The Operative Word Here Is... SHIT

1) The Kinderloca graduation
2) A "Shit" show... we discovered wigs and masks at the norae bong (karaoke)
3) Korean flag... (explanation at bottom)



What a week its been… where do i begin? One teacher finished his contract and left, one teacher got fired on Monday then unfired at the end of the week (how does this happen?), two other teachers, as well as the unfired schlep, got put on the shit list. Four of us are still well liked but I am absolutely terrified of being disliked because this shit list that i speak of is HELL. It's pretty easy to be disliked around here…. basically, all you have to do is stand up for your rights and complain… often. Once this happens, your doomed! Since your bound to a contract, they own you for that 12-13 month period and if your working at their school, they can do whatever they want to make it extremely unpleasant. So… your probably wondering why this shit list is so terrible… it hasn't even been a week and so far these three boys have to move out of their apartments (oh, did I mention that they only had a 24 hour notice to do it) into smaller apartments or with shitty roommates. Their classes were taken away, the ones with all their favorite students. Management neglects to invite them to any work dinners and… worst of all, they took away their health insurance (this is a sketchy issue that will surely blow up tomorrow when the labor board and lawyers are involved). It's so hectic right now around here…everyone is shuffling apartments, except the girls. The good/non complaining teachers are being rewarded with the nice apartments. I've already got a nice apartment all to myself so luckily I am just sitting back enjoying my Sunday. There is so much hostility on the 6th and 7th floor. Some of the guys are refusing to leave which has created issues for everyone (one person cant move unless another person moves). Some of us can't stand to even be associated with the hostility so we are all planning on going out for a LONG dinner. There is another new teacher coming tonight. Man, I feel so bad for him… coming into all of this at the worst time. Most of us will try hard to be positive and helpful cause the drama is going to scare the shit out of him. So, all in all… i've got my plan for the next 5 1/2 months… or 6 1/2 if I get put on this shit list. even though things are sometimes really unfair, I will just tough it out. I wont show any negative emotion at work, I will keep to myself, I will try really hard not to complain, I will do WHATEVER is asked of me, I will try not to jump on any bandwagons (the bandwagon is on it's way out the door anyway) and, most important, I will be the best darn teacher I can be. You heard me say it… now, let's see how these next 5 to 6 months play out.
Metaphorically speaking, this job is like prison… you have to be here so you might as well make the best of it. If you follow the rules and act right you might get rewarded, but if you complain and act like an asshole then you have to stay longer and you end up on the shit list with the big man.

Because I'm walking on eggshells everyday… lately, I feel like I'm loosing myself as a teacher. I shouldn't be worrying so much about all the business legalities, i should be worrying about my students. I am hoping that in a few weeks, all the bullshit will fade out and things will run a little smoother. The school year will end on Monday and March begins a new school year. I will have all new classes and a new schedule. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday i will work from 10 to 7:05 and on Tuesday and Thursday I will work from 10 to 4:10. My classes consist of Kindergarten (Jen, Jenny and new comers Jason and Bruce), an after school Kindergarten level class, an after school first grade level class and an after school 3rd/4th grade level class. I have no idea what books I'm teaching but I just gotta roll with the punches… I hope they tell me on Monday so I can plan for the first day- Wednesday (Tuesday is a national holiday: Independence Movement Day).

During the shit (you have noticed… "shit" really is the operative word for this week's blog, haha), it's nice to know I have excellent friends. On Friday, I hung out with my friend Skip. I know Skip from back home, we both worked at the same pool. He just moved to Gwangju this week. We had a great time chatting and drinking somik (soju and beer) in front of the 7-11… that may sound ghetto but it's Korean style to hang out in front of the 7-11 or the minimart and drink. Saturday was loads of fun! Thank god Molly called and woke me up because it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day and I was about to waste it all away in bed. I went to her dong (neighborhood) and we walked from there to downtown. We met some friends and enjoyed an early dinner at First Nepal (fantastic Indian food). After our tasty meal, we went to a norae bong and spent hours dancing, drinking and singing out hearts out… yet again!

Korea Facts/Randomness:

-Spring is approaching and it has definitely lightened my mood. It's been so nice.. I stopped using the heater. I even open my window during the day and let in the cool, fresh spring air. I am loving it… bring on the HEAT (I think I will regret saying that once July and August's weather come).
-March 1:Independence Movement Day in Korea-
March 1st is a day to celebrate Korean independence. It was this day in 1919 that several members of an underground movement read the Korean Declaration in Seoul. They were protesting the Japanese occupation. The basics of the day is that a group of Korean nationalists chose March 1, 1919 as the day that they would read the Declaration of Independence in public and really defy the Japanese. It did not mark the day that the Korean’s became independent, but it was a turning point. This particular event resulted in the Japanese taking actions against the movement. Thousands were said to have died and tens of thousands were arrested.Today, the Korean people remember this day by reading the declaration in a ceremony in Seoul.
-I plan to briefly discuss this day in class. I am curious to see what my students know and what they can teach me about this holiday. We will talk about the history and then discuss the significance of the Korean flag and what each color/symbol symbolizes.
-Maybe your curious… look at the picture above and read this information: South Korea's flag was adopted on January 25, 1950; the flag is called Taegukki (which means, "Great Extremes").The white in this philosophical flag represents peace and purity. Symbolically, the Yin-Yang symbol represents opposites; it is the belief that all things in the universe have two, opposite aspects that cannot exist without the other. The kwae trigrams are from the I Ching; the broken bars symbolize yin (dark and cold) and the unbroken bars symbolize yang (bright and hot). The four Kwae represent: heaven (three unbroken bars), the Earth (three broken bars), water (one unbroken line between two broken bars), and fire (one broken bar between two unbroken bars). The Kwai trigrams are placed in such a way that they balance one another, heaven is placed opposite Earth, and fire is placed opposite water.
-I finally got to see my new nephew, baby Liam. WOW, he is the most precious baby I have ever seen. I can't believe how much I love him and I haven't even met him in person!

Aunty Em, Aunty Em! :)

1) Thanks to Google images.. I found a beautiful picture of Cebu (read on to see why....)
2) Friday night farewell dinner




I am happy to report the wonderful news… I am an aunt! Baby boy Liam Stechel was born on February 17th at 2:30 in the afternoon. I can not wait to see him via Skype but until then I am enjoying his beautiful pictures. He is perfect! Congratulations Katey and Fabian… or should I say, mom and dad! I am really looking forward to August when I can meet him in person! If all goes well I should be home in exactly 6 months or less… lets hope!

Work was kinda hectic this week. We had our big 3 month tests on Thursday and Friday. Ahhh, poor kids. I hate tests… it stresses me out just watching them rush through these long, detailed tests (it might as well be the SAT). The majority of my students did really well which makes me very proud. I have lots of goodies for them Monday and Tuesday. Even though we have 8 more days of the school year, technically, since tests are done, so are we. This last week of school will consist of fun and review. For a lot of my older students, this will be the last time I am their teacher. Most of them will move up to the next level and begin the new school year which always starts in March. I am really looking forward to a fresh start. Next Friday is the Kindergarten graduation and we all have to attend. The kiddies have been practicing a variety of different songs to sing… "A Whole New World"- from Aladdin, "Lean on Me", etc… an array of music that says.. goodbye, we did it, hello new world! I look forward to hearing them Friday morning. If you're wondering why Kindergarten graduation is such a big deal at my school, it's because…. once you finish Kindergarten, you go on to be part of the after school program.

So…as for my little ones… I think I will throw them their own little graduation. After all, going from pre-K to Kindergarten is a big step (even if pre-K was only 2 months long). In the last week and a half, along with many other things, I have taught Jen and Jenny the days of the week and the months of the year. I was so impressed that they caught on so quickly… the months of the year are tough, a lot of those words are 3-syllables, some, 4-syllables. I've learned that singing is one of the best ways to teach ESL. It's a good thing the cameras in our room don't pick up sound. Man, they would die if they heard me everyday…. I sing my heart out and it doesn't always sound pretty. Although, I really enjoy singing this particular months of the year song… Jen and Jenny always request it. Maybe this is why they learned it so quickly.

On Friday, the management randomly decided they were going to rearrange the whole school. This was just so convenient in the middle of the day when we were administering our 3 month tests. Hmm… oh well! I guess they figure since schedules are about to change, we might as well change the rooms around?! Whatever…. what's new anyway, things are always changing. I am pretty much used to the constant change, I'm just really anxious to see what the school looks like when I go into work on Monday.

