Making Soap

One day without warning, although I'm sure it had been planned months in advance, the teachers at my school had a professional development activity in the late afternoon after the students had left for the day. We gathered in the science room to make soap.

Earlier in the year, an outside instructor came to the school to teach us how to make natural shampoo. She returned last week for a session on soap making. It was much the same process as before. Several bottles of various ingredients were spread out on the tables with a digital scale. We were to follow the directions by adding a certain amount of each ingredient to our cup, stirring, and repeating until all the ingredients had been added, and the combination had formed soap.

There were several types of soap that we could choose from, but being that the session was fully in Korean, I didn't really understand what was going on nor was I that interested in making soap. I ended up with two kinds of soap, the first was a barely-based exfoliating soap. The second was an orange-coloured paprika soap made with tomatoes, lemons and other spices that apparently moisturize the skin. I chose that soap because the powder looked like the orange powder that you add to ramen. All I really understood of the instructor's presentation was "essential oils". 

 

 

Sitting at my table of teachers was a male gym teacher. Once he realized what this session was all about, he left just before the session started and did not return. Luckily, at my table sat the new Korean English teacher and some other younger teachers, so they were able to explain everything to me in English. I appreciate their efforts because I would have been lost without them.

The new Korean English teacher was oddly pushy. For example, we had to add ingredients into the cup on the scale in precise measurements. Say we required 1.0 gram of a certain substance. I would drop a little in the cup, and it read 0.2 grams on the scale. Then I would add a little more, and it read 0.6 grams. She then grabbed the ingredients away from me and finished adding the substance herself while I sat and watched. This was repeated for every substance. At one point, apparently, I wasn't stirring my soap mixture properly, so she took it away from me and did it herself.

 

 

When we were ultimately finished, she again took the lead by putting my soap containers in the provided plastic bag. I guess she assumed I couldn't handle such a task.

I haven't used the soap yet as it's just sitting on my counter, but I'll give it a try and see if the whole thing was worth it.

I complain about these sessions because they are awkward and, at times, seem pointless. But with the pandemic cancelling many of the cultural activities that I would have participated in, I am thankful that the school offers these opportunities for learning and connecting with my colleagues away from the pressures of the classroom.