Random thoughts

Students lacking life experiences


Stacy gave a quiz in his Statistics class the other day. Since it is an American based curriculum, the wording is geared towards all things American. In the middle of the quiz, a student raises his hand.
Student: "Mr. Fitz, what is a bolt?"
Stacy: "You are in the middle of a quiz, I can't take time to explain what a bolt is."
Student: "I can not accurately answer the question if I don't understand the question."
Stacy: "Question #? is now a bonus question."
Students: "That's not fair."
Stacy: "I can't help it if you don't have life experiences. There are bolts in Korea, I've seen them."


Stacy is a doting father
One morning, I walked Ethan to the kindergarten playground across from the cafeteria. One of Ethan's classmates is in there already while his mother watches. She looks at me and says good morning. She is Korean and I met her initially at Open House.

Mother: "I met Ethan's father yesterday"
Me: "Oh, that's great! Where?"
Mother: "Afterschool swimming lessons. He is such a good and involved father."
Me: "Yes, Ethan is blessed with a good father and I am happy to have such a helpful husband."
Mother: "He is such a doting father. He was helping dress Ethan after the lessons. He is so good it makes me feel like a bad mother."
Me: "Yes well, I feel even worse because I couldn't be there."

If she feels like a bad mother, I must be horrible. She likely does not work and spends every minute of her day doing something with or for her only son. Myself on the other hand, have so much to do that Stacy and I have to schedule who is going to do what with Ethan.  I went to the bank that day and I'm sure Stacy was the only dad there with the other Korean moms.

Eating out
It's terrible. Now that we have the bus schedule for the 80 and 80-1 we wait less for the bus and consequently feel it is easier to go out to eat. Last week, we ate out 4 or 5 times. We went to Dos Tacos, Butterfinger Pancakes, The Frypan and the Attic. I'm sure there was another that I am missing. Oh, yeah, The Wood Fire Grill. Unfortunately our tummies are happy because of this but our wallets are sad because of this.  The Fitzgerald's would all agree that food is definitely comforting. We have vowed to do a better job of eating at home. I really can't decide if I want to stick to that or not. Wednesday is payday...you know what that means!

You might be wondering about the restaurants so let me tell you what we have eaten so far. Dos Tacos is the place to get burritos. Butterfinger Pancakes is the place to get all things breakfast. At The Frypan we order a chicken tender/boneless drumstick set which came with a salad big enough for all 3 of us and the chicken (at least 20 pieces) sat atop a bed of home-made potato chips. This was less than 30,000 won and you get a discount if you order take out instead of dining in. The word "set" is like our word "combo" in the states. Order the set and you get the side and a drink.

The Wood Fire Grill serves pizza and pasta. Surprisingly, it was very tasty! Corn is a big ingredient in pizza. It is actually Ethan's fav....corn and bacon.

Taekwondo
Considering this is the home of Taekwondo, it is only natural that Ethan, Stacy and I should take lessons while we are here. Currently, Ethan will take them because he is dying to do it. Maybe Stacy and I will later. With help, we have found a place where he can go 3 times a week and it only costs 120,000 won a month. I think that is fairly cheap.

Sweets
If you are looking for something to cure your sweet tooth in Korea, you may have to look harder to find something that is actually sweet. Most dessert items are mildly sweet which has left me wanted more. Luckily, our school cafeteria makes some of the best chocolate chip cookies and they are a dollar. We get one almost everyday. It's a nice end of the day snack.

Ethan
I wonder if it is Ethan or just the way Korean's react to younger children. I can't say that I see it that often with other children. Anytime we go anywhere, Ethan seems to charm the people at the grocery store or candy store into giving him something. They talk to him and treat him so well. It is quite something when a store clerk finds us in the store just to give Ethan something.

Subbing at KIS
If you have to sacrifice a conference period to cover a fellow teacher you receive 25,000 won for each block that you cover. Definitely a motivator.