I'm very excited because I bought a travel toothbrush today. All of the other teachers go to the bathroom to brush their teeth after lunch and I've felt very left out until now. I don't think Koreans are really into dental hygiene. It has more to do with the fact that kimchi is a smell that sticks with you.
If my cafeteria is anything to go off of, a traditional Korean meal consists of rice, often mixed with other grains, soup, some kind of vegetable and a curry-like dish. I got excited yesterday because, in addition to the above, they had some kind of fried oblong food. With ketchup! So, I took a big bite only to realize it was a deep-fried and breaded hot dog. Boo.
Why do Koreans love hot dogs so much? They treat them as the 4th meat after beef, pork and chicken. In addition to serving them the traditional American way, they slice them up and sautee them with vegetables or throw them into soups. I like to be adventurous and try new foods, but that's just a bad surprise.
For my ice breaker activity I am having all my classes make name cards. I told my first class 'write your name' and ended up with a bunch of name cards written in hangul. So, for the next class I said 'write your name in English' and half of the name cards had actual English names like 'Frank' and 'Jennifer.' The idea of giving them English names has always weirded me out - it seems vaguely imperialistic and culturocentric. So, I told my advanced 1st year class ''write the name you want me to call you in class.' I got 'Bush,' 'Obama,' 'Smart Boy,' and 'Asshole.'
I should have just made a slideshow.
Those name cards are the kind of thing that keeps me going to work every day. It reminds me of the lab report I got this week titled "My Big Balls".
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