So, last week I was talking a lot of SMACK about the management… now, maybe they sensed my frustration because on Friday, they invited all the teachers on their annual vacation (damn, they always hit me with some sugar right at the point when I am about to scream). Ya know, maybe the discovered my blog… who knows- really, I've got nothing to hide but it's doubtful that they found it. Even if they did take the time out of their busy day to search for it on the internet, they would have to find someone to translate. Okay… back to this vacation… we were all invited to go to the Cebu, Philippines for our spring vacation (May 25th-31st). We will pay between $800-$900 for flights there and back, food the whole time, scuba diving certification, scuba the whole time and lodging.. WOW! Now, tell me that's not a great deal! I am most definitely going…they are booking our flights this week. I love that I don't have to plan anything.. I just get to go. It's like Hong Kong all over again. Kevin (our new teacher) and myself are the only teachers going.

I got the chance to hang out with Kevin a little bit this week. He is a really nice guy! He came into the job at a messy time.. 3 teachers are leaving, tests are being taken, the school year is almost over and the school is being rearranged- he certainly saw his fair share of drama this week. Come March, it will be smooth sailing… Ha, I say that now… just wait!

This weekend started a little early… I went downtown to QUIZ-Trivia on Thursday night with some co-workers. Luckily, my team is a bunch of smarties so, out of about 11 teams, we got 3rd (only 1 point behind 2nd place)… pretty damn good! Can you believe, I went downtown and enjoyed several glasses of water, not alcohol. Somehow, I didn't manage to make it home until 3 am… UGH. That made for an exhausting Friday. Later that evening I dragged myself out the door, on the subway, into a cab and to my friends' farewell dinner. We enjoyed a tasty meal, and many, many beers at Miller Time.

My girlfriends and I went to a few bars and sure enough, who did I run into… the big boss and my liaison. 4 am rolled around I caught a ride home with them. Now, remember… if your with your high roller boss… going home is not that easy. First, you've got to have a 2nd dinner at a nice restaurant… roasted chicken and salad. Then, you've got to take part in a late night Thai massage. This 5 am, 2 hour massage was not quite as lovely as the last one. I can't decide if it was because I was heading down the sober road or because Thai massages are just that much more intense. Either way, I tried my hardest to enjoy it but I left feeling like I had just gotten beaten up. Ohhh no, it didn't stop there. After we slept for an hour or two, we woke up and enjoyed an early breakfast (10 am is early when you don't go to bed until 7).

Friday night's massage … let me rephrase that, Saturday morning's massage definitely got the best of me… I could hardly drag myself out of my apartment. I stayed in Saturday night, watching movies and sketching. Luckily, I was feeling refreshed today (Sunday). I invited our new teacher Kevin to go with me to Yang Dong market (the biggest, fresh market in all of Gwangju). It was a fantastic day… sunny and high in the upper 60's. A nice day for some outdoor shopping! I made a delicious stir fry with all my fresh,crisp vegetables- a lovely way to end the weekend!

Korean Facts/ Randomness:

-I had parent teacher conferences this week…. ya know, I really enjoy parent teacher conferences but not so much when I can't exactly speak to the parents one on one. We had to have a translator there so what would have normally taken 20 minutes, took 40.. haha! Oh well! The parents seemed really nice and all I could do was look pretty and smile. Hopefully, everything I said was translated correctly.
-Korea has the most abortions of any OCED (interesting for such a conservative country)
-Korea has the lowest birth rate because of the terrible rights for women in the workplace and because it's so expensive to raise a child here.
-sock/underwear hangers (from the picture above)… your lucky I took all my panties off- I thought I'd spare myself the humiliation! Since we don't have dryers here, this is a great way to hang up all your delicates. My go-green sister loved this so much, I sent home a few. They are great, cheap and easy!
-It's very odd.... since I have been here, I have started to really like certain things... things I never thought I would like so much. Such things are: milk, black coffee, unsweetened tea, bananas..hmm...

"Balentine's Day"... I realize "B" and "V" are right next to each other... (not a mistake)

Top Left: pot luck dinner goodies
Top Right: time out chair... or, what Molly would say is, "this is where the child molester sits!"
Middle: Pre-K class Valentines
Bottom: ... just read the end of the blog!




Ahhh… another wasted Sunday. It's quite sluggish and maybe even a little pathetic but I really do love doing absolutely nothing, all by myself, one day every few weeks. I mean hey, I would be at the gym but it's not my fault that they are closed on Sunday… haha (easier said than done). I had the typical Saturday night… hence the reason why my Sunday was so unavailing. Molly and Fliss had a last minute pot luck dinner. Once again, I made my famous pasta salad and it was well liked by most. Everyone that came brought so many delicious goodies… a random assortment: deviled eggs, spicy Korean bulgogi (a flat meat dish), sushi, potato salad, fruit, chips and salsa, chicken salad and the macaroni salad. Before heading downtown we stopped at a norae bong (karaoke room). Wow, I can not even remember the last time I sang karaoke. It used to be weekly event but that kind of faded out. It was much needed… after an hour of singing our hearts out, we were shinae (downtown) bound. I'll spare you the embarrassing, drunken details. Over all, it was good fun with good people, like always.

Ehhh work, it's always so wishy washy. I hate it and I love it all at the same time. Of course you know why I love it so much… my kiddies (not just the pre- K class but the older students as well). We are already halfway through this month and my pre-K babies will start Kindergarten in March.. AHH! They are becoming more independent. In fact.. I'm having to wipe their tushies less and less each week. As you can see, we made Valentine's… for 3 years old, they are so good at eye-hand coordination- it's impressive. There are a lot of 5 year olds that really struggle holding a pencil. Some go through a good portion of the school year (Kindergarten) still not knowing how to write their name correctly. Jen and Jenny perfected their name's in 2 classes. Next week my older classes have their big 3 month tests. I'm nervous and very anxious so I can't imagine how they feel. I'm going to review all of next week before Friday's test. I promised all my classes a pizza party (on me) if, as a whole, they make decent grades on this test. We shall see and I will let you know if my teaching payed off this last 3 months.

The bullshit side of work… hogwans (private academies) are notorious for being a little sketchy. I really want to trust my Korean managers but it just seems as though they are always trying to pull the wool over our eyes. For example: three of my co-workers are leaving this month because their contract is up. They called the pension board to set up a time in which they could meet and collect their pension. The pension board told the boys that our management called many, many months ago and reported that they had quit. Why would they do this?…. because, if they quit (which they didn't), then management does not have to pay pension. Now… tell me that's not sketchy.

Our managers go out of their way to make things inconvenient and difficult for you if they don't like you for whatever reason. For now, they like me… I want this to continue so I am just going to suck it up, do my work and hopefully they will make things simple for me when it's my turn to go home. The longer I've been here, the more little things I notice. Like, why does the Korean staff get a big bonus on holidays but we, the teachers, don't? We are bound to our contracts for 1 full year, the Koreans aren't. God forbid we hate it and want to leave… they would make life hell for us. And why does the Korean staff get treated to a big, paid vacation but we don't? It's all a bit unsettling… I know my future career as a teacher will not always feel this disconcerting. Do you remember that big art curriculum I was working on a few months ago for the Kindergarten program? Well, my managers were pushing me to finish it (I don't know why… they didn't need it until March). Anyway, I did an excellent job… I must say, I was very proud of my work. So, March is coming up and of course, they are not going to use it. They waste so much time around here. I worked on that thing for weeks and they aren't doing a thing with it. I was really looking forward to implementing it in my classroom (oh well, their loss).

We've got 3 teachers leaving this month (the worthless schlep is one of them…it's about time). Just today we had a new teacher arrive. It's another boy… I miss working with ladies but I guess he will do. He was supposed to get here on Friday but he missed his flight. The poor boy is already off to a lousy start and I've got a bad feeling about this (ohhh lord, not another negligent asshole). No, no… I've got to stay positive, I'm sure he's very nice and probably an excellent teacher. I can't imagine what people said about me when I first got here. I just need to put myself in his shoes and be kind.

