September 1st will be mine and Korea's anniversary. And even though I had planned on only being here for a year, when the end of winter came and the arrival of warm weather, vacation and blue skies arrived, I entered a stage of happiness and re-signed for another year. I now will be under contract until September 1, 2014. (Come winter, I, with out a doubt, will regret this decision)
Coming to Korea was an escape from having to face real life. I consider this a pause, a vacation, a break on the inevitable time where I will have to begin to establish myself in a career, pay grown people taxes, own adult things like houses and cars, give up spending Friday nights in the club and Saturdays attempting to detox before spending Saturday night at the bar. Possibly participating in an adult relationship with long-term commitment, putting somebody other than myself first and giving up spending Sundays unshowered, looking like chewbacca, in my underwear, eating ice cream from the carton, while immersing myself in the cheesiest of romance novels or trashiest of television shows.
Teaching in Korea minus the hours that I sat and thoroughly warmed my computer chair as I flipped through mindless websites with nothing to do but try to pass time without offing myself, I have loved. (In Korea we have 20 vacation days to use in our first year, the school has about 40 vacation days, so those extra 20 days we are required to come in to work, despite NOBODY else being around and "desk warm." ) My co-workers and school have both been nothing but great to me. And because I have a zero crap tolerance, my students who started out as insubordinate creatures, have now become well behaved teacher's pets. I couldn't have asked for a better situation.
Life in Korea itself ..... has been interesting. Here every time I walk the streets, enter a room, get on a bus or subway EVERY SINGLE eye that isn't a foreigner is on me as if I were Hitler, Jesus or Tupac returned from the dead. Unfortunately it isn't because I am outstandingly good-looking or endowed with the body of a goddess, it's because I stand out in every single way possible, my appearance, nationality, ethnicity, height, size and language I speak. Despite me being here for a year, people are still surprised that I can eat with chopsticks, like Kimchi, and can eat "spicy" food (to a person coming from a minute north of Mexico, there is nothing spicy about Korean food). When I read something in Hangul, despite it being the easiest alphabet to learn in the world, I receive a bigger reaction than the death of Michael Jackson. And because I am a westerner, which is also defined as a fast, easy and slut here, I have been petitioned for more sex than 6 prostitutes could handle in a lifetime.
But despite the annoyances that any foreigner living in a different country would encounter, life here has also been amazing. I have met people from all over the world and now have acquaintances that span the globe. Next year when my time comes, I will be leaving with a small amount but wonderful lifetime friends. I have been exposed to the orgasmic flavors of Korean food. I have been able to experience a city with public transportation that puts the rest of the world to shame, a city where being hung over is not just accepted, it is expected. A place where floors heat, where there is quick, cheap and delicious front door delivery service for ANY Korean food you could want. A land of self-service bars, alcohol that cost less than water and "service." (service is what Koreans call free gifts that you receive at stores and restaurants for shopping there, ranges from accessories, side dishes, discounts, extra amounts of whatever you buy ext..) I have a job that allows me to not only travel the world and spend money on whatever my heart desires but also to save for what my dad calls "a rainy day." And on top of all of this, I am able to work on my master degree while maintaining my social life.
While I am more homesick than a pregnant woman in the morning, I have high hopes for the next year. I will be adding more stamps to my passport, finishing a large chunk of my degree, setting myself up for a grown up job in America, gaining more weight by feeding all of my cravings with no guilt, hopefully saving enough for a "rainy year" and preparing myself for that unfortunate thing called adulthood.
#CHEERS2MAKINGITTHISFAR
Showing posts with label Living Abroad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Living Abroad. Show all posts
Friday, August 30, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
A week in the hospital
A series of unfortunate events: I got athlete's foot for the first time EVER that I treated with over the counter medicine, didn't work. The athlete's foot morphed into a bacterial infection. But not any normal bacterial infection, this was one that was unaffected by oral antibiotics so after taking a series of ineffective pills the bacterial infection then evolved into staph infection. But my entire calf, ankle and foot region looking similar to Frankenstein's STILL wasn't enough, the staph infection then infected my blood, which landed me in a Korean hospital for a week.
I am very close with my family so when there is anything wrong with me I go to them for advice right away. Even though I know what to expect from each person already.
My sister will give me a worst case scenario diagnosis.
Me: *cough *cough
My sister: "You have tuberculous, you need to go see a doctor. "
Which then I usually ignore because one way or another, whatever is wrong with me always equals a hospital visit.
My dad blames my sickness on my awesome social life.
Me: "My tonsils are swollen"
Dad: "You need to stop drinking so much."
Me: "I tore a ligament in my knee."
Dad: "You go out too much, you know you do have a home."
Which then I usually ignore because I love my social life.
And my Mom will treat me like I am taking my last few breaths on earth.
Me: "I have a cold."
(3 hours later)
Mom: "I went to the store, I got you Tylenol cold, NyQuil, DayQuil, lemons, tea, some new patches that will help you with congestion, some herbal tea in 7 flavors and 6 different kinds of soups."
Which then I usually eat up because who doesn't like being babied by their mother?
And this time was no different. I told my family that my athlete's foot got infected (I didn't mention it was after a 2 day rave where I spent 32 hours dancing in my tennis shoes) and my foot had swelled 4 times its normal size.
My sister
"You have staph and the infection can get in your blood, you have to go to a hospital. You know they can amputate your foot right?"
My dad
First he gave me sound advice on how to treat my foot. But then of course he told me, "You ought to keep your butt home sometime."
My sister
"You have staph and the infection can get in your blood, you have to go to a hospital. You know they can amputate your foot right?"
My dad
First he gave me sound advice on how to treat my foot. But then of course he told me, "You ought to keep your butt home sometime."
My mom
Shipped me some Tin-actin, new inserts for my shoes and bought me new shoes.
Shipped me some Tin-actin, new inserts for my shoes and bought me new shoes.
But as I did in the past, I ignored the warnings figuring that one way or another it would heal itself. WRONG. 2 days later my foot was not only huge but my ankle and calf also swelled up and I had shooting pains. Still ignoring my sisters advice to go to a hospital instead that Monday I went to a clinic and saw a doctor there. The doctor prescribed me some antibiotics, gave me some cream and sent me on my way. I thought I was in the clear, 3 days of antibiotics and taking it easy at most and then back to normal. No instead I got 3 more days of even worse shooting pains, I was limping around, I had a fever and my foot and ankle swelled up MORE.
But I still didn't think it was hospital worthy. I continued to teach, ignoring my families advice along with the pleas from my co-teachers to allow them to take me to the hospital. The was no way I was going. And then Friday came along. I woke up to an email from my mom. It was a link to a website about staph infections. First listing the symptoms, swelling, pain, redness and fever... I had them all. Then showing what could happen, blood infection, skin burns, bone infection and potentially death. Not exactly something one wants to read before breakfast.
It was then I decided that I should probably go to the hospital. I went to work first and I taught all of my classes and had lunch, I was trying to prolong making this trip but my co-teachers realized what I was doing, called me a cab and sent me on my way.
There are not many things I fear. But number one on the list are hospitals. I hate hospitals, they terrify me. They mere thought of them gives me the chills. At the ripe age of 24, before this visit, I had never gone to the hospital with out my older sister or Mom in tow, I am that reluctant to go and I am that afraid of them. After being dropped off at the hospital I sat outside for about 20 minutes, Google searching home cures for staph. No luck. So I went in. After checking in I had to wait, the doctor was at lunch. I can't ever control my emotions when I am in a hospital so while I was sitting there my palms started to sweat and I was unable to sit still. I started a conversation with my sister. The conversation was going fine until she said, "you're probably going to have to stay a few days."
First tears started running down my face. It was like a dam had broken in my eye sockets. I couldn't stop the tears from coming. Then I started to have a panic attack. I couldn't catch my breath, my thoughts were scattered and I was shaking. I put my head between my knees trying to get myself together, it was ridiculous, I hadn't even stepped into the Doctor's office or received a real diagnosis and I was already a mess. There I was, a tall black person with big curly hair sitting in the middle of a Korean hospital as if I already didn't stand out enough now I then started to cry and breathe as if I had just run for my life, needless to say EVERYBODY was staring at me. I couldn't even be embarrassed, I was too worried about just being there, who cared what people thought about me. It took a few minutes but I finally pulled myself together just in time to be called into see the doctor.
The doctor visit was short. I sat down he looked at my foot and in broken English told me he was going to give me antibiotics. I then told showed him my previous prescription. After he looked over it he told me he was admitting me. I was confused, I didn't quite understand him because of his accent.
Me: "Excuse me? You're whating me?
Dr: "Admitting you."
Me: " Admitting what to me?"
Dr: "Here. You must stay. 1 week at least."
I finally understood and it made me hysterical. I started laughing first, I put my head in my hands and sat there and laughed and laughed. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. My sister's worst case scenario actually came true and my Dad was right, my social life was the reason why I was here. I finally realized that the poor Doctor was sitting there watching me lose it probably reconsidering to send me to a psych ward. I gathered myself together and he stent me on my way to check in. Before going to my room I had to go through a series of tests. I had to get an X-ray, blood test and urine test all located in different departments around the hospital. I wandered around like a lost puppy for a while trying to figure out where I needed to go. My brain was mush, any common sense I had was lost. Finally an older Korean woman (an aujumma) noticed my struggled and helped me out. She took my paper figured out where I needed to be and then walked me to each department by hand and waited while I was tested before sending me off the the 8th floor, my home for the next week.
My room had 8 beds including my own and my roommates were my seniors by 40 years minimum. I was told to wait for my doctor so he could go over my actual diagnosis. I sat on my bed waiting, feeling sorry for myself, I was thinking that it was going to be the longest and most boring week of my life. As I sat and moped one of my new roommates walked over and handed me a plate full of snacks and then begin inspecting my body. I had no idea what she was doing, at first I just assumed she were checking if I were real like most other Koreans do and then I realized that she was just trying to figure out what landed me, a spring chicken, in this coup with old hens.
The doctor came in and you would have thought that he was giving a public speech, everybody gathered around to see what the foreigner had. The Doctor explained that I had a staph infection and they found it in my blood.
Doctor: "You'll be here at least a week."
Me: "Why so long?"
Doctor: "Because this is very dangerous, you can die."
You would think that telling somebody that who just had a hysteria attack in your office BEFORE receiving a diagnosis would be a bad idea but I didn't freak out. At that same time he was telling me what was wrong, I had one aujumma massaging my back and another practically spoon feeding me Korean goodies. My usual fear was replaced by comfort from these strangers.
During my stay I had awesome roommates and hospital staff. My friends and co teachers were around to keep me sane. My Mom decided that me being in a Korean hospital was a good reason to add me on Facebook and along with my sister chatted with me everyday. I was able to catch up on some reading(again thanks to my sister and her kindle account), indulge on as much white rice as I wanted and blame all weight gain on the situation, as well as plan my next 3 vacations.
While my stay wasn't bad, my fear of hospitals is still not cured and I am more than happy to be back to my everyday life.
#CHEERS2NEVERGOINGBACK
But I still didn't think it was hospital worthy. I continued to teach, ignoring my families advice along with the pleas from my co-teachers to allow them to take me to the hospital. The was no way I was going. And then Friday came along. I woke up to an email from my mom. It was a link to a website about staph infections. First listing the symptoms, swelling, pain, redness and fever... I had them all. Then showing what could happen, blood infection, skin burns, bone infection and potentially death. Not exactly something one wants to read before breakfast.
It was then I decided that I should probably go to the hospital. I went to work first and I taught all of my classes and had lunch, I was trying to prolong making this trip but my co-teachers realized what I was doing, called me a cab and sent me on my way.
There are not many things I fear. But number one on the list are hospitals. I hate hospitals, they terrify me. They mere thought of them gives me the chills. At the ripe age of 24, before this visit, I had never gone to the hospital with out my older sister or Mom in tow, I am that reluctant to go and I am that afraid of them. After being dropped off at the hospital I sat outside for about 20 minutes, Google searching home cures for staph. No luck. So I went in. After checking in I had to wait, the doctor was at lunch. I can't ever control my emotions when I am in a hospital so while I was sitting there my palms started to sweat and I was unable to sit still. I started a conversation with my sister. The conversation was going fine until she said, "you're probably going to have to stay a few days."
First tears started running down my face. It was like a dam had broken in my eye sockets. I couldn't stop the tears from coming. Then I started to have a panic attack. I couldn't catch my breath, my thoughts were scattered and I was shaking. I put my head between my knees trying to get myself together, it was ridiculous, I hadn't even stepped into the Doctor's office or received a real diagnosis and I was already a mess. There I was, a tall black person with big curly hair sitting in the middle of a Korean hospital as if I already didn't stand out enough now I then started to cry and breathe as if I had just run for my life, needless to say EVERYBODY was staring at me. I couldn't even be embarrassed, I was too worried about just being there, who cared what people thought about me. It took a few minutes but I finally pulled myself together just in time to be called into see the doctor.
The doctor visit was short. I sat down he looked at my foot and in broken English told me he was going to give me antibiotics. I then told showed him my previous prescription. After he looked over it he told me he was admitting me. I was confused, I didn't quite understand him because of his accent.
Me: "Excuse me? You're whating me?
Dr: "Admitting you."
Me: " Admitting what to me?"
Dr: "Here. You must stay. 1 week at least."
I finally understood and it made me hysterical. I started laughing first, I put my head in my hands and sat there and laughed and laughed. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. My sister's worst case scenario actually came true and my Dad was right, my social life was the reason why I was here. I finally realized that the poor Doctor was sitting there watching me lose it probably reconsidering to send me to a psych ward. I gathered myself together and he stent me on my way to check in. Before going to my room I had to go through a series of tests. I had to get an X-ray, blood test and urine test all located in different departments around the hospital. I wandered around like a lost puppy for a while trying to figure out where I needed to go. My brain was mush, any common sense I had was lost. Finally an older Korean woman (an aujumma) noticed my struggled and helped me out. She took my paper figured out where I needed to be and then walked me to each department by hand and waited while I was tested before sending me off the the 8th floor, my home for the next week.
