Saturday, September 08, 2007

Wheat bread, school dances, and volleyball

Recap of the week here at TCIS:

The tennis and volleyball seasons started. 3 games in one week and half my girls are on the teams. I feel like a proud mom who goes to the games, takes pictures, and cheers them on. While they haven't won yet, I'm SO PROUD!

There was a school dance last night and I had to float over and check on the dorm students there. While there, I danced with the RAs and teachers. It was then that I realized that I'm officially an adult, dancing with adults (not students) at a school dance. I am no longer a participant in school functions, I'm a chaperon. Even so, it was a blast!

I judged the dancing auditions for the fall musical, Godspell. It was the first time I've been on this side of the audition process. I could see the nerves and worried faces in the students on stage. I had to sit with the other directors and pick who I wanted to be in the dancing ensemble. Once again, realizing that I'm an adult. But, we narrowed it down and practices start next week. I'm so pumped to help choreograph this musical.

I walked into the corner bakery by my dorm earlier this week. I greeted the clerk working and she started talking to me in Korean. Seeing that I couldn't understand a word, she said one word..."wheat". Wheat! She had wheat bread! A huge smile came across my face. "Ne, Ne!" (yes, yes). She proceeded to slice a fresh loaf of wheat bread for me. How did she know? I can only assume that since wheat bread is next to unheard of here, she's had a lot of foreigners asking for it. She baked wheat bread just for the Americans in the neighborhood. God bless this baker who has given me the gift of wheat. (and it was good!)

I had lunch on Thursday with Amy. She made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Let's just say it reminded me of home...

Now, I'm concluding my last few hours on duty this weekend. Last night, I baked brownies with the girls and watched a movie. Now, I'm sitting in the TV room with 5 of the students, watching Happy Feet. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

Sorry for the surface level of this post. It's been a whirlwind week with more business then depth...

RANDOM KOREAN FACTS:

"Adjuma": it's the Korean word for middle aged (to retirement) working mother. We have an adjuma cleaning lady, adjumas working in the TCIS kitchen, adjumas everywhere. The Korean language has so many specific names for people. Middle aged working mother is no exception.

It's been in the news lately, but South and North Korea are still technically at war. There was never a peace treaty signed after the war so long ago. So, technically, North Korea could bomb us without any legal consequences. It doesn't seem to bother anyone here, though. Nobody is really scared of North Korea. If anything, South Korean wants to be reunited with their brother to the north and has wanted that all along.

You eat rice here with a spoon and other food with chopsticks. Sometimes, forks are provided (if you're lucky).

Comic books are HUGE here. Not the magazine-type ones we have in the states. They are in actual book form and are like novels (only told with pictures, speech balloons and boxes). There may not be a library in the neighborhood but there IS a comic book rental place.

The clothing stores here sell couples outfits. No joke. If you are married or dating someone, it's perfectly normal to dress in the same clothes. You can buy them in a set, one male and one female. Today I saw a couple wearing white shirts, jeans and pick neck ties. Perfectly normal...

2 comments:

Gregg said...

If I may make one suggestion concerning the choreography for "Godspell"...
You can never really go wrong with tossing in one of those great Brady Bunch dance moves- like the finger-snapping cross-legged turn and bob move from the "Keep On" performance. It's an oldie, but a goodie. ;) Or... y'know... a jazz saquare or two!

Anonymous said...

Sarah....you are amazing and you are doing amazing things. Thanks for what you're doing.