Kimbap Heaven

I have been asked many times by friends and family in Canada, "What do you eat over there?" When I'm at home I eat what I would eat in Canada. The grocery stores here are not completely devoid of anything familiar so I am able to eat cereal, yogurt, eggs and toast, and I have access to any fruit or vegetable you can imagine... as long as I'm willing to pay the price. (Avocados are notoriously expensive here at 4000 won a pop ~$4). Essentially I haven't started cooking Korean food at home.

The biggest reason for this is a place I call Kimbap Heaven. This is a chain of restaurants found all over Korea that offers a seriously good selection of Korean food. I don't think I have ever spent more that 4000 won on a meal either. I probably eat there 5 times a week at least.

B came across this sweet site that details all the food available with pics. I'll definitely be keeping a copy at work so that I can branch out from my regular bibimbap! In case you are interested here's the link.

New Bosses, Canes and Doorknobs

So once again I have a new boss. Actually make that bosses, D and E. It appears SSS is no longer as we were bought by another school, KORUS. They tell us in January another program will run parallel with our classes. It will be for US-college bound Koreans who want to polish their English. So I have confidence that they know sort of what's up and more importantly that their pockets are much deeper than my previous boss.

Improvements were made immediately. Most important to me was the installation of a doorknob on my classroom's door. They also painted the walls and replaced all the desks. 

The new arrangement is not without its problems. In their haste to beautify our little ghetto school they chucked our teacher's desks. D thought they cluttered the classroom failing to realize that we might actually use our desks. It seemed odd that they also thought it was okay to throw out everything that was in them as well. 

During his second week D started to show his colours as a principal. I previously blogged about my frustrations with my old boss because he never would back me up with disciplining the kids. I was curious to see how D would act as the head disciplinarian. So when I had two 8 year olds suddenly break into a fist fight I marched them over to D to see what he would do. Their punishment was a popular one here. Making the kids hold their arms straight up for a period of several minutes. I figured it matched the crime pretty well.

Unfortunately it appears the power has gone to D's head. I can watch him from my classroom marching around the lobby with the cane tucked under his arm. A cane for hitting hands. He seems to want to make a point of getting one kid per class per day. Though he is most severe with the smallest kids. Also he will just randomly jump into my class and pull out a kid and it doesn't matter if that kid was misbehaving. I find it seriously disturbing and I feel extremely uncomfortable teaching in that kind of environment.

I am moderately worried, again, that the school will not make it til February. No new kids have enrolled and we have lost 10 students since the beginning of summer leaving enrollment at a skimpy 45 students. This has actually generated a pretty sweet situation for B and me because we now only teach 4 days a week. However, I can't shake the feeling that this is a situation that gets really good right before it all goes to hell. But I'll enjoy my free Thursdays until then!

How to do the Asian Squat

Probably the most popular stance in Korea is the "Asian Squat." Everybody does it, and they do it everywhere. Bus stops are particularly popular places for the squat. The defining difference between the Asian Squat and the Western Squat is heel placement. When I squat my heels are raised and I'm balancing almost on my toes. Here the foot is flat on the ground. It's a little awkward to do at first but through practice you can get the hang of it. 

Youtube has this sweet video.

PIFF

The Pusan International Film Festival in on now. I had to be reminded that it was happening by C who came down from Seoul this weekend to check out the festivities. PIFF has been hovering as a big Pusan event my entire time here. I didn't actually take in any films but the atmosphere at Haeundae beach where it is all going down is pretty cool. Various events at the fancy hotels were being held for people belonging the the ChineseIndependentFilmMakersUnion (or something to that effect) and other such artsy sounding groups. Film screenings were held at outdoor venues as well as the regular movie theaters. I was hoping for some good celebrity sightings but slightly hampered in my cause owing to the fact I can only actually identify one Korean actor probably because he has blond hair. 

It was a beautiful night and I had a good time hanging out with C and her Seoulites.

Outlook... is good

It's been two days since the new boss, or is it bosses, arrived. I'm still unsure about their names. I think there are at least 2 if not 3 or 4 people who are involved now. The first "staff meeting" will be Monday until then B and I are left to observe the changes as they happen. First major change was the installation of a coffee machine. Then a new water cooler. Then suddenly my school which has been run entirely by use of large hand drawn papers now has laptops lying around on every available surface. Yesterday they started reno-ing the break room. I'm sticking to reserved optimism but so far so good.