After the medical exam (aka magical medical mystery tour) we arrived back at the school to find that everyone had been sent home post-graduation, and we did not actually have any reason to be back (boss just thought it sounded more official). So Jerry and I went off to have kimchi-jigaye (kimchi stew) at his favourite soup place. This particular restaurant (I'll bring the camera next time!) is famous for their OLD kimchi, as it's been fermented in pots for 35 years... that's right folks, buried in a pot in the ground for that long, and IT WAS FREAKIN' FABULOUS!!! The stew was great too, very spicy, and I will definitely be going back again soon. Same place makes its own noodles for a dish called Jjaa-jjang-myeon (jjaa jjaang is the name of the sauce, myeon is noodles), and you can watch the noodle-maker-man make them in the window - very cool! So yah, good lunch and then we parted ways since not due back for a couple of hours. I played with Mags at the river, she splashed around in puddles chasing the ball, and made her first river crossing (very cute to me!). It was nice outside in just my running gear, love that spring in the air!
Arrived back at the school for 3pm and spent the next hour listening to my boss re-re-review my new schedule, classes I'm teaching, books I'm teaching, and how he wants them taught... it was quite excruciating because I've already been told at least 3 times, and know he's going to interrupt my classes for the first month to be sure, but I know he's just trying to make everything perfect! After that from 4-5 I met my 'very special class' (i.e. lowest level elementary kids in the school) and watching someone else teach 'em. One of the older boys' parents ordered the teachers pizza so we had a yummy snack between afternoon and evening class (yay!). From 5-7 I just chatted in one of the classes with another teacher, as the kids were doing their month-end exams and there was nothing to be taught... fun!
When school ended we all went out to dinner together to celebrate the end of one year and beginning of another. Dinner was a few blocks up the road at a place called 6,7,8 that served the most DELICIOUS pork bbq I've *ever* eaten. True to form I ate until I practically made myself sick, including dipping my meat in some delicious beanpaste (turns out it is the one thing that turns my insides to liquid, so I won't be eating that ever again, oh my belly....). The meal was wonderful, and accompanied by a whole lot of beer and soju (Korean spirit equivalent in my mind to shooting straight vodka). The boss really wanted everyone to have multi-shots of soju, and it got to the point that I was adding water to my shot glass so he wouldn't be upset (it's rude not to partake when your boss is offering alcohol here). While a few people did get quite drunk and a little inappropriate (bossman included) that didn't include me... if you know me you'll already know I'm often not much of a drinker and prefer not to ever drink-until-stupid; boss asked me often if I was having fun since I could still stand up, I had to reassure him over and over that I was having 'a grand old time!' Dinner done (and all of us incredibly stuffed to the gills) we wobbled back to our neighbourhood for some noraebahng (karaoke) in one of the big group rooms. It was mostly hilarious, and while I can't remember the songs that I sang I did have a really good time. I snuck out around 1am because I was tired and starting to feel the germies gain hold in my throat, but I was glad I had a night out with the new crew.While I might not have been drunk and silly enough to make the boss think I enjoyed myself, I really did have a great time. More to come, surely so... next time I'll bring the camera! :)
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