Help! My Ice Cream Is Melting!

Well the last couple of weeks have been rather routine, but we did have a few interesting events. Last Friday we were off work due to a “session break.” I (Chris) went to a friend’s apartment and played Axis and Allies (a war game) with him. Jenn and I were supposed to go with Jason (my aforementioned friend) and his fiancé Michelle to another couple’s house for dinner, but Jenn wasn’t feeling well and did not go. So I went with Jason and Michelle. We had a great time together. There were several other people who came, plus two others who didn’t because of illness.

During my war gaming with Jason we talked about our teaching experiences here in Korea (he’s been here four years now) and I feel I got some useful info about teaching at a university, which is my hopeful goal for my next contract (still 6 months away). I also got to hear a number of funny and strange experiences he has had here. It was all in all a good time.

Since we have been here our freezer has irritated me. It seriously had four inches of ice built up inside it, and even the fridge had some. The fridge was especially irritating because this ice would melt, forming pools of water on the middle shelf, generally mucking things up. That was easy to take care of as I was able to wipe up the water and then just pull out the shelf with the ice on it. The freezer was a different story….

So I had been told by Jason that it is very dangerous to use a sharp, metal object and hack at the ice in your freezer to defrost it. No one told me that before, when I did it several times in the States. Ooops ;-) So, I did not use my long practiced, tried and true method. Happily he did offer me a couple suggestions on how to do it. One was to use a hairdryer (if you’re patient), but we don’t have one that blows, only some other kind of funky ones (ask Jenn if you want details on that). The other option he told me was to use a pot of boiling water and set it inside the fridge. Easy enough, although a little messy.

So I boiled water and put it in the freezer, after emptying it of course. After several pots of hot water it was starting to make a difference, but still very slow. Remember, my ice cream is melting in the fridge!! So, I took a butter knife and CAREFULLY pried at the top edge of the ice, breaking pieces off. After a while of this, I had pulled off what seemed like half a gallon of ice, and this was only about a quarter of what was there. I didn’t have any points to pry at anymore, so I stopped prying and tried pouring this hot water on the ice. After using a bath towel to block the fountain of semi-warm to icy water that was trying to escape my freezer and find refuge on the floor, I determined that this was going to take more time. This would not normally have been a big deal, but my ice cream was still melting.

After waiting with more hot water in the freezer it was coming pretty well, but still wasn’t done. I finally decided that in the interests of preventing a total meltdown of the ice cream, it would have to be good enough. Now I have a half-inch of ice on the top of PART of my freezer and on the back, but I have clean, shiny walls and floor. Most importantly, my ice cream didn’t melt too much either :-)

Jenn had a funny thing happen in class one day.

Cute Kid Quote:

Student: Jenn teacher, did Chris teacher give you that juice?
Jenn: Yes, he did.
Student: Yesterday he gave you chocolate.
Jenn: Yes, he takes care of me.
Student: Does that make you Chris teacher’s pet?

Last week we learned that people are supposed to "take care" of their pets. I guess I should be careful how I phrase things.