Feeding My Passion

…is supposed to be in Joellanam-do, and I was really looking forward to going to the 17th annual Nando Food Culture Festival (site in Korean) at the Nando folk village in Suncheon, Jeollanam-do.

So Kelly picked me up from Osan Station at 6:25a, with her son (a student at You & I where she and I teach) sleeping in the van’s back seat, and we picked up Mr. X (name to come), his son (also a former student at You & I), and we headed for the festival.

Kelly and Mr. X took turns driving, and after a few hours, we stopped at  an unassuming little restaurant for breakfast. Most Korean restaurants are very short on decoration compared to restaurants in the west, but the lack of decor is no absolutely no indication of how good the kitchen is. This place is big, it was hopping, and it was difficult to find a table for the five of us. That’s a much better sign about how good the kitchen is.

Another thing about many restaurants here, they specialize in one thing or just a few. This place, as advertised on its sign out front, served kkongnamul gook bap, a variation on kkongnamul gook, soybean sprout soup, bap means that there’s rice in it as well.

It was awesome stuff, there were so many bean sprouts, they must buy them buy the ton, and they were so fresh, they must have gotten a delivery everyday.

Something interesting I hadn’t tried before, actually a couple things, but the first was that we all got a bowl with a raw egg, and a small package of gim (Korean seasoned and toasted seaweed). I watched Mr. X as he spooned some of the hot soup broth into the bowl and mixed it up, then crumbled the gim into the mixture, and began eating it. I followed suit, and it was delicious, definitely something I’ll try again, maybe even at home. So that’s why there was a huge stack of eggs in the dining room in front of the kitchen window, probably more than 2000 eggs total. (I haven’t seen refrigerated eggs anywhere since I’ve been here. I’ve bought a few dozen since July and haven’t suffered any problems. I do refrigerate mine once I get them home, just in case you’re wondering.)

So onto the soup! Delicious! A little spicy, light, clear. Believe it or not, the sprouts stay crunchy even though they’re cooked for about 20 minutes. It’s truly great breakfast food, a tie with my favorite breakfast food of all time, cold pizza (Hey, stop judging me!). Mr. X told me it was good after a night of too much soju (Korean wine, about 30-40 proof, made from rice and sweet potatoes) or maekju (beer – the “ju” part means alcohol, and although very similar to the Chinese word for alcohol, “jiu”, it has a different origin). I think the soup is just a great way to start the day, no matter how you’ve ended the previous one.

I saw that the waitresses were taking jugs of a milky brown liquid to some of the tables and asked Kelly what it was (her English is excellent, Mr. X’s is about as good as my Korean, which is to say, not very functional yet). She asked him, and then told me that it was a regional alcoholic drink called moju (there’s “ju” again) and he asked if I wanted to try some.

Drinking at 9:30a? Uh, sure, why not? I at least wanted to taste it, I haven’t even heard of it before, who knows when I’d a chance to try it again? So he ordered a bowl for me (the more rustic drinks, like moju and makkoli are are poured into bowls) and out it came, warm, brown, and cloudy. It smelled great, like cinnamon punch, and it tasted even better, thicker than water, sweet, and flavored with cinnamon and ginger. Fortunately the alcohol content was minimal. Kelly had never had it before (bear in mind she’s lived in Korea her entire life), and asked me for a taste. She quickly ordered a bowl for herself. Yes, it was that delicious. Which doesn’t mean I had another bowl, but if I have a chance to drink it again, I’ll jump.

Thoroughly fortified, we got back into the car and headed for out next destination, which wasn’t the food festival, but one of the most famous Son Buddhist (Zen in Japanese, Chan/Shaolin in Chinese, Mahayana in Sanskrit) temples in Korea.

It was still early, but I wondered if we’d ever get to the food festival with all these stops. But really, since I was with some new friends and eating so well, I wasn’t concerned. Let’s just keep eating our way across the province!

From Very Good Taste:

Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food – but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here atwww.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare [going to have the Korean version, yuk hoe (??)]
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho [duh!]
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut [does kimchi count too? I've had plenty of both, but am living in the land of kimchi right now]
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV [Hair of the Dog Brewery, how I love and miss thee]
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

That’s 59 out of 100 for me as of today. I may not make a lot of headway on this list while I’m in Korea, but I’m sure I could knock out the bugs, snake, and durian if I visit any country in SE Asia. And if I want to. None of the three fall under the heading of ”enticing”, but I’ve heard durian can be addictive, though incredibly stinky, the combination of those two things is why it made the list.

