two things

so yesterday at my middle school i learned that they built a new cafeteria. haha... i had no idea they were building one, but all of a sudden there it was! anyway... i was confused because the old cafeteria seemed just fine (the new one is nice, but it's not that much nicer). and mrs. oh (my co-teacher who i just want to hug all the time. she and her husband declared themselves my korean parents. i love them) told me that they are just tearing down the old cafeteria! what?!
so today, during our walk, i told jenny (my favorite co-teacher, who i work with at the elementary school on wednesdays and take a walk with every week because neither one of us ever has anything to do in the afternoon) about it. she explained that every year the POE (provincial office of education) sets a certain budget for each school. if the school doesn't use the entire budget, they get however much they didn't use cut from the next year's budget (so if they get $1000 but they only use $900, the next year they would only get $900). so at the end of the year all the schools rush to use up whatever money they have left so that they get their full budget the next year. it's funny because i've noticed a lot of construction projects going on, but i didn't realize why until she told me that. it's pretty stupid. and it's funny the things they choose to use the money for (pretty sure there are a lot of things jocheon could use more than a new cafeteria!). anyway... it baffles the mind. but, like they do here, i don't ask questions. i just go with it. that was random, but i found it interesting. i think it's a good example of the weird little things that go on here...
and this is a funny thing that happened a couple weeks ago that i remembered today:
so jocheon (my middle school) went on a field trip a couple weeks ago (i actually took pictures and have more stories to tell about that... so that will be a different post). for the first part of the day, i hung out with mrs. kim (one of my main co-teachers there. she's somehow completely intimidating and completely awesome at the same time. i still can't figure it out). anyway... so we weren't really talking about anything in particular, when all of a sudden she tells me this little anecdote:

"there are three things that you will never find on jeju--beggars, thieves, and fences."

it was completely random, but interesting. i didn't really think much of it until later in the afternoon, when i was hanging out with mrs. oh. we were looking at pictures in this museum when, again out of nowhere, she told me this:

"there are three things that jeju has too much of--wind, rocks, and women."

what?! did they get together and plan to inform me of these little sayings or something? it was so weird! but good to know i guess! and it was especially funny because normally people would say them together, but neither one told me both. they each just told me one. (by the way, the women part is because jeju traditionally has a lot of fishermen--makes sense--and they would be gone all the time fishing so the island would be overrun by women. this is also why jeju women are considered stronger than any other korean women... they have always had to take care of themselves while their husbands were away.). here ya go: read about it
anyway... both of those are super random stories. and they have nothing to do with me or my life here... just jeju information. sorry!
anyway... i like it.
praise the Lord for putting me on jeju!