Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

I really enjoy about living in Korea is all the little surprise things that happen.

I went out after eating my ham and cheese sandwiches at my desk today and saw Mr. Baek puttering around with a fire right in front of the school. I asked him what he was doing. (The maintainance man speaks the second best English in the whole school.) He laughed and came over with a sweet potato wrapped in aluminum foil, but I turned it down. Went off teach my two afternoon classes.

Got back to my desk at 3:10 and had just sat down when one of the school secretaries (the 'tough' one because she has 3 kids) grabbed my elbow and started dragging me away. I didn't resist but did ask where we were going. She told me, but didn't tell me why. We get to the business office storage room and there are a bunch of teachers standing around a table covered with lettuce, ko-choo, sam-jang, kimchi and roast pork. It turns out Mr. Baek was roasting pork in that fire. It was tasty. One of the secretaries insisted on wrapping all the stuff up in lettuce leaves and feeding us. The topper--the bottles of makju, soju and makoli. Everyone had at least one shot...and then they went off to teach the next class. I was finished for the day, so stayed till the roast pork was done and the soju was gone.

There is something nice about an impromptu indoor pig roast on a cold fall day that just kind of warms my heart.

[SPINOZA]

One of the things I like about Korea is the fact that the grade 3s have exams (again!) and I've sat on my lazy arse doing jack *beep* for most of the day and got paid (not at all unhandsomely) for it.

I've done the whole pork-at-school thing too when some kids were cooking Sangyopsal in an after-school cooking class. The little dears ensured I didn't have to buy dinner that evening.

[Swiss James]

I've played a few football matches where all of the subs will suddenly decide it'd be a good idea if we had a BBQ - so someone drives off to the butcher, someone rigs up a grill from somewhere, and before you know it we're tucking in on the touchline.