Gift Exchange
As a teacher, one is prone to complain of the seemingly low effort-to-income ratio. But this overlooks a key aspect -- and, no, I am not talking about the fact that teachers get 2-3 months off over the summer. Teachers receive gifts. It all started with apples and has since progressed to much more elaborate and glorious rewards. I received two gifts. This seems pretty lame considering the fact that I teach around 50 different students, but most families at my school are NGOs and missionaries and are not living high on the hog (subtle foreshadowing of the upcoming pig photo). So, anyway, it is at least understandably lame. I am told that if I were a teacher in the US or Australia, I would probably receive enough chocolate to last for six months (or, were I a woman, roughly 11 days). Oh, and my Aussie friend Tim says that he even received some fancy underwear from at least one Korean student -- this is not an inappropriate gesture, mind you, but is quite normal in their culture -- in America, though, such a gesture would get you fired before you even had a chance to try them on (in class). Back to the original story... I received two gifts. The first was from a sweet Swiss girl who gave me some type of fancy French tea. The second was from an extremely quiet and rather withdrawn 11th grade Korean student. He had left the gift on my desk and, thankfully, demonstrated the good sense not to get me underwear -- rather, he gave me Pepperidge Farm Chocolate (Dark) Chunk Cookies. Oh, man, talk about bribery. I ate one right away and it was awesome (I typically reserve this word for more reverent applications, but even God would recommend use of the word in this case). Then, I shared one with a fellow American teacher, Carrie, who also appreciated the tastiness. Later that day, I thanked Hyeon Ok for the cookies and he gave me the universal "I have no clue what you are talking about" look. I was puzzled. Nevertheless, I was very grateful for the cookies. That night I had a flash of insight... The next morning I fished the wrapping paper out of the classroom trash can and confirmed my suspicion. The paper said "TO: Hyeon Ok". I immediately lowered his grade to its rightful level.
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Why Bacon is Not Too Healthy
Given a choice, 4 out of 5 pigs prefer trash. This guy lives on my street and is always eating slop.
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"Can I Borrow Your Towel..."
On the drive to see Angkor Wat, we had an altercation with a water buffalo. Everyone (including the buffalo, we think) was fine due to the low speed of the collision, but the car was wounded. It was a rather intense experience, especially for the water buffalo who left some evidence of fear on the front hood.
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