I apologize for not having written in a while... I could say I was busy or something, but that would just be lying. With every day that the temperature drops another degree, I get less and less funny, and I really didn't want to bore anyone. That, and my internet has been shoddy for the past couple of weeks, so it was just too much trouble.
Anyway, after I recovered from the plague, life went back to normal. Work was fine, I continued to not go to the gym, and resumed my habit of drinking too much on the weekends. Last weekend was MJ's birthday so we went on a big ski trip to Yongpyeong ski resort on the east coast... I didn't ski because I didn't want to give up my one advantage during games of "never have i ever," but everyone else who skiied/snowboarded had a good time. It was my first ever visit to a ski village.. it was cool even for a non-skiier! I liked the atmosphere. I spent saturday night there, and then sunday night, I stopped in Chuncheon since I didn't have to be at work till 130 the next day. I had my first DVD Room experience. Its a place just filled with rooms that have tv's and couches in them.. you pick out a dvd and watch it in such rooms. It's a cool idea.. like your person movie theater.. you can even bring your own snacks. A lot of highschool kids use it as a place to... be alone.. which is kinda weird. But we really just wanted to watch lord of the rings.
Obviously, this weekend was Christmas. Of course I missed my family and friends from home, but for being in Korea, Christmas was amazing- filled with good food, amazing friends, presents, cookies and lots of wine! I had to work on Christmas Eve till 8:30, which was a bummer. It would have been really nice if we had off.. or if they let us out early... but that was not the case. We finished our work early in all of my classes so we played Christmas bingo. I would say it was fun, but... i really just wanted to be outta there. Once work was over, it was all uphill from there! Steve arrived as I got out of work and we headed to Jongno Tower... we went to the bar that's on the 33rd floor.. it had a beautiful view and we had a lot of fun. Saturday, I headed to Cheorwon (by the DMZ) to see my friends. MJ and the girls had been cooking and decorating all week to get ready for christmas... it was really cute. We had a really good dinner, opened presents and stockings and just hung out listening to christmas music. MJ got me the best present EVER... an electric blanket! My life is going to change completely. Before moving here, I really had no idea that Korea was in the Arctic circle. Apparently it is. Who knew?
Something funny actually happening in school last week. Our lesson was about "Why People like Salsa Dancing." I was excited that it was going to be a fun lesson.. i got clips of different types of salsa dances and whatever. So the kids get to class and I'm talking all about salsa, and we're reading this article in the book about it... but the kids can NOT stop laughing. It was a class of 10 year old boys, actually. They were in hysterics and whispering amongst themselves... finally I asked what was so funny. I should have guessed.... there is only one topic that can make a 10 year old boy laugh uncontrollably. One finally told me: "teacher! In korean, salsa is 'water poopoo.'" So essentially, I was standing in front of the class teaching a lesson about "Why People Like diarrhea," saying things like "People like diarrhea because it makes them happy." If I cared about what 10 year old thought about me, I 'd be mortified. WHyy would the book do that to me?! I honestly couldn't even be mad at the kids cus.. come on, its funny.
Other than that, not too much is going on. Starting tomorrow, I'm definitely going to start exercising... gotta get ready for the Philippines! And next week is new years! I can't wait!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Asian Work Ethic
Alright, so I found a MAJOR draw back of working in an Asian country: The work ethic. I thought we were work-a-holics in America? Nah-uh.
We had our first snowfall in Seoul last Sunday. It was beautiful. Not only did it bring beauty to the otherwise seedy looking Itaewon- it also brought me the flu. I was feeling run down on Monday, but took it for the usual monday-blues and powered through. By tuesday night I had a 101.5 fever, chills and body aches-yet ZERO sick days. I showed up to work everyday- but of course, not without comments from students- "teacher, you look very bad!" and "teacher, no makeup?!" It isn't that my school is particularly cruel to its employees- they actually treat us really well- It's just a cultural thing. In Korea, even when you're sick, you get out of bed, shower if you can manage it (I couldn't), bundle up and come to work, dammit! It didn't help that this was a particularly stressful week for everyone at school to begin with, because we merged with another school. We all moved classrooms, got new classes (it was a new term) and got a new boss. Everyone was having computer problems, printer problems projector problems, you name it.. so it was really no time for me to complain because the staff already had so much on their hands. To add to my awesome situation, I lost my wallet last weekend. And lost internet in my apartment. It really seemed like everything was going wrong.. and then friday I got a surprise package from my mom... she sent our favorite christmas cd! John Denver & the Muppets. Corny? Yes. Did it make me almost cry tears of joy to hear "twelve days of christmas" in miss piggy's voice coming out of my computer speakers? Definitely.
Needless to say, I spent the weekend unconscious, recovering from the week-o'-hell. My apartment still looks like a bio-hazard zone and I'm still exhausted but I no longer feel like I'm going to collapse any second, so that's good!
I really can't believe it's the beginning of December. I have a LOT to look forward to- MJ's birthday (skiing!), Christmas, New Years.... all the fun stuff. I'm excited and so lucky that I have amazing friends to share it with. Thanksgiving was tough in terms of homesickness... I wish I was home with my family, even though they weren't even doing anything too big and barely anyone was around. I guess I was homesick for something that doesn't even exist anymore- big family dinners at my grandparents' house, with everyone there...grandpa drinking coffee, the guys watching football in the den, the girls in the kitchen emptying cranberry sauce from a can and stealing the skin off the turkey before the guys can carve it up.. with the Andrew Sisters and Johnny Cash on the stereo. But I guess considering I'm in Korea, it wasn't so bad- I went with 2 of my co-workers to On the Border.. there's one in Seoul! We ate more than is humanly possible, and then ate some more. It was a good night.
Like I said.. there's a lot to look forward to! End of december activities... and then Alex & Beth, 2 of my friends from college, are heading to Korea to start their contracts! I'm excited to have them here.. they're still waiting to hear about their placements, but hopefully we'll be close.
I'm going to curl up in bed with a book.. it's too cold to type any longer!
Toodles!
We had our first snowfall in Seoul last Sunday. It was beautiful. Not only did it bring beauty to the otherwise seedy looking Itaewon- it also brought me the flu. I was feeling run down on Monday, but took it for the usual monday-blues and powered through. By tuesday night I had a 101.5 fever, chills and body aches-yet ZERO sick days. I showed up to work everyday- but of course, not without comments from students- "teacher, you look very bad!" and "teacher, no makeup?!" It isn't that my school is particularly cruel to its employees- they actually treat us really well- It's just a cultural thing. In Korea, even when you're sick, you get out of bed, shower if you can manage it (I couldn't), bundle up and come to work, dammit! It didn't help that this was a particularly stressful week for everyone at school to begin with, because we merged with another school. We all moved classrooms, got new classes (it was a new term) and got a new boss. Everyone was having computer problems, printer problems projector problems, you name it.. so it was really no time for me to complain because the staff already had so much on their hands. To add to my awesome situation, I lost my wallet last weekend. And lost internet in my apartment. It really seemed like everything was going wrong.. and then friday I got a surprise package from my mom... she sent our favorite christmas cd! John Denver & the Muppets. Corny? Yes. Did it make me almost cry tears of joy to hear "twelve days of christmas" in miss piggy's voice coming out of my computer speakers? Definitely.
Needless to say, I spent the weekend unconscious, recovering from the week-o'-hell. My apartment still looks like a bio-hazard zone and I'm still exhausted but I no longer feel like I'm going to collapse any second, so that's good!
I really can't believe it's the beginning of December. I have a LOT to look forward to- MJ's birthday (skiing!), Christmas, New Years.... all the fun stuff. I'm excited and so lucky that I have amazing friends to share it with. Thanksgiving was tough in terms of homesickness... I wish I was home with my family, even though they weren't even doing anything too big and barely anyone was around. I guess I was homesick for something that doesn't even exist anymore- big family dinners at my grandparents' house, with everyone there...grandpa drinking coffee, the guys watching football in the den, the girls in the kitchen emptying cranberry sauce from a can and stealing the skin off the turkey before the guys can carve it up.. with the Andrew Sisters and Johnny Cash on the stereo. But I guess considering I'm in Korea, it wasn't so bad- I went with 2 of my co-workers to On the Border.. there's one in Seoul! We ate more than is humanly possible, and then ate some more. It was a good night.
Like I said.. there's a lot to look forward to! End of december activities... and then Alex & Beth, 2 of my friends from college, are heading to Korea to start their contracts! I'm excited to have them here.. they're still waiting to hear about their placements, but hopefully we'll be close.
I'm going to curl up in bed with a book.. it's too cold to type any longer!
Toodles!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
November thus far- hiking, Chuncheon & corn dogs
Wow, I've barely updated for all of November. It is weird that it's already almost thanksgiving because Halloween feels like it was yesterday. This month has really flown by and I can't believe I've been here for more than two months. I think I'm starting to get the hang out of things.. I ordered a futon online, so everyone must come visit! It'll be nice to have a place for people to sit other than the floor when they come over. Also, I Just figured out how to download movies from a torrent, so that's going to change my life for the better. Before this, the only shows that streamed well online were the daily show and south park. Not a bad selection, just very limited.
November went in like a lamb and is going out like a lion. The beginning of the month was beautiful and the sun was still warm. Everyday that passes, it gets colder and colder. If this is only November weather, I am NOT looking forward to January and February. The first weekend of this month, I went hiking up Bukhansan Mountain in Seoul with my co-worker. The mountain is actually in my district (Eunpyeong) and was 3 subway stops away, so it was easy to get to. Since it was one of the last nice weekends, the trail was very crowded, and middle-aged Koreans don't have much patience for others when they get into hiking mode. They push you out of the way if you're going to slow, so you never need to worry about holding anyone up.
