A little after four I heard enough rambling coming from the hallways to suggest that some of the teachers might be back from their pre-work break. I printed my current events article in the main office and headed down to Moon Young's room to get her approval on it. I guessed correctly in that she was back from lunch but was totally off on the plan for the day. I told Moon Young that I had prepared both Lesson 8 (the last in our 'Superb' book series) and a current events article as we were resuming teaching this week. She looked confused at first then reminded me, as if I should have known all along, that there would be few students this week and I in turn have 'no work.' Well. . . if you insist!
I ran back to the Native Room giddy as a schoolgirl (not really, but it seems like a fitting metaphor) to share the news with Nate. He too went to check in with his KT and was delighted to find the same thing. Thus, we begin our internet search for yet unviewed movies to download and pass the time at 'work.'
As we were preparing to settle into complacency for the rest of the day, our door suddenly opened and a flood of KT's came pouring in, led by Ana carrying a beautiful fruit topped cake. Apparently it was Claire Teacher's birthday! We turned out the lights, lit the candles and everyone shirked back from the door waiting to 'surprise' the birthday girl. For added effect Nate and I were each given a small 'popper' to shoot confetti out of as Claire entered the room, led by the ever-so-sneaky Julia.
Following a multicultural rendition of Happy Birthday, Nate and I in English, everyone else in Korean, Claire started cutting up the cake. Pieces were then stuck upside down in little paper cups normally used for tea and distributed to the teachers. As a utensil, everyone was given chopsticks. Now eating cake with chopsticks is one thing, we've actually done this before I believe on our first day of work, but eating cake with chopsticks out of a paper cup is just a whole new event unto itself. . .so enjoy the picture!
Cake out of a cup. . .with chopsticks!
After the 'party' had subsided and all the teachers returned to their classrooms (at least fifteen minutes or so after 'class' had started) we again turned our attention towards the Native Room computer: our only escape. This didn't last long however as Joseph soon burst in requesting our help as he had done many times in the previous two weeks. We have helped Joseph move books from here to there as well as stacking and re-stacking piles of mailings to go out to the parents of all DYB students.
Down in Room 102, a classroom turned storage, we helped Joseph load up four boxes full of the mailings we had previous stacked onto a rolling dolly and into a shopping cart. We then hauled the boxes downstairs and out back where we waited for Joseph to come up the elevator in his car (yes, this is how one gets into a below ground parking garage in Seoul). Loading the boxes into his car he then requested our help further taking them to the post office. Eager to get out of our drab office we readily agreed and clamored in.
A few blocks down the street we pulled up to the post office and began to unload the boxes. While they were a rather manageable size, the mailings contained within the boxes made them unbelievably heavy and moving them with any less than two people was simply not in the question. After a bit of huffing and puffing we got everything inside and and squared away. I figured at this point we had completed our task as the PO could handle it form here. . .Wrong!
Joseph again asked me if I could help then made a stamping motion towards the mailings. Wait, you want me to stamp all of those for you!? Yes please, he replied, help Julie (Princess, who ran down the street to meet us), we need to go get more boxes. So, as Nate and Joseph returned to DYB to pick up another couple of boxes, Julie and I got to work stamping packets. A postal worker gave us each a purple ink pad and a small round rubber stamp that read. . .well, something in Korean, I'd assume, 'pre-paid bulk mailing.'
At first I took my time, making sure each stamp was the correct orientation and fully legible. Glancing over I realized that Julie had long ago foregone such concerns and was apparently just trying to get through as many as she could. I took note and began to do the same!
With two of us working we actually managed to whip through the pile of what I guesstimated to be around 1000 packets (each one weighing in at 381 grams, or a little under a pound). I verified their weight by picking up a dozen of them in one hand and trying to 'bowl' them. . .yep, sure felt like a bowling ball, I guess we'll call that a 'Michigan Measurement.'
It wasn't until I finished, letting go of the stamp for the first time since picking it up, that I realized my entire hand was raw enough it had actually started to blister from grabbing the stamp so hard! Guess I'll try to relax a bit on the next batch! While we were waiting for Nate and Joseph to return, a postal worker came over to show us how we might improve our technique, first by demonstrating an acceptable, legible stamp that looked nothing like any of those that Julie or I had produced. She then showed us that by really rolling the stamp in the ink pad we could bang out two envelopes with one dip.
When Nate and Joseph showed up I got right back to work, trying out the new method. It worked. . .for a minute or two. . .until I realized that while my first stamping was simply illegible, the second one was growing faint, and illegible. Thus I gave up trying to do two-n-one. At first, Nate and Joseph tried to get on the super fun stamping job but eventually realized that too many hands hovering around the stamp pad simply held up the experts from doing their job. In turn, they resorted to assembly line like tasks that Joseph has shown us a hilarious affinity for (what I mean by this is that he has no problem handing you something to be put down within his reach).
