Cakes!!!!

To my sister,

I promised you some pictures of cakes in the bakery.  The cakes here are fantastic.  Not just mere sheet cakes with miles of icing and blue or yellow roses, the cakes here have fruit, candies, and characters imbedded in the cakes.  They come in many shapes and sizes and sometimes they not only have characters on them, sometimes they ARE characters. 

 Despite the overwhelming cuteness and prettiness of the cakes, there is not a whole lot of variety in flavors.  Usually you will find just chocolate, vanilla, or tiramisu. Sometimes there is a marble cake or even a green tea or nut cake.  But these are less decorative and usually come as cake logs or cake rolls with a light cream rolled in the layers.  These are pretty good, not too sweet, but with good flavor.

The only other common flavor of cake is the cheesecake.  Nearly every pie-shaped cake is a cheese cake of some kind.  And since cheese here is an import, it is not of the best quality or taste.  Here, cheese of any kind, tends to be bland and plastic-y tasting, almost like eating glue.  There is good cream cheese here, but it is very expensive and is more of a treat than a staple.  And many cheesecakes try to be fancy and use things like gorgonzola or gouda, but the cheese is not great quality and when paired with a bland and flour-y cake batter, it leaves something to be desired.

The tiramisu cakes though, are great.  I had one for my birthday (thanks guys!) and was given the leftovers to take home.  It didn’t last long. 

But whatever your opinion on cake is, these are pretty fun to look at!  Check it out!

Those cupcakes are literal.  Cake in a cup.

A lesson in humility. Or humor.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Well, more for mom and less for dad.  Sorry dad, this may be a topic you are not very interested in.  It’s more for the ladies…

I love going shopping.   And I live in a town that is fortunate enough (read: big enough) to have one of every major department store.  Just one is enough.  I don’t need to remember neighborhoods when asking for Home Plus, or getting confused about which Lotte Mart someone wants to meet at.  But that’s not the story today.  Today's story is a little more personal.

I was shopping for personal feminine hygiene products.  And of course this is Korea, the land of the helpful sales clerk.  There are two main types of sales clerks, when facing foreigners.  The first and most common is the shy “I see you, but I’m afraid to ask you anything.”  They usually smile and keep standing there until you approach them.  Usually these tend to be younger women.  The older women sales clerks, which are closer to the ajumma age range, have the ajumma mentality.  A little abrupt and sometimes overly helpful in a “This is my way, so it’s going to be your way, too.”  I once bought a roll of paper towels because an older sales women stuck it in my basket for me.  I’m not sure why, she was selling mini packaged sausages…

Well like I said, I was shopping for personal hygiene materials, which is not as easy as it sounds in a foreign language.  Luckily most products have some kind of picture on them and you can figure things out from there.  There is some trial and error involved in that, like the one time I thought I was buying travel tissue…  My first visit to a restroom without toilet paper proved me wrong.  "Ooooh-hhooo, Nooo!

Well this time I was in Home Plus, my personal favorite for buying the occasional western food brands that are marginally less expensive than other conveniently nearby options.  I don’t like traveling long distances for groceries, especially without a car.  I can’t cook Korean food very well, and from some of my practice results, probably shouldn’t try until I take some lessons!

Anyway back to the story.  Personal Hygiene aisle in Home Plus.  Not my favorite aisle to be in, especially when the store is busy.  This time there were not one, not two, but three clerks in the aisle.  The first one was the shy one, the third one was at the other end, and the middle one…Oh, the middle one was right where I wanted to be!  Alas, and alack! Woe is me, I want to pick my things and be gone!  I know, generally, what I want, but I think I must’ve spent 5 seconds too long in choosing.  I couldn’t find my usual brand, hence the hesitation. 

Sales clerk approaches, and in Korean says what I guessed was “Can I help you?” I said “No, I’m all right!”  She stayed however and saw what I was studying.  She reached over to a handy-dandy visual guide to products and brands.  On a large card were actual samples of products.  Kinda handy!  The first set of cards was of the normal kinds you find in Korea.  These are usually very thin and practically useless.  I wanted something a little sturdier, so I looked at the next card she very sincerely handed me from where I have no idea.

I cannot describe the unique mixture of nervous astonishment and humor, horror and embarrassment, amazement and wonder, at such an object placed before me and with such concern.  Maybe, it was because I was expecting the next card to be a logical upgrade; slightly thicker, but still the same product. The ‘enormity’ of the situation was perplexing, and although I understand the need for such products and it is a serious thing for some people, the products she handed me were not for that particular serious condition.  This was completely a woman’s product.  And the American nickel glued to the first one, I could not understand the purpose of at all.  The nickel wasn’t used to compare anything; there was nothing it COULD be compared to. It was just there...

There was no logical size gradient, just thin but normal.........and massive!  I don’t think there would be room left for the person wearing them… 

Anyway, I quickly chose the first package I could reach that looked similar to my normal brand, and left.  When I finally opened it, there was a seriously suspicious whiff of curry, before I had a truly vivid flashback to my travel tissue issue…  “Ohhh-hhhoooo, Nooooo!!!!” 

Sports Day

Dear Mom and Dad, 

      A little while ago, my middle schoolers had their sports day.  There were no classes all day that Tuesday, so it was a good thing my first set of classes had a movie day, the day before.  I don’t like having my classes on different lessons.  When we meet only once a week, its next to impossible to get them back on the same schedule.  Especially, since my Tuesday classes seem to miss the most.

     Well, the kids were ready early that morning, and it was quite a spectacle.  They were excited to have that ‘free’ day although none of them would admit it, of course.  Technically it wasn’t really a free day.  It was a bit like the Presidential fitness test back home.  They were being tested on certain fitness aspects, but the rest of the time it was treated as a sports day.  A lot of the contests were treated as a class event, meaning that the entire class participated, and then were scored based on ranking.  They did win some kind of classroom prize at the end of the day.

     Let’s see, what did they do?  There was the class-wide rope pulling contests. There was the  100 meter dash, the 600 meter relay (boys, girls, and boys and girls). There were the three legged races, three-legged relays, jump roping, chin-ups.  Class dodge ball and badminton.  Each grade competed with their grade level, and each class had a ‘costume’ of sorts.  Just check some of the pictures.  There were ‘police officers’ ‘buggy clowns’ stars, polka dots, camo jackets etc.  It was a fun day. 

      I spent the morning outside watching them.  The kids were surprised to see me watching them and some got a little shy to know that I was watching, but they were giggling anyway.  The afternoon, I had some work to do in my office, so I spent about an hour or so upstairs, then came down for the final part of the day.  I thought it was fun!  When I asked the next week, the kids complained that they were sore the next day.  “It’s not fun, teacher!”  I think they were fibbing a bit.  Just check out the pictures!

Later!