My room had 8 beds including my own and my roommates were my seniors by 40 years minimum. I was told to wait for my doctor so he could go over my actual diagnosis. I sat on my bed waiting, feeling sorry for myself, I was thinking that it was going to be the longest and most boring week of my life. As I sat and moped one of my new roommates walked over and handed me a plate full of snacks and then begin inspecting my body. I had no idea what she was doing, at first I just assumed she were checking if I were real like most other Koreans do and then I realized that she was just trying to figure out what landed me, a spring chicken, in this coup with old hens.
The doctor came in and you would have thought that he was giving a public speech, everybody gathered around to see what the foreigner had. The Doctor explained that I had a staph infection and they found it in my blood.
Doctor: "You'll be here at least a week."
Me: "Why so long?"
Doctor: "Because this is very dangerous, you can die."
You would think that telling somebody that who just had a hysteria attack in your office BEFORE receiving a diagnosis would be a bad idea but I didn't freak out. At that same time he was telling me what was wrong, I had one aujumma massaging my back and another practically spoon feeding me Korean goodies. My usual fear was replaced by comfort from these strangers.
During my stay I had awesome roommates and hospital staff. My friends and co teachers were around to keep me sane. My Mom decided that me being in a Korean hospital was a good reason to add me on Facebook and along with my sister chatted with me everyday. I was able to catch up on some reading(again thanks to my sister and her kindle account), indulge on as much white rice as I wanted and blame all weight gain on the situation, as well as plan my next 3 vacations.
While my stay wasn't bad, my fear of hospitals is still not cured and I am more than happy to be back to my everyday life.
#CHEERS2NEVERGOINGBACK
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
What I miss most about home....
1- Grocery Shopping
-I miss going to the grocery store and shopping with ease. Being able to quickly navigate through isles and pick up exactly what I want and need with out having to consult my dear friend Google Translate every 4 seconds. I miss being able to QUICKLY read signs to find the best deals. I miss produce being CHEAP. The days when I could buy a watermelon with the extra change in my car. The days when apples didn't cost nearly $1.50 EACH. Gone are the days when I could quickly swing by the grocery store and pick up items for my weekly meal prep. I now have to plan a block in my day to grocery shop because it has become an hour and a half scavenger hunt.
2-Sarcasm
-Just doesn't translate. I miss not feeling like a complete a** every time I am sarcastic.
3-Shoe Shopping
-My shoe fetish has been tamed here in Korea. I am more likely to see the Lockness Monster walking down the street on a leash than I am to find a pair of shoes in my size here. I am an average Western size 8.5 (American size) but when I walk into a store and ask if they carry that size you would have thought I asked for the original copy of the Declaration of Independence gift wrapped in sheets of gold. The employees look at me as if they were saying "WHY would we carry that MONSTROUS size? and WHAT kind of beast wears it?"
4-Mexican Food
-There is NO real Mexican food in Korea. At 5 am when I am waiting for the first train to start running, there in NOTHING more in the world that I desire more than a California Burrito. Nothing satisfies an alcohol induced body like a 2,000 calorie burrito that is OOZING with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, french fries and carne asade, especially after you DROWN it in red salsa and lime juice. I dream of the day I am able to stumble into Roberto's on 3rd and molest a burrito in the most unladylike manner surrounded by my dearest friends laughing at the mayhem we caused that night.
5-Sports
-Don't take this the wrong way, sports in Korea (especially baseball) are great. But I miss turning on ESPN after work, watching AND understanding the highlights. I miss the days when sports aired in the evening so after a long day I could glue myself to the couch (with said Mexican food ^) and watch whatever game that was on. Unlike now, watching sports either requires me to stay up all night long or wake up at some ungodly hour (4 am), to go to an over crowded, over priced bar and sit (if I am lucky enough to find a seat) among loud, annoying and drunk fans. And the days that I am one of those loud, annoying and drunk fans, I miss, as mentioned previously, Mexican food.
6- Communication
-This is a broad topic. I miss speaking fast. I miss walking into a store or restaurant and not having to worry about comprehension issues. I miss the independence speaking the home language allows you. If my sink were to break at home I'd have no issue in calling a plumber (my dad) but here in Korea, I called for a plumber and an electrician showed up. I miss ordering delivery on my own and having EXACTLY what I want be exactly what I receive instead of it being a surprise each time. I never know what I am going to get, I may think I ordered chicken but might just receive 3 pizzas and a cola. I miss understanding everything that is going on around me and not going through my everyday life as if I were playing charades, having to communicate with hand gestures and body movements.
and last but definitely not least......
7-Clevage
-I miss cleavage not being considered the work of the devil. When having a bit of cleavage didn't automatically place you in the "she's fast, cheap and gets around" category. When using cleavage to your advantage was something universal to most (those with it) women, widely accepted by all women and beneficial in so many ways. But I ESPECIALLY miss when having cleavage was just something awesome.
#CHEERS2HOME
PS: Korea is amazing and I love living here otherwise.
-I miss going to the grocery store and shopping with ease. Being able to quickly navigate through isles and pick up exactly what I want and need with out having to consult my dear friend Google Translate every 4 seconds. I miss being able to QUICKLY read signs to find the best deals. I miss produce being CHEAP. The days when I could buy a watermelon with the extra change in my car. The days when apples didn't cost nearly $1.50 EACH. Gone are the days when I could quickly swing by the grocery store and pick up items for my weekly meal prep. I now have to plan a block in my day to grocery shop because it has become an hour and a half scavenger hunt.
2-Sarcasm
-Just doesn't translate. I miss not feeling like a complete a** every time I am sarcastic.
3-Shoe Shopping
-My shoe fetish has been tamed here in Korea. I am more likely to see the Lockness Monster walking down the street on a leash than I am to find a pair of shoes in my size here. I am an average Western size 8.5 (American size) but when I walk into a store and ask if they carry that size you would have thought I asked for the original copy of the Declaration of Independence gift wrapped in sheets of gold. The employees look at me as if they were saying "WHY would we carry that MONSTROUS size? and WHAT kind of beast wears it?"
4-Mexican Food
-There is NO real Mexican food in Korea. At 5 am when I am waiting for the first train to start running, there in NOTHING more in the world that I desire more than a California Burrito. Nothing satisfies an alcohol induced body like a 2,000 calorie burrito that is OOZING with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, french fries and carne asade, especially after you DROWN it in red salsa and lime juice. I dream of the day I am able to stumble into Roberto's on 3rd and molest a burrito in the most unladylike manner surrounded by my dearest friends laughing at the mayhem we caused that night.
5-Sports
-Don't take this the wrong way, sports in Korea (especially baseball) are great. But I miss turning on ESPN after work, watching AND understanding the highlights. I miss the days when sports aired in the evening so after a long day I could glue myself to the couch (with said Mexican food ^) and watch whatever game that was on. Unlike now, watching sports either requires me to stay up all night long or wake up at some ungodly hour (4 am), to go to an over crowded, over priced bar and sit (if I am lucky enough to find a seat) among loud, annoying and drunk fans. And the days that I am one of those loud, annoying and drunk fans, I miss, as mentioned previously, Mexican food.
6- Communication
-This is a broad topic. I miss speaking fast. I miss walking into a store or restaurant and not having to worry about comprehension issues. I miss the independence speaking the home language allows you. If my sink were to break at home I'd have no issue in calling a plumber (my dad) but here in Korea, I called for a plumber and an electrician showed up. I miss ordering delivery on my own and having EXACTLY what I want be exactly what I receive instead of it being a surprise each time. I never know what I am going to get, I may think I ordered chicken but might just receive 3 pizzas and a cola. I miss understanding everything that is going on around me and not going through my everyday life as if I were playing charades, having to communicate with hand gestures and body movements.
and last but definitely not least......
7-Clevage
-I miss cleavage not being considered the work of the devil. When having a bit of cleavage didn't automatically place you in the "she's fast, cheap and gets around" category. When using cleavage to your advantage was something universal to most (those with it) women, widely accepted by all women and beneficial in so many ways. But I ESPECIALLY miss when having cleavage was just something awesome.
#CHEERS2HOME
PS: Korea is amazing and I love living here otherwise.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Hiking *unedited
Korea is a very mountainous country. A quick google search informed me that in Seoul alone there are 37 mountains. I quickly discovered that the "mountains" back home that I am familiar with are more like small piles of dirt. Korea has real mountains and this weekend I hiked up one.
A friend of mine who is really into hiking invited me to join him on a group hike that was being held for his friends' birthday. He always has spoken so highly of hiking and how much he enjoys it. He, like me, is very into fitness and staying in shape and spoke highly of the good work out that hiking was. The only "hiking" that I have done is Cowel's Mountain back home in San Diego. Cowel's Mountain is enjoyable but it is very much like San Diego's weather, nice, easy to deal with but in no way does it prepare you for the rest of the world.
My friend and I arrived at Dobongsan (the mountain that we hiked) before the rest of the group, so we had enough time to sit and grab coffee. It was an absolute beautiful day and we were able to sit outside on the coffee shop's patio. The coffee shop was located at the base of the mountain near the entrance so sitting outside allowed us to watch all the people that were going on one of the various trails the mountain had to offer. Before this hike I had a preconceived belief that hiking was a walk in the park because of the type of people in Korea who were "hikers." Sitting at the coffee shop just reaffirmed that belief. About 5 percent (rough estimate) of the people that I watched head up to the mountain were people who looked remotely in shape. The other 95 percent were old men and women that were wearing florescent hiking jackets with matching pants, carrying hiking sticks, wearing visors or big floppy hats, strapped in big burley boots and fit with a "hikers" backpack. There were also small children, a few men wearing work blazers and young females who looked as if the only physical activity that they ever engaged in was getting out of bed every morning (and that could possibly be a struggle).
I sat there drinking my coffee silently mocking this whole notion of hiking as a work out. Walking up hill, I doubted that I was even going to sweat, anything a 60 year old 5'0ft woman could do, I could do backwards with one leg. I am in very good shape, I work out everyday alternating between various activities, weight training, circut training and cardio. I was so confident in how easy this was going to be I texted my trainer to possibly see if he could keep the gym open so I would be able to get a REAL work out in after the hike.
And then half way up the hill I felt my lungs about to collapse.
If I were hiking at the pace of the average hiker I would have been okay. But I am too competitive. If Mattle were to make a Barbie inspired by me it would be Competition Barbie, and she would be wearing yoga pants, two sports bras, obnoxiously bright colored sneakers and her accessory would have been a trophy that loudly displays #1.
I was raised in a family with too many kids to count, that there is a natural breeding habitat for competition. Sibling rivalry was and constantly is INTENSE. The street that I grew up on only had boys who were my age, me being the only girl I was constantly proving myself to be "just as good" (or in my case better) than the boys. Who could run the fastest, eat the fastest, win the most games, fight the best, who was the strongest, smartest anything that we did growing up we managed to turn into some type of competition. I have also played sports for as long as I could remember. All I know is competition. I am the girl at the gym who races the people next to her on the treadmill. I was the girl who TRIED to bust the curve in my classes. My friends and I compared test grades, SAT scores and constantly tried to one up another. I have NEVER let my nephew or niece (younger by 8 and 12 years respectively) beat me in anything, they had to EARN their wins. I am that competitive.
In our group of hikers we had a gentleman who was from Colorado and had been hiking all of his life. He was also about 6'1 with long powerful legs. That man floated up the mountain. He looked as if he were walking on clouds. He kept a stead pace of about 100 MPH and avoided the mobs of Koreans with ease. I accepted the fact that there was no way in hell I was going to be able to beat him. This was my first time hiking and he was native to it but I am too competitive to settle, if I wasn't going to beat him I was at least going to keep up with him. Each 1 of his steps was 3 of my own. I matched his graceful steps and composure with thunderous stomps and ragged breathing. But I kept up. We were moving rather quickly so a few times we had to stop and wait for the rest of the group. I cherished these breaks. They gave me time to collect myself and slow my pounding heart down a bit. I was dripping in sweat, I looked like death and I felt as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the world to satisfy my need at that moment. It was one of the hardest workouts that I have had in a very long time.
The last leg of the hike kicked my butt, literally. My entire legs, hamstrings, quads, calf muscles and knee tendons were on fire. Each time I had to lift my leg to take a step up felt like I were lifting tree stumps. By this time all the boys were a bit of the way ahead of me. Mr. Colorado kept telling me to imagine like I was a Mountain Goat. I felt more like a remote control car that was running out of battery power, my pace was steadily declining and the end just seemed to NEVER come. When I was near failure, ready to take my own break and sit down a bit, my friend shouted down from up top. "Come on Kala keep going." The older Koreans behind me heard him say my name and were witnessing my slow death first had. They them chimed in and gave me words of encouragement. "Okay Kala!" "Fighting." I couldn't quit then. My pride was on the line. My competitive flame was relit and I dragged myself up that hill. In my mind I told myself that I was NOT going to let a mountain defeat me and if it did I had better die trying to conquer it.
And I conquered it. I, along with the rest of the group, made it to the top. The physical challenge alone was enough of an accomplishment for me. I loved the feeling of success. I had pushed myself beyond my limits and overcame the challenge at hand. But in addition to the feeling of accomplishment at the top of the mountain was an AMAZING view. We were over-looking the city and could see for miles upon end. Spring has just started so the mountain was covered in fresh blooms and green leaves. It was absolutely breath taking.
At the top of the mountain we rested, we ate, some napped, we chatted and soaked up the scenery before we had to begin our decent down. Going down is much easier than going up in the aspect of physical pain because there isn't any. But again, I was keeping pace with Mr. Colorado and his friend who was a graceful as a ballet dance. She pranced down this mountain like a deer would across a grass felid. I am not poised or graceful so I instead bulldozed my way down the mountain. I felt like a child taking it's first steps, with each on I wasn't sure if I were going to remain upright or go tumbling down like a boulder. But I made it, was able to some how manage to keep myself upright the entire time and avoid injuring myself.
