The Joys of Teaching

For our forthcoming trip to Korea and Japan, I’ve gotten a lot us useful advice from my Korean students in regards to our two-day stay in Seoul.

1) Do not take the subway. So I have asked some of my former students to have our reunion at the hotel we are staying. Seoul has many eating and drinking places everywhere, so we plan on doing everything from there in walking distance.

2) Take sunglasses. As of now, the Yellow Dust (HwangSa) from China is sweeping over the peninsula, so we need to protect our eyes and we might have to buy some surgical masks as well.

3) Beware of pickpockets. Sounds like any big city in Europe, where we also need to travel with caution.

4) Beware of counterfeit. In order to learn to recognize counterfeit, I was given a lesson by a fourth-grader. He brought all kinds of Korean bills with him, pointing out the watermarks, the silver stripe in some of them, raised textures on some, and more details almost too tiny to see with one’s eyes.

Last, but not least, my local bank had told me I could not buy Korean currency in Germany. This I will have to do with euro cash at the Incheon Airport bank.

That same fourth-grader was also concerned I might go hungry, when I arrive in Seoul without Korean money in my wallet. So he gave me this bill below, so I could buy myself two lunches in Seoul.

Korean Won currency

His concern for me was the nicest present I have ever been given by a student. I offered him euro in exchange, but he wouldn’t have it. All I had to do in return was my promise to him to have a good time.

German Mailbox

It is quite astonishing to have young students ask me what a mailbox is. This only happens when they realize I am not referring to their e-mail box. In our neighborhood, there are a couple of bright and yellow boxes, which they pass by every day.

Deutsche Post/ post horn

Not having any need to post letters via the old-fashioned way of communicating, their perception has become immune to this big yellow box sitting there near the sidewalk.

Alone talking about my mail box at home causes confusion. You know, the one which receives paper bills, paper junk mail,  paper ads, and even requires a manual key to open it. A few young expats even claim their moms do not even have the key for it as it is the dad’s job to clear it out once a month. Paying bills can wait, I’d suppose. [Read more…]

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