Korean Facts/Randomess:

-Woops… the jokes on me: I accidentally bought the scented toilet paper this week. In Korea, they/I use toilet paper for everything (paper towel, napkin, tissue… you name it). I've been smelling flowers quite often. For some reason you can only buy toilet paper in a giant pack. The first toilet paper I bought lasted me over 5 months so, with only 6 months left… it looks like I better get used to the flowery stuff. Hey, it is soft… I'll give it that! haha!
-Speaking of smell-good toilet paper… since they use it as their napkin, I think it's kind of gross to have a roll of flower smelling toilet paper sitting on the tables while you eat. I mean, shit… you might as well spray perfume into your kimchee. Hmmm….tasty
-So, Valentine's Day, or should I said… Balentine's Day (that's what the Koreans call it) is right around the corner. It is in fact a holiday celebrated around here but it's done a little bit differently. This day is devoted to boys. It is the girls job to ask the boys out and also her job to shower him with gifts (candy…. preferably Ferrero Rocher- the Italian, chocolatey ball of goodness). Ohhhhh boys, you wait… I know you were getting excited. There is another holiday here, very similar to "Balentine's Day", called White Day. This day is on March 14th and it's the day when men shower their ladies with gifts and love. I'm still not done with the "LOVE" holidays… on April 14th they celebrate a day called, Black Day. This kind of cracks me up… this day is for all the single people. The idea is that those who did not give or receive gifts on Valentine's Day or White Day can get together and eat jajangmyeon, white Korean noodles with black bean sauce, to celebrate their singledom.
-I thought this was a joke when I first heard of it but then I asked some of my students and felt bad for ragging on it when they confirmed what I heard… baby wigs! No joke… Korean's often buy their little girls/babies hats with hair connected. It's beyond me why this is done but for the Koreans it's just part of their culture. Babies are new … they aren't supposed to have a lot of hair. My 9 year old female students were so confused at why I thought this was silly. They all wore them when they were little, especially when taking baby photos. The picture above illustrates the baby hats/wigs perfectly (I didn't take this picture, I found it on google).
-Korea has the highest stomach cancer rates in the world because of the kimchee (made with chili and salt)- that'll do it! Good thing I'm only here for a year because I love the stuff.

Fantastically Wonderful Hong Kong!

1) The Buddha at Lantau island
2) Curious about Asian plane food... haha, here ya go!
3) The parade at Lantau island
4) Skyline of HK... from the Avenue of Stars
5) Heading over the beautiful water in our cable car at Lantau island
6) Our cute little hostel.. and Felicity
7) Molly, Felicity and I in our cable car at Lantau island







It was one hell of a week… sorry for the tardiness of my blog. I hope my compelling Asian escapades make up for the wait. Let me go way back to the very beginning of of my vacation, Tuesday night… I left my apartment only to find that Gwangju was a ghost town. Was it because of the late hour that I was leaving or because of the holiday?… I'm guessing it was a little of both. I walked a mile on the dreadfully slick, black ice with my luggage at hand until I finally spotted a cab. When I got to the bus station, the few people I saw coming in and out at that late hour, were all carrying the same gift bags…. industrial sized bags of spam- wow, what a lovely and thoughtful new year gift… please ignore my sarcasm if you're a lover of this tasty canned meat. Anyway, once my friends arrived, we bought bus tickets to Seoul and we were on our merry way. We arrived in Seoul around 4 am…. I tried to get a little shut eye but I was way to excited and full of caffeine. Once we got to Seoul we had to take a pricey cab to Incheon where the airport is located. 5 am…. exchange our wons to Hong Kong dollars…6 am…. a little Subway (sandwiches that is)… YUM… 7am… no sleep… 8am… finally we board and we are in the air by 9. After landing in China 2 hours later, we enjoyed the Shanghai airport for 6 long hours. A good 2 hours of that time were spent being quarantined by the Chinese officials. Right after we got off the place, we were escorted down an enclosed group of hallways and into several different rooms where they checked our passports, searched us, etc. Is this typical… I felt like a slave. I don't know what the big deal was, we were only in Shanghai (China) for a few hours… we weren't even leaving the airport. There were signs everywhere that read: "NO TALKING, NO PICTURES, NO CELLPHONES", hmmm, oh well. Our schedule was so off that day, we were going off no sleep and I think we ended up having 5 or 6 meals. 2 of those meals were on the airplane… maybe it's an Asian thing but I've never been on a 2 hour flight that serves a full meal, beverage (free alcohol), snack, and ice-cream.

Finally, we landed in Hong Kong…ahhhh, yes… instant gratification! I could finally shed the layers of clothing and relax. Right off the bat, I was noticing all the differences in the Chinese culture compared to the Korean culture. This might just be me but I think that, as far as physical appearances go… the Chinese are a lot taller than most Koreans. Their eyes are more open rather than squinted. Koreans always comment on how my… white people's noses are raised from their faces. Well, I noticed that most Chinese have noses like mine. Not to discriminate but before I moved here I wouldn't ever have been able to tell the difference between a Korean and a Chinese person. Now, it's incredibly obvious. Smoking…. it's not allowed everywhere you go like it is in Korea. If you see a woman smoking on the street in Korea… assume she is a prostitute but, not in Hong Kong. Finally… there is trash cans everywhere. People aren't just throwing there trash/ hocking loogies all over town. There was actually signs posted everywhere: "$5,000 fine for littering or spitting" (that's HK dollars not US dollars- $100 HK is about equal to $13 US). It was nice to see a clean city! Before we ventured out to find our hostel in the middle of Hong Kong, we bumped into some friends from Cheongju… how coincidental! These were some guys I met at the Dejeon Rock Festival who are from Raleigh as well. We tried to make plans to meet up with them the next day but it fell through… the trouble of not have a working cell phone in a foreign country will really get to ya. For this entire vacation… let me just say, THANK GOD FOR FELICITY (FLISS)! This was her 4th time coming to HK and she knew her way all over this hectic town, she's not illiterate when it comes to reading a map… I on the other hand, am! We got bus tickets and headed through the city on the top of a double decker bus. At this point, having no sleep didn't even phase me. The city was incredible… so many people… so much much diversity, tall beautifully structured buildings/architecture, tropical flowers and trees placed randomly throughout the city- WOW! Fliss led the way from the bus to the hostel that was perfectly placed in the middle of this gorgeous city. Our hostel was located on Fashion Street right near the harbor. From our window, you could see the water.. it was beautiful! Being that it was the Chinese new year, everything, unless booked ahead of time, was extremely expensive. My trusty friends booked our hostel weeks in advance so we stayed 4 nights at a very reasonable cost. I have never stayed in a hostel before and this experience was nothing like I had expected. I assumed we would be bunking with a bunch of random people, sharing bathrooms and roughing it all the way… fine by me. I was happily surprised to see that the three of us had our own room with our own beds and our own bathroom. It was a rather tiny room and the hot water didn't last more than 4 minutes but it didn't matter, we were in Hong Kong. The lobby of the hostel had a common room with Wifi, computers, a kitchen and a million different guide books and maps. Everywhere we went, people were speaking English… it was amazing. I felt like I was home again… I forgot how nice it is to walk up to someone, anyone, and ask something in English and have them understand and answer you! That first night we went to this ridiculously insane street fair/flower market. I have never seen so many people in my life. We walked through this squished market admiring the beautiful fresh flowers and trying our best not to loose each other. Sleep deprivation was finally setting in by 11 pm and we needed to hit the hay so we could venture out and begin our first full day.

We slept in a little bit and were out of the room by 10ish and on our way to see the city. We bought subway passes that were very inexpensive and they lasted the entire visit. Once again, these maps give me anxiety so lucky for me I had the lovely Molly and Felicity who were like my tour guides. We attempted to see some famous temples but the lines were so horrendous that we decided we'd rather do other things than stand in line for hours upon hours. Taking in the warm sun and the cool spring like air, we strolled through town in complete awe. We stumbled upon the Ladies Market… this is a famous market with thousands of vendors selling everything from fake designer bags to men's thongs (hahaha… I took a picture of these, so hilarious). I finally found the bag I've been looking for… A little Chinese woman took me up to a room and into a closet where she had tons of fake bags hidden away. I picked out a beautiful Mulberry (Brittish brand for those of you who are not aware… I wasn't, I just liked the bag haha. Fliss knows her bags and she pointed me in the right direction). I haggled with the lady for a couple $100 and finally got a decent price. This whole experience reminded me of China Town in NYC… HAAA… NYC doesn't even compare to this place). After shopping for a few hours we went and had a very bizarre lunch experience. At this place you order, wait in line for your meal and then hoover over people to get a table. You get lucky if you even get to sit with your friends. After 20 minutes of trying to find a seat in this insanely busy cafeteria, we questioned whether or not we wanted to take our food outside and sit on the ground. Finally, 3 people got up and we rushed to the table and had lunch with a random women who never moved from her seat. We en hailed our food and got out as quickly as possible…. that's the last cheap meal we have in HK. After wondering around the city some more we found a really neat mall right on the harbor (Ocean City Mall). We diddled around a bit and finally thought we should sit down for a snack and a quick rest. We found an incredible restaurant/bar that looked over the harbor. It had outdoor seating, a superb view of the skyline and a very classy, warm atmosphere. We ordered a glass of wine and cheered to the new year and the wonderful HK vacation. We had every intention of just sitting for a bit, going home later and getting dolled up for a real night out on the town. 1 glass of wine turned into 4 bottles of wine between the 3 of us…. we ate the traditional dim sum dumpling dish and had endless laughs. What a night…. oh my god is just about all I can say. We stumbled out of the bar with purple lips and headed for the city. We met a ton of different people… some gorgeous Israeli men, numerous Brits and even a few Americans (it's funny, all the Americans we met were coming from Korea like us- teachers). That night ended roughly the next day began with a hang over.