By the end of the hike, my quads were unsteady, my lungs were raw, my knees were sore and my feet were cursing me. The Hour and 30 minute trek home was a battle to keep myself awake to avoid taking a nap on the stranger's shoulder next to me. And by the time I got home I wanted nothing more than to lie in my bed and watch trashy TV.
The hike has made me make two promises to myself.
1-I will never again talk trash about the hiking gear wearers in Korea.
2-I will remain physically active for the REST of my life. The old Korean hikers are proof that there are NO EXCUSES.
#CHEERS2CHALLENGES
Here are a few pictures from the hike.
A friend of mine who is really into hiking invited me to join him on a group hike that was being held for his friends' birthday. He always has spoken so highly of hiking and how much he enjoys it. He, like me, is very into fitness and staying in shape and spoke highly of the good work out that hiking was. The only "hiking" that I have done is Cowel's Mountain back home in San Diego. Cowel's Mountain is enjoyable but it is very much like San Diego's weather, nice, easy to deal with but in no way does it prepare you for the rest of the world.
My friend and I arrived at Dobongsan (the mountain that we hiked) before the rest of the group, so we had enough time to sit and grab coffee. It was an absolute beautiful day and we were able to sit outside on the coffee shop's patio. The coffee shop was located at the base of the mountain near the entrance so sitting outside allowed us to watch all the people that were going on one of the various trails the mountain had to offer. Before this hike I had a preconceived belief that hiking was a walk in the park because of the type of people in Korea who were "hikers." Sitting at the coffee shop just reaffirmed that belief. About 5 percent (rough estimate) of the people that I watched head up to the mountain were people who looked remotely in shape. The other 95 percent were old men and women that were wearing florescent hiking jackets with matching pants, carrying hiking sticks, wearing visors or big floppy hats, strapped in big burley boots and fit with a "hikers" backpack. There were also small children, a few men wearing work blazers and young females who looked as if the only physical activity that they ever engaged in was getting out of bed every morning (and that could possibly be a struggle).
I sat there drinking my coffee silently mocking this whole notion of hiking as a work out. Walking up hill, I doubted that I was even going to sweat, anything a 60 year old 5'0ft woman could do, I could do backwards with one leg. I am in very good shape, I work out everyday alternating between various activities, weight training, circut training and cardio. I was so confident in how easy this was going to be I texted my trainer to possibly see if he could keep the gym open so I would be able to get a REAL work out in after the hike.
And then half way up the hill I felt my lungs about to collapse.
If I were hiking at the pace of the average hiker I would have been okay. But I am too competitive. If Mattle were to make a Barbie inspired by me it would be Competition Barbie, and she would be wearing yoga pants, two sports bras, obnoxiously bright colored sneakers and her accessory would have been a trophy that loudly displays #1.
I was raised in a family with too many kids to count, that there is a natural breeding habitat for competition. Sibling rivalry was and constantly is INTENSE. The street that I grew up on only had boys who were my age, me being the only girl I was constantly proving myself to be "just as good" (or in my case better) than the boys. Who could run the fastest, eat the fastest, win the most games, fight the best, who was the strongest, smartest anything that we did growing up we managed to turn into some type of competition. I have also played sports for as long as I could remember. All I know is competition. I am the girl at the gym who races the people next to her on the treadmill. I was the girl who TRIED to bust the curve in my classes. My friends and I compared test grades, SAT scores and constantly tried to one up another. I have NEVER let my nephew or niece (younger by 8 and 12 years respectively) beat me in anything, they had to EARN their wins. I am that competitive.
In our group of hikers we had a gentleman who was from Colorado and had been hiking all of his life. He was also about 6'1 with long powerful legs. That man floated up the mountain. He looked as if he were walking on clouds. He kept a stead pace of about 100 MPH and avoided the mobs of Koreans with ease. I accepted the fact that there was no way in hell I was going to be able to beat him. This was my first time hiking and he was native to it but I am too competitive to settle, if I wasn't going to beat him I was at least going to keep up with him. Each 1 of his steps was 3 of my own. I matched his graceful steps and composure with thunderous stomps and ragged breathing. But I kept up. We were moving rather quickly so a few times we had to stop and wait for the rest of the group. I cherished these breaks. They gave me time to collect myself and slow my pounding heart down a bit. I was dripping in sweat, I looked like death and I felt as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the world to satisfy my need at that moment. It was one of the hardest workouts that I have had in a very long time.
The last leg of the hike kicked my butt, literally. My entire legs, hamstrings, quads, calf muscles and knee tendons were on fire. Each time I had to lift my leg to take a step up felt like I were lifting tree stumps. By this time all the boys were a bit of the way ahead of me. Mr. Colorado kept telling me to imagine like I was a Mountain Goat. I felt more like a remote control car that was running out of battery power, my pace was steadily declining and the end just seemed to NEVER come. When I was near failure, ready to take my own break and sit down a bit, my friend shouted down from up top. "Come on Kala keep going." The older Koreans behind me heard him say my name and were witnessing my slow death first had. They them chimed in and gave me words of encouragement. "Okay Kala!" "Fighting." I couldn't quit then. My pride was on the line. My competitive flame was relit and I dragged myself up that hill. In my mind I told myself that I was NOT going to let a mountain defeat me and if it did I had better die trying to conquer it.
And I conquered it. I, along with the rest of the group, made it to the top. The physical challenge alone was enough of an accomplishment for me. I loved the feeling of success. I had pushed myself beyond my limits and overcame the challenge at hand. But in addition to the feeling of accomplishment at the top of the mountain was an AMAZING view. We were over-looking the city and could see for miles upon end. Spring has just started so the mountain was covered in fresh blooms and green leaves. It was absolutely breath taking.
At the top of the mountain we rested, we ate, some napped, we chatted and soaked up the scenery before we had to begin our decent down. Going down is much easier than going up in the aspect of physical pain because there isn't any. But again, I was keeping pace with Mr. Colorado and his friend who was a graceful as a ballet dance. She pranced down this mountain like a deer would across a grass felid. I am not poised or graceful so I instead bulldozed my way down the mountain. I felt like a child taking it's first steps, with each on I wasn't sure if I were going to remain upright or go tumbling down like a boulder. But I made it, was able to some how manage to keep myself upright the entire time and avoid injuring myself.
By the end of the hike, my quads were unsteady, my lungs were raw, my knees were sore and my feet were cursing me. The Hour and 30 minute trek home was a battle to keep myself awake to avoid taking a nap on the stranger's shoulder next to me. And by the time I got home I wanted nothing more than to lie in my bed and watch trashy TV.
The hike has made me make two promises to myself.
1-I will never again talk trash about the hiking gear wearers in Korea.
2-I will remain physically active for the REST of my life. The old Korean hikers are proof that there are NO EXCUSES.
#CHEERS2CHALLENGES
Here are a few pictures from the hike.
*unedited
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Nuclear War and the lack of panic
My everyday routine consists of having a cup (or two depending on the extent of my soju consumption the night before) of coffee while reading news. It is a habit that I picked up from my father. I am the furthest possible thing from a morning person. The coffee and news is my way of slowly allowing myself to become a decent being. Anything and everything before those cups of coffee are subject to my wrath. This routine has kept me up to date with current events, I wouldn't consider myself the know all of anything but I do hold a basic understanding of what is going on around the world.
All major news lately has been focused on North Korea and their numerous bomb threats.
"South Korea is in a panic." "Foreigners are being told to evacuate." "Seoul's defenses are up." "North Korea will attack." "North Korea has won."
As I sat this morning and skimmed through these headlines I couldn't help but laugh...hysterically. South Korea in a panic? That wasn't an entire lie, Psy did just release a new single and held a concert yesterday which was a BIG deal. 50,000 people attended and dressed in white while the concert was streamed live via YouTube and Naver (Yes I did watch). But in a panic over North Korea threats? If I didn't consciously keep up with what's going on in the world, I would have no idea that South Korea was even receiving threats of any kind.
Life here has not changed a single bit. Despite the numerous and exaggerated articles and stories that have flooded Western media with talks of hysteria, bomb threats, evacuations ext. the biggest worries of my days continue to be surviving being eaten alive by my 2nd grade monsters. I'd take a threat from those little monsters more seriously than I do from Kim Jong Un. My lack of fear and worry come from my surroundings. Discussing North Korea with my co-workers has only happened once and it was because I initiated it. In the midst of talking about the latest fashion I asked, "Should I be worried about North Korea." And the answer that I received was, "No." with our conversation immediately steering back to us complaining about the lack of a spring time which has inhibited us from showing off our new spring outfit purchases.
With all of this media hype that the Koreas are getting I do look forward to the days when I am older and this is in the youths textbooks. I can't help but wonder how I will describe living in Korea during the tensions. Will I take the truth route and inform them that life in Korea wasn't altered what so ever or will I be like my father and exaggerate (he had to walk 5 miles to and from school in knee high snow up hill BOTH ways) to be that "cool" aunt who stared at fear directly in its face?
In the past few weeks I have receive messages from people that I haven't spoken to in years asking me what it was like living in a war zone, what I was doing to stay safe, what I was doing to prepare myself for the war and if I was going to evacuate. Everybody's worries are sweet and touching. We are about as worried that a war will break out as people in Hawaii are about having a snowstorm. So my dear friends and family, don't worry all is well here. Now let's just hope I am not eating my words in the future. :)
#CHEERS2ALLBEINGOKAY
All major news lately has been focused on North Korea and their numerous bomb threats.
"South Korea is in a panic." "Foreigners are being told to evacuate." "Seoul's defenses are up." "North Korea will attack." "North Korea has won."
As I sat this morning and skimmed through these headlines I couldn't help but laugh...hysterically. South Korea in a panic? That wasn't an entire lie, Psy did just release a new single and held a concert yesterday which was a BIG deal. 50,000 people attended and dressed in white while the concert was streamed live via YouTube and Naver (Yes I did watch). But in a panic over North Korea threats? If I didn't consciously keep up with what's going on in the world, I would have no idea that South Korea was even receiving threats of any kind.
Life here has not changed a single bit. Despite the numerous and exaggerated articles and stories that have flooded Western media with talks of hysteria, bomb threats, evacuations ext. the biggest worries of my days continue to be surviving being eaten alive by my 2nd grade monsters. I'd take a threat from those little monsters more seriously than I do from Kim Jong Un. My lack of fear and worry come from my surroundings. Discussing North Korea with my co-workers has only happened once and it was because I initiated it. In the midst of talking about the latest fashion I asked, "Should I be worried about North Korea." And the answer that I received was, "No." with our conversation immediately steering back to us complaining about the lack of a spring time which has inhibited us from showing off our new spring outfit purchases.
With all of this media hype that the Koreas are getting I do look forward to the days when I am older and this is in the youths textbooks. I can't help but wonder how I will describe living in Korea during the tensions. Will I take the truth route and inform them that life in Korea wasn't altered what so ever or will I be like my father and exaggerate (he had to walk 5 miles to and from school in knee high snow up hill BOTH ways) to be that "cool" aunt who stared at fear directly in its face?
In the past few weeks I have receive messages from people that I haven't spoken to in years asking me what it was like living in a war zone, what I was doing to stay safe, what I was doing to prepare myself for the war and if I was going to evacuate. Everybody's worries are sweet and touching. We are about as worried that a war will break out as people in Hawaii are about having a snowstorm. So my dear friends and family, don't worry all is well here. Now let's just hope I am not eating my words in the future. :)
#CHEERS2ALLBEINGOKAY
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Being picked up by a 6th grader....
Today in class I heard the greatest pick up line ever. Too bad the person who used it on me is a CHILD (and my student) because it might of worked if he were 10 years older.
Student: "Teacher are you a gay?"
Me: "No"
Student: "Then why do you wear that?" (I wear a rainbow bracelet)
Me: "Because I like it."
Student: "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Me: "No"
Student: "Why?"
Me: "Because I haven't met the right guy."
Student: "But you meet me."
I love my 6th graders.
#CHEERS2MYSTUDENTSMAKINGMYEVERYDAYS
Student: "Teacher are you a gay?"
Me: "No"
Student: "Then why do you wear that?" (I wear a rainbow bracelet)
Me: "Because I like it."
Student: "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Me: "No"
Student: "Why?"
Me: "Because I haven't met the right guy."
Student: "But you meet me."
I love my 6th graders.
#CHEERS2MYSTUDENTSMAKINGMYEVERYDAYS
Monday, March 25, 2013
Meeting my match.
Somebody at my school hates me. I don't know who or what I did to them but they accomplished the sweetest revenge.
Fridays are known to be everybody's favorite day, everybody but me. I have come to loathe Fridays. I look forwards to Friday's arrival about as much as I look forward to having teeth pulled. I'd actually prefer to have my teeth pulled EVERY week than have to come into work on Fridays. Fridays are the closest thing to hell on earth for me. On Fridays I teach 2nd grade.
My first semester of teaching I only dealt with 5th and 6th graders. At the start of the new school year because we now have fewer 5th and 6th grade students I was given 2 back to back 2nd grade classes on Fridays. My first week with them wasn't a complete failure. I managed to teach them all at least one new English word, kept them entertained, alive but most importantly my sanity remained intact. Last week was the polar opposite.
My first class went well. The kids participated, they learned, they had fun but most importantly they behaved.
I was on a teacher's high after the first class. I managed to handle 30 2nd grade students who speak little to no English on my own. It was a feeling of triumph. I felt as if I were invincible and I could conquer ANYTHING. But then came my second class.
The kids filed into the classroom and began to take their seats. The two boys who I had already come to know as trouble makers, immediately began an MMA match over a seat. By the time I was able to navigate myself through all of the munchkins one of the boys had the other in a choke hold and refused to let go. After physically prying them apart I sat them both in the front of the class so I could keep an eye on them.
Because of the EXTREMELY low level of English that these students speak, all of my lessons have many quick and simple activities that teach the students easy concepts. That particular day I was teaching the students animals names and the sounds that they make.