The hike was really fun but I wasn't prepared for how intense it would be. It was very steep, and towards the top, you literally needed to use a rope to pull yourself up the smooth rock. Let's just say, I was sore until about Thursday. What sucked the most is that once we got to the top, it was so cloudy that we had absolutely no view. Normally, you can see all of Seoul from the top of the mountain... but all we could see was clouds. Kind of a bummer! But it was definitely worth it, since now it will be way too cold to do anything like that.
The following weekend, I got out of Seoul and went to another city called Chuncheon to visit some friends. It's about an hour bus ride from Eastern Seoul and it is the capital of Gangwan-do (the state to the East of Seoul that is generally more rural). I got there on Saturday night and basically just went out to a bar that night.. nothing too interesting. The next day, we went for a long walk around Chuncheon, from my friend's apartment to the downtown area. I saw his school- a huge, public, all-boys middle school. Can you imagine the hormones in that place? We also went to "ttakgalbi street" which was pretty cool- it was just filled with everything that had to do with ttakgalbi, from restaurants to huge plastic chicken statues. I had a lot of fun in Chuncheon and it was nice to get a break from the big city. They're famous for their ttakgalbi, which is an amazing Korean dish made up of spicy chicken, rice cakes, and some other shit. Definitely had it for both dinner on saturday night aaand lunch on Sunday. I really enjoyed myself. It was a nice, relaxing weekend.
This weekend, I had really hyped up. We got tickets to see the Flaming Lips and I had been excited forever. I met MJ in Hongdae at 1:30 for a haircut. She looked great when we left. Me, not so much. I got highlights and am wayy too blonde. I sort of look like a playboy bunny. Or Pam Anderson. Not a good look, really. Anyway, the Flaming Lips tickets said that the concert started at 7. But would you ever go to a concert at 7? Most concerts that say they start at 7 or 8 have at least 2 opening bands, set up time, etc.. so the main act doesn't wind up going on until 10 or 11. 9 at the earliest. So, we planned on getting there at 8 (which we still thought was pretty early). It turned out the concert literally started at 7. On the dot. We arrived shortly after 8 and missed almost the entire concert. We saw 4 songs. FOUR. I'm still so pissed about it. Who doesn't have an opening band?? Who ends their concert at NINE O CLOCK?? Ugh. On the brightside, the 4 songs we saw were amaaaazing. They ended with Do you realize?? which was beautiful... there was confetti eeeverywhere. It was awesome. I'll post pictures once I upload them.
We decided to go out after the concert, since it was literally 9 PM and the night was still young. I was with MJ, Johanna, and my friend from college, Megan. MJ and I had met these 3 guys when we were frantically running around looking for the concert venue, since we couldn't find it and were already so late. These guys also missed the concert, so since we had a shared resentment for the band/our lives, and they came out with us after the show. We had a really good time.. we went out in Hongdae to one of the various Ho Bars then to a place called "Garage" that was literally a garage.. so that was kind of cool. I left with my girlfriends to go home at around 2 and stopped to eat at a stand on the street selling various Korean fried things and corn dogs. Only then did it occur to us that we spend every weekend talking endlessly about how we wish we could meet a group of hot, awesome guys that want to hang out with us. After all that talk, our dream was finally coming true-we met 3 hot, awesome guys.... and then ditched them to go eat corn dogs on the street. WHAT is wrong with us??
That pretty much sums it up. My school is under construction and is a TOTAL mess right now. We merged with another school (I work at CDI April Institute, which is elementary school. We merged with CDI, which is the same school but for the older kids). They're moving into our building so they're pretty much gutting the inside of the building. They're moving walls, making new classrooms, putting up new wallpaper, etc etc. The end of November should be interesting, with 13 new foreign teachers and 500 extra kids running around. I'm teaching a new class for Pre-K, so my students will be like... 4 and 5 year olds. Do they even have motor skills at that age? I really don't know how I'm going to keep their attention for an hour. Or how we're going to do ANYTHING because they don't speak any english and have the attention span of fruit flies. It's going to be teaching the ABC's and phonics using a lot of songs and games and stuff The school prepares us really well- they provide all the materials and I went to a training session about it. I DO get to use puppets, which I'm excited about. There's Kenny the Cat.. and some others, but I can't remember their names. I have to use the puppet to show "the cat is thirsty" and "the cat is sleepy." I think it'll be easier to act like a total goofball when I have a sockpuppet on my hand.
I'm exhausted. Another lazy Sunday. Already excited for next weekend.
Ta-ta !
November went in like a lamb and is going out like a lion. The beginning of the month was beautiful and the sun was still warm. Everyday that passes, it gets colder and colder. If this is only November weather, I am NOT looking forward to January and February. The first weekend of this month, I went hiking up Bukhansan Mountain in Seoul with my co-worker. The mountain is actually in my district (Eunpyeong) and was 3 subway stops away, so it was easy to get to. Since it was one of the last nice weekends, the trail was very crowded, and middle-aged Koreans don't have much patience for others when they get into hiking mode. They push you out of the way if you're going to slow, so you never need to worry about holding anyone up.
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| Andrew looking off into the distance |
The following weekend, I got out of Seoul and went to another city called Chuncheon to visit some friends. It's about an hour bus ride from Eastern Seoul and it is the capital of Gangwan-do (the state to the East of Seoul that is generally more rural). I got there on Saturday night and basically just went out to a bar that night.. nothing too interesting. The next day, we went for a long walk around Chuncheon, from my friend's apartment to the downtown area. I saw his school- a huge, public, all-boys middle school. Can you imagine the hormones in that place? We also went to "ttakgalbi street" which was pretty cool- it was just filled with everything that had to do with ttakgalbi, from restaurants to huge plastic chicken statues. I had a lot of fun in Chuncheon and it was nice to get a break from the big city. They're famous for their ttakgalbi, which is an amazing Korean dish made up of spicy chicken, rice cakes, and some other shit. Definitely had it for both dinner on saturday night aaand lunch on Sunday. I really enjoyed myself. It was a nice, relaxing weekend.
This weekend, I had really hyped up. We got tickets to see the Flaming Lips and I had been excited forever. I met MJ in Hongdae at 1:30 for a haircut. She looked great when we left. Me, not so much. I got highlights and am wayy too blonde. I sort of look like a playboy bunny. Or Pam Anderson. Not a good look, really. Anyway, the Flaming Lips tickets said that the concert started at 7. But would you ever go to a concert at 7? Most concerts that say they start at 7 or 8 have at least 2 opening bands, set up time, etc.. so the main act doesn't wind up going on until 10 or 11. 9 at the earliest. So, we planned on getting there at 8 (which we still thought was pretty early). It turned out the concert literally started at 7. On the dot. We arrived shortly after 8 and missed almost the entire concert. We saw 4 songs. FOUR. I'm still so pissed about it. Who doesn't have an opening band?? Who ends their concert at NINE O CLOCK?? Ugh. On the brightside, the 4 songs we saw were amaaaazing. They ended with Do you realize?? which was beautiful... there was confetti eeeverywhere. It was awesome. I'll post pictures once I upload them.
We decided to go out after the concert, since it was literally 9 PM and the night was still young. I was with MJ, Johanna, and my friend from college, Megan. MJ and I had met these 3 guys when we were frantically running around looking for the concert venue, since we couldn't find it and were already so late. These guys also missed the concert, so since we had a shared resentment for the band/our lives, and they came out with us after the show. We had a really good time.. we went out in Hongdae to one of the various Ho Bars then to a place called "Garage" that was literally a garage.. so that was kind of cool. I left with my girlfriends to go home at around 2 and stopped to eat at a stand on the street selling various Korean fried things and corn dogs. Only then did it occur to us that we spend every weekend talking endlessly about how we wish we could meet a group of hot, awesome guys that want to hang out with us. After all that talk, our dream was finally coming true-we met 3 hot, awesome guys.... and then ditched them to go eat corn dogs on the street. WHAT is wrong with us??
That pretty much sums it up. My school is under construction and is a TOTAL mess right now. We merged with another school (I work at CDI April Institute, which is elementary school. We merged with CDI, which is the same school but for the older kids). They're moving into our building so they're pretty much gutting the inside of the building. They're moving walls, making new classrooms, putting up new wallpaper, etc etc. The end of November should be interesting, with 13 new foreign teachers and 500 extra kids running around. I'm teaching a new class for Pre-K, so my students will be like... 4 and 5 year olds. Do they even have motor skills at that age? I really don't know how I'm going to keep their attention for an hour. Or how we're going to do ANYTHING because they don't speak any english and have the attention span of fruit flies. It's going to be teaching the ABC's and phonics using a lot of songs and games and stuff The school prepares us really well- they provide all the materials and I went to a training session about it. I DO get to use puppets, which I'm excited about. There's Kenny the Cat.. and some others, but I can't remember their names. I have to use the puppet to show "the cat is thirsty" and "the cat is sleepy." I think it'll be easier to act like a total goofball when I have a sockpuppet on my hand.
I'm exhausted. Another lazy Sunday. Already excited for next weekend.
Ta-ta !
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Halloween weekend
Last weekend was awesome. I know how fanatical some people get about halloween, but it's never really been my thing. I'm more of a fourth-of-july kind of gal. But this Halloween was a blast. We didn't have a huge party in school because parents would have complained that the kids were missing a lesson (isn't that sad?) but we were able to do a mini-celebration the last 15 minutes of class. In all my classes, we played halloween bingo, then I showed them Michael Jackson's Thriller video. It was perfect. I actually scared the crap out of my beginner class, which was kind of adorable.
