Korean Saga

The End.

2009-08-05T14:49:00.004+09:00

Well, I've been home for 9 days, now. Thanks to the 55 people who've come by to check for an update, but in all honesty after a safe flight home there wasn't much to report. My flights all went well, save for the slight terror of not leaving Dallas--therefore not arriving in Denver. We managed to beat the thunderstorm, though, and arrived a bit late, meaning I had a hard time finding my family. I remember, though, looking up and seeing the blond head I'd been searching for for the last year turn a corner--there was my mom, and I knew it was all over, with all of the feelings of sadness and joy to accompany it.

After rounding up my sister and dad (with another round of hugs), we managed to haul my 120 pounds of luggage (note: suitcases, by law, cannot exceed 32 kilograms, who knew?) to the truck. Where did we go? Home? No! We went to Chipotle, where I had my first real burrito in a year.

For dessert, we all went back home for some frozen custard. I just so happened to be holding a pair of chopsticks when mom gave me my bowl, and so I figured I might as well try and use them to eat. My dad and sister assumed I was doing as the Koreans, so they tried, too. With greater, amusing success than I imagined.

The last week has been filled with a lot of Western foods, and an almost hourly comparison of, "that's not how they do that in Korea." I picked up habits I didn't realize (using two hands to give and receive, invading peoples' personal space, using certain phrases in Korean automatically), and I lost certain social graces, like being able to converse with a small group of adults. I got to go to lunch with the Peliton gang, and it was so good to see familiar faces. Later I took bagels by, and I saw everyone--I was genuinely touched by how much I was missed.

Parker's stores have seen quite a bit of patronage, also, as I attempt to replenish my wardrobe. I now have khakis and jeans and shorts galore, and not only are they new--they're 2 sizes smaller. It's exciting that more stores are options, thanks to new-found fitness.

I've been putting off concluding my blog, because I feel it is just a chapter in my life, and a chapter should always have a transition into it, and a transition out of it. Right now, I'm thinking that teaching English could still be a great adventure to continue, maybe to China this time. But the chapter's end is going to be a little open at this time, as I simply enjoy living out the lesson when I broke my leg: live life one day at a time, make the most of each day, and thoroughly enjoy the full use of my young, adventure-seeking body. (Even if that adventure is just to take pictures in front of Taco Bell to torture my friends back in Asia.)

One for the Road

2009-07-25T08:27:00.002+09:00

When I was little, I moved a lot, each time leaving behind a classroom full of friends, for whom I shed a few tears. (Well, maybe not when I left Mississippi, but in general...)

Yesterday was one long good-bye, starting with Kindergarten. We had an awesome time practicing our vocabulary and coloring, then eating pizza (some of us better at it than others--the image of Ben gutting his will remain with Heather and me for some time), and going through Market Day where the kids spend their ECC dollars to but very useful crap. (I stole an eraser set! Haha!)

After came the afternoon classes, where I said good-bye to the four little nuisances who followed me all year. I really hope they do well; despite all of the yelling, I had fun with them. (Despite? Okay, maybe because of...)

It was pretty strange to walk into the teacher's room and announce, "I'm finished!" It was right around that time that I got stripped of my title "Teacher." Apparently, now I'm just Kate. As I headed out of the building, Mrs. Baek--the owner--stopped to shake my hand (unprecedented) and to thank me. I was really very touched; that was maybe the 5th time she'd spoken to me in the last year.

I hurried to taekwondo after that, and spent the last day trying to chat with my instructors. I really wish I had practiced Korean more. It'd be nice to have a conversation a little more in-depth than, "Did you eat? What? Are you hungry?" We talked about my up-coming interview, and she had the kids write on my belt. They jokingly told me I was a gray belt (it's a little dirty), and that my yellow belt didn't arrive because of the rain. But... I am technically one.

Then I had an interview for a school, and I'm quite undecided about it. It's a small hagwon that has been in place for ten years. I'm not sure how they felt about me, either--I think I might be a bit loud for their tastes. I keep hoping for a lightning bolt, some sign as to what I should do, but nothing has shaken loose, yet.

The night concluded with one more round of galbi (Yuria came to say good-bye, and Captain even sat on the floor!), drinks at Garten Bier, and a long, giggle-filled walk back to our apartments as Heather, Kayleigh and I bid adieu. With teary hugs, and Heather finally proclaiming her love, I left.

Which brings us to now. My bags are packed, and as soon as I tuck my laptop in my backpack, I'm ready to go. I'm so grateful for the last year.

Pension

2009-07-22T21:37:00.003+09:00

At the end of a year-long contract in South Korea, Americans (and Canadians and maybe others? not Brits nor New Zealanders) receive back the 4.5% of their paycheck (plus the matching portion the employer has been paying) they have been paying into the pension plan.

I thought that this was going to be an arduous task, but it turned out to be quite simple. I just had to go to a gas station at an ungodly hour (9 a.m.? WHY?) to meet a strange man while carrying my alien registration card, passport, U.S. bank account information, and copy of my e-ticket for leaving the country. Fortunately for me, the strange man had on a shiny suit! (Gotta love Korean fashion~)

He drove me to the pension office, where a guy highlighted the sections of paperwork I needed to fill out. 20 minutes later, I was done and on my way back to Chilgok, nodding off the entire way. (Someone spent the better part of the night all riled up to see her daddy at the airport on Sunday.) Then I was deposited back at the gas station, despite it being about half a mile from school. Oh well. I was early, so Heather and I walked to school, and then I got McDonald's. Because I needed McDonald's in Korea one more time, right? Ha.

Today's classes went as smoothly as ever ("JEFFREY! SIT DOWN! TEACHER IS TALKING!"), with a slight twist of the knife in my heart as my babies told me they were sad. When I asked why they were sad, they said, "Kate Teacher America go." A few of them said they were happy, though. When I asked why, they said, "Kate Teacher here. I love Kate Teacher!" Awwww.

Without the energy (or the clothes) for taekwondo, I went and watched and took some action shots. They'll find their way here eventually--maybe. And here we are. Post-chicken galbi for the last time with my favorite Canadian, our livers still burning from the soju and our mouths still burning from the red pepper paste. It's a shame to go, now, since they know everything from the spicy level to the soju-cider-cola combo, but as I just received an e-mail from my favorite recruiter, who knows? Maybe I'll be back!

Squee!

2009-07-21T09:36:00.002+09:00

"Well, I'm going home, back to the place where I belong
And where your love has always been enough for me
I'm not running from, no, I think you got me all wrong
I don't regret this life I chose for me
But these places and these faces are getting old
So I'm going home, well I'm going home"

It's really winding down this week. The weekend flew by with laundry, Harry Potter 5 & 6, and one last hangover for the road. My wardrobe is now pared down, with most things going to hopefully be reused by other clothes-shopping-challenged white folks. The underwear I've hated for the last year is now safely in a garbage bag waiting to be finished being filled, and my to-do list has ceased growing, and is being drastically cut down as I cross things off.

I've booked a hotel for Saturday night, so I have less things to worry about Sunday--I'll be an 8-minute shuttle ride from the airport, and I'll have a clean, cool room to spend my last Korean evening. On Saturday, Yuria and I went for one last galbi trip, and it was a little sad, despite being very delicious. For once I had spicy galbi that didn't make me sick, and I wish I'd discovered it sooner--yum! Hopefully I'll be able to find something comparable to share with y'all back home.

Tomorrow morning, I go to meet a guy I've never met in front of a gas station, so he can take me to the pension office. I've been paying part of my paycheck into the national pension scheme (I love that they use the word scheme here), and I get that back, plus the money Mrs. Baek has to pay to match my contribution. So that plus my last month's pay, plus the bonus month's pay most contracts pay makes for a neat little sum to bring home (over 6 million won).

I'm leaving at a good time. Swine flu is shutting down entire public schools, and all of the hagwons in surrounding areas. As a result, any teachers traveling next week are going to be in quarantine for a week, and all other teachers have to pick up the slack. We have also been informed that anyone planning on leaving the country for the Thanksgiving holiday will have their contract terminated. I understand why it's being done, but I think it's irrational. We didn't come to South Korea to sit in our apartments and watch TV, despite how amusing that may be sometimes. We came to see the world.

I still don't know what I'm going to do, despite everyone and their mom asking me. I just want to get to American soil, because if there's one thing I've learned in this month overseas is how much I love my homeland. I may disagree with the government (as a matter of fact, I do), and there are certainly things I value highly in Korea, but at the end of the day I'm a patriot, and I can't wait for a good ol' Colorado sunset.

It's funny...

2009-07-16T19:44:00.000+09:00

...'cause it's true.

2 Realizations

2009-07-15T19:02:00.002+09:00

The strangest thing happened to me while I was walking to work today. I passed another hibiscus flower, and I had the distinct thought, "It'd be better if it wasn't pink." WOAH WOAH WOAH! Back the bus up! This is the first ever recorded instance of me thinking it would be nice to see a splash of a different color, and it deserves to be noted.

Another moment of bizarre happened as I was waiting for someone else to cook my dinner. I was staring into space and thought, "I'm tired of talking." I am the child who spent a good part of her childhood car rides bribed into silence. My parents, when I was born, promised to each other not to use the phrase "shut up," and found themselves using it daily (hourly) by the time I was a teenager. And today, it finally happened. While I wouldn't mind some company, it would only be for companionable silence--I am tired of talking.

P.S.

2009-07-14T23:15:00.003+09:00

While I haven't exactly been doing anything, I've been pretty introspective. As I lay in bed last night, I developed a mental image of what I must have looked like a year ago, arriving at Incheon Airport, all alone, hauling my three bags through the airport. Sweating, tired, and well, all alone.

I can't believe I was never scared. It never even occurred to me to be concerned or anxious about what was coming up--and with good reason, really. The last year has been amazing.

So I'm not sure why I feel so anxious about returning home. I think about the same person--except not the same person--hauling the same luggage (albeit lighter) through the same pathways, and going home without knowing the future scares me. Am I coming back? Who am I going to meet? Whose lives am I going to change? Who is going to change mine?

I think the ambivalence is interesting.

Silent but Deadly

2009-07-14T22:13:00.002+09:00

My blog's been a little quiet lately. This is related to several things, mostly reading and a lack of things to report. On Friday, however, we did go on a field trip to EXCO, the local exhibit hall (those readers familiar with Billings would know it as the Metra). They had a show about dinosaurs which involved walking through a black light tunnel, looking at (fake) fossils, climbing through several bouncy-castles decorated like dinosaurs, and a sand digging pit. To top it all off, there was a dinosaur show that included a 3D portion (with one of the top 10 hottest men on the planet as the host), and a skit with a seriously real-looking T-Rex (aside from the whole part about him only being 8-feet tall and having a pair of black human legs sticking out from under him.)

The part I found the funniest was when I was attacked by a dinosaur. I really was. There was an inflatable dinosaur arch that deflated just as I was walking by. It's quite fortunate that I was the one it landed on--I acted as a good propping device for the kids to escape through, while the employees fixed the situation.

After, we did the lunch thing and snuck off to watch a movie for the last period. So, in short, you could say that the day rocked!

Korean Pizza

2009-07-08T19:42:00.003+09:00

For dinner I'm eating "Italian Cheese Pizza." "Italian" my butt. It has corn on it, and the crust has green tea in it. And it came with a side of sweet pickles, for flavor contrast of course.

Today I had an interview for a hagwon, and in the back of my mind I tried to keep thinking, "get the job then turn it down, get the job then turn it down," but after working 19 classes in 2 days, I don't have my heart in working for a private academy anymore. As much as I may appreciate the offer (it's always nice to be wanted), I have my heart set on public school or nothing. (Guaranteed 22 classes or less a week? heck yeah.)

Also, I've been kind of proud of this class I've been teaching for 5 months, now. They're very low level, and I named them all when we started. I had named the kids Amy, Billy, Colin, David, Emily, Frank, Greg, Harry, and Jay was already named Jay, so I was stuck with skipping "I." (ABCDEFGHJ, get it?) Today I got a new girl, and I was so excited! I had "I" names written on the board before class even started, and I practically pounced on her when she walked in. To my dismay, however, she already had a name. :( It's a lovely name (a family name at that, Julia), but my class is incomplete. Sigh.

I'm proud for other reasons (i.e. they have all improved significantly), but you know it's the goofy things that are going to stay with me.

A woman's prerogative

2009-07-07T19:24:00.001+09:00

2:56 p.m. "Will this day ever end?"

7:17 p.m. "Oh my God, Tuesday's over!"

Leap Frog

2009-07-06T22:15:00.003+09:00

Today was an average, go-to-school-be-annoyed-by-the-boss kind of day. Let it roll off my back and got on with my day, having a lot of fun with my classes. I finally got the beginners to stop speaking so much Korean (their English is SO improved that they can), and well.. the others.. at least got part of their workbooks done this time. Their conversation skills were really high today, so I let them ramble about I don't even know what anymore. They were even using past tense--knocked my socks off. (Well, would have if I'd been wearing any.)

After was taekwondo class. I verified that I did pass my test, so I'm at yellow belt level, but because I'm leaving I'm not getting my belt from this gym. If I go back, they'll give it to me, but I can't seem to find a job in the area. I'm really glad I passed.

Maybe even verging on giddy. I passed!

Part of today's exercise involved weaving in and out of a circle, the obstacles being us taking turns. I was one of the obstacles bent over in a kneeling prayer position. Because I'm so much bigger, they used me more like a leap-frog playmate, and it was pretty funny. Until I got knocked in the head. But then I got to sit out and watch, which got even more ridiculous the faster they tried to go. I wish I'd had my camera as the tiniest and the biggest ones crashed into each other; it was awesome how the little guy bounced off of the big guy's chest!

Huh.

2009-07-06T18:40:00.002+09:00

I saw a hibiscus today. I was walking to work, and I looked to my left, and there it was--the flower that decorates seemingly everything back home for summer, yet I'm not sure I'd seen one in real life before (other than maybe somewhere indoor for plant havens). It was pretty and pink and my camera is dead, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

Facebook continues to astound, recommending yesterday that I add an ex as a friend. I haven't anything in common with this person, really, other than living in the same state (still 1 1/2 hour drive) and being Christian. I figured why not (curiosity killed the cat and whatnot), and I'm glad to see he's doing well. He's graduated, gotten engaged, and I guess is looking for a house to buy. That's all pretty exciting. I think it's ironic that we're both teachers, now, him with a fancy degree (master's) and me with not much more to recommend me than being an American.

This weekend, we celebrated Mel's birthday. We went to a place that combines billiards and bowling (?), and I got to do something I've always wanted to. I opened up the cocktail list, and I asked the waitress for one of everything. This was such a stupid idea. Not because it was expensive, and not because it was too much alcohol. It was too much sugar! I got sick after the fifth one and left with a massive headache. But, it's one of those silly things I can check off my list. I need to get through the "stupid stuff to do in my 20's" list before I'm no longer in my 20s.

Yesterday, then, I stayed in bed all day with a sore foot and the first season of True Blood. I'm not really going to recommend it because there's a lot of sex to fast forward through (or rewind for if you're a pervert), but it's an HBO series about vampires. It's helped loosen my intrigue leftover from Twilight; these vampires are different (yet similar in ways that make me smirk), more vulnerable, and really, who wants to be easily slaughtered by an old fashioned pencil?

One last note... I got my hair cut for the last time in Korea (this time, at least), and it's pretty cute. I'll have to find my camera charger and get this whole "no picture" situation rectified.

Lessons by Neo

2009-07-04T19:12:00.001+09:00

Step 1) Find China lock.
Step 2) Find rock.
Step 3) Break China lock!
Step 4) Take pink bike.

And that is how to steal a bike, thank you Neo.

Huh.

2009-07-02T22:42:00.003+09:00

Well wuddya know...

The worst thing that happened all day was... my mascara broke. And I had a spare. Tough life, right?

Yesterday I crunched my ankle in taekwondo, and I didn't really care. I, the quasi-hypochondriac that I am (really I'm more klutz than hypochondriac), still went to class and ran and blah blah.

It's like I don't even know who I am anymore! I'm happy, and I'm exercising. Maybe there's more to those happy hormones exercise induces than previously suspected.

