on seat belts

Yesterday, the middle school teachers went out to Geumsan (somewhere just outside of Daejeon, and it's famous for ginseng so the Koreans say) for lunch- which turned into a half day affair with driving 30 minutes to some other place for coffee. I sat in the backseat and put the seatbelt on, only to have my co-teacher say that the teacher who was driving is a good driver, and then unfasten my belt. 

Um. This, though a relatively minor incident, was not okay. Okay, sure sure, it's Korean culture/style not to wear seat belts- but that's someone else's safety he was messing with, and if I want to wear it in the car, let me! Please. Besides, I come from a group who refused to drive unless the belts were on. Unless you were my college roommate who was sneaky about not wearing them. On the way back after lunch, I put it on again and got some more chuckles from the Koreans. Though it also spurred the other female teacher who was in the backseat with me to do the same.

At lunch, we had little fish in a pan, covered in chili paste and sizzled until crispy, and the same little fish battered and fried. I ate them, and I surprised myself. Though, I stopped at the heads unlike the others who popped them whole. I figured, that one, I'm eating fish. Two, I'm eating all of their little bones, guts, and poop. So, then for three, excuse me while I stop myself at the brains and tiny eyeballs staring stupidly out at the universe. 

My co-teacher got the leftover fried fish packed up for me to give to John, which I thought was really kind of him. He thought maybe John hadn't had lunch. Although by the time I got back, it was almost 6:30 so they weren't so good anymore.