Teacher's Dinner Pictures

In Korea, it's tradition that, with some regularity, all of the teachers at a school go out for dinner and drinking. Usually this is once a month - but this month marked the leaving of some teachers and the incoming of new ones - both causes for teacher's dinners.

These dinners tend to be long, awkward and drunken. Very, very drunken. The reason is that this is sort of the social time for teachers and to loosen up they all drink soju, makkeoli or beer and insist that you do the same with them. Over and over again.

If the principal wants to take a shot with you, you take one. If an older teacher (see: any other teacher at my school) wants to take a shot with you, you take one. No questions asked. You don't even get to pour your own drinks - someone does that for you and strips you of any remaining control of sobriety.

My group of friends - most of whom left my school for other schools - tend to go to the dinners and then do our own thing after. This means drinking - sometimes singing rooms, sometimes sweet Korean foods and embarrassing pictures. I'll put up pictures of the big group to give you an idea and then some of the funnier ones that I took from the "goodbye" teacher's dinner event two weeks ago.


first.....from the actual dinner - with the whole school staff












next, just a few of my friends and I at a bar afterward....











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