A Spontaneous Field Trip Just For Teachers

I felt special on my birthday. =)

Chris and I also went out for dinner.

So I’m starting to get used to the routine of being a teacher – except for the things that keep changing.

On Tuesday after we had said goodbye to all the kids, with a “see you tomorrow!” We were told by Mrs. Choi our director (Jasmine), that the next day we would be having a teacher training day and there would be no school. This meant that we got up this morning ridiculously early to meet at 6:30am, and car pooled to another kindergarten 3 hours away to see how they teach there. The only thing was their kindergarten was all in Korean, except for the English class, and they still spoke more Korean than English, so it was not the same at all. They have a nice place though. The facility is government run, so they have excellent materials, and everything is bright and cheery. We were told local students enter a lottery to get in and pay 20$ a month to go. Our hostess, the principal of the school, was very gracious and gave us a tour and some souvenirs, including a Happy Birthday towel (hee hee =) ) and a gift wrapped box of seaweed.

They then decided we should all go out for lunch, so the principal of the school we were visiting, Pastor Kim (who has the final say about our kindergarten) Jasmine, Helen, Chris and I headed off to probably the most expensive place in the area. We sat on the floor at a low table, which surprised me, only because we hadn’t yet done so anywhere in Seongnam, and ate so many kinds of food they covered the huge table with all the dishes. They just kept bringing more food even though we were getting full, and replacing the empty dishes with more and different kinds of food. Most of it was fish, but there were plenty of alternatives for me. Chris tried most of it, but drew the line at the tiny shrimp still with heads tails and legs.

And so our cultures clashed again. What was supposed to be generous hospitality to me looked like a colossal waste of food and money. Not to say that Canadians don’t waste food, but I really try not to, and it is acceptable in most Canadian restaurants to take your leftovers home, where as here, it’s not meant to be that way.

Now since we were having such a serious teacher training day, they decided to take us to the ocean because it was nearby. =) ya… but it was fun if not a little silly to see us adults dressed in formal office attire standing without shoes in the shallow water while the tide came in. It was a really bright hot and humid day today and the water was nice, even though it also was warm. Chris wasn’t feeling good (from lack of sleep, he still coughs at night) and I’m sure the heat didn’t help.

Also of note, we were told by Jasmine that our building had received many complaints about the disruptive loud pet in #431 which has been waking people up at night, so they called the school to ask them to do something…except that we don’t have a pet. Nearest we can figure is that when Chris gets up in the night with a coughing fit it sounds like a dog barking, loud enough to wake somebody up. =P but on a serious note please pray Chris’ viral bronchitis will be healed soon.

Kay =)