Kimbap and Construction Workers

If one thing both fascinates and infuriates me at the same time, its the Korean construction workers. I've mentioned before how...diligent they are about working 25 hours a day-but this example takes the cake. I look out the window yesterday during class and see 29 people planting sod on a plot of land no bigger than a good sized back yard; twenty-nine. Compare this to one guy throwing some seeds around when they finished landscaping back at Kenyon--12 months and several erosion control efforts later, we got a nice patch of grass. The workers here turn a patch of dirt into a lush parcel in 2 hours flat. To be honest though, it's both strange and impressive, can you imagine hiring someone to re-sod your front yard and the next day come home to find 29 strangers down on their hands and knees? I guess it's just a matter of priorities--and the here they say go big or go home.

On a separate note, I taught my second class today and it was great. I am sure now that I'm really gonna enjoy teaching this year. Not that I have any intentions of giving up my career path, I just think it will be a great opportunity to connect with people in a different way, and refocus before I jump back into school. The lesson today was on similes--and though it took some of the students most of class to figure them out, I think they all mastered the material. Best of all though, I discovered my secret weapon: the Ipad. New gadgets over here are like crack, and Apple products are like the Johnny Walker Blue Label of crack (I'll leave the interpretation there up to you). In any case, I whip this thing out for a little vocabulary practice and their interest level goes from zero to stage-five clinger in the blink of an eye. In my defense, it's a lot more practical to throw some vocab pictures on the tablet than put together a PowerPoint, and it sure as hell goes a long way in grabbing their attention. But as with any good crack, I can't let them build up a tolerance, so I'll have to use it sparingly.

This evening I also discovered the wonders of home-made kimbap (basically sushi). Some of the Jungwon students put together a little event where we got to make our own rolls. Needless to say, it was a ton of fun and I got to throw in anything from pickled radishes to tuna and imitation crab meat. It's also one of those

things I would have never done on my own...the whole motivational inertia thing...but since they put all the food and necessary devices right in front of me, who am I to complain? I

think mine also turned out pretty well; I managed to keep the rolls together (as opposed to regular sushi, the seaweed on the outside is a lifesaver), and Matt and Neill haven't died yet so I think it was a success. This is in relation to some of the other rolls, which resembled something between vomiting earthworms and rusted sewage pipes--so I'm pretty satisfied with the results (see picture of my half-eaten roll). I mean, I could always give up my dreams and start a kimbap restaurant, but we'll see what the future brings me.