In other news, I've been reflecting over the past year, and really all I've got to say is I'm embarrassed by my three-month dedication to someone who in the end was at best not interested and at worst just wanting free English lessons. I can't promise it won't happen again, but maybe I'll either 1) keep it privater (yeah, spell check left that like that, so I am, too), or 2) keep it to under a month. Here's to Friday!

Also, I have submitted almost all of the paper work to start applying for a public school position. While I previously thought all positions were filled (what with having been told that by the main office in Seoul), it turns out that recruiters have ins with individual schools, so there may be a Part II to this adventure; whatever happens, it won't ever be like the first time, but there will be mischief. Oh believe me, there will be mischief!!

The Grinch

2009-07-01T00:34:00.002+09:00

I never considered myself stingy before. I always gave pretty freely of possessions or whatever trinkets I thought a person would enjoy, and it's just now dawning on me that adage: money can't buy happiness. I still withheld something very important from people who deserved it: I kept my love hostage.

I thought that if I loved fewer people, that I would be less hurt. I didn't anticipate that it would mean that I would be less whole. As I sit sad about leaving my 41 consistent students (and dozens of others whose lives I've touched in the past), I realize that I've made room for each and every one of them in my heart. I've poured blood, sweat, and many many tears into their lives, trying to make them the best little English speakers in the city.

Was I successful? Not by a long shot, but they've all improved. And my heart really hurts at the thought of leaving them behind--especially Aidan--but I know more of what I'm capable of, now, and that no matter how far away I may move, there's room for all of the people I want to love in my heart, and that it won't crumple from pain when I'm separated from them.

Awakening

2009-06-30T01:34:00.002+09:00

I was walking home from galbi tonight, and a thought occurred to me, a new facet to the sadness of leaving Korea. The entire journey has been like setting a flame to my candle--I feel like I've been shaken up and sent out to discover who I am and what I'm made of. I don't know if it's because the surroundings are entirely new, so all of the memories are fresh, but even though I've walked certain pathways literally hundreds of times, I have so many unique memories of many of these walks that I'm afraid of losing them when the surroundings change.

For instance, the walk back from galbi entailed walking to the corner where Heather and I took my first post-cast taxi ride. I want to remember the feeling of accomplishment I got from hobbling those two blocks in the cold winter air. And the feeling I got the next night when I walked two different blocks on my own without having to stop and rest.

In Parker, there's no familiar corner with the wooden-planked second story restaurant, from which some man leaned out of the window to yell how pretty Jamie and I looked. There's no chicken galbi restaurant where the Queen of Awesome Heather told me that she admired me because I seem to know what I want.

There's no familiar taekwondo room where I can recall the first time I blocked a soccer ball, much to everyone's astonishment--including mine. There's no fourth floor multi-purpose room where I saw 60 kids hold candles without burning anything down and where I helped to host a bi-lingual kindergarten graduation. There's no first walk to Home Plus with Tere, our arms bumping together and me being pleased that the skinny girl was sweating like a pig, too.

So, as tempted as I am to let this post trail off and end on a sorrowful note, I make this an open invitation to all of my beloveds. I'll be back within four weeks, and I'm looking forward to making new memories to carry with me on my next adventure. It can be as simple as a last meal at Hacienda (thanks mom and dad), a ride to the Bagel Stop (Sid, Tab), a spin in the short bus (you know who you are), or yet another beer/mojito/margarita/tequila sunrise/Jaeger bomb wherever we may happen to be at the time (did someone say Mackenzie River Pizza Company?).

Testing, 1-2-3 Testing...

2009-06-27T18:49:00.002+09:00

Yesterday was my test in taekwondo. There is a test every month, and it just so happened this month I was actually learning stuff so I could advance to yellow belt. The test did not go very smoothly, but something pretty amazing happened: I cut myself some slack. I've only been practicing the moves for two weeks, and they were busy two weeks. I did practice at home, I stayed after to practice... I literally did the best I could.

So I plan to keep at it, if nothing just continuing to practice the same moves over and over, improving them as much as I can. It's interesting to me how much more aware of my body taekwondo requires me to be. To move all four of my limbs intentionally and simultaneously takes quite a bit of effort.

Yes Man, Part 5000

2009-06-24T22:16:00.003+09:00

Every day I've been trying to say yes to small things, like changing the place where I order the same food. As a result, I discovered a kimbap shop that doesn't put mushrooms in its kimchi soup, so I was pretty stoked about that.

Today, I went to taekwondo early just to see what happens before I get there, and because it was recreation day, not very many people came to class. As a result, it was me and just this one other guy for a while. For the first few minutes, he kicked around a ball while I sat in the office enjoying the air conditioning. Then it occurred to me, maybe he'd like someone to play with.

Since there weren't any other options, I guessed that meant I was the option. I thought more about whether I would fail, if my ankle would give out, or if I'd somehow accidentally rip my pants, but in the end I decided to say yes. And it felt great. I blocked most of the balls, taking a few to the neck at a speed I'd estimate at three hundred kilometers per hour (roughly six million miles per hour, I think, for those who aren't good at conversion math).

Speaking of exaggerating, it's hot. And the running dialog in my head (Scrubs, anyone? I'm so JD) says it's consistently either six thousand degrees, or a million degrees. Either way, it doesn't matter if it's Celsius or Fahrenheit, I'm going to 1) die, and 2) be hot, and 3) whine.

The end of the story is, I'm glad I did it. I wasn't as old as I thought, and I had fun.

Pleased to Report

2009-06-24T19:31:00.000+09:00

I am please to report that as I develop a crush in real life, my emotional attachment to the fictional do-gooder vampire has diminished.

"What do you have, a hot date?"

2009-06-24T01:55:00.002+09:00

So Saturday night, I went out dancing with the girls and met a guy named Sam. He's from Sri Lanka, and I spent the first five minutes dancing trying to remember where Sri Lanka is. (I was wrong.) He kept holding my hands while we danced, and unusual for Korea--he knew how to dance well. It was a treat! He asked for my phone number (I was feeling particularly crotchety and refused to ask for his), and he told me I was beautiful--and not in a "I want in your pants" sort of way.

Within 10 hours, he texted me. Awww. He wanted to meet, and I was going to, but I was too lazy to shower. (So pathetic!) So we met up tonight, and it was really nice. We sat at a cafe for a while, but then moved on to a convenience store. Now, I realize that this may come across as being shallow, but... He speaks with an accent close to an Indian's, and we were sitting in front of a 7-Eleven. I couldn't help but wish he'd ask if I wanted a Slurpee.

It was a really good night, talking about how obscenely long his name is (49 characters, and he had to pause to remember how to spell it all), how we both regularly butcher 5 languages (he speaks Sinhalese, Korean, English, Spanish, and Tamil), and how beautiful my gray (what the heck?) eyes are. Oh, and for those who never put 2 and 2 together (like me), Ceylon Tea comes from Ceylon... now renamed Sri Lanka. The more you know~

This post is kind of just fluffy; mostly it's to remind myself that someone saw past all of this weight I've been using as a defense and saw a beautiful girl worth dancing with, and then pursuing. I feel deeply touched and grateful for tonight.

Left Behind

2009-06-23T00:29:00.002+09:00

When I leave Korea in a few weeks, I will be leaving many things behind.

Some of these things will be small, and rather insignificant, such as my leftover conditioner and shampoo, or some of my dignity at WA-Bar. Some of these will be big and insignificant, such as all of the clothes I've shrunk out of. (As of today, I'm down 3 kilos in a week! June 30th, here I come!)

Others will have meant much more to my overall life journey. I will be losing coworkers with whom I've bonded dearly, children whom I love almost as much as myself, and a fresh, daily supply of kimchi whenever I want.

But the part that makes me a little sad today is saying goodbye to my hairbrush. Samantha Liptac gave me a hairbrush for my 12th birthday. It's a lovely shade of sea foam green, and it has followed me from Montana to Colorado to University to well, now, Korea. The other day the bristles started to break off, leaving little pieces of plastic on my floor that look a little bit like the people pieces from the Game of Life.

And so to honor this 14-year relationship, I leave with a song.

Test on Friday!

2009-06-22T01:14:00.001+09:00

I'm excited! On Friday, I'm going to test for my yellow belt. Here are the moves I'm supposed to know. There are 18 movements, and I get about 6 of them right. Let the cramming begin!

Questing

2009-06-20T10:51:00.004+09:00

In my life, I've played my share of MMORPGs--role playing games online that involve lots of people generally grouping together with the common goal of destroying each other and being crowned king nerd of the fantasy world. In these games, there are generally 2 ways to gain experience: kill stuff, and do quests. I was always a fan of the killing stuff approach; quests generally required a lot of reading and time, while killing stuff has the obvious instant gratification. That and, well, you get to kill stuff. One of my favorites was killing the giant spiders just out of spite...

But that's not really the direction I was intending to take this post. On Thursday, I had two very real realizations. 1, I'd lost 3 1/2 pounds in 4 days by being conscientious about what I was eating and exercising to the fullest of my ability. 2, while I've come a long way, I still have a long way to go. I asked Ji-Yeon (Ji-Yun? not sure about the phonics) what I could eat, and I was told carbs are only allowed in the morning, and the rest of the day is tofu and vegetables.

You thought Atkins was hard in America? Welcome to the land of rice and ramen. Rice is involved in everything--dessert, wine, snacks, every single meal. Getting soup? You know what'd make that soup even better? Rice! And my favorite "rough day" food is a bowl of cheesy ramen with rice. Since the thought of Atkins still conjures mental images of dry beef jerky and bunless hamburgers, my thoughts turned to other diets, rolling over what I thought I could live with for a while.

That's when I realized, Koreans essentially live off of the cabbage soup diet! This is the secret to their skinny! The #1 food of Korea is kimchi. Hands down. Who doesn't love a bowl of fermented, spicy-as-hell cabbage? (I know I do!)

So, after taekwondo last night, I headed to get a bowl of kimchi jjigae (yum!), and the evil woman brought the soup (yay!) and a bowl of rice. And the rice was glistening and perfect. It didn't look like any of the pieces were crunchy. It looked fresh and fluffy and delicious and they didn't even bring the lid. They left a perfect bowl of rice just... next to the soup, and the soup beckoned to the rice, and the rice taunted the soup. I didn't even touch the bowl. I pushed it away with the back of my spoon and ate the kimchi instead.

Hooray!

While I was home, I was thinking about what is going to happen next. I love learning languages. It also turns out that I like exercising, now. Back about nine years, I sat through a guest presentation during my German class about joining the military and going on to study at the Defense Language Institute. Every so often my mind wanders back to this, and I think to myself how much I would love to do that, but doubted my ability because of my weight and hatred of exercise. And now, I feel like that might be a possibility. I read an article about a woman getting in shape to join the army, and I just feel hopeful. Like, when people ask me what I'm going to do after, maybe I won't just answer "go home and exist." Maybe I'll actually have a goal.

And fortunately for everyone involved, this quest probably won't involve me killing stuff.

Impractically awesome

2009-06-18T22:23:00.003+09:00

Currently I am sitting outside my local convenience store while typing atrociously on my newest toy. I'm seriously in love with apple and their intuitive spell check. After Mel Arthur Abby and I gushed Chris went and bought one too. This greatly amuses me as we race to see who can do the coolest stuff first. I've already read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn on mine and while it zaps the battery it was awesome. I'm glad to have an ereader option for the plane.

In other nerdy news I made a deal with my taekwondo instructor to lose five kilos in twelve days. Smart? No. But since I'm down 1.5 in three days I don't see the harm in trying. She has a lot of faith in me--and her teaching abilities. Truth be told I trust her, too. Which is a pretty winning combination. Despite staying up until an ungodly hour finishing Breaking Dawn, I was glad to exercise and I was the most motivated and hyper one today. It felt like Debbie had the reigns again. I think this had something to do with a fervent prayer at five this morning that God would help me get through the day despite my own stupidity. He really came through for me. As always.

As cool as this is it's a bit annoying--although I'm impressed the soreness begins to set in. I hope your Thursday kicks as much ass as mine did!

It Makes Me Smile

2009-06-18T09:57:00.002+09:00

Generally on Facebook I send flair, burn up my energy points on Mafia Wars, check out a few people's statuses, and get off because despite being an eavesdropper, I'm not really addicted.

I'm always a little pleased, though, when my friend Tabitha's daughter sends me a message. She's 17, now, and talks to me like I'm normal. We talk about David Cook and Twilight, how her aunt is living with their family again, their new dog.. I just think it's really cool that it occurs to her to message me.

So thanks, Sid, for starting my morning off with a feeling of being well-thought of.

40 days and 40 nights

2009-06-16T22:03:00.003+09:00

Today was a pretty awesome day. After a healthy breakfast of bananas (squee!), I taught some kick butt lessons that involved a lot more talking and a lot less writing--I think everyone was happier. Lunch was dolsot bibimbap (deeeelicious) with my homegirls, when I brought up that I have 40 days left. "Forty days and forty nights," Kayleigh chuckled. "What're you giving up?"

Well, it isn't Lent, but I'm thinking maybe I should give up my countdown. I find myself living less day-to-day and more for a certain day. There's still six weeks of fun to be had, as evidenced by my beloved kindergarten students. We just had the best time today. We sang. We learned. We made up motions to the songs we sang and learned.

Then, during taekwondo, we did walking-while-kicking drills. My instructors, I think, are as obligated to tell me a good job as I am to tell my kids they're doing well, hoping that encouragement will produce a better product. But when a 12-year-old compliments you (a twelve-year-old double dan black belt), you know you're doing something right.

Don't worry--they're tears of happiness

2009-06-15T13:54:00.002+09:00

A month or so into my Korean experience, I got my first kindergarten beginner class. These students come Tuesday and Thursday, for two classes each day, one with a foreigner, and one with a Korean. A week after it started, I started teaching Aidan (named thus after watching an episode of Sex and the City--sue me). From the very start, English has been a challenge for him, but he always smiles and always tries hard. I know he isn't at home studying every night, going over and over the material, but his in-class effort is unmatched.

He and I have both cried because we were so frustrated with each other, and his inability to say "bathing suit" (baby suit?) still cracks us all up.

Today, however, is a monumental day that deserves its own blog entry. Today my very special little boy read. Alex had five sentences for their phonics lesson written on the board, and she had me come into the class on break time to listen to Aidan read. (The man has an apple. The boy has a hat.) Even just thinking about it, my eyes are starting to well up again. The relief, pride, and joy have filled my heart to bursting; I'm really glad I got to see it before I go. Praise the Lord!

iPod Mania

2009-06-14T22:45:00.002+09:00

I have a new toy. I remember the days when the original iPod Mini brought me glee. I was working hard to get by each month, but managed the funds for the last pink one in Missoula--I was so elated. I know there are advocates out there of buying anything that isn't the mainstream, and that there are good alternatives to the iPod, but for now I remain dedicated to the toy that amuses, and the program (iTunes) that bewilders.

Saturday, Mel and I went out shopping. I ended up with the 8 GB iPod Touch, and we both got matching pink cases. It's a pretty awesome little toy. I figured out how to do an ad hoc wireless network using my laptop, so then I could upload my e-books to the little treasure. (Yes, these e-books are Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. So?) I'm looking forward to adding more obsessions to it in the future as vampires begin to lose their stronghold on me.

Last night was a difficult night as I tried to reconcile where I've been in the far past to who I've been in Korea, and to where I'm going and want to be going. The only things I really know about the future is that a guy (who isn't fictional) and children are in it. I have no other details than this, but a bad experience in a previous relationship sent me into a tailspin. I had been judged by this "Christian," and while I know that it had more to do with his own problems than me, it made me take a look at what I do here. I can see now that the drinking, the dancing, the staying up until 8 a.m., are part of a very real, very human (okay, at least girly) need to socialize in a country where the options for friends can feel limited. I just hope Mr. Right is more understanding.

That said, I spent the day considering my options, although I really only considered the one career path: teaching English. There's Italy (maybe, Tracy, I'm still looking--will send information if I come upon it), Dubai, Argentina... lots of countries (continents) to see. I gave up on this, though, as my heart wasn't into it, and I started watching an absurd amount of That 70's Show. I've noticed I'm significantly older than the main characters, now, so I started paying more attention to the grown ups--namely Red and Kitty. I have been under the impression that one has to live one's life in one's 20s in order to accomplish and see everything one wants to see before one dies. As silly as it is, I looked at them and saw that isn't true. Sure they're actors, but they're 50-ish, working, and pursuing dreams that matter to them. I don't necessarily care about getting a motorcycle, but it's the gist--following what's in your heart. So I don't get to all of the continents before I'm 30; so I end up going back to school and not graduating until I'm 35; so I don't get married before I'm 40. Life doesn't end just because I've aged. It ends when I give up. And from that perspective, it's possible I'm the youngest I've ever been. Hiiii-yah!

