something weird at school

So I've been meaning to write about this for a week now. But, as you know, I've been slightly distracted! Anyway, here you go. Last Monday I was told, at school, that the kids would be making wine the first class period instead of having show and tell. They were making wine for Chuseok (korean thanksgiving). Ok, it sure sounded a bit strange, but this IS Korea, and not the Christian background I was brought up in. So the kids came prepared with empty bottles and a bunch of grapes each. Curious to see how this was going to happen, I stuck around my classroom to "assist." Then our school director walks into my classroom to start the kids off and carries in the biggest bottle of Soju I've ever seen. SERIOUSLY! I could barely stop myself from laughing out loud and I was shocked beyond belief. For those of you who haven't lived in Korea, let me tell you a little bit about Soju. It is 1- the cheapest liquor you can buy here (about a dollar for a bottle) 2-the strongest cheapest liquor, coming in at a whopping 20-25% alcohol 3-it is the worst tasting liquor I've ever had. It is a common liquor though and helps explain all the abuse problems here. One bottle and most people would be quite taken care of. Anyway, a comparison could be made to vodka. Ok, so back to the story. The kids worked to push grapes into their bottles and then added a little bit of sugar before the director assisted with them pouring in the soju on top of it. A week later and these bottles have been sitting in my classroom fermenting. I can't imagine that it's going to taste good when they take it home next weekend, but hey, I don't have to drink it!


PS- I'm down to 51 days now. WOOHOO!