Vertebrae Soup

Yesterday, we had vertebrae soup for lunch, with squid, tough tiny transparent fishies, and two of our least favorite kinds of kimchi. The soup featured large chunks of animal vertebrae. I think it was pig, because cow vertebrae would probably be huge. Joanne didn't appreciate my description of our entree, so she just ate rice. Squid is plentiful here, but I have not grown to like it. I have enjoyed squid in Canada, but the way they prepare it here--often raw or dried--makes it rather unpalatable and very difficult to chew.

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Can you guess what the phrase "magic time" refers to in Korea?

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When evaluating the appearance of another person, how often do you notice the size of his or her head? It may sound strange, but this is one of the first things that Koreans notice. Our co-teacher often refers to students by the size of their heads. "Oh, the boy with the small head." I guess descriptions of hair color don't really work here, as I found out when I described a teacher as someone of "medium height, short black hair and glasses." That could be almost any male teacher at our school. So I guess head size may be helpful. It's hard for me to make sense of it. But I digress.

Anyway, there is an ideal ratio of head to body. I don't know where this ratio came from. I can understand the biological source of the aesthetic appeal of a woman's waist being two thirds her hips, as this generally shows that she's fertile and in a recent study it was also linked to higher intelligence in her offspring (something to do with having enough body fat to nurture them in utero). But I digress.

The ideal ratio of head to body is one to seven, and they measure it using the miracle of perspective. Did you ever watch Kids in the Hall? I didn't, much, but I remember a character who was famous for crushing the heads of people he didn't like. He didn't literally crush them, but he put his fingers in front of his eye, such that they would match up with his view/the view of the camera angle, and squish the heads of his far away enemies. Korean students do this too, except instead of crushing our heads they measure them in proportion to the rest of our bodies, seven times or more. I think I may be the right ratio, but Joanne has had to put up with exclamations of students and comments from co-teachers about how her head is tiny. I feel for her, but I think it is all rather silly.

Special Day

"Today is special day. Today is eat-red-bean-soup day."

This is what I heard when I arrived at school this morning, courtesy of one of our co-teachers. It turns out that red bean soup is made once a year; on winter solstice. It is a reddish brown colour, and is quite thick. It also has rice "balls" in it. There are apparently two ways to make these rice balls - you can buy powdered rice at the store, add water, and shape marble-sized balls from the mixture, or you can cook a certain variety of rice, dry it, put it in the blender, add water, and then shape the marble-sized balls. It's quite work intensive, and the result is... well, sticky.

Now that I've filled up on a lunch of red bean soup with rice balls, fried chicken, kimchi and a mandarin orange, I have an entire afternoon to spend as I please. I'm thinking about working on my taekwondo poomsae (form patterns), since I was taught a new one last night in class. I may actually have a lot of time to work on my poomsae, since our last English Town class of the year will be on the 26th. I'm very excited! After that we have a week and a half to prepare for our English camps, two and a half weeks of camps, and then we'll be off to Bangkok. Should be great!

I'm curious to know what everyone is up to for Christmas and New Year's - please leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you get the chance!

Christmas is Coming...

Despite the fact that it's sunny and 15C out today, it really feels like Christmas is coming. The previous tenants left us some white Christmas lights, so they are now wound around some cedar branches I brought home last weekend.

The Christian churches are also very well decorated here, Korean style. They have Christmas lights and scrolling marquees in red and green, and blare synthesized Christmas carols. The frequency of church services has also increased from the usual five per week to seven. One of our co-teachers attends each of these services - including a Sunday morning and Sunday evening service. (She also spends her school breaks highlighting an English bible.)

Christmas Day is actually only a one-day affair here, from what I have heard. On the 24th, couples go out for a romantic evening, or groups of friend head out drinking. The 25th is a holiday, but everyone has to report to work on the 26th. Everyone back home is asking me what we'll be doing for Christmas. If left up to Alden, the answer would probably be running up the mountain behind our place. We may have to negotiate on this... I'll keep you posted.