I don't know about you, but to me, nothing says "Good job, I am thankful for the hard work you do, and the care you display toward our students," than a suitcase full of cured and smoked meat. Mmmmmm. (Actually, I still have one fat loin in my freezer.)
Fast forward to this year's Chuseok (aka my birthday, in case you forgot,) and guess what I got? Nothing! Nada. Zilch. El Bupkus.
Q'est que c'est? Oui, rien. Pour quoi? Parce que je ne sais pas. (Perhaps because you pepper your blog with bad French?)
I put in for the traditional boss gift. In fact, I reminded the Korean teachers Thursday afternoon that we hadn't yet talked about or put in for Karen's gift, a big box of pears and a big box of apples, which doesn't sound like much to the Western reader, but is altogether very close to $70.00 Cdn. Dems Fancy Fruit.
I got nothing though. (Well, I got two shoes, but other than that,....)
The Korean teachers got a gift though, a gift certificate to any of the major department store (see:money.) This bothered me, but Elizabeth explained that Karen told her that she planned to get me a nicer-than-she-would-have-birthday-gift. Karen showed me last Thursday, before I left work, what she had bought for me. It was a silver necklace with three hearts entwined (representing, I'm sure, myself, Karen, and the love of loves, Korea) but she said she was worried it was too small. She was right. It put the "choke" in "choker." So in lieu of a Chuseok gift, she is going to splash out on a longer chain. The Korean teachers' Chuseok gift was 100,000won. I expect my necklace should dangle down to my pelvis.
Do I sound bitter? I am, a little bit. I don't need ham. I don't need anything, really, but 115 bucks Cdn. (100,000won) is $115. There are many things I could do with that. Maybe I could buy Kamikaze a third carrot bed and keep him in "vittels" for a couple days. Whatever. It's not the gift that matters, it's the thought. But when there's no gift, what exactly is the thought? I feel alienated enough everyday at work at not being included in conversations and never really being told, even, what the hell is going on with anything. When I'm not even given a gift during a period where it's tradition to give gifts, it just makes me sad and further reminds me of what a waygook saram I am, an outsider, as if I could forget it for just a moment.
It's not tradition for Koreans to give Christmas presents to one another, but it's MY tradition. So, I busted out some joy in the form of brightly wrapped holiday gifts last season. I'll probably do the same this year, because I'm not much of an "eye for an eye" (or no-eye for no-eye) kind of person.
Still. What would you think? Would you be a little insulted?
Oh, and in my search for "ham," I saw this, a 7-11 product:
looks yummy, eh? They do not have this product at any 7-11 I've seen in Korea. Talk about alienation, GIMME MY BREAKFAST SANDWICH!!! I've been jonesing for an English muffin for so long. Though this sammy looks more like a biscuit than a muffin. Still, *Sigh*
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