School Lunches

My school has started sending out messages each day describing the day’s lunch. Once translated, it is probably more confusing than not knowing at all.

“Please note that from meals room>1. Food and Health News No. 4 exit. (“Stress too hard come harderchungonjeung received”)2. Today, my kids are too like boiled.
Suddenly you’re feeling better this year for things to “loin” was prepared.
Please enjoy delicious.3. Lettuce, carrots, cucumber prepared by Eco.
May worry that you have folded like sigo.
To eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, especially in the spring.(Chungonjeung Prevention)4. Talking theology students have a lot of changes in the amount of pear is often lacking.
If you have jeonchulip It’s yours when you blow a note to the meals room will be modified.Lunch today was more alert.”

I wasn’t sure what we were having until I walked into our lunch room and it all made sense. Up until today, I hadn’t taken pictures of any of my school lunches because I was pretty sure I’d look silly doing it in front of all of my fellow teachers… but the interesting thing about a new school year is that half of the teachers I have lunch with are new to my school (teachers in Korea rotate schools every 2-3 years). None of them know me or talk to me (only about me) so I decided to go for it today.

Across the top is boiled pork (수육), dipping sauce (쌈장), water kimchi (물김치). Across the bottom is rice (밥) and lettuce for wrapping (상추). They also served soup, but I rarely ever eat it because it’s usually fishy or made with some sort of fish based broth and I don’t really care for seafood. This lunch is like a treat for me. There’s a good mixture of protein and vegetables, which is usually lacking in the lunches at my school. The lunches at my school aren’t that amazing and occasionally I find myself only able to eat the rice and kimchi (if it’s good that day).

Hello, strangers!

I haven’t been posting very often. I tend to struggle to find the motivation to get back to blogging after I get so behind. Plus, I’ve been quite busy lately… if you don’t believe me, ask my Hulu account. My queue is almost always over 20 episodes these days. (If you don’t know, Hulu is a website that you can legally stream the latest TV shows from)

A lot has been happening. In the past few months I have renewed my contract, fallen in love, been to Texas and back and have been making lots of travel plans for the next year (Jeju Island, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Hawaii, China)! Life is pretty amazing. To make up for my slacking, I will post another edition of…

THINGS THAT JUST DON’T SEEM STRANGE ANYMORE

Part III

Boys don’t mind sitting in each other’s laps and playing with each other’s hair.

The school bell makes you crave ice cream.

Fish and rice belong at any breakfast table.

Outdoor gyms at the top of mountains absolutely make sense.

There are 3 shower settings – boiling hot, luke warm, freezing cold.

Someone is always watching you.

You are now always ready for anything to happen.

When the department store opens, the staff will kindly bow to you just before they are nearly trampled.

The only thing Chinese about a Chinese restaurant is the name.

You need a new pair of shoes before you will be allowed to work out at the gym. They must never be worn outdoors. Ever.

You can’t be trusted to teach regular class alone but if it’s after school or camp, they’ll expect you to teach multiple grades, levels, and gender groups alone.

Who needs a janitor when you have a school full of kids?

There is no better browser than Internet Explorer.

Mechanical pencils break after each letter but students love them.

Even if the cab driver has no idea where you want to go, he will spend 10 minutes pretending that he does.

The perfect side dish to pizza is a pack of sweet pickles.

It makes perfect business sense to open a cell phone store right next to 20 other stores that sell the exact same thing.

Who needs a peephole when you have a video camera that shows you who’s at your door?

Every store carries covers for your umbrellas on rainy days.

You like 2 of the seasons. The start of Spring and Fall are more anticipated than Christmas.

Your hands are cold all winter. You can’t stop sweating all summer.

It’s a tradeoff between using the toilet and staying warm.

Broom handles are needlessly short.

Flashing red and blue lights are more effective at controlling speeding than actual police cars.

The elderly have more active lives than you do.

The most used feature on the phone is the mirror.

You can conveniently buy thermal underwear on the subway. Its use will also be demonstrated for you.

Matching outfits show a committed relationship.


You never know how to dress. It might be school picture day or you might be going on a staff hike up a mountain. You just never know.


You can often make purchases by swiping your card, without entering codes or signing anything. You still feel very secure about your finances.

Korean women can do anything in high heels.

Koreans love freebies when they go shopping. Especially when they’re given out by young women in short skirts wearing headsets.

At least 1 student has gotten your phone number somehow.

And in case you missed them, here’s the previous editions of…

THINGS THAT JUST DON’T SEEM STRANGE ANYMORE

Part 1   &  Part 2

I borrowed most of these images from other blogs. I tried to link back to all of their sites and they all happen to have really nice explanations of the pictures so check them out if you’re curious.

**Click on any picture above to see the full sized image.**

And finally, HAPPY BIRTHAY, NANA!! Love you….