Since we wasted half our day in bed, feeling like shit… we opt to NOT drink anymore for the rest of the trip. Pretty much all we did that next day was, eat an incredible lunch (Thai/Malaysian food) and rest. I attempted to shop by myself but I didn't get too far… god forbid I get lost in this city and I can't even call my friends. Feeling a little better, we went out later that night saw a fire work show in honor of the new year. I just love fire works… I always feel like a little kid again, they are just so magical- I'll never get over that! After the impressive fire work show, we went into a really neat part of Kowloon and had yet another fantastic meal. See, I told you we wouldn't be eating cheap meals again. Instead, we enjoyed some authentic Mexican… I love a good enchilada covered with fresh guacamole and pepper jack cheese. Our plan that night was so go to bed early, wake up early and see all the sights. We were going to make up for our lost hungover time.

Up at 7:30… and a couple cold showers later and we were out the door by 9. We took the subway up to a pretty little area and had a nice breakfast outside. We got lucky… this was our last day and it was the warmest, sunniest day yet. After breakfast we took the subway to a ferry that took us to Lantau island… the location of one of the world's biggest Buddhas. This island was so hilly and tropical. A bus took us up to the area where the Buddha was. We hiked up a huge flight of stairs to finally reach Buddha… all around us were Buddhists praying and bowing to their god, it was quite enthralling actually! The view from the top of the mountain where Buddha sits was just gorgeous. I can't think of any part of this trip that wasn't spectacular or beautiful. We spent the first half of the day wandering around Lantau Island, seeing some of the old Asian temples and taking endless pictures of the town's beauty. We walked through a little village along the island and witnessed a neat parade celebrating the new year. We heard drums and signing and saw people dancing under a giant dragons… it was quite a show. To end our day in Lantau we took the cable cars across the island and into the city. This was by far the best view of the entire island. We rode over the green mountains and right above the beautiful turquoise, almost transparent water. I felt like Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he rides through town in at the great glass elevator… it was my first cable car adventure, can ya tell!? After Lantau we took the subway and then a bus up to the Peak where we saw another beautiful view.. this one was the harbor skyline at sunset. Riding up the mountain to the Peak took a good 40 minutes but the ride was relaxing and beautiful. Some of the world's most expensive real-estate in on the Peak. After seeing the Peak's view, we went back down the mountain and took yet another bus to see the Avenue of Stars. Not only do you get a view of the harbor's fantastic skyline (at night) but you get to see the variety of stars… hand prints on stars.. Asian stars that is… most of which I am not familiar with. Well, there is Jackie Chan, everyone knows him! We ended our evening with a little shopping and an unforgettable, authentic Chinese meal. We started off with some hot, lavender, green tea and began with a variety of pork spiced dim sum dumplings. After our dim sum appetizer we enjoyed some crispy chili/pork sautéed beans (they don't have green beans in Korea so I was throughly enjoying these crunchy greens). We also munched down on some beef and veggie lettuce wraps but, the best part of the meal was the pecking duck… WOW… it was sliced thin and had the most flavorful, crispy skin… it just melted in your mouth. We washed it all down with a couple Chinese beers called Tsingtao. This meal was the cherry on top of a perfect day. We went to bed somewhat early… it wasn't hard because our busy exhausted us.

The last and final day of our Lunar new year vacation is hardly worth talking about… it was spent traveling. We left the hostel around 9 and traveled ALL day… bus here, subway there, plane… train… car/taxi… wow! I didn't make home until 4 am.. hence the reason I didn't write Sunday night. I've been exhausted; these 55 plus hour work weeks are killing me. Somehow, I'm still making it to the gym everyday after work and luckily… I still adore the kiddies. I can't wait to tell you about Jen and Jenny, I'll save it for this Sunday's blog.



Chinese/Hong Kong Facts/Randomness:

-The variety of people everywhere amazed me… all shapes, sizes, colors. Any type of attire was appropriate… this would be far was accepting in Korea.
-Cleavage was not looked down on (it is a big NO NO in Korea)… although, shorts like panties in Korea are totally alright/normal. I'll never understand this.
-Hong Kong drives on the other side of the road as well as the other side of the car.
-Driving is normal… unlike in Korea where you are constantly hearing horns and wondering when your going to die (that's a bit dramatic but you get the point).
-The eating etiquette is quite interesting… it's rude to finish your entire meal. At a restaurant or at someone's home, always leave food on your plate, this shows the waiter or the hostess that what you had was plenty. If you finish everything it means you are not necessarily full and the meal was not good enough for you. It also shows the person paying for the meal that he can afford to feed his family/friends.
-It was nice to finally see a germ concerned country other than my own. Koreans are constantly sneezing and coughing without ever covering their mouth or washing their hands (heck, half the time my school doesn't have soap). In HK, there were signs all over the subway telling people to cover their mouths, protect against germs, and wash hands.

"Em" Time

This week was certainly far from eventful…the weekend is where I usually get all my stories from but I decided to stay in all weekend and have "Em" time. I always enjoy "Em"time… in fact, most of my friends stayed in this weekend and enjoyed "detox time" for themselves (once Tuesday comes… aka, Hong Kong, plenty of drinks will be had. We've got to save ourselves ya know). I had a really nice time just relaxing… I got quite a few pages done in my scrapbook sketchbook done, I watched a variety of different movies and shows, did a little reading and of course ordered some of the best pizza in town. When Sunday came around, my friends and I all thought we should definitely have some human interaction. We all met up for a couple of good movies, popcorn, dinner and endless laughs.

I added some pictures out of my sketchbook… thought you might be curious as to what I am creating. It's been so relaxing, yet fun, putting together this scrapbook. It allows me to reminisce/reflect while I paint/draw some of the best memories of my life. So, as you can see from the pictures: The picture is one from the beginning… my sweet mom hid several goodies in my bags as she was helping me pack. When I unpacked I found several sweet treats, a stuffed bunny and a letter. I taped the letter in and drew what the bunny looks like… I clearly couldn't tape the bunny in, he keeps me warm at night.The middle picture is one from the beginning of the book as well, when my trip first began. I taped in my boarding passes and drew different images around them that set my journey off. One very memorable thing I roughly sketched was my incredibly heavy luggage. I will never forget those HEAVY bags of mine… lugging them all over the airport and bus station (one was 60 pounds and the other was 80 pounds). The last picture: bamboo- this was when my good friend Katie and I took a crazy adventure out to this little town and explored the bamboo forest as well as the random little town that surrounded it. Taped onto the page is my ticket into the bamboo forest and the card from the little Korea man who painted the fans for us. This sketchbook has been so much fun to create… as my adventures continue, so will the book.

Other than the fact that my colleagues and I had to redo several lesson plans,tests, scopes… you name it (hard drive crashed and lost most everything), the work week went very well. I think I am one of the proudest teachers at TN… I can't get over how well my pre-K kiddies are doing. Now of course, they have their bad moments but they are kids… it's only natural. This week I made the time-out chair and man is it sad. Since the girls don't understand exactly what I say, I found some really sad and angry faces which I colored and taped to the back of the chair and on the wall that the chair faces. I really got their attention when I did this… threatening the chair when they don't follow directions makes me feel like such an evil teacher but you can't always be nice. My friend Molly said.. "how bad could the chair be, is there a child molester sitting in it"… ohhhh Molly- how I look forward to spending 5 days with you in Hong Kong! So anyway… my liaison had a little talk with me this week and congratulated me on a job well done. Apparently the Korean staff is so happy with the way I have been doing things (especially with the pre-K class) that they have now put every bit of confidence in me. They are sad to see me go in August especially since my Kindergarten class will only be half way through. The parents will not like it when a new teacher takes over my class right in the middle of the school year. Speaking of my Kindergarten class… it begins in only a few short weeks (March is when their school year starts). Everyone is signed up for the Kindergarten class. Other than Jen and Jenny, I've got Jasper and Bruce. Ahhh haha, it's Bruce Wayne to be exact. Bruce's older brother Kevin is in the Kindergarten class now and he named his little brother. Since he loves Batman so much he though Bruce Wayne was a fitting name, I love it. I can not wait for this class to begin, the months are just flying by.