Open Class.. Burn!

2009-06-13T11:08:00.002+09:00

Thursday and Friday we had open classes. This is where the parents come in to see what exactly it is we do in class. Except this is bogus because the presence of 8-12 (20 in Heather's case, ew!) parents throws off the teacher, throws off the kids, and really--well, for me at least--makes the entire room a boring ball of nerves. The first day, my co-teacher and the vice director basically told me my class was an epic fail, but after talking to the one person in the school who possesses an ounce of tact, I guess I'm just suited for older students. Friday, I followed her suggestions, and while it wasn't exactly lively (they were so quiet!), it was more successful, proving that I can in fact learn, at least.

It's had me mulling over this whole "take a native speaker and plop them in front of kids and expect good to follow" theory of learning English. On the one hand, there's some value to having someone who understands the grammar and nuances, but we're not educators. We're out-going people (usually) who have adventure on our minds. In my case, I'm lucky that I have a big heart and a severe dedication to avoiding failure; for others, though... well. It's fortunate our contracts only last one year.

As I sit here at the end of my contract, doing the expected (mulling over what's next) I ponder being a teacher in the States. All I can come up with is a "hell no." Eight kids in a class drives me nuts. I have one class of five in the afternoon, it's all I can do not to throw one of them in the trash can. (Thank you, Mr. Klunder, for your shining example in seventh grade!) A class of 35 would pretty much bring me to my demise, I think. I don't think it would matter a brass farthing that I spoke the same language; it might help if I was from another country.

So I return to not thinking about it, and instead focusing on my newest obsession (to help fuel previous obsessions): the iPod Touch. It plays music. It plays video. AND it connects to the Internet! Holy crap! Abby has had one for a month, now, and has Skype on it; as a result, with a headset, she can use it like a phone. Mel got one on Wednesday, and there have been a lot of "green with envy" thoughts floating in my head. Having had it pointed out to me that my income is fairly disposable by my ever-encouraging mother, I looked into it further, and I can use the thing as an e-reader, too. This means I can take Twilight, the movie and books, with me wherever I go.

As I mention this, I consider what it would be like to read my blog from beginning to end. First, there's the discovering Korea. "Oh, wow, this is so cool!" Then there's the broken leg. "Oh, wow, this sucks big time!" Then there's Albert. "Blahlblahboringblah." Then there's Twilight. "Oh man, she's another vampire freak, too."

So let me redeem myself by concluding with news from the taekwondo class. On Thursday, I started to learn my first poomse. Poomses (Poom-says) take basic taekwondo movements and choreograph them into a certain number of movements, and knowing these are how one progresses through the belts (or so my understanding goes). In order to obtain black belt, one must know seven. Now, for poomses I've been sentenced to either watching or practicing the basic movements (though still watching in the mirrors). They never once looked easy. I never thought to myself, "Oh, I can do that." And so Thursday, it came my turn.

I will say this much, I didn't fall over. And for the most part I was pointing in the right direction. (Really, with expectations this low, it's amazing I ever think I fail at something.) We went through the 19 movements, and the instructor was actually pleased with what I had managed to do, which gave me some confidence as we did it again. Enough progress was made for the day, and I got to go back to sitting. Now that I had tried, I knew more of what to watch for, and it was educational and helpful.

Friday, yesterday although it feels like it was much much longer ago than that, was "you've been a smart-mouth, so now you're going to pay" time. I don't think Hannah and I fell into that category, but we were still lumped in for the ten minutes of running around the room. It was just running and counting, but I felt pretty proud as I kept up with the really fast boys for the first five minutes. Then the cramping and the panting started, but I still made it. The best part came after. They pulled out the basket of rainbow-colored, foam-padded... nunchucks. Now, let me remind you, I walk into stuff all of the time. Just in taekwondo I've given myself six bumps on the head by walking into the kicking practice equipment. I broke my leg going down *one* stair. I fall down and trip over literally nothing. And here they are giving me nunchucks; regardless of being padded, this is going to be worth watching.

Within minutes I'd clocked my ear, yelped from the pain of hitting my shoulder, and smacked the back of my head several times. Half of the time I was doubled over in pain. The other half of the time I was doubled over laughing. The instructors did their fair share, too. They had to have known, right? It was lots of fun, though, and now I'm really excited for Phil's birthday present. He had given me a set of wood nunchucks with a Jesus emblem on them. I think they were a gag, but now... "HI-YAH!"

"You're scare!"

2009-06-09T22:11:00.002+09:00

Today we all headed back to school, some of us a little tired because we were up until 3 a.m. thinking about all of the awesome things God is doing in our lives. For instance, my jobs have been pretty varied--hospital volunteer, garbage emptier, reverse telemarketer (I took orders via the phone for 50+ catalogs), deli clerk, law office receptionist, seafood clerk (a step up!), night watchman, parking lot nazi, property manager, assistant to medical insurance salesmen, and now ESL kindergarten teacher. My friends have dubbed me the queen of random, and I think this is evident in my employment decisions--I can't wait to see what happens next!

Despite tiredness and a caffeine withdrawal headache, I had a great day with my kids--except for when Brian realized his grandmother forgot to wash his lunch tray. It didn't occur to me to wash it, I went to the kitchen and got a borrowed tray. He was so upset he cried for an hour, stopping only when I bribed him with candy. Thank God for leftovers from our lesson on "lollipops."

After, Hannah and I had some yummy tuna jjigae before heading in for taekwondo. Today we warmed up with a lot of kicking (which involves a lot of sweating and pant-tugging for me), and then we got to spar. The goal was to kick our opponent's butt--literally. I almost died laughing because the first time I "won," I reached between my opponent's legs and got his butt that way. I think the best part of the night was when I got to kick the butt of the most annoying kid in class. He kept running away from me, but I still got him. And after, the instructor corrected my kicking, so I started making even more contact. It was awesome!

Kate's Day Off

2009-06-08T22:40:00.002+09:00

We had today off (for no particular reason, but I'm grateful nonetheless). The stress of the last two weeks had really brought me down, as had the remarkable lack of sleep. After waking up at 1 today, I fixed that little problem. I went to work, fixed the last of the few problems I had, then went and read (New Moon, haha) in front of my convenience store for a few hours before taekwondo.

Today's class was really good, and I'm really glad I went. I was granted mastery of the front kick! I kicked so high my instructor had tears of joy. It is now as I type that sentence that I realize, I am the Aidan of taekwondo. I'm glad I could give someone the same frustrated joy. When I demanded a sticker for my achievement, they just laughed at me. Tomorrow, I shall buy the largest sticker available and wear it proudly!

It turns out that they won't change the time schedule until after I leave, so I'll be able to continue until I leave. I'll definitely have my yellow belt before I come home!

Observations

2009-06-07T22:02:00.002+09:00

1) I love watching He's Just Not That Into You. I feel enlightened and empowered to wait for something fantastic instead of settling for the unromantic and ordinary. (e.g. Edward Cullen, but that's just a continuation of my delusions)

2) The spicier the curry, the better.

3) When choosing a country for teaching English as a second language, I am one of the few people who needs to consider the quality of emergency care before consenting to move.

4) I miss the washing machines (and dryers!) of home. They work better.

5) Today is my sister's birthday! Happy Birthday, Molly!

The Slow Down

2009-06-07T11:25:00.002+09:00

Well, there just hasn't been much to report. The week ended on an upturned note, and although plans for Seoul got postponed, I still took Friday night off from taekwondo to celebrate my first free Friday night since I started Korean lessons. (What with them requiring me to wake up at the same time I wake up for work, I couldn't exactly be hungover. Except for that one time...) The girls and I got dolled up and headed out for some dancing good times.

Yesterday was an excellent lazy day, topped off with Night at the Museum 2 (it went a little slowly for me, things didn't flow smoothly), dinner at an Italian place, and some good old fashioned pool/bowling fun. More dancing ensued, which pretty much brings us to the present time. No falling down drunk, and for the first time I went to Frog without almost getting into a fight. It was either a slow weekend for everyone, or maybe I've taken steps towards being 26 instead of 22.

For a long time I felt trapped at age 22, so I was really confused when it was my sister's 22nd birthday, what with her being three years younger and all. When I turned 25, I was in panic mode about my life. Now, a year later, after having lived my life, I feel like I'm coming into my own. And let's face it, Cinderella ends just after the wedding because the big growth spurt was over. (Well, it should have ended. Cinderella 2? Cinderella 3? What the heck?)

Something about life, though, is that unlike a 90-minute movie, we have plenty of time for many adventures. I'm off to try my 3rd Indian restaurant since coming to Korea. I'm going to have to find one in Denver and drag people along; it's way better than Ben Stiller in Along Came Polly makes it look. ;)

Lazy Wednesday Morning

2009-06-03T08:25:00.002+09:00

So, after a Monday hypochondriac episode of "My eyes aren't getting any better!" and the ophthalmologist declaring, "Yes they are! Don't come back!", I've finally finished my week long punishment of wearing glasses and got to put my contacts in this morning. So far, so good.

Everyone says the glasses are cute, but for me they are a bitter reminder of a geeky youth where nothing seemed right until the magical day we had a garage sale and I had enough money to buy my own contacts. (Well, almost enough. Fortunately for me, my parents are either 1) easily annoyed, or 2) indulgent.) So to be forced into wearing them because of an angry case of pink eye (which, Abby informed me, only happens when someone gets poo in their eye, EW) left me feeling rather unglamorous--partly because my movie star sunglasses don't fit over them.

For the last week I've had a headache, which I like to blame on my glasses, and last night it intensified, leaving me unmoving on my bed--yes, skipping taekwondo. After a few hours with the Cullens (the ones in my head, not the movie), I lay in the darkness staring up and thinking about my students. Because Anna left on Friday, there have only been 15--but I still forget and make 16 copies. I thought about how each of them represent 32 parents and 64 grandparents, all who had hopes and dreams for their futures--futures that I'm a part of. I started wondering what they were going to be when they grew up, and what their new teacher is going to be like. I hope she understands how special Aidan is, despite certain lacking abilities (i.e. understanding number sequence, oops).

I stepped into unknown territory, examining each of the kids and trying to think of what I hope for for my kids. I have two little girls who are perfect angels. They're the smartest, and will probably be leveled up into the second year class. I think they're probably what I would have wanted for my children before I realized how un-challenging and un-fun perfection is. For all of the times Aidan and I have made each other cry, I am going to miss him desperately. I feel as though this difficult four-year-old has taught me a lot about losing my selfishness and loving not because of what someone can do for me, but because he is good and deserving of good things.

It strikes kind of a theme that goes along with Twilight. Yeah yeah Bella's extraordinary, but how would the first book have gone if Edward could have read her thoughts? I pose the suggestion that his initial interest in her comes from the mystery and the challenge of getting to know her. Part of Aidan's appeal is the challenge he poses for my teaching abilities, and how the reward is greater when he does learn. I hope there's another one of him in my future.

보배 and 부휘 do 나아

2009-06-01T22:36:00.002+09:00

So Saturday after I got my certificate for finishing my Korean class (and with a "see you later" from he who will never call, and thus never be seen again), I packed up to visit Abby in her little town of Naa. Technically the invitation and party was Arthur's, but I find something about Abby just draws me in--she has the gift of hospitality that always bewilders me. Like my cousin Pam, she has an amazing ability to make a home comfortable (and clean, for that matter), and thinks of things for guests that don't really occur to me.

After a few mishaps (i.e. going to the wrong bus station, getting rammed into by an impatient driver) we met up and drove from Ulsan to her town 20 or so minutes away. As I drove around Ulsan in the bus and on the way out in Abby's car, I really admired the town. It has 1/3 the people of Daegu, has more of a retro feel, and from what I could tell was way cleaner.

The night progressed into a barbecue that was fun. Arthur had a lot of friends come in, all of them having exotic (aka not North American) accents, so it was fun to listen to them. One of my favorites was a Korean named Dinny who learned English working in a pub in Ireland. He had the foulest mouth of anyone I've met outside of college--it was hilarious. As the food disappeared (including Abby's fantastical kimchi jjigae, whose recipe I need to remember for home--anchovy powder, red pepper paste, and garlic are the base), the group headed out to the beach for a bonfire, s'mores, and fireworks. It was awesome being right on the sea and hanging out. I really wished Tracy had been there; it would have made it all perfect. Well. Aside from the broken glass in my foot, but that's what taekwondo calluses are for.

As you can see, the next day was beautiful. Probably 75 and sunny with a light breeze, Abby and I did some shopping, visited the beach again, and spent the day being 20-something girls. I came home spent, sore, and full, and looking forward to next weekend when Kate (보배) and Abby (부휘) do Seoul! (서울)

Parting Parties

2009-05-29T19:28:00.002+09:00

Today was the last day of the May session at ECC. In Kindergarten, it meant we were concluding the first textbook, and I'm just amazed at how much my kids absorbed. The final chapter was about parties and reviewing other material (pets, numbers, etc.). In my imaginary world, I envisioned a grand party for my kids, helping them remember important vocabulary such as friends, cake, presents, and cards. We made going-away cards for one of the little girls who is moving--Anna. She was a quiet one, and walked to the beat of her own drummer for sure. While everyone else colored their bear brown, Anna colored hers rainbow. She's also the little girl who thought she was a boy for the first week, and a book for the second. I hope she does well in her new school.

For the party, I wrapped thirty-two presents, taking care for each of the little matchbox cars so the rear-view mirrors didn't poke through the paper, that all of the wires for the sketchbooks weren't sharp, and that all of the bows were put on prettily. As I spent the four hours doing this, I realized that all the effort would be wasted on them, but that I wanted to do it anyway. I really think this year has been an extraordinary experiment in how a child's love can heal and bring out the best in a person.

It was successful--only slightly less wonderful than Disney World--and the boys played with their cars the rest of the day, which was a lot of fun to observe. When I used to watch wondering, what on earth are they thinking?, I find myself wishing I had a 9th toy to get in there with them.

This afternoon I had a final class with some kids I inherited from Kevin. Matt, who has been at ECC longer than all but two teachers, is moving to another part of town or something, and won't be coming to ECC anymore. So. Sad. He's so much fun. He's the one who asked for my autograph.

As I write this, I remember my grandmother and her relationship with George Winston. She was his 2nd grade teacher or something, and they've continued a friendship long since. She still goes to his concerts when he passes through Montana and catches up with him. I know how big of a room I have in my heart for my past teachers, and I know how fiercely I love my students. Some of them probably feel the same, and I'll be remembered long after I go. I'm glad I could sneak in memories of presents and cake beforehand.

Tonight is my test in taekwondo. I haven't been the last two days because I can't wear my contacts. I'm trying to decide whether to go; I'm pretty sure I'll pass according to their standards, but I'm equally as sure that I'll fail according to my own. So it comes to a point where I wonder, is it really my eyes I'm trying to protect, or is it my ego? I'm testing out my contacts, though, to see if I can make it through an hour or two before getting my glasses back on. Stay tuned...

Rough around the edges

2009-05-27T19:20:00.002+09:00

This week has had its challenges--but, Wednesday is already over, so it can't be all that bad! This morning started off with an insane burning in my eyes. I've been fighting something in my eyes for ten days or so, but yesterday they were clear. This morning I couldn't even crack them open because the light burned them so badly. I rushed to get my glasses on and got to the doctor with plenty of time before class.

She wouldn't even seriously look at them, they were so bad. (When I first looked at them, I wondered if they were bleeding.) So she gave me a referral for an ophthalmologist (spelled right on the first try, woo hoo!), and I set off to see if Jin would send someone to help me at my 2:30 break--because I'm a good, hard-working teacher who wanted to rally and pull through for my students and coworkers. She rationalized that the office was going to be slower when all of the students were in school, so she sent me in the van with Albert to go see what was wrong.

