It was bound to happen sooner or later. I mean, when you live in a foreign country, with mostly foreign food, you're going to have to eat some stuff and not know exactly what's in it. For almost ten months I've been putting weird and foreign things into my mouth with no horrific side effects, and most of the ingredients (that I know of) have been relatively normal. I mean, I ate the worm larvae, didn't I?
But today I ate something in my culinary innocence that I would not have eaten otherwise, had I known what was in it. The Korean "sun-dae" or "soon-dae" as they pronounce it. It's like a sausage, with noodles inside. I was having a small party with one of my classes because they'd finished their book. The two girls came in all excited, because they'd bought sun-dae and dukbogi (spicy dish with a rice product in it).
I like sausage, and I like noodles, so after asking them what it was, and learning that it was just a korean sausage-like dish, in the spirit of adventure I tried some. I've encountered many many dishes here that I've grown obsessions for in this way, so I was all prepared to get a new favorite food here.
It tasted...not bad, but just a little bit off. The wrapping looked suspiciously intestinal in appearance, and while I accept that many sausages are made this way, this dish tasted particularly intestine-y. The noodles were noodles, nothing surprising, but it was the dark reddish-brown sauce in with them that tasted just a little strange, and was unsettling me somewhat.
You can see where I'm going with this.
Many exotic foods can only be appreciated after a couple of tries (for example, pearl tea), so I had a few more. But I wasn't feeling any more comfortable with it, so I let it go after the third or fourth piece. I felt deep down in my heart (and stomach) that "sun-dae" was meant to be tried in the presence of my other American/European friends, perhaps on a dare.
My Korean coworker confirmed my fears after class. Indeed "sun-dae" is a sausage made with noodles and pigs' blood. And intestinal lining.
Ah well. It shouldn't have really grossed me out; I saw the documentary on hot dogs back in the day. I think it was the bloody noodles that did me in :-) That's not to say I wouldn't have tried it, but I would have braced myself for it, and perhaps done a victory dance afterwards =_=
PS. This video is TOO CUTE:
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
Chapter 59: "When I was your age, I wasn't allowed to say that."
There seems to be a gap of understanding between the Koreans and foreign English teachers. Well, there are a lot of gaps, but here's one in particular that annoys me just a little bit.
Where on earth to little 7-year-olds get off being allowed to give each other and the teacher the finger? Or saying sh*t, son of a b*tch, or any other English swear word they pick up. Oh yes, it's sooo funny to swear in English. I understand that it's not as impacting when you say the f-word in a different language, but half of the kids kind of just frolic about, throwing these words around like candy. The Korean teachers don't seem to mind terribly. It's a little shocking to us native speakers though, as many of these words are still not allowed on the radio or prime-time television. When I was 7 years old, I wasn't even aware of all the swear words, and me and the kids my age were still trying on "idiot" and "oh my gosh" on for size.
The other half of the kids know what they're saying, in Korean and English. I know, because I know the Korean equivalents to these words. My Irish coworker swears like a sailor, but once she put an 11-yr-old girl out in the hall for saying "son of a b*tch" in Korean and then again in English when my coworker had told her not to. The boss said she'd been too harsh, that the kids didn't understand or mean what they said, but I think that if you say it in Korean and English, you know. And who on earth lets their 11-yr-old kid say those words?
I understand that they're away from their parents, and most kids have potty mouths to some extent when no one's around to smack the fear of God into them. But when the Korean teachers don't even care, there's not much you can do really. Foreign teachers are at the bottom of the heirarchy of respect. Kids are not only going to swear in front of us, they're going to try to get us to do it too -_-
On a brighter note, here is a really funny music video to a popular Korean song:
Where on earth to little 7-year-olds get off being allowed to give each other and the teacher the finger? Or saying sh*t, son of a b*tch, or any other English swear word they pick up. Oh yes, it's sooo funny to swear in English. I understand that it's not as impacting when you say the f-word in a different language, but half of the kids kind of just frolic about, throwing these words around like candy. The Korean teachers don't seem to mind terribly. It's a little shocking to us native speakers though, as many of these words are still not allowed on the radio or prime-time television. When I was 7 years old, I wasn't even aware of all the swear words, and me and the kids my age were still trying on "idiot" and "oh my gosh" on for size.
The other half of the kids know what they're saying, in Korean and English. I know, because I know the Korean equivalents to these words. My Irish coworker swears like a sailor, but once she put an 11-yr-old girl out in the hall for saying "son of a b*tch" in Korean and then again in English when my coworker had told her not to. The boss said she'd been too harsh, that the kids didn't understand or mean what they said, but I think that if you say it in Korean and English, you know. And who on earth lets their 11-yr-old kid say those words?