I am currently packing for Hong Kong… pulling out fall clothes, not missing hats, scarves and gloves. It's not quite bathing suit weather but it is going to be gorgeous. I am excited to finally wear my new Ray Bans because every day we are there we've got perfectly sunny skies and warm temperatures to look forward to. It will get cold at night but a light jacket will be so much better than a heavy, down one. We will not be back in Gwangju till late Sunday night so, don't expect a blog till later in the week. Hopefully, it will be well worth the wait.

Korean Facts/Korean Randomness

Curious about the Korean New Year… here is some facts:

Korean New Year is the most important festival in Korea. It is a family oriented holiday. Korean New Year is also commonly known as Seollal. Korea follows a lunar calendar and for this reason, the dates of Korean New Year vary every year. Korean New Year 2010 was celebrated on February 14 while Korean New Year 2011 will be observed on February 3. Seollal 2011 will be observed on the first day of the lunar calendar. The New Year celebrations in Korea last for three days and the three days are declared as public holiday. Apart from the Korean Lunar New Year, they also celebrate International New Year with the rest of the world on January. However, the enthusiasm and grandeur with which they celebrate the traditional New Year is missing in the International New Year celebrations.

Seollal or Korean New Year 2011 will fall on the 2nd New Moon after winter cosmic time. If you follow the traditional, it is noticed that Korean New Year shares the same day of new Year in China, Vietnam, Mongol, and Tibet. As Chinese New Year, Korean New Year is also called Lunar New Year.

The first day of Korean New Year is known as Sol-nal. The first day of celebrations is restricted within the family. All the family members unite and gather for New Year dinner. During the Korean New Year eve, the Korean people keep rakes and straw scoopers at the entrance or on the wall. They believe that these articles will save their family from any evil force.

All the people in Korea wear colorful and new dresses on the New Years day. This symbolizes a new beginning. Everyone gather at his or her respective house to greet the eldest family member. In Korea, there is a popular tradition of ancestral memorial rites, where the young members in the family bow to the elderly members. The elders pray for the good health and opulence for the young members. The elders also present money to the younger members as a good luck charm.

Without food any celebration is incomplete and Korean new Year 2011 is not an exception. All the family members sit and join in for the New Year feast. The traditional New Year meal include ttokkuk, a must-have dish, which is made of rice cake. According to the Korean New Year traditions, this soup can add extra age to a human being's lifespan.

Koreans also play a number of traditional Korean New Year games on the eve of New Year. Some of the games are yut nori, stick game, and see-sawing. Yut nori is a very popular broad game, which the entire family can take part in. The male members of the family fly kites. They also play jegi chagi is another popular game for men in Korea. Jegi chagi is more like football. The female members of the family play neolttwigi, a traditional game of jumping on a seesaw. The kids play paengi.

Bitter Sweet

Top: My Liaison (Michael), boss and his wife all out on Saturday night
Middle: tubing/sledding at Family Land
Bottom: Bank of Korea Field trip... me in the face of a 500,000 won with my Pre-K class



I made it out for a fantastic weekend…. thank God I recovered from the stomach flu. I actually felt 100% by Thursday; Korean medicine definitely works wonders.

As I told you before, my good friend Dominque had a birthday party this weekend. Saturday started out with some good clean fun and ended with too many gin and tonics…. my drink of choice (while I'm on the subject, let me remind you that this country does not have limes- their substitute is a lemon and a gin and tonic is not the same with a lemon). On Saturday, a large group of us met at the bus station where we took a couple taxis to Family Land: a big amusement park (went there once before with the Kindergartners). Koreans pronounce "F" with a "P" sound so when I told the taxi driver, "Family Land jusaoh (please)"… he looked at me like I was crazy. Luckily I had some friends with me that knew you needed to say "Pamily Landa!" The 18 of us got there and sledded for a few cold hours. This sledding was the most organized sledding I've ever seen. I was sure it would be madness… you know, kids running up and down the hill, flying all around, maybe even a few crashes… bloody noses. I was wrong! Once you get your tube, a moving ramp takes you to the top where you wait to slide down. An announcer gives direction and a new group steps up to the starting line… hanna, doo, say (1, 2, 3). You just wait till the electric pushes sends you flying down the ice coated hill… what a blast then it's back up for some more rides. At one point during the day, we told the announcer that it was Dom's birthday. We had everyone singing Happy Birthday… well, those who knew the English version that is. The Korean's were all laughing as they stared in amazement… 18 foreigners, that had to be the most any of them had ever seen at one time. After freezing our tushes off, we warmed up with one of the most delicious Korean dishes- duck fried rice, duck soup and duck pate (reminded me of Honey Backed Ham but better). We all went home to rest and get dolled up for the evening.

We reconvened downtown around 11. I invited my liaison out and to my surprise he brought along my boss and my bosses wife… a good surprise of course- they are always good company. Seth drove his car which was nice… that's 8,000 won there and back I get to keep in my pocket. The night was spent bar hopping… dancing, singing, laughing…just having a really fabulous time with so many wonderful friends. This whole experience is so bitter sweet, ya know… whenever you meet another wonderful friend, you find out that they are leaving in a month… a week, it's sad to have to say good bye all the time. The great thing is, you have friends all over the world who you can visit. I am already planning a trip to Canada when I get home. After several hours of the downtown scene, my boss took the TN English crew (5 of us including myself) out to eat. Seth (my boss) drove us home. He probably shouldn't have been driving but that's just something Korean's with cars do. I'm half asleep in the back seat of the car, dreaming of my warm, cozy bed when finally we stop… we get out , but wait a minute? We aren't at TN English, why the hell did we stop in this alley way? Maybe someone had to throw up or maybe Seth realized he was too drunk to drive. "Where are we you guys… what's going on… are we lost?"… "It's okay Em, we are getting massages." That sounds nice… no complaints out of me. We went into this very classy building and into these little rooms where we changed clothes. All the women wore these little pink outfits and all the men wore orange ones- was this a cult? They forgot to give me my pants so I walked out in my tights with this big pink T-shirt on. The Korean women freaked out and quickly sent me back into the room with pants/shorts. The language barrier always gets me…. haha, well really, I was kinda drunk and it was 3 am. We all got escorted into this big room with that was sectioned off for each person. We laid on tempurpedic mattresses while getting the most incredible massages. After this one.. maybe two hour long body massage, we went to sleep. Odd… I've never gotten a massage before but I am pretty sure your not supposed to sleep there. I kept peeking across the way to see if Iian was still laying there. I didn't want to get left at this place. Morning came and we all woke up, got dressed and hit the road. I accidentally saw a reciet for our time spent there…. close to 600,000 won for that massage trip- good god! I feel pretty lucky! The niceties still weren't over… my boss took us out to breakfast. When I think breakfast, I think bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes, etc… not in Korea. We had spicy egg, bean spout and onion soup with rice. It sure did cure my hangover, maybe that was the idea. Sunday was spent relaxing and reminiscing with friends about our good times. I love weekends in Korea.

Work has been going well. I did not realize that with my pre-K class, I am not supposed to let them speak ANY Korean. I just figured in the beginning it was alright because I was trying to get them comfortable with their surroundings and with each other. I have never taught ESL so i have no idea how it works.. it's a learning process. After telling the girls that they are not allowed to speak Korean, it's amazing to see how much more English they are picking up. I guess they understand that if they want to talk at all, it's got to be English. They repeat everything I say.... like I said before, repetition is the best method right now. Since they are such quick learners I am pushing ahead and teaching some more difficult things. I've got them counting all the way to 20. They know shapes, farm animals, zoo animals, fruits, vegetables, colors, ABCs, body parts, ohhhh and so much more- I am a very proud teacher! Classes are going well but the planning process/test making is a bit stressful right now. The main computer at work crashed and the hard drive was not able to be recovered. This mean that 3 years of work is gone... and we do EVERYTHING on the computer. It's beyond me why they never backed up the work. So, on a lighter note, we went on a field trip last Wednesday to the Bank of Korea. It was the Kindergarten classes plus my pre-K class that went. I was so proud of my girls, they were very well behaved and had their listening ears on. I am not exactly sure what was discussed at the bank because it was all in Korea but it seemed interesting... the kids seemed pretty enthralled in what said/shown.


Korea Facts/ Randomness:

- My trip to Hong Kong is getting closer and closer. The city we are going to be in is called Kowloon. Here's a little information about this area: Bearing the meaning 'Nine Dragons', Kowloon, which is only a few square kilometers, is one of the world's most densely populated urban areas with both residents and tourists. At the peak of the peninsular is the neoteric shopping district of Tsim Tsa Tsui. Further up north are Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok, both more traditional with street markets and old buildings. Tsim Tsa Tsui East and Hung Hom on eastern Kowloon are noted for the milieu of luxury hotels, shopping centers, expensive restaurants, and trendy nightclubs.

