yummy raw shark.

Last minute changes are a theme in Korea.  It's not called Dynamic Korea without reason.  As a foreigner, I am frequently told "you won't teach today" when I walk into work (or just when a class doesn't show up and I end up asking why) or "you will teach today" when I had been previously told classes were cancelled. I just laugh and think two words - Dynamic Korea.

So Wednesday of last week I was told that since it was the end of the semester, I would not be teaching on Friday, could come in at 10am, and we would leave on a teacher lunch trip at 10:30am.  Now those are words I like to hear!

At 10:30, we loaded onto 2 tourist type buses complete with fringe decorations and we set off for lunch.  We were having lunch (sushi) in another town between Gyeongju and Pohang.  Those words probably mean nothing to you - so in simple terms, we were driving 2 hrs to a small town on the East coast.  I sat next to Amy, the coteacher I communicate the most with, and had a great talk with her.  It was refreshing not to be asking about classes or school related topics but to chat about life.

About 2 hours later, we arrived at our restaurant for lunch.  Here is a picture of the outside and yes, it looks like a random building...and I'm pretty sure it is.

If I haven't mentioned it yet, Koreans always take their shoes off to go into most buildings, even restaurants if they are traditional style.  Also, you eat sitting on the floor.  I wish I would've thought to take a picture of all of the shoes but I didn't want to be camera happy so I kept it on the downlow. Here are some of the appetizers. Not really sure what they were...fish things, things that looked like large snails that they pulled out with a toothpick, things they didn't even know what they were, and of course, pieces of squid. yum?

Appetizer....

After the appetizer, large plates of thinly sliced raw fish were brought out.  I was informed that this was raw shark and to dip it in one of the many little dishes of sauces in front of me.  It was surprisingly okay.  It didn't have much taste (especially because I liked the sauce and put a lot of sauce on) and the texture was bearable. They were all impressed that I was eating it - even the vice principal came over towards the end and it was translated to me that he was impressed! woo - point for Rachel!
Post shark, we had some rice and kimchi jiggae - spicy soup with cabbage, tofu, and other stuff and they even put a little in a small bowl for me so I wouldn't have to share out of the big bowl of soup.  Everything at meals is very community style in the way that you just grab food off the plate with your chopsticks.  Germaphobes should NOT come to korea if they have problems sharing plates.  However, soup is like that too, just dip your spoon in.  They know that's even more out of my comfort zone, so without me saying anything, they put some soup in a small bowl and gave it to me! So considerate!

As they finished meals, people trickled outside by the ocean.  It was beautiful but a little windy and chilly, so the women decided to take over one bus, take it into Gyeonju and get coffee while the men stayed and drank more.  So off we went.

View outside the restaurant

The male teachers

Karaoke is really big here, so they even have it on buses! One of the Korean teachers rocking out singing on the way to coffee.

Noraebang! (Karaoke)

We ended up having the most expensive coffees I've ever had ($10! for an Americano!) paid for by the school at a really fancy hotel and just sat and chatted.  Compared to the last few teacher dinners I've been to, this by far was the most comfortable, relaxed one.  I was hardly put on the spot and they all were extremely considerate of me.  Teachers that barely speak English were trying to talk to me and made sure I felt included.  It's weird that I'm already 5 months done...next month I will be halfway!!

so, so, SO grateful for this opportunity to be here!!!