All in a days work?

Living so close to my workplace makes my morning commute more like a walk in the park. I am out the door, down to the corner, up the hill and inside the building in 13 minutes flat! While it is a nice walk, there is no park anywhere in sight. However, there are some incredible, intriguing and enticing sights along my path. Incredible is Tosol (meaning: pine tree) Mountain, this fir-ry outcropping is one of the foothills that loom over this side of the city, at the base of which stands my school. Intriguing is a massive structure shaped like a ship complete with sails and rigging and looks like it has run aground into the side of this mountain. The first 2 mornings that I passed it, I wondered what on earth it could be. The answer came that afternoon at the Welcome Luncheon for new teachers without me even having to ask the question. I was to meet the other teachers in the school parking lot at noon and go from there. But instead of piling into cars or a bus, we all started walking down the entrance road and right onto the dock of the "Queen" (the ship) for one of my favorite Korean meals: Chabu Chabu. Our meal was served on the upper deck, with a "Captain's table" filled with administrators while the rest of us galley wags gathered 'round a long 2-sided table where we scarfed down the grub in silence. In silence, meaning without much conversation, since few of us speak the same languages and the Korean custom is to concentrate on eating, not talking. All in all, the food, the service, the company and the experience was, dare I say, "shipshape"! The enticing sight along my walk to work is the Paris Baguette Bakery. I force myself to walk on the opposite side of the street, never leave myself with enough time to pop in, and hold my nose and cover my eyes when I hurry by. This decadent shop is a feast for the senses. Even though it is a chain store here in Korea, each outlet has a distinctive layout that makes you think you are shopping for fine jewelry in an elite boutique in the most affluent arrondissment in Paris. Pastries of every shape and flavor are assiduously arranged on multi-tiered tables that allow customer access to these beautiful, buttery works of art from every side. All of the breads and cakes and pastries are on this kind of display in the middle of the store front (not behind glass cases or counters). It is truly a bakery extraordinaire, and with as enticing as it is, to go in, I don't dare!
If my morning commute is a 'walk in the park', then my work day is somewhat like a luxury spa visit. As soon as I step inside the warm, welcoming room they call the teachers' lounge, I remove my coat and shoes and snuggle my feet into my soft slippers that I wear at all times when I am in the building. I help myself to a cup of hot water from the kettle in the kitchen that has been held at the exact temperature for a perfect cup of green tea. In my planning space, there is a desk that has been stocked with all the necessary accessories to unleash my creativity in designing classroom activities. For the next 30 minutes, I can do whatever I want...chat with co-workers, sit quietly in the living space to read something, make final preparations to a lesson plan or even catch a quick nap (since I stayed up so late blogging:>).
At the sound of the morning bell (which sounds more like the tinkling little tune that plays while the ballerina twirls upon a mirror at the opening of a young girl's first jewelry box), I gather my materials and my cup of tea and shuffle downstairs to my classroom. In the hallways, students smile and greet and bow and I respond in kind while I make a mental note to bow at the waist, not the wrist, as half my tea has been spilled before I reach the room.
There are 4 class sessions before the all-you-can-eat buffet lunch is served in the cafeteria. Of course, teachers have a separate buffet table with no lines. So, for approximately $2.75, I load my tray with salad, soup, Korean meats, vegetables, rice and the omnipresent kimchi. I find an empty chair at one of the teachers' tables and give my best effort to eating everything but the soup with my chopsticks. When my colleagues stop laughing and I am tired of flipping and dropping and wrestling with my food teetering at the end of these flat metal sticks, I put my tray on a side table and proceed to the vat of rice broth, which is the only beverage offered at lunch and is consumed only after the meal is finished. It is said to aid in digestion and tastes much like a very weak brown rice tea. It is made by scorching the bottom of a pan of white rice so that the rice in the bottom of the pan becomes 'toasted'. The top layers of soft, fluffy rice are removed immediately and water is poured on top of the toasted (baked on) rice and left to steep. Each person ladles out a small portion into a wide shallow bowl and drinks it down while standing around the vat.
After lunch, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, brushes their teeth! Therefore, I return to the teachers' lounge to retrieve my toothbrush and join the rest of the ladies at the row of basins in the bathroom. Ironically, during this activity, they talk...never while eating, but when brushing teeth, they chatter and splatter away.
Only 2 more class sessions to complete the day. So, I make myself a cup of mint tea (to compliment my fresh minty breath) and head downstairs to my room. At the stroke of 3 o'clock, it is time for me return to the 'lounge' and let the students do their daily cleaning of the school. That's right, while I sit and lift my feet for them, they sweep and dust, take out trash and mop the floor in our teachers' lounge. Every student participates and every room, hallway, staircase and elevator gets this same treatment. They have only 20 minutes to complete the task before they resume their evening schedule of classes. First and second year students are at school until 10pm, while the 3rd year students, or what we call seniors stay at school until 11pm.
As for me, my visit to this luxury 'day spa' ends at 4pm, and then it's all downhill from there, literally.