I am a Teacher

Despite what I usually blog about, I still do manage to have a job, a teaching job to be exact, 5 days a week. The last few weeks have been filled with ups and downs and all around's but I'll just cut to the more interesting stuff.

So recently Felicity and I have agreed to split up our working shifts. Originally she was working 1:00-6:00 for a bit less, and I was working 10:30-6:00 for a bit more. I obviously love money and was quite happy working more. But as usual my social life has been growing and extracurricular projects flourishing so we decided to switch every other month. One month I'll work more, one month she'll work more. We're both quite pleased with this arrangement. It would mean that all afternoon classes stay the same, she would just take over Shi-Ho and Maya in the morning. Their kindergarten curriculum is non existent to be frank. As you know Shi-Ho is barely three (American age) and Maya just turned five. I've found the best way to entertain them is to shove them some paper (preferably colored if we have that in stock, which we never do) and some scissors and a glue stick. You'd be amazed by the amount of hours that Shi-Ho can sit and cut and paste. So I mentioned this to Felicity before she took over her month of morning shifts.

One particularly afternoon, about a week or two ago, I entered the computer lab/kindergarten room to see Maya up to some very mischievous behavior. As you know, my original encounter with this creature was nothing but shock and horror. I spent weeks dealing with her maniacal tantrums, hysterical crying, and general bitchiness. However, it seemed as though recently we have really been warming up to each other. She has caught on to many English phrases and we frequently talk about the weather and our favorite foods. My most favorite behavior of hers has become her infatuation with origami. I have seriously spent two weeks making the same paper crane for hours with her. She will do it over, and over, and over again, and I am more than happy to have small talk while we fold away. Unfortunately, Felicity wasn't having such luck. This was clearly illustrated that day, as I entered and saw Felicity on her break, playing online, while Maya and Shi-Ho took those scissors that they love so much and decided to remove giant chunks of each others hair! My initial reaction was to yell at Felicity, "DO YOU SEE WHAT THEY ARE DOING!?!" and then I just ran out muttering "this isn't my problem, this isn't my problem, this isn't my problem". But, since they are also my students, it was most definitely my problem. While Felicity took them to our director to face the inevitable wrath, I quietly swept up chunks of thick Korean hair. I could only imagine what my director had to say, and when I went to go take part in the verbal chastising my predictions came true. I had never seen my director in such hysteria and panic. She actually wept in Korean saying something along the lines of "COME ON, WHY, WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?" This obviously effects her more than a normal principal because this is a private school, which parents chose out of many different schools, and could directly impact her (and our) income/reputation. The children sat there silently as she continued on for what felt like hours. Finally I stepped in, in English, and gave them all the words they know, and even spouted out a few Korean words to let them know that I was dead serious about the severity of their actions.

Eventually she calmed down and I took them into the classroom. We sometimes study in a Phonics book, but Shi-Ho can't because it's far too difficult. But today his age was no excuse for his behavior. I sat both of them in front of their books and made them do endless pages. Maya managed to do this quite sufficiently, Shi-Ho was a whole other story. He sat there with his giant crayon, trying so intensely to trace the letters and I couldn't help gush at the cuteness of this poor little guy, trying to make amends for his wrong doings by diligently scribbling away. I took a picture of him getting to work, and another picture of Maya's giant patch of missing bangs:

All of this happened on a Monday, so by Tuesday I was not ready for another day of children. But I got that and then some. During my two hour class with last years kindergartners (who are now so smart!) The students started screaming "바퀴벌레!!!!" (pakwebulleh) which I have since learned is the Korean word for cockroach and I immediately started freaking out. Cockroaches do not make regular appearances in Minnesota, and certainly not in any of my dwellings. But this new school seems to have a bit of a problem with them, which worries me, especially since there is a hospital directly underneath us. I quickly spotted the culprit and realized that I am the adult and therefore the one in charge of resolving this problem. Seconds after that I concluded that I don't care what my age is, I'm not getting anywhere near that nasty thing. So, the obvious solution was to pay one of my students 500 Won (50 cents) to kill it for me. The two boys were both eager and willing but I chose Andy to do the assassination purely on the grounds that I like him more. But I should have gotten a discount, because I still had to take part. That damn cockroach had made its way to the ceiling and I had to hoist Andy up so he could smash it. I should have known then and there that getting directly below a cockroach wasn't a good idea, but I did it anyways. As I quickly pushed him to the ceiling he managed to miss the cockroach and it went flying down... right.. on... us... I started frantically screaming and patting down every crevice of my body to ensure that that little bastard was no where near me. After a good minute or two I gave up, the cockroach wasn't on or near me, but it wasn't anywhere else in the room. Oh well, some poor kid will have to deal with that thing.

About five minutes later, while listening to a student tell me in far too much detail the contents of their dinner the night before, I felt something slowly crawl right out of my sleeve. That bastard pakwebulleh had hidden away in my shirt, undetected for a whole five minutes, silently waiting to make a grand entry onto my arm! My class of 6 and I all went nuts. They were scared of it, I was scared of it, they were laughing at me, I was shouting at them to be quiet, I couldn't stop shaking every part of me, I'm surprised a tit didn't slip out! Finally, Andy, my superhero, took his yellow crocks and showed that cockroach who's boss!

