First Day of School

Today I had my first day of classes, which proved to be pretty interesting. Here are a few of the more notable highlights:

The Commute--Seriously, this damn thing is a SOLID hour and a half. Given that much of it occurred while walking on snow that was somehow slicker than ice, I was not happy. I do not like spending three hours a day in transit (note to self--I am obviously not meant for life in the burbs). Additionally, during this three hours of rush-hour commute, I saw a total of zero non-Asians. I feel like I am mentioning this a lot in my blog, so I want to state that I am OK with it and certainly don't have a problem with people from different cultures. I just find this surprising. I also find myself very conscious of how other people behave towards me. Overall, I feel like I am treated the way zoo animals probably behave towards the giraffe--they view it as something different and weird, but just because it looks different doesn't mean they want to actually go talk to it. They just observe it is different and odd looking and then continue about their day. I mean, a giraffe is no lion, which everyone respects immensely (king of the jungle, obviously) or a peacock, that total star of the zoo that everybody wants to get pictures with. There is one time, however, that people do seem interested in me--when I'm reading the New Yorker on the subway. I have noticed several passengers giving my articles a long and not-too-hidden stare, similar to the way I would try to read an Onion article over the shoulder of someone on a crowded bus. Interesting. One more note about the subway before moving on--the other passengers generally appear to be germophobes, opting to try and balance themselves precariously as opposed to simply grabbing the railing (I didn't realize this until I noticed I was the only person in the car grabbing a railing). This morning I spent at least 5 minutes trying not to sneeze, which I gather would be as socially acceptable as picking my nose and wiping it on the passenger next to me. Fortunately I did neither today.

First Class--My first class this morning, Managing in Asia, has a grading policy of 50% final group presentation, 20% final quiz (no test in a class this short I guess) and 30% class participation. A key to the final group presentation is that we also have to write an accompanying 25-page paper. Upon returning from our first break, however, the teacher said "someone came to me during break and asked about doing the final paper in such a short class, so I've decided that you all do not have to write the paper and instead need to just make the group presentation." The feeling I experienced was not entirely dissimilar to the way my two year old nephew reacted when he saw the ridiculously large train set Santa gave him for Christmas (except with slightly less peeing in the pants).

Lunch with Mr. Kim--The other noteworthy thing that happened today was lunch. As I was heading to lunch in the building's cafeteria with a guy I'd met in class, my friend stopped and started talking (in a slightly reverential tone) to an older guy that I assumed was a teacher. My friend then introduced me to this man by saying this guy was the President (of what--the student body, the school, South Korea????). I said my name was David and he said "please, just call me Mr. Kim." What a fabulous statement--he established clear dominance and humility all at the same time. I still don't know what Mr. Kim is President of, but I do know that he is a Sr. Manager with S. Korea's second largest steel company and that his company has given him the year off to get his MBA. Mr. Kim, upon hearing that we were on our way to the cafeteria, changed all our plans by simply saying "East Gate is much better, don't you think?" Without so much as another word, we all followed him to his car and he drove us to a very tasty Korean restaurant nearby. We had seafood pancakes (which I've eaten in Korean restaurants in the US--delicious), a dish that reminded me of a soup version of bibimbap, but without meat and with a lot of sprouts, and some kind of brown cold drink that had ginger and alcohol in it, which was also very good. When we finished Mr. Kim then bought lunch for all of us, and I could tell by the way the others behaved that this was he expected and accepted practice. Thank you very much, Mr. President.