Business luncheon

Exams end at noon and the students leave. No school lunch. So the teachers go out or order in. There are three days of exams, and yesterday I left when they were done and tomorrow I want to leave after they're done. One out of the three days, I have been told, I must stay at school until 4:30. But the men teachers have asked me to lunch with them so leaving the school for a bit on my designated full day of work is fine. It's like a business meeting.

The men are not happy that the principal has joined us. The Nice Man tells me this in English while the principal is still there. They cannot relax while he is present.  They seem relaxed though. They are drinking like they are relaxed. The drinks I drink are certainly relaxing me.

The principal leaves and everyone bitches about him. It's now 1:30 and more beer is ordered, soju too. They are not happy that he has asked teachers to address the problem of litter around the school by picking it up. They think that the students won't learn how they should behave from watching them, but that instead the students will feel like it is the teacher's job. More drinks. They offer me some soju and are pleasantly surprised when I accept it. Soju is one of the things that = Korea. I will earn points for not being a foreign pussy.

The Math teacher who I have long suspected hates me (on a field trip he told the school's student President to 'keep me away from him.') breaks down around 3:00. He has been telling me things like "when Korea is a strong country we will not have to learn English. People will learn Korean", using The Nice Man as an interpreter. I nod. Then, at about 3, the room clears out for a moment, and we are left alone. It is then that he speaks to me in English for the first time. "My daughter," he says. I work out that he has a daughter a year younger than me finishing her degree in Math, heading to Vancouver to study English. He is worried about her. Suddenly he isn't so much a nationalist as a man who wishes he didn't have to send his daughter away to ensure she has the opportunities available to her in the future. I like him more.

Around 4:30 they teach me a Korean lymeric. It was at one time meant to be sung to children, but the tell me I should never sing this to children.  It translates as "something something, something something, something something my hand will come down on your face like lightning." Remind me and I'll sing it for you. At about five o'clock I take my leave and I exit into the sunlight. I am o.k. drunk, which means I am drunk and that's O.K. I have completely missed the afternoon of school.  I hope that it doesn't mean that I'll have to stay until 4:30 tomorrow. It was a business lunch after all.