It's Not Even Lunch Time!

This year I've had the good fortune to act as a type of diplomat from my country to a small handful of schools in this province. By default I am the lone American UNESCO Cross Cultural Awareness Presenter in Jellonamdo Province. I belong to a group of cultural presenters from a whole slew of nations from Canada to Nepal. Interestingly there are three representatives from Nepal, four from Bangladesh, and even three Canadians to boot! In this province alone there are approximately 40 or so individuals from different countries that give little presentations about their homeland, which gives Korean children a glimpse into the homes and lives of a variety of cultures from around the world. What's curious is that I'm the only American. I have no idea how that came to be. Americans seem to be so outgoing, and eager to share things about their country. How did I become the only one here?

Anyway, there are many things I don't understand, therefore adding another one to the list won't do much harm. More importantly, what I do essentially is travel to schools and talk about America. It's nothing special; some photos, a simple ditty on my acoustic guitar, a lesson in making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, pose for a few snapshots with the kids, then I go home. Well, actually I should backtrack a little before the going home bit and explain that I am obliged to go and meet the other teachers and principal at the school first before I am free to depart . It's a formality here, and it's gotta be done.

When entering a Korean school as a visitor one must always take note to greet the principal formally when entering, and in my case with these presentations when leaving as well. I always feel awkward when doing this, but I just keep smiling. Anyway, last Saturday I gave a little presentation to a group of fourth graders in Kwangju and as I was escorted to say goodbye to the principal and some other teachers, I was invited to the most enormous buffet at a non meal time I had ever seen. You see, it just before eleven o'clock. It was past breakfast, and everyone would most likely be eating lunch a couple of hours later. So here I was staring at a huge buffet of several types of chicken, tomatoes, grapes, rice cakes, beverages and so on. What is even more astonishing in retrospect for me at least is that I wasn't even the slightest bit surprised. In Korea, this is normal; it's business as usual. There is always food. As I'm an American, this is a good thing.

This happens quite frequently if you spend time in Korea. For example, any foreign teacher who goes through the volleyball ritual will know what I mean; Play a few sets, have some snacks, play one more, eat some of the take out food brought to the game, drink few cups of beer or rice wine and be merry, then go home and have dinner. Since this is typically done immediately after school, but before dinner time you can still meet up with friends and enjoy pizza in the evening.

Many times I'll go to dinner on a invitation from some hospitable Koreans, and later proceed to a bar or cafe to only be offered more food. Most bars have interesting menus that vary from fruit dishes to festive prawn and chicken platters, to even simple french fries. Additionally all cafes have at least several cake or other dessert choices. You can even find cheesecake. It's normal to have a Korean barbecue, then adjourn to a bar to have some fruit and snacks. Koreans seem to want to keep their guest happy, and one way of doing that is making sure there is an abundance of food available at all times. One should never go hungry here. It's impossible. I think if I had the chance to explain to American children about life in Korea I would make them all jealous by saying that Koreans have better snack times than Americans; and what American doesn't love snack time?