs for his mom and he was the only one of his siblings to give mom gifts that she ever used. I like practical gifts (which is why a blanket is one of my default-out-of-ideas-gift). But when you give a gift it usually says something about the giver. With a blanket I think it says something along the lines of something nice that you can enjoy and actually use and even if you don't use all the time it still isn't a bad thing to have extras of, so practical yet still a bit of a treat. tp makes you think of wiping your butt. Practical, yes, but in no way a treat.