Korean Party Party!

I just pressed some Korean button on the computer and lost my entire post. What a drag. You know how long those things are. I guess I'll retype it, just more half-assedly. You're probably getting tired of reading all my drivel anyway.

Yesterday was the first day I realized that I had paparazzi. I was walking to my classroom from lunch and when I turn around, these sixth grade girls are taking pictures of me with their camera phones! I don't know what it is, this school had a Native English Teacher two years ago and there are tens of thousands of Westerners in Daegu. I can't be that novel to them. It's not just the students either.

Last night, all the teachers went out to dinner at some Korean place (surprise! We're having Korean food! Bet you didn't see that one coming!). We had swell fish in many different forms, which all of them turned out to be really tasty. I was glad they chose something I could actually eat. I ate to my fill, which is rare these days. In the middle of dinner, after everyone had had several shots of soju each, our school announcer (?) stands up and starts introducing all the new teachers...again. So, we all step forward and bow...again. I knew when he got to me this time because he yelled really loud, "Mi-gook (American)!" I stepped forward and then he continued in English, "From Birginia, U.S.A. Bely handsome, look-a like Blad Pitt, Suteebah Howcom!" I laughed, took my bow, and stepped back. I got the biggest applause out of everyone, including the new vice principal. Brad Pitt? I've never gotten that one before. I thought about it and realized he must have meant "Brad Pitt during that one scene in Snatch when he's getting beat up and he's all bloody and puffy." I could pass for that Brad Pitt.

It didn't stop there (but maybe I should stop there before you think it's gone to my head. Nah...). When we went to the second place to get more soju (the soju-ba), I was told again that I was "bely handsome" and "bely macho." Is it the five o'clock shadow? Is it the height difference? Is it because the most macho teacher at our school, the P.E. teacher, likes classical music and buys flowers for his office? I tell ya, Korea is the biggest confidence boost I've ever had. I've never felt so good looking! I think it's because Korea is filled with dorks and nerds; being an American dork makes me exotic.

And they're so friendly! I did the whole deference to elders thing, pouring soju for my principal, who looks like a Korean Mr. Rogers, and it made a really good impression. They can't get enough of the Westerner! I've already got a ping pong match lined up for today, a volleyball match set for some time in the near future (100,000 won to the winner!), and a fishing trip with one of the important guys in our school to some island in June. What did I do to deserve the royal treatment?

The party wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be (it was still crazy though). I realized it's because all the Korean teachers had to work in the morning (every other Saturday) and I didn't. When my co-teacher and I walked home (we live pretty close to each other [tired of the parenthetical interjections yet?]), she told me that I should consider another year in Korea because everyone really likes me. I haven't even started teaching yet!

It seems like teaching comes second to "preserving the group" and making good impressions. I was talking to another English teacher, and I was going over my lesson plan for Monday. "Bely organized," he said, "I didn't pran anything. I just go in to class and talk." The P.E. teacher doesn't even like teaching!

This place is nuts, for sure.