I have two infections, one being pink eye and the other something I didn't even recognize. The whole ordeal has made me look back on my past ten months and sigh. I've had bronchitis 20 times, 16 sinus infections, a broken leg, tachycardia, tonsillitis 4 times, and now pink eye. I was never the healthiest horse, but come on! This is too much! I wonder if destiny is preparing me to write up on what I think of the Korean health care--which is that it's awesome. You get in and out with relative ease, and my insurance is $120 a month ($60 comes out of my pocket.) All in all, I saw 2 doctors today, got 3 prescriptions, and paid under $10. Something is worth noting about their system.

The rest of the week, well, I don't want to remember it for posterity (not that I really want to remember conjunctivitis, either, but it is worth remembering that for a few hours I really did look like a newborn vampire). So I choose just to remind myself of my first month learning German. Frau Dyer was never the actual source of my frustration--generally it was myself, or other stresses during the day. It's important not to take things personally (as a teacher, as a girl, as a friend, etc.) because so little is actually about me.

Lesson learned (for the evening, at least), and now I'm off to skip taekwondo and do some shopping for my kindergarten party on Friday.

Back in Action

2009-05-24T11:23:00.002+09:00

After the world's worst tequila hangover (free shots = bad, bad idea), I discovered Twilight. And then before I knew it, I was devouring the entire series, leaving little room for things like blogging, eating, and sleeping. I still went to taekwondo, though, going five times last week! On Wednesday, we had physical fitness tests and it was so full of good news. It confirmed what I thought my weight was, and in 2 years I really have dropped 55 pounds. Extraordinary! My flexibility is more than it was in high school (I got crowned the "queen"--I'm so glad that's the most-used phonics word for "q"!)

The part that makes me smile is the sit-ups test. She gave us a minute, and I did thirty and figured time was probably out so I stopped. Then I realized it wasn't anywhere near finished, so I did some more, finishing at 35--higher than in high school. So we have 2 things to garner from this: 1) I was out-of-shape in HS, too, haha, and 2) I've come a long way in 1 month. Hooray!

Yesterday I sort of had two dates. After Korean class, Luke finally asked me out to lunch with him. I think it was more for companionship than anything, but we ate Mexican and talked about lots of things--future jobs, attitudes towards Korea, Christianity, and dating. We talked about how hard it is for him to take initiative with girls, and that he thought he would have married long ago, but that he's just been waiting for it to happen. It took an extraordinary measure of will-power to smile and nod instead of reaching over and smacking him. Oh well.

After heading back to my corner of Daegu for a nap, I got a message from a Korean I've been texting with, and we met up for drinks. And his friend was there. His friend who doesn't speak English. It was a pretty awkward time, Eric only being able to talk to one of us at a time. The friend requested I find a Korean friend for him to talk to, so I tried, and I know Alex was probably just rolling around on her bed laughing at the entire situation. I ended up leaving for the preservation of harmony.

So after a good night's sleep, I'm up with dishes done, laundry cycling, and jamming to the two awesome CDs Tracy made for me with potential plans for a movie. Despite the suspicion that I would love being a vampire, I'll hold off on further forays into fiction until my plane heads off July 26th. There's still a lot to do--and blog about--before I go!

Embarrassed

2009-05-23T22:04:00.001+09:00

*Ring ring*
"Kate-uhh?"
Laughter. "Yes."
"Chicken?"
"Yes, please."
"Okay."

That's the entire phone conversation, lol.

Mildly Obsessed

2009-05-21T22:09:00.001+09:00

Not updating for one very stupid reason: must find out whether Bella dies. Have sick mission to work 40 hours, take TKD classes, take Korean lessons, dance all night, and still make it through the series in 1 week. ... 400 pages and 1 day to go.

TKD Update

2009-05-19T22:55:00.001+09:00

So this is something just kind of random, a thought that struck me as odd. I'm sitting at my computer, trying to think of something interesting to post in my blog, and what I come up with is the following.

"I learned how to round-house kick today."

Excuse me, but "I" as in "Kate" and "round-house kicks" generally belong in a sentence along with "video game." But I learned the real thing today.

And that's pretty kick ass. All puns intended.

Made in Tuckey

2009-05-19T01:48:00.002+09:00

I love my students, and I sincerely believe that each and every one of them is a genius. I don't care that Billy's name is sometimes spelled "Bily," and Greg is "Gerg" and Emily is still sometimes "Emliy." These little geniuses are undertaking the monumental task (chore?) of delving into English and trying to communicate in two languages--long before people in the US decide to look into Spanish. They have to undergo learning a new alphabet (UPPER CASE, lower case, and don't even get started on cursive), new phonics (i.e. the previously mentioned lack of "f," plus the difficulty of r/l, the new sound "th," and so on), grow accustomed to double consonant sounds, and rearrange their thoughts in a completely backwards way.

Despite all of these difficulties, my sweet babies in kindergarten still try to tell me what they did over the weekend (I Nintendo Dad = I played Nintendo with my father and we had a wonderful time). They cheerfully tell me over and over that they are sitting ON the chair, not UNDER the chair, and every morning Dove class greets me by hiding under the table, giggling until one of them gives up and pops out with a "good morning, Kate Teacher!"

At the other end of the scale, I have a class just a few weeks away from entering the Intermediate level of their English studies. Their vocabularies are quite good, and their grammar is coming along. They understand the joke when I demonstrate cutting one's finger versus cutting off one's finger (a bit higher class than the nosebleed/coffee comparison... 코피/커피). This class has been one of my points of joy these last few months, and I received the sad news that two students will be moving so the class will be merged with another at the beginning of June.

I've lost a lot of classes over the last year. Overall, the numbers drop because students test into higher level classes. Now, as I mull it over, I wonder if they tested into higher classes to escape me. I hope that isn't true. I know my standards are incredibly high--I'm afraid that I was too hard on them. That I wasn't enough for them in some way--whether lacking in games or compassion, etc.

Regardless of the reasons, this is another class coming to a close. My brightest student is leaving. There are more personable students, ones who don't radiate displeasure at being in school, but I've really enjoyed watching Sean's mind work. He comes up with some of the funniest stuff, and remembers the most random. One day, for whatever reason, we were talking about fried chicken. KFC is actually kind of common here--Koreans love their fried chicken--and he made some crack about how it's made in Tuckey. "Kentucky?" I tried to correct. "No, Made in Tuckey," he was absolutely certain. I was practically doubled over laughing. Another day, my absolute quietest student confessed *gasp* that she had a boyfriend. She wouldn't tell us his name, so I named him Kimchi. A few weeks passed and for whatever ornery reason I remembered she had a boyfriend again, and Sean was the one who remembered his fake name. The look of horror on the poor girl's face... (Gee, I don't know why my classes are shrinking...)

Another favorite is Matt. Matt's been a long-time student at ECC. He started with everyone's favorite, Gavin, at one of the very early levels, and progressed all the way up to the point where he tells me about his tests and sometimes corrects my spelling. (I get rushed!) He has a great imagination, and when we're practicing past tense and writing a class-wide story, he always comes up with the best plot twists. Today, we were talking about famous people and their autographs, and one of the workbook questions was, "Whose autograph would you like?" He wrote, "Big Bang and Kate Teacher." I am going to miss him so much.

And that, Charlie Brown, is what Teacher Appreciation Day is all about.

May have a problem.

2009-05-15T09:23:00.002+09:00

This week, as I've been walking around my little corner of Daegu, it's been really warm and I've been reminded of my firsts--first trip to Home Plus, first time getting lost finding my apartment, first time realizing my apartment is too bright to sleep in, etc. etc. I've also been remembering what I ate that first week: nothing but popsicles.

This week I've managed to get in a very Korean lunch: bibimbap, ramen, rice, but breakfast and dinner I've chosen a fascinating triangle popsicle instead. It comes in both coffee and strawberry. This morning, though, I woke up and there's a new popsicle wrapper on my floor. I don't remember eating it, and it wasn't there when I went to bed.

Hmm.

Waffles

2009-05-13T22:15:00.002+09:00

As I sit on my bed post-taekwondo with a box of waffle cookies, I ponder, while biting into the buttery, almondy goodness, something I find odd--yet delightful--about Korea. They thoroughly embrace other cultures, but on their terms. For instance, because of the abundance of American presence post-Korean War, there is English everywhere. It is often misspelled, and if you try to speak English, people usually tell you--in English--that they do not speak English.

Another example are these waffle cookies. I could walk into Home Plus (aka Tesco, the British WalMart I'm told) and buy three or four different types of waffle cookies. They also sell waffles folded in half and filled with the most fattening icing you've ever tasted (see post about cake mania in kindergarten for its pants-staining potency). These waffle carts are literally everywhere; typically I find one on a ten-minute walk in any direction.

Despite the abundance of waffles in this manner, I have never seen a waffle iron. Nor have I ever seen a breakfast restaurant, i.e. IHOP. (Thanks to being part of the Apple generation, I almost spelled that iHop, ha.) The irony makes me smile and pause--but not until after I ated my cookie.

Prin....cess

2009-05-11T14:34:00.000+09:00

My little girls in Dove class love announcing that I am a princess. They also like to joke, though, and say, "Kate Teacher! Prin.....cess." Then erupt into a fountain of giggles. The boys, however, have figured it out and go "prince....ss" as soon as they get the eyebrow.

My clever little kiddos~

Who wants some cake?

2009-05-09T21:26:00.003+09:00

Yesterday was a genuinely exhausting day, to the point where--despite a full night's sleep--I had to come home and take a nap after Korean class today. Imagine, if you will, 16 4- and 5-year-olds. For all sakes and purposes, you could consider this a child's birthday party. Now, in your imagination, add seventeen sponge cakes, four bowls of pink and white frosting, and endless decorations and you have a recipe for good ol' fashioned, destruction-induced fun. With pink frosting on one leg, and white frosting on the other from the knee-high counters, I can deduce that despite 3 of us taking 30 minutes to clean up the disaster, it was a success. No one cried. Everyone liked their cake. And we all got on a massive sugar high.

The frosting brought back memories from Monday night--memories I forgot to chronicle here. At around 1:30 in the morning, after massive amounts of alcohol, Chris commented that he'd really like to see someone's face shoved into one of my birthday cakes on the coffee table. Before I even realized what was happening, Arthur smashed the cake into Chris's face. Oh. my. God! Soon it was returned, smashed into Arthur's face! I was completely sober, but so tired, I realized too late that Chris had started balling up the remaining amounts of cake and started passing it back and forth between his hands. All of the girls went screaming out of the apartment at that point. I thought I was going to be clever and run into the elevator, not realizing Arthur would follow and tackle me into it. I tried to get out on the right floor, but it had already started moving. We went down to the first floor, looking rather sheepishly at the older Korean gentleman who got on with a disdainful look--he probably wasn't impressed with the frosting smeared across the door. ... I still have frosting on my pants, even after going through the wash.

This week, I have been suffering from a plague. A plague I like to call my EPIK application. EPIK is the Korean government's program to bring foreigners into public schools for the purpose of teaching English. The application is pretty long, and ... invasive (they ask for your weight!), but it was no problem. I got through 7 of the 8 pages. Unfortunately, one of these was, "write a personal essay of 300 words or more." There was no guiding question, just "personal essay." Today, after the 3-hour nap, I woke up, realized it had to be done, and here it is, 588 words, submitted for your approval.

Love
One of the first things I noticed about Korea is the abundance of pink and heart. There are heart stickers, hearts on T-shirts, heart-shaped pencils, and people continually make hearts with their arms and hands. As I learn more about the culture, I understand most of the songs are about love, and that there are essentially two Valentine’s Day—one for girls, and then one for boys! Over the last year, I have developed three of my own loves: languages, children, and travel.

Since my father brought me a copy of Aschenputtel, the German Cinderella, I have loved foreign languages. As I started high school, I began learning German and can remember my teacher unfolding this new world of grammar for me, teaching me as much about English as she did German. She made learning fun, and I went on to study French, Spanish, and now Korean, too, applying the same basics. Now, when I am at the head of the class in her shoes, I try to apply some of her methods. She was good at encouraging us to use our imaginations for conversation drills, making them fun instead of just another page in the book. This love of languages has served me well in Korea, because as I study object and location markers, I understand more of my students’ difficulties and why they make the mistakes they do, which has added to my effectiveness as their teacher.

In addition to languages, I love children. My first day teaching in kindergarten, the teacher I replaced showed me the building, my classes, and introduced me to my students. I fell in love with them immediately—well, almost all of them. I soon learned that each class has its own troublemaker, and that some are simply mischievous, while others act out because of a problem. One of my 7-year-old boys had such a hard time in classes; he could not stay on task, and he was habitually distracted. As I read through the previous teacher’s notes, it seemed it had been going on for some time. After observing the class’s play time, I saw that there was a certain girl who always chased (and tormented him). After stepping in and separating them, the boy’s performance soon went to the top of the class, and he was much happier. Out of my love of children, I find myself drawn towards spurring them on to be the best they can be—to the point where half of my students have been promoted to elite classes, if not to higher levels altogether.

Finally, I have renewed my love of travel and have fallen in love with South Korea. Living in the United States, I have a lot of opportunities to travel around Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. itself. In high school, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Europe to see Germany, France, and Austria. Nothing has satiated my desire to travel like moving to South Korea and being allowed to experience life here hands on. Every day I get to go to taekwondo, or to Korean lessons, or out for galbi, or to visit a shrine or palace, I feel the honor of being in such a historical place.

Over the last year I have seen and done many things, from field trips of petting snakes to helping direct 13 7-year-olds in a graduation play, and fortunately nurtured my three loves of languages, children, and travel. I look forward to what the next year has in store!

Cool as a Popsicle

2009-05-07T22:04:00.002+09:00

Now, this may come as a shock to you, but in high school I was a nerd. (And middle school. And elementary school.) I got good grades, participated in every extra-curricular that didn't involve moving (drama, two math clubs, FHA, band, orchestra, choir, etc), and spent an awful lot of time on the computer.

As I was walking home from taekwondo today, I started to wonder, "when did I get so cool?"

Not only have I done away with the good grades (haha, sorry dad), but here I am, 26-years-old, living out one of the coolest possible jobs. I roll out of bed at 8:30 to loaf around before work, go color with kids and exchange various insults using the only words they know ("Nu uh, YOU'RE a monkey princess!!"), then after all of that hard work, take a 2-4 hour rest. Then I put in another two hours ("She totally sprained her ankle, and I totally burned my hand!!"), and take an hour rest before heading off to taekwondo. At the end of the week, I go to study Korean, then hang out with the girls until some ungodly hour on Sunday morning or whisk myself off on a weekend adventure.

Actually, that sounded a lot cooler in my head, and now I realize that there are in fact nerds everywhere I go. Going with the idiom involving birds of a feather, maybe I am in fact still a nerd.

But one of the more blissful things about being a nerd, as learned by Sheldon, Raj, Howard, and Leonard, is that you can be one and enjoy it.

Heart Melty

2009-05-06T22:38:00.002+09:00

The breaks between classes are 10 minutes, now, in kindergarten, which really just means I sit around on the super comfy chair for 8 minutes instead of 3, now. It's wonderful. Today I was settled into the chair, helping someone spell "stethoscope" (why 5-year-olds need to learn that word, I don't know). My wonderful little student David came up to me with a piece of pink and red origami paper and asked, "Kate Teacher name spelling?" I smiled and said, "K," and he ran off to the classroom to write it down, then ran back. "a," more running. "t," finally realized there's a table right next to me. "e." Then he looked up at Alex and asked, "How do you spell I love you?"

Awwwww.

So I got a note,
"Kateiloveyou
David"

And bless his little heart, it's the first time all day he hadn't spelled it Davib.

My Friends Know Me

2009-05-05T14:41:00.002+09:00

and love me anyway. :) So I answer my phone on a day off...

"Are you showered?"
"...No?"
"What the hell, woman, it's 12:30!"
"..So?"

No hello. No how are you. Hehe, just, "are you showered?" And not assuming that by 12:30 I would have washed off the previous day's cake war remnants. While I was but an innocent bystander, I managed to get yellow frosting on a good number of clothing pieces.

You might say, then, the Cinco de Mayo festival was a success! Everyone appreciated my fajitas, and finally!!!! I found unmoldy avocados. They were $15 for 5, and well worth it.

What do you want?

2009-05-02T09:03:00.002+09:00

A few weekends ago, as I was talking about finding a job, someone asked me a question that has rocked my world. "What do you want?"

I've spent the last two weeks thinking about it, and I am pleased to announce that I have discovered an Albert-free answer. Last night I lay awake, not because of caffeine or because I watched a rowdy movie, but because I was practicing taekwondo in my head. I was going through the actions of the punches I'd learned, trying to keep them straight for my test at the end of the month.

I, Kathleen Elizabeth, was too excited about exercise to sleep.

What with being a closet morning person, I thought this over in the shower and just had an epiphany: what I want is to stay near my instructor and to have more vacation time so I can go see Beijing and Hong Kong and so on. Seoul was awesome, but it was really too big for me to live there. There are a lot of other cities on the beach and maybe with better offers and new and exciting things to do, but what I want is to be in a place where I feel encouraged to be healthy. There are other taekwondo hagwons, but I've already found what works for me.

So now I'm going to get together my resume, bribe Yuria with coffee to write a letter of recommendation, and set off for Korean Saga 2: The __________ Continues. (Adventure, Boy Crazy, so many options for that blank, so little time.)

Still here~

2009-05-01T22:24:00.003+09:00

This is the longest I've ever gone without updating--even longer than when I broke my leg. It isn't for a lack of things to say: au contraire, it is because of an excessive number of minute facets of the past week I wish to document but end up punking out.

Last weekend was my big weekend in Seoul with Hannah and Mark. Hannah and I headed up on Friday taking the super fast train. When I say super fast, I mean over 300 km/h fast. I had a little pre-birthday celebratory bottle of soju while the rest of the crew got smashed and celebrated Jeff's fake birthday in Daegu.

When we got to Seoul, it was pre-rain muggy. By the time we got out of the station, it was no longer pre-rain. After a few dead-ends finding a hotel for the weekend, we stumbled across the "Forced Smile Motel," one of Korea's fantastically cheap, fantastically pervy love motels. After stealing random supplies from the completely unmonitored linen shelves (so what if I want four pillows?), we tested out the Beer Factory, finding some of the best chicken tenders I've had.

The next morning (Saturday) was supposed to be an early rise, but it turns out I twisted my bad ankle in the station the previous night and was not thrilled by the idea of shining. After some prodding (and an alarm that sounded like a bird was in the room), we made it out the door and onto the subway in time for Hannah to see part of Mark's first hockey game.

What I didn't realize (my ignorance seems to know no bounds) is that Seoul hosted the 1988 Olympic games. So Mark was playing in some tournament on the grounds, so I got to see my first Olympic stadium. It was really quite amazing, and I felt in awe of just being there. After the game, Hannah and I went for a huge, Western-style breakfast (with coffee!!) at Gecko's. Yum.

From there we hopped on the hop-on-hop-off Seoul City Tour bus. For $10, we got driven around the entire city and could get off to see any one of 30 destinations. Because someone was a little slow that morning (oops), we did get to see the whole tour, but we only got to get off at two stops: the Seoul Tower and Deoksu Palace. Because it was cold and rainy, visiting the Seoul Tower strongly reminded me of Seattle. It was cool seeing out across the city, though, and they had little markers to tell you how far you are from certain places. It turns out Seoul is 9927 kilometers from Denver. I thought it was interesting that I'm closer to Moscow than home. Deoksu Palace is one of four palaces in Seoul. The admission is well worth it ($1), and we got to traipse around soaked in the rain and splashing in puddles while running up to ancient buildings and snapping their pictures.

This was my favorite picture of the palace. I like that you can see the restored outside and the un-restored inside in the same picture. The government is working on restoring all of the palaces, which is a serious haul after what the Japanese did to them, and I find the progress interesting.

To dry off, Hannah and I saddled up to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, and it was delicious. It also opened up the night to drinking, and well, you all know what happens when Tequila enters the picture.

Something ironic about the day is I spent the day in the shadow of Luke's footsteps. He's a guy I met in my Korean class who also cut class to come see the wettest city in Korea. The next morning as we were headed to leave our stuff at the subway station, we ran into Luke and his friend! In a city of 24,500,000 people, I ran into one of the few people I know--from Daegu. Then twenty minutes later, I ran into other people from my Korean class! It was so crazy. In a five minute period I gave a blurry English lesson, ran into all of these people, and got a subway pass for Itaewon. Whew!

After another megabreakfast at Gecko's, the three of us (Hannah, Mark, myself) went for some shopping at Insadong, where I finally procured postcards. Expect mail, people! (Although not too soon; I did postpone blogging for a week, hehe.) After buying some interesting things to send to my grandparents, we set off for the main palace but got waylaid by the Lotus Blossom Festival.

It was a big festival for Buddha's birthday, May 2, and it was really impressive to see all of the lanterns. As I went through the news on Monday morning, I was pleased to see that I was finally somewhere that was in international news. Pretty cool! The incense got to me, though, and by that time I was starting to feel the cold that I'm still fighting. Fortunately for me, Hannah and Mark were okay with leaving Seoul after we consumed a massive (lethal, really) amount of ice cream. We got to the station with 15 minutes to spare before the next train for Daegu, and it was a pleasant, uneventful return journey.

Monday was (dun dun dun!) my birthday. I actually held off on opening my presents! My mom and grandma sent me more shirts, yay! The day was an average Monday, except I got four cakes. And Phil, the new male teacher, gave me nun chucks with a Jesus emblem. Then he wondered why I called him the strangest person of my acquaintance.

This week was week two of taekwondo training, and it went really well. I went, skipping only Tuesday due to illness, and I actually feel stronger. I feel more capable. I feel all of those good things I had hoped I'd feel. And tonight I learned the groin punch. Today, Daegu. Tomorrow, the world!

Oh How It Burns!

2009-04-23T23:47:00.003+09:00

It's amazing how many muscles the human body has. It's also amazing how exercise makes us aware of each and every one...

Today I lay back to do another 30 sit-ups, I looked up at the beams of the ceiling and considered the fact that I had looked forward to class all day. That thought quickly fled as I lifted up for the first one, cringing and biting down on my cheek; it's still swollen.

After completing the warm up, I got to learn some of the basic moves. Mostly this involved my uncoordinated limbs flailing about in an effort to imitate my instructor, who is a year younger than I am and has trained for 13 years. There were lots of snickers from the black-belted boys, but really in a fight I could still just sit on them.

I had to do more ankle lifts, and the first few almost killed me. Yesterday I got a cramp in my calf, and everything still ached. My lower lip trembled, my eyes welled, but the favorite Konglish phrase (Konglish = Korean + English) "Fighting!" rang in my ears. Whenever something is difficult, you can count on someone to rally with a chorus of "Fighting!" Except, what with the lack of "f" in the alphabet, it comes out "whiting" or "pighting," but the sentiment is there. So I pulled myself together, and my instructor came over to talk to me and distract me to the point where I was able to do all 100 again.

I'm so glad I'm going to Seoul tomorrow. As much fun as I had today, I'm looking forward to blowing off my "becoming Korean" classes (aka taekwondo and language) to go experience the real thing with a friend. It's supposed to rain and be chilly, but I'll just remember: fighting!

Taekwondo Day 2

2009-04-21T22:32:00.002+09:00

In case you were wondering, taekwondo in Korean is: 태권도.

Today was day 2 of my new hobby, and according to the schedule we were practicing kicks. More important, though, I got my uniform! I put on the suit that had the school's name and everything, tied on my belt, and the transformation was amazing. I went from this out-of-place foreigner, clueless and filled with wonder, to this out-of-place foreigner, clueless, filled with wonder, and remarkably uncoordinated. But, I got to do what I came for: take a stance, kick a paddle!

I only got to do 2 kicks before I got sentenced to white belt hell. What with ankle limitations, I got to do something like 200 ankle exercises, which honestly hurt but felt good at the same time. I'm so glad to be working on fixing the atrophied muscles instead of just wondering what to do. I also got to do this leg-jiggling thing that makes my thighs burn. While I was doing the last 10 sets of ankle exercises, I got moved to a window so I'd have a breeze and a view. When the instructor came over to see how I was doing, I'd moved on to making sound effects and scoping out the foot traffic for cute guys which amused her. So, I practiced counting to ten in Korean (I can do Chinese numbers, but Korean ones are just hard). Looking forward to tomorrow...

Tomorrow's goal: help Emily learn how to spell her name. Poor little girl knows all of the letters, now, but it usually goes "Emliy." At least she's cute!

The Beltless Wonder

2009-04-20T21:57:00.002+09:00

So today was it. I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath to see how the first day of TKD went. (I'm not full of myself, am I, hehe.) I survived!

Fortunately, Mondays are stretching. After faltering with jumping jacks (thank you, broken leg), I have been excused from all jumping-related activities. I have, however, been assigned extra strength exercises, but that's okay because I wanted them. I want my leg to be better!

We had a slight disagreement over my uniform. I think I should wear pants that don't show my butt, but the uniform is the uniform and I am to take comfort in the fact that the shirt is extra long. ... It brings back flashbacks of stretch pants in sixth grade, but I needed to get over that trauma anyway.

For the first time since high school, I did a series of sit-ups (real ones, with the instructor pinning my feet to the floor), and I managed 25 before shaking and needing help to finish the set. I kicked butt at stretching (maybe yoga would have been a good choice after all), and despite the pants concern, I enjoyed myself. I have to smile at my lack of belt, though. I think it's like the universe knows that I'm not even at white belt level and need to go a few times just to have the right.

The instructor was very encouraging, and while I feel like the dunce of the class (possibly because I am), I made it without further injuring myself. I left feeling like I could do it. I left feeling like I'm looking forward to tomorrow. And that's a pretty big deal.

Before taekwondo, my day went just fine. Kindergarten was what I can expect, now. My precious baby boy David was all full of cuddles today, so that was fun. I tried to teach reading (gasp) and it didn't go so well, but I got to sit each of them on my lap and try to get them to say at, cat, hat, mat, pat, sat. The memories of some of these kids are so precious, I hope they're what remains in the sieve of my life when all of the bad stuff has been washed away, and I'm left with gold nuggets.

TGIF

2009-04-17T19:13:00.003+09:00

I know I'm cheating 2 posts in a row using lolcats, but honestly.. this is exactly how today went. I just couldn't get it right today, and so I'm going to throw in the towel, eat some galbi, and look forward to tomorrow being a new day.

Petting Pets

2009-04-17T09:03:00.003+09:00

Of course from icanhascheezburger.com.

Once my dad decided to see how long it would take our dog to get tired of having his head pet--his most favorite thing in the world. All it took was 8 minutes. I wonder how much of my attention each of my students would need to feel fulfilled, happy, and like I can stop petting their heads.

I'm pretty sure whatever it is, it wouldn't be enough for me.

Rain, Rain GO AWAY!

2009-04-16T23:27:00.002+09:00

After a year of living in Colorado, I grew accustomed to living in the sunniest city in the United States. Now, the rainy days just bring me down. I think it affects the kids, too.

1) Aidan cried for the second time ever. :(
2) Julia broke her 3-day streak of no crying and gave into temptation.
3) Emily tripped me.
4) Terry keeps shoving his hands in my butt.
5) Helen rammed her toothbrush into my butt.
6) Ben has been carrying around a note from a girl (Bella) for two days that literally only says "Thanks, Ben," and talks about her (in Korean) ad nauseum, but it's cute because he whispers it all in my ear.

And that was all before lunch. Today was watching pomsae for the taekwondo. It made me really look forward to Monday.

Here's hoping tomorrow's post is more interesting. Too sleepy, but wanted to put something up. ... Seriously, what's the obsession with my butt?

School Shopping

2009-04-15T00:17:00.002+09:00

In Daegu, there are tons of hagwons. Hagwons are private academies, like the one I teach in. I teach at an English hagwon. On average there's three per block, and that's just English. There's also math, computer, art, taekwondo, and so on. Today, Hannah and I went around to some of the schools in our neighborhood and found one where the instructor is female, and has good time slots. She spoke a fair amount of English, and the floor is padded.

She had us sit and watch one of the classes, and I was really nervous. She told us ahead of time that everyone was a black belt and that they jumped rope 1,000 times. So I sat, quivering, sometimes grabbing for Hannah's hand, while some kids played around--kids younger than my afternoon students but older than my kindergarten kids. As 8:30 rolled around, I realized they were going to be my classmates. It's a lot less scary when you can easily protect yourself by tackling and sitting on your opponent.

Some of the stuff honestly looked difficult, but it was all very interesting. There were two kids with purple belts, and they got to sit out for the harder stuff. I'm looking forward to joining them. To be honest, I think this is going to be a great next step in the adventure. Learning taekwondo in South Korea? Oh yeah, babe. BAM!

Physical Therapy Epiphany

2009-04-15T00:10:00.002+09:00

As written at 4:00 p.m. from my physical therapy table.

In getting mentally prepared for taekwondo, my mind has of course flooded with all of the negatives, a big one being, "What about my broken leg?" I know I've been walking without aid since Christmas, but is it okay?

I went to the doctor today, with a note in Korean asking if I was ready. This resulted in some ankle-groping and questions about pain and limping. With a warning to do it carefully and another set of x-rays, I got to see the bones.

This time there were only two--the two you should have. To my medically-untrained eye, I could see there is a mass of swollen tissue, but the bone itself looked beautiful.

After, they made me go to physical therapy again. (Two days in a row after skipping more than a week, oops.) As I sat thinking and listening to my purple iPod, I realized now that I am genuinely excited. In more ways than one I've recovered from the trauma of my life, and I am embracing this new step. This is going to be huge.

Thanks, mom!

2009-04-13T14:09:00.002+09:00

Today had a rough start. I had a hard time sleeping because of a disagreement with one of my acquaintances. In one sense, she has a personality very similar to mine, but it is dissimilar enough for us to grate against one another. It's kind of like two cogs, and for whatever reason, instead of working together we're wearing each other down. So, when I woke up, I wasn't feeling all fresh and ready! to! go! to! work!

I got the shower thing done, and started to get dressed. I figured since it's around 80 in Daegu to try some new shorts my mom sent. I tried to pull them up and they wouldn't even make it to my butt. What the heck! I pulled them off and looked at the tag, but the size was right. When I held them up to another pair (a pair whose size I know is correct) there was two inches of the waistband missing. What with it being a circle (as waists tend to be), that means I am missing FOUR INCHES of fabric. Sigh.

So I changed into a less glamorous (ha) outfit and whined to my mom. She told me I was going to have a nice day, because she was praying for it so I was stuck with it. I kind of smiled and rolled my eyes and headed off, making a beeline for the nearest convenience store that sells Starbucks double shots.

Once I got upstairs for my first class, my kids were still eating their snacks, so I greeted them, reminded them that they do in fact speak English--despite a 3-day weekend's attempt at erasing everything--and before I got too far into the period, my darling baby David (the poor little guy who was in the hospital) grabbed my hand. In the past, when kids grab my hands I either get boogers, tissues, chewed up food, tickled, or pinched. But he took my right hand and pressed his lips to it and kissed it five times, then looked up with his big brown eyes and said, "Kate Teacher Princess."

I dare you to have a bad day after that.

Jimmy Johns

2009-04-11T18:49:00.000+09:00

As told to Molly at too-late-o'clock Denver time:

Kate:
OH MAN
I FORGOT A STORY ON MY BLOG

Molly:
lol

Kate:
hahaha this guy I was walking behind was wearing

I kid you not

A JIMMY JOHN'S TSHIRT!!!

Molly:
whoa!!

Kate:

So I caught up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. I was like, do you know Jimmy John's? and he was like, wtf, why are you speaking English

and I like touched the back of his shirt

and his girlfriend told him my meaning in Korean

and he was like, oh, no, sorry, sorry

--- End Transmission

How strange is that?

Yes Man

2009-04-11T17:34:00.002+09:00

As I blogged about over Christmas, I really identified with the movie Yes Man. I'm not a banker at a tedious job, but I feel like I might as well have been a year ago. How did the character shake up his life? He said yes to things he never would have imagined.

And so, today, I chose to say yes to something I desperately (DESPERATELY) want to do. In the deepest, darkest, moldiest, clammiest corner of my heart where dreams go to die, I've had one that won't let go: learning a martial art. Yes, I am reading your minds, "What the heeeell?" but allow me to explain.

