I love my train rides because they're super peaceful. However, the taxi ride to the train stations are anything but. My train was set depart at 6:40 Saturday evening and the awesome thing about Korean trains is that they depart ON TIME. The train station isn't far from work, however it is through downtown which on a Saturday night can be quite bearish. And it was, but the taxi driver maneuvered it expertly. For some reason I had put my return confirmation slip in my rolling bag and therefore I only got my going ticket printed. This would be something I'd learn later on during the return trip home. I got a lot of reading done on the trip up there and a lot of George Strait listened to. Haha. On the return trip Heana dropped me off at the train station and I had about ten minutes so I looked at the line to get a ticket printed and was like my paper confirmation ticket will be good enough and opted to get some food instead. I then looked at my paper confirmation ticket as I was getting onto the train and there's no seat number printed. I remembered that I was in Car 1 close to the door for the return trip, but couldn't really remember so I grabbed seat 11 which was empty and close to the door. I didn't have any issues until three or four stops down the road an older gentleman motioned that this was his seat. I had no problem giving it up as I technically had no claim to it. I enjoyed the rest of my trip sitting in the standing area on top of my bag. This was great because it was only one Korean lady and me and I got a ton, seriously A TON, of prep work done for work and also this entire blog post prewritten in order to publish later.
I spent Solal with Scott, Heana and her Dad, Uncle, Aunt, Cousins and their wives in Incheon and had a blast. They all loved how I would just dive into the Korean food and eat and her Uncle and Dad loved that they could bully me into drinking with them (something that Scott says he doesn't allow himself to get into haha). After dinner we all went to her older cousin's house and played this traditional Korean game that was a blast. I saw sets of them on sale the other day and I'll have to wait to find one that I like because I had a blast playing it. We started out betting a dollar and I WON the first game. Totally dominated. It was beginners luck. Then we started playing with couple's and her Uncle wanted me on his team and we won the first round and then lost then next two. It was definitely a blast though. I also found some new Korean foods that I love and some that I can easily make. Both her mom and her aunt made this rice cake soup that was absolutely to die for that I will need to find out the recipe from one or both of them because I could eat that ten days a week and Scott says it's Heana's favorite too. I also was invited to the traditional paying of respects to the elders before after the meal and this was fascinating to me. I had seen it depicted on the news where the kids wear the traditional Hanboks and bow to the ground in front of their grandparents and the grandparents on tv gave them $10 for their homage and respect. I didn't think it would be this crude of a ceremony where the bowing takes places with the grandparents sitting there with their wallets open, but it DOES. Scott says that usually this is when they play the Korean game with all the betting so they can win it all back. After Monday brunch we made the trip back to Scott and Heana's house through the holiday traffic where Heana's mom had made the meal for us and a bunch of their military buddies. It was good times to be had by all. Scott had told me there was one guy who was coming that constantly talks shit, and he thought it was pretty funny when I easily picked them out. This same guy however was the one that made the comment about 2 hours into the meal when I was going back for another plate that “D*mn this dude CAN eat.” Scott and I finished off the night watching Shooter and drinking some flavored Rice Wines that I had given him in a gift set for the holiday.
I've been having impromptu and informal discussions with my students before the classes for a few minutes to make me seem like a real person who actually gives a darn about Korean culture and about Korean life. When I showed up on Saturday I had left my bag with the gift sets in it in my classroom and my students were certainly interested in what I got and who I got it for. They also approved and said that those were good gifts. (I got some help from my boss on what to get Heana's mom. It was a real winner.) This week a great deal of our discussions revolved around the holiday and their travel plans, how they celebrate it, and what they where. My younger kids (elementary school age) still wear the traditional Hanbok's (Heana's niece had one on on Monday and was adorable). When I was inquiring about it with the older kids they said they just wear regular nice clothes, but still pay homage and respect to their grandparents. It then clicked in my head the similarities between Easter clothes for little kids in America and the olders (middle school age). I then was telling them about how the moms will dress up the little boys and girls for Easter before they go over to their grandparents' houses and search for eggs filled with candy and money. I was then telling them that you still search for eggs, but you just wear nice clothes later in life. They were then curious about the types of clothes that kids would wear in America for such a holiday and I started to tell them about seersucker suits and how the little boys will match the older men. They were curious as to if I ever had to wear them and I told them about my Fag Rags when I was little (without using the term Fag Rags obviously). They thought it was hilarious so I suspect I'm going to have to get mom to scan a picture in so I can show the kids.
***Random Thoughts***
I don't have my younger kids this week, so I think that it will give me plenty of time to finish my classroom. The progress has slowed to a crawl as the black masking tape that I was so tremendously excited about has turned out to be worse than a dollar store kitchen knife. I did try to get some poster tack from Office Depot, but there was a communication barrier and therefore I just got some double-sided foam tape from there that has proved to be infinitely better in numerous ways. It doesn't fall off the walls like the black masking tape and it also doesn't allow the pages to curl.
I've been posting some of the better examples of the younger kids writings on the wall and they're definitely noticing and putting in that extra little effort. This makes me happy because I put a great deal of focus on writing and getting these students to write better sentences, actually use punctuation and stop over-using words such as like and good. I had to have an impromptu lesson the other day with several classes over the difference between fun and funny. Had to explain to them that things you enjoy are fun and things that make you laugh are funny. The sentences got drastically easier to read after this conversation.
Before I left for the holiday it was laundry day in Chateau Davis. I had been looking for a clothesline and most of the ones at the markets were 6-10 bucks which I would've gladly paid had I found one that I liked. However I didn't. Especially when I was drying my sweaters (plural, which I wear everyday) I needed something a little more than a common drying rack as I wanted to lay the sweaters out moreso than having them draped over a line bent in half getting longer or hanging from clothespins being stretched out of shape. Therefore I stopped at the hardware store right across the street from my place on the way home from a morning run and bought a spool of thicker polyester twine and made this elaborate web on the ceiling of my villa so that numerous sweaters could dry at once. I was lucky because there is a water pipe that runs throughout a majority of the apartment, which allowed me to tie to the brackets, thus preventing any water pipe catastrophes. Timberlines, clove hitches and figure eights on a bite all came in handy as it was a success. The washing machine was easy to use, however it plays this really weird song after the cycle is done and even continues it after the door has been opened.
Heana likes Honey Nut Chex in the mornings and this was awesome because A) not many people think of this variety of Chex rather thinking of Rice, Corn or Wheat usually and B) I could eat a box of it at a sitting. This stuff rules. She also enjoyed the fact that I had a text written from my boss as to the name for fresh kimchi that I eat with my meals and when we were at her aunt's house there was some that I was eating and she was telling her aunt and her aunt was offering for me to take some home, however after a few hours its not the same. My boss told me that all the women in Korea know how to make it, however the older generations make it the best. I think that's like Grandma Shannon's spaghetti sauce or Grandma Davis' sausage gravy for biscuits. I can make both of them, however they make them better.
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