The rest of the week went much, much smoother. I topped it off a lovely Friday night feast at my house. After the previous weeks trip to Busan and the fresh taste of Mexican food in mouth I decided to have a dinner party featuring my attempts at making Mexican food. From what I was told, it was quite delicious. I was a bit drunk and overly excited by the time it was all finished so I can't vouch for it, but the left overs sure hit the spot. Of course we ended the night singing. First we went to a local noraebang (there must be at least 10 within a two block radius of my house) and then we went to a bar that had a giant stage where we could sing in front of everyone. Except there was no one there, so we sang on stage to each other all night long. Just another good week in the 'ju.

Busan Never Fails

And neither does my traveling bad luck. Though this time it wasn't hardly as bad. But let me start at the beginning. Half way into last week I had decided that I needed to get out of Gwangju, not just because I do the same shit every week, but I also need to reconfirm my love for this city and see what else is out there. My original plan was to head to Seoul, since I haven't really spent much time there, but my traveling buddy, Indy, suggested Busan and I knew I couldn't go wrong with that. So I booked a motel and some tickets and by 11am on Saturday we were off to Busan.

Four hours of sparkling conversation later we arrived at our destination. The Busan bus station is awkwardly stationed on the ass end of Busan, luckily so was the motel, so we got on the Subway and rode a few stops down to our destination. But not before being harassed by numerous Koreans trying to be helpful. Unfortunately their helpfulness came off more annoying than useful. Even though they barely spoke English, they were sure they knew exactly what we wanted. They practically were forcing us to buy Subway tickets and I wanted to do no such thing! Instead we were looking to purchase a subway card and recharge my existing one. Finally after trying to tell them in Korean and abandoning all hopes of communication we came across the card vending machine.

After we got off the subway we were very harshly greeted with Korea's rainy season. They say this time of year lasts a few weeks, but I could have sworn it seems to last all summer leaving only spring and fall to be enjoyable seasons. This Saturday it should have been renamed "heaviest downpour ever season" because by the time we reached the motel we were thoroughly soaked. Then, because in Korea motels are used primarily for one reason (coughsexcough) we were informed that we could not check in until 10:30pm! This would have been fine if I wasn't super dirty and rained on. Oh yes, that reminds me, I managed to go about two weeks without a hot water in my apartment. Apparently they had to fix something and all of our buildings went without hot water for what felt like months. I've since never appreciated a hot shower more!

Eventually, through my lovely Korean friend and impromptu translator, we were able to convince the motel owner to at least let us leave our bags there while we check out the city. So, with umbrellas in one hand and cameras in the other we got on the subway to check out 범어사 (Beomeosa) Temple. According to the Official Site of Korea Tourism:

"Boeomeosa Temple is located at the edge of Mt. Geumjeongsan, a famous mountain in Busan. About 1,300 years ago it was constructed by monk Ui Sang in the 18th year (678) of King Munmu (reign 661~681) of the Silla Kingdom. The original Beomeosa Temple building was lost during Imjinwaeran Invasion (Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592) but was renovated in 1713, which remains as it now is."

The one good thing about sight seeing when there is torrential rain is the lack of tourists. We were practically the only people roaming through the temple. It was also a bit hidden away, with a nice stream heavily flowing down giant rocks. Despite the terrible weather it had a very calming feeling, and it was nice to hang out there for a while and attempt to take some pictures in the rain.

After the temple we moseyed around a shopping area and retreated to the motel where I took the most amazingly long hottest shower ever. Since it was a Saturday night I also took a good while getting ready and by the time we were leaving the motel it was almost 10pm. Before leaving on this trip we had both agreed our one main motivation for going to Busan was just to go to a Mexican restaurant, so if for some reason we were unable to do that it would be heart breaking! On the subway to the Mexican restaurant in Haeundae I started to worry that we may be too late to eat! I did remember it being open very late for drinks, but I didn't know if they stopped serving food too. When we finally got there we sat down and quickly ordered some delicious burritos. But, as I had feared, we were indeed too late to eat! They offered us some nachos instead and we took them with a side of Margaritas to help swallow down the pain of missing out on Burritos. Inhaling both of them in record time still was not enough to cure our hunger or mission for Western food, so we headed to the the next stop. Some meaty burgers, a pitcher of beer, a rare encounter with a Canadian micro-brewed Cider, and one tasty mojito later it was time for bed!

The next day the combination of said food and beverages had a toll on my stomach and I did not wake ready and willing to conquer Busan. If there wasn't a check out time I'm quite sure I would have spent the day in bed watching a big screen TV (with cool English channels!) in a monster size bed. But since there was a check out time, I ended up doing something way more awesome, but required far more effort than TV watching.

First, we headed right back to Haeundae where we were greeted with brunch! The excitement that we both felt as the much anticipated Western meal was approaching dissipated when they dropped a disgusting plate of wannabe brunch down. My hunger forced me to finish some of the strangely cooked eggs and off-putting sausages but I finally gave up in order to save room for our second attempt at Mexican food later that evening.

