Oooh man. So this is pretty much the first moment I've had in the past few days to do some typing. I'm sure my loyal followers have just been dying, so let me ease your pain.
It has been a busy busy busy week! And you know me, I love that shit. Down time is no friend of mine. Anyway, last Friday was Field Day at school and it was really fun. I loved being outside in the sun, actually running around and doing real outdoor activities rather than playing "outside" on the roof. It was kind of strange though because the kids didn't seem all that into the sport aspect of it. When I worked at camps and we had those kinds of things, the kids were all about it. I think, sadly, these kids just don't know the spirit of athletic competition because most of the focus here is on academics and things like piano and violin lessons. The teachers all did a tug-of-war competition and the kids were just kind of like, meh. Campers used to go nuts when counselors competed against each other. Oh well. Also, the Fun Police (aka my co-teacher) was out in full force, making sure the kids did not have too much fun. All the other classes were running around like crazy people and my class was sitting on their mat. When we could finally blow some bubbles, they were confined to a small space and given strict instructions not to wander...or blow bubbles in their friends faces, which I did repeatedly. My co-teacher is nice and we get along, but she is really strict and not fun and it's frustrating. I know she's afraid the kids are going to get hurt, but they're kids. Again, I had a great time because I love doing that kind of thing (I wish we could have it every week!) but it would have been better for the kids if she would chill the fuck out.
Anyway, whatever. She's lame, so I'm the fun one and the kids know what's up.
After that, I was off to Jeju!!! That turned out to be fucking FANTASTIC. Seriously, it was everything I expected and much much more. Jeju is an island down at the bottom of Korea and it was amazing. It was sooooo beautiful, the weather was perfect, I met some great people and everything was just fantastic. Two tiny blips...I got a bad stomachache Saturday night so I had to go home early and not out with everyone, and my poor friend fell down some stairs and broke a bone in her foot. So that was a not so great ending. Even though, now, I have a fellow member in the "I broke my foot in a foreign country, on stairs, and not drunk" club. So hooray us.
However, the first part of the weekend was just ridiculously amazing. I had my doubts after the night long bus ride with no sleep, but I napped on the ferry ride over and then things starting being awesome. We rented scooters on U-Do, which translates into "Cow Island," but I never saw any cows. I was a little nervous about the scooter because the last time I drove a scooter (in Italy) I ran it into a wall. I am pretty bad with getting my hands to do two separate things, so I was afraid I would run into something, or someone, or run myself into the ocean. Luckily, I did none of things (except the one time I hit my friend, but I was going super slow, so it doesn't count) and I ended up having the best time on that thing. I also am pretty much a professional scooter driver now. Thinking of taking up a second job delivering food around the area on one (sike). U-Do was incredibly beautiful and I think probably my favorite part of the trip.
After that we hiked up to Crater Mountain, which was up A LOT of steps but worth it.It's one of the new natural wonders of the world. I'm not sure it was that spectacular, but I haven't seen the rest of them either so who knows. We checked into the hotel after that and I have never been so glad to take a shower. I also found out it would be my first experience with mats on the floor style bedding. It actually turned out to be pretty comfortable, so no complaints. We roomed with two other girls, one from South Africa and one from Wales and they turned about to be fantastic Soju drinking buddies. Soju is the official liquor of Korea and it's pretty potent. I don't mind the taste, when mixed with Cider (Sprite), and it gets the job done. We had really good Korean BBQ for dinner, with special Jeju black pig, which we were told was once fed with human feces. Yummy! Not anymore though, so we were told. Either way, it was totally delicious and my fatty roommates and i made some enemies because we were supposed to have a table of 6, but we were only 4 and people that came late didn't get any meat because we ate it all. Ooops! That is what you get for being late. Then it was hardcore Soju time and even though our "live band from Seoul" turned out to be a bust (one man acoustic guitar show), we still had a great time.
