What's Next? Fingerprint Scanners at School?

It seems like I am always burning the crap out of my mouth in this country. I have been consuming an unbelievable amount of tea and coffee lately. Every morning first thing I am offered tea or coffee in my office, then after the second class of the day, again after lunch, and finally I end up pouring myself another cup mid-afternoon. It really amazes me how quickly Koreans can finish a cup of scalding hot coffee or tea. I am always waiting for mine to cool and have barely taken a sip by the time everyone else around me has already downed his or hers. I find myself not waiting for anything else to cool now like soup or hot foods. I have a feeling I may be coming home with quite a few less taste buds than I left with. Is that even possible? Can you lose your taste buds? Something to Google at work tomorrow.

I decided to go and visit a third grade class with Hye-sun today during my afternoon. She taught them a quick English lesson and then I introduced myself to the class and talked for a little while. The students were so darn cute. They reminded me so much of my little ones back home in Indiana and made me really miss the kids at Hayes. Their behavior/English skills/questions for me were all so good that I was extremely impressed. One student even asked me “What did Theodore Roosevelt do for your country?” Kind of obsessed with those kids.

Korean light switches always seem to be placed in the most inconvenient spots. They are always outside of the room or the door and even though I should be getting used to it by now I’m not. I am always walking into my bathroom, shutting the door, and reaching for the switch, and then realizing it is in the outside hallway.

The other day when Hye-son took me to the bank to set up my account we left during working hours so that we could take care of it before the bank closed. Afterwards she asked if I wanted to go for a walk and told me that she tries to do that often when she leaves the school during work. Then on Monday she told me she was going to go to the library and read during the afternoon because she did not have to teach and asked if I wanted to join. She came and got me and we snuck up to the library and had tea and talked with the librarian. The librarian also fed us some weird pouches of gel stuff that is supposed to be good for your health. My flavor was called Purple Grape. The librarian is so sweet and energetic. I really have no idea what she is saying because she speaks no English, but I can tell by her body language, her style, and her expressions that she is awesome. Why are elementary school librarians always so fun and adorably quirky?

It always surprises me when Korean people speak English here in public. Sometimes I will be walking down the street and a little kid, hand in hand with mom, will say “hello” in his or her small cute voice and I can’t help but smile a huge toothy grin. The other day at the store the girl at the check out asked “do you want a bag?” and it really surprised me and caught me off guard. We then had a short conversation and again I just had to smile. I don’t really know why hearing English spoken makes me so happy. Maybe it is just comforting. It really kind of amazes me at how hearing a full out Korean conversation happening around me is such a totally normal thing now. It really doesn’t even faze me anymore. I used to feel like I had to make eye contact and look at who was talking out of politeness. I also felt that I had to try and follow the conversation and stay interested in what was being said even though I had no idea what was going on. Now I feel like I can just tune out a bit.

The students' temperatures are checked each and every morning by some of the teachers to see if they might be carrying the dreaded swine flu. If a temperature is high, the child is sent home. They are severely paranoid about that here. It's crazy.

The sixth grade students are taking national exams this week and Hye-son told me that the male vice principal has to spend the night in the school and guard the tests so that the information won’t get leaked. Is this public elementary school or some top-secret government enterprise?

Namaste