I bolted out of work on friday to catch a bus to Skocho, which is on the eastern coast of Korea. I met 2 friends at the bus stop in Seoul and realized we had about an hour and a half to wait for the bus. We did some hat shopping, and voila! I had a cowgirl halloween costume. We got to Sokcho at about 2 in the morning (woof) and since I hadn't seen my girlfriends in a week, we obviously stayed up until about 5 giggling. Which made waking up at 7 really interesting... and by interesting, i mean really fucking terrible. But, we bundled up, chugged some coffee, ate some carbs, and headed over to Soraksan National Park. It's known for having some of the prettiest mountains in Korea. This reputation was fairly earned. The mountains were unbelievably beautiful and it didn't hurt that all the leaves were shades of red, orange and yellow. We had an intense hike but spent some time at the top hanging out sharing snacks with middle-aged Korean men. I've never really been an avid hiker, but I think I've been fully converted into a fanatic. Hiking is fun! Especially when you do it Korean-style and drink beer at the top.
We went to a Halloween party on Saturday night in Sokcho and people had some really awesome costumes! Without a "party city" around, people got really creative. There was Medusa, a gingerbread man, a kim bap roll, zoro, the droogs, a pregnent belly dancing ajumma... you name it.
Other than that, I really like my school. I feel like I got really lucky. When I put in my placement request, I actually requested to be in a city other than seoul, teaching high school students. So, of course, they put my in Seoul teaching elementary school. But I really love it. The area I live in is amazing.. its not in the center of seoul so it's pretty and not so crowded.. but I live close enough to all the fun stuff. My branch is awesome.. it's small but the people are great. I went out last night with the Koreans from school.. they're SO funny. I had a really good time. I really couldn't imagine being anywhere else!
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| Vampire Freddy |
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| A bunch of the teachers |
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| My beginner class... look at Max all the way on the right hahah |
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| Jessica and Monnica |
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| Seed 2 class |
I bolted out of work on friday to catch a bus to Skocho, which is on the eastern coast of Korea. I met 2 friends at the bus stop in Seoul and realized we had about an hour and a half to wait for the bus. We did some hat shopping, and voila! I had a cowgirl halloween costume. We got to Sokcho at about 2 in the morning (woof) and since I hadn't seen my girlfriends in a week, we obviously stayed up until about 5 giggling. Which made waking up at 7 really interesting... and by interesting, i mean really fucking terrible. But, we bundled up, chugged some coffee, ate some carbs, and headed over to Soraksan National Park. It's known for having some of the prettiest mountains in Korea. This reputation was fairly earned. The mountains were unbelievably beautiful and it didn't hurt that all the leaves were shades of red, orange and yellow. We had an intense hike but spent some time at the top hanging out sharing snacks with middle-aged Korean men. I've never really been an avid hiker, but I think I've been fully converted into a fanatic. Hiking is fun! Especially when you do it Korean-style and drink beer at the top.
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| MJ and I at the top |
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| Our new Korean friends |
We went to a Halloween party on Saturday night in Sokcho and people had some really awesome costumes! Without a "party city" around, people got really creative. There was Medusa, a gingerbread man, a kim bap roll, zoro, the droogs, a pregnent belly dancing ajumma... you name it.
Other than that, I really like my school. I feel like I got really lucky. When I put in my placement request, I actually requested to be in a city other than seoul, teaching high school students. So, of course, they put my in Seoul teaching elementary school. But I really love it. The area I live in is amazing.. its not in the center of seoul so it's pretty and not so crowded.. but I live close enough to all the fun stuff. My branch is awesome.. it's small but the people are great. I went out last night with the Koreans from school.. they're SO funny. I had a really good time. I really couldn't imagine being anywhere else!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Thank you so much for making my dog a robot
Well, 'tis the end of another insane weekend. For one, it looks as if North Korea invaded.... yet kept all damages and destruction to the confines of my studio apartment. I love being in Seoul because it automatically means that your apartment becomes a hotel on the weekends- this weekend I housed no less than 8 people- which was amazing but definitely left my apartment looking like a crack den. I'm talking broken wine glasses, posters falling off the wall, empty bottles and candy wrappers everywhere, heaps of blankets, old pizza boxes.. you can imagine. Also, out of the 8 people sleeping here, I knew 6- the other 2 were random spanish-speaking koreans.
I guess I haven't written in a while so I can do a quick catch up. Last weekend I went to a rock festival in Daejeon. It hadn't been my original plan, but was still tres awesome. I had intended to go to a jazz festival on Zara Island. I woke up early saturday morning and trekked across the city to the Dong Seoul bus terminal- only to find out that the buses were sold out until 530 PM. I knew that there was a smaller bus station not too far, so I headed over there. Directions on the website said to go to "Jamsil Station, Exit 9, and take bus 7000." Sounds easy enough, right? Well I get to Jamsil Station and there was NO exit 9. After trying every other exit, I realized that there was also no bus 7000 either. I was frustrated and exhausted after spending all day looking for a bus that didn't exist, so I headed home to make a new game plan. I never, ever thought I would say this- but I (just a little tiny bit) missed Penn Station and all it's English speaking glory.
I made some phone calls and decided to go to this rock festival in Daejeon instead. A girl that I went to college with lives in Daejeon. She sang a capella with my roomate, so I actually knew her quite well, in a stalker "i've-been-to-every-one-of-your-concerts" kind of way. What are the chances that someone else from your 3,000 person college lives in the same little country in East Asia, right? I met up with her and her friends and had an amaaaazing time. I wish i hung out with this girl for all of college! We listened to shitty rock and drank shitty Korean beer for hours, until the concert got shut down. It was supposed to go until 6 AM but something happened and they had to end it early. So, we went to Noribang! (Noribang=kharaoke room). I've actually been avoiding noribang since I've been here. You know.... the whole tone deaf thing. People have been shocked when I've told them I've made it over a month without going to noribang.. you know how asians are about their kharaoke. But as it turns out, it is SO much fun. They have the most ridiculous songs. After kharaoke, Megan and her friends were exhausted and ready for bed, so I met up with my friend Liza. Since neither Liza nor I live in Daejeon, we had crafted this master plan of staying up all night and taking the first train home in the morning. We hadn't factored in the fact that the concert would end about 6 hours early, so we spent the rest of the night sitting on the steps outside a 7-11, drinking beer, eating fried dumplings, and talking about life and love and everything in between (a drunk guy was passed out in between us, which sort of ruined the moment, but whatever). I finally made it onto the 6 AM train, in my sequined covered shirt surrounded by men and women in suits.
This week trickled by. Minutes felt like hours and the weather is starting to get colder. But, my kids did have a few good lines. The project we were doing started out with them naming things they want to change about themselves- it was a pretty depressing project that I wish would be eliminated from the curriculum. These kids are 8 years old! They shouldn't already want to be skinnier and richer. Anyway, they then had to pretend that they met a wizard who changed the thing about them that they wanted to change the most... and write him a thank you note. Here are two of my favorites:
Dear Wizard,
Thank you so much for making my dog a robot because robot makes food.
It does my homework. I go to school in the robot. It’s very fast.
Love,
Kevin
Dear Wizard,
Thank you so much for making me god because I want to make my world
and make my people and make many slaves.
Love,
Jin
Clever, right?
So finally Friday rolled around. I hadn't had a great week, so being the amazing friends they are, MJ and Johanna jumped on a bus after work to head to Seoul (they live out by the DMZ). We got ready and headed out to Hongdae. We met up with a bunch of friends and danced the night away. At around 4 am we decided to stuff someone's backpack with beers and snacks and head to a "luxury noribang" place. The outside legit looked like a palace. The inside was beautiful... there was a clear plexiglass floor and underneath there was a dollhouse world. It sounds weird now that I'm describing it, but I promise it was cool. The Koreans we were with (that we met on the street and spent the whole night hanging out with, obviously [???]) totally sang Korean Pop. They danced like K-Pop stars too. It was spectacular.
After noribang, I obviously invited all 8 people I was with to come sleep at my little studio apartment- I really am such a sucker when it comes to inviting people to stay with me- remember the Danish guy? I didnt even know him and I invited him to stay at my house for a night on his way to NYC. He stayed for a WEEK. I couldn't get him to leave. I wouldn't have even minded if he wasn't such a dousche bag about everything. He never even thanked my mom! Anyway, we all woke up on Saturday- everyone except MJ and Johanna groggily stumbled out and made their way home. The 3 of us spent the rest of the day snuggled up watching Summer Heights High, giggling about the night before and complaining about our hangovers.
Sunday, I did a 10K race here in Seoul! There were thousands of people, and everyone was wearing neon yellow shirts. It looked awesome, and the route was really cool.... it was along the river at sunset. Really gorgeous. I actually didn't even know I could finish at 10K but MJ and I ran it together.. we did it in an hour flat! I'm really proud of us.
As for this week, halloween is coming up! We aren't allowed to really celebrate in school (apparently parents would complain.. how sad is that?) but we're going to do a little something at the end of the day on friday. Then I'll be heading to Sokcho to hike, go to the beach, and celebrate halloween with my friends!
Ta-ta for now!
I guess I haven't written in a while so I can do a quick catch up. Last weekend I went to a rock festival in Daejeon. It hadn't been my original plan, but was still tres awesome. I had intended to go to a jazz festival on Zara Island. I woke up early saturday morning and trekked across the city to the Dong Seoul bus terminal- only to find out that the buses were sold out until 530 PM. I knew that there was a smaller bus station not too far, so I headed over there. Directions on the website said to go to "Jamsil Station, Exit 9, and take bus 7000." Sounds easy enough, right? Well I get to Jamsil Station and there was NO exit 9. After trying every other exit, I realized that there was also no bus 7000 either. I was frustrated and exhausted after spending all day looking for a bus that didn't exist, so I headed home to make a new game plan. I never, ever thought I would say this- but I (just a little tiny bit) missed Penn Station and all it's English speaking glory.