I hate pain. I hate being sweaty. I have a mortal fear of having my nose broken. I hate being dirty. In general I hate moving. I'm out of shape. I've been overweight for about as long as I can remember. My ankle is still healing from having had a twice-broken leg. I may be too big to have a uniform. I may sputter out and die my first lesson. I may not own enough ibuprofen to get me through. I have this long list of irrational reasons why not to learn taekwondo. (A word spell check thinks is so ridiculous for me to use in my blog it would like to replace "taekwondo" with "Wonderbra.")

But people always discuss the merits of learning a martial art. The one that speaks to me is having higher self-confidence. Maybe I won't be afraid of every little thing if I feel like I could defend myself. Maybe I wouldn't hide behind Baskin Robbins. And then... Maybe my nose WILL be broken, and I'll still survive. Maybe after the first month, I'll feel good and won't need the ibuprofen.

So, in the land of taekwondo, where your average six-year-old could kick my ass (yay for arms longer than their legs!), I say yes to sit ups, sore muscles, sweating, and doing something for me. Yippee!!

On a side note, a boy tried to ask me to lunch, but I already had plans and he didn't want to feel like a third wheel. Aww. It's the second week in a row he's asked to do something. It may be platonic, but I still find it touching.

Soju Thursday

2009-04-10T11:35:00.002+09:00

After my little revelation yesterday concerning my place of employment, I was ready to celebrate having no classes today. So I grabbed up my best Canadian gal pal and we hit up the chicken galbi place.

This time I understood on the second try what the lady was saying about the spicy factor, and we got the extra spicy. It was seriously spicy and seriously awesome. The soju flowed pretty freely. (How is it soju still wasn't in my online spell check dictionary?) By pretty freely I mean, we both knew that we still have to do some work tomorrow and kept ourselves to 4 bottles.

Heather said something that made me go, hm. She said I've pulled a 180 since coming here. I used to be kind of codependent, and when the others said jump, I asked how high and then brought them a lemonade. Now I've gotten to a point where we hadn't really hung out (aside from Soju Friday) in maybe two weeks, and I wasn't a needy mess--we had both just been busy.

Another reason why it was fun last night is, I like hearing about how things are going between her and her Korean boyfriend. They've been together for almost as long as I've been here, and things have just come such a long way. He genuinely cares for her, and I think it has nurtured something inside of her. The language barrier has been interesting. For a while, when he wanted to hang out, he would ask if she wanted to play with him--it's not exactly wrong, but it's not exactly right, either.

We parted ways after 3 1/2 hours of sitting on the floor, with me desperate to get home to use my not-a-squatter toilet, and I had the happy tiredness that comes with the good end of a long day. Let's hope for the same tonight after the 5 1/2 hour teacher's seminar.

Be Careful What You Wish For

2009-04-09T16:25:00.002+09:00

There are people who wish to win the lottery, and they do, and they end up going bankrupt. There was an idiot little girl who wished to use crutches, and then she broke her leg in South Korea. Sometimes we put these ideas that on paper look really good out into the Universe, and then they come back like a boomerang and knock us on our asses.

For the last few weeks I've been revisiting this concern of what to do after my contract ends. Sleepless nights, binge eating, the works. The big question is, Do I stay at ECC where it's familiar (friends, work, location, Albert), or Do I move on what with the unknown having worked out for me pretty well in the past? Me being me, I flashed the big God-shaped bat signal and did what I could in the meantime.

I went to my supervisor with three requests (none of which included a pay raise), and all three were rejected by the owner. 1) No changing to afternoon teaching, 2) no break to go home for July, and 3) no time off for Christmas. I expected two yes's and a no, which really would have made concluding my contract a lot more difficult.

While I'm glad to see what to do (well, at least what not to do), I feel a little hurt to hear "no" so strongly. I've put in eight months, most of them good, and had months with no students leaving ECC. I work hard, the kids like me, and the parents appreciate the bond I have with their kids. Mrs. Baek would rather throw all of that away and risk getting another teacher with no experience and a complete lack of competency than keep me around. I know there is an influx of teachers running around, but I know who some of them are, and I know why they're running around--and it's not because a school closed.

So, at day 255 of my Korean Saga, I sit back and realize that it all will come to an end, and sooner than I expect. It will come time to pack up my two bags, haul everything through Incheon with 100% humidity, 90-degree heat, and return for a month of rest and shopping. 110 days--will you be ready?

Firsts

2009-04-06T19:45:00.003+09:00

As I walked back from buying chicken, I contemplated the reality that this past year (okay, 8 months) has seen a lot of firsts. First moving to a foreign country. Even if I decide to go do this ESL job in China, Iraq, Cambodia, South Korea will always be my first. My first triumph over language barrier (okay, so triumph is a bit strong), my first Christmas alone, my first broken bone (hopefully last), first time my heart has been broken by children, and so on.

When everything is shiny and new, it's easy to have an adventure. For instance, a can of cheese flavored soda can liven a day up. While the stimulation lasted longer, I'm seeing now it's up to me to keep the magic alive. Whenever I feel I'm becoming blase about something, I remember the Mary Tyler Moore Show. There's an episode where she feels blah about her life, how every morning she gets up, showers, goes to work, eats lunch, works more, and comes home. Ted Baxter told her she needs needs to Get up! and Shower! Go to Work! Eat Lunch! Work More! and Come Home!

Hmm.

Shirk No More

2009-04-06T08:12:00.005+09:00

So yesterday was the trip to Palgong Mountain (팔공산) with Albert. While I mildly concerned myself with what to wear (Korean women wear skirts and heels to do everything), I headed off to meet him at 7 Valley, a shopping center that has 5 floors. As I walked, I marveled at what a beautiful day it was. It was a perfect, 68-degree, sunny, light breeze spring day. Once I got the spot off my sunglasses, everything was perfect. I walked through the shopping center, and there were no other customers, so all of the clerks were able to focus their attention on me and bow only to me. I felt a little embarrassed, and a little badly for only using the center for a meeting place instead of shopping.

As I sat, a white car (Hyundai 현대) pulled up and honked, then Albert waved out of the window. Fancy! I get in, buckle up, and we're off. We talked about breakfast, but it was a pretty quiet car ride, listening to a CD of popular recent Korean songs (see below for Sorry Sorry), and me in awe of how big my area of Daegu (Chilgok) is, and grateful to get away from the towers of apartment buildings. For probably a mile and a half leading up to the mountain, the street is lined with cherry blossom trees, and it was a beautiful sight. When we arrived, there was the typical problem in Korea of no parking, made worse by a woman taking the spot Albert was trying to back into. With the car left in a place where it would be towed in the United States, we headed off, watching people rock climb, and me having a mild cow trying to get up a big hill. I'd like to say it's because I've been sick for a week, but really--my leg is healed, it's time to exercise again. At the top he asked if I was tired, so we had apple juice boxes before heading into the park.

I didn't know what to expect going in; I was quite surprised to see 12-foot-tall angry statues out of a Hindu storybook. They were so fierce with giant bulging eyes. I wouldn't mind having one of them in my classroom from time to time. (Did you do that? Do you want me to feed you to the giant angry man?) As I looked out across a valley, it was nice to see the mountains, but it was like looking out at foothills in Montana or Colorado. Kind of petite. At first all I saw was wilderness, which was interesting, but I wondered how long I was going to last; just around a bend, though, we came upon the area where monks live and study.

It wasn't what I expected at all, and I'm glad I got to see it. After some ddeok (free!) we made a stop at the strangest water fountain I've ever seen. Instead of it being "push a button, stoop over, sip," it was, "take a cup that hundreds of strangers have drank from, hold it under the water, sip." From there, we headed up into an area that was a courtyard with row after row of pretty lanterns.

While stopped to read some information about people and places with really long, forgettable names, a tour guide came up and started yakking Albert's ear off while I started to explore the main prayer room. I've known for a long time that Yuria was a Buddhist, and I had been to her area where she prayed before. I'd never seen anything like this, and I was afraid of disturbing anyone, so I didn't take a picture. Truth be told, it reminded me of some of the really old churches in Germany, with lights lit and lined up (their reason, though, I do not know), and a deathly quiet that brings solemnity. The three big, golden statues were quite different, though. We left (lest I burst into laughter from awkwardness) and (after he lined up my shoes for me to step back into them, aw), we saw a few smaller versions of the same, and peeked around at the living arrangements. The men and women live separately, and there are signs posted so visitors do not disturb the arrangement (no females, ever, allowed!).

On the way out of the living arrangements area, we stopped at a gift shop, where he looked at some incense burners. I think he may have been trying to buy one for me, but I felt kind of embarrassed, so I looked around and took an interest in the traditional instruments people were setting up with. (Aw and sigh.) We saw some statues of angels (no wings or halos, hm), and I teased him, asking whether he was an angel or a devil. He responded by saying angels were devils' girlfriends, and a bit later he called me an angel. Aww.

Once he spied someone eating, he got very excited at the prospect of lunch, so we started off, but not before encountering a gong. After a few pictures of him pretending to hit the gong, he did tap it, garnering even more looks than the white foreigner already had.

When we made our way down to where he had seen people with bibambap, he found out it was free which made it a hundred times better. Unfortunately, this was one of those instances where you get what you pay for. We got the rice, and bean sprouts, and some of the strongest kimchi I've ever had, and radishes. Despite making faces the entire time, he actually enjoyed it--based on its price--and helped me finish mine. I had no idea what was going on, so he ended up doing our dishes, and then helped me back into my shoes. Aw. As we walked out, his sister called and asked for him to bring the car back so she could go shopping. He was upset about it, which in retrospect helps me feel better about having things cut short. We lallygagged on our way back to the car, though, stopping for some (free!) tea, ice cream, and to swing on the giant swing. He offered to pull the car over for me to take some pictures of the cherry blossoms, which in retrospect I wish I had, but I didn't want him to get into trouble. On the way back we grooved to Big Bang and etc., and it was fun. Per usual, he dropped me off at my house, and he sped off to fulfill his family duties.

I had a really nice time, and I think he did, too. And thus concludes the Palgong San Chapter. While I wonder mildly what's next, for the most part I take joy in the wonderful day I had.

Korean Music Videos!

2009-04-05T23:21:00.001+09:00

One fun, one more dancy. Yeah, spell check, I said dancy.

White Girl in Korea

2009-04-05T20:24:00.003+09:00

There was a date, but it's no where as amusing as this story.

I just called to order delivery.
Chicken Place: ""
Me: "Uhm, hi. Do you speak English?"
CP: "Huh?"
Me: "영어?"
CP: "Kate-uhh?"
Me: Nervous giggles. "Yeah."
CP: "One chicken galbi?"
Me: Embarassed giggles. "Yes please."
CP: "Thank you." Click.

So, I guess you could say I am a movie star, what with having a meal known by my name and people knowing where I live.

Point of Irony

2009-04-04T21:14:00.003+09:00

I didn't even realize how skewed my view has become...

A few months ago I was mocking my sister's ex for not even having his own car. Yet I look around and thoroughly appreciate a man who still lives with his mommy and doesn't have a vehicle. I know it's the culture, but I'm just kind of contemplating whether it's hypocrisy.

Weekend Update

2009-04-04T20:45:00.002+09:00

A great start to Saturday begins with not drinking lethal amounts of soju, so today began well. Plenty of sleep, McDonald's for breakfast, and a pretty good Korean lesson. We have these two guys who are a little over-enthusiastic (translation: arrogant dipshits), and when confronted by two very stressed out girls, one of them denied being over-enthusiastic claiming the grammar stuff was new. Well, grammar is only a small portion of the class--maybe he should move up a level. Or two.

Am recognized as one of the better students, though, and a guy I kind of liked a few months back (pre-Albert) asked for my number and to study. Ah the life of the fabulous! I'm pleased to say that none of it is going over my head; I'm not good at it, but I understand the concept and just need to practice. That's a pretty good feeling.

My hair's been whacked off, again, and I think it's even shorter. We'll see what it looks like after the perfectionist touch has been washed out.

After, I found Arthur wandering around downtown, so we meandered uselessly together. It was nice. I had bad manners, though, and I really find it embarrassing. I'm guessing I'll let it go, since I have no other option. Heh. In the future, ask people how they are before pouncing about details with their new job, capice? I think I had twenty questions stored up because I'm eying the position of being his partner teacher, but really. Manners first.

Ended up with a new pair of Converse slip-ons for 23,000 won. ($17?) They're men's, but they're pink, so really...

Kayleigh and I saw Slumdog Millionaire; it was pretty good the second time. I'd rent it if I was out there in America-land and haven't seen it.

That pretty much brings us to present time with an empty new workbook (whee!), a sink full of dishes (aww), and a still-uneaten breakfast sandwich from McD's.

Bits of Randomness

2009-04-02T21:36:00.002+09:00

So the week improved. I thought I had lunch duty for 8 straight weeks; they gave me 2 on, then 2 off, then 3 on, so that's better. And I got a really awesome blues song out of it, so it's not all bad. My kids have actually been pretty well-behaved (for them) and despite having bronchitis and another sinus infection, my days aren't wiping me out. Which means I have time for adventures.

On Monday I did something. I don't remember what, or with whom, but I was out enjoying the bitter cold before the swelter sets in. Tuesday, Hannah and I got Phil's free movie passes (they expired that day) and saw Shopaholic. Blah blah Kate goes to another movie blah blah, right? Wrong! They were for a specific kind of cinema, and there are two of them in the downtown area. Hannah and I wandered for 20 minutes or so before accepting defeat and walking towards the one we knew where it was (but we had missed our movie time). As we walked, though, I read signs, and, in Korean, I found our cinema! OH MY GOD!! It really was my finest moment since coming to Korea, and I kind of ruined it by obsessing, but there you have it. Not only did I get lost, but I got found--in Hangul. You've come a long way, baby!

Last night I had a night in and got my apartment sorted out--laundry put away, mostly. Dead kleenexes moved from the floor to a trash bag. That sort of thing. I got a second wind, though, and started calling people back home. How I miss you guys. It makes me feel pretty confident to end my current contract on schedule and come home for July--I can always return to my current school or find another contract. But I miss my dad and his fake accents (oh so fake, and I love them), my mom's wit and cooking, and the unique spin that everyone has.

I've thought a lot about how weird it would be to be in an English-speaking country. At the YMCA on Saturday mornings, I feel overwhelmed by being in a room full of foreigners--the dull roar of English overloads my senses, and I wish they'd all switch to speaking Korean, haha. However long I stay home, it won't be for too long because I'm sure I'll miss my movie star status. ("Ohmigod it's a foreigner!") And I know I'll miss the food. I just got in from a night of galbi. Yum!

I am fairly confident I will be able to come home and make bulgogi, bibambap and kimchi jjigae, though. After trying Misha's Korean grocer, I should be able to prepare delicious spiciness. Yum.

Eight months have passed, now, and I find it interesting how my tastes in Korean food have progressed. I've gone from eating peanut butter and jelly my entire first week to cheesy ramen, to devouring anything with kimchi in it, to bibambap. Bibambap has bean sprouts, spinach, kimchi radish, greasy potatoes, seaweed, and onion on top of rice. To this you add spicy red pepper paste to your liking and blend with chopsticks, then eat with a spoon. Can you believe I would eat something so healthy with great relish four times a week? No wonder my hair has gotten so shiny.

I also take pleasure in reading signs, now. This week I hit studying Korean hard, and now I recognize words, like restaurant, clothes, etc. I can find ingredients for cooking, now, and I feel like I'm coming into my own. So, I know it was only playfully, but I was whining on Monday, and I'd like to retract it. I am quite happy, know that I am in the right place, and look forward to whatever comes next.

...

I just hope it's cherry blossoms with Albert.

Lunch Duty Blues

2009-03-30T19:50:00.002+09:00

Economy took a nosedive,
Now ain't got nothin' to do.
Can't add more classes
Got the Lunch Duty Blues.

Vice Director Pearl
Came up to me and said,
"Gotta watch them kids eat,"
Oh how it hurts my head.

I got the blues.
Eat one-grain-of-rice-at-time blues
Ain't nothin' I can do
But whine it out to you.

Understand that it's fair
Everyone's gotta pull their weight
Just wish for the next month
My name wasn't Kate.

Oh I got the blues
Eat one-grain-of-rice-at-time blues
Ain't nothin' I can do
But whine it out to you.

