For the Love of Kimchee (Book 1)

27

Chloe found the bbq place with ease, thankful that it was only a 5 minute walk. Everyone had already gone ahead. She had to stay a little late at the school to tidy up her classroom. She didn't need the other teachers talking about her saying she had a messy classroom.

If there was one thing she learned that Korean people excelled at, it was gossiping, especially if it was about the foreign teachers. They had this weird interest in them and she refused to fall pray.

Her school was pretty small with only 20 teachers in total. Seven of the teachers were English speaking, while the other 13 were Korean.

When she stepped inside she barely had the time to say hello, before the pushy hostess showed her to her party. Chloe let it go, at least they had actual chairs at this place. Her foreigner legs couldn't stand sitting on the floor cross-legged for long.

The restaurant had set them up in the back of the restaurant. There was a long table big enough for all of them and everyone was already seated. As she got closer to the table she saw the Cass beers already being passed around.

Korean's loved their beer.

"Over here!" Beth, her favorite co-worker, waved her down, motioning to the empty seat next to her.

Chloe rounded the table and walked over without hesitation. The table seemed to be separated by race, with the foreigners on one side and the Korean staff on another. It was almost laughable.

She spotted Ji-Hye on the other side of the table and gave a small wave. Ji-Hye smiled back and continued her conversation with the people around her. She said down and greeted all the people around her.

The grills were already set up with the meat, and the male teachers were cooking it with ease. The aroma of the meat cooking on the grill made Chloe's mouth water.

She loved BBQ.

"So, what'd I miss?" Chloe asked, looking around the table at the other teachers. She spotted the water jug in front of her and reached over to pour some into her tiny steel cup. They didn't really do full-sized glasses here. And by here, she meant Korea. Unless she went to a foreigner style restaurant, everything was smaller by her American standards.

"Nothing much, we were just talking about what 'fun' lesson we were all going to do since it's now randomly become mandatory to have a fun lesson," Beth answered with a roll of her eyes.

Chloe's mouth formed an 'O' as she began to understand.

"So we aren't happy about this new change?" Chloe looked around the table.

"No, we aren't happy. All year they have been on our asses to stay on schedule and teach things directly from the textbook and we've been pushing for years to make the curriculum more fun, but nooooooo. As soon as a Korean parent calls its all 'why aren't your lessons more entertaining. You need to stop using the textbooks so much and be more creative. Like us foreign teachers hadn't brought up this issue before." Beth looked exhausted. Bags under eyes and her blonde hair was piled up in a bun on her head.

Chloe looked over at the other side of the table, and the Korean teachers didn't pay them any mind as they chatted along innocently.

"Yeah, I've been working at this hagwon for 5 years, and they have been adamant about not changing the materials and I could never understand it." Jake, the teacher sitting across from her added.

Chloe nervously looked to the other side of the table. Right now probably the best time for this conversation, especially since the higher-ups were here. Chloe made eye contact with the manager and was forced to smile brightly at him.