Pizza flavored potato chips.

are amazing.

So is the fact that my students think I look beautiful when I have my hair pulled back, even if it's only because I woke up 20 minutes before I had to leave for work.

Interesting randomness in the past two days:

- My students telling me I had hills on my chest and asking me if I was pregnant up there. Then, I had to endure countless pokes. I guess kids here aren't used to boobs.... and I guess maybe I should avoid tight fitting shirts unless I want to have permanent finger indentations in that area.

-Fire drills in the schools here (well, actually I really only know about my school) involves real smoke. It's quite interesting...

- Two of my boy students kissed today. The entire class watched as they got closer and closer and then finally kissed. The class then smiled and continued doing their work. I like how that type of thing really doesn't matter here. If only that were everywhere...

- The cost of Pantene Pro-V is crazy... as well as good body lotion... and a darn loofah. I couldn't find hairspray. Big towels are also expensive. I eventually found one for 7,800 won and was happy. I guess that's actually really not that expensive, but I somehow spent close to $40 USD at E-mart.


I'm trying not to choose favorites.

I've officially picked the Korean kid I'm taking as my own when I leave (ok, obviously I'm joking, for parents and whoever else may read this). But seriously, he's one of my favorites. I'm trying hard not to pick favorites, but it's so hard when some of the students make teaching so diffcult.

Could you blame me for choosing him though? Of course he's adorable as can be (although if that was what it was based off of would be difficult, because most of them are super cute), but he's also such a sweetie.

For example, during our "activity day" yesterday, a firewoman came to speak to the students. Of course she was speaking Korean, so I just sat there and tried to make out what she was saying from the slide show she brought. All the students and Korean teachers started laughing at something she said. My student did that thing where you look at someone to laugh with them and realized I had no idea what she said. He started explaining to me what was so funny and has done that for me at least three more times the past two days when something funny was said in Korean. Here's this 7-year-old translating Korean to English for his teacher who can only speak one of the languages.

I also have a favorite little girl who sat in my lap for about an hour while we watched a movie that afternoon. The movie was awful, but whatever, it was nice having a break.


Research.

I'm researching getting an e-book reader. If I can find a good one it may be a Christmas present for myself. Write and read... two goals while I'm here and two things I love. Also, getting pictures. I took two on my way home from work today but they were somewhat blurry because it started to rain so I kept walking.

Oh well. Almost bed time for me. I think I'm geting my cold back. Dangit.

"Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about." - Unknown

I'm trying to be a "yes" person, but today I just had to say "no thank you."

I've been pretty open about eating different food while I've been here and have tried pretty much everything when I've gone out to dinner with my coworkers. I even tried something yesterday my supervisor offered me after she warned me it was extremely spicy. I didn't think it was too bad, but one of the girls I work with asked if I was alright because my face was red.

Today did me in. I've been eating lunch at the school because it's free and a lot easier than trying to find somewhere nearby with workers who would understand me. I've also been avoiding the Mcdonalds across the street because I figure that would be much too easy and I don't want to become addicted. (I did however see a scooter thing this morning that was yellow and said McDelivery... I really wanted to take a picture but I needed to get to work. I was excited nonetheless).

Anyway, I went to the kitchen and filled my tray with a bunch of random foods (since I never really know what they are). I went back to my classroom, opened my book (yes, I read during lunchtime) and got my chopsticks ready to take a bite of some brown something on my tray that looked somewhat similiar to something I had eaten the other day. Since I'm now a chopstick professional, I picked some of it up and was bringing it up to my mouth when I noticed some eyes starting back at me. Ew. It was some little fish or something, but I was so grossed out I really couldn't finish eating. I thought I was going to puke. Then, I got the bright idea I should take a picture to show you, but I didn't want to offend anyone else nearby who might have been eating the nasty little creatures.