Oddly enough, I was pretty ok the next morning and had another great day of awesome sightseeing. I'm going to try and keep it short, because really only the pictures do the trip a little bit of justice (see fb), but each place we went was breathtakingly beautiful and awesome in it's own way. Don't ask me the names of any of these places because I never remember, sorry! The first place was a lagoon type place and we swam in some freezing cold water. Then we wandered down a beautiful ocean view path, saw "penis rock," walked through a movie set and then it was off to another spectacular view with volcanic rock shooting out of the ocean. Again, no idea the name of the place or the rocks, but they looked like tubes and were cool. Then we headed to a waterfall and another freezing cold lagoon, this time with an awesome bridge and cool fountains. For lunch we had some yummy Korean food and then it was to the beach. We only got about an hour of beach time, which was another sad part of the trip, but I enjoyed it anyway. Beach time is my favorite time and I need some more of it in my life soon! Then we went to a Buddhist temple to say Happy Birthday to Buddha and I got my fill of paper lanterns. I am in love with those things! I also drank so "healing water" that was dripping from a cave and I'm pretty sure that is what gave me the stomacheache. I wanted it to get rid of my cough, but I just picked up a new ailment instead. Dammit. Anyway, last stop of the trip was Loveland, which is probably the most ridiculous place I've ever been in my life. And that is counting LA. It's supposedly where Koreans used to go on honeymoons to "learn" how to have sex (apparently they are a little prude prior to marriage). It's a bunch of crazy statues and sculptures in these just ridiculous sexual positions. And lots and lots of penis sculptures. There's also a porn shop, and I video to watch (I didn't have time for that) and some interactive things you can do. It was interesting and funny, but I would have rather been on the beach for longer, haha. Oh well, least I can say I've been.
After the healing water, I didn't really have a stomach for dinner (mexican) so I went home afterwards and had an early night. I was super sad to go home but I knew I would be grumpy pants all night because I was not only filthy and tired, but also sick. So I spared everyone from that and went to bed. I was kind of glad the next day because after our two stops, it was a two hour ferry ride and a seven hour bus ride that included an accident, so I'm glad I was rested. The first stop was lava cave that was really interesting (and freezing) and the second was a maze that was not interesting. On the ferry ride back we watched the Korean version of American Idol. That show is on pretty much all the time, I'm assuming. I see it everywhere I go and once, in a bar, it was on the entire 4 hours we were there. Not sure what that was about.
Anyway, there was really bad traffic on the bus ride home and the bus driver rear ended another car, which then hit the car in front of it. No one was hurt, thankfully, and there was little damage to the cars. The most entertaining part was the Korean police officers that parked on the opposite side of the interstate and then just wandered across three lanes of busy traffic just blowing their whistles. Also entertaining, when we called our trip leader (on the other bus) and he's just like, oh ok, you guys are fine and will be on your way soon. This trip leader was one of the most ridiculous people I've ever met (he described Crater Mountain as "one of UNESCO's most fucking awesome coolest places in the world"), but he was right. He led us to some cool shit too, so I'm not complaining.
So that was my weekend. Again, awesome. This week has been flying by and tomorrow (Friday) we have a school cookout. A lot of people are being lame and not coming, but screw them. Me and my soju are going to have a great time! Then I'm going dancing. Can't wait!
Dream big people!
31 May 2012
23 May 2012
Le Tired
Hi friends! What a good weekend! Had kind of a crappy ending, as my allergies came back with a vengeance. Last night I couldn't decide if I was dreaming or if I was really that miserable with my stuffy nose and coughing. I'm guessing it was real since I woke up pretty much the same way. Damn pollen! Or yellow dust...or whatever they have here.
Feeling a little better today, but still not 100%. I have some meds, so we'll see how things are tomorrow. Anyway, the weekend! Friday I went to a Korean baseball game and it was tons of fun. So different from American baseball! Well, the same game and all that, but different atmosphere. I always had a great time at Dodger's games, but the crowd at this game was just total insanity and it was awesome. Nearly everyone had thundersticks, and a bucket of fried chicken (they are crazy for fried chicken over here). There were also cheerleaders and an actual cheer leader. This guy was standing on the dugout doing all kinds of dances and leading the crowd. I was in the cheap seats, in the outfield, so things were not quite as exciting in my section, but I could see and hear everything. They have a different cheer for each player, so they do his cheer when it's his turn to bat. Some of them are to really random songs, like "It's a Small World" and "Jesus Loves Me." They are, of course, all in Korean, so I couldn't really songs so I would either make up my own words or I would sing the real words. I'm sure everyone around me appreciated that. Anyway, the actual game wasn't all that exciting until the end, when "my" team (I just randomly decided to support a team) lost when they were down by run and the pitch hitter on second tried to steal third and got thrown out. Sucks to be him! After that, I cheered myself up with some Soju (Korean alcohol) and dancing so I was happy.
