Last weekend I saw 3 fat Koreans in one day, which was mind blowing, because I had previously seen about 5 in the entire time I've been here. And they weren't obese, they were just chubby. It's amazing really, how an entire population seems to have no issues with obesity. Especially given the variety of delicious foods sold everywhere! I mean, corn dogs practically haunt you. Not to mention the most delicious looking treat - which I am yet to try - the fruit and ice cream covered waffle. They sell them everywhere, from fancy (like the downstairs cafe of my school where they come topped with banana, kiwi, your choice of gelato, and fresh whipped cream), to ghetto ($1 tasty treat in the subway). The school lunch is nothing at all like American school lunch - I'm thinking tater tots, fish sticks, burgers, chicken nuggets, etc. Kids here don't eat kid food, they eat the same things the adults eat. School lunch is typically some sort of meat (usually pork) and vegetables, some type of squid dish, greens (often from the sea), an egg something or other, a light soup, rice, and kimchi. And some of the food can be spicy as shit! Can you imagine American kids eating that?! I would have DIED if I saw something that looked like an octopus on my plate! They like pizza and stuff too, but they don't have it often.
The kids are obsessed with fat people. They talk about it all the time. I was doing an exercise with my second graders where you were given four points and they had to come up with the topic sentence. The points in the book were: "My mom packed me a tuna sandwich. Then I had chocolate cake. I drank my chocolate milk and soda. For dessert, I had cookies." We decided the topic was about lunch and I asked them what they thought of this array of food. One girl said, "Alexandra Teacher, this was definitely a fat American kid. They should have some carrot sticks or cucumbers." Then they all drew what fat people look like, complete with stomach rolls. I also teach the same reading assignment to 4 classes. It's about a boy named David who takes a field trip to a fire station. Every single class says the same 2 things. When seeing the pictures, someone will always raise their hand and say, "Teacher, David is black faced," in a very concerned voice. I don't know where they all have learned this term "black faced," but they all say it. Then they turn the page and see a woman fire fighter who is kinda a chunkaaa, and they DIE laughing. "Teacher!! She is fat!! She carry a baby?! She carries 100 babies!!" The whole class gets in an uproar. One kid even got on the floor and imitated how he (a 9 year old), could fit in her stomach. Fucking terds! But anyway, these kids are taught from very young how to eat healthy, and clearly, they have a negative view of overweight people. "Teacher! Americans are so fat!!" It still boggles my mind how they stay so thin, but I think the way the kids are taught to eat like adults could be part of it. That combined with the fact that they are obsessed with how they look (will talk about this in another post)...
I have been seriously lost in Seoul 3 times in the last 24 hours. Once was last night. I took a cab home around 1:30 from Itaewon - 15 mins away tops. I can't say my address in Korean and I didn't have my paper that it's written on. So I told the cab driver my subway station (this normally works) and he headed to my direction. But then he passed it, and kept going. I was like, no turn around, which he did, but too late and I was totally lost. I jumped out of cab who knows where and had to find my way home. Not happy. This morning, I had to go to the immigration office so I can register as an alien (btw, health check came out fine, although I had high levels of cold medicine in my blood! ha!). I had never been to this part of Seoul before, but I got to see a lot of it because I was so fucking lost trying to find this damn building! Neighborhood is awesome, and I am def going back there asap. It's right near the mountains, and there are Buddhists temples everywhere, a couple palaces, and tons of art galleries. Pretty cool. Kinda ironic though that I was storming through the temple areas swearing profusely under my breath because I couldn't find the place. It's very frustrating to not be able to ask for directions! I finally get there, and there is a long ass line. I have to leave bc I have class in 15 mins, awesome. So that didn't get done. And finally, I got lost in the mall tonight (I know this sounds crazy, but the malls here are insane. You can't even tell what store you are in). There is a kiosk in the mall that sells bootleg dvds (hello! this is Asia!), which was my purpose of being there. Found the stupid place after 40 mins of being trapped in "Digital World, which is 3 floors - every floor identical). But for $13 I got Twilight, New Moon, Precious, Lovely Bones, This is It, and Up! Holla!! We'll see how the quality is...
I have tons more to talk about, but it is def bed time and this is already a long post. There have been several brawls in preschool this week -- remind me to talk about these! Is it wrong to say I hate a 5 year old? Because there are several that I do. Ha!
The kids are obsessed with fat people. They talk about it all the time. I was doing an exercise with my second graders where you were given four points and they had to come up with the topic sentence. The points in the book were: "My mom packed me a tuna sandwich. Then I had chocolate cake. I drank my chocolate milk and soda. For dessert, I had cookies." We decided the topic was about lunch and I asked them what they thought of this array of food. One girl said, "Alexandra Teacher, this was definitely a fat American kid. They should have some carrot sticks or cucumbers." Then they all drew what fat people look like, complete with stomach rolls. I also teach the same reading assignment to 4 classes. It's about a boy named David who takes a field trip to a fire station. Every single class says the same 2 things. When seeing the pictures, someone will always raise their hand and say, "Teacher, David is black faced," in a very concerned voice. I don't know where they all have learned this term "black faced," but they all say it. Then they turn the page and see a woman fire fighter who is kinda a chunkaaa, and they DIE laughing. "Teacher!! She is fat!! She carry a baby?! She carries 100 babies!!" The whole class gets in an uproar. One kid even got on the floor and imitated how he (a 9 year old), could fit in her stomach. Fucking terds! But anyway, these kids are taught from very young how to eat healthy, and clearly, they have a negative view of overweight people. "Teacher! Americans are so fat!!" It still boggles my mind how they stay so thin, but I think the way the kids are taught to eat like adults could be part of it. That combined with the fact that they are obsessed with how they look (will talk about this in another post)...
I have been seriously lost in Seoul 3 times in the last 24 hours. Once was last night. I took a cab home around 1:30 from Itaewon - 15 mins away tops. I can't say my address in Korean and I didn't have my paper that it's written on. So I told the cab driver my subway station (this normally works) and he headed to my direction. But then he passed it, and kept going. I was like, no turn around, which he did, but too late and I was totally lost. I jumped out of cab who knows where and had to find my way home. Not happy. This morning, I had to go to the immigration office so I can register as an alien (btw, health check came out fine, although I had high levels of cold medicine in my blood! ha!). I had never been to this part of Seoul before, but I got to see a lot of it because I was so fucking lost trying to find this damn building! Neighborhood is awesome, and I am def going back there asap. It's right near the mountains, and there are Buddhists temples everywhere, a couple palaces, and tons of art galleries. Pretty cool. Kinda ironic though that I was storming through the temple areas swearing profusely under my breath because I couldn't find the place. It's very frustrating to not be able to ask for directions! I finally get there, and there is a long ass line. I have to leave bc I have class in 15 mins, awesome. So that didn't get done. And finally, I got lost in the mall tonight (I know this sounds crazy, but the malls here are insane. You can't even tell what store you are in). There is a kiosk in the mall that sells bootleg dvds (hello! this is Asia!), which was my purpose of being there. Found the stupid place after 40 mins of being trapped in "Digital World, which is 3 floors - every floor identical). But for $13 I got Twilight, New Moon, Precious, Lovely Bones, This is It, and Up! Holla!! We'll see how the quality is...
I have tons more to talk about, but it is def bed time and this is already a long post. There have been several brawls in preschool this week -- remind me to talk about these! Is it wrong to say I hate a 5 year old? Because there are several that I do. Ha!
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