We then hopped in a cab to go to our second destination, 해동용궁사 (Haedongyunggongsa) Temple. This temple was a bit more hidden away as well, and the view once you got there was simply amazing. That day, unlike the day before, was incredibly sunny and a bit hot but very very beautiful. I managed to take a few pictures that I hope captured the beauty of the spot. I could have sat around staring out at the ocean all day, but we just ended up staying an hour or two, since we were on a time constraint for our mini vacation.

A long, crowded intercity bus ride later we were back at the beach and ready for Mexican food attempt #2. This time we were successfully given the goods in addition to a much needed Bloody Mary. I watched in awe as Indy finished one giant burrito and two additional tacos (or was it three? I don't remember!) As for me, I could only finish one giant burrito and two delicious overpriced cocktails. That was more than enough to leave me satisfied and feeling a little less depressed about having to go back to Gwangju so soon.

I slept the majority of the bus ride home, I was absolutely pooped after our little mini vacation. I can't wait for my actual vacation, starting July 30th-August 15th. I'm going to Fukuoka, Japan for 8 nights, spending a few days in Gwangju (one of which will be my birthday!) then headed off to some islands with a Korea traveling group and some friends.

Happy Canada Day!

I know what you're thinking, "Canada has a day? How did you hear about such things?" Well, it's strange really. Since moving to Korea, roughly a million bazillion miles from Canada, I've met tons of Canadians! Oddly enough, when I lived in Minnesota, a few feet away from Canada, I never met a single Canadian. I'd like to go ahead and dedicate this post to my favorite Canadian, Dominique Colucci, who is living the Candian dream as we speak, and is greatly missed in the 'Ju. Not that this post is going to have a lot of content, but I suppose you can't get any shorter than the last one.

Look at that Canadian Love!

So the big news this week is about Summer Vacation #2. I had spent the last however many months mentally preparing to go to The Philippines and spend maybe $300 or so on the ticket and get some pretty cheap beach side hostel. Well, turns out that if you wait until last minute, like I usually do, tickets go up drastically in price. It's now about $1000 to get there, not including the cost of room & board.

After realizing that my summer plans had been sabotaged because of my laziness I began to feel quite sad. I spent the majority of the beginning of the week in a slump, trying to figure out how to get out of this country without breaking the bank. Finally, it dawned on Fliss and I that nobody in their right mind wants to go to Japan, BUT WE DO! So, we checked Travelocity and found a flight and hotel for 7 days for just under $600. I know what my Mom and Dad and other paranoid readers are thinking, "Noo, the radiation, the earthquakes, don't go!" Well, I'm going to the bottom Island, Kyushu, to a city called Fukuoka and is practically equidistant to my home in Korea (give or take a bit) so I'm not too worried.

So Thursday morning I booked the package and I'm pumped and ready to leave the first week of August. I also have the second week of August off too but haven't decided what to do yet. I think I'll just relax at home and enjoy a quiet non-travel vacation. As far as our destination is concerned, it's actually a long anticipated trip. I started studying Japanese when I was in 7th grade, took a stint of Chinese in High School, and then Japanese again in Community College and the University of Minnesota. I ended off my college career with an intense summer course (one year in two months) and graduated with a firm grasp on the Japanese language. Things have since changed dramatically. I barely remember some key phrases and get caught up thinking in Korean if I try to speak it. So for the next month I am going to pop open the books and see if I can get any useful phrases embedded into my brain.

This particular city is also quite significant because I had been wanting/planning to move to Fukuoka basically since taking Japanese at the U of M. I researched the city and it seemed awesome because its on the beach, it's an old meets new Japanese metropolis and the pictures always looked amazing. While we did get the whole deal for a portion of what I would have spent if I was coming from America (about $2,000) I'm still worried about the expensiveness. So, if any of my dear readers would like to contribute to my pre-birthday (August 10th) Japanese Summer Vacation just let me know!

What else is new? Not much. Since I've came back from Berlin I've completely changed my schedule from being super busy, to doing nothing at all, working a rugged 5 hours a day. Basically I currently love my life and my awesome schedule. I did take a minor pay cut, but I still have a more than livable wage and hours upon hours to paint my nails, study Korean, go to the gym, read, and watch countless episodes of whatever my current TV fetish is.

As always the weekends are jam packed with fun with the gang. Emilie, who I love dearly, is always good at taking pictures so I'll post a few. I'll also post again in a few days about my heartbreaking devastation because of her leaving. But not now, I can't think about that until after she's gone! For tonight, we will have one last hurrah, and once again say goodbye to an amazing friend that I met in Korea.

Katie's Birthday Party last week, looking super cute with her man Krish.

Erica and Indy, two new awesome friends who have been hanging out with the group!

Me, Em, and Fliss singing our heart out to Adele (they had a new song at the noraebang!)

One of many pictures prompted by strange scenarios. "Imagine you are a monkey and she is trying to steal your bundle of bananas!"

Fliss, Katie, Me, Erica, and the lovely Louisa, who is also a new friend. All out for Katie's Bday!

"Omg?! You are so funny! No you are so funny!" I actually think this picture was also prompted by a scenario, but we do look cute!

And that's all folks!