Saturday I went to the Lotus Lantern Festival, held in honor of Buddha's birthday, which is next Monday. It was really really cool. One of the coolest parades I have ever seen. And I've seen the Disney parade, so yeah, pretty cool. I put some pictures on fb and will do it here as well, but probably later because right now I am super tired. This cold or whatever I have going on is making me exhausted. But the parade had a lot of traditional Korean clothes, dancing, and homemade lanterns and the whole thing was just really interesting. I was, however, getting pretty fed up with parade bystanders. They had up barricades along the side of the road but they had gotten knocked down where we were standing so people just kept creeping out onto the road (and parade route) and it was really hard to see. I am a rules person, so I didn't want to be out in the road, so I was just getting angry. Plus, some of the people were getting in the way of the people in the road! What the hell? Move! Finally a "security guard" pushed them back some but we found somewhere else to stand. Rude.
Sunday I did some shopping and now it's Wednesday and I haven't really done anything interesting. Oh, I did get my haircut on Sunday and he straightened it again. Apparently this time it looked much better (than the first time) because literally, everyone at school complimented me on it. It was quite lovely. However, I'm a little worried to go back to the curly style because based on the compliments, I look a million times better with straight hair. It's too much work to do all the time so I am just going to have to be ugly some of the time. Sad.
Today at school we finally had our "Open Class," when the mommies come and watch us give a lesson. It's really more of a play than an actual class since the kids have to sing and dance and have rehearsed lines. It was kind of a stressful event, especially since some of the admin and other teachers make this HUGE deal about it. I guess if the moms don't like what they see, life gets difficult, but I didn't really think it was that big of a deal. However, I also think my parents seem pretty chill compared to other ones. Also, I was a little out of it, since I had taken cough medicine and it was a million degrees in our classroom. I honestly don't remember most of it. I do remember I asked the kids if they knew a grain other than rice and bread and no one answered, and then I couldn't think of one either so I just kind of tampered off and then started a new sentence. Hopefully no one caught that. And, pasta. Pasta is another grain in case you were stumped as well.
Oh! And I got a package in the mail from my mom this week and that made me SUPER happy. So if anyone else would like to make me happy, feel free to send some mail. I'll send you something cool and Korean back if you do!!!
Going to Jeju this weekend! Excited!!!
Whew, all this typing has made me extremely tired. Think I'll go to bed soon. It's 9:00.
Dream big people!
Feeling a little better today, but still not 100%. I have some meds, so we'll see how things are tomorrow. Anyway, the weekend! Friday I went to a Korean baseball game and it was tons of fun. So different from American baseball! Well, the same game and all that, but different atmosphere. I always had a great time at Dodger's games, but the crowd at this game was just total insanity and it was awesome. Nearly everyone had thundersticks, and a bucket of fried chicken (they are crazy for fried chicken over here). There were also cheerleaders and an actual cheer leader. This guy was standing on the dugout doing all kinds of dances and leading the crowd. I was in the cheap seats, in the outfield, so things were not quite as exciting in my section, but I could see and hear everything. They have a different cheer for each player, so they do his cheer when it's his turn to bat. Some of them are to really random songs, like "It's a Small World" and "Jesus Loves Me." They are, of course, all in Korean, so I couldn't really songs so I would either make up my own words or I would sing the real words. I'm sure everyone around me appreciated that. Anyway, the actual game wasn't all that exciting until the end, when "my" team (I just randomly decided to support a team) lost when they were down by run and the pitch hitter on second tried to steal third and got thrown out. Sucks to be him! After that, I cheered myself up with some Soju (Korean alcohol) and dancing so I was happy.