Shee Shee, Teacher!!!

Top: A lovely crew of ladies
Bottom: My pre-K cuties (Jenny and Jen)


Those of you who look forward to reading my blog on Sunday... my deepest apologies for not being prompt...(typically, punctual is my middle name but Korea has changed my ways ever so slightly). The weekend is so short and I have to make sure I fill it up with loads of fun! I was sure I would get my blog up by Monday evening but Monday took a turn for the worse. Out of nowhere I found myself extremely sick late Monday afternoon. I won't go into any great detail but just imagine all the symptoms of a stomach flu. My liaison taught my last class of the day (Monday) so I could go upstairs and take care of myself. As nice as he is, he took care of my throughout the evening but then made me go to work the following morning. Feeling like shit… still having all the same symptoms, I unhappily went to work. I went to the hospital (you know in Korea…. the hospital is just like going to the doctor… hearing that probably makes it sound like i'm deathly ill- I'm not). Sure enough, the stomach flu is what I've got…. it's going around in Korea right now. I am sure 10 more people will have it by next week cause I know I spread my germs all over school today.

Work has been going swimmingly! I am so happy to report that my Pre- K class is progressing at such a rapid speed. The moms are out of the room, even out of the building. I am pretty sure they sit downstairs in Emma's Cafe and watch me teach on the big screen. At the beginning of last week, The Korean teacher sat in the room for some time and then I had her leave to see how Jen and Jenny would react. These little girls are way smarter then any 3 or 4 year old I've ever met. When the Korean teacher left the room, it was nothing but screams and tears. I tried to entice them with any and every fun thing in the room but they knew they could out smart me (not for long though). "Ajasheeeee", they would scream (this means, "I have to go to the bathroom"). The second I opened the door they ran out to find the Korean teacher... hmmm, I could tell where this was leading. A few flushes later, never anything to actually flush…we were back in the classroom, the screaming continued. I wanted to wait it out and show them that crying and screaming gets you nowhere (don't worry ya'll, I'm a nice teacher... they are just so unfamiliar with my non-Korean face). "Dong, teacher, Dongggg" (can you guess what this means... poop). Okay, so I let them out to poop but this time, here's what I did. I poked my head out the door and told all the Korean teachers to hide. I walked out with the girls and they ran through the halls, tears running down their sweet little faces, screaming for the Korean teachers who they could not find. Once they realized they weren't in sight we went back into the classroom because of course... no one really had to shee shee or dong. I was amazed at how well this little trick worked... they didn't outsmart me for long.. muahahaha (evil laugh). I guess hanging out with Emilie teacher is better than no teacher at all. Each day has gotten a little better. They are becoming more and more comfortable with me and I just can't cant enough of them. A picture says a thousand words and you know the one above is so precious. Like i've said before, their attention span does not last for very long. I am lucky to get them concentrating on something for four or five minutes. Now that they are getting more comfortable, they sit in class and talk up a storm, ahhh... they are so freaking cute I only wish I knew what they were saying. They still don't understand that I don't understand anything coming out of their mouths. I know pee and poop but that's the extent of it. I just nod my head and smile because you know how little kids are. I'm pretty sure they are just blabbing...smacking their lips with random nonsense (my mom has a blue car and we ate chicken for dinner last night... I fell down yesterday and pooped four time... haha, you get the idea). They have learned so much in the last week, it's incredible how quick they catch on. Other than the structured curriculum, they have memorized the clean-up song ("Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere, clean-up, clean-up everybody do your share"), "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", "If You're Happy and You Know It" and Old McDonald Had a Farm (mostly, they just know the "ei, ei, o" part and the animal noises). As much as I like to plan, I love how unpredictable teaching can sometimes be. No day is ever the same... I look forward to this week's chaos.

The gym was intense this past week. I got to know the trainer who works there.. only a little bit though because his English is minimal. He's got me on a strict work out plan. He cracks me up because he is constantly making reference to the calendar on the wall (Janurary's picture is a sexy, toned, tan, blonde, white girl with abbs or steel). He is pretty sure he can get me looking like her before I leave... I just laugh and say okay. Lukcily, I have a little more time before bathing suit weather because Taiwan is a no go.

No Taiwan... so sad! My friends and I are just so damn indecisive. Last week, my friend Molly and I decided we were not going to wait around anymore for our friends to make up their minds. We looked into doing Hong Kong for the Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year- how fun, right!? Well, it's actually going to happen. We booked our flights last week. Molly (Minesota), Felicity (England) and I will be leaving February 2 at 3 am... we will catch a bus to Seoul for our flight out to Shanghai... change plans and head to Hong Kong till the 6th. It's a given that my blog will be very late that week. Felicity has been to Hong Kong twice before so she knows all the hot spots. We will be very lucky to have her with us. Did I mention the weather in Hong Kong is going to be gorgeous... highs in the 70's- PERFECT! I am so ready to be out of the snow... it's freaking frigid here.

This weekend I went out with a big group of girls... it reminded me of college all over again. What a great bunch we had... some Canadians, a few Americans and of course the lovely Felicity from England. They are all older than me (25-27)... I'm the baby in the group, fine by me though and they don't seem to mind- it's all relative. I had every intention of just doing dinner and a few drinks with them but the evening was so much fun, the rest of the night just couldn't be wasted. After dinner at a tasty Mexican restaurant (actually… the same one from last weekend). I tell ya, this place just can't get it together. Last weekend, right when we got there, the gas broke. All they were serving was nachos. This weekend, the gas was working but the heat wasn't… it was quite chilly in there. We left the college campus and headed downtown where we went to the usual three foreigner bars. We thought we'd mix it up and head to a Korean night club… wow, what a scene. This place looked like something out of a movie…. three levels of stages, bars, dancing and many, many Koreans. From what I could see, my girlfriends and I were the only white girls in the whole place. The best part of the evening was when my friend Vinita and I wondered off in search of a bathroom, stubbled onto a big stage with black lights and strobe lights… what else do you do when this happens, you dance. I don't know if it was the alcohol or the lights but I don't think I've ever had so much fun dancing… so much for finding the bathroom, haha. My group of friends slowly whittled away as the night went on. 10 to 8… 8 to 6…6 to 4… 4 to 2 and then the sun came up… time to go home! What a great night…

On Sunday, I slept in which was so nice because I rarely do it anymore (I prefer it this way). I had one of my friends over for dinner that evening. Her birthday is coming up so I thought I would make her an early birthday dinner. Mmmmm.. we had pasta in a white wine, butter cream sauce with fresh broccoli, mushrooms and chicken. It was so nice cooking/entertaining for somewhere (that's one of the only things I miss about having a boyfriend haha). As sweet as Dominique is, she brought dessert… home made whip cream and strawberries- delicious! After Dom went home, I knew I was never going to sleep… definitely the worst thing about sleeping in on Sundays (why do I continue to do this to myself). I went to see a movie with some coworkers. We saw "Love and Other Drugs" which came out in Novemeber in America but here, I've said this before… movies are 2 months late. I guess they have to get the subtitles going. I am just glad it's in English and I don't have to read the subtitles. When you buy a ticket…you pay, then pick which seats in the theater you want to sit it (similar to how you would buy tickets on a plane- there's a big electronic chart that you select from). Anyway, this movie was great!! I definitely recommend it, if your in the mood for a good, romantic comedy. I saw it with two guys and they really liked it so it can't be too girly!

*cross your fingers that I am all better by Saturday. A big group of us are going sledding at Family Land for Dominique's birthday. I don't want to miss out! :)

Korean Facts/ Randomness:

- So much for hot, delicious, buttered popcorn at the movies, bring on the hot, buttered squid.
-Being that it's so cold out, restaurants don't bother serving chilled water. They think that since it's cold outside, they need to serve warm or even hot water. Maybe it's just me but warm/hot water doesn't really quench my thirst.
-The nurses at hospitals don't get to wear cute scrubs like American nurses do... they all have to wear the exact same little outfit (the ones I saw were wearing tight white pants- scrub pants, a pale pink button up with a white color and a mint green cardigan)- so cute in their pastels
-The more friends I make, the more friends I see leave. It's really hard to watch your friends go home. Most people have one
year contracts so people I met when I first got here are leaving soon. Luckily, the new people I have met just got here within the last few months so they will have to watch me leave. It's a weird, sad concept.

