Going to lunch...

Going to lunch...(and a bit more blogging!!...I learned how to use color, can you tell??) :)

Today, after a normal episode of "going to lunch at school," it occurred to me that you may enjoy hearing about one. I'm beginning to feel more back to my old self, so here goes:

We leave the house for lunch by 11:50 on T,Th and by 12:20 on M,W,F. The reason? Lunch is served from 11:45-1pm with several seatings of classes. Jesse & Joy's class eats at 11:50, and since they go to school T,Th am's, they like me to come eat with them so they can tell me all about their morning at school. James is now home with me every day to catch up on his schooling. He also has extra homework since being involved in those classes at the library. On M,W,F, we all go at 12:20 which is when John goes to lunch.

Now that you have the science behind the times for lunch... :)

~~We leave the house and cross the driveway(#1), down several wide, steep(er) steps to the road(#2). (James measured them and they are up to 9 inches high and 38-42 inches deep.) Then, we continue down a curved decline to the school drive entrance(#3...3b shows the grade a little better)...whereupon, we immediately begin a sharp incline back up to the entrance door of the school(#4). (If one did not happen to be hungry for lunch upon leaving the house, then one is certainly much closer to hunger after that short-distance hike to the lunchroom!) Upon reaching the top of the incline, the lunchroom is on our immediate right(#4)...however, we cannot procede straight inside. We must continue on to the front doors, exchange our shoes for school flip-flops, and then backtrack to the lunchroom.

(#1) (#2)

(#3a)(#3b)

(#5)(#6)

As easy as it sounds, it is not! As soon as we crest the top of the incline at the lunchroom door, we are bombarded on all sides by choruses of kids excitedly practicing their English on us: "Hi, Je-she!!!," "Hello, Jam-su!" "Joe-ey, hello!!!" "Hello, Teacher!", so that the rest of the way we are busy answering back "Hi!...hello!...hi!" On occasion we ask simple questions, but find that we've reached the end of their knowledge. This hello-swap continues as we exchange footwear, and all the way down to the lunchroom.

Once in the lunchroom, more bursts of hi's, hello's, & waves as we make our way to the food counter. We each take a plate, a long soup spoon, and pair of chopsticks and then head down the serving line...one cook puts kimchi and another vege on our plates, another cook puts the main meat dish on, the 3rd one plops on a chunck of rice, and then the 4th one ladles up a bowl of soup. Lastly, the head cook stands guard to supervise everything, and we give each other a bow before moving on to our seats. There is no water or anything to drink during the meal...the soup broth suffices.

After we are finished, we put any food garbage/refuse into the soup bowl and go through the "turning it in" process: waiting in line to put the spoons and chopsticks into separate tubs, the soup bowl is then emptied out over a giant funnel which dumps into a big bucket below, and then finally, the bowls and plates are stacked in a certain manner. After that, we can grab a small tin cup and fill it with tepid tea to finish off our meal on our way out of the lunchroom. (Note: all the kids must take their plates to their teacher for inspection before turning in their plates.)

Once finished, we head back to the main entrance to swap out shoes and then head on home. Today something happened that I wish I'd had my camera present to shoot a video of! As we were walking down the hall, we were surrounded by a bunch of jabbering 4th grade girls...who seemed to know a bit more English and started asking me a few questions. They must be learning about the "family tree names" since they asked, "Where's the father?"

I figured they meant John and replied, "He's still eating lunch."

They giggled and shook their heads. Then they tried again, "Where is your grandmother?"

"Oh!! That's what they're asking for" I thought. "She's lives in America." They really twittered then, pleased that I understood the English they have been learning.

They exhausted their repertoire of new English words and were starting to quiet down as they watched us change our shoes, when suddenly they spied John going down the hall. Immediately, they took off after him, jabbering to beat the band!!! I couldn't help but laugh! They so looked like a flock of bluejays swooping down for their prey!! :) I called out with a grin to John, "Have a good afternoon!" and then we headed out. He just laughed as he walked on and started to tease the girls.

I can't decide who likes the teasing more...the giver or the recipients!! He'll sometimes answer them with a little Spanish to get a kick out of their faces until one of them realizes it's not an English word and calls him on it. He's also told me that he is trying to get them to stop saying, "OK!" all the time. It's hard to get a straight answer out of them. Here's how a typical question-answer session can go:

John: "Do you like bread?"

Student: "OK!"

John: "'Yes' or 'no'."

Student: "OK."

John: "'Yes,' you like bread, or 'No,' you don't like bread?"

Student: "OK!" (questions like this can go on awhile until they answer correctly.)

John: "What grade are you in?"

Student: "Ok!"

John: "No...what grade are you in?"

Student: "Huh? Whaaaat?" (sometimes they like to act like they don't know the answer, too.)

Turning away, John: "Good-bye!" (when this happens, John finishes the conversation.)

Student, running after: "No, no, no!! Sorry, sorry!! What you ask? Talk more!!"

So anyway, back to my original reason for this blog entry!... I used our camera to take a video of the kids walking home from school, but unfortunately it would not upload to the blogpage. :( After trying and waiting for several hours yesterday, I gave up and took pictures to blog. Note that the pictures are taken after-hours, so the way is not strewn with children! Basically, follow the pictures backwards and you get a good idea of the hike back home. It is actually harder to go down the inclines here than to go up them. At first, everyone was huffing and puffing by the time we reached the door, but now we've acclimated and even race each other at times, although the steps are just the wrong depth to go up quickly...too much for one big step, but too little for 2 reg. steps. Last week a heavy box came in (our mail comes to the school) and James offered to carry it...he only got part of the way before needing to give it back to me. Even I was worn out by the time I reached the door. It's certainly good exercise for us!!