Needless to say I came home and scarfed a sandwich and some chips. I'm now eating some chocolate chip cookies and couldn't be happier. I might just have to go ahead and give in to Mcdonalds from now on. My appetite has been all messed up anyway since I've been here, I'm not sure if I'll be able to eat random food anymore without carfully examining it. I have found I really like chips. I've never been a big chip person, but I ate pizza chips the other day and bought some barbeque type ones today and love them. Yum.

I'm not evern going to talk about the kids today. If I come home with grey hair, you'll know why. I really think I could like this job if some of the little devils wouldn't act so rude and spoiled. It'll get better.... it'll get better... it'll get better....

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

This quote made me think of how everytime a student sneezes here I really badly want to say "bless you." I said it once and got a crazy look, so I'm thinking the saying doesn't apply here. I feel really bad when I don't say it though. Not that I'm religious in the least bit... but considering it was only a few years ago that I learned I was suppsed to say "bless you" and not "bleshu," I feel like it's mandatory. Oh well. I guess we don't really serve food with eyes at our schools back home either, some things I'll just have to get used to.

"And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?" -- Bill Bryson

Don't forget your floss.

Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought, "I look decent today," then smile and notice you have some big green piece of something in between your two front teeth? Well, that happed to me today and that's the type of day I pretty much had.

Thought the kids would be good, and they were... until the last 10 minutes of class or until the next class. Thought I'd be warm enough with two long sleeve shirts and a medium jacket, and I was... until I left work and froze my butt off. Thought maybe I was rid of my cold, and I was.... until my nose started running again and I started sneezing again. Thought maybe I'd wake up and not feel like I'm missing something important, and I did.... but it's back.

Oh well. I guess we need those types of days every now and then. Basically I'm writing this post to let people thinking about coming here know it's not always going to be easy. Most of the time it's pretty cool though, but there will be days where you have something green stuck in your teeth and nobody tells you.

I am quite surprised none of the munchkins told me about the green thing in my teeth. They are normally so... honest.

Drunkard.

I did, however, witness the first scary man I've seen yet coming home on the subway today. At first I was convinced he was crazy, but the more I thought about it I decided he was probably drunk. Anyway, it was like a movie scene.

I walk close to the door of the subway as it pulls up and see a man heading my way talking. I figure he's (let's just call him Bob, for the sake of the story) talking to the man in front of me, since I obviously have no idea what he's saying. The man in front of me looks at Bob like he's crazy as we all board the subway, and then Bob starts saying what sounds to me like a hex or something. The subway is jam packed, but people start moving away from him and trying to stand as far away as possible. I decided since I'm short and only have two stops to go, standing behing a random slightly taller man near the door was my best bet. Anyway, Bob starts just talking...to no one in particular and then he starts singing while leaning against one of the railings on the seats.

The subway gets to Mok dong, and everyone gets off the subway who is standing except me and Bob. So, luckily, he could tell I had no idea what the hell he was saying so he kept singing and kind of just looked at me. I stood close to the door looking at signs I obviously couldn't read.

Anyway, I was happy that Bob stayed on the subway at my stop. He was pretty creepy... and I'm sticking with drunk. Crazy people don't normally hex then sing, I don't think... I'm pretty sure a crazy hexer would go find someone else who understood him to bother. I could be wrong.

That's my story.

I'm tired. Not much else really going on. It's a busy week at school. Almost Thanksgiving! Not that that really has anything to do with being busy seeing as how Koreans don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Haha.

Eh, I don't have the motivation to look for a quote tonight, just wanted to tell you all about Bob. =) Next time I'll do two to make up for it.

Boys will be boys...

Supposedly, one fun thing about learning English for elementary school boys is that they get to learn all sorts of dirty words and human body parts in a different language. So, instead of paying attention to my delightfully exciting class about using commas to put more than one adjective in a sentence (haha), they decided to look in their vocabulary books and on the translation cell phone thing one of them has and ask me if I knew all sorts of fun words (breasts, genitals, naked, etc. etc. etc.).