A New Face, A New Name

Top: pig faces... they taste great!! ha... just kidding...
Bottom: some friends enjoying the weekend: from the left: Laura, Wesley, Krish, Katie


Wow… I forgot how amazing it feels to be a normal person and go to bed and wake up at a decent hour! I'm actually eating three meals again.. yes! This week was definitely a lot, but it was great. Work started in the middle of the week; Wednesday and Friday were rather exhausting working from 8:45 to 7:30 but Thursday (my shorter day… 8:45 to 4:20- random times I know) was a nice change/break. I adore my pre-Kindergarten class that I teach early in the day (9:00-12:00). I only have two little girls, they are actually the sisters of some of the Kindergarten students. Jenny and Jenny… wow, thats a doozy- I had to change one of their names. Jenna, one of the Kindergarteners named her little sister and she did not want me to change it so we settled on Jen, haha! This class is a lot more difficult than I thought… I really tried not to go into to it having a lot of expectations because it's nothing like anything I've ever taught before. First of all, these little girls are 5 in Korean age, which means they are 3 or 4 in American age… young! This is their first school ever and a 3 hour day is not easy. The attention span of a 5 or 6 year old is 15 minutes… what is this 3 hour crap? I am constantly switching up and changing activities. For the most part, in these next 2 months my main goal is to get these little girls comfortable with me and school. I am hoping that I can ween the moms out of the room in the next week or so. It was a little intimidating having the moms sit in the room and watch me act like a fool- singing, dancing… you name it… anything to get a laugh or smile out of these nervous little girls. The hardest part about this class is that it's TOTAL immersion which means I can not speak a word of Korea (not that I know much). These little girls don't understand that I don't know Korean so when their moms try to leave the room for a few minutes it's really hard for me to comfort them and tell them it's going to be okay. They look up at me with tears in their eyes saying who knows what and all that I can comfort them with is my smile and the soothing tone of my voice. This week, Jen was blabbing on and on and on and I knew something was wrong but I didn't know what she was saying… "it's okay Jen, let's color and watch Elmo sing a song"… finally, she just ran out of the room, turns out she had to go "she she" (pee pee). Thank god she didn't wet herself ! When Jen and Jenny are content and attempting to follow my directions, I've seen that they are already very smart little girls. They can both say their ABCs and count to 10. Jenny has an excellent memory… I taught them fruit last week and by Friday, Jenny could name 7 out of the 10 fruit without any help. I am so excited to see how my Jens will progress throughout the next two months. Come March, they will be in my Kindergarten class with hopefully more students. Teaching is very rewarding and even more so with the little ones because their progress and growth is so extreme.

At 12:00 when our day ends, we all wash our hands and enjoy a traditional Korean lunch. Lunch is also a lovely benefit in having an early schedule. Emo, the cook is always making something tasty and interesting. For example, on Thursday we enjoyed fish cake and tofu soup, kimchee, rice and miniature salted fish (tiny little fish- marinated in something salty… you eat the entire fish… sprinkle them on your rice like a condiment- pretty tasty I must say). This meal might not sound good to you but ya know what, beggars can't be choosers! When it comes to food… I rarely complain! Luckily I have an hour break after lunch which is nice considering I have such a long day.

I got a new student added to my Leopard 4 class (2nd grade level). She came in without an English name so I got to name her. I thought she deserved a say in what her English name would be, but she had no preference. I asked what her favorite letter was… "K" and so we went from there. I made a list on the board: Katie, Kelly, Kendra, Khloe, Karen, Karla… she was not fond of any of those names. I told her I would brainstorm and come up with something perfect. Thanks to my buddy Luke, we came up with the name, "Kylie"… she LOVED the name and so do I! Thank god these kids have English names because I feel like a total idiot when I try to pronounce their Korean name. My friend Soo Young is the only Korean I know who does not have an English name… I like that about her. By the way… "Soo" is pronounced "Sue".

I joined a gym this week…. I gotta get my body looking fit since I'm hopefully going to be frolicking on the beaches of Taiwan next month for the lunar new year break. The gym is nothing fancy but it's got just what I need. I got a great deal too… about 130,000 won for 3 months, including gym attire (equal to about $110). This gym attire is not the cutest but I'm working out so who cares! Plus, less sweaty laundry… I mean, hell… I only packed 5 T-shirts anyway. When you go in, you can not wear the shoes you came in. Technically, the shoes you wear in the gym have to be indoor shoes… never worn outside (shhh… don't tell on me). The locker room is naked central- my god! There is a giant shower room attached to a locker room. Women don't bother to even put some panties while they are fixing their hair, putting on make-up… bla bla bla- everything! One of these days, I'll take a shower and see what it's like, it will only add to my experience. I've heard the Korean women are very interested in foreigners... eyeing you from head to toe (nothing more...at least I hope not?)… it's not like I've got 3 boobs or anything so maybe the stares will be minimal.

This weekend my friends and I ventured out into town for a day of "let's see where the subway takes us". I am disappointed in myself for never taking the subway… as directionally challenged as I am, I could handle this. I will say, it's only one line and one of the stations is right next to my apartment. We took a subway to Yang Dong Market… WOW! When we got off we were amazed and it didn't stop there… wide eyed with curiosity and excitement, we wondered through this spectacular market taking pictures of everything. This is one of those fantastic Asian markets you would see in movies. It started off as a fabric market. There were rooms and rooms or beautiful, bold satin and silk and women ready to create any type of hanbok (traditional Korean dress)that your heart desires. The fabric rooms led into a covered outside where we saw everything from fresh fruit and veggies to giant manta rays to whole/fresh pig heads. We didn't buy anything that day but I am really looking forward to going back and purchasing a whole plethora of things. My friends and I finished off our day with some delicious margaritas and nachos at a Mexican restaurant near the college campus, Chonum University.

Korean Facts/Randomness:

-This week came with quite a lot of name changes. We got a new Korean staff member and he didn't have an English name. He came in with a smile, a sweater vest and, well… I don't know, there was just something regal about him- in a good way of course. He was just jolly and happy! Iian didn't even have to think twice when our boss said, what should we name him… right out of his mouth came, "Stuart". Just like that, he had a name! I love it!
-After a woman has given birth, she not only stays in the hospital for 2 plus weeks but she is treated like a princess. Koreans think that after a woman gives birth, she is extremely delicate. She shouldn't try to do anything for herself… this includes walking.
-Have I told you about a Korean grocery store experience? Well, I don't think I have so I must enlighten you… When you go into the store you can't just grab a cart, you've got to insert 100 won (10 cents) into a little slot on the top of the cart and stick in the attached key and then finally, your cart is freed. Ready to shop… if your going to get any produce, you must find someone who works there to weigh it and post a sticker on the item. Once you've gathered all your things, go through the checkout line where you put all your things right back into your cart unless your me… after the 15th time and decide to just buy a special "E-Mart" bag. Why don't they just bag your things? It's not that easy… you gotta get a box. Okay, so after your things are back in the cart you head over to the box center. Now, these boxes are flat so you've got to fight your way in (remember, you've still got your cart full of items, it's not just you) , grab some tape and quickly put your box together. Once you fill up your box, put it back in your cart… if it fits and go return the cart. Once again, stick the key in the slot and yay, out pops your 100 won. Here comes the hard part… hauling a cab with a giant box at hand while everyone else is trying to do the same thing. Do you see why I decided to buy myself a special GREEN, "E-Mart" bag?! I never plan to buy more than what will fit in that bag and I save myself some aggravation.

Snow... Snowboarding... Blizzards! IT'S COLD!

Top: Kelsey and Michael- aren't that cute!
Middle: See Yeoung, Olivia and I on new year's eve
Bottom: Muju Mt. Skii Resort



Back to the beginning of last week, right before my vacation started…. it was a short week, only two days… thank god! A vacation was much needed because I was acting like a bit of a Scrooge. I don't know though, can ya blame me? One day before vacation started I was informed of my totally new schedule that would begin the day we come back from vacation in January. I am certainly not opposed to this new schedule… I am actually really excited. I will be teaching a pre-Kindergarten class that will be in session for only two months- winter immersion program (9 am to 12). It's very frustrating when your schedule is switched all around and the only time you have to prepare for new classes is when your supposed to be on your vacation or on the weekends. I couldn't very easily blow this off because I would be frazzled and stressed come Wednesday when I teach. I really didn't even have a choice, management told me I had to create a lesson plan for the first week. I teach ALL day long so I had to come in during my vacation… right after snowboarding and before my trip to Deagu. Luckily my liaison was around to unlock the very cold office. I got all my work done and I am comfortable and prepared to teach tomorrow. Management sat me down for a quick 5 minute meeting to inform me that this class was very important… "Emilie, if you do not do will with this class, no one will sign up for the post Kindergarten class and we will be very disappointed in you" … thanks you guys, maybe if you told me about this class before it was about to start then I would have time to mentally and physically prepare- I tell ya, where is the logic? I'm trying, I'm trying- gotta brush that small stuff off my shoulder. Anyway… now that I am prepared, I am really looking forward to tomorrow. I'm excited to tell you the details next week but I do know that since these students are so young, they do not speak a lick of English (unlike my other students). This is not like teaching typical Kindergarten or even pre school… it's going to be a whole different story. Let's just say, it's going to look great on the cameras because I will be using a lot of manipulatives and body language. Some of my students might not have English names, which means I will get to name them- that will be fun!

