I Exist

After the "hike" all the teachers and the staff at school went to one of the many restaurants cluttering the start of the trail. It was some of the best Korean food I've eaten in a long time. We had a rice/barley mixture that you mix side dishes into before topping it off with a hot bean paste. This went nicely with the pork that came out cooking on a hot plate.

The whole school joined us for dinner and when the principal came in we all had to rise, bow and greet him. There are many foreigners who really struggle with accepting that they should treat the principal with so much respect. (I'm not sure why, after all he is the boss and it's just common sense.) I have been at the school now for a couple of months and have yet to see this man smile. I heard he was a kind man but from his frozen face it's hard for me to know.

During dinner a couple of the teachers sitting across from him were talking about me. They were saying very kind things about my teaching and how the children enjoy going to English class. After diner when we were all hanging out (basically waiting for the principal to signal we could leave) he suddenly said, "Cam come go." The teachers all parted and signed I'd better follow.

I climbed into his car and waved goodbye to the others terrified at the length of the car trip to my place. After a couple of minutes of silence he told me he had been a teacher for 36 years. This started us chatting on and off in English and Korean all the way home. I have to say he is a decent guy but I'm still betting he will be a statue at school that I hardly see. (He usually stays in his office smoking cigarettes while playing on-line games or is outside in a suit and rubber boots tending to the amazing garden and pond he has built here. Being the boss has its privileges)