Strange happenings

The hanja teacher is continuing to make a case in favor of him being a bit on the odd side. He came over to my desk the other day. Here is a rough equivalent of our conversation.

Him: Do you like reading books?
Me: Uh, sure. I read a lot.

Him: Do you have a religion?
Me: Uh, yeah. I'm Catholic.

Him: Ohh, Catholic. Do you know Anthony de Mello?
Me: Uh, no, sorry.

Him: Hmm, okay.

Me: So, are you Catholic?

Him: No. (Presses hands together, bows) I'm Buddhist. I have a book for you.

Me: An English book?

Him: Yes. I bought it at an English bookstore. It was very expensive.

Me: ......

Him: This is for you (proffers book).

Me: Um, okay. Thanks! Do you want me to read it?

Him: Yes. Read it and tell me how it makes you feel.

Me: Sure...

Basically, this book is called "The Way to Love" by a Jesuit priest called Anthony de Mello. Apparently I have to read it. I told my friend Kevin about the hanja teacher, and Kevin said the hanja teacher at his old school was "completely mental" to the point where he renamed Kevin "Yeongmin" and only referred to him as Yeongmin. Weird, right?

On Friday the hanja teacher messaged the whole school in Korean and English this:

Good morning, Taepyeong family! Just call me the Taepyeong DJ! Today's selection is (I can't remember what it said). Then he attached a song. Friendly, I guess, but just kind of strange.

We had a teachers' dinner on Thursday to welcome all the new people. We went to a duck restaurant, which was nice. The teachers are all very friendly. After we ate people were changing tables to talk to other people, and one of the printer guys came over to sit by me. He told my coteacher I looked lonely because I had no one to drink with, so he would be my "sul chingu," my "alcohol friend." This was agreeable to me because I had nothing else to do, plus it was nice because even though he didn't speak any English, he was still trying to be friendly. I can only hope maybe my papers will get printed faster as well.

I've tallied more third grade questionnaires. One class has shown tremendous excitement over the pizza party, and in the free writing section of the questionnaire several wrote, "I like pizza! Give us many points, Teacher! We want to eat pizza!" Also, several of my students have written in, "I love you!" which I always enjoy seeing, especially when it comes from my more apathetic third grade boys.

On Friday I went back to Buyeo for a going-away party. I haven't been to Buyeo in a long time, but naturally, it's still very much the same. Nothing very exciting happened. Went back to Bubble Castle. Actually, while we were there, we saw this Korean couple on what appeared to be a date, so my friend took an instant Polaroid of them, then we wrote "love" in Korean and decorated it with hearts and Korean smiley faces and wrote "cute love" in English, then we gave it to them with a bottle of soju. They found it hysterical, then they gave us the rest of their dried squid and peanuts in return. Making friends and taking names... that's how I live my life.