I made some phone calls and decided to go to this rock festival in Daejeon instead. A girl that I went to college with lives in Daejeon. She sang a capella with my roomate, so I actually knew her quite well, in a stalker "i've-been-to-every-one-of-your-concerts" kind of way. What are the chances that someone else from your 3,000 person college lives in the same little country in East Asia, right? I met up with her and her friends and had an amaaaazing time. I wish i hung out with this girl for all of college! We listened to shitty rock and drank shitty Korean beer for hours, until the concert got shut down. It was supposed to go until 6 AM but something happened and they had to end it early. So, we went to Noribang! (Noribang=kharaoke room). I've actually been avoiding noribang since I've been here. You know.... the whole tone deaf thing. People have been shocked when I've told them I've made it over a month without going to noribang.. you know how asians are about their kharaoke. But as it turns out, it is SO much fun. They have the most ridiculous songs. After kharaoke, Megan and her friends were exhausted and ready for bed, so I met up with my friend Liza. Since neither Liza nor I live in Daejeon, we had crafted this master plan of staying up all night and taking the first train home in the morning. We hadn't factored in the fact that the concert would end about 6 hours early, so we spent the rest of the night sitting on the steps outside a 7-11, drinking beer, eating fried dumplings, and talking about life and love and everything in between (a drunk guy was passed out in between us, which sort of ruined the moment, but whatever). I finally made it onto the 6 AM train, in my sequined covered shirt surrounded by men and women in suits.
This week trickled by. Minutes felt like hours and the weather is starting to get colder. But, my kids did have a few good lines. The project we were doing started out with them naming things they want to change about themselves- it was a pretty depressing project that I wish would be eliminated from the curriculum. These kids are 8 years old! They shouldn't already want to be skinnier and richer. Anyway, they then had to pretend that they met a wizard who changed the thing about them that they wanted to change the most... and write him a thank you note. Here are two of my favorites:
Dear Wizard,
Thank you so much for making my dog a robot because robot makes food.
It does my homework. I go to school in the robot. It’s very fast.
Love,
Kevin
Dear Wizard,
Thank you so much for making me god because I want to make my world
and make my people and make many slaves.
Love,
Jin
Clever, right?
So finally Friday rolled around. I hadn't had a great week, so being the amazing friends they are, MJ and Johanna jumped on a bus after work to head to Seoul (they live out by the DMZ). We got ready and headed out to Hongdae. We met up with a bunch of friends and danced the night away. At around 4 am we decided to stuff someone's backpack with beers and snacks and head to a "luxury noribang" place. The outside legit looked like a palace. The inside was beautiful... there was a clear plexiglass floor and underneath there was a dollhouse world. It sounds weird now that I'm describing it, but I promise it was cool. The Koreans we were with (that we met on the street and spent the whole night hanging out with, obviously [???]) totally sang Korean Pop. They danced like K-Pop stars too. It was spectacular.
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| Here's Aaron and I singing a duet. He was Eminem and I was Dr. Dre. And yes, that's our friend Steve sleeping in the background. |
After noribang, I obviously invited all 8 people I was with to come sleep at my little studio apartment- I really am such a sucker when it comes to inviting people to stay with me- remember the Danish guy? I didnt even know him and I invited him to stay at my house for a night on his way to NYC. He stayed for a WEEK. I couldn't get him to leave. I wouldn't have even minded if he wasn't such a dousche bag about everything. He never even thanked my mom! Anyway, we all woke up on Saturday- everyone except MJ and Johanna groggily stumbled out and made their way home. The 3 of us spent the rest of the day snuggled up watching Summer Heights High, giggling about the night before and complaining about our hangovers.
Sunday, I did a 10K race here in Seoul! There were thousands of people, and everyone was wearing neon yellow shirts. It looked awesome, and the route was really cool.... it was along the river at sunset. Really gorgeous. I actually didn't even know I could finish at 10K but MJ and I ran it together.. we did it in an hour flat! I'm really proud of us.
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| Cool, eh? |
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| Some of my friends before the race! |
As for this week, halloween is coming up! We aren't allowed to really celebrate in school (apparently parents would complain.. how sad is that?) but we're going to do a little something at the end of the day on friday. Then I'll be heading to Sokcho to hike, go to the beach, and celebrate halloween with my friends!
Ta-ta for now!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Doris wants to be a dancer
Here is a video that we made in class last week. I think they did a pretty good job and it looks like they had fun with it! Also.. I hope the sound works better on everyone else's computer because it's pretty bad on mine. Let me know.
Friday, October 15, 2010
For Your Confusion
TGIF, once again. I would be much more content if: a) I were out doing something fun instead of writing this blog, and b) my sheets were dry. I washed them this morning and they're still draped over the drying rack, as damp as the day they came out of the machine. Granted, that day was today, but it was HOURS ago so I really wish they would be dry already. What this does mean though, is that I washed my sheets. High five, Mom!
Today, for the first time in my life, I MADE A BOY CRY. Granted, this boy was about 15 years younger than me, but still. Yes, I made one of my students burst out into tears and sob.
Additionally, thank god physical abuse is A-OK here. I make it sound like I'm whipping them- I'm not. In the states, if you even pat a student on the shoulder, you risk being accused of sexual harassment. But as I get more comfortable teaching here, I also get more comfortable with pushing them away from my desk when they're being nosy or giving them little smacks on the head when they're trying to fool around. Apparently they still use "love sticks" in public school, so I'm tame in comparison. Anyway, today I grabbed a student by the arms and dragged him across the floor. Literally mopped the floor with his body. He was playing with some other kid while another group was performing and they WOULDNT STOP. I probably shouldn't have done that, considering my classroom is equipped with CCTV.. which is regularly watched by the owner of the school. Ooops.
Also, for anyone who knows me, my singing voice isn't that good. To be more accurate, I'm completely tone deaf. During my evaluation today, my head instructor told me to be more energetic during the kindergarten class.... (energy.. woof). Before today, I would just stand there while they listened to the songs about goats and yams and a big man named dan who opens a map on his lap. Today, I decided to spice it up sing and dance during the song. Not just a little bounce up and down... a full blown, arms swinging, legs kicking dance with the song being sung at the top of my lungs. My class HELD THEIR EARS and said "teeeacherrrr Nooooo Stooooop."
Also, I hate after a long day of classes when the kids' Konglish voices get stuck in my head!! All I can hear echoing is "Teacha, finish-EE.." and "Teeeeacherrr-uhhh." It drives me crazy!! It's like they use their asian accents to mock me. I'm not saying that to be mean... I'm positive that they all know how to speak correctly, because they do it when they need to (like.. when they're being graded on their speaking). But other times, they purposely do this Konglish thing because they think its funny! And maybe it is a little bit.. but boy, does it get stuck in your head.
Also, all the teachers were mixed up about what we needed to collect and what we didn't... so our Korean branch manager sent out a message titled, "For Your Confusion."
Today I opened a bank account (I think I did.. but none of it was English so I could have very well just donated my money to the bank). On my way home, I walked past the hospital and there was a group of men standing out there smoking, in their hospital gowns and with their IV poles still drippin'. I wish I had my camera.
Tomorrow I'm off to a jazz festival at Gulla Gulla island. (it's actually zara zara island, but whatever).
Ta- Ta!
Today, for the first time in my life, I MADE A BOY CRY. Granted, this boy was about 15 years younger than me, but still. Yes, I made one of my students burst out into tears and sob.
Additionally, thank god physical abuse is A-OK here. I make it sound like I'm whipping them- I'm not. In the states, if you even pat a student on the shoulder, you risk being accused of sexual harassment. But as I get more comfortable teaching here, I also get more comfortable with pushing them away from my desk when they're being nosy or giving them little smacks on the head when they're trying to fool around. Apparently they still use "love sticks" in public school, so I'm tame in comparison. Anyway, today I grabbed a student by the arms and dragged him across the floor. Literally mopped the floor with his body. He was playing with some other kid while another group was performing and they WOULDNT STOP. I probably shouldn't have done that, considering my classroom is equipped with CCTV.. which is regularly watched by the owner of the school. Ooops.
Also, for anyone who knows me, my singing voice isn't that good. To be more accurate, I'm completely tone deaf. During my evaluation today, my head instructor told me to be more energetic during the kindergarten class.... (energy.. woof). Before today, I would just stand there while they listened to the songs about goats and yams and a big man named dan who opens a map on his lap. Today, I decided to spice it up sing and dance during the song. Not just a little bounce up and down... a full blown, arms swinging, legs kicking dance with the song being sung at the top of my lungs. My class HELD THEIR EARS and said "teeeacherrrr Nooooo Stooooop."
Also, I hate after a long day of classes when the kids' Konglish voices get stuck in my head!! All I can hear echoing is "Teacha, finish-EE.." and "Teeeeacherrr-uhhh." It drives me crazy!! It's like they use their asian accents to mock me. I'm not saying that to be mean... I'm positive that they all know how to speak correctly, because they do it when they need to (like.. when they're being graded on their speaking). But other times, they purposely do this Konglish thing because they think its funny! And maybe it is a little bit.. but boy, does it get stuck in your head.
Also, all the teachers were mixed up about what we needed to collect and what we didn't... so our Korean branch manager sent out a message titled, "For Your Confusion."