Saturday I went to the Lotus Lantern Festival, held in honor of Buddha's birthday, which is next Monday. It was really really cool. One of the coolest parades I have ever seen. And I've seen the Disney parade, so yeah, pretty cool. I put some pictures on fb and will do it here as well, but probably later because right now I am super tired. This cold or whatever I have going on is making me exhausted. But the parade had a lot of traditional Korean clothes, dancing, and homemade lanterns and the whole thing was just really interesting. I was, however, getting pretty fed up with parade bystanders. They had up barricades along the side of the road but they had gotten knocked down where we were standing so people just kept creeping out onto the road (and parade route) and it was really hard to see. I am a rules person, so I didn't want to be out in the road, so I was just getting angry. Plus, some of the people were getting in the way of the people in the road! What the hell? Move! Finally a "security guard" pushed them back some but we found somewhere else to stand. Rude.
Sunday I did some shopping and now it's Wednesday and I haven't really done anything interesting. Oh, I did get my haircut on Sunday and he straightened it again. Apparently this time it looked much better (than the first time) because literally, everyone at school complimented me on it. It was quite lovely. However, I'm a little worried to go back to the curly style because based on the compliments, I look a million times better with straight hair. It's too much work to do all the time so I am just going to have to be ugly some of the time. Sad.
Today at school we finally had our "Open Class," when the mommies come and watch us give a lesson. It's really more of a play than an actual class since the kids have to sing and dance and have rehearsed lines. It was kind of a stressful event, especially since some of the admin and other teachers make this HUGE deal about it. I guess if the moms don't like what they see, life gets difficult, but I didn't really think it was that big of a deal. However, I also think my parents seem pretty chill compared to other ones. Also, I was a little out of it, since I had taken cough medicine and it was a million degrees in our classroom. I honestly don't remember most of it. I do remember I asked the kids if they knew a grain other than rice and bread and no one answered, and then I couldn't think of one either so I just kind of tampered off and then started a new sentence. Hopefully no one caught that. And, pasta. Pasta is another grain in case you were stumped as well.
Oh! And I got a package in the mail from my mom this week and that made me SUPER happy. So if anyone else would like to make me happy, feel free to send some mail. I'll send you something cool and Korean back if you do!!!
Going to Jeju this weekend! Excited!!!
Whew, all this typing has made me extremely tired. Think I'll go to bed soon. It's 9:00.
Dream big people!
14 May 2012
Free stuff, FTW!
Today was awesome! It started off crappy, with rain and a frustrating morning meeting, but it improved 1000% by the end of the day.
Bad stuff first. Apparently it is a big no no for parents to give us presents. Even though it's teachers day AND the school didn't give us anything AND we work really hard AND we don't get paid all that much. But whatever. I'm not saying I deserve anything extra, but I think if the parents want to give us something, they should be able to do that. But no, the company makes this big deal and tells the parents to not give us gifts and today we were told that we would get punished for accepting them. They think we are going to show favoritism to kids whose parents give us gifts or some bullshit like that. Again, not that I expect to be showered in gifts, but I really don't think giving me a small token of appreciation is going to change my opinion of your child. It's especially frustrating because they don't even get grades or anything! I really just don't even understand how favoritism would even be shown. Like, would I start giving an excessive amount of high fives and hugs to one kid because his parents gave me a gift certificate? No. That is ridiculous. And the even more ridiculous part is that our supervisor was saying that some of the parents are sneaky and will offer up the present and then tattle on us if we keep it. They'll tell the other parents and look down on us. WHAT THE FUCK PEOPLE?! Seriously the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I haven't had to deal first hand with any total crazy parents yet, but some of the stories I've heard have made them sound straight up psycho. Some were at the school spying on a teacher the other day! Not looking forward to my turn. Today I did get some cookies and apparently we are only allowed to keep presents we can eat. Which makes zero sense because it's still a form of "bribing" if that's how you want to look at it and furthermore, I don't want to keep the edible presents because I'm trying to lose weight AND Korean sweets are the least appetizing thing ever. So dammit. Additionally, I think it would be kind of rude to just give a present. Like, thanks for your thoughtfulness, but no thanks. Whatever. Spent too long on the bad news.
