Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

It all started yesterday when a new kid showed up half way through winter vacation classes. Lime green shirt, purple tie, tight black velvet jacket and blue jeans with red streaks. And he�s going to be a Grade 1 boy in high school when the new semester starts. It turned out all the rest of the boys were all going off to Daegu to some amusement park on Friday ( I chortled when I woke up to rain this morning and thought of them.) I dragged New Boy down to the office and asked if I had to have a class with only one student, and of course the VP said, �Yes�. Grrrr. It meant I had to come up with a lesson suitable for only one kid and a different lesson suitable for the afternoon group�which turned out to be only 3 boys because the rest took off for Daegu, too. Team games don�t work all that well with only 3.

So at the end of today I was really ready for my usual Friday after school trip to Bugok, the hot springs capital of the republic. I get there and have a wretched time. There is some guy there with 3, THREE, six year old boys who run back and forth between two pools with their little white bowls, their squeal and screams echoing off the tile walls. I get a head ache to go with my back ache. Whatever happened to my usual hour and a half solitude at the mok-yoke-tang? I leave in under 25 minutes. Grrr.

I was hungry, so I went to the hotel to see if they had ever hired a chef. It turns out that after 4 � months they haven�t, so still don�t have pizza. Grrr. And they didn�t have Chicken Cordon Bleu either. Grrr. All they have is pop corn and over-priced anju. No thanks. So there�s nothing left to do but go for pizza with corn at the Mexican Chicken place in another town in the opposite direction from this place, or back to the Chinese restaurant that I went to a few times but over-charged for kan-poong-gi (chicken with garlic sauce). I decided to go for it. I can always take the left-overs home, eat some for a second meal and toss the rest.

I wander in at 5:45. There are new owners. Ah ha! Maybe things will be better. The midget granny shuffles over to take my order. She�s shorter than the water cooler and wearing a bright green shirt and purple sleeveless sweater. I squint through the glare and order kan-poong-gi. She says, �JJam-bbong�? I say, �No, kan-poong-gi�. She said some thing else? I say, �No, KAN POONG GI� She frowns and shuffles off to the kitchen window and SHOUTS, �KAN POONG GI� at the grandson. He shouts something back and she shouts the order again, then he comes out of the kitchen. This boy has the shortest legs and the longest torso of anyone I have ever seen outside of a geek show. He gets the order and goes back in. Moments later there is a HUGE flash of fire from the window and the wok is blazing like mad. He poured something in it that made it flame even higher before dying out.

Seconds later the door opens and Mom/Ajumma comes in, wearing purple nylon pants and a black plastic helmet, carrying the delivery case. She plops the box down beside me and starts babbling at me in the lowest voice I�ve ever heard from a woman on any of the continents I�ve been on, all the while grinning from ear to ear. I have no idea what she�s saying because she� speaking at least triple my listening speed. But finally she goes off and leaves me to relax.

I no more than pick up my book (�The Incas� by Garcilaso de la Vega) than the door opens again and a single man, about 40 comes in and sits down at the table next to mine. I keep reading and ignore him until I see ( I take my glasses off when I read and can�t see much of anything except the book when I read) some hair and two eyes peering at me over my book. I put it down and look up. Here is a complete stranger with a shot glass and a bottle of soju offering me a drink. No fool me, I accept and then return to my book while he goes back to his table.

A minute or two later the deep-voiced ajumma comes with my food. Then she returns with a medium-sized bowl and scoops up about � of my supper and gives it to the guy who gave me one teeny stinkin� glass of soju. I don�t really care because I can only eat a bit of the platter of food before takeingthe rest home.

I get into a good section of the book. [Some Spanish dude got permission from whoever has that authority, to go off and conquer some Indians on the other side of the Andes. He and 12 guys (and an Inca guide) trudge up and over and get to the village. The boss and the guide hide out in the jungle and the 12 march in, making lots of noise hoping to impress the stupid Indians and make them think there are more than 12 guys. The Indians, being naked but no fools, can count to twelve. They come out and kill all of the Spanish.]

I�m cracking up when the eyes appear over my book again. He�s smoking, but now wants one of my cigarettes. OK, just go away. I want to find out how the story ends.

[The Spanish boss goes back to Peru and tells what happened and everyone gets excited about gold in the jungle. Another guy rounds up about 150 guys and heads off to corner the jungle gold market. The boss gets 60 guys and heads down river. The two groups end up killing most of each other and then the Indians, naked but not stupid, kill the rest. There is justice in this world, after all.]

It�s at this time that the soju guy pays for his dinner AND mine. I try to block this move, mostly because he�s making weird gestures. It looks as if he is planning on meeting me outside. I decide the best part of valor is to bury my nose in the book and play stupid. This guy could be an alkie or wacko�or something I�d rather not think about.

On his way out he stops at my table again. This time he opens his little red shoulder bag to show me his big black Bible. Whew! No designs on my virtue.

And that�s how I spent my Friday evening.

[sillywilly]

Ouch. Well at least the book sounded interesting.