Today I opened a bank account (I think I did.. but none of it was English so I could have very well just donated my money to the bank). On my way home, I walked past the hospital and there was a group of men standing out there smoking, in their hospital gowns and with their IV poles still drippin'. I wish I had my camera.
Tomorrow I'm off to a jazz festival at Gulla Gulla island. (it's actually zara zara island, but whatever).
Ta- Ta!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Global Gathering, etc.
So... this weekend was A-W-E-S-O-M-E, in capital letters with hyphens in between them. It seems as if every weekend that passes just keeps getting better and better. The themes of this weekend were "jager," "dancing" and "hot british guys." What more could I ask for?
My classes Friday went by as slow as molasses, but it brightened up my day to hear my youngest level students say things like "my uncle wears my underwear" (the original sentence was "my uncle wears red underwear"). After classes I rushed over to Hongdae to meet a stranger for dinner, which obviously turned into staying out until 5 AM. I swear, that place is a black hole.
Saturday night was the long anticipated Global Gathering. It was everything I've ever wanted and more. We headed to Hongdae in the afternoon to pre-game with rounds and rounds of jager bombs (Like.. where are we? jersey?). There were free shuttles from Hongdae but we had the brilliant idea of taking the subway. If you're ever going to global gathering in seoul.. do. not. take the subway there. It brings you no where near the park you need to be at. We wound up walking down rape road for about half an hour until we found the concert venue. But alas... we found it! We arrived right when Justice started playing.. they were amazing. Fat Boy Slim played next.. he was sick... I had no idea he was so good, since the last time I heard anything of his was "praise you" from the cruel intentions soundtrack. But yeah, he played an awesome DJ set, and we continued to drink jager into the night.
So that's about it! I can't believe I've been here for a month. I don't have the "I just got here" excuse anymore, so I really need to get my shit together to a) learn Korean, and b) get more than one set of silverware for my apartment.
My classes Friday went by as slow as molasses, but it brightened up my day to hear my youngest level students say things like "my uncle wears my underwear" (the original sentence was "my uncle wears red underwear"). After classes I rushed over to Hongdae to meet a stranger for dinner, which obviously turned into staying out until 5 AM. I swear, that place is a black hole.
Saturday night was the long anticipated Global Gathering. It was everything I've ever wanted and more. We headed to Hongdae in the afternoon to pre-game with rounds and rounds of jager bombs (Like.. where are we? jersey?). There were free shuttles from Hongdae but we had the brilliant idea of taking the subway. If you're ever going to global gathering in seoul.. do. not. take the subway there. It brings you no where near the park you need to be at. We wound up walking down rape road for about half an hour until we found the concert venue. But alas... we found it! We arrived right when Justice started playing.. they were amazing. Fat Boy Slim played next.. he was sick... I had no idea he was so good, since the last time I heard anything of his was "praise you" from the cruel intentions soundtrack. But yeah, he played an awesome DJ set, and we continued to drink jager into the night.
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| whoever's idea it was to hand out those glow sticks was a genius |
So that's about it! I can't believe I've been here for a month. I don't have the "I just got here" excuse anymore, so I really need to get my shit together to a) learn Korean, and b) get more than one set of silverware for my apartment.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
very ugly. very stoupid. like banana
I dont have anything too new and exciting to report. Having a job sucks.
I joined a gym a couple days ago... the eliptical looks like it's from 1980. And the best part? The gym has one of those "work out machines," in which you just stand there, wrap the chord around you, and it jiggles your fat. People use it! There was not a minute that thing wasn't in action.
Also, I made the huge (fairly common) mistake of giving my phone number to a church group. I really need to stop giving my phone number out to whoever or whatever wants it. This is worse than the time I was living in NYC and gave my number to the creepy old guy who worked at dunkin donuts by my apartment. The circumstances weren't really fair.. it was really late at night and he caught me at a weak moment when I needed a bagel. Being the only bagel source in the area, I had to be nice to him. After he called, since he had taken advantage of my vulnerability and obtained my phone number under false pretenses, I labeled him in my phone as "do not answer" and didn't pick up when he called every. day. for. a. week. I really kicked myself in the arse, because after that, whenever I needed a large iced coffee, I had to get my roomate Lindsay to go in and get it for me while I hid around the corner.. or I had to go like 5 blocks down to the other dunkin donuts.
Anyway, a couple weeks ago when MJ and I were drinking wine down by the river, a woman from the eunpyeong chuch saw us and figured our souls needed to be saved (she was probably right). Anyway, she came up to us and gave us some packages of tissues with bible verses on them. And who doesn't like free tissues, right? She told us that we should come to church the next day. For some reason, at the time, we were like "yeah!! we'll totally wake up on sunday morning and go to church!! Great idea! We'll meet so many Korean friends!" I gave her my phone number and that was the end of it. Since that day, two weeks ago, I have gotten constant text messages and phone calls asking me to come to church and bible studies. I'm not exaggerating. I'd check my phone after work and have 7 missed calls. They'd call and text me at like.. 7 AM. It didn't matter what day it was or what time it was. It's interesting how aggressive they are about Christianity here.. because the presbyterian church i went to back in new brunswick had the sweetest, least pushy congregation I've ever met (not like I've met a lot of congregations, but you get the point). These evangelists are ALL over the place, trying to push their religion on everyone. It gets awkward.
This week has been a good one at school. I'm getting the hang of things and am a lot more comfortable teaching. It also helps that I now know the kids by name, so I can call on them when they aren't paying attention. On a side note, I remember when I was in grade school, I was SUCH a nerd.. I would pretend I wasn't paying attention so that the teacher would call on me and I would know the answer. God, I was so lame. Anyway, this week, the kids are learning all about detectives. We're doing a Creative Thinking Project in regard to detectives, which the kids have been working on all week. The assignment was:
You are a detective, but you are not popular like Sherlock Holmes. Create an advertisement to introduce yourself.
The instructions were easy after I slowly explained, in detail, what an advertisement was, and EXACTLY what they were supposed to do. Everyone understood... or so I thought.
One of my brilliant students handed this in: An advertisement for...... a monkey. A fucking monkey.
Also, at the end of class if we have extra time we always play hangman. The kids are so funny because instead of guessing logical letters like vowels, they always guess "x", "q","h".. those letters that no one ever uses. It's hilarious.
Anyway, that's about it for the week. Nothing too exciting. I've been addicted to running, which is something I never thought I'd say. I love this area because there's great places to run.. along the river is my favorite. The weather has been gorgeous so I've been trying to soak up the outdoors while I still can.
OH how could I forget about this? Clinx toothpaste... IT'S ANTI- CALCULUS!
Anywayyy... This weekend should be pretty epic.. Saturday night is Global Gathering. A huge outdoor music festival that happens in a bunch of places around the world. All night dance party. I CAN'T WAIT. Saturday can't come fast enough.
I joined a gym a couple days ago... the eliptical looks like it's from 1980. And the best part? The gym has one of those "work out machines," in which you just stand there, wrap the chord around you, and it jiggles your fat. People use it! There was not a minute that thing wasn't in action.
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| this is what i'm talking about. |
Anyway, a couple weeks ago when MJ and I were drinking wine down by the river, a woman from the eunpyeong chuch saw us and figured our souls needed to be saved (she was probably right). Anyway, she came up to us and gave us some packages of tissues with bible verses on them. And who doesn't like free tissues, right? She told us that we should come to church the next day. For some reason, at the time, we were like "yeah!! we'll totally wake up on sunday morning and go to church!! Great idea! We'll meet so many Korean friends!" I gave her my phone number and that was the end of it. Since that day, two weeks ago, I have gotten constant text messages and phone calls asking me to come to church and bible studies. I'm not exaggerating. I'd check my phone after work and have 7 missed calls. They'd call and text me at like.. 7 AM. It didn't matter what day it was or what time it was. It's interesting how aggressive they are about Christianity here.. because the presbyterian church i went to back in new brunswick had the sweetest, least pushy congregation I've ever met (not like I've met a lot of congregations, but you get the point). These evangelists are ALL over the place, trying to push their religion on everyone. It gets awkward.
This week has been a good one at school. I'm getting the hang of things and am a lot more comfortable teaching. It also helps that I now know the kids by name, so I can call on them when they aren't paying attention. On a side note, I remember when I was in grade school, I was SUCH a nerd.. I would pretend I wasn't paying attention so that the teacher would call on me and I would know the answer. God, I was so lame. Anyway, this week, the kids are learning all about detectives. We're doing a Creative Thinking Project in regard to detectives, which the kids have been working on all week. The assignment was:
You are a detective, but you are not popular like Sherlock Holmes. Create an advertisement to introduce yourself.
The instructions were easy after I slowly explained, in detail, what an advertisement was, and EXACTLY what they were supposed to do. Everyone understood... or so I thought.
One of my brilliant students handed this in: An advertisement for...... a monkey. A fucking monkey.
Also, at the end of class if we have extra time we always play hangman. The kids are so funny because instead of guessing logical letters like vowels, they always guess "x", "q","h".. those letters that no one ever uses. It's hilarious.
Anyway, that's about it for the week. Nothing too exciting. I've been addicted to running, which is something I never thought I'd say. I love this area because there's great places to run.. along the river is my favorite. The weather has been gorgeous so I've been trying to soak up the outdoors while I still can.
OH how could I forget about this? Clinx toothpaste... IT'S ANTI- CALCULUS!
Anywayyy... This weekend should be pretty epic.. Saturday night is Global Gathering. A huge outdoor music festival that happens in a bunch of places around the world. All night dance party. I CAN'T WAIT. Saturday can't come fast enough.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Becoming less confused every day
Korea is awesome!! I was a bit homesick last week but that has completely gone away. I'm having a great time. The week ended well and all the movies we made in class came out without too many mistakes. I'm still not totally comfortable teaching but I'm getting the hang of it.