A new year, a new schedule- YAY! I am finally going to be normal again… not this going to bed at 4 am… sleeping till 12 pm bullshit.. NO MORE! Did I mention I was doing that a lot in the last couple months, it was awful. Now, i've got the morning schedule. Everyday I will go into work at 8:45 and teach at 9:10… have lunch at school at 12 with my little ones. I will still be teaching the majority of my older classes in the afternoon. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I will teach till 7:05 then I can go home. On Tuesday and Thursday, I will teach till 4:10 and I get to go home around 4:30. This schedule should continue throughout the rest of my time here… 7 more months. In March when the winter immersion program ends, I will start teaching the new Kindergarten class.

Alrighty then, enough about work….ahhhh time for vacation, let me reflect on it. Early Wednesday morning, 5:45 to be exact a rather large group of TN English folk hopped on a bus and headed for the snowy mountains of Muju. It was my first time snowboarding and boy was it an adventure. After gearing up… which took at least an hour and a half, a group of us headed up to the bunny slope where my boss showed us how to snowboard. What a hassle this sport is… fun, but a pain in the ass… literally. I can't tell you how many times I fell on my butt… it's still a little sore. I had a really good crash down the mountain- I wish I could have seen myself because it was quite a spill…. halfway down the bunny slope I got goin pretty fast and realized I had no idea how to slow down, when I attempted to turn (what was I thinking, I didn't know how to do that either) I tumbled twice over my board and pounded my face into the snow, hysterically laughing at myself I laid there with a mouth full of snow and a scaped up cheek. It probably took me at least 10 minutes to turn over and get myself goin again. Ah.. good times! Once more down the bunny slope and I was kinda surprised with myself because I quickly got the hang of it. In no time I went from the bunny slope to the tallest, most difficult slope in Muju. I'm certainly not a pro but I was just happy to stay up and glide down the mountain somewhat smoothly with… hmm… a little control. I definitely knocked over a few Koreas, woops! The "I'm a foreigner" excuse is getting old.. I think!

After a day full of snowboarding we all loaded back into the bus and went to my bosses condo which was about 30 minutes from the Muju Skii Resort (*a little fact: Michael Jackson loved the Muju Skii resort so much when he visited, he asked the Koreans if he could buy it… he was sadly refused- the resort is beautiful, it consists of several different hotels, spas, shops, bars, restaurants, cafes, etc.). We arrived at the condo and dinner was quickly served. We enjoyed some Korean barbecue; It was delicious as always but the meal was not complete without alcohol. Ohhhh man, you know Koreans and their alcohol. It's not a party unless everyone is plastered. My boss loves to see his American staff wasted so that's what happened. The snow continued to fall and the night just got colder and colder… we all got drunker and drunker! The pressure of drinking with your bosses is tough… it's like a sport and sometimes I can NOT keep up- i'm okay with that! Ya know…I often feel guilty when I rag on management because they are so generous… I know I vent and I complain about their finicky ways but it's work. I have to always remind myself that i'm not in America… they are doing things the Korean way… it's not necessarily to put us out personally, it's just their culture. I really do think they mean well… after all my boss is nice enough to invite his American staff to all sorts of events (skiing/staying in his condo, going to his "ham"/wedding… etc.). The night was so much fun.. but it ended rather quickly and early (for me that is)… I think a big group of the guys ended up going to sing karaoke at a bar. The sleeping situations were pretty interesting. The condo was like two apartments, each with about 4 rooms plus a living room/kitchen. There was no beds, just blankets and pillows… everyone grabbed what they needed and found a nice cozy spot on the hard wood floor. I was pretty stiff the next morning but it didn't matter, our time in Muju was so much fun…sleeping was hardly necessary!

We got home from Muju around 10 am, I ran to my bed and slept till 3!!! When I woke up I could not believe all the snow on the ground. I went into work to get my lesson plans done and then headed out into the blizzard for another snow adventure. The snow was so beautiful, perfectly white and soft… not wet like North Carolina's snow. By morning, it must have snowed at least a foot. It snowed all night and through the next morning and all the next day (New Years eve day). My wonderful Korean friend, Soo Yeoung, and I went shopping and shared a tasty Korean lunch. Have I mentioned Soo Yeoung yet? She dates one of my co-workers. Because she is often hanging out in the building, she and I have gotten really close lately. I am so thankful for her… she is so kind, patient and always willing to help me with anything (obviously, she speaks fantastic English). She has taught me so much about the Korean culture. It's really fun to have a close Korean girlfriend… not only do I have a buddy to hang out with but I have a friend who also teaches me so much about the culture I am living in. Later that evening a group of us headed downtown for a New Year's celebration. We enjoyed Papa John's pizza for dinner (brand new to Gwangju and even more delicious than American style Papa John's). You will be surprised to hear that I didn't stay out too late… the one night I decide to go in somewhat early (1:30 am)… it's impossible to find a cab. I had a wonderful New Year's Eve night but I wanted to start the next day without a hangover.

I got up early and hauled a cab to the bus station where I got a bus to Deagu. After arriving in Daegu I got a train to Waegwan (this is where my friend Kelsey and her family live). I was a little nervous to travel alone but it all worked out just fine. I sought out what looked like a Westerner here and there to ask for directions… everyone was so helpful, thankfully! So, let me explain Kelsey and I's relationship: we went to high school together, she was three grades ahead of me (I was a freshman when she was a senior) so we were really just acquaintances, not friends like we are now. Through Facebook, we saw that we were both in South Korea and that's what got us talking. She moved here with her husband and their beautiful 6 month old baby boy, 2 months ago. Her husband, Jason is an officer in the army which is what brought their family to Weagwan (military base). I can not even begin to tell you how wonderful it was to hang out with this family. Everything about their house and their mannerisms felt like home. They took me to the base where I throughly enjoyed some subway and taco bell (what carp… but man, I never loved it so much). Going onto the base was suddenly like being in America. Everything you bought had to be paid for with American money. Being there… In an odd way, was very comforting. The base has a big store, similar to a Walmart where I bought some butterfingers (haaa.. you know I wouldn't leave there without them) and some other American necessities. We enjoyed some of the weekend in Deagu (one of Korea's biggest, most popular cities)- we roamed around downtown and ate some fantastic Thia food. I hope I get the chance to go back and visit with Kelsey's family. They are a sensational bunch! Kels… if you're reading this- i've been dreaming about your breakfast burrito (it has real cheddar cheese ya'll). You were too kind to make me those :)


Korean Facts/Randomness:

-When I was in Deagu, I went to Costco with some friends... who knows about Costco? Well... it's like a Sam's Club or a BJ's. It is exactly the same as America's Costco. They even have the same lunch menu (hot dogs, pizza, etc.). They have the onion machine like they do in America... you turn the handle and it spits out onions for your hot dog. Well in Korea the Asians use the onion machine to make an onion salad. After filling their plate with a mound of minced onions, they squirt ketchup and mustard all over it and enjoy with a fork. When you walk into the food court section of Costco, your eyes immediately water because of the plethora of onions filling everyone's plates.
-In the world, Korea is in the top 5 for the worst/most dangerous/most accidents in driving
-when a woman has a baby, she has to stay in the hospital for a minimum or 2 weeks (my friend Soo Yeoung has a new niece and I was so confused at why she kept visiting the baby and the mom- her sister in the hospital... was something wrong.. no, thats just the Korean ways.
-Poor Soo Yeoung... her full name (Soo Yeoung Jang) translates into "swimming pool"- she said everyone made fun of her when she was little.
- While driving to Deagu… peering out the window at the lovely Korean county side… I noticed something that brought a tear to my eye. In America you typically see cows, goats, pigs, you know. Well, what I saw was rows and rows of cages. What do you think was in these cages? Dogs… all one breed and so adorable. They only eat one breed here- that's what I saw. Oh my gosh- that is one thing I will not taste.
-I love how Koreans are not picky when it comes to food (my kind of people), especially the children. Most of the Korean dishes are spicy or fishy and for them that is what they have grown up on. I think it's great when I see a three year old munching down on some dried squid, fish cake, seaweed and spicy kimchee… ugh, I am really going to miss Korean food when I leave this place.