Obladi Oblada

2009-03-29T22:44:00.003+09:00

This weekend was maybe not one of my finer weekends. It started off with hitting the soju hard Friday night, then the soju hitting back Saturday morning. :( So much for my theory that I don't get hangovers. Halfway through my Korean class (where we learned more incredibly long words like "phone number" and "happy birthday"), Sara texted that she was already at Costco! Hooray! I scooted out to meet her, Pete, and their two friends for some quality shopping time.

I got Q-Tips. They are wonderful.

They literally came just to stock up on stuff that isn't easily (or cheaply) accessible, then packed up (3 suitcases) and headed off. It was so nice to see a familiar face, and yet awkward being around people taller than I am.

Another night of drinking and dancing, and today I was pretty much dead. Thankfully not hungover, but entirely in need of a rest. After about two hours, though, I grew bored of World of Warcraft (didn't think it possible, didja?), and puttered around until dinner with Heather. We went for haejangguk (hangover soup, ironically enough) and it was absolutely wonderful. As I walked, I felt tired, sore, sick (thanks, Emily "I love picking my nose" student), but had the presence of mind to tell myself to knock it off! Stop focusing on the negative! So I concentrated on the delightful feeling of taking a step with my left foot, being able to go heel-toe-heel-toe, and not having the grinding feeling of two unhealed bones rubbing against each other. I focused on how, despite feeling ill, I was still able to take a full, deep breath, filling my lungs and then letting it all flow out. Despite being on my way to dinner, I was glad not to feel like I was starving of hunger.

So life doesn't happen the way we want. For whatever reason, we "fall in love" with people who don't love us back. We break our legs doing mundane things like walking from the doctor's office. Without excuse, we get the hiccups that shake our whole bodies. Sometimes we have to go three months of work without a day off--even having to add a few Saturdays. But it's so much better than the alternatives. Not being able to love, not having legs to break, not being able to breathe on our own, not having a job.

On that note, the Office was hilarious, and I so knew Pam was going to do what she did.

Rough Day

2009-03-27T06:46:00.003+09:00

In college, an adviser from Campus Crusade for Christ had some advice that there are no bad days--all days have some silver lining or another--but there are hard days. Yesterday was one of those.

In Kindergarten, I only had 14 students total, but no fewer than six of them cried. When I caught two boys drawing censored private parts, I told them to do hands up. One of them started bawling instantaneously. I still made him go through the punishment. The other one saw it unnerved me, so he started to cry, too. Sigh. Then the itchy back girl started to cry for whatever reason (now she just thinks it's her responsibility to be sensitive, and I hope I can show her it isn't), and one boy poked another boy in the eye, so the pokee cried, then the poker cried after Alex sat him down and lectured him. In the afternoon, I discovered that the second crier from the morning was having his birthday (oops), and after his father brought everyone a flower, someone's decoration fell off.

I was almost grateful for my 2 o'clock break. Well, I was, and it just ended. I went to Yuria's office and there was Albert. When I asked about the weekend, he had to cancel because his brother-in-law strong-armed him into going to the brother-in-law's family reunion.

The rest of the day was just kind of gloomy and filled with disappointment. I went to bed at 10, woke up at 6:30. I think it's interesting because I haven't seen a sober sunrise in a very long time, and back home I thought they were boring. In Korea, I think it might actually be more colorful than the sunset. Interesting.

Burning the Candle at Both Ends

2009-03-24T21:34:00.003+09:00

For the second day in a row, I've gone to work before 10 and gotten home after 9:30. I definitely don't work all those hours, but it does make for a long day. The field trip was even crazier than I expected--no less than four of our students were so scared that they started crying. Honestly, I think my expectations can be too high for people who were recently potty trained (i.e. sitting still, quietly) when I myself have a hard time not fidgeting.

In other news, I'm really enjoying learning Korean. I've figured out the whole typing situation--not that it really helps any of you, dear readers, unless my mother has decided to go ahead and memorize Hangul? I'm quite good at texting the words I know, and despite failing, I still try to speak it. The thought has crossed my mind to try and find a Korean program--there's a very "famous" one in Seoul by Sogang, the people who put out the book I'm studying. I tend to get really excited about things, obsess, then grow weary, so to break this cycle I've just inquired as to the workbook to accompany my textbook.

If anyone has the addresses for my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade teachers, I'm sure they'd be amused to know I'm asking for additional work. :)

I do have some support for this new idea, though. With 6 years of studying German, 2 years of French, and a year of Spanish behind me, I have demonstrated a fondness for languages. ... But I'm not ready to give up my day job just yet.

Piante

2009-03-24T09:12:00.002+09:00

The first Korean word I learned was (my spelling) piante, pronounced a lot like picante salsa. Piante means... pervert.

Last night I got into a taxi after visiting David, my mooning student who is hospitalized for several bad stomach viruses. I got the usual questions, where are you from, what do you do, how old are you, and then they took a turn. They turned to, are you married, when are you getting married, and then he started talking about his son. I thought, aw, that's cute, he's either trying to find his son someone or just misses him since he's gone off to serve in the military.

Then the conversation turned again, this time to soju, how beautiful I am, and despite my questions pertaining to his wife, he insisted on asking where I live several times, making sure I took his phone number, and telling me I definitely need to call him when I was out drinking. He was so concerned about this that he neglected to listen to my directions and the situation nearly got out of hand. I guess it worked in his favor, though, because I threw a $10 at him and hopped out of the cab, hurrying to the safety of arms galbi.

It was the end of a really long day. I regret not having a quiet day this weekend, because I am still spent. I had an awesome time Saturday night (obviously, hehe), and really enjoyed shopping with Hannah all day Sunday--just need to make time for myself. ... Today, though, there is a field trip. Sigh.

Coughing?

2009-03-22T23:01:00.002+09:00

Got your flu mask? (It's a link. Clicky clicky!)

Also, photo blog is updated.

The Saga Continues

2009-03-21T21:37:00.003+09:00

I don't know when I became so boy crazy...

The result of tonight's pseudo-date (aka Yuria boogied off leaving me alone with PA) was that 1) he was disappointed that I had plans for tomorrow, and 2) he really wants to take me to some mountain to see the cherry blossoms.

This is post is short for two reasons. 1) I really don't want my entire blog to be about failed Korean relationships, and 2) the connection on Cloud 9 is a little iffy.

Amusing Realization

2009-03-21T17:25:00.001+09:00

As I sat waiting for Yuria and Albert, I ate a piece of dried seaweed with salt on it. I pondered the Korean name for seaweed (gim) and realized it's the same as the gim in gimbap... also known as kimbap. Gim. Kim. Everyone is named either Bak, I, or Kim. 1/3 of the country's last name is seaweed! He he!

Another one bites the dust

2009-03-21T12:46:00.003+09:00

I had a date last night. It was under slightly shady circumstances, so I was feeling kind of embarrassed about the situation. I met a guy from off of the internet at the train station. His English was fluent, and he had a lot of things in common with my dad (motorcycles, cool cars, boyish looks despite age, blah blah blah).

Then we went to a bar, and he started drinking. And then he started being a little inappropriate. So I walked him back to his hotel (he'd only been to Daegu once, he said--I know it may have been a little naive of me, but there were people around). "Why don't we just be together?" A smile, turn on my heel, and call to Hannah later, and I was at Garten Bier with my beloved Soju Friday gang. While I am glad to have tried something new, I'm disappointed to find that men are men around the world.

Yet still find myself hoping that the Mr. Rights are Mr. Right around the world, too. I think it's possible my 4-year-olds' optimism is infectious--just like their colds.

Uhm?

2009-03-19T16:54:00.003+09:00

Summer just arrived in Korea. ... And it's really hot.

On Monday, I was pretty sure that I was never going to warm up. On Tuesday, I was pretty good, just wore a sweatshirt. Yesterday I was boasting about how warm it is with my short-sleeved shirt and skirt. Today I am a puddle on my floor. This is the moment that I spent thinking about all winter, consoling myself with the info that I may be cold, but nowhere near as cold as I was hot during the summer.

Oh well. Thanks to an Easter package from my very thoughtful mommy, I have new shorts, new shirts, and a book to read by the air conditioner. And now I have Cheetos; I'm just in need of a bean bag chair.

This week has been long and draining. I absolutely love my kids, but the management is really starting to be picky about lesson planning and preparation. To be honest, I've improved so significantly over where I was that I feel a little hurt. But, as I'm learning, I can choose what to dwell on: their insatiability or my own achievements. This time I choose the latter.

Funny stories...

Today I was concluding a lesson as the bell rang and looked up just in time to see one of my students from the other class running to the bathroom with his pants already down around his knees. I done been mooned!

Another little boy is in his father's care while his mother is on a high school field trip (as a teacher, not a student). As a result, the poor little guy had no parent signature on his daily report, nor did he have any underpants. Awww.

One class will sense Kate Teacher's impending wrath and one student will start saying, "beeeeee," and the others will chime in (screaming, of course) "QUIET!!!!!!!!!!"

The other class will sense the impending wrath and will start telling me I'm a pretty princess. :)

I am told every day, literally a hundred times, that I am loved, and at least twenty times that I am beautiful. Is it any wonder why, despite disagreements with management, I am very tempted to stay? I will always have someone (coworker or other) with whom I don't get along, but I'm not guaranteed to have this bond with the kids.

Also, there's a new foreigner in my building! She's Lauren, from Massachusetts, and has cats. This is her fourth year in Korea, and she seems friendly. Looking forward to getting to know her more.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T09:31:00.003+09:00

I shall leave you guessing as to how I will explain to my Korean-speaking 4-year-olds (Western age) why they deserve to be pinched for not wearing green.

Also, it has been brought to my attention that the Reuben sandwich is not in fact Irish, and it was in fact created in Omaha, Nebraska. ... But could someone eat one for me, anyway?

Happy St. Patty's!

Weekend Update

2009-03-15T03:00:00.002+09:00

Per usual, this morning I set off for the YCMA around 10 for a weekly dose of confusion at my Korean lessons. Today we learned more grammar markers, and I think it's going to be like prepositions in German: the biggest challenge of the language, impossible to perfect, and in general brings a sense of dread and impossibility. I can successfully say that the teacher is in the classroom, however, which is a step in the right direction.

Afterwards, Kayleigh and I met up with Abby for some lunch, shopping, and general mischief. I have two main reasons for writing...

Tonight as we got into the taxi to go out, the first thing the driver did was to offer me some gum, then roll down his window. This was entertaining for a good half hour. It turns out he was just being nice, and the car was too hot for him, but still... Maybe I could have showered.

Then, as we left the club, Kayleigh got hit by a car. A little white Hyundai zipped by, and bumped her elbow with its side mirror. No fatalities, but it still counts.

Getting Ready for School

2009-03-12T09:39:00.003+09:00

As I put my shorts on this morning (hehehe enjoying winter, North Americans?), I remembered trying to talk my mom into letting me wear shorts when I was in 1st or 2nd grade, and she always said it had to be such-and-such degrees in the morning, and I would check but it didn't happen until the second to last day of school. And I was always cold, but darn it, I was wearing my new shorts!

Today, I am sick of pants. Until recently, I was too lazy to take my Christmas pants to the dry cleaner to be repaired, so I had been wearing the same pairs for 3 or so weeks. Just depressing. So today it is shorts, and the shorts confirmed my sneaking suspicion that I had lost weight, what with falling off my hips.

Woo hoo!

Series of Unfortunate Events

2009-03-11T19:15:00.002+09:00

The last few days have been a bit rough in Kindergarten. In addition to new students, former students were moved into different classrooms, changing floors of the building and new playing equipment. On the second floor we have a huge wooden boat filled with balls that the kids love to play on/in/around. Unfortunately, on Monday a student fell and hit her head pretty hard. Our vice director made the decision not to call the mom, so that evening the mom called the school asking why her daughter was so sleepy. Poor little Sunny had a concussion going untreated and developed swelling of the brain. After a 3 1/2 hour surgery today, though, she was joking with her parents and her normal self.

The teachers involved have been under a blanket of guilt, fear, and feelings of inadequacy since it came to light, when really--accidents happen. I know back home the parents would be suing, the child would never step foot in our academy, and there would probably be a piece in the news about what an unfit school we are. I wish the mother had been informed of what had happened, but the past can't be changed. It is refreshing that the parents accept that accidents happen. I feel fortunate that we are going to have a happy ending and that Sunny will return to the school shortly.

Last night, though, was rough for the teachers involved. Heather was visibly shaken up by the events, and she rarely shows her nerves. So, on a Tuesday night, over a big plate of meat, Heather, Kayleigh and I toasted to everything under the sun (toasting to toast several times) and had an impromptu soju evening. The laughter was so heart-felt and so genuine, it was like pouring endorphins into our bloodstreams. Today, despite 66% of our party having hangovers (wheee soju immunity!), our spirits were still higher, improved infinitely by news of Sunny.

Big Day Out

2009-03-08T09:57:00.002+09:00

It was one of those days that you kind of hope for for your wildest weekend dreams. Yesterday was awesome.

The day started off kind of rough. My New Zealand buddy Chris kept texting me well into the morning to give me random drunk updates about beer, World of Warcraft, and etc. I had the sound on on my phone as a backup alarm after this week's little mishap, so it made for a rough go in the morning. I made it up for Korean lessons, though, and Kayleigh and I were at the bus just in time to wait 16 minutes for ours to come along. (Every 10 minutes my foot!) Really, this wouldn't have been a big deal if we weren't 1) starving and waiting for McDonald's, and 2) surprised by Albert jumping off of a bus. He does these lingering hellos where he'll say hi, then walk off, but he keeps watching over his shoulder. Is that for my benefit or his? The bus ride had a tinge of anxiety, then, as we watched the clock and monitored our progress because really, if there was no McDonald's, we were going to be disappointed. Just as I was accepting the inevitable, we turned the corner to Valhalla and there it was! Yay! And we had 15 minutes! Grabbing the food, we hurried to the YMCA with our treasures and sat enjoying our feast while waiting for Heather.

It was cool when the orientation was over; there are 40-50 people in the classroom, and then the "Beginner" class is excused while the "Entry level" class has to remain behind. I felt special to get up and leave this time! Class was so hard! Korean grammar is obscenely difficult, and impossible for even Koreans to score perfectly on tests (according to my overly fluent student, anyway). Instead of changing "he" to "him," they use markers in the sentence. Really, the entire language just requires an intense amount of preparation before speaking. You have to know where to put the subject, indirect object, direct object markers and what verb you're going to use to place at the end, and what level of formality to use before you even open your mouth. Talk about thinking before you speak. We also learned the world's longest word: immigration office. I would spell it, but Google would say I've exceeded my space limit.

After, Heather, Kayleigh and I went off for Chinese food. Unspicy and satisfying for all of us. After two hours of people watching (and Kayleigh and Heather deciding that they completely hate my taste in Korean men), we headed off for some shopping. By which I mean we watched Heather buy teeny tiny skirts while making fun of the fashion. Have I mentioned that Korea Hearts the 80s? A bubble skirt, some polka dot shoes, and two packs of cigarettes (not me), and we were ready for some coffee, cocoa, and cheesecake. We sat out on the deck enjoying the sunshine and talking about the highly mature and in-depth topics groups of girls are wont to discuss. More than once we commented on how nice it was, and how much fun we were having. That's when the crazy started.

Coming out of Coffee Bean, we started walking down a little alley and Heather stopped us. "That's the MTV guy!!" Huh? Being out of the loop in all things popular, I had no idea, but there was a guy walking around with a mohawk. There really aren't a lot of mohawks in Korea, so after a few minutes of debating whether to chase after him and ask, I overcame Heather's shyness and pursued him. It was totally like Molly and I always dreamed of, pursuing someone through a crowd just like a real spy. Of course the guy with a horse head on his head wondered what I was up to, but really, he was wearing a horse on his head. After wading through the crowds with Kayleigh on my heels, I started to lose my nerve, but honestly--does it matter? It's one of those chances where I literally had nothing to lose. It would be an awesome story either way, right? I caught up and got his attention and smiled so stupidly.

