Octopus, English Names & Getting a Life

'Korean age' is one year older than 'Canadian age.' Koreans consider their 9 months in the womb to be a year, so when my students say they're 16, they're only 15. I've wondered why they act so young. Asian culture has a lot to do with it but one year makes a big difference when you're their age.

In class today, two of my students offered me snacks. It was an excuse to eat in class, as much as a goodwill offering. One of the 'treats' was a bag of banana flavored puffs like Cheesies. The other snack had a distinct fishy smell to it. When the girl held it up to me with her fingers, I couldn't help but be astonished by the "legs" and say, "is that.... dried octopus?" It was, indeed, at only 800 WON, or one Canadian dollar. She devoured it like a chocolate bar... Buy one at a convenient store near you!

A strange thing about teaching Korean children is if they don't have an 'English' name, it's your job to name them. Lately, I've done a lot of level-testing with potential students; I should have figured they'd end up in my classes. I named one 'Paul', 'Amber', 'Lindsay' and 'Kimberly'. When a weary child approaches me at the beginning of class and says they're new, I choose whatever comes to mind. It could be a hideous name & suddenly they have to respond to it. Bizarre.

I resent admitting I have a routine. I found a great place to eat lunch for 2,000 WON or $2.00 CA. I walk in the door and they know what I want! I've struggled, one too many times, with Korean menus: generally a piece of paper with Hangul food listings. This waitress automatically brings me spicy soup with noodles and pieces of egg, and Kimbob: sea weed wrapped around rice, carrots, egg and an unknown tropical fruit.

I eat lunch out and buy enough supplies at Home Plus to make dinner: olive oil, butter, bread, vegetables, rice etc. It was thoughtful of the school to buy me a brand new rice cooker when I got here.

Life is good. I have a couple of pseudo-friends, teaching is fun and not at all stressful. But I want more! The teaching alone isn't going to satisfy me for the year. Apart from experiencing the culture, doing a lot of reading, (attempts at cooking), and sight-seeing, I'm looking into taking classes at Ajou University which is nearby to my house. My plan all along has been to return to school with the money I save. A couple more classes might give me a head start.

Also, Josh and I have decided to work on a joint project. I completed a course on Front Page Web design. Josh is currently enrolled in a night course focused on building/marketing a website. We'll fight over the writing portion but he'll focus on getting traffic to the site and making it user-friendly. I'll be in charge of implementation & its overall appearance. The focus will be the work of my Mother: Canadian artist Pam McKinnon.

When it comes to graphic design schools/companies, it's all about your portfolio so it'll be adventageous to have something to show when the year's through and I return to Canada. Plus, it feels good to have a joint project with Josh. We have something more to talk about than how our lives are completely different, and oceans apart! Long distance isn't easy.

P.S: I get paid next Wednesday and will be able to buy my one luxury: a digital camera. If anyone has brand advice, I'd appreciate it! I don't know much about cameras. Suwon is home to Samsung but I heard their cameras aren't the best quality.

The blog will be more interesting when I can show you around my city & eventually travel out of it and explore the rest of South Korea, journalling with photos. I have to see Camille, who lives 3 hours away from me. As for China, I have a friend in Hong Kong: Justin and a friend in Shanghi: Kyle, so I'll hopefully get around to visiting them.