November

Earlier this week the provincial board came to visit our school and do an inspection. It was a day long process where everything was scrutinized, in particular the teachers. The provincial board has quite a bit of power over the teachers, as they are the ones who decide where the teachers will be teaching next year. For this reason, everyone was on their best behavior. Apparently it is normal practice for the board to treat the principal and head teachers to dinner at the end of the day; sort of an informal setting where they tell them how the inspection went (this reminds me a little of the mafia and how they whack their enemies at big lavish dinners). For some reason, I was also invited to this dinner by my vice-principal. Anyways, the dinner was quite eventful, but it was all old men, meaning I didn't exactly fit in. My principal was happy, because we did well on the inspection. The normal custom of pouring soju for different people at the table took place repeatedly. My co-teacher was not there, so the only person I had to translate for me was another English teacher whose English speaking capabilities are somewhat limited (even though he could run circles around me in grammar). This was cause for some very large language barriers at times. For example, at one point when I got up to go to the bathroom, my vice-principal thought I was leaving to go home (even though we had all come together in the same van), but I said I was going to the bathroom in Korean. He then said something else that I did not understand, so I looked to my "translator" who took a moment to think and then said, "You're going to pass urine?" I couldn't help but grin at this, and said "Yes, I am going to pass urine." I wondered why it would matter to them if I was going to do that or something else, but maybe he was just genuinely curious. Later in the evening they brought out stir fry dishes and little stoves, that are very common in Korea. They set the stoves on the table and turned them on. Next, they filled the dishes with something that resembled salad greens and then a bunch of slices of meat on top. This is where the head teacher of the 2nd grade looked at me from across the table, pointing to the meat and and shook his head no. I was wondering what he meant, when my translator leaned over and said, "Dog." I guess the head second grade teacher assumed that because I'm American, I don't eat dog. He was correct in one respect: I had never eaten dog, but I wasn't against trying it. So I did. I don't really like dog. It just doesn't taste very good. It's sort of tough and there's this thin layer of fat on the top of it. I had a couple of pieces and it was interesting. I have heard that in Korea they used to eat dog meat when they were very very poor, but after the economy became stronger, people continued to eat dog, because they liked the taste and it's supposed to be good for men especially. At one point I the second grade teacher sat down next to me and we attempted a conversation. I remember asking him a question about school or the students, but I cannot remember what exactly the question was. It I do remember that it was a yes or no question, and I was quite surprised when he answered me with "October." This kind of stuff happens all the time, so I just let it go by pretending to be semi-surprised at his answer, that way I cover all my bases (hopefully the teacher will think I'm surprised if that's what the appropriate reaction is or not surprised if that's the appropriate reaction; this usually works). I had completely forgotten about the whole conversation (if you can call it that) until this morning, when I saw that same teacher in the hallway at school. Instead of the usual quick bow and greeting in passing, he stopped looking like he wanted to tell me something, so I waited. Finally he said, "No....not October," I nodded in recognition and he continued, "November. November." He looked satisfied that he had corrected any miscommunications and went on his way. I on the other hand walked away wondering what in fact is going to happen to me in November? I guess I can only wait and see.