The good news! Lots of it! I found the Subway today! And it tasted the same as at home! Yay, got my sandwich fix. Also, our principal agreed to let my friend and I host Zumba classes in the gym after school some days. This is going to be hilarious and awesome. Zumba is super fun and while I have a great time with my one woman Zumba party in my room, it's kind of small and lonely. So having it in the gym will be nice. Also, doing it with other people will be really fun. It might be a little hard since no one else has done it and we don't have a teacher...we just have to follow along with online videos. We'll see how it goes...I'll keep you posted. Plus I get to go to a legit class tomorrow! Maybe we can talk that teacher into coming to our school. It's kind of far. We'll see. Our principal also agreed to let us have a teacher's cookout on our roof in a few weeks, so that will be fun as well.
More good news! Going to a baseball game on Friday! Fun fun! And, there is a lantern festival this weekend and it looks SUPER fun. I can't wait! The stuff online looks amazing. And on Sunday you can make your own Buddhist paper lantern and "pray for your wishes." So hopefully after this weekend all my dreams will come true. Can't wait.
And the best news! I got a ton of free shit today! A girl in my building is moving out and is giving away tons of stuff. I got shoes, a table, a bookshelf, a Swiffer, all kinds of awesome stuff!!! I am seriously so stoked. I have been scouring the internet for a bookshelf and not only did I NOT have to pay for this one, but it was just two floors down from me! Free stuff is awesome! Hooray!!!! Monday, for the win! :)
A sandwich and a free bookshelf! What a good day.
Oh, also, not to totally copy LizzyLou, but I've decided to start posting my craftiness as well! I made it a page on the side ----> http://jackydoeslife.blogspot.com/p/craft-craft-craft-it-up.html Check it out, if you want.
Dream big people!
Oh yeah, and if you didn't watch Will Ferrell host Saturday Night Live, you should look that shit up right now and laugh your ass off. Funkytown was amazing and the 100th Digital Short rocked my face off. I was literally laughing out loud in my apartment, by myself.
Pics of the free stuff:
Bad stuff first. Apparently it is a big no no for parents to give us presents. Even though it's teachers day AND the school didn't give us anything AND we work really hard AND we don't get paid all that much. But whatever. I'm not saying I deserve anything extra, but I think if the parents want to give us something, they should be able to do that. But no, the company makes this big deal and tells the parents to not give us gifts and today we were told that we would get punished for accepting them. They think we are going to show favoritism to kids whose parents give us gifts or some bullshit like that. Again, not that I expect to be showered in gifts, but I really don't think giving me a small token of appreciation is going to change my opinion of your child. It's especially frustrating because they don't even get grades or anything! I really just don't even understand how favoritism would even be shown. Like, would I start giving an excessive amount of high fives and hugs to one kid because his parents gave me a gift certificate? No. That is ridiculous. And the even more ridiculous part is that our supervisor was saying that some of the parents are sneaky and will offer up the present and then tattle on us if we keep it. They'll tell the other parents and look down on us. WHAT THE FUCK PEOPLE?! Seriously the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I haven't had to deal first hand with any total crazy parents yet, but some of the stories I've heard have made them sound straight up psycho. Some were at the school spying on a teacher the other day! Not looking forward to my turn. Today I did get some cookies and apparently we are only allowed to keep presents we can eat. Which makes zero sense because it's still a form of "bribing" if that's how you want to look at it and furthermore, I don't want to keep the edible presents because I'm trying to lose weight AND Korean sweets are the least appetizing thing ever. So dammit. Additionally, I think it would be kind of rude to just give a present. Like, thanks for your thoughtfulness, but no thanks. Whatever. Spent too long on the bad news.
The good news! Lots of it! I found the Subway today! And it tasted the same as at home! Yay, got my sandwich fix. Also, our principal agreed to let my friend and I host Zumba classes in the gym after school some days. This is going to be hilarious and awesome. Zumba is super fun and while I have a great time with my one woman Zumba party in my room, it's kind of small and lonely. So having it in the gym will be nice. Also, doing it with other people will be really fun. It might be a little hard since no one else has done it and we don't have a teacher...we just have to follow along with online videos. We'll see how it goes...I'll keep you posted. Plus I get to go to a legit class tomorrow! Maybe we can talk that teacher into coming to our school. It's kind of far. We'll see. Our principal also agreed to let us have a teacher's cookout on our roof in a few weeks, so that will be fun as well.