The first part of the class the students were supposed to look at photos of the different animals, hear the sounds that them make and imitate them. My first 2nd grade classes LOVED this, we barked, we mooed, we snorted and had a great time. My second 2nd grade class started off well, the first few animals all of the students participated in repeating the English name and making the animal sounds. But then came the horse. They horse was the beginning of my crash and burn.
I showed the class a photo of a horse, played the sound that horses make and then did a gallop for the students. The gallop was a bad idea. My gallop resembled the gallop that PSY does in the Gangnam Style dance and the students quickly picked up on this.
"WHOAAAAAA Kala Teacher GANGNAM STYLE!"
Me galloping apparently translated into me allowing one of the trouble makers to get out of his seat and gallop around the classroom. It was cute, the first time. I was able to get him to return to his seat and I continued my lesson. The next animal was a dog. We chanted dog, we barked like dogs and we were getting ready to move on to the next animal but the other trouble maker decided that he wasn't finished with dog yet. He climbed on top of his chair and barked. and barked. and kept barking. High pitched barks, low pitched barks, long barks and short barks. This student mimicked them all. His classmates found him absolutely hilarious which just egged him to continue barking more and more. It took a while but I finally was able to coax him to take a seat. As soon as I turned my back to take my place back at the head of my classroom to resume my lesson I heard another bark. I turned around and the same student was sitting looking at at me trying to stifle his laughter. I gave him "the look" and continued my way back to the front of my classroom but before I could even take 2 steps, he barked again. This time when I turned around he was standing up and he continued to bark. The other students began to laugh. I told him to stop but instead he got louder. And the rest of the students began to laugh louder. I repeated myself and he got even louder. I was beginning to lose my patience. I finally sternly told to sit down and he did. But rather sit in his chair, he instead got on all fours on the floor began to wag his "tail" and continue to bark like a dog at me.
This set the class off. It was as if there was a competition, who would be the student that makes Kala Teacher lose it. My previous galloping student got up and began to gallop around the classroom again. The other boys began to pretend that they we different types of animals as well. The usually sweet and innocent girls were either laughing hysterically at the "animals" or fighting to keep the "animals" away from them. It was a zoo and just kept escalating. Kids began to climb on desks, throw chairs, fight, do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that your ARE NOT supposed to do in a classroom.
I began to lose it and start hollering at the students which did NOTHING. I don't know what I expected, they don't even speak English why would they respond? I ended up dragging the two trouble making boys into the teacher's office and begging my Co-Teacher to call their homeroom teacher to get the monsters away from me. I had completely lost it.I couldn't handle it. I had finally met my match.
The homeroom teacher arrived quickly, I pointed her to the back office where the two boys were sitting and focused on getting the rest of the class in order. A couple of minutes later she exited my office with the boys, told her class to line up and walked up to me with an apologetic look on her face and hugged me.
After her and her students left, I calmly walked to the bathroom, locked myself in the last stall and began to cry. My cry progressed into me balling out my eyes complete with me sobbing. I couldn't stop the tears. I couldn't control myself. For 30 minutes I sat there, wallowed in self pity, drown myself in tears and cursed the day those things were born. By the time I could finally pull myself together enough to exit the bathroom my face was swollen from crying and I had missed lunch.
I got back to my office to find that my Co-Teachers were genuinely concerned. One had brought me some pumpkin up from the lunch room and the other hovered around repeatedly asking me if I were okay. I deeply appreciated the gestures but I felt ridiculous. I let 8 year old children make me cry harder than I have ever cried in my life. No death, no ex-boyfriend, no injury, nothing had ever caused me to cry as hard as I had cried.
As I sit here finishing up my Monday I have developed a new appreciation for my 6th graders. Never again will I complain about their occasional smart mouths or laziness. Never again will I feel sorry for myself in having to deal with them going through puberty and developing attitudes. I now shall welcome all of that with open arms because at least they will never bark at me.
#CHEERS2FINDINGADOCTORWHOWILLTIEMYTUBESNOW
Fridays are known to be everybody's favorite day, everybody but me. I have come to loathe Fridays. I look forwards to Friday's arrival about as much as I look forward to having teeth pulled. I'd actually prefer to have my teeth pulled EVERY week than have to come into work on Fridays. Fridays are the closest thing to hell on earth for me. On Fridays I teach 2nd grade.
My first semester of teaching I only dealt with 5th and 6th graders. At the start of the new school year because we now have fewer 5th and 6th grade students I was given 2 back to back 2nd grade classes on Fridays. My first week with them wasn't a complete failure. I managed to teach them all at least one new English word, kept them entertained, alive but most importantly my sanity remained intact. Last week was the polar opposite.
My first class went well. The kids participated, they learned, they had fun but most importantly they behaved.
I was on a teacher's high after the first class. I managed to handle 30 2nd grade students who speak little to no English on my own. It was a feeling of triumph. I felt as if I were invincible and I could conquer ANYTHING. But then came my second class.
The kids filed into the classroom and began to take their seats. The two boys who I had already come to know as trouble makers, immediately began an MMA match over a seat. By the time I was able to navigate myself through all of the munchkins one of the boys had the other in a choke hold and refused to let go. After physically prying them apart I sat them both in the front of the class so I could keep an eye on them.
Because of the EXTREMELY low level of English that these students speak, all of my lessons have many quick and simple activities that teach the students easy concepts. That particular day I was teaching the students animals names and the sounds that they make.
The first part of the class the students were supposed to look at photos of the different animals, hear the sounds that them make and imitate them. My first 2nd grade classes LOVED this, we barked, we mooed, we snorted and had a great time. My second 2nd grade class started off well, the first few animals all of the students participated in repeating the English name and making the animal sounds. But then came the horse. They horse was the beginning of my crash and burn.
I showed the class a photo of a horse, played the sound that horses make and then did a gallop for the students. The gallop was a bad idea. My gallop resembled the gallop that PSY does in the Gangnam Style dance and the students quickly picked up on this.
"WHOAAAAAA Kala Teacher GANGNAM STYLE!"
Me galloping apparently translated into me allowing one of the trouble makers to get out of his seat and gallop around the classroom. It was cute, the first time. I was able to get him to return to his seat and I continued my lesson. The next animal was a dog. We chanted dog, we barked like dogs and we were getting ready to move on to the next animal but the other trouble maker decided that he wasn't finished with dog yet. He climbed on top of his chair and barked. and barked. and kept barking. High pitched barks, low pitched barks, long barks and short barks. This student mimicked them all. His classmates found him absolutely hilarious which just egged him to continue barking more and more. It took a while but I finally was able to coax him to take a seat. As soon as I turned my back to take my place back at the head of my classroom to resume my lesson I heard another bark. I turned around and the same student was sitting looking at at me trying to stifle his laughter. I gave him "the look" and continued my way back to the front of my classroom but before I could even take 2 steps, he barked again. This time when I turned around he was standing up and he continued to bark. The other students began to laugh. I told him to stop but instead he got louder. And the rest of the students began to laugh louder. I repeated myself and he got even louder. I was beginning to lose my patience. I finally sternly told to sit down and he did. But rather sit in his chair, he instead got on all fours on the floor began to wag his "tail" and continue to bark like a dog at me.
This set the class off. It was as if there was a competition, who would be the student that makes Kala Teacher lose it. My previous galloping student got up and began to gallop around the classroom again. The other boys began to pretend that they we different types of animals as well. The usually sweet and innocent girls were either laughing hysterically at the "animals" or fighting to keep the "animals" away from them. It was a zoo and just kept escalating. Kids began to climb on desks, throw chairs, fight, do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that your ARE NOT supposed to do in a classroom.
I began to lose it and start hollering at the students which did NOTHING. I don't know what I expected, they don't even speak English why would they respond? I ended up dragging the two trouble making boys into the teacher's office and begging my Co-Teacher to call their homeroom teacher to get the monsters away from me. I had completely lost it.I couldn't handle it. I had finally met my match.
The homeroom teacher arrived quickly, I pointed her to the back office where the two boys were sitting and focused on getting the rest of the class in order. A couple of minutes later she exited my office with the boys, told her class to line up and walked up to me with an apologetic look on her face and hugged me.
After her and her students left, I calmly walked to the bathroom, locked myself in the last stall and began to cry. My cry progressed into me balling out my eyes complete with me sobbing. I couldn't stop the tears. I couldn't control myself. For 30 minutes I sat there, wallowed in self pity, drown myself in tears and cursed the day those things were born. By the time I could finally pull myself together enough to exit the bathroom my face was swollen from crying and I had missed lunch.
I got back to my office to find that my Co-Teachers were genuinely concerned. One had brought me some pumpkin up from the lunch room and the other hovered around repeatedly asking me if I were okay. I deeply appreciated the gestures but I felt ridiculous. I let 8 year old children make me cry harder than I have ever cried in my life. No death, no ex-boyfriend, no injury, nothing had ever caused me to cry as hard as I had cried.
As I sit here finishing up my Monday I have developed a new appreciation for my 6th graders. Never again will I complain about their occasional smart mouths or laziness. Never again will I feel sorry for myself in having to deal with them going through puberty and developing attitudes. I now shall welcome all of that with open arms because at least they will never bark at me.
#CHEERS2FINDINGADOCTORWHOWILLTIEMYTUBESNOW
Special thanks to Toni, Dee, Sariska and my Sister for all being there for me at my most desperate time of need.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
English names
School is officially back in session. Today marks the beginning of the new school year. My angelic 5th graders have now become my demon 6th graders and I have a new batch of wide eyed, easily impressed and absolutely adorable 5th graders who make me think for 40 minutes that I actually might want children.
This year I am now teaching my 6th grade classes with Mc. Dreamy, my young and extremely attractive office mate who to my benefit sits at the desk right across from me. (NOT only is he dreamy he is also an amazing teacher/disciplinary). Mc. Dreamy came up with the idea to allow the students to choose English names.
When I explained to the children that they could pick their own English names I expected them to take a few minutes to get into the activity, I was wrong. As soon as I finished the sentence "Today I want you to pick your own English names." One student's hand shot in the air. If this were me 6 weeks ago, I would have gracefully skipped calling on this particular student, but 6 weeks makes you forget.
Me: "Yes?"
Student: "Call me ZOMBIE!"
I had passed around a paper for the kids to write their new names besides their Korean ones after my beloved Zombie announced his new name the students began to fight over the paper. Actually, the boys began to fight over the paper. It was as if he opened the flood gates for their imaginations. I had to pass out a second sheet just for the girls because they refused to partake in that madness. I sat on my desk answering spelling questions that were being thrown my way, helping some students choose respectable names, denying inappropriate requests from others but mainly avoiding getting myself caught up in the middle of the insanity. After 15 minutes I called order.
Boys: "insert Korean phrase for more time here"
Me: "Say it in English."
Token boy who speaks English (later named Captain Korea): "Can we have more time please Kala Teacher?"
I am a sucker for English, especially when it is polite, so I easily gave in and gave them 10 minutes longer.
I collected the attendance sheets and quickly scanned them over realizing that like so many other English teachers before me, I had made the mistake of letting the students choose WHATEVER name they would like. But here I was, I couldn't go back on my word.
The girls names were mainly normal. Most of them asked for my help and are currently named after people I know, my high school basketball teammates, my old coworkers and of course Beyonce, Madonna and Hilary (Clinton). The few girls that strayed on the wild side chose names such as, Hello Kitty, Tom and Queen Coffee.
Joe was a popular name among my students and I had to have a Rock, Paper, Scissors battle to see who would get to claim it in 4 of my 5 classes. I didn't understand why out of ALL names in the English language they would choose Joe. I dated a Joe (his English name) who also was an ESL student (learned English as his second language) and never asked but I always wondered why he didn't choose to be Michael, Sean even Joseph, something that was more than just plain ol' Joe. So I asked my students why.
Me: "Why do you all like Joe?"
Joe (the Rock, Paper, Scissors champ): "Because I can spell it."
I don't know what I expected the answer to be but I now completely understand why Joe is popular among the ESL crowd.
After I eliminated all of the duplicate names I began role call. I was going to hold a typical role call where the teacher reads the name and the student raises their hand but I didn't have faith in myself not to laugh hysterically after seeing some of the names I would have had to read. So instead I had the students go around the class and stand up and introduce themselves with their new names. I wasn't sure if I thought that this would make it easier for me to keep myself together, but it didn't.
The students in this particular class were extremely animated when introducing themselves, in character if they were named after somebody particular or loud if they were extremely proud of their invented name.
The first three boys stood up together and stated their names,
Student1: "I am Monday."
Student2: "I am Tuesday."
Student3: "I am Friday!"
I understood Friday, who doesn't like Fridays? But Monday and Tuesday...weird kids.
Student: "I am Sorry."
Me: "Why? What did you do? You don't have a name?"
Student: "MY NAME IS SORRY."
Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Sorry......
Student: "I am SOJU!"
Me: "No."
Student: "I am WHISKEY."
Me: "No again."
Student:"I am CIGARETTE"
Me: "No, you are Candy"
Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sorry and Candy (who is a male)....
One table of boys decided to go with an Avengers theme, Loki, Captain Korea, Hulk and Spiderman. I told him Spiderman wasn't an Avenger but according to him I "don't know anything cool." I decided not to argue but I do plan on showing the Avengers midway through the semester to prove Spiderman wrong.
Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sorry, Candy, Loki, Captain Korea, Hulk and Spiderman.....
One of my girls decided to be Sugar Lips. I couldn't figure out an appropriate way to tell her why she shouldn't want to be called that name so I just let her keep it. I am sure I am the only person who speaks English well enough at my school to understand the potential inappropriateness of it anyways.
Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sorry, Candy, Loki, Captain Korea, Hulk, Spiderman and Sugar Lips.....
But having a 12 year old Korean boy slam his hands on the desk, stand up and proudly state "My name (dramatic pause) is Ba-raCk Insane Obam-A (He meant Barack Hussein Obama) was the icing on the cake to my already hilarious day.
So in this particular class I now have Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sorry, Candy, Loki, Captain Korea, Hulk, Spiderman, Sugar Lips and Barack Hussein Obama.
