The Internet Ramblings of the QiRanger

What a fast weekend. I’ve been trying to get a few posts out for a while, but we’re had a few parties to go through, and since Korean transportation shuts down at midnight (except for cabs), if you’re away from your city past midnight, it means you’re out until 5:30am. Such was the case Friday and Saturday nights.

Eating with the Chops.

But I digress. Let’s talk about chopsticks. Now unless you’ve been under some sort of rock, you’ll know about chopsticks. These long, thin devices used to typically eat “Chinese Food.” Throughout Asia, chopsticks are used at meals, but I found something strange when I came to Korea. You see, I’m used to the chopsticks I was given at Chinese and Japanese restaurants. Korean Chopsticks are different.

Rather than being long and round, Korean chopsticks are typically made out of medal and are flat. As difficult as some people have using round chopsticks, flat ones are even more difficult. Maybe that’s why so many people loose weight when they get here.

Now, the only thing I’ve been able to uncover about this phenomenon is that Koreans made the chopsticks flat to increase the surface area (to pick things up with). Some think this has to do with eating rice, but in Korea, rice is eaten with a spoon. I’m still trying to find the cultural origin of the flat chopstick, as I think it is one of the more interesting aspects of its divergent culture.

PART II

Friday remains Essay Day for my afternoon classes. This week’s topic was Fan Death. For those not interested in clicking the link, Fan Death is the belief that closing the doors and windows and leaving a house fan on at night will result in your death if you fall to sleep. This may sound absurd, but most Koreans believe this today. over 50% of my children believe this, which made dispelling the myth rather interesting. In fact, most electric fans are made with timers so that they can’t be left on all night. Furthermore, the news still atributes deaths to fans if one is present in the room.

PART III

The coursework for one of my morning classes is quite easy and the kids can be given so much more than what they’re given. Since during their normal coursework they are assigned an idiom to learn, I decided to include one for this week. I’m proud to announce that when the class is asked, “What is coffee?” the response is a loud and resounding, “Coffee is nectar of the gods!”