Teacher's Day - A Lost Post

This was from a few weeks ago but I forgot to post it.

As Koreans know Teacher's Day was celebrated on May 15. This being my first year I was expecting something that would eclipse Student's Day because everyone knows that teachers are more important than students. Now don't write this off as just an overworked, underpaid teacher complaining, this is biblical. In Luke 6:40 "Students are not greater than their teachers", if that is not enough proof for you just think about what you learned in school when your teacher was gone and you had a sub. Case closed.

You may remember from here, for Student's Day Wednesday was devoted to doing fun stuff, Thursday was a national holiday and Friday was a field trip. As a result of this blowout I was expecting great things, in fact judging by what the kids got I knew that a week off was in the ballpark of what us teachers deserve.  I had heard nothing from the management from the school but this was normal. With their communication I  would only hear about our week off on Friday at lunchtime.

Wanting to make some plans for my well deserved time off I patiently waited until Thursday morning before I popped the question. It came out something like this, "How long are you going to wait before telling us that we have next week off to celebrate Teacher's Day?" The reply that I received was a little disappointing to say the least. It was, "Teacher's Day is on Sunday, you don't get anytime off." Bummer.

Sensing my disappointment my principle tried to raise my spirits by telling me that the school would be taking me out for supper that day. Being the sucker that I am for free meals, I was back to my old chipper self. As a group, we teachers decided that we should go to VIPS, here. I am not sure if it is an acronym for something(Various Items Possibly Served?) but they are know as Korea's Steakhouse.

I have mentioned before about what I think of things that are labeled as something familiar but have the word Korean in front of it. VIPS was no different. I can say that it was the best steak that I have had in Korea(also the only), but it was not Canadian beef. In addition to the meat, when you ordered a steak you also got access to a fully stocked salad bar.

This was excellent news. This opened up many more options. They had the usual salads with a Mediterranean twist, the mango salad was my favorite as it was 75% mango. A number of different kinds of fresh fruit. There were also fresh pizza and a pasta stand where you could order pastas to your liking. Then there was the smoked salmon, I made sure to take my money's worth as I know how much it costs in the store. There were also soups but I stayed far away from them, my co-teachers said they were delicious.

My favorite part was that they had a little mexican, some tortilla shells and jalepenos. Add to that some tomatos, guacamole, sour cream, choriso sausage, covered with chili and you have one tasty treat similar to a taco.

For beverages they had a couple of juices, the usual soda line up with Pepsi products as well as a coffee maker. For those back home you may not understand the significance of a coffee maker but I have been stuck drinking 3 in 1 coffees here. Not that I am a coffee nut by any means but I do like a cup with dessert. This coffee maker also made cappuccinos, mochas and an espresso function that I made sure to add to every cup of coffee that I got.

Speaking of dessert they had a handfull different kinds, a few cakes, a pudding type thing or two, some cheese cake and the token soft ice cream dispenser. Except that the soft ice cream was made with yogurt and it came in vanilla or green tea flavour. Word of caution, stay away from the green tea flavoured ice cream.

It all came together to make a great meal and while I was eating I definitely felt like I was appreciated.

If you are interested in going to VIPS the steaks are 35,000-50,000 won and if you so desire you can order just the salad bar for about 20,000 won.(These are supper prices I think lunch is a little cheaper.)

In addition to free supper some of my students parents showed their appreciation in the form of gifts. I also got a nice compact umbrella, a green tie, Gucci spray, and handmade/designed chopsticks. I also got  other ties, one pink, one purple both with glittery diamond type things that I was never going to use but still had the tags on them. After checking with my Korea co-teachers, I returned the ties for a gift card at the local Homeplus. I will save it for something special that I will use.

All in all, Teacher's Day was alright even if I didn't get any time off from school because of it.