With in all of my classes it just so happens every single one of the guys names that I have dated was selected, I just happen to unintentionally included their names on my list of example name the kids could use. Coincidentally my 3 most favorite girls are named Toni, Dianne and Krystle (the names of my three best friends). I have one boy named Potter and his best friend is named Harry. Edward, Bella and Jacob are all in the same class. Kobe Bryant and Lebron James are deskmates and they sit across from Hurricane and BadBear.
My students names range from Sally to Larva, John to Flower Fairy, needless to say this is going to be an entertaining school year.
#CHEERS2CREATIVITY
(I stand corrected. According to my nerdy neighbor Spiderman IS an Avenger in the comic books)
This year I am now teaching my 6th grade classes with Mc. Dreamy, my young and extremely attractive office mate who to my benefit sits at the desk right across from me. (NOT only is he dreamy he is also an amazing teacher/disciplinary). Mc. Dreamy came up with the idea to allow the students to choose English names.
When I explained to the children that they could pick their own English names I expected them to take a few minutes to get into the activity, I was wrong. As soon as I finished the sentence "Today I want you to pick your own English names." One student's hand shot in the air. If this were me 6 weeks ago, I would have gracefully skipped calling on this particular student, but 6 weeks makes you forget.
Me: "Yes?"
Student: "Call me ZOMBIE!"
I had passed around a paper for the kids to write their new names besides their Korean ones after my beloved Zombie announced his new name the students began to fight over the paper. Actually, the boys began to fight over the paper. It was as if he opened the flood gates for their imaginations. I had to pass out a second sheet just for the girls because they refused to partake in that madness. I sat on my desk answering spelling questions that were being thrown my way, helping some students choose respectable names, denying inappropriate requests from others but mainly avoiding getting myself caught up in the middle of the insanity. After 15 minutes I called order.
Boys: "insert Korean phrase for more time here"
Me: "Say it in English."
Token boy who speaks English (later named Captain Korea): "Can we have more time please Kala Teacher?"
I am a sucker for English, especially when it is polite, so I easily gave in and gave them 10 minutes longer.
I collected the attendance sheets and quickly scanned them over realizing that like so many other English teachers before me, I had made the mistake of letting the students choose WHATEVER name they would like. But here I was, I couldn't go back on my word.
The girls names were mainly normal. Most of them asked for my help and are currently named after people I know, my high school basketball teammates, my old coworkers and of course Beyonce, Madonna and Hilary (Clinton). The few girls that strayed on the wild side chose names such as, Hello Kitty, Tom and Queen Coffee.
Joe was a popular name among my students and I had to have a Rock, Paper, Scissors battle to see who would get to claim it in 4 of my 5 classes. I didn't understand why out of ALL names in the English language they would choose Joe. I dated a Joe (his English name) who also was an ESL student (learned English as his second language) and never asked but I always wondered why he didn't choose to be Michael, Sean even Joseph, something that was more than just plain ol' Joe. So I asked my students why.
Me: "Why do you all like Joe?"
Joe (the Rock, Paper, Scissors champ): "Because I can spell it."
I don't know what I expected the answer to be but I now completely understand why Joe is popular among the ESL crowd.
After I eliminated all of the duplicate names I began role call. I was going to hold a typical role call where the teacher reads the name and the student raises their hand but I didn't have faith in myself not to laugh hysterically after seeing some of the names I would have had to read. So instead I had the students go around the class and stand up and introduce themselves with their new names. I wasn't sure if I thought that this would make it easier for me to keep myself together, but it didn't.
The students in this particular class were extremely animated when introducing themselves, in character if they were named after somebody particular or loud if they were extremely proud of their invented name.
The first three boys stood up together and stated their names,
Student1: "I am Monday."
Student2: "I am Tuesday."
Student3: "I am Friday!"
I understood Friday, who doesn't like Fridays? But Monday and Tuesday...weird kids.
Student: "I am Sorry."
Me: "Why? What did you do? You don't have a name?"
Student: "MY NAME IS SORRY."
Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Sorry......
Student: "I am SOJU!"
Me: "No."
Student: "I am WHISKEY."
Me: "No again."
Student:"I am CIGARETTE"
Me: "No, you are Candy"
Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sorry and Candy (who is a male)....
One table of boys decided to go with an Avengers theme, Loki, Captain Korea, Hulk and Spiderman. I told him Spiderman wasn't an Avenger but according to him I "don't know anything cool." I decided not to argue but I do plan on showing the Avengers midway through the semester to prove Spiderman wrong.
Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sorry, Candy, Loki, Captain Korea, Hulk and Spiderman.....
One of my girls decided to be Sugar Lips. I couldn't figure out an appropriate way to tell her why she shouldn't want to be called that name so I just let her keep it. I am sure I am the only person who speaks English well enough at my school to understand the potential inappropriateness of it anyways.
Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sorry, Candy, Loki, Captain Korea, Hulk, Spiderman and Sugar Lips.....
But having a 12 year old Korean boy slam his hands on the desk, stand up and proudly state "My name (dramatic pause) is Ba-raCk Insane Obam-A (He meant Barack Hussein Obama) was the icing on the cake to my already hilarious day.
So in this particular class I now have Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sorry, Candy, Loki, Captain Korea, Hulk, Spiderman, Sugar Lips and Barack Hussein Obama.
With in all of my classes it just so happens every single one of the guys names that I have dated was selected, I just happen to unintentionally included their names on my list of example name the kids could use. Coincidentally my 3 most favorite girls are named Toni, Dianne and Krystle (the names of my three best friends). I have one boy named Potter and his best friend is named Harry. Edward, Bella and Jacob are all in the same class. Kobe Bryant and Lebron James are deskmates and they sit across from Hurricane and BadBear.
My students names range from Sally to Larva, John to Flower Fairy, needless to say this is going to be an entertaining school year.
#CHEERS2CREATIVITY
(I stand corrected. According to my nerdy neighbor Spiderman IS an Avenger in the comic books)
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Alone but not lonely
**I wrote this before I left for vacation but in my excitement I forgot to post it.
In T-minus 3 days I will be on a plane and on my way to spending 10 sun filled, stress free days on Boracay Island in the Philippines. After the hellish winter I have been dealing with here in Korea, there are not enough words in the English language to describe just how happy I am for this. NEVER in my life have I been this pale. I might actually for the first time ever share a similar skin tone to my blond hair, blue eyed, white (Polish/Danish American, it really doesn't get much whiter than this) Mother.
Korea's winters wouldn't be so bad if there were sunlight, but instead every single day is cloud covered and murky. Okay actually Korean winters would still be really bad even with sunlight but at least I wouldn't look sickly. I've always liked my freckles but now that my skin tone is near translucent, having dark brown spots on my face just makes me look like I have contracted scabies or a mutated form of chicken pox.
I have forgotten what sunlight feels like. I have forgotten what it is like to be hot. I have forgotten what a sunburn feels like. I have forgotten what it is like to not be able to wear certain types of clothes because of tan lines. I have forgotten what it is like to WANT to be outside. So for the 10 days that I am in the Philippines I have plans on soaking up as much vitamin D as humanly possible. I do not care how uncomfortably hot I get, I do not care if I sunburn, I do not care if I get a sunglass tan or suffer from a heat stroke, I will force myself to sit and enjoy the heat every single moment of heat because when I return to the ROK I will once again be drown in bitter cold and gloom.
Of course I have been bragging about my future trip on all social media that I actively participate in which then leads to the question, "Who are you going with?"
I am going alone.
This answer usually receives one of two reactions. The first, pity and the second, worry. Those who pity me never worry about me and those who worry about me do not pity me. I understand the worry. People worry that something might happen to me because I am alone and people who are alone are more vulnerable. This reaction doesn't bother me, I understand it. But the people who pity me, annoy me with their looks of "ohhh this poor lonely loser. She doesn't have friends and therefore must go lie on the beach in beautiful weather, clad in just a bikini, losing herself in great novels, great music and consuming amazing food ALL ALONE."
.......still waiting for the point when I see the reason I need another person. I have friends, plenty of friends, all over the world, all ages, all colors, all demographics..there is no shortage in that area of my life. Yes, having my bestfriends next to me would add to the FABULOUSNESS time that I am going to have on my trip, but them not being there is taking nothing away.
To those who have never done it, try traveling alone. It allows you more of an opportunity to meet other people and make new friends. You are able to experience where you are on a different plane. Alone you have to fend for yourself, figure out how to get around, communicate, what to do and where to go on your own. It also gives you much needed time to yourself and allows you to do what YOU want to do on your OWN time schedule. I personally believe everybody should try it at least once. BUT Of course do not forget to be safe.
As for that I will be on a 10+ day hiatus. Stay tuned for my adventures in Boracay :).
#CHEERS2VACATION!
In T-minus 3 days I will be on a plane and on my way to spending 10 sun filled, stress free days on Boracay Island in the Philippines. After the hellish winter I have been dealing with here in Korea, there are not enough words in the English language to describe just how happy I am for this. NEVER in my life have I been this pale. I might actually for the first time ever share a similar skin tone to my blond hair, blue eyed, white (Polish/Danish American, it really doesn't get much whiter than this) Mother.
Korea's winters wouldn't be so bad if there were sunlight, but instead every single day is cloud covered and murky. Okay actually Korean winters would still be really bad even with sunlight but at least I wouldn't look sickly. I've always liked my freckles but now that my skin tone is near translucent, having dark brown spots on my face just makes me look like I have contracted scabies or a mutated form of chicken pox.
I have forgotten what sunlight feels like. I have forgotten what it is like to be hot. I have forgotten what a sunburn feels like. I have forgotten what it is like to not be able to wear certain types of clothes because of tan lines. I have forgotten what it is like to WANT to be outside. So for the 10 days that I am in the Philippines I have plans on soaking up as much vitamin D as humanly possible. I do not care how uncomfortably hot I get, I do not care if I sunburn, I do not care if I get a sunglass tan or suffer from a heat stroke, I will force myself to sit and enjoy the heat every single moment of heat because when I return to the ROK I will once again be drown in bitter cold and gloom.
Of course I have been bragging about my future trip on all social media that I actively participate in which then leads to the question, "Who are you going with?"
I am going alone.
This answer usually receives one of two reactions. The first, pity and the second, worry. Those who pity me never worry about me and those who worry about me do not pity me. I understand the worry. People worry that something might happen to me because I am alone and people who are alone are more vulnerable. This reaction doesn't bother me, I understand it. But the people who pity me, annoy me with their looks of "ohhh this poor lonely loser. She doesn't have friends and therefore must go lie on the beach in beautiful weather, clad in just a bikini, losing herself in great novels, great music and consuming amazing food ALL ALONE."
.......still waiting for the point when I see the reason I need another person. I have friends, plenty of friends, all over the world, all ages, all colors, all demographics..there is no shortage in that area of my life. Yes, having my bestfriends next to me would add to the FABULOUSNESS time that I am going to have on my trip, but them not being there is taking nothing away.
To those who have never done it, try traveling alone. It allows you more of an opportunity to meet other people and make new friends. You are able to experience where you are on a different plane. Alone you have to fend for yourself, figure out how to get around, communicate, what to do and where to go on your own. It also gives you much needed time to yourself and allows you to do what YOU want to do on your OWN time schedule. I personally believe everybody should try it at least once. BUT Of course do not forget to be safe.
As for that I will be on a 10+ day hiatus. Stay tuned for my adventures in Boracay :).
#CHEERS2VACATION!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
School Lunches, Slurping and Permission to Taint Society *unedited
Winter vacation officially ends Friday and the students are back in school for the closing ceremonies starting next Monday so today a vast majority of the teachers were back in school preparing for the next two weeks. It was also the first day I had seen another soul in the school besides the security guard. I wish somebody had warned me.
For the past two weeks because I have been alone on campus and just sitting at my desk for 8 hours, I took that as an okay for me to dress comfortably. Comfortably = sweatpants, spandex pants, t-shirts, sweatshirts, pretty much anything that could be considered gym attire. Today I assumed that once again I would be alone in my office, surfing the web, watching Korean dramas, Facebook chatting anybody possible and doing other mindless tasks to help pass the time, so I wore what I would later wear to the gym, black spandex pants and a black under armor long sleeve. Both of which look as if the are PAINTED on my body.
I get to school and begin my routine of web surfing and nonsense when there is a knock at my office door. In walks in one of my coworkers, Mr. Nice Guy. I was very surprised to see him but grateful that I had somebody to chit chat with for a while to help pass the time. He informed me that today the teachers and Principals would be eating lunch together and I was to join. I did not think anything of it at the time and when noon came around, I joined the staff in the short walk to the restaurant.
I arrive at the place first with Mr. Nice Guy. He is the sole coworker who was confident enough in his English to speak to me, let alone sit with me. We take a seat (on the floor) in the middle of 1 of 3 tables. As the rest of the other teachers file in they all sit eventually leaving us alone at our table. I wasn't surprised or offended, being stuck sitting next to me probably sucks as much as it does when I am stuck seated between people who do not speak English. Last to walk in was the Principal, Vice Principal and two other male staff members. They all took seats at my table.
The restaurant has the floor heating on so I quickly get to the point where my coat was making me uncomfortably warm. I get up, take off my coat and hang it on the coat rack. As I am making my way back to my seat I then realize what I was wearing but it was too late, I could feel the eyes on me. If my coworkers didn't know I was blessed with a chest and plenty of butt, they do now. I sat down and attempted to avoid making eye contact with the men at my table, hoping that nobody would say anything. Of course that didn't happen.
Mr. Nice Guy: "You go to the gym?"
Me: "Yes, everyday"
*he translates to everybody else*
MaleS (in unison) : "AHHHHHHH"
I sit there with the worst posture I could manage, my shoulders are thrown as far forward as they could possible go in an attempt to push my boobs back. Until till today, my school attire has always been body minimizing. Of course I can't hide all of what I got, but I have been able to tone it down quite a bit. The food arrives and the men go around teaching me the names of the different side dishes and what I should eat what with ( they made a sincere effort to include me in the conversation the entire meal). The main dish is a beef soup. Everybody begins to eat.
All staff members: "SLURP, SLURP, SLURPPPPPP."
Me:
Slurping is a common practice in Korea. I have heard it enhances the flavor of soups. I have also heard when people slurp it means what they are eating is delicious. I do not slurp. I wasn't allowed to slurp growing up, I was raised on very strict Western table manners. No slurping, no chewing with my mouth open, no smacking, no slouching. You name it, my Mom enforced it. My first few months in Korea were especially hard when I ate out. I was irked by the mannerism, it was something I wasn't used to. Now I am not bothered at all. I am used to the slurping and smacking, they no longer bother me, I just continue on eating in silence. Today my silence drew unwanted attention my way.
Principal: "You don't like?"
Me: "I love it, it is very good."
I continue to eat, quietly.
Mr. Nice Guy: "Do you want something different?"
Me: "No I like this."
I continue to eat and realize that they are all watching me with worried looks on their faces. The soup really was good and I did really like it, but I don't think they believed me. The looks were making me uncomfortable. The normal conversation came to a halt, I was being eyed from every corner and I was getting nervous. Remembering all of the things I learned about slurping told me to do it. But I wasn't sure how, I was afraid I'd slurp too hard and choke or slurp too softly and have it dribble down my chin. Eventually the silence and the looks got under my skin so tried to slurp. My first attempt did nothing, I didn't even make a noise. So I tried again this time sucking a bit harder.
It was quiet but I had did it, I slurped.
I only did it to see if it would make them stop worrying about me and it did. Once I did it, they seemed to relax, so I did it again and again, eventually perfecting my slurp. Soon after they stopped the looks and the normal conversation picked up. Slurping, didn't enhance the flavor of my soup but it did apparently communicate that my soup was delicious.
Towards the end of the meal the men started to speak about me in Korean. I knew they were talking about me because I could pick out a few words they were saying and they were openly looking at me as they spoke. I sat there waiting for the translation, hoping there would be one. Finally there was a break in the conversation and I was served a very nice compliment.
Mr. Nice Guy: "We think you will find a husband very very quickly. You have wonderful face, you good teacher, very very kind and good S-line(S-Line means I am curvy). Remember, Korean men are good men so find Korean man. Please invite us to your wedding party."
I was a tad uncomfortable hearing from my bosses that I had a nice body but I was extremely flattered they felt me good enough to find and marry a good Korean man and taint the "pure" Korean society.
#CHEERS2SLURPINGANDTAINTING
For the past two weeks because I have been alone on campus and just sitting at my desk for 8 hours, I took that as an okay for me to dress comfortably. Comfortably = sweatpants, spandex pants, t-shirts, sweatshirts, pretty much anything that could be considered gym attire. Today I assumed that once again I would be alone in my office, surfing the web, watching Korean dramas, Facebook chatting anybody possible and doing other mindless tasks to help pass the time, so I wore what I would later wear to the gym, black spandex pants and a black under armor long sleeve. Both of which look as if the are PAINTED on my body.
I get to school and begin my routine of web surfing and nonsense when there is a knock at my office door. In walks in one of my coworkers, Mr. Nice Guy. I was very surprised to see him but grateful that I had somebody to chit chat with for a while to help pass the time. He informed me that today the teachers and Principals would be eating lunch together and I was to join. I did not think anything of it at the time and when noon came around, I joined the staff in the short walk to the restaurant.
I arrive at the place first with Mr. Nice Guy. He is the sole coworker who was confident enough in his English to speak to me, let alone sit with me. We take a seat (on the floor) in the middle of 1 of 3 tables. As the rest of the other teachers file in they all sit eventually leaving us alone at our table. I wasn't surprised or offended, being stuck sitting next to me probably sucks as much as it does when I am stuck seated between people who do not speak English. Last to walk in was the Principal, Vice Principal and two other male staff members. They all took seats at my table.
The restaurant has the floor heating on so I quickly get to the point where my coat was making me uncomfortably warm. I get up, take off my coat and hang it on the coat rack. As I am making my way back to my seat I then realize what I was wearing but it was too late, I could feel the eyes on me. If my coworkers didn't know I was blessed with a chest and plenty of butt, they do now. I sat down and attempted to avoid making eye contact with the men at my table, hoping that nobody would say anything. Of course that didn't happen.
Mr. Nice Guy: "You go to the gym?"
Me: "Yes, everyday"
*he translates to everybody else*
MaleS (in unison) : "AHHHHHHH"
I sit there with the worst posture I could manage, my shoulders are thrown as far forward as they could possible go in an attempt to push my boobs back. Until till today, my school attire has always been body minimizing. Of course I can't hide all of what I got, but I have been able to tone it down quite a bit. The food arrives and the men go around teaching me the names of the different side dishes and what I should eat what with ( they made a sincere effort to include me in the conversation the entire meal). The main dish is a beef soup. Everybody begins to eat.
All staff members: "SLURP, SLURP, SLURPPPPPP."
Me:
Slurping is a common practice in Korea. I have heard it enhances the flavor of soups. I have also heard when people slurp it means what they are eating is delicious. I do not slurp. I wasn't allowed to slurp growing up, I was raised on very strict Western table manners. No slurping, no chewing with my mouth open, no smacking, no slouching. You name it, my Mom enforced it. My first few months in Korea were especially hard when I ate out. I was irked by the mannerism, it was something I wasn't used to. Now I am not bothered at all. I am used to the slurping and smacking, they no longer bother me, I just continue on eating in silence. Today my silence drew unwanted attention my way.
Principal: "You don't like?"
Me: "I love it, it is very good."
I continue to eat, quietly.
Mr. Nice Guy: "Do you want something different?"
Me: "No I like this."
I continue to eat and realize that they are all watching me with worried looks on their faces. The soup really was good and I did really like it, but I don't think they believed me. The looks were making me uncomfortable. The normal conversation came to a halt, I was being eyed from every corner and I was getting nervous. Remembering all of the things I learned about slurping told me to do it. But I wasn't sure how, I was afraid I'd slurp too hard and choke or slurp too softly and have it dribble down my chin. Eventually the silence and the looks got under my skin so tried to slurp. My first attempt did nothing, I didn't even make a noise. So I tried again this time sucking a bit harder.
It was quiet but I had did it, I slurped.
I only did it to see if it would make them stop worrying about me and it did. Once I did it, they seemed to relax, so I did it again and again, eventually perfecting my slurp. Soon after they stopped the looks and the normal conversation picked up. Slurping, didn't enhance the flavor of my soup but it did apparently communicate that my soup was delicious.
Towards the end of the meal the men started to speak about me in Korean. I knew they were talking about me because I could pick out a few words they were saying and they were openly looking at me as they spoke. I sat there waiting for the translation, hoping there would be one. Finally there was a break in the conversation and I was served a very nice compliment.
Mr. Nice Guy: "We think you will find a husband very very quickly. You have wonderful face, you good teacher, very very kind and good S-line(S-Line means I am curvy). Remember, Korean men are good men so find Korean man. Please invite us to your wedding party."
I was a tad uncomfortable hearing from my bosses that I had a nice body but I was extremely flattered they felt me good enough to find and marry a good Korean man and taint the "pure" Korean society.
#CHEERS2SLURPINGANDTAINTING
Friday, November 30, 2012
What the h**l did I just eat?
Yesterday was a day I will never forget, ever.
It started out as any other normal night, 2 friends of mine (and Englishman and a South African) and I decided to grab dinner and drinks. Somehow or another one of the two gentlemen brilliantly (this is complete sarcasm) suggests that we "try something new." We headed in a direction that we have not ventured before to discover a new restaurant and came upon 2 neighboring places. One was a typical Galbi place that only had one table seated and the other was another meat (unknown to us at the time what kind of meat) restaurant that was quite busy. My English friend made the ultimate decision that it was in our best interest to eat at the more popular place, his first bad decision of the night and my South African friend and I willingly agreed, our first bad decision of the night.
Walking through the restaurant all of the tables are eating and enjoying the same unidentified dish. None of us have any idea what it is that they are eating but this doesn't stop us from allowing ourselves to be seated. The EM (Englishman) and myself were left to decide what to order, the SA (South African) left briefly and before he left he said (this is not a direct quote) "Go ahead and order, just no seafood" his second bad decision.
I read Hangeul (Korean) at about the same rate a Kindergartner does, as I am attempting to read the menu on the wall a lady comes over to take our order. She starts speaking in Korean, I assume giving us dinner choices. I was in over my head, I did not catch a single word she was saying so I let the EM deal with it, my second bad decision. The entire time she was speaking when she would pause the EM was reply with "ye" (means yes in Korean) so I assumed he knew what the heck was going on. Finally our order was complete and she left.
Me: "Did you understand all of that?"
EM: "Nope"
Me: "Do you know what you just ordered?"
EM: "Nope, but I am positive it wasn't seafood."
The SA returned and our adventure began.
First came the Soju and beer which were the only two things that would be served to us that we were familiar with. Two completely fine and consumable things.
Then, came the side dishes, our first clue that we had made a terrible dinner choice. The normal side of lettuce, dipping sauces and kimchi were served but then there was this plate of ....stuff. On the plate two different things were served. The first was what looked like snake skin. It was silvery/grey scaly strips of something. Next to it is what I would guess as some type of raw organ, maybe a heart or a chopped up liver. We all looked at each other asking one another if we knew what either of them were, none of us did, but we decided to give it a go anyways. When in Korea, why not does as the Koreans do right? I myself could only work up the guts to try the snake skin look alike, it was chewy and tasted what I imagine earth tastes like. The SA tasted the raw organ and I would bet quite a lot of money that he won't be eating it again.(Later he decided that it tasted better than our main course)
Our main dish came out and was set upon the grill in the center of the table. On it was onions, sweet potato slices and this unidentified meat. We all sat there trying to figure out what exactly it was as it cooked between us. The lady working would come by and flip our meat since none of us made the attempt to even touch it. Finally she gave us the go to eat it. All of us gathered the courage to try it.
Imagine eating the chewiest bubble gum, stuffed with chunky mashed potatoes. That was its consistency.
The flavor... I can't describe. It was, strange for a lack of a better word. For me, at first it was tasteless but as I continued to chew this thick, bland, moldy flavor coated my taste buds.. No matter the size of the gulp of soju/beer I couldn't get it out of my mouth.
We all were pretty horrified. We were fine with eating the onions and the sweet potatoes but after eating one piece of the meat like concoction each and realizing that it was disgusting we still had an ENTIRE grill filled with it.
The SA gf happens to be Korean and she informed us that it tasted good when crispy. This gave us some hope. We all used our chopsticks to hold down pieces of this meat to get them as crispy as possible with out burning them and then gave it another go...
Still disgusting.
We all picked at the vegetables a bit longer before deciding that we needed to finish our drinks and find real food. We left our table, grill still hardly touched and went to cash out. Food in Korea is very inexpensive, well most food. For our dinner if I had to guess the price BEFORE we paid, I would have guessed around 32,000 KRW, boy was i wrong. I handed over my debit card to pay (dinner wasn't on me they paid me their parts) and went to sign... 49,000 KRW. 49,000 KRW for some unidentifiable meat that we didn't even eat. We basically just paid to eat onions.. the most expensive damn onions I have ever eaten.
We eventually figured out that we had dined at an entrails restaurant. I told my COTeachers and other Co Workers about my experience and they all laughed hysterically at our surprise and reaction. I suppose this is something us westerners just do not understand.
#CHEERS2TRYINGEVERYTHINGONCE
Photos of the Meal:
I don't ever use people's names.. that is why I distinguished my two friends by their countries of origin.
It started out as any other normal night, 2 friends of mine (and Englishman and a South African) and I decided to grab dinner and drinks. Somehow or another one of the two gentlemen brilliantly (this is complete sarcasm) suggests that we "try something new." We headed in a direction that we have not ventured before to discover a new restaurant and came upon 2 neighboring places. One was a typical Galbi place that only had one table seated and the other was another meat (unknown to us at the time what kind of meat) restaurant that was quite busy. My English friend made the ultimate decision that it was in our best interest to eat at the more popular place, his first bad decision of the night and my South African friend and I willingly agreed, our first bad decision of the night.
Walking through the restaurant all of the tables are eating and enjoying the same unidentified dish. None of us have any idea what it is that they are eating but this doesn't stop us from allowing ourselves to be seated. The EM (Englishman) and myself were left to decide what to order, the SA (South African) left briefly and before he left he said (this is not a direct quote) "Go ahead and order, just no seafood" his second bad decision.
I read Hangeul (Korean) at about the same rate a Kindergartner does, as I am attempting to read the menu on the wall a lady comes over to take our order. She starts speaking in Korean, I assume giving us dinner choices. I was in over my head, I did not catch a single word she was saying so I let the EM deal with it, my second bad decision. The entire time she was speaking when she would pause the EM was reply with "ye" (means yes in Korean) so I assumed he knew what the heck was going on. Finally our order was complete and she left.
Me: "Did you understand all of that?"
EM: "Nope"
Me: "Do you know what you just ordered?"
EM: "Nope, but I am positive it wasn't seafood."
The SA returned and our adventure began.
First came the Soju and beer which were the only two things that would be served to us that we were familiar with. Two completely fine and consumable things.
Then, came the side dishes, our first clue that we had made a terrible dinner choice. The normal side of lettuce, dipping sauces and kimchi were served but then there was this plate of ....stuff. On the plate two different things were served. The first was what looked like snake skin. It was silvery/grey scaly strips of something. Next to it is what I would guess as some type of raw organ, maybe a heart or a chopped up liver. We all looked at each other asking one another if we knew what either of them were, none of us did, but we decided to give it a go anyways. When in Korea, why not does as the Koreans do right? I myself could only work up the guts to try the snake skin look alike, it was chewy and tasted what I imagine earth tastes like. The SA tasted the raw organ and I would bet quite a lot of money that he won't be eating it again.(Later he decided that it tasted better than our main course)
Our main dish came out and was set upon the grill in the center of the table. On it was onions, sweet potato slices and this unidentified meat. We all sat there trying to figure out what exactly it was as it cooked between us. The lady working would come by and flip our meat since none of us made the attempt to even touch it. Finally she gave us the go to eat it. All of us gathered the courage to try it.
Imagine eating the chewiest bubble gum, stuffed with chunky mashed potatoes. That was its consistency.
The flavor... I can't describe. It was, strange for a lack of a better word. For me, at first it was tasteless but as I continued to chew this thick, bland, moldy flavor coated my taste buds.. No matter the size of the gulp of soju/beer I couldn't get it out of my mouth.
We all were pretty horrified. We were fine with eating the onions and the sweet potatoes but after eating one piece of the meat like concoction each and realizing that it was disgusting we still had an ENTIRE grill filled with it.
The SA gf happens to be Korean and she informed us that it tasted good when crispy. This gave us some hope. We all used our chopsticks to hold down pieces of this meat to get them as crispy as possible with out burning them and then gave it another go...
Still disgusting.
We all picked at the vegetables a bit longer before deciding that we needed to finish our drinks and find real food. We left our table, grill still hardly touched and went to cash out. Food in Korea is very inexpensive, well most food. For our dinner if I had to guess the price BEFORE we paid, I would have guessed around 32,000 KRW, boy was i wrong. I handed over my debit card to pay (dinner wasn't on me they paid me their parts) and went to sign... 49,000 KRW. 49,000 KRW for some unidentifiable meat that we didn't even eat. We basically just paid to eat onions.. the most expensive damn onions I have ever eaten.
We eventually figured out that we had dined at an entrails restaurant. I told my COTeachers and other Co Workers about my experience and they all laughed hysterically at our surprise and reaction. I suppose this is something us westerners just do not understand.
#CHEERS2TRYINGEVERYTHINGONCE
Photos of the Meal:
 |
| Main Course |
 |
| Side Dishes |
I don't ever use people's names.. that is why I distinguished my two friends by their countries of origin.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
loooking for sunshinee!
You always hear that places with sunshine and warm weather breed happier people, I never understood why or how the weather could effect somebody's happiness. I have always believed that happiness is something that is on the inside, you're happy because you decide to be happy and whether or not somebody or something can tamper this is decided by you.
And then the temperature dropped.
I didn't realize that I was depressed until yesterday. (I only call it depressed for a lack of a better term. In no way do I want to cause harm to myself, hate my life (I LOVE MY LIFE) or anything to the extreme like that.) Right now I find complete satisfaction in spending my nights alone, lying on my heated floors watching Breaking Bad. That big ball of sunshine that I usually infuse a room with (ball of sunshine = over the top personality) has sizzled out. Interacting with people has become a chore. The thought of going out exhausts me. I used to be this big social butterfly, according to my dad I "couldn't miss any event," which was true. Being among people is my calling, getting out, socializing, dressing up, making friends, all of those are things that I LOVE to do. But lately the furthest I make it is the gym (NOTHING, not even a Zombie apocalypse, will ever get in the way of this), where after I immediately go home and continue to submerge myself in the life of a high school chem teacher gone king pin drug lord.
And with temperature drops the amount of clothes I wear has gone up.
I am not known for being modest when it comes to dressing. I always keep it classy but I workout to maintain my body so of course I wore and will always wear clothes that flaunt this. Living in a year round summer made it easy to do this.. shorts, skirts, tank tops and the occasional cute jacket when needed. But today and for the rest of the winter I will be the big, tall, round, red headed American in the purple winter coat. And even after I shed the winter coat I am beginning to layer so much under my regular clothes I look like I could possibly be with child, smuggling two thanksgiving hams in my jeans and at the same time making serious attempts to compete with Nicky Minaj in a "who has the biggest rump" competition.
All in all, as the temperature continues to drop so does the space on my hard drive. After I finish Breaking Bad I have a list a mile long of other shows I am planning on consuming and I am open for any suggestions:) !
CHEERS2FINDINGMYINNERSHINEAGAIN
And then the temperature dropped.
I didn't realize that I was depressed until yesterday. (I only call it depressed for a lack of a better term. In no way do I want to cause harm to myself, hate my life (I LOVE MY LIFE) or anything to the extreme like that.) Right now I find complete satisfaction in spending my nights alone, lying on my heated floors watching Breaking Bad. That big ball of sunshine that I usually infuse a room with (ball of sunshine = over the top personality) has sizzled out. Interacting with people has become a chore. The thought of going out exhausts me. I used to be this big social butterfly, according to my dad I "couldn't miss any event," which was true. Being among people is my calling, getting out, socializing, dressing up, making friends, all of those are things that I LOVE to do. But lately the furthest I make it is the gym (NOTHING, not even a Zombie apocalypse, will ever get in the way of this), where after I immediately go home and continue to submerge myself in the life of a high school chem teacher gone king pin drug lord.
And with temperature drops the amount of clothes I wear has gone up.
I am not known for being modest when it comes to dressing. I always keep it classy but I workout to maintain my body so of course I wore and will always wear clothes that flaunt this. Living in a year round summer made it easy to do this.. shorts, skirts, tank tops and the occasional cute jacket when needed. But today and for the rest of the winter I will be the big, tall, round, red headed American in the purple winter coat. And even after I shed the winter coat I am beginning to layer so much under my regular clothes I look like I could possibly be with child, smuggling two thanksgiving hams in my jeans and at the same time making serious attempts to compete with Nicky Minaj in a "who has the biggest rump" competition.
All in all, as the temperature continues to drop so does the space on my hard drive. After I finish Breaking Bad I have a list a mile long of other shows I am planning on consuming and I am open for any suggestions:) !
CHEERS2FINDINGMYINNERSHINEAGAIN
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Kid's say the darnedest things...
A typical cliche blog about the sh*t my students have said to me.
6:
Student: "Kala Teacha I buy you candy."
Me: "Thank you! Where is it?"
Student: "I ate it."
5:
I went to school with mis matching socks.
Student: "Kala Teacher you're a fashion terrorist!"
4:
After showing my class a picture of LeBron James
Student: "Your brother?"
Me: "No"
Student: "Yes, you have same skin."
Me: "All black people are not related"
Student: "Yes huh! You have same dad."
3:
After showing a picture of Chris Paul wearing a baseball hat
Me: "What is he wearing?"
Student: "A black face."
2:
Student: "Why do you have spots?"
Me: "They are freckles and I was born this way."
Student: "No, spots, like dog."
1:
Student: "Teacher, perm-a?"
Me: "No, natural"
Student (under his breath as he walks away): "Liar."
6:
Student: "Kala Teacha I buy you candy."
Me: "Thank you! Where is it?"
Student: "I ate it."
5:
I went to school with mis matching socks.
Student: "Kala Teacher you're a fashion terrorist!"
4:
After showing my class a picture of LeBron James
Student: "Your brother?"
Me: "No"
Student: "Yes, you have same skin."
Me: "All black people are not related"
Student: "Yes huh! You have same dad."
3:
After showing a picture of Chris Paul wearing a baseball hat
Me: "What is he wearing?"
Student: "A black face."
2:
Student: "Why do you have spots?"
Me: "They are freckles and I was born this way."
Student: "No, spots, like dog."
1:
Student: "Teacher, perm-a?"
Me: "No, natural"
Student (under his breath as he walks away): "Liar."
Saturday, November 17, 2012
teaching my students the cha-cha slide...
Where is The Bookstore? was the title of last week's lesson in our textbook. The focus of this lesson was teaching the students how to give and understand directions. We (my CO and I) always introduce a new song with each lesson, something that relates in someway or another. Obviously, since I was teaching directions the no brainer song to include was DJ Casper's The Cha Cha Slide.
Coincidentally, last week our school had class productions. Each homeroom class put together some type of performance to present to parents, faculty and other classes. My co-teacher decided that we too should put something together for the 5th grade production. Because we are specialty subject teachers we do not have a homeroom class, instead we teach every 5th grade homeroom class English 2/3 periods a week. In order for us to put something together we had to use the ENTIRE 5th grade class, which is roughly about 180 students.
We decided to go with a song and dance performance. My CO organized our performance in 3 segments; the first, a select group of students danced on stage to the song "Can you join us" while the rest of the students in the audience would sing. Then we would have the entire 5th grade class dance the cha-cha slide in the audience, followed by the entire 5th grade class singing the "I can" song.
Organizing what we were going to do was easy enough, teaching the students the dances (mainly the Cha-Cha Slide) was another story.
While the cha-cha slide is an easy dance to learn and do, it isn't easy to do well. It requires rhythm, hip motion and for a lack of a better word, swag. You can't teach these things, they are like natural instincts. All dogs can swim, well certain races naturally have the ability to dance well. I personally wouldn't vouch and say that Korean was one of these races.
So teaching my students the cha-cha slide was an adventure. At first, the only students who would actually even attempt to do the dance were the goofy boys who pretty much just made a mockery of it the entire time. The rest of the students would cling to their chairs as if they were clinging on for life or death, but we didn't give up. I would literally tear my students from their chairs and force them to dance. As the week progressed more students began to willingly participate. It eventually got to the point where I had students asking me to let them practice in my classroom during lunch time.
When my students first started to learn the dance they looked like a bunch of cardboard cut-outs. Stiff, boring, no flavor or attitude. Teaching the steps to the cha-cha was easy, but getting them to sway their hips and move their arms while doing it was not. Because I speak no Korean (beyond being polite and important terms to shop with) explaining to my students how to groove and feel the music was difficult. I would have to move their hips and arms for them (in a totally appropriate manner!) and demonstrate myself. . We might have danced the cha-cha slide well over 100 times.
But come D-Day they got it! My CO and I danced on the stage as our mass of students did the dance in the audience and our performance was AWESOME. The parents LOVED it and the Principal was extremely impressed that we got the ENTIRE 5th grade class to do something as a group with out having any form of destruction occur. Both the Principal and Vice at lunch expressed how much they enjoyed our performance in their best English, I received many emails from other teachers telling me how great of a job we did and the students we so proud of themselves. And even after all the reluctance that my students felt towards the dance in the beginning, the day after the production my students begged me to allow them to do it one last time.
I do not yet have the video of the actual performance but for now I have a few videos from lunch time practices. Enjoy :)
Coincidentally, last week our school had class productions. Each homeroom class put together some type of performance to present to parents, faculty and other classes. My co-teacher decided that we too should put something together for the 5th grade production. Because we are specialty subject teachers we do not have a homeroom class, instead we teach every 5th grade homeroom class English 2/3 periods a week. In order for us to put something together we had to use the ENTIRE 5th grade class, which is roughly about 180 students.
We decided to go with a song and dance performance. My CO organized our performance in 3 segments; the first, a select group of students danced on stage to the song "Can you join us" while the rest of the students in the audience would sing. Then we would have the entire 5th grade class dance the cha-cha slide in the audience, followed by the entire 5th grade class singing the "I can" song.
Organizing what we were going to do was easy enough, teaching the students the dances (mainly the Cha-Cha Slide) was another story.
While the cha-cha slide is an easy dance to learn and do, it isn't easy to do well. It requires rhythm, hip motion and for a lack of a better word, swag. You can't teach these things, they are like natural instincts. All dogs can swim, well certain races naturally have the ability to dance well. I personally wouldn't vouch and say that Korean was one of these races.
So teaching my students the cha-cha slide was an adventure. At first, the only students who would actually even attempt to do the dance were the goofy boys who pretty much just made a mockery of it the entire time. The rest of the students would cling to their chairs as if they were clinging on for life or death, but we didn't give up. I would literally tear my students from their chairs and force them to dance. As the week progressed more students began to willingly participate. It eventually got to the point where I had students asking me to let them practice in my classroom during lunch time.
When my students first started to learn the dance they looked like a bunch of cardboard cut-outs. Stiff, boring, no flavor or attitude. Teaching the steps to the cha-cha was easy, but getting them to sway their hips and move their arms while doing it was not. Because I speak no Korean (beyond being polite and important terms to shop with) explaining to my students how to groove and feel the music was difficult. I would have to move their hips and arms for them (in a totally appropriate manner!) and demonstrate myself. . We might have danced the cha-cha slide well over 100 times.
But come D-Day they got it! My CO and I danced on the stage as our mass of students did the dance in the audience and our performance was AWESOME. The parents LOVED it and the Principal was extremely impressed that we got the ENTIRE 5th grade class to do something as a group with out having any form of destruction occur. Both the Principal and Vice at lunch expressed how much they enjoyed our performance in their best English, I received many emails from other teachers telling me how great of a job we did and the students we so proud of themselves. And even after all the reluctance that my students felt towards the dance in the beginning, the day after the production my students begged me to allow them to do it one last time.
I do not yet have the video of the actual performance but for now I have a few videos from lunch time practices. Enjoy :)
Can You Join Us Song
Cha-Cha Slide
#CHEERS2MYSTUDENTSFORBEINGAWESOME
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Teaching Pet Peeves
While I do enjoy teaching as a now job, there are a few things that I have encountered that really irk me.
#1 Finding a decent side of your chalk that will actually make a legible mark on the chalk board. I can't stand being in the middle of a lesson and trying to write something on the board and having the chalk produce some scrawny dashed line that nobody can read, it kills that moment of emphasis and it isn't ever a quick fix, usually I must rotate and try the chalk multiple times before I can find the good side and by that time the moment is gone.
#2 Chalk boards in general. After 6 periods of using the chalk board my hands look ashy and my clothes look like I rolled around in a pile of dust.
#3 Having 15 different white board markers and NONE of them work. I swear there must be a school boogey man who spends all night wasting the ink in my markers. It is sad that when I find a working marker I feel the same excitement a child does on Christmas.
#4 Those moments when you are in the middle of punishing or scolding a student and they say something that makes you want to laugh.
#1 Finding a decent side of your chalk that will actually make a legible mark on the chalk board. I can't stand being in the middle of a lesson and trying to write something on the board and having the chalk produce some scrawny dashed line that nobody can read, it kills that moment of emphasis and it isn't ever a quick fix, usually I must rotate and try the chalk multiple times before I can find the good side and by that time the moment is gone.
#2 Chalk boards in general. After 6 periods of using the chalk board my hands look ashy and my clothes look like I rolled around in a pile of dust.
#3 Having 15 different white board markers and NONE of them work. I swear there must be a school boogey man who spends all night wasting the ink in my markers. It is sad that when I find a working marker I feel the same excitement a child does on Christmas.
#4 Those moments when you are in the middle of punishing or scolding a student and they say something that makes you want to laugh.
Example: One of my students was extra talkative in class.
His first inturruption I just caught his eye and gave him the shhhhh sign
His second inturruption I said " _____ stop speaking in Korean and listen please."
His thrid inturruption I said loudly "_____ didn't I ask you to stop talking?!?"
His response, "Yes but I speak-y in ENGLISH! You say Korean tee-cha."
I had to keep a straight face, if I would have laughed all my credibility would have went down the drain.
#5 Copies. I might single handedly be responsible for deforestation in Korea. Somewhere between figuring out how many copies of papers I will need for my classes and the actual copying of them I end up with a stack of extras comprable to the thickness of a textbook. There are only so many "arts and crafts" components I can throw in my lessons to cover this up...obviously I wasn't a math major.
#6 Teaching in slippers. Here in Korea you do not wear your outside shoes inside of most places including here at school so teachers and students alike wear inside shoes usually some form of slippers. I wear a pair of knock off Adidas pre-game slippers, the ones with the one thick strap across the top of your foot. The slippers bother me for two reasons. The first because I find myself somehow managing to kick them off of my foot as I walk. A few times I have even managed to accidentally launch my slippers at my students, which they find absolutely hilarious and I find frightening because I am afraid one day I am going to take a student's eye out with it (There might or might not have been a few times I have hit or almost hit a student and wasn't entirely apologetic about it). The second reason they bother me is because they make it very hard to take any male at work seriously. The male teachers here come to school dressed in full on business suits and give up their shiny dress shoes at the door for slide on slippers. It is impossible not to chuckle the first few times you see a man in a suit with slippers...and for me it is impossible not to chuckle EVERY single time I see this. When ever I am around the Principal, Vice Principal or any of the male teachers I am usually suppressing a giggle while attempting to keep my professional disposition present, not easy at all.
#7 (this is a LOVE/HATE relationship) Candy. Imagine a crack addict being stripped of his pipe. Candy to my students is like crack to a crack addict. If I mention giving candy for anything such as participation all of a sudden EVERYBODY knows the answer. If it is for the winning team in one of the class games you would think we were in game 7 of the NBA playoffs with a rivalry as deep as the Celtics and Lakers. My students get cut throat. Today's game required one person from each team to run to the board to read a sentence that they then had to run back and dictate to their team. During one of the sprints to the front the littlest girl in the 6th grade (by littlest I mean shortest and thinnest) chucked a fellow classmate into the desks just to beat him to the front of the room. Candy changes students, before today she was always timid and shy but at the mention of candy she became this vicious little fighter ready to kill anybody that tried to get in her way of winning.
#8 Gangnam style. You think this has nothing to do with teaching, but it does. If another student shouts "Heyyyyy Sexy Lady!!" At me in the hallway as I walk by I just might lose my marbles. I feel like I am back at home where the only pick up line guys seem to know is "Hey Ma." Redundancy is annoying in any country at any age. I just might hold a class period on HOW to talk to women in ways that are affective because it seems like men all over the world are pretty damn clueless.
#CHEERS2MYFIRST9TO5
#6 Teaching in slippers. Here in Korea you do not wear your outside shoes inside of most places including here at school so teachers and students alike wear inside shoes usually some form of slippers. I wear a pair of knock off Adidas pre-game slippers, the ones with the one thick strap across the top of your foot. The slippers bother me for two reasons. The first because I find myself somehow managing to kick them off of my foot as I walk. A few times I have even managed to accidentally launch my slippers at my students, which they find absolutely hilarious and I find frightening because I am afraid one day I am going to take a student's eye out with it (There might or might not have been a few times I have hit or almost hit a student and wasn't entirely apologetic about it). The second reason they bother me is because they make it very hard to take any male at work seriously. The male teachers here come to school dressed in full on business suits and give up their shiny dress shoes at the door for slide on slippers. It is impossible not to chuckle the first few times you see a man in a suit with slippers...and for me it is impossible not to chuckle EVERY single time I see this. When ever I am around the Principal, Vice Principal or any of the male teachers I am usually suppressing a giggle while attempting to keep my professional disposition present, not easy at all.
#7 (this is a LOVE/HATE relationship) Candy. Imagine a crack addict being stripped of his pipe. Candy to my students is like crack to a crack addict. If I mention giving candy for anything such as participation all of a sudden EVERYBODY knows the answer. If it is for the winning team in one of the class games you would think we were in game 7 of the NBA playoffs with a rivalry as deep as the Celtics and Lakers. My students get cut throat. Today's game required one person from each team to run to the board to read a sentence that they then had to run back and dictate to their team. During one of the sprints to the front the littlest girl in the 6th grade (by littlest I mean shortest and thinnest) chucked a fellow classmate into the desks just to beat him to the front of the room. Candy changes students, before today she was always timid and shy but at the mention of candy she became this vicious little fighter ready to kill anybody that tried to get in her way of winning.
#8 Gangnam style. You think this has nothing to do with teaching, but it does. If another student shouts "Heyyyyy Sexy Lady!!" At me in the hallway as I walk by I just might lose my marbles. I feel like I am back at home where the only pick up line guys seem to know is "Hey Ma." Redundancy is annoying in any country at any age. I just might hold a class period on HOW to talk to women in ways that are affective because it seems like men all over the world are pretty damn clueless.
#CHEERS2MYFIRST9TO5
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Cold Weather.
Warning this is a rant from a girl who has "I grew up in Paradise" problems.
Let me start this off by saying I was born and raised in Paradise aka. San Diego, CA.
When I first was deciding on where I wanted to be located in Korea I requested a city that had a temperate climate and my recruiter (I am sure laughed at me also) informed me that just does not exist in Korea. For the first time in my life I am experiencing these things called seasons.
Back home, we think we have seasons. Summer hovers around 80 and 90 degrees and then drops to 50 (if it is really cold) but on average it is mid 60s in the Winter. Even so, at home we all bitch and complain about the weather, "it's soo hot today" or "it's too cold." For San Diegans it's always too something, anything that is not within 5 degrees of 80 is too something. People laugh and joke about how we are sissys when it comes to weather well it is TRUE! It isn't our fault we live (in my case liveD) in Paradise.
Right now it is October and about 60 degrees on average daily here in Korea which apparently is "nothing" as everybody keeps telling me as they laugh at how cold I claim to already be. The coldest month, so I have heard, is January. That is 3 months away...I have no idea what to expect, but I am terrified.
Everyone around me has been extremely nice. I am constantly being given advice on how to prepare and live through the winter. Some people honestly worry about me and other find my ignorance amusing, all still providing me with survival tips. But even with all of this winter advice, friends and family, I do not think I am going to survive.
Back home when the temperature drops too low for our liking we bust out our trendy scarves, boots, coats and call ourselves "bundling up." My San Diego "winter coat" is lined with Leopard print silk. I may not be an expert on extreme temperatures but I do not think silk is on the list for best cold weather material. I own beenies and scarves, all of them quite fashionable and can spruce up any look but here scarves and beenies are not a fashion statement, they are a means to survival. The days of dressing up my shorts with a cute beenie or a scarf are over. Now I will wrap my neck like a burrito to fend off the piercing wind and top it with my Michelin Man Coat (I did get a very cute color so all fashion is not lost). And yes, it is complete with the fur.
(Fact: Korea is the most fashionable country in the world and without a doubt I am sure that Koreans find and do succeed in being fashionable during the winter and I am just a big sissy from San Diego who likes to complain)
Speaking to people from colder parts of the world I am constantly hearing that they couldn't imagine not having a cold Christmas. They like being able to cozy up by the fire and ...? So far that is the only reason I have heard from people who actually desire a cold Christmas. The fire is fine and dandy but what about after Christmas? It is still cold, Christmas is over, you have to go back to work, you can no longer cozy up by your fire, so now what do you have? Nothing but cold weather. Those of you who can't imagine anything BUT a cold Christmas just haven't experienced a warm one. It is amazing, we may not have a fire but I don't think that can be considered missing much.Winter sports? We have them AND we wear sleeve-less tops while doing them. Beat that.
Luckily, I have been given a slew of advice from cold weather veterans that I am going to include in case anybody else is as clueless as I am.
- Layer, Layer, Layer. Buy: Long underwear, a "proper" winter coat, thick gloves, thick scarves and warm socks.
- Keep your chest, wrists and neck warm.
- Set your timer for your heating
- Blow dry your hair before going outside
- Layer, Layer, Layer (this is the most popular piece of advice I have been given)
- Get from point A to point B as quickly as possible
- Buy a personal space heater or have a cuddle buddy. *Preferable a Jacob vs Edward (Twilight reference).
- Blow warm air under your covers with a blow dryer before getting in bed
- Take warm coffee in a mug to work
- Stay inside.
So, in my preparation to survive and taking from all of the advice I have received I figured I MUST do 3 things.
- I must lose inches but gain body fat. Why must I lose inches? Well all this talk of wearing long underwear under my pants isn't going to happen unless I do so. The only thing fitting in my pants is myself. I can barely put them on when I have lotion on and somehow I am supposed to put an EXTRA layer of cloth under? Not happening. Why must I fatten up? Fat is suppose to keep you warm, bears fatten up before winter, animals that live in the North Pole have very high body fat, larger people tend to get warmer quicker ext... well at a whopping 19percent body fat (thank you Korean food I am incredibly fit) my fat (or lack there of) won't be keeping me warm. Joke is on me, for once being fit is working against me.
- I must give up my social life outside of my apartment walls. One reason, heated flooring. Why should I leave the warmth of my floors for the outside world? The farthest I see myself traveling is next door, sorry neighbor you're stuck with me all winter.
- I must find and download many seasons of many shows because I will be racking up my viewing hours. (Suggestions are welcome)
#CHEERS2SURVIVING.
**Despite what it sounds like, I very much love Korea and yes I have exaggerated a lot in this blog.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Accidentally getting fresh with one of my students...
Today was Wrap up day for my 5th graders. Wrap Up day always consists of a quick review in the textbook and then games, my kids love Wrap Up day. Today we played my modified version of tic tac toe. Each pair of students had a set of dice. On one of the die the faces had locations on them. On the other die the faces had actions that pertained to the previous lessons on them. The students had to roll the dice and then form sentences with the faces that they rolled. For example if student 1 rolled the dice and got:
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They would then form the sentence, "May I play soccer in the museum?" and student 2 would either answer "Yes you may" if the action and location were a possible pair or "No you may not" if they, as in this case, were not. If they rolled a possible pair they then were allowed to draw an X or and O on their grid.
After explaining the game I called a student up to the front of the class to help me demonstrate. The student I called up is one of my more enjoyable students. He isn't particularly well-behaved or the best English speaker but he isn't afraid to participate, usually has something absolutely absurd and funny to say, speaks loudly (pretty much yells most of the time) and doesn't mind being my guinea pig. Lets call him Tom. So Tom and I start by playing rock paper scissors to see who went first. I won (of course!), so I rolled.
Me: "May I take pictures in your room?"
The class giggled and my student gave me a strange look. I thought he didn't understand me so I asked again.
Me: "May I take pictures in your room?"
The giggling got louder and again he said nothing...
Me: "Do you understand the game?
Tom: "Yes."
Me: "Okay, please answer, May I take pictures in your room?"
Tom: "NOOOOOOO YOU MAY NOT TEACH-A, EWWW KALA TEACH-A YOU BAD!!"
My class started was roaring with laughter now, I was confused. I had no idea what was so funny and wrong with that scenario...then it hit me,
I just ask my student if I could take pictures in his room.
#CHEERS2GETTINGTURNEDDOWNBYA11YEAROLD
They would then form the sentence, "May I play soccer in the museum?" and student 2 would either answer "Yes you may" if the action and location were a possible pair or "No you may not" if they, as in this case, were not. If they rolled a possible pair they then were allowed to draw an X or and O on their grid.
After explaining the game I called a student up to the front of the class to help me demonstrate. The student I called up is one of my more enjoyable students. He isn't particularly well-behaved or the best English speaker but he isn't afraid to participate, usually has something absolutely absurd and funny to say, speaks loudly (pretty much yells most of the time) and doesn't mind being my guinea pig. Lets call him Tom. So Tom and I start by playing rock paper scissors to see who went first. I won (of course!), so I rolled.
Me: "May I take pictures in your room?"
The class giggled and my student gave me a strange look. I thought he didn't understand me so I asked again.
Me: "May I take pictures in your room?"
The giggling got louder and again he said nothing...
Me: "Do you understand the game?
Tom: "Yes."
Me: "Okay, please answer, May I take pictures in your room?"
Tom: "NOOOOOOO YOU MAY NOT TEACH-A, EWWW KALA TEACH-A YOU BAD!!"
My class started was roaring with laughter now, I was confused. I had no idea what was so funny and wrong with that scenario...then it hit me,
I just ask my student if I could take pictures in his room.
#CHEERS2GETTINGTURNEDDOWNBYA11YEAROLD
Friday, September 28, 2012
PICTURES:)
Just a couple of photos of my life so far! :)
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| A example of what my everyday work wear looks like. |
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| My own DIY (do it yourself) project! Now my jewelry hangs neatly on the inside of my wardrobe. :) |
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| I have the greatest parents, they sent me a package and stocked my cabinet with American spices, hot sauce, protein bars and whole wheat products! |
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| A snapshot of Seoul! It's such a beautiful city right?? |
More pictures to come:)
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