Just Call Me Dad

The head of the school is about as equal to a king as they come.  I brought cookies to share with the faculty and found out that it is impolite not to offer any to the head of the school first - in my case because of our relationship.  Otherwise I would be expected to just offer first to the assistant principal whose office is with the rest of ours.

Now you have to picture the head of the school.  This is the sweetest and most adorable elderly man!  He is retired, but comes to school every day and holds his office apparently because his title is still Head of School.  Our middle aged assistant principal is retiring after this school year and the HOS will still be in office.  In fact he decides who the next assistant principal will be.

He’s actually old enough to be my grandfather, but took a liking to me early on and has asked me to call him dad.  My elder brother is 50 mind you, but “dad” he is.  When I see him, that’s what he waits to hear.  When I walk into the cafeteria and he is there, I am expected to sit with him.  He has actually moved people over to fit me in at the table and the only reason why my co teachers get invited to sit with him too is because he needs them to interpret.  Sometimes he speaks to me on his own.  My co teacher then has to ask me what he said because of the choppiness of his language.  Lucky for me I get the jist and can tell them so I don’t seem like I am just nodding and grinning (although sometimes I am).

The day I brought him the cookie, I was a bit hesitant about presenting a snack to him since I had to leave one building and cross into another, climbing two flights of stairs to get to his office.  Sometimes when people tell me I need to give a gift or offering, I feel like doing so would be over zealous.  Other times I feel like I need to give and people say it is not necessary.  This was one of those unnecessary times to me, but culture prevails, so off I went with a cookie in a napkin and an interpreting co teacher beside me.

The conversation was short.  All I could understand was something sounding like “you should call”.  Upon leaving I asked my coteacher, “Is he asking me to call him from time to time to say hello, or is he telling me to call first before I choose to stop by?”  We still don’t know.  I admire him for trying to use English that he hasn’t had to use since perhaps a small boy.  Still, no more cookies for him.

http://bariatricbeginnings.com/2012/02/06/just-smile-and-nod/

You Can Call Me Lucifer

http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/little_lucifer/3375258

                         

During the first week of school, each of the girls was supposed to pick an English name for themselves.  To keep them from having to think too hard, I gave them a list to choose from.  They were also able to come up with their own or use an English name they already had.  The only rule was that they could not be for example Angelina Jolie, but instead could be Angelina, or Jolie (since both are really first names).  Beyonce is so unique as a name that I told them I refused to call anyone that, to their disappointment.

So for the most part, the girls chose typical names like Angelica, Maxine, and Leticia (yeah, I had to throw one in).  They were too shy to do a formal introduction, so I wrote a sentence on the board that they could use as a script.  It said, “Hello.  My name is (Korean name), but you can call me (English name).”  I thought I had checked everyone’s for legitimacy until my one student stood up.  She is shorter than the rest of the girls and really sweet in her disposition.  Just as articulately as she could she said, “Hello my name is (Korean name), but you can call me Lucifer.”

Now when I tell you that I was trying not to laugh….!  I still struggle at the thought.  Where did she get that?  It was not on the list.  Do you know it took me three weeks to be able to look at her without thinking, “There’s Lucifer.”  Needless to say, we had to get her another name.  Maybe Beyonce wasn't such a bad choice after all.

http://www.heygidday.biz/call-me-lucifer-devil-evil-biker-funny-new-vest-patch.html

This Is Where I Stand (Jan 2009)

When I first left for Korea in August of 2008, I determined that I would learn the language, travel around and enjoy myself.  I had no other career plans or expectations for the next year.  Well, I am still in the process of achieving those goals, slowly but surely.  I am even working on my writing goals by practicing my skills.  First I increased my reading time so I can rebuild my vocabulary and improve my journaling, blogging, and online scrapbooking.  That has been no small task with my travel schedule.  

Next I am looking into writing with the specific goal to submit my work.  I need to decide if I want to teach and travel more first before trying to land a job writing in a foreign country, especially since many of these jobs will likely have me right back in the states working at home.

Now it is a new year and according to tradition in Korea, I am a year older.  So let's say that would make me 26.  Since I never tacked on the two years I gained when flying here, as tradition begins once you enter the country and not just when you find out about it, I would actually be 28.  I would like to take advantage of the superstition that if you drink from the spring water at the temple site we visited, you become two years younger.  Against my inclination not to drink from community vessels (and because of the insistence of my elder coworker), I partook of the fountain of short term youth.  Therefore, I would now be only 26.  Come September, I am heading back to the spring for a birthday drink.

A Resurrection

I have been away from my blog site for a while, but not away from writing.  When my excitement for a beautiful experience on the Motherland was extinguished by six months of hardship, I barely wrote a word. When I did write, it was simply journaling and not my intended travel writing.  I couldn't dare speak negativity in print or it would make the hell I was experiencing much more real.   Still, my thoughts were my reality.  I had them while abroad, so now that I am in a better state - recuperated from the trauma of the drama and with fond memories of my overall experience - they still have a place here in my travel blog.

So I think of this as a resurrection of my writing and an abridgement of sorts, streaming selected events of the past that remind me of how far I have come by God's grace.  I'll start with South Korea, my first love, and follow with Morocco, my Landscape Heaven.  Who knows, the compilation may hold clues for the direction I am now going.