So, I guess I don't know Powerpoint by heart, and besides importing images, there is little I can do. So plain white background it is, I guess... And it may be of interest to some of you that you will be appearing in the slideshow, being ooh and aahed at by roughly 250 Korean youth. And for those of you who didn't make the cut, try taking a photogragh without having a drink in your hand. It took far to long to find 4 pictures of my friends when they were not holding a bottle or pint glass.
*(And for those of you who may have noticed that I said Houston had "many rivers"... whatever, I don't care. I'm not going to explain what a bayou is to the kids)
We have met a few more foreigners, and went out for shabu-shabu last night, a dish less exotic than pig spine and far better tasting. Brass hotpots with boiling broth are used to cook paper-thin slices of, um, I think it was maybe pork or beef? It's reminiscent of Vietnamese pho, but much more of a production. The whole "sitting cross-legged on the floor under really short tables" thing is killing me. I'm not really made for such abuse, and it's hard to walk when we finally stand up to leave.
This is only one of the issues my size has created. At the university, I regularly hit my head on the bunkbeds and other overhanging furniture. I finally found a pair of shorts (by that way, yeah, I forgot to pack any shorts...), but they are seersucker and a few inches too small, so I have to safety-pin them together. And as far as buying the indoor slippers I need for my school, apparently my foot is at least 5 centimeters bigger than the maximum shoe size here. So I've been cramming my feet into tiny little guest sandals and tottering around the school trying not to fall.
The kids seem to like me; I will walk pass a classroom and they will all turn and wave their arms and shout "HELLO!", and I've had a few run up to me and introduce themselves. They seem really excited, and that in turn makes me feel more enthusiastic about all of this. I had to address an assembly of more than 2,000 kids yesterday, not knowing if what I was saying was being understood in the least, but in the end they clapped for me, perhaps genuinely, perhaps out of curtious pity.
The teacher's lounge, my temporary office and where I am currently typing up this entry, is a bit strange to work in. Every hour, for at least fifteen minutes, a group of thirty-year-old Korean women come in and fill up the room. They are nice and everything, but it is a bit strange to sit in the midst of a conversation and understand not a bit of it. A few of them speak English, but not really knowing what to talk about with someone from such a different type of life all together, I usually just sit sheepishly, waiting for the hour to fall and the crowd to disperse back to their classes. I begin teaching on Thursday, and maybe I will have more common ground to discuss once I begin.
Hope everything is going well at home. From the sound of it, Joe has been trying to take over the house, though he needs to be a bit more... vigilant, maybe, so that the kids who come over for parties don't inrevocably wreck up the place. See you later!
3 comments:
who made the cut!? don't keep us waiting!
if you need us to send you anything...just let us know.
and mad props for getting that far on the powerpoint. it looks impossible!
oh my goodness. kyle. you are hilarious.
and i can't believe you don't have powerpoint memorized, or that you can't read korean yet.
and yes, as camille said, if you need us to ship you some shorts or house shoes, or anything, just let us know.
Honestly.. the thought of you in those pinned shorts and small shoes cracks me up. You poor tall white man. And hey--if you'll notice--there's probably no pictures of me with alcohol on facebook!
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