Nate started unloading the envelopes for Princess and I to stamp while Joseph then took them from us and threw them back in a box of completed ones. With our Taylorism like efficiency in full swing we breezed through the mailings in no time, a record 1700 in all according to Joseph. Remind you, each one of these mailings weight just under a pound meaning that DYB had paid for the printing and then shipping of some 1200 lbs of DYB materials. . .no idea what the packets contained but it better have been some convincing information because that's one heck of an expensive mailing!
Having completed our job at the P.O., the three of us loaded back in to Joseph's car to head back to DYB, or so we thought. Once inside, Joseph asked us what we would like for dinner! What!? Dinner, in the middle of the work day!? Heck yeah, take us anywhere, like we care what it is! So, after driving in circles for 15 minutes (no, not because we were lost but simply because to get anywhere in Seoul, and I do mean anywhere, one literally spends half their time backtracking or making large looping circles) we eventually arrived at a small restaurant in Nowon (which is less than a 15 minutes walk away from where we started).
The four of us grabbed a seat at a well lit booth and settled into a hot meal of Seolleongtang, or ox bone soup. The meal was fantastic as we dumped a bowl of rice into the soup and dug in, not of course before munching on some of the spicy Kimchi and radish that Julie had cut up for us in the middle of the table. The soup was a milky white color with a rather inexplicable, yet very pleasing flavor. A dash of black pepper added to the green onion garnish made for a nice seasoning and the chunks of real beef (read, not chunks of overcooked fat) were a more than pleasant surprise. In fact, the meal was so good that half way through Nate had to remind me to slow down as I was nearing the bottom of my bowl! Apprently Joseph took note as well asking me if I needed more which I politely declined but, would have loved to eat!
At the end of the meal a small cultural transaction took place that I noticed but didn't ascribed any relevance to until Nate pointed it out to me again. While sitting at our table, Julie discretely passed Joseph some amount of money, apparently to pay for the meal as she outranks Joseph in the office and thus is in charge of expenses. Julie however walked outside with Nate and I as Joseph paid for the meal up front at the cash register. While this didn't seem odd at first, Nate pointed out to me that it was Julie's money that Joseph was using to pay. The conundrum here is one of social status conflicting with occupational status. You see, outranking Joseph at work, Julie is obliged to take care of the meal, however, in the public eye, as an adult male, it would be unheard of for Joseph to let either two foreigners or a young women pay. As a result, Julie passed off money to Joseph at the table who then used it to pay with. . .problem solved!
Back at work, a good couple hours after we originally showed up, Nate and I finally retired to our nothingness in the Native Room, only to find that it had growing chilly in our absence. We tested our 'stove,' or heater, which is no more than a ceramic hot plate in front of an open flame fed by an LPG tank, only to find that it flicked off after being lit for a minute or two. Uh oh, looks like we're running low on gas! This probably has something to do with the fact that we had to rescue 'our' stove from the students' study room down the hall at the beginning of the day where I would imagine that had been using it to its fullest power where as Nate and I try to conserve to some degree knowing that the tanks are not immediately replaceable. . .and when it's cold. . .it's cold!
We decided to forgo fiddling with the stove for fear of blowing ourselves out the Native Room window in a fiery ball of gas. With no class to teach, neither of us felt bad about plopping on our jackets and settling in to the final half of 'Pineapple Express,' via Ninjavideo.net. Thankfully, Joseph came in a little after nine o'clock and let us know that we could leave, which, I'm not supposed to tell you so, shhhh, you didn't hear that! We thanked him profusely and scrambled for the elevator.
Back in the 'comfort' of my Doota-abode I figured that the day's surprises were over. . . .but boy was I wrong. At around midnight I received a call from FT David at the elementary school. Apparently our upcoming work party, this Saturday, involves more than just the steak and wine we were promised. David let me know that he was informed, Monday evening, that we were expected to participate in an inter-branch FT talent show, separate from, but similar to the one we have been preparing the DYB Song for. That and we are expected to bring a small gift for a secret Santa exchange.
Well, the secret Santa should be no problem as I picked up a a hilarious All-Korean animal hat with built in gloves attached and Nate has an even better gift in store. But, as for the talent show, well we have less than five days to prepare. . .something. David and I talked briefly about it and decided that some musical performance should be in store as we seem to be able to do that but not much else. We agreed that David and I will play guitar, Sonya, the newest FT at the elementary school will sing and Nate, well, Nate will 'sing' as well though perhaps a bit quieter than Sonya as we are expecting her to actually sing. . .without quotes! Not quite sure what we're going to do or how we're going to practice it but I'll fill you in when I know more! Wish us luck!
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