Barbecue on the rooftop

I named one of my students Eminem. He had only his Korean name and I wanted to give him a different one. The students voted on "Alex," which I quickly vetoed. I gave him several options, which were all rappers' stage names (except Barack). Since Eminem was easiest to say, he chose that one. My day went pretty well except for the disconcerting eyebrow wriggling one of my students aimed in my direction.

No pics of the barbecue....sorry. But a coworker of mine invited some of the teachers to a barbecue on her boyfriend's rooftop. He'd purchased a small grill and wanted to have a get-together. He's a teacher at a different CDI branch. It was a lot of fun. People from his branch and ours came and enjoyed bratwurst, burgers, beer, and some pecan crusted cinnamon buns. Yum! The gathering reminded me of home and it was nice.

On the way home I asked a coworker what he thought of Korean girls going to English academies. After all, a Korean magazine advised women to spend 30% of their income on looking good with the reasoning that catching a good husband is the best investment a woman can make. As I've said in past blogs, this attitude seems rampant in this country. But then why, I wondered, do parents send their daughters to high priced English schools? Could it be that they are becoming more progressive and want their daughters to have successful careers of their own someday? Or is it because a well educated man will be more likely to desire a well educated woman?

Although my coworker didn't have an answer for me, he did say that he wouldn't be surprised if the byproduct is a new generation of Korean girls lusting after American or western men. They go to these academies and develop crushes on their American male teachers and flirt shamelessly with them in the hopes of, in his words, "possibly validation?" He's been the object of quite a few girls' affections in the past nine months.

That's all I have to say about that. Would have been a good day if I didn't have to work tomorrow (Sunday) too.