Normally this class has three boys and one girl, but luckily the girl was missing today, so I got to be sole witness to the giggling, no holds barred, ridiculousness of some of the words they were asking me about. Honestly, I felt like these boys just saw a porn magazine for the first time with how badly they begged me not to say anything to anyone about the things they were asking.

I tried to be teacher Amanda... but really, some of the things they were asking really were funny. Especially when one of the boys said "sexy" and the other two flipped out like it was the worst word ever. The boy got embarrassed and decided to actually pay attention after that. As tough as I was trying to be by telling them to put their stuff up and pay attention, I think I slightly egged them on by laughing when they asked me if I knew what one of the words was (I'd tell you, but I can't remember right now... there were so many).

U.S.A... South Korea... it doesn't matter where we are, boys will be boys at that age. I hope I have a son one day... otherwise my daughter is never leaving the house when she gets to elementary school with all the pervy boys around. Haha, ok I'm kidding... but seriously...


Anyway...

My Japan trip is cancelled for next weekend. Supposedly the flights are all booked. I'm not too upset... although I'd really like to have my health check be over and be able to get a cell phone. Guess I'll just have to wait.

I have a killer headache, so I'm gonna call it a night.

"Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.”     

-Anne Frank

I guess I should explain myself...

I know that I have close to 52 weeks before I get back to the States... probably even more since I plan on visiting England for a few weeks after leaving here. I know that I want to spend New Years Eve of 2010 with people I care about and hopefully start 2011 off with a good job in a decent state. I know that a part of me didn't want to come here in the first place, that I wished I would find a journalism job in Florida and that things would just work out for once.

I also know now that I am extremely happy to be here, and even if I continue to count down how many days I have left, that won't stop me from enjoying my time and taking advantage of every opportunity to see everything I possibly can while I'm here. I want to be here and spend a year living a life completely different than I'm used to.

I've realized I'm the type of person who would rather be happy doing what I want than living the "perfect" life. My perfect life will be living near the beach with my animals and hopefully someone special one day... and you can laugh if you want, but I guarantee I'll be able to make it happen. My time in Korea is just one stepping stone leading me there.

I really do miss a lot of things from back home... and it's only been two(ish) weeks. It's crazy. Just thinking about my cats made me really sad the other day! But, I've got this. A year will go by pretty fast... maybe...

Second weekend... or third...or something.

I'm pretty sure this has been my third weekend here in Korea, and I basically spent it in my apartment reading and writing. Luckily for me, those are two things I love to do. I ventured out briefly yesterday to get a few things, but I've been a homebody the rest of the weekend. It was nice though, especially since my cold made me lose some sleep last week.

Next weekend I get to go to Japan! Hopefully I'll learn the details of that little exursion tomorrow. It'll be neat to go, but I heard Japan's expensive, and I've kind of gotten used to how cheap everything is here. (Can't you all already see how lovely my savings account will look when I get home?)

I can't believe Thanksgiving is only a couple weeks away! What the heck? It's already been a year since I was in Vegas, that's crazy. No idea what I'm doing yet... if anything.

Oh well. This blog is kind of lame since this weekend consisted of doing pretty much nothing. I need to start taking pictures...

“Once in awhile you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.” -Robert Hunter

Listening to: Scarlet Begonias, Grateful Dead

Rainy Day

Kindness of Strangers

Some lady let me stand under her umbrella this morning while I waited for the bus, since for some unknown reason I didn't feel the need to purchase an umbrella in a country that supposedly has a monsoon season. The lady huddled close to me so to make sure I wouldn't get wet, and I felt really bad that she didn't understand that I was thanking her. I guess she probably knew what I meant in some way... I mean, I figured out that she wanted to share her umbrella with me. But, I've been in a slightly mushy mood lately (I'm unsure why... really, maybe the book I'm reading? I don't know) so I was kind of touched that this random lady was so nice.