"Are you the MTV guy?"
"Yeah."
Awkward pause.
"This is Kayleigh!"
"Nice to meet you."
Awkward pause.
"Our friend Heather watches you every day! Can we get a picture?"
Insert smile of a very patient Korean.
"I LOVE YOUR SHOW I WATCH IT EVERY DAY!"
Nervous giggles, picture taken, other Koreans pointing at us, and us walking away actually shaking.

As it turns out, his name is 한별, and he is a VJ on Korean MTV for a show that Heather really does watch every day. I know it's a celebrity from another country, but that's still pretty dang cool. It took us a good deal of time to recover from that, just in time to meet up with Hannah and Mark to get some movie tickets. Tickets procured, we moved on to Italy Italy for dinner.

Italy Italy is a place with build your own pasta, and it was really quite good. I enjoyed a super spicy chili and cheese sauce on my bow tie pasta, others had bolognese, rose (blush) sauce, and Alfredo. Everyone was very happy (especially after the two bottles of wine.) I parted ways with my daytime friends to move on to see Watchmen with Hannah, Mark, Phillip, and two of their friends. The theater was full, the heater was on, and Hannah and I fidgeted the whole movie. I've never met someone who wiggled as much as I do! The movie itself was awful, but I was glad to hang out with my new coworkers. After that I peaced out kind of abruptly; it was pushing midnight, and I had been out since 10 in the morning!

When I got home, the guy from last weekend logged into MSN to share pictures with me. (He had downloaded and signed up for MSN just to talk to me--I'm feeling pretty special after that.) After the picture of him riding a fake bull with a sign that blatantly says "do not touch," and a picture of his friend and his friend's dog passed out (one drunk, one sleepy), I had to smile at his good humor. I think he's moving from distraction to just being distracting. All the while Tracy was on and we got to have one of our random, drawn-out chats that brought just a perfect conclusion to my very long day.

I am so grateful for this opportunity in South Korea. I love being here, and I love the person that I am becoming. I still have a ways to go growing-wise, but the progress so far has been remarkable. And for those who stuck this out to the end, thank you for coming by to read!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

2009-03-05T17:06:00.002+09:00

What a day. I woke up at 8 and said to myself, "AUGH! I am sick of waking up at 8!" and gave myself firm instructions to go back to sleep. Unfortunately the night before I had not given myself firm instructions to set my alarm, so at 10:02 this morning I gasped, realizing my hair looked something like Frankenstein's bride's, and I had 18 minutes to shower, dress, and walk to work.

I made it in 16.

Unfortunately when I got to school, the rush I had felt to get ready did not fade away and there was this panic feeling to most of what I did. In my first class I didn't even get to the book. We walked around asking for water (please!), tissues (please!), and to use the bathroom (please!). Out of a crowd I could probably pick out six of the sixteen (improvement!), and sometimes I get their names right. "Sa-Sea-DANIEL!!!!"

I almost ate lunch in silence, despite going with someone, out of a sincere need to recuperate. It's well past my last class, but my ears are still ringing from all of the shouting we all did. I think, though, that shouting is fun, and if they start shouting in English, well, that's not too bad. Their accents are really very good. They can all say "f" and "th" quite well, so the building blocks are solid. Now if Annie would stop saying she's a boy.

In the afternoon, I started with a class that has gone from three to seven to nine. The two girls who shared Aidan's class got bumped way up because a class of two is just too small for how much they pay; I tried to incorporate them into a class of kids who have at least six months' experience on top of them, and I think it overwhelmed poor little Julie. She sat there crying with her pencil case spilled across the floor, big alligator tears falling down her cute little cheeks, and her pigtails shaking with each heart-achey sob. Oh, dear one, please don't cry; I know how the story turns out, and you'll be okay~

The one-on-one student I was teaching, the one who made me nervous, has left ECC. Possibly because my coworker brought an article on prostitution to discuss during their class period. Last week had been such an improvement that I'm actually a little disappointed. Not disappointed that I got to leave work at 4:30, though. And just when I thought I was back from "infatuated crush land," Prince Albert appeared with an umbrella to save the day.

It's been a long time since I looked this forward to a Soju Friday, let me tell you.

The First Day of School

2009-03-05T01:17:00.003+09:00

To be retitled later, "Oh my God all hell has broken loose."

Today was the first day of Kindergarten. I spent the last 2 days preparing for it, I should have been ready. Right? After a day of my schedule being rearranged twice, and teaching five classes of "we know our names and that's it," I think that parents who are waiting until they're ready to have kids are trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

There is no ready when it comes to kids.

The classes went as well as I could have hoped, really. There will always be the girl who wants to learn, the nerdy boy who wants to learn but his drive is more than his potential, and the boy who eats his boogers instead of paying attention. They grow up to be, respectively, the underpaid office manager, Michael Scott, and CEO. And so life goes on.

I couldn't pick any of them out of the crowd normally, but today when one started to cry, I knew instantly where to be and who it was. And I knew instantly who did it, too. Evan. There must be something with the "v" in the name. I had best avoid Victoria. I successfully named one girl Ruby. I think 12 of the 16 understand the words school, teacher, boy, girl, book, and the concept that I am Kate Teacher, and we are learning English. I really like that they're young enough to speak in whatever garbled version of English they think works; they haven't been corrupted into believing there is a right and wrong way of speaking English. At the end of the day, it is better to ask incorrectly for a beer and get coffee than to ask for nothing and get exactly that.

That said, a guy I met dancing Saturday night has been texting, and it makes me smile. He's younger than my sister, so in my head I call him "아기," the Korean term for baby--not out of condescension, just endearment. He sets himself up with his English dictionary and tries to have a conversation with me. It's really flattering. He also corrects my Korean which makes me sigh heavily. After having seen the movie He's Just Not That Into You yesterday, I smile knowing there's someone at least a little into me.

Cute-uhh

2009-03-02T22:01:00.002+09:00

Today was spent cleaning up classrooms, literally scrubbing crayon off of walls. I scraped BOOGERS off of walls. It was a high point in my life, haha. But I guarantee my mom is smiling, knowing that what goes around does in fact come around. I only had to teach three classes, so it was a very light-hearted day.

I was starting to feel unwanted as a result of a certain unrequited crush, but after a weekend out on the town, my phone's been chirping pleasantly. It's not so much a quest for love as enjoying being... well, wanted. At least it's nice to have more people to talk to, and really they're getting English practice out of it. Win/win?

Tomorrow night Alice and I are going out to see a movie, and she's promised to help me with my Korean. I'm looking forward to it; I can definitely use the help! This is a bit low on the entertainment value, but really: all cases of errant boogers should be noted!

Come and Gone

2009-02-28T17:11:00.002+09:00

I glanced at my note card one more time before walking in through the door, my throat completely parched--a typical bad start to most of my speeches. Looking up, I noticed there was only one judge. There it was, just me and him, and I started with another speech about something I knew nothing about. Without reason, big fat tears started to well, then fall down my cheeks. I was still able to speak, but my face completely betrayed my terror of speaking in front of people. I'll never forget the speech trip where I placed 7th out of 6 contestants. It pretty much solidified my belief that I would never be able to speak in public.

Today, I got up on a stage in front of fifty children, one hundred relatives, and was the foreign Master of Ceremonies for today's kindergarten graduation. No tears. No real gaffes whatsoever, really. Reading from the script, shuffling kids around to get positions right. Alice and I tripping over each other only once or twice.

It all went a lot better than I expected, and the kids did a good job of remembering their lines. I got several presents, and I was a favorite for pictures today. I'm glad my mom had sent me a beautiful orange shirt to be photographed in! Several hours later, all of the adrenaline that had kept me going the last two weeks had faded, and I was left with dozens of blog posts of memories of my kids, a few hundred pictures, and three little coffee mugs I'll be damned if I ever get rid of.

The fight's gone out of me, and most of my energy, too. I'm grateful that Monday and Tuesday, kindergarten isn't real class--just preparation for the new year.

In other news, what with my recent obsession with a coworker, and recent text messaging fun, Chris decided it'd be fun(ny) to sign me up for a dating service. It's been a day, and I have had more interest than a year on e-Harmony. Funny how the world turns, hm? (And now I've gone and said the e-Harmony thing, so let me throw this out there: it was probably good at one point in time, but they, too, were turned by the almighty dollar. Don't do it!)

Funny Text Messages

2009-02-27T12:03:00.001+09:00

So yesterday as I was walking to the dry cleaner's, I got a wrong number call that wasn't much out of the ordinary. When he realized that I was speaking English, he switched to English and we discussed how he was Korean, I'm American, and how I'm not his girlfriend that he was looking for. Today I received the following:

1) Hello~ I'm live in Seoul. Yesterday I miss called you. Do you remember Me?

2) Can you speak Japanese or Korean? My name is Minami. And you? I need girl Friend

Just thought that was funny and worth posting. Happy Weekend!

Last Day of School

2009-02-27T09:10:00.003+09:00

Today is February 27th. Seven months ago I landed to an unnatural humidity that I thought was reserved for the 7th ring of hell. I followed other teachers around, noting what to do, what not to do, how to have fun without crossing a line, and just how bright these students are. Then I took over my own classrooms. Twice a day, every day, I taught Jessica, Justin, Alice, Clara, David, Jane, Yuri, Winston, Wendy, Kevin, Lion, Nick, and Max, and despite a sincere desire to take them and shake some common sense into them from time to time, they became the loves of my life.

Today is the last day of school. On Monday, March 2nd, they will dress up in new, not-ECC uniforms, and they will head off to their first real Korean school, where no one will be angry that they're not speaking in English. No one will try to coerce them to pronounce the "s" at the end of plural words. No one will well up with pride when they choose "some" instead of forgetting the article altogether. Lion has gone from speaking constant Korean and adding "uh" at the end of each word to the boy who got a 100% on his test, and recently discovered using the present progressive perfectly. "Kate Teacher, where are we going?" Oh Lion, you're going far.

All week God's words as Jesus was being baptized have been in my ear. Matthew 3:17, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. I get it, now.

2009-02-25T09:17:00.000+09:00

It's okay to dissent, now.

War?

2009-02-24T09:14:00.002+09:00

North Korea and South Korea are heatin' it up here on the peninsula.

I might be more concerned if I hadn't seen this, too. :) They get a little emotional over their politics.

A reminder for the hard times

2009-02-24T09:06:00.002+09:00

Developing my recent epiphany further, I have come to the realization that life is never going to be perfect, and very rarely will we have things on our terms. "My life would be great if this one student would just behave." "I wouldn't have any complaints if it wasn't for this darn zit on my nose." "If I could just lose 10 pounds, I'd be happy."

Why is our happiness conditional?

There are always going to be blemishes on our day. Maybe we wake up and find that the black outfit we were going to wear was recently visited by a white cat monster, and the day progresses with ten or twenty slightly "off" things that distract us from doing our best and enjoying it.

So, moping about a boy, sighing because the movie I wanted to see started at too late of a time to see it, or feeling rejected because of being left out of an invitation are no longer options. In the face of real disappointment, these are so laughable I feel ashamed. And this isn't to say that those things don't serve a purpose; if I hadn't been bored, I wouldn't have found this wonderful adventure. Change is good, as long as it's change for me.

Anecdote

2009-02-23T09:24:00.003+09:00

I forgot to tell the funny story from going to church last week...

The Koreans have absurdly long torsos. As in, all of their shirts are the really long baggy style because it's considered inappropriate to show any skin, except for their legs. They wear the teeny tiny skirts to make their legs look longer than they are. As it is, I was walking behind an older woman, compared to whom I was a good foot taller. I could clearly walk up to her and put my chin on her head (although this would probably be of poor taste, so I refrained).

Abby and I sat down, and the woman wandered off to talk to her friends. She decided to sit in front of me, with which I had no problem, what with being obscenely taller than her.

I could not see around her!

I am 5'9", and have legs longer than most of my students are tall, to which most people will tell me to stop complaining about. But it is mildly embarrassing to get your view blocked by a grandmother who barely reaches the 5" mark.

Epiphany

2009-02-22T20:40:00.002+09:00

Some of my students are the sweetest, most gratifying children to work with. They learn so quickly and with such eagerness, that it helps fuel the fire and passion I have for bringing them further knowledge of English.

And then there are the others. The ones who exasperate me, bring me to the edge of reason, and sometimes shove me over. Once I felt like slapping one of them, and I think that in a past life I would have. I'm not proud of the fact that I felt like slapping him, but I am impressed that I resisted. I didn't go over that edge.

In the past, I wrote about every problem child's problems in classes, thinking that the parents would be able to do something to inspire their children to behave in class. An idea has been rolling around in my head, though, building up like a snowball until it became more obvious. They may be misbehaving, but isn't it my job to guide their behavior and draw them into the learning process so they aren't disruptive? And so now, I think back to those evaluations where really it was like showing my own inadequacies. Now I have more to say, and I pay better attention to what my students need. As I write down how my students have progressed in comparison to seven months ago, I get to note how I have progressed, too, and while it's still a novel concept... I'm quite proud of myself.

On a side note, I'm watching Moonstruck and Cher just walked into the Cinderella Hair Shop--and I go to the Cinderella Hair Shop here!

Vēnī, vīdī, vīcī

2009-02-21T16:48:00.003+09:00

So I went to work. I dressed nicely, put on make up, added earrings, even. Went to work with a cheerful attitude, and without the chip on my shoulder that tried to tag along. I met the new girl (Hannah) who is lovely, and I'm looking forward to working with her.

As far as the Orientation itself was concerned, it was pretty much a waste of time. We were there serving a purpose for about thirty seconds; I definitely could have made it back from the YMCA in time, but the powers that be didn't want it that way. After, though, I was determined to make a good experience out of it. I purposefully found my new students and met them and their parents. I helped them put their shoes on, and I helped put the indoor shoes away. The parents were pleased by me already remembering the students--to the point where one came up to me in the middle of lunch (at a different location entirely) to have a small chat.

I didn't want to go, but I did. I went. I saw. I conquered. Next? I sojued. Until next time...

Quick Catch Up

2009-02-21T11:24:00.003+09:00

Thursday was kind of self-pity day. And by kind of I mean I spent a fair part of the day in tears. I got out the crying that I wanted to do in November (a la cast), and I feel a lot less watery, now. And now it's out of my system, I can focus on what is important right now: having an awesome graduation for my awesome kids and preparing for my new awesome kids.

I'm going to be teaching two six-year-old classes starting in March. Neither of them have ever learned English before, and to be honest when I'm wandering around after their pre-kinder classes, they look quite terrified of me. One of them, though, is a familiar face: I'll have, of course, Aidan. Total, I will have 17, and I have high hopes. I won't have the "elite" status of teaching the smartest kids in school anymore, and I won't have the status of being partnered with the head teacher, but this comes with the joy of getting to have two kinder classes until my contract is up.

Yesterday we were all just exhausted. The week had run long with snow (snow?), one of the teachers being let go, preparations for graduation, being told we have to work on Saturday, and so forth. So it came time for Soju Friday, and only Kayleigh and I headed out into the cold, and in the end only Kayleigh had soju.

So today I have orientation to meet the parents of my new students, and I think after I'll head off to catch up on some of the Korean I'll be missing. One lucky thing for sure, because I'm going to miss three classes in a row, but because I'm bright enough to catch up, the YMCA is going to give me a private lesson this Thursday, and I'll be able to enroll in the next class. Hooray!

Doubly Spoiled

2009-02-18T23:46:00.002+09:00

My grandma sent me a package! It had lots and lots of Goldfish crackers, candy, a cute little plushie, and bath stuff. Awww. :) I'm so fortunate over here.

I can't believe how quickly February has flown. Here it is, T-minus until the new teachers arrive, graduation ceremonies commence, and well... I'm sure there's something else. Seven months have passed, and it feels like weeks. Weeks with very severe and frequent weather changes.

We got wind of the new kindergarten schedule, and it's pretty much like that game where you hit the timer and the entire board filled with little pieces are scrambled up into the air, and you have to fit them back in before the buzzer goes. I think I'll have two classes of non-English speakers, but I think that means I'll have Aidan. And to be honest, despite his different way of learning, I do like being his teacher.

My leg's really doing quite well. I can speed walk, now, and my flexibility is increasing. The swelling has dramatically reduced, and I couldn't be happier. Today it's a little swollen, but if memory serves, despite being swollen it's still thinner than when I arrived in this wonderful country.

I guess I had less to say than at first I thought. My oddly quiet thoughts are with you all, though.