Anyway, this past weekend was AWESOME. Thursday I met up with a Korean friend that I worked with at Saatchi.. he lives in Seoul and doesn't start his (amazing) job until December. It was so good to see him! We had an awesome dinner in Hongdae then met up with some of his friends and went to a few different bars. I had a great time. I love going out with Koreans because they can actually speak the language and not just point to random stuff.
Saturday, I headed out to Cheorwon in the Gangwando province. MJ works at a public school out there and one of her friends put together a huge rafting trip. Saturday night, we stayed in a pension... which are just houses that they rent out. You can either rent out the whole thing or just a couple of big rooms, and everyone sleeps on mats on the floor. We had a big BBQ.
Sunday we woke up and went white water rafting. It was cold but a lot of fun! And so beautiful! It was "the grand canyon of Korea."
After rafting, we went home, took warm showers (MJ's doesnt get cold after 3.5 minutes like mine does) and ordered pizza. And then Chinese food. It was pretty excessive. haha. I'll be full for the rest of the week.
It was a great weekend, and I made some reallllly awesome friends, which is the best part of it all. I'm looking forward to next weekend because a lot of people are coming into Seoul for Global Gathering... which will be epic. But for now... back to the grind!
PS- Did you notice that whenever you listen to the postal service, you think that all of your electronic devices are going off? He has so many background noises that i always think my phone is ringing or my gchat is going off or something.
Anyway, this past weekend was AWESOME. Thursday I met up with a Korean friend that I worked with at Saatchi.. he lives in Seoul and doesn't start his (amazing) job until December. It was so good to see him! We had an awesome dinner in Hongdae then met up with some of his friends and went to a few different bars. I had a great time. I love going out with Koreans because they can actually speak the language and not just point to random stuff.
Saturday, I headed out to Cheorwon in the Gangwando province. MJ works at a public school out there and one of her friends put together a huge rafting trip. Saturday night, we stayed in a pension... which are just houses that they rent out. You can either rent out the whole thing or just a couple of big rooms, and everyone sleeps on mats on the floor. We had a big BBQ.
Sunday we woke up and went white water rafting. It was cold but a lot of fun! And so beautiful! It was "the grand canyon of Korea."
After rafting, we went home, took warm showers (MJ's doesnt get cold after 3.5 minutes like mine does) and ordered pizza. And then Chinese food. It was pretty excessive. haha. I'll be full for the rest of the week.
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| snuggling and watching Zoolander |
It was a great weekend, and I made some reallllly awesome friends, which is the best part of it all. I'm looking forward to next weekend because a lot of people are coming into Seoul for Global Gathering... which will be epic. But for now... back to the grind!
PS- Did you notice that whenever you listen to the postal service, you think that all of your electronic devices are going off? He has so many background noises that i always think my phone is ringing or my gchat is going off or something.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Reports from Nina Teacher
So I finished my second day of teaching! This means that I have officially met all of my students, since we are on a MWF/ TR schedule. It wasn't bad at all. The kids are cute and pretty well behaved. I have a few rascals but I was strict the first day so that that the bad behavior doesn't worsen. The ages of my students vary and I have 3 different levels. I have "seedbed 1" which is the very beginners. They're still just learning the letters and sounds. Fortunately, I only have one of those classes... it's like pulling teeth at times. You'll repeat "the cat is cute" a million times as a class, and then ask one person to do it by themselves and they are completely dumbfounded. The other two levels that I have are "Seed 2" and "Sprout 1." They have similar curriculums and class structures but the material for Sprout 1 is a bit more difficult. In today's class, Seed 2's theme was "Friends and Family" and Sprout 1's was "The Horse Cart." It is nice that I only have 3 preps, but it gets a bit dull doing the same thing over and over again. I am starting to get the hang of it though, so that's good! I even grade papers, like a real teacher. It's funny because for one of the answers, the kids had to write "The father gave the balloon to his daughter." But almost every single kid wrote "The father gave his daughter to the balloon." Just picture that!
One of the best parts of teaching so far: I was splitting the kids up into teams for a game, and asked what team names they wanted. Of course, one was the "Golden Tigers," one was "The Flying Unicorn Snakes" and when I got to the third group, the boy said he wanted his team name to be "Penis."
Today was not the best day. I had to go to the immigration office to get my alien registration card... it was a ZOO. Possibly worse than the area of Secaucus that houses both Wal-Mart and Sam's club (If you've never been there.. use your imagination). I got there at 10:30 am thinking I'd have plenty of time to get my papers processed. NOPE. I waited until 1 pm and there were still almost 100 people waiting ahead in line of me. I had to leave to get to work... so I'm getting my sleeping bag out and camping in front of the doors of the immigration office to be there when they open tomorrow morning.
As for this past weekend, MJ came in to Seoul again, thank god! We had a blast. She got here Saturday, early in the afternoon. We had lunch with my co-workers then stopped at e-mart, picked up a bottle of wine ("Long Neck"-- South Africa's answer to Yellow Tail, I guess) and sat down by the river all afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather of early fall. Since it was the weekend, they had the fountain going- orchestrated to music. It was fantastic.
After a lovely afternoon, we headed to Itaewon to meet up with some of MJ's friends. They were fabulous and I had a great time. One was a Kiwi, one was a South African, and the third from hawaii.
That's all that is new with me. I NEED to get my shit together and start learning Korean. It's getting embarrassing.
PS- How is the Mark, Tom and Travis Show STILL as funny as it was when we were 13??
One of the best parts of teaching so far: I was splitting the kids up into teams for a game, and asked what team names they wanted. Of course, one was the "Golden Tigers," one was "The Flying Unicorn Snakes" and when I got to the third group, the boy said he wanted his team name to be "Penis."
Today was not the best day. I had to go to the immigration office to get my alien registration card... it was a ZOO. Possibly worse than the area of Secaucus that houses both Wal-Mart and Sam's club (If you've never been there.. use your imagination). I got there at 10:30 am thinking I'd have plenty of time to get my papers processed. NOPE. I waited until 1 pm and there were still almost 100 people waiting ahead in line of me. I had to leave to get to work... so I'm getting my sleeping bag out and camping in front of the doors of the immigration office to be there when they open tomorrow morning.
As for this past weekend, MJ came in to Seoul again, thank god! We had a blast. She got here Saturday, early in the afternoon. We had lunch with my co-workers then stopped at e-mart, picked up a bottle of wine ("Long Neck"-- South Africa's answer to Yellow Tail, I guess) and sat down by the river all afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather of early fall. Since it was the weekend, they had the fountain going- orchestrated to music. It was fantastic.
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| Here's the water show! One Korean guy even got up at one point to pretend he was conducting the whole thing. |
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| Here is my fabulous friend MJ! |
After a lovely afternoon, we headed to Itaewon to meet up with some of MJ's friends. They were fabulous and I had a great time. One was a Kiwi, one was a South African, and the third from hawaii.
That's all that is new with me. I NEED to get my shit together and start learning Korean. It's getting embarrassing.
PS- How is the Mark, Tom and Travis Show STILL as funny as it was when we were 13??
Thursday, September 23, 2010
You are lucky to be reading my blog because I'm a celebrity
I have a few things to share. One: there is banana milk here. When you put it in pancake mix, you have banana pancakes. When you put it in your coffee, you have banana coffee. When you drink it on it's own, it has all the nutritious benefits of milk, but it tastes like bananas. It is fantastic.
Also, whoever said "oh, yeah, everyone in seoul speaks english" was lying. I never have any idea what's going on. Ever. It's terrible, because I can't eavesdrop on ANYONE. The good news is, I learned how to read korean, kind of. It will be great motivation to really learn it. And when I go places, people give me free stuff cus they feel bad for me. Like, I go to "Buy the Way" (another chain like 7-11 but with a REALLY clever name) with the intention of buying batteries and they give me free powerade- which, by the way, comes in a can. Or I was at my favorite dumpling place and they brought me out free seaweed (salad?) that literally tasted like you were eating seaweed off the beach. I think I liked it but I'm not sure.
Anyway, yesterday was a pretty shitty day, weather-wise, so I curled up in bed and watched tv via the internet. But then I was SO bored and lonely.. and starting to get homesick. My co-worker was nice enough to invite me to his friend's house for dinner. We went and had an amazing spaghetti dinner. Plus, this girl figured out how to make cakes in her rice cooker!! I'm seriously amazed. She bakes all this awesome stuff... in a rice cooker! I think it deserves some sort of award.
Then today, my friend courtney and I did some touristy stuff. We went to an important palace that was SO crowded with people all up in our grills that you couldn't even see anything.
Once we admitted to ourselves that the palace was crowded and sucked, we left and went to Namsang tower.... it's really high up on a hill and you can see the whole city from it. It's awesome. We hiked up to the top and complained almost the whole time about how much our feet hurt.. Until we saw Korean girls hiking up it wearing heels!! How do they do it?? The tower was pretty awesome and the view was spectacular. It forces you to realize how HUGE Seoul is.
After we left the tower we had dinner and did some shopping at the night market. I couldn't help comparing it to the markets in Thailand. The bad part about shopping in south korea is that stuff is not as cheap as it is in Bangkok.. but the good news is that it probably wasn't stolen.
Also, you might be asking.. does this girl have a job? To you answer your question.. its STILL the holiday. We had the entire week off. But tomorrow, we have a teachers workshop so I will see the other teachers mock teach and we will probably do some other stuff, but I'm not really sure what. Speaking of some other stuff, I really need to do laundry, take out the garbage and watch the daily show.