More good news! Going to a baseball game on Friday! Fun fun! And, there is a lantern festival this weekend and it looks SUPER fun. I can't wait! The stuff online looks amazing. And on Sunday you can make your own Buddhist paper lantern and "pray for your wishes." So hopefully after this weekend all my dreams will come true. Can't wait.
And the best news! I got a ton of free shit today! A girl in my building is moving out and is giving away tons of stuff. I got shoes, a table, a bookshelf, a Swiffer, all kinds of awesome stuff!!! I am seriously so stoked. I have been scouring the internet for a bookshelf and not only did I NOT have to pay for this one, but it was just two floors down from me! Free stuff is awesome! Hooray!!!! Monday, for the win! :)
A sandwich and a free bookshelf! What a good day.
Oh, also, not to totally copy LizzyLou, but I've decided to start posting my craftiness as well! I made it a page on the side ----> http://jackydoeslife.blogspot.com/p/craft-craft-craft-it-up.html Check it out, if you want.
Dream big people!
Oh yeah, and if you didn't watch Will Ferrell host Saturday Night Live, you should look that shit up right now and laugh your ass off. Funkytown was amazing and the 100th Digital Short rocked my face off. I was literally laughing out loud in my apartment, by myself.
Pics of the free stuff:
11 May 2012
I am a good sister
Just wanted to let everyone know that my sister started a blog about the cute things she makes. So check it out yo!
http://lizzylou-erik2.blogspot.com/?spref=fb
So, all 12 followers, enjoy!
And like I said, I myself have really been into the crayon medium lately so maybe I'll post some of my fantastic creations when I feel like uploading pictures. For now, enjoy her crafts!
Annyeoung!
Dream big people :)
http://lizzylou-erik2.blogspot.com/?spref=fb
So, all 12 followers, enjoy!
And like I said, I myself have really been into the crayon medium lately so maybe I'll post some of my fantastic creations when I feel like uploading pictures. For now, enjoy her crafts!
Annyeoung!
Dream big people :)
09 May 2012
Sea Mustard Soup
Health and food month is proving to be a bit difficult here in Korea. For one thing, when I try to get the kids to talk about what they had for breakfast, I get a bunch of blank stares. I think part of the problem is that they only know the foods in Korean and eat a lot of foods that there isn't an English translation for (or they don't know it). I managed to get "sea mustard soup" out of one girl as her breakfast meal. I have no idea what that is, but it doesn't really sound like an appetizing breakfast to me. Another one said rice, which also doesn't seem that tasty in the morning. That also means they have rice for at least breakfast and lunch (we have it everyday at lunch) and I'm guessing they probably have it at dinner as well. That is a shit ton of rice. I eat the rice once every few weeks...I can't imagine eating it for every meal of the day.
Every day we have a "password" and the kids are supposed to keep repeating it all day. It's basically just another stupid thing we have to worry about during the day. Yesterday's was "I had breakfast this morning," which is why we were discussing breakfast food. I loved today's password, "lunch was delicious" for a couple of reasons. One, it was boiled octopus day, along with kimchi and rice, of course. So, I don't really think lunch really was all that delicious, but whatever, I don't make the passwords. But also, the kids saying it was cracking me up so much. Delicious is a pretty long and grown up word for them and it was pretty hilarious to hear them all saying it. Plus, now, they all say, "jacky teacher, delicious!" for the snack or whatever instead of "yummy." They grow up so fast.
I really do like school, but damn if they don't make us do SO much stuff. Pretty much every day something new gets added onto my to do list and it never all gets done. I wouldn't mind so much if we didn't have to do the stupid after school classes. What bothers me about those is there is no book or anything so I just have to find stupid crap to do for an hour and a half. Whatever, enough complaining.
