Welcome to the Jungle

There is one thing that stands out in my memory from my first day of school here. I wasn't teaching, but instead being dragged around to meet this person and say hello to that person. It was all pretty much a blur to me given my exhaustion from traveling and the time difference, but the one thing that momentarily snapped me out of my sleepwalking state of existence was the moment that the lunch bell rang. I happened to be following my coteacher out of the teacher's office at the exact moment the bell rang, and was suddenly overcome with sensory overload as hundreds of teenage boys ran through the halls and tumbled down the stairwells (my school is four stories tall) toward the cafeteria. I was in hysterics on the inside, full of amusement at the sight and sounds around me.

Nothing has changed, even four months later. I am still amused by the lunchtime rituals here at Jinju Jeil Middle School. Allow me to share my take on what is the hour of organized chaos at feeding time:

The bell rings at 12:40 most days. As I close class, I start to hear a low rumble. My class and I say our brief goodbye (which consists of the class leader saying in Korean something along the lines of "Attention. Bow." and having the entire class bow to me and my coteacher). The volume is suddenly excruciatingly loud in class and in the hallways and the rumble becomes as loud as the herd of elk I once ran into unexpectedly in the forest as they ran away from my dad, brother and I. Students are running, shouting, and simultaneously hitting and kicking one another as they make their way to the cafeteria.

On Tuesdays it's even worse, as I teach a first grade (7th grade) class--the youngsters in the school. You see, it's not like back home. Here, students line up by grade outside the cafeteria and wait until it's their turn (namely, when there's enough room for more students in the cafeteria because there are definitely not 1091 seats at the tables). So, getting to the front of the line the fastest means you eat first. Right now, first graders eat first. On Tuesdays, when I walk out into the hall after the bell rings, I must wade my way through a few hundred chest-high, black-haired, screaming and running first-graders as they all run in one direction down the hallway. I usually wait at the door of the classroom until the bulk of students go by, especially after I once saw a kid trip, fall and get trampled by fellow classmates--and because I need to walk against the flow of traffic to get back to the teacher's office. Somebody's gonna get hurt one of these days...

Once I get to the cafeteria, I am allowed to cut in line in front of the students. I grab my metal chopsticks and my metal spoon (for the soup) and my metal tray with six different compartments of varying size. I walk up to the counter and the kitchen ladies plop down the day's food in the corresponding compartment (soup, rice and side dishes all have their own special place, as we always have some type of soup, rice and a few side dishes every day). Then, I stop at a little table and throw on some kimchi or other optional side dishes for good measure.

School lunches in Korea are surprisingly good, at least relative to school lunches back home (unless they've changed). Rice varies from plain white rice, to a mixed variety of rice, to rice with varying types of beans in it. Soups may be anything from a clear salty broth with bean sprouts, to a curry with vegetables, to a darker spicy base with vegetables and meat or fish, to a seafood soup full of types of seafood I've never dreamt of. One time my soup compartment had in it a few crab legs, a large shrinp, a muscle and a few other types of seafood I couldn't name. Pretty fancy, I know. Like they would EVER serve CRAB legs in an American middle school!!! Other foods usually include some type of vegetable dish (often kimchi or picked vegetables, but sometimes we get a salad of sorts, or fresh cut-up peppers), a meat dish (more pork than any other meat, with the exception of fish, which come complete with bones and skin). And then, there is some other random food. It could be dumplings, strawberries, a yogurt, a little chewy gooey rice cake, anything. Sometimes it's really quite boring, or just extra kimchi veggies. Nevertheless, I enjoy the majority of lunches here and usually clear the majority of my plate (although I tend to stay away from the mysterious seafood in my soups or the really fatty pieces of meat).

There are no drinks served with meals. Koreans, in general, don't have a drink with their meals in the same way I would back home--unless it's alcohol (namely, soju or beer). Water is served in restaurants, but it's not consumed in the same way as back home.

So, I sit and eat my lunch. I usually sit with my coteacher and her friend, a younger teacher who teaches Korean and speaks English relatively well. But I more often than not just focus on my food and don't do much talking. You know me. The teachers all sit at one end of the second to last table. I'm not sure why this is the special table, but it is. The noise level in the cafeteria is extreme, as hundreds of boys are chowing down on their food, a few more hundred are lined up along the perimeter inside the cafeteria, and a few hundred more are waiting in line outside. Just imagine the chaos. It's a constant flow of movement and excitement--and noise. Teachers shovel their food into their mouths so they can get out as quickly as they came in, I think.

When I finish eating, I fight my way through tables and teenage boys to the corner of the cafeteria and dump my spoon in one large tub, my chopsticks in another, and all my uneaten food in a large metal bin. Then, if I so choose, I can take a small metal cup and get myself a drink of water. The last stop is the napkin stop. If I feel as though I have red kimchi chili paste or broth from slurping the bean sprouts out of my soup all over my face I can grab a tissue and wipe my face. Sometimes I have to wipe my nose, as food is ALWAYS spicy here.

And that's my lunch everyday I'm at school. Same thing, day in and day out. Quite a sight to see, but it keeps me amused and satiated so I can't complain...