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!
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