Some of them I’m looking forward to (#8, 17, 30, 36, 37, 43, 44, 46, 51, 53, 59, 64, 72, 80, 84, 90, 93, 99), one I’m glad to have behind me (#26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper definitely falls in that category, and I didn’t know enough about Scotch Bonnet peppers at the time to avoid eating it on someone’s suggestion. I recommend avoiding it.). Many of them I’ve had many times in the past and will hopefully eat them the rest of my life (#3, 10, 12, 14, 21, 24, 27, 29, 34, 54, 61, 67, 81, 95). I are more than a few I might pass up (6, 25, 38, 42, 62, 63, 68, 70, 75(!)).

not old enough to know
my nightmares of regret
doubt
grief
accumulating like mercury
of lost time and love
of fears that compare meanly
to theirs of the dark or of
height or being lost

getting back to
those simple nightmares
would be a pleasure
theirs are fears of moments
when they have only moments
theirs vanish when the light goes on

i have longer fears
with longer fingers
which reach across the octaves
of years and squeeze me
when i am awake

I thought of this while watching The Road, again proving to me that the two major inspirations for me are darkness and light.

It goes without saying that some days are better than others. Today was one of those “others”.

I do really love all of the kids some of the time and most of the kids most of the time, but not all of the kids all of the time. I do have 3 or 4 kids that are consistently a challenge, and not just for me, but for the other foreign teacher, Anne, as well, and even the non-foreign English teacher and administrator, Kelly.

I didn’t come to S. Korea with much experience teaching children, and zero classroom management skills. I think Anne and I talked with Kelly and Genie briefly about what we should do if children weren’t behaving (send them out to talk with Kelly or Genie). That was about it. Anne and I both wanted to work harder at managing the classroom than just booting the kids, we needed some way to deal with things, and a way to clearly escalate any discipline we felt we needed to mete out.

It’s difficult to count the first month or so against the kids, or maybe even against us. They’re learning us, we’re learning the curriculum and the kids (and ourselves), and the gears didn’t always mesh smoothly. Anne and I have both been frustrated on numerous occasions with our inability to keep things under control and still feel like we’re doing an effective job teaching something we know well, our native language. We both care about English, we care about the kids, we want them to learn in spite of themselves, the situation they’re in (they spend very long days in school before they come to our hogwon), and in spite of us sometimes. I have to say that Anne and I both care deeply about what we’re doing and are very responsible.

We’ve been here for just over 3 months now and we keep having the same issues with the same kids. I don’t know about Anne, but I’m dealing with the challenges differently than I did the first couple months. I think the kids want to test your boundaries, see how you’re react to them when they ignore you, won’t follow directions, or generally misbehave. I’ve changed how I deal with their unhelpful behavior when I’ve found that my reaction to them is unhelpful or damages my relationship with them. At first, I tried to talk over them, then I’d slap the desk or the white board to get their attention. I’m ashamed to say I used to yell. I’m sorry.

I also would fall silent, and then wait until they noticed that I was silent, and then they would quiet down, so it did work, but not for long. I’m not sure that an orthodox pacifist could manage a hogwon classroom. I don’t yell anymore, or bang on the desk or white board. I will talk over some of the minor chattering. The method that seems to work the best for Anne and me is to give them a warning or two, depending on how disruptive we think they’re being, and then write their name on the board with 1 “X” by it. Most of them know the system by now, but I explain it to them anyway. The first X is an official warning. If I give them a second X, I put a chair at the front of the room where I stand and they have to sit in it until I let them go back to their seat. If they’re still misbehaving and being disruptive at the front of the class, then I send them out to talk with Kelly or Genie. They’d much rather that I put them on the rack than have to have Genie and Kelly yell at them. As a foreign teacher, I can yell at them in English, and I’m certainly not allowed to touch them to discipline them. The same rules don’t apply the Genie and Kelly. Whew, I’ve heard them tear into kids a few times, and I’d hate to be on the receiving end of it, even if I couldn’t understand a word of it. Kelly practically dragged a kid out of my class just today. Of course G&K can also call their parents and let them know they were being a pain. That’s probably the killer.

The public school English teachers I know teach junior high and high school students, who are generally better behaved. Hogwons teach a much greater range of kids. I have kindergarten up to high school, and I’ve taught a few adults as well, all at the same school. When the ages (and behaviors) of every class is different, 6 classes a day, it can be interesting, especially when you have a magical set of classes (we alternate the classes we teach) that  has some of the most unruly kids.

And it was indeed a magical day for me!

Hey, if the job were easy, it wouldn’t pay much and you wouldn’t learn about yourself. I’m learning, and I’m growing, it’s all good.

Life is good, this world is beautiful, and I’m incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful family, an amazing girlfriend, and great friends.

Thank you