After work I decided it was time to invest in an umbrella. So, I went to the Family Mart that's downstairs in my building and bought one. I also bought some kimbap, which is one of my new favorite things to eat because it's easy to recognize--a long round package-- and it's like a surprise every time because I can't read the wrapper to determine what's in it. Yesterday was tuna, pineapple and cucumber.... today was crab, and I didn't really look at anything else because I ate it so fast. Good, nonetheless.

Itaewan

I finally got to visit Itaewan, and like everyone said, there were tons of foreigners. It was slightly more shocking to me to see so many because I've gotten used to not seeing any. I'm usually excited when I do see one because it's like "Where's Waldo?" and it was a bit overwhelming seeing all different kinds of people in the restaurant/bar thing we ate at. I liked it though.

I also liked the large expensive burger I got... and beer (which I actually didn't ask for but he brought anyway, I had no idea what Cass was when everyone else ordered one. Now I do)

Anyway, it was a good time and the girls are really nice. I feel somewhat bad because I had a killer headache before I met up with them, but it started to die down once I got some food so that was good. I even had some lady talk to me while I waited for the bathroom, in English, heh. It's the small things.

I'll definitely be going back for another burger eventually.

Skype...

is wonderful. Free computer to computer calls and chat. I also got a subscription to call landlines and cell phones now so that will be pretty cool. Not sure how the quality will be, but the computer to computer is definitely clear so hopefully it won't be too bad. I'll be testing it out this weekend.

Speaking of the weekend

This month is busy at my school. Open classes, 3-month tests, evaluation cards and me getting used to teaching is a lot to handle. So, this weekend will be dedicated to getting a lot of school stuff done. Especially since I think I get to take my fun little trip to Japan next weekend. Can't wait.....

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Happy Pepero Day

Today is Pepero Day.

What is a Pepero you ask? I've provided images of the gifts I received today (perks of being a teacher). Well, these are the ones I didn't eat yet, anyway.

I realize that from afar, the long heart covered Pepero looks slightly like a really long tampon... but inside the famliar looking wrapper, it's actually a cookie dipped in chocolate like the green box shows.

It took me a while to figure out what the kids were calling the day. It also took me a while to figure out why all the students were eating these cookies, but eventually I put two and two together.

It's like a Valentine's day or Sweetest day, and it's on 11/11 because the four ones look like Pepero sticks. Amusing, huh? I guess Hallmark isn't the only company banking off these type of days.

Little Devils

Before my day even barely began at the school today, two of my students found an eraser that I was holding, and instead of being good and asking for it, they tried to grab it out of my hand. In the process one of them broke my necklace. I was quite upset... it was only the 2nd time I'd worn it and I didn't even get past the morning. All the student could say was, "Oh easy fix."

Those same two students also discovered my belly button ring a little later by poking me in the stomach. Haha.. how do you explain a belly button ring to 6 year olds learning English? I decided to change the subject.

Finally, a different class of mine (that I actually really like) asked me where my wedding ring was, and when I told them I wasn't married they insisted on asking me about the ring. Kids. Oh yeah, this was after one of the girls in my class told me, "teacher your hair is ugly" and imitated that I had pieces sticking out.

Nonetheless, at the end of the day I can't say I really had a bad day.

Gym Membership or Subway Station Stairs...

I really want to join a gym here. That was one of my goals before I even came, yet I don't feel like searching around for one. The girl I replaced showed me hers before she left, but it looked super packed, and I'm more of an empty gym kinda girl.  

However, the stairs to the subway kill me every day. It's not so bad going there in the morning, but on the way home... climbing the, wait... let me count... 4 flights of stairs? is torture. Ok, it's not that  bad, but it is a decent workout every day and it makes me not feel as bad about being a slacker about finding a gym right away. Plus, I walk to and home from the subway which takes a good 5-10 minutes. I'm good.

 My cold is almost gone. Thank goodness that didn't long.

Itaewon tomorrow for dinner. It will be my first time in Itaewon, and I'm excited to go eat some Western food. If I have time I'll post about it, otherwise I'm sure I'll have lots to write over the weekend.

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard