Good Morning Gwangju!

It is officially 10:30am on a Sunday. I've got the coffee brewing and the best part is my stomach can actually handle the gut wrenching goodness because today I am hangoverless. Yes, you read that made up word right, I am lacking in a hangover. Now this may seem hard to believe, being that the content of my blog relies on a few small travels, teaching, and turkey talk. Meanwhile the majority of my writing exists to rehash those lovely Saturday nights that I will barely remember by Sunday, let alone a few years from now. But last night was nothing of the sorts. In fact, it was a peaceful, quiet, and torturous night where I used all that was inside of me not to run out the door with a cocktail in one hand and a cigarette in the other. But I did it! And today I am a much happier person.

But enough about my Saturday sobriety, let's talk about this last week. Earlier this week, or maybe late last week I was informed that the apple of my eye and the kimchi to my rice, little miss Nina would be leaving my school. For the first time, I've been faced with losing a student that I absolutely adore. But this adoration is on a whole other level. She's like one of those super human kids. She's smarter than I am, she's kinder than Mother Theresa, and her big 'ol buck teeth and bad hair cut makes her the cutest little thing ever invented. She has been my Google Translate when I can't communicate and all of the students' English speaking role model. They're still so young that being smart and the teacher's favorite is something you just HAVE to be, instead of something you have to mock. Her unconditional love for me wrapped up in all her intelligence topped with how crazy proud of her I am has made me do something I've never done before. Yes, for a split second I thought one day I might have a little Nina of my own. But then reality set back in and I realized that that idea was way too painful/expensive/selfless for me to ever endure. My conclusion: Child bearing, no. Teaching, yes.

The Little Angel - Nina

But actually, I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if I really am a teacher. I mean, I went to school for Political Science for god sakes, not Elementary Education for students with English as a foreign language. But somehow I've made it through this last year, and I think I did a damn good job at it. I've had a lovely time, that's for sure. I sometimes wonder how this couldn't be everyone's dream job? I just go to school, hang out with awesome kids, try to get them to speak English which is quite possibly the easiest thing to teach seeing as though it's my own native language. The best part is their hilarious mistakes.

For instance, last week we were learning the word "feed". One of my favorite techniques in learning new words is letting everyone in the room actually use the word in a sentence. So when it came to Jake and he proudly proclaimed, "I feed my Cha-Cha!" I couldn't help but laugh.

"Your what?!"

"My Cha-Cha, Molly Teacher."

At this point I just looked at all the other children to see if this was some random Korean word I hadn't been exposed to yet. But the children were equally confused. Jake kept saying Cha-Cha and then making some strange movements to describe this thing that he feeds. Finally through their Korean chat the students figured out that he was talking about a Hedge Hog. Which I've known about him having for months, which he talks about all the time, which I've somehow managed to over-look (or over-hear?) his mispronunciation. It was a good little laugh, but probably not as funny as my own adventure in speaking this week.

So, as you know I'm going to Hong Kong on Wednesday with my buddies Emilie and Felicity. Unfortunately for Felicity her monthly visitor was scheduled to arrive the same time our plane would land so she decided to get on some Korean birth control for this month. During our trot home that night we stopped at the local pharmacist (did I mention there is one on EVERY corner) and she pushed for me to come in. I made it clear that even though I know a handful more Korean than she does, ordering birth control wasn't on my Korean Class 101 podcasts. So I entered on the premise that she would do all of the talking.

We walked in and Felicity simply put an "uh" at the end of her request (which most times seems to work)

"Birthuh Controluh juseyo." Juseyo means "Can I have?"

Blank stares.

She tried again, "birthuh controluh juseyo."

I start to giggle because I know this isn't going to get us anywhere. So what do I do? Well first I let her try aimlessly for another minute or so, and then I searched the vast data base of Korean vocabulary I have stored somewhere in the back of my brain. What is the word for birth control? How can I use what I know to get us what we need? It hits me, of course! I got it! However, my Korean is so limited that tact, politeness, or just simple social standards are disregarded as I blurt out:

"I don't like babies!"

He looks at me confused, and simply questions my statement, "babies?"

"Yes, I don't like babies! Can I have no baby medicine?"

He laughed and sighed and showed general signs of worry which sparked Felicity to ask what exactly I had said. After my quick translation she starts bursting out laughing, I start bursting out laughing, and the man across the counter looks at us like we're some kind of immature foreign sluts. She quickly paid him and the laughter continued all the way home as I contemplated what I could have possibly said to get this point across any better. The answer? Absolutely nothing. We had the product, we had a good laugh, and nobody got hurt!

One more thing. I finally took my camera out yesterday for a jaunt around Gwangju. First we went downtown, then took the subway to Yang-Dong Market, walked back downtown and finally made our way back home. I found out one thing: My camera is awesome. I will be putting a bunch of pictures up tonight and starting some photo albums for all my future photographic adventures!