Happy New Year

2011 has come and gone. My new year’s resolution is the same as every year: do not eat beef, pork or any meat besides chicken, turkey and duck. Just kidding, I can’t eat that type of meat because of allergies. Honestly, I did not make any new year’s resolution because it’s meant to be broken. Just like records are meant to be broken in sports, resolutions are also meant to be broken. This is just my opinion. That is why I make a lifetime goal such as not drinking alcohol. It is quite difficult and sometimes even pressured in the least likely of places. A recent experience will be discussed later on in the blog.
Anyways, on Friday was the last day of classes so there was a school assembly and a schools staff lunch at BEXCO Buffet. The food was amazing and the restaurant was quite elegant too. I loved the dessert table because they had rambutan! I could have kept eating but I didn’t feel too comfortable of my surroundings after the second plate of food. Apparently there is a Korean culture of drinking “Soju” or “Makali” with your meals. Makali is an alcoholic beverage native to Korea. It is made from rice, and is usually referred to as Makali rice wine. It is a milky white colour, and said to taste very sweet. Soju’s taste is comparable to vodka, though often slightly sweeter due to sugars added in the manufacturing process. I got this information from Wikipedia.

Remember this is a lunch buffet around 12:30pm. If this was dinner, I would be a bit more understanding. However, this meal wasn’t. I wasn’t overly impressed about this Korean tradition because the principal of the school offered me alcoholic beverage. I immediately refused but he said it was their tradition and that I should drink with him. I was really nervous and I didn’t want to offend him but at the same time I don’t drink any alcoholic beverages so I said no to him very politely. He seemed irritated and kept on persisting that I should but thankfully the head English teacher (Christine), who told me to call her the Korean mother few months ago, came to the rescue. She said, “Ruban, you don’t have to drink it.” So, I immediately placed it down. Then she said something to the principal in Korean and he left me alone for few minutes. Then he came back and placed a shot glass in front of me again. This time he pointed to the shot glass and motioned for me to pour some Soju for him. I somehow understand this, so I poured it for him and he drank it right away. I thought I was the only one peer pressured like this but there were other Korean teachers who did not want to take part in this so called drinking tradition. Coincidently, it was most of the younger teachers at the school who refused or hid away from the principal when he came around offering Soju shots or asking the teachers to pour for him.

This is probably the only time I have ever felt my hand shake in Korea. I am usually not scared or peer pressured by any of the bosses I have ever worked with but this was something totally unique. Yes, I do understand it is a tradition but I honestly do not want to take part in a tradition like this. Many of the foreign teachers have also experienced similar situations like this in Korea, some just refuse and others love it! Those who love it have their own reasons such as being able to get free alcohol, able to drink in front of their superiors, or needing alcohol to be social. That’s their choice, that’s fine, but this is my choice, to live life without the consumption of alcohol.

Anyways, after the buffet, I immediately went to Seomyeon to meet up with Steven, Andrew and Erin. We hung out for awhile, talked and discussed about our work life. Then Steven and I headed to Nampo to watch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol! Wow, the movie was superb! I loved it a lot! The sceneries from all five countries were stunning. There was Sawyer from Lost (TV Show), Anil Kapoor from the Bollywood industry and of course, the crazy old Tom Cruise doing dangerous stunts as usual. I recommend this movie to everyone!

On New Year’s Eve (Saturday), I went to KSU area to have dinner with Nav, Matt, Jeongeun, Ann, and John. First time I had dinner with Nav in the longest time but it was nice to see him again in a normal surrounding. We toasted for our 6 months anniversary in Korea and for New Years! After couple of hours of chowing down on delicious chicken, Nav and Matt wanted to head to Seomyeon because they wanted to do their usual business of partying. As we were about to leave Warren showed up! So, Warren and I hung out at KSU for an hour with Paul and his friend. Jay and Elizabeth mentioned that they were going to come and join us too. This is the first time I met Jay since September! Such a long time! We went to a cozy restaurant with books and hot beverages to mingle and catch up. We did the whole New Years countdown and toasted. Later, Jay met her friend Jennifer who had a custom made game of Apples to Apples. I love that game but I haven’t played it in a year. So we joined in on the fun and we played until 2:30am. I felt so tired and sleepy so I headed home. I arrived home around 3am and went straight to bed. The next day (which is New Years Day – Sunday), I woke up at 11am. Went on Facebook, Yahoo Sports, and Hotmail, then I watched a movie. Ate a late lunch, watched couple of YouTube stand up comedy shows, and then took a nap. Only to wake up few hours later because I was hungry and I didn’t want to sleep all the way through until Monday morning because I had to wake up at 7am for winter camp! Basically, Sunday was a relaxing day of catching up on sleep.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and may all of your dreams and goals come true. 2011 was a success for me. Graduated with my second degree (B.Ed in Primary/Junior with President’s Honour Roll), moved to Busan, South Korea to teach English in an all girls’ middle school, flew on the airplane for the first time (yes, I did fly to Canada from India but I was only 5 years old then so I didn’t remember anything), and finally I enjoyed my first ever vacation (Jeju)! Hopefully 2012 is fun, adventurous, and a learning experience.