it's typhoon weather here in the korea, and elsewhere in asia, i guess. which means lots o' heavy rainfall, minus a feeling that i'm going to die. so i guess it's good to NOT be in a life threatening rainstorm. i honestly don't mind too much. gives me and excuse to not really do anything besides read or drink cheap wine on my excuse for a balcony, or to try and do both at the same time. but that falls into the realm of multi-tasking, and i've really just proven to be a horrible failure at that.
last night i had the second of hopefully many work parties. i have to be honest though, the first work party sort of blew. it included approximately 13 koreans and me. of course, being the one person who doesn't speak too much korean (enough to order food, get home in a taxi and perform basic, menial errands) i was a little left out of the whole 2.5 hour dinner. at that point, no one really made any effort to include me, either. but it was okay, something i tolerated because i had to for the sake of perceived manners and respect of cultural values, but it wouldn't have upset anyone, least of all myself, if i just hadn't been there at all. plus we went to the norae bong, which i hate. i really do. it's not a cultural thing, but i hate karaoke in america too. add all the smoke machines, bongos and plush stuffed animals you want, but it's really hard for me to perform in front of people (in many realms), unless extremely intoxicated. so while i appreciate the gesture of being handed a welch's grape soda, i need something a little stronger before i belt "dancing queen" to a room full of relative strangers. the best part of the last party was when the ringleader of all the teachers made us all give little speeches about the summer intensive program and say what we liked about all the other teachers. even if it's forced, i like that someone is making me think postive thoughts. i know you can't tell tone in written form, but there's no sarcasm here. sometimes i can't be optimistic unless someone makes it clear that there is no other recourse. dude, that's profound.
anyhoo, i survived the first party, so i had mentally, emotionally, physically prepared myself for the second one, which took place last night. we went to the restaurant for dinner at around 12. yup, midnight. show up at the restaurant and all i see is a big tank of fish. grreeat. i hadn't eaten all day (stupidity on my part), and this was what i was going to feast on--raw fish. but it actually wasn't terrible. with enough alcohol, i'll pretty much eat anything--bondaegi (silkworm larvae), octopus, squid, pig intestines. whatever, when in korea, do as the koreans do. i take that back, i won't ever intentionally eat dog. i won't be judgemental about it either, i just don't wanna. so i ate octopus last night. i ate a lot of octopus down in suncheon, but last night was the first time i ate it while it was still writhing in agony. one of the suckers stuck to my tongue for a while. that was a strange sensation.
so we ate and talked a lot. and i was completely included in all aspects of the evening. i guess it just makes a difference who you sit next to. but the people i work with are great people. great ladies. great koreans. because the two of the first korean women i ever met betrayed me so horribly, i think it took me a little longer than normal to warm up to a whole posse of korean women that i work with. but they're all so diverse in their styles (fashion and teaching), backgrounds and life experience, that i really just feel privileged to work with so many good, non-annoying humans. and because i'm the only foreign teacher at my school, i've got this huge sense of ownership and pride. it's a feeling i'm not wholly familiar with. i'm still waiting for something bad to happen. but in the meantime, i work hard because i feel like people are counting on me. being the only foreigner there, i think i'm inadvertently held more accountable for my actions. as a foreigner i'm already under the microscope. but as the only foreigner, there's no one else to divert attention. i like this. it also means my kids think i'm a celebrity. so if another foreign teacher ever comes along, my bubble will definitely burst.
around 2:30 we roll out of the fish restaurant. unfortunately one of the other teachers starts to yak as soon as she steps foot outside the restaurant. in front of all of us other teachers. so i felt bad for her. i was just glad it wasn't me. everyone else didn't seem to care too much. i don't know if it was on account of said barfing, or just because peeps weren't feeling it, but there was no norae bong. hallelujah! i'll eat bondaegi all night if it means i don't have to go to the fucking norae bong.
so that was my night.
in other news, i haven't been sleeping so well. it could be my anti "fan death" fan that automatically clicks off every two hours, but i think my body is now somehow attuned to these two hour cycles. at any rate, it was really difficult to get out of bed today at 1 pm. i wake up so much at night and then it takes hours to get back to sleep. maybe it's stress, but my life is actually pretty stress-free right now. maybe there's actually something physically wrong with me. i dunno. i just feel real tired-like all the time.
moving away from boring sleep anecdotes, i go to china on sunday. flying out of incheon at 5 in the pm. needless to say, i'm pretty fucking excited.
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