Night Out With Co-Workers Part II

So the VP and Principal and the Administrator have all come up to me to have a drink, and now the grills are being removed from the tables and desert - pineapple/pear-ish type fruit, is being served. The Principal (who, apparently, is new this year too) yells "Catie!" and motions for me to come over to him. I'm confused - people are looking at me and smiling..haha, whatever. So I go over there. They plop me down, and ask me to have another drink with them. Of course, I accept (it is bad manners not to!) I sit with them a bit and "talk" (more like smile and motion and say "ne" (yes) and "choe-ai-yo" (ok, good) and "mul-ai-yo" (I don't know). I chill with them a bit and then return to my original table.

A few minutes later the Principal makes a bit fo a speech, looks over at me, and the girls at my table are looking worried. Apparently the Principal wants to do post-dinner activities, and he mentions specifically that he wants me to come (everyone is invited and strongly encouraged to go though). The girls at my table apparently aren't very keen on these activities - what ended up being karaoke- so they tried to stall. I wanted to go, but I didn't want Crystal to feel like she had to go, and I was also a bit tired so I didn't want to stay all night. So I kind of just followed her. One of our co-workers met us in the street though and pretty much dragged us there, and while we tried to get out of that, another co-worker called Crystal's cell and basically told her that we had to come. Haha. Crystal is telling me, I will come with you this time, that is fine - but next time you are on your own. Haha.

In Korea, karaoke is taken much more seriously than in the USA. You have your own room for each party, even if it is only a few people. Enough said. When we get there, most other teachers are already there. The Principal sings the first song -he has a terrific voice! Apparently all of the teachers really like him, especially since the last principal didn't sing and was pretty overbearing and strict in general. So after the first song done by the Principal, he hands the mic to me - uhmmm? I stupidly pic a Queen song - Killer Queen - great song, but really hard to sing and the words are pretty tough - but whatever, haha. I'm not drunk enough yet to really let go, but after a bit I just start doing my Catie dance and they start clapping and laughing and seem to really enjoy it. Haha. After the song, you get your score..and I got a 100 - (I have no idea how because I didn't hit nearly all of the words let alone the notes - it must be based on song difficulty) - and in Korea, the custom is, if you get 100 on karaoke then you have to give 10,000 won to...I don't know who, whoever is running the operation in the room - and they stick the bill in beer and smack it on the screen and leave it up there all night. It is actually really fun - I was just really confused at first because I was the first one that night that it happened to. But at the end - I'm not sure where the money goes - maybe to the karaoke place - but I think it is a cool custom in any case.

The Principal is very very outgoing and very nice - he wanted to have another drink with me there - ok, fine with me. Haha. this time, they put the soju on top of the beer glass and hit the table (like in Japanese restaurants) and the soju falls into the beer cup and they pass those around. He comes over to me and wants to do...ah, crap, I forget what it is called - but you link arms and chug (I wasn't aware of the chugging part so I just sipped, and then when I saw that he had chugged I chugged too and everyone cheered. Haha). Before we did that, he said "Merry Christmas" - I was supposed to say "Happy New Year" apparently - I would have caught on in the States but I wasn't sure he knew of that interaction and to be honest, everything is so new I can't keep up with it all at once! But it was a lot of fun. The Principal would grab me to dance at points too and that was just embarrassing because I can't dance for crap - I got one twirl down and then I was out. Haha. When he would dance with the other teachers, they definitely had the moves - I'm so young and sad and inexperienced.

That ended relatively early, thank goodness, because I was really tired, and I haven't been able to wake up and run the past two days because I have been so tired with staying up and cleaning and just doing outings with the co-workers. Crystal and I left together so she could point me in the direction of my apartment, and on our way back, she told me that she didn't mind the karaoke so much when I was there. :) :) Awww.

That was last night. Today - I had a few more introductory classes. Lots of kids are coming into my office to talk, and very often. Crystal and Mrs. Moon tell me that I can shut my door because I won't get any work done otherwise. I want to encourage them to come in but I realize that they shouldn't be in here all the time. Some of the kids that come in most often are not even kids I teach. A few girls that are in 3rd and 4th grade come in once or twice a day, and today one of the girls showed me a ring and said, do you like ring? I said, yes, I like rings! It's very pretty. She then takes my hand and puts the ring on my finger...!! I said, oh, but is it your ring? They look confused, so I say, is this for me?? And she and her friend nod...!!! Oh my goodness!!! They are so sweet!!! I can't remember the last time someone gave me a ring... :)

In a few minutes I will be going to meet the teachers at the other school I will be teaching at. I am excited and also a bit nervous. But after that, I will be going to meet my triathlon coach!!!! I am VERY excited about that. I just hope I don't get lost! (I probably will, so I will just leave as early as possible). So the next entry should be very interesting as well...