100 new names to learn...
Ah, bless school schedule shakeups. I now have nearly all entirely new classes, and there will be two Sarahs, Davids and Marys to every 10 students. I think I shall just point indiscriminately for the first couple of weeks. Is it ok to just say 'Hey, you!' in an accusatory tone?
And skiing was hilarious - Cara was absolutely fearless as she bombed down the steepest of slopes, yoooo-ing the whole way down. I didn't fall once, but I know that the curses of Snowlor, malevolent god of ice and stalactites, shall have his revenge. Probably by sending a crushing fall of snow at the end of March, as apparently happened in Seoul last year. We get snow, but as Belfast-ians know, city snow is not like ordinary snow. It is a specific shade of murky grey, with all manner of things mixed into the sludge that are just unmentionable. It reminds me of walking through St Mark's Square in Venice, where the water was 25% H2O and 75% dissolved pigeon poo.
This weekend promises to be messy because it's one of my fellow co-workers birthdays. She is a formidable drinker so I shall simply struggle to keep up. The problem with drinking in Korea is that if you are out with a group, the norm is to buy a huge pitcher of beer for about 10000w, which is about 5 pounds. These unfortunately keep coming to the table, and your glass keeps mysteriously getting filled and the end result, at least in my case, is illness and sweating and dancing to dodgy 90s dance hits that you once thought were tolerable. They aren't.
I have just returned from the faculty room to witness one of the Korean teachers eating cereal out of a china mug.
Tuesday was Korea's Independence Day and there was much vitriolic flag waving and fist shaking at the dark shadow of Japanese occupancy. Korea is quite unsubtle - and rightly so - in its derision and bitterness towards its just-about-neighbouring island. The word 'plundered' often comes up in descriptions of the complete and wholehearted destruction that the Japanese brought with them, whilst tempered with iron edged determination for future peace. It's fascinating how Koreans shy from any comparison with Japan, despite the countries' in question having quite a lot in common. Indeed, Tokyo has been slashed out with biro on the school atlas...!
And skiing was hilarious - Cara was absolutely fearless as she bombed down the steepest of slopes, yoooo-ing the whole way down. I didn't fall once, but I know that the curses of Snowlor, malevolent god of ice and stalactites, shall have his revenge. Probably by sending a crushing fall of snow at the end of March, as apparently happened in Seoul last year. We get snow, but as Belfast-ians know, city snow is not like ordinary snow. It is a specific shade of murky grey, with all manner of things mixed into the sludge that are just unmentionable. It reminds me of walking through St Mark's Square in Venice, where the water was 25% H2O and 75% dissolved pigeon poo.
This weekend promises to be messy because it's one of my fellow co-workers birthdays. She is a formidable drinker so I shall simply struggle to keep up. The problem with drinking in Korea is that if you are out with a group, the norm is to buy a huge pitcher of beer for about 10000w, which is about 5 pounds. These unfortunately keep coming to the table, and your glass keeps mysteriously getting filled and the end result, at least in my case, is illness and sweating and dancing to dodgy 90s dance hits that you once thought were tolerable. They aren't.
I have just returned from the faculty room to witness one of the Korean teachers eating cereal out of a china mug.
Tuesday was Korea's Independence Day and there was much vitriolic flag waving and fist shaking at the dark shadow of Japanese occupancy. Korea is quite unsubtle - and rightly so - in its derision and bitterness towards its just-about-neighbouring island. The word 'plundered' often comes up in descriptions of the complete and wholehearted destruction that the Japanese brought with them, whilst tempered with iron edged determination for future peace. It's fascinating how Koreans shy from any comparison with Japan, despite the countries' in question having quite a lot in common. Indeed, Tokyo has been slashed out with biro on the school atlas...!
posted by Korrena at 7:42 PM
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