Oh, and I lied about being a celebrity, in case you were wondering. I am sadly still not dating a Korean pop singer, but I'm working on it.
Over and out.
Also, whoever said "oh, yeah, everyone in seoul speaks english" was lying. I never have any idea what's going on. Ever. It's terrible, because I can't eavesdrop on ANYONE. The good news is, I learned how to read korean, kind of. It will be great motivation to really learn it. And when I go places, people give me free stuff cus they feel bad for me. Like, I go to "Buy the Way" (another chain like 7-11 but with a REALLY clever name) with the intention of buying batteries and they give me free powerade- which, by the way, comes in a can. Or I was at my favorite dumpling place and they brought me out free seaweed (salad?) that literally tasted like you were eating seaweed off the beach. I think I liked it but I'm not sure.
Anyway, yesterday was a pretty shitty day, weather-wise, so I curled up in bed and watched tv via the internet. But then I was SO bored and lonely.. and starting to get homesick. My co-worker was nice enough to invite me to his friend's house for dinner. We went and had an amazing spaghetti dinner. Plus, this girl figured out how to make cakes in her rice cooker!! I'm seriously amazed. She bakes all this awesome stuff... in a rice cooker! I think it deserves some sort of award.
Then today, my friend courtney and I did some touristy stuff. We went to an important palace that was SO crowded with people all up in our grills that you couldn't even see anything.
 |
| Here is one of the palace walls.. check out how many people there are. |
 |
| Here I am at the palace. My caption for this picture.. "Hi Mom!" |
Once we admitted to ourselves that the palace was crowded and sucked, we left and went to Namsang tower.... it's really high up on a hill and you can see the whole city from it. It's awesome. We hiked up to the top and complained almost the whole time about how much our feet hurt.. Until we saw Korean girls hiking up it wearing heels!! How do they do it?? The tower was pretty awesome and the view was spectacular. It forces you to realize how HUGE Seoul is.
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| Namsang tower from down below |
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| View from the top |
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| They call these "Locks of Love-" lovers promise to never part. Awww... (puke) |
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| Courtney and I enjoyed a much needed cocktail after our intense hike to the top |
After we left the tower we had dinner and did some shopping at the night market. I couldn't help comparing it to the markets in Thailand. The bad part about shopping in south korea is that stuff is not as cheap as it is in Bangkok.. but the good news is that it probably wasn't stolen.
Also, you might be asking.. does this girl have a job? To you answer your question.. its STILL the holiday. We had the entire week off. But tomorrow, we have a teachers workshop so I will see the other teachers mock teach and we will probably do some other stuff, but I'm not really sure what. Speaking of some other stuff, I really need to do laundry, take out the garbage and watch the daily show.
Oh, and I lied about being a celebrity, in case you were wondering. I am sadly still not dating a Korean pop singer, but I'm working on it.
Over and out.
Monday, September 20, 2010
True life: Today I cut into an omlette and it turned out to be stuffed with rice
The internet! In my apartment! Finally! My stalkees have been thoroughly neglected during the last week and a half.
I'm picking up wireless from the neighbors, I think.. which is fine with me. So much for reading all those books I brought (why read when I can mindlessly catch up on true blood, right?).
So I moved into my apartment in Eunpyeong a few days ago... its a cute little studio with a washing machine placed exactly where you would think a stove would go. It freaks me out every time I look at it. Anyway, the area's adorable. It's quieter than the crazy parts of Seoul and has a neighborhood feel. I went to emart with my coworkers and we saw a bunch of our students. They bowed. It was awesome. But it also means that we need to be on our best behavior when we go to e-mart- which, by the way, is the biggest store I have ever seen in my entire life. It took me like 5 minutes to figure out how to penetrate the building. But once I did, they had everything I've ever needed/ wanted and more.. including bed sheets! Which, for everyone that has ever talked to me, would know that they were something I've been stressed about getting since before I even left.
Another thing is that about 5 minutes away there is an awesome creek with a path where tons of people walk/run/ ride their bikes and there's all these cool statues and places to sit and read. I give it a thumbs up.. I went running there today and could see the mountains from certain points, which made it even prettier. There are a lot of little parks around here. It's nice. A few of them have neon fountains that double as light shows. I'm already obsessed.
I observed a class last week and I think this job will be fun. The kids are super cute. I would love to tell you what age they are, but I'm not even sure. They're definitely elementary aged, but Korean age is different than American age. The formula for it is: (The current year- the year you were born) +1. So you're always a year or two older in Korea than you are in the U.S. So here, I'm 23. Eek!
On friday night, my friend MJ came in from the DMZ. We had a really fun Korean BBQ dinner and the waiter was really nice and gave us free pepsis. Then we went out in Hongdae and met up with some of my friends from training. Hongdae is IN-SANE. It's a huge area near a university where there are just tons of bars and clubs and young people hanging out.. a lot of foreigners but mostly Koreans. We did a LOT of dancing and had a great time. I keep hearing about how Soju (korean alcohol) gives you terrible hangovers. Unfortunately, I learned that this is NOT a myth. I woke up the next day hung over like a freshman in college. MJ and I went out and tried our hardest to choke down some mondu (dumplings that are usually awesome) but I couldnt bare it.. I went home and spent the rest of the night in bed. Literally. After MJ left at 3 or 4, I slept until the next morning. Ooops.
Well.. anyway, I have some True Blood to watch. Everyone: COME VISIT !! Or at least add me on skype. :)
I'm picking up wireless from the neighbors, I think.. which is fine with me. So much for reading all those books I brought (why read when I can mindlessly catch up on true blood, right?).
So I moved into my apartment in Eunpyeong a few days ago... its a cute little studio with a washing machine placed exactly where you would think a stove would go. It freaks me out every time I look at it. Anyway, the area's adorable. It's quieter than the crazy parts of Seoul and has a neighborhood feel. I went to emart with my coworkers and we saw a bunch of our students. They bowed. It was awesome. But it also means that we need to be on our best behavior when we go to e-mart- which, by the way, is the biggest store I have ever seen in my entire life. It took me like 5 minutes to figure out how to penetrate the building. But once I did, they had everything I've ever needed/ wanted and more.. including bed sheets! Which, for everyone that has ever talked to me, would know that they were something I've been stressed about getting since before I even left.
 |
| I can't figure out how to rotate this picture.. but.. its My studio apartment.. unmade bed, obviously |
 |
| view from my window |
Another thing is that about 5 minutes away there is an awesome creek with a path where tons of people walk/run/ ride their bikes and there's all these cool statues and places to sit and read. I give it a thumbs up.. I went running there today and could see the mountains from certain points, which made it even prettier. There are a lot of little parks around here. It's nice. A few of them have neon fountains that double as light shows. I'm already obsessed.
 | ||
| they have exercise equipment along the path |
 |
| Here is my co-worker Andrew in front of one of our many neon statues. At this moment, it was red. In one second, it will turn blue! |
I observed a class last week and I think this job will be fun. The kids are super cute. I would love to tell you what age they are, but I'm not even sure. They're definitely elementary aged, but Korean age is different than American age. The formula for it is: (The current year- the year you were born) +1. So you're always a year or two older in Korea than you are in the U.S. So here, I'm 23. Eek!
On friday night, my friend MJ came in from the DMZ. We had a really fun Korean BBQ dinner and the waiter was really nice and gave us free pepsis. Then we went out in Hongdae and met up with some of my friends from training. Hongdae is IN-SANE. It's a huge area near a university where there are just tons of bars and clubs and young people hanging out.. a lot of foreigners but mostly Koreans. We did a LOT of dancing and had a great time. I keep hearing about how Soju (korean alcohol) gives you terrible hangovers. Unfortunately, I learned that this is NOT a myth. I woke up the next day hung over like a freshman in college. MJ and I went out and tried our hardest to choke down some mondu (dumplings that are usually awesome) but I couldnt bare it.. I went home and spent the rest of the night in bed. Literally. After MJ left at 3 or 4, I slept until the next morning. Ooops.
Well.. anyway, I have some True Blood to watch. Everyone: COME VISIT !! Or at least add me on skype. :)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
They don't know his name, though they're calling him Anyang because that's Korean for "hello"
Referring to the title of this post: Thank god for Arrested Development.
Ok so something that I am currently obsessed with: when boys and girls here walk together in the street, the boy holds the girl's purse. It gets me laughing EVERY time.. and I'm not sure it'll ever get old.
Anyway... Korea is awesome so far! I've been here almost a week and boy is it humid. I got here last Saturday and it has been a whirlwind ever since. Getting used to the 13 hour time difference actually didn't suck as much as I thought it would. I get tired really early but wake up naturally at 6 or 7. Since we have to be at training at 9, it's given us plenty of time in the mornings to take brisk walks (okay, we only did that once), prep for the day's lessons, or watch Korean soap operas. ChungDahm (the language institute I'm working for) has been putting us up in the "Hotel Coatel" (it's funny cus it rhymes) but wasn't interested in splurging on an appropriate number of rooms... so I'm squished into a tiny room with 3 people.. and all of us have at least 2 huge suit cases. You do the math. There is NO floor space. It looks (and feels) like camp, had I ever gone. The thing is, it has been SO much fun. We've been having a blast- the people in my training group are awesome. We haven't had too much time to explore the city because training has been so intense, but have been able to hang out in the area around our hotel quite a bit. The area is called Gangnam, and it's the ritzy business district. If not for the Asian signage all over the place, I would have NO idea that I was in South Korea. It's busy like New York but clean like DC. This spot has a lot of the chains from home- Dunkin Donuts, TGIFridays, you name it. Speaking of food, I'm loving the Korean stuff. Kim Bap is amazing. Korean BBQ is out of this world.