I understand that they're away from their parents, and most kids have potty mouths to some extent when no one's around to smack the fear of God into them. But when the Korean teachers don't even care, there's not much you can do really. Foreign teachers are at the bottom of the heirarchy of respect. Kids are not only going to swear in front of us, they're going to try to get us to do it too -_-
On a brighter note, here is a really funny music video to a popular Korean song:
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Chapter 58: "Ambitions"
One of my students is in a wheelchair. She's the first person I've ever really personally known and interacted with who was in a wheelchair, and it's been interesting as well to see how a disabled kid gets along in a school setting, since growing up none of my classmates were ever disabled past a set of crutches for their sprained ankle.
Everyone's pretty relaxed about it. She's about ten or eleven, and she can do wheelies, sometimes her classmates play with her brakes, and when she gets a hold of my hand I can pull her down the hall. She's also wicked strong at arm-wrestling, which makes a lot of sense, if she's doing everything with her arms!
Today we were making our profiles in class, and one of the questions was, "What is your ambition?" Once I explained ambition, everyone wrote theirs down, and a little while later, I went around and asked everyone different questions from their profiles. When I asked Wheelchair Girl (tacky, I know) what her ambition was, she laughed and said, "Teacher, I want to walk!"
That one kind of shocked me. My heart kind of melted a bit and I laughed along with her. I knew she was making a joke, and it's cool that she's not shy about it, but part of me really wanted her to be able to walk someday too.
Everyone's pretty relaxed about it. She's about ten or eleven, and she can do wheelies, sometimes her classmates play with her brakes, and when she gets a hold of my hand I can pull her down the hall. She's also wicked strong at arm-wrestling, which makes a lot of sense, if she's doing everything with her arms!
Today we were making our profiles in class, and one of the questions was, "What is your ambition?" Once I explained ambition, everyone wrote theirs down, and a little while later, I went around and asked everyone different questions from their profiles. When I asked Wheelchair Girl (tacky, I know) what her ambition was, she laughed and said, "Teacher, I want to walk!"
That one kind of shocked me. My heart kind of melted a bit and I laughed along with her. I knew she was making a joke, and it's cool that she's not shy about it, but part of me really wanted her to be able to walk someday too.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Chapter 57: "Dark Days in English"
Today I uttered, in all seriousness, this sentence:
"Does anybody no book?"
No, there are no typos or misspellings in there. Just me reduced to the same level of speaking ability as my students.
Today there were several changes to my normal schedule. First, I no longer teach the Class of All Boys. Well, not as we have known it for the past eight months. They split into two classes today: one class for the crazy or less-smart ones (ADD Kid and the Normal One), and one for the smarter ones (New Kid, Emo Kid, and the Smart One, plus the Other New Kid, whose mother doesn't want him to be in the other class, even though his level is likely lower than theirs). And so it goes. Plus we have the new addition of the Cutest Girl, who is so darn adorable you want to just put away your English books and sit down on the floor with her and play Barbies. Yes, it's that bad.
Today was also the last day for me to be teaching the Class of All Girls. Two of the girls are moving to a different English academy (they've been at this one for several years), thus reducing the class to two girls. Those two girls left over will probably be joining another class of their same level.
All that this means is that I get to show up to work later, pretty much, and my hours got switched up a tiny bit. But I'll take it. Only one more month till the term change!! And then the start of my last term. Sigh....the end is slowly approaching!!
"Does anybody no book?"
No, there are no typos or misspellings in there. Just me reduced to the same level of speaking ability as my students.
Today there were several changes to my normal schedule. First, I no longer teach the Class of All Boys. Well, not as we have known it for the past eight months. They split into two classes today: one class for the crazy or less-smart ones (ADD Kid and the Normal One), and one for the smarter ones (New Kid, Emo Kid, and the Smart One, plus the Other New Kid, whose mother doesn't want him to be in the other class, even though his level is likely lower than theirs). And so it goes. Plus we have the new addition of the Cutest Girl, who is so darn adorable you want to just put away your English books and sit down on the floor with her and play Barbies. Yes, it's that bad.
Today was also the last day for me to be teaching the Class of All Girls. Two of the girls are moving to a different English academy (they've been at this one for several years), thus reducing the class to two girls. Those two girls left over will probably be joining another class of their same level.
All that this means is that I get to show up to work later, pretty much, and my hours got switched up a tiny bit. But I'll take it. Only one more month till the term change!! And then the start of my last term. Sigh....the end is slowly approaching!!
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