Report Card Time

It's that time again.  Julia told Ian on Thursday that our report cards were due this week.  Ian's are staggered, but mine are due as each day comes.  Since I procrastinated yesterday and continued to put it off for large parts of today, I've got to get down to business tonight.

I don't really mind doing the report cards.  It's an important part of my job.  However, I wish they were taken more seriously.  Julia imagines reports cards as an advertisement to send home to parents: "Your kid is doing very well!  Your money is well spent!  Please continue their enrollment at Yoon's English Forest!"  While I see them as a tool to let parents know if their student is actually succeeding and give them tools to help their kid if they aren't.  We've been told not to lie, but to make sure we give the parents "hope."  It's yet another exercise in working hard at accomplishing nothing.

We went to see Iron Man 2 again today.  Ian and I both were feeling pretty low energy and a bit down today, so we needed an escape.  We briefly entertained the idea of heading to Wonju to see something we hadn't yet, but we simply didn't have time.  The bus ride is 40 minutes each way.  I'm really liking the Iron Man movies. I think that's largely due to Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark character.  The casting there is spot on.

Here is the recipe for last night's "General Tso's Tofu:"

(adapted from vegweb.com)

1 package of firm tofu (freeze it overnight for the best texture)

2 heads steamed broccoli

rice for two people (1/2 c. is a serving)

1 egg

3/4 cup cornstarch

oil for frying (use sesame oil if you want it to have a good Asian flavor)

a couple chopped green onions

1 tbs. minced fresh ginger

1tbs. minced fresh garlic

2/3 c. vegetable stock

2-3 tbs. soy sauce (depends on your sodium tastes)
2-4 tbs. sugar (again, to your tastes)

dry red pepper to taste (we used Korean gochu powder)

1 tbs. vinegar

Thaw and drain the tofu.  Cut it into chunks (about 1 inch).  Mix the egg with 3 tbs. water.  Dunk each piece of tofu in the egg wash and coat thoroughly.  Lay the tofu on a sheet or in a bowl and sprinkle the cornstarch over it, coating it well, but watching for clumps.  Stir fry the tofu until it's golden.  Set aside, drain oil.  Heat 1-3 tbs. of vegetable oil (depending on your taste and calorie needs) in the pan.  Add the green onions, ginger and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.  Then add the stock, soy sauce, sugar, pepper and vinegar.  Mix 2 tbs. water with 1 tbs. cornstarch and incorporate it well.  Toss in the fried tofu and stir until well coated.  Serve over rice and broccoli.

1 serving (1/2 c. rice, 1 c. broccoli and 1/2 the sauced tofu) is roughly 555 calories.  We made it with the lowest levels of oil and sugar.

Now it's time for report cards.  We have a meeting with Julia tomorrow at 11am.  I'll be sure to report.

Good night!

This... is... APUTUH!

 That's Ian's joke regarding the Korean word for apartment.

Today seemed to start off on the right foot.  My mom and I actually got to chat online for longer than ten minutes and Ian and I got our lesson plans done in near record time.  Things began to unravel when we reached Sinback for our 11 o'clock meeting.  The place was chaos.  They're still moving things around and we were not anyone's top priority.  So, Ian and I went to print our worksheets, so that we could give Gene copies.  We had to plug the computer and printer in and wait for the ancient best to start up, but we eventually got things going.  But, the printer was spitting out blank pages instead of actual documents.  Before we could figure out what was wrong, the power went out.  It came back on and we switched to the other computer with a printer.  The printer is an older Epson and it tales nearly a full minute to print a single black and white document.  Not exactly ideal when you're printing 21 sheets.

By the time we got all our materials and Gene had a moment to talk to us, it was 11:30.  Ian and I hadn't eaten lunch, yet; if we eat too early, we'll starve while we're at work.  So, we just watched the clock while Gene spoke.  What did he speak about?  Report cards.  They're due the Tuesday morning of next week.  Naturally, since we have a three day weekend, Julia thought we'd have ample time to complete them.  There's no way Ian and I are taken them to Busan with us, so we're writing them between classes.  Luckily, they don't take much thought and if we put too much effort into them we get reprimanded; our report cards are to remain devoid of constructive criticism and "give the parents hope" so that they'll sign the check and enroll their student in the next term.  

Report cards trudge up all of our negative feelings about our job and hagwons in general, so this morning was rough.  When I got to Haso, they had rearranged my office again.  One whole wall has been replaced with shelving and all of my materials that were in the original shelves were sprawled out on my table.  I was already late to work because Ian and I ate after the meeting and then when we were walking to go to the ATM and catch our taxis, I realized I had left my worksheets behind, so I had to turn back.  It wasn't the best start to the work week.

 

To remind you of the wonder that is a Yoon's report card.  They haven't changed in the slightest.

Luckily, my classes went really well today.  I love my Monday kids.  They're interested in class and so weird.  You've got to love strange little kids.

I forgot to tell you about our interesting cab ride yesterday.  We forgot the word for downtown (shi-ne), so we asked the driver to take us to Dunkin' Donuts.  For some reason, 70% of cab drivers have no idea what Dunkin' Donuts is.  It's name is the same in Korean, so the reason is completely lost on me.  Well, we figured we could just get over the bridge and hope for the best from there.  But, when we got near downtown, the driver put a call into his translation service.  The service lists the options in both English and Korean:  press 1 for English, 2 for Japanese, and 3 for Chinese.  The man pressed 2.  And, when a translator picked up and said, "Moshi moshi," (I kid you not) the driver motioned to us and said, "Speak."  All I could do was reply, "Sir, do we look Japanese?  We speak English."  Obviously, he didn't understand me, but it didn't matter.  He rolled up on the downtown market right as our confusion peaked, "Yogi (here)!  Okay."  And after he gave us a mini Korean lesson on how to say downtown, we paid and got out.

What would travel be without those moments?  They make the best memories.

Good night!