Sometimes, when I’m at the grocery store, I will buy something that I don’t really know what it is, just because I’m curious to find out. There are so many packaged snacks and candies in Korea that fall into the “I don’t really know what that is” category. Monday, I was in the candy aisle looking for some candy to buy for our “English Store” to sell to our students, and I saw something that was called “누룽지향 사탕” – I still have no idea what this name means, since except for the last word, which means “candy,” the dictionaries and googletranslators are unenlightening. But under this name, in small letters, I found the descriptor “Scorched Rice Candy.” This sounded intriguing. It’s hard to think of “scorched rice” as being delicious. Or as being candy. But it sounded very Korean. I bought a bag of Scorched Rice Candy. It’s not bad. It really does taste like overcooked rice. But of course, it’s mostly sugar, which makes it candy. I wonder if there’s some kind of “comfort food” psychology behind a flavor like “scorched rice,” in Korea.
I found out yesterday that the rumors circulating that I would have to move, again, were true. That will be my fourth apartment since starting work at this school. I’m not thrilled. It’s difficult for me not to feel a lot of anger and frustration over this aspect of my employment. It definitely underscores why, no matter how much I like some aspects of Hongnong Elementary, I could never find myself renewing. This is not to say that I don’t recognize that other schools don’t put their teachers through similar crap – it will be a gamble, wherever I choose to go next, and I realize that I could end up “losing out” and going somewhere with even worse problems. My efforts to locate a school “ahead of time” where I might feel out what the job and living situations are like have come to nought.
The move date will be in February. I wonder how complicated it will be? I wonder how much extra of my own money it will end up costing me? I expect I’ll find out these answers on the day of the move – certainly not ahead of time. Sigh.
