Well this week was a twist from the usual. At the Nokchiwon we were back to full students who were all educationally tired out from their exams, then on top of that I started teaching classes at the elementary school as well. They just had 2 teachers finish and leave but only replaced one of them, for reasons that take too long and are too frustrating to explain. Either way I started teaching first period Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until I am finished here. It was pretty good thought because the younger children bring a whole new aspect to the classroom for me, and I can't wait to see how the rest of the year teaching both age groups turns out.
The week went by rather well. I had to force some kids to do their work and even had my first experience with a disgruntled student. He is new to the Nokchiwon and by all my accounts shouldn't have moved up from the lower middle school levels. He has severe anxiety issues and whenever you ask him to speak or give him work to do he panics like his head is going to explode, looks at his work over and over and just huffs. Well this week I was in no mood for it so when he began his huffing I told him he would have to work or leave class. When he proceeded to do nothing I asked him to leave then when he wouldn't I threw his stuff out in the hall, no so calm on my part, which prompted him to flip his desk over on his way out. A part of me wanted to break his jaw, but then I figured my job and this kid weren't worth it. In the end he knew it was his fault and talked to the Korean teachers about it. We will see how it plays out in the coming weeks.
The weekend came and I was planning a low key weekend. So, on Friday after work I went and had a couple beers with some friends from the elementary school near Bangi station and then came home around 1. On Saturday I woke up early and went to Olympic Park to do my weekly tutoring. After that I came home and waited until just after noon before going to meet Margaret to do some shopping in Myeongdong for some new clothes to wear to our co-workers wedding on Sunday. We were both pretty excited to be going to our first Korean wedding, and wanted some new clothes for the occasion. Once in Myeongdong we made a few stops at hat booths looking for some souvenir hats. This was when the title of this post comes in. While looking at hats, one of the booth operators came up and was really pushing his product on us. His English was OK but he didn't understand that we were looking for certain hats that he didn't have. So, to try and help his cause he turned to me and asked "Are you Japanese?", to which I replied no and then couldn't help but laugh and walk away confused. I eventually found a blue shirt and tie combo, but had to wait over 20 minutes for them to find a non-sample tie for me in the backroom. Unfortunately Margaret didn't have as much luck as me and decided to wear one of the dresses she had bought earlier this year to the wedding.
After shopping I came home to take a rest before going to meet with Danielle, Kate, and Dave for dinner and drinks in Gangnam. It was nice to see Kate and Dave again since they just got back from their vacation in Canada. We aught up over dinner and then went to Rainbow bar for some drinks and to see some other friends. Eventually I headed out at 1:30 so that I could get some sleep before Sunday.
I got up early on Sunday to get ready for the wedding. I started by tightening up some of my dreads then showered and put on my new clothes. I met Margaret around 11 and we headed to the wedding. We got their early enough to get a couple pictures with our coworker and then get a spot to watch the ceremony. Korean weddings are a lot different than North American weddings. There is no after party with dinner and speeches; it is simply a 25-30 ceremony announcing their joining as husband and wife and then a 30 minute lunch, after which you leave. We were in and out in less than two hours, which gave me time to get to Dongdaemun to do some souvenir shopping before coming home to relax before meeting with Blake, Emily and Danielle for our "Thanksgiving pizza dinner". It wasn't turkey but it did the job.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. See you soon.
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