Also, boys and girls wear "couple shirts." I'm obsessed. I guess dating here means you need to match, which I'm very cool with, because it provides a lot of good laughs. Another thing I've noticed while walking down the street is that I keep seeing the Asian versions of my friends from home.
As for my job (that thing I apparently came here to do), I think I'm going to really like it. I've NEVER wanted to be a teacher, and I came in not knowing how to be a teacher AT ALL but I am leaving training fairly competent (I hope). I'll be teaching the little kiddies... something that I was disappointed to hear at first, but now am SO excited about. They're gonna be adorable and our lessons look really fun. The school really encourages creativity so the kids are always writing stories or putting on plays that we can film and put online for them to watch. Every classroom has a green screen so we can add different backgrounds and stuff! It's gonna be fun and super cute. Maybe I can sneak one on here.
Training ends tomorrow, so sadly I will have to say goodbye to all my new friends- They'll be sent to branches all over the country. Fortunately, SK isn't too big, so it'll be fun to visit. I'm also sad to be leaving Gangnam, because I will miss seeing the Korean men walking around in their business suits. They look good all dressed up!
On the plus side, I'll be moving into my apartment tomorrow afternoon, so I'm really excited !! I'm in Northern Seoul (in an area called Eunpyeong. Yeah, try pronouncing that) and apparently there's a mountain within the district. I'm interested to see what that'll be like. It's about 20 minutes from Hangdae (spelling unknown) which is supposed to be a fun brooklynish area. The school looks as if it's close to the subway station, which I am thankful for because it's annoying being far from the subway. Speaking of the subway, they need to get hopstop up in here! The subway map looks like a white piece of paper that a child scribbled on with 15 different colored crayons. One thing I do love is that people here are VERY into queuing. They line up for everything.. even getting onto the subway. It's opposite of new york where everyone is pushing to get through the bottle neck that is the train door. Getting on the subway is actually not an unpleasant experience.
I'm hoping once I get into the swing of things, I'll be able to sign up for some Korean classes. As for the short-term, I'm psyched for the weekend!! MJ, my friend from Thailand who is also teaching here, will be coming into Seoul from her home on the DMZ and I am SO excited to see her. After a long week of training, I'm ready to go out and do some dancing!
Ok so something that I am currently obsessed with: when boys and girls here walk together in the street, the boy holds the girl's purse. It gets me laughing EVERY time.. and I'm not sure it'll ever get old.
Anyway... Korea is awesome so far! I've been here almost a week and boy is it humid. I got here last Saturday and it has been a whirlwind ever since. Getting used to the 13 hour time difference actually didn't suck as much as I thought it would. I get tired really early but wake up naturally at 6 or 7. Since we have to be at training at 9, it's given us plenty of time in the mornings to take brisk walks (okay, we only did that once), prep for the day's lessons, or watch Korean soap operas. ChungDahm (the language institute I'm working for) has been putting us up in the "Hotel Coatel" (it's funny cus it rhymes) but wasn't interested in splurging on an appropriate number of rooms... so I'm squished into a tiny room with 3 people.. and all of us have at least 2 huge suit cases. You do the math. There is NO floor space. It looks (and feels) like camp, had I ever gone. The thing is, it has been SO much fun. We've been having a blast- the people in my training group are awesome. We haven't had too much time to explore the city because training has been so intense, but have been able to hang out in the area around our hotel quite a bit. The area is called Gangnam, and it's the ritzy business district. If not for the Asian signage all over the place, I would have NO idea that I was in South Korea. It's busy like New York but clean like DC. This spot has a lot of the chains from home- Dunkin Donuts, TGIFridays, you name it. Speaking of food, I'm loving the Korean stuff. Kim Bap is amazing. Korean BBQ is out of this world.
Also, boys and girls wear "couple shirts." I'm obsessed. I guess dating here means you need to match, which I'm very cool with, because it provides a lot of good laughs. Another thing I've noticed while walking down the street is that I keep seeing the Asian versions of my friends from home.
As for my job (that thing I apparently came here to do), I think I'm going to really like it. I've NEVER wanted to be a teacher, and I came in not knowing how to be a teacher AT ALL but I am leaving training fairly competent (I hope). I'll be teaching the little kiddies... something that I was disappointed to hear at first, but now am SO excited about. They're gonna be adorable and our lessons look really fun. The school really encourages creativity so the kids are always writing stories or putting on plays that we can film and put online for them to watch. Every classroom has a green screen so we can add different backgrounds and stuff! It's gonna be fun and super cute. Maybe I can sneak one on here.
Training ends tomorrow, so sadly I will have to say goodbye to all my new friends- They'll be sent to branches all over the country. Fortunately, SK isn't too big, so it'll be fun to visit. I'm also sad to be leaving Gangnam, because I will miss seeing the Korean men walking around in their business suits. They look good all dressed up!
On the plus side, I'll be moving into my apartment tomorrow afternoon, so I'm really excited !! I'm in Northern Seoul (in an area called Eunpyeong. Yeah, try pronouncing that) and apparently there's a mountain within the district. I'm interested to see what that'll be like. It's about 20 minutes from Hangdae (spelling unknown) which is supposed to be a fun brooklynish area. The school looks as if it's close to the subway station, which I am thankful for because it's annoying being far from the subway. Speaking of the subway, they need to get hopstop up in here! The subway map looks like a white piece of paper that a child scribbled on with 15 different colored crayons. One thing I do love is that people here are VERY into queuing. They line up for everything.. even getting onto the subway. It's opposite of new york where everyone is pushing to get through the bottle neck that is the train door. Getting on the subway is actually not an unpleasant experience.
I'm hoping once I get into the swing of things, I'll be able to sign up for some Korean classes. As for the short-term, I'm psyched for the weekend!! MJ, my friend from Thailand who is also teaching here, will be coming into Seoul from her home on the DMZ and I am SO excited to see her. After a long week of training, I'm ready to go out and do some dancing!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" and other sappy sentiments
So it is 4 PM on September 9th, meaning I leave for the airport in about 13 hours. I'd assume that I'd be FREAKING out at this point, but I'm weirdly un-nervous.. mostly just crazy excited. It's been sad saying goodbye to everyone (never a fun thing to do) and I've eaten pizza 4 times in the past 2 days (that's disgusting). My buddy Kelly is on her way down from CT to hang out for the night and bring me to the airport in the morning.. which is when I might break down and cry.. in public! Which I haven't done since junior year of high school when Mr. Cokeley gave me a zero because he thought I cheated on my lab report (I didn't. Also, I majorly overreacted).
Anyhoo, here are some things I will miss and some things I am excited for:
Things I will miss:
Family & Friends (definitely number one on the list. Everyone come visit!!)
Richmond tailgates
Aunt Susan's cooking
New York City (getting major NYC "fomo")
The jersey shore (not the show)
Bud Light
Coors Light
Magic Hat #9
Jersey pizza
My full sized bed
Driving
Christmas time
Thanksgiving (anyone want to send me pumpkin pie & cranberry sauce in a can?)
Fourth of July BBQs
Dryers (you don't realize how convenient they are until you have to hang everything on a line)
Blending in
Thing I'm excited about!
Sunsets in Seoul (thank you, industrial pollution)
Misspelled Engrish signs
Asian techno festivals
Spicy foodz
Awesome public transportation
Learning Korean [??]
Reading for pleasure (although business statistics was always light reading)
Food without high fructose corn syrup (my enemy)
Not driving- i.e. No need for a DD
Politeness (I <3 buddhists)
Crazy fruits
No open container laws
Asian architecture
Korean BBQ (as i recently read in a trashy novel, "Anyone who says nothing tastes as good as being thin feels has obviously never had Korean barbecue")
Being close to Japan
Teaching little kids
That's all for now. Stay tuned..
Anyhoo, here are some things I will miss and some things I am excited for:
Things I will miss:
Family & Friends (definitely number one on the list. Everyone come visit!!)
Richmond tailgates
Aunt Susan's cooking
New York City (getting major NYC "fomo")
The jersey shore (not the show)
Bud Light
Coors Light
Magic Hat #9
Jersey pizza
My full sized bed
Driving
Christmas time
Thanksgiving (anyone want to send me pumpkin pie & cranberry sauce in a can?)
Fourth of July BBQs
Dryers (you don't realize how convenient they are until you have to hang everything on a line)
Blending in
Thing I'm excited about!
Sunsets in Seoul (thank you, industrial pollution)
Misspelled Engrish signs
Asian techno festivals
Spicy foodz
Awesome public transportation
Learning Korean [??]
Reading for pleasure (although business statistics was always light reading)
Food without high fructose corn syrup (my enemy)
Not driving- i.e. No need for a DD
Politeness (I <3 buddhists)
Crazy fruits
No open container laws
Asian architecture
Korean BBQ (as i recently read in a trashy novel, "Anyone who says nothing tastes as good as being thin feels has obviously never had Korean barbecue")
Being close to Japan
Teaching little kids
That's all for now. Stay tuned..
Monday, September 6, 2010
This is only a test
I know I'm getting old because it just took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out how to create this blog. Also, thank god this thing has spell check because I just spelled embarrassing wrong. Which makes the fact that in 4 short days, I will be an English teacher, very interesting.
Anyway, this post is for trial purposes. We'll see if it's still here in the morning.
TESTING 1-2-3. TESTING 1-2.
Anyway, this post is for trial purposes. We'll see if it's still here in the morning.
TESTING 1-2-3. TESTING 1-2.
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