We got two new students this week. One is a little girl and her dad was a famous soccer player in Korea and is now on the Korean version of Dancing With the Stars. (*note: this may not be true. I just spent the better part of an hour looking for this guy and found nothing. It's what I was told, but my school is full of crap sometimes) I can't wait to meet him so we can discuss our TV star lifestyles. Also awesome, she has a brother who's English name is Messi. Pretty fantastic. Her name is not after anyone cool...that I know of anyway. Messi is a super famous soccer player for Barcelona and he just broke some major goal scoring record recently. You can also see him in the 'Waka Waka' video from the World Cup 2010. He's the one with the really bad hair. Anyway, I guess the dad is a fan. I've heard from another teacher they knew a kid named Totti, who is a famous soccer player for Roma. Cracks me up.
Anyway, went to Zumba last night! Super fun, so glad I found a class here. It's pretty far to get to, but I think it'll be fun if my friends go as well. It wasn't as fun as in LA, but it might have been because it was in a teeny tiny bar with a pretty crappy sound system instead of a gym, but whatever.
So, yeah, I'm done with this post. I just realized how boring and stupid it is. Sorry friends.
Dream big people!
Every day we have a "password" and the kids are supposed to keep repeating it all day. It's basically just another stupid thing we have to worry about during the day. Yesterday's was "I had breakfast this morning," which is why we were discussing breakfast food. I loved today's password, "lunch was delicious" for a couple of reasons. One, it was boiled octopus day, along with kimchi and rice, of course. So, I don't really think lunch really was all that delicious, but whatever, I don't make the passwords. But also, the kids saying it was cracking me up so much. Delicious is a pretty long and grown up word for them and it was pretty hilarious to hear them all saying it. Plus, now, they all say, "jacky teacher, delicious!" for the snack or whatever instead of "yummy." They grow up so fast.
I really do like school, but damn if they don't make us do SO much stuff. Pretty much every day something new gets added onto my to do list and it never all gets done. I wouldn't mind so much if we didn't have to do the stupid after school classes. What bothers me about those is there is no book or anything so I just have to find stupid crap to do for an hour and a half. Whatever, enough complaining.
We got two new students this week. One is a little girl and her dad was a famous soccer player in Korea and is now on the Korean version of Dancing With the Stars. (*note: this may not be true. I just spent the better part of an hour looking for this guy and found nothing. It's what I was told, but my school is full of crap sometimes) I can't wait to meet him so we can discuss our TV star lifestyles. Also awesome, she has a brother who's English name is Messi. Pretty fantastic. Her name is not after anyone cool...that I know of anyway. Messi is a super famous soccer player for Barcelona and he just broke some major goal scoring record recently. You can also see him in the 'Waka Waka' video from the World Cup 2010. He's the one with the really bad hair. Anyway, I guess the dad is a fan. I've heard from another teacher they knew a kid named Totti, who is a famous soccer player for Roma. Cracks me up.
Anyway, went to Zumba last night! Super fun, so glad I found a class here. It's pretty far to get to, but I think it'll be fun if my friends go as well. It wasn't as fun as in LA, but it might have been because it was in a teeny tiny bar with a pretty crappy sound system instead of a gym, but whatever.
So, yeah, I'm done with this post. I just realized how boring and stupid it is. Sorry friends.
Dream big people!
08 May 2012
What Remind is Future
The title is what I saw on a woman's t-shirt the other day on my walk to school. Love it! Makes no sense whatsoever, but who cares. I love that someone was like, yes, let's put that on a shirt. Then someone else approved it and did the actual making of the shirt. And then yet another person was like, ok, I'm going to buy this and wear it out in public now. And none of these people questioned the validity of this English statement. Again, love it. Can't say that I wouldn't do the same with shirts in other languages. Couldn't tell you what they said and probably wouldn't care. My only thing...the shirt with this sentence had only the words on it...not even anything else. So I'm not sure what kind of statement they were trying to make. Anyway.
Happy late Cinco de Mayo everyone! But even more important, HAPPY 2 YEAR ELLEN ANNIVERSARY!!!!! Yes yes, the best and most awesome day of my life ever (it's in close competition for one other day, but still remains the best) happened two years ago on May 5 and thus catapulted me into TV stardom. Seriously, I can't walk around anywhere without getting stared at. Here, it may be because I'm one of very few non-Korean people wandering around, but whatever. It happens all the time. But, that is the price you have to pay for being awesome and famous.
May 5 is also the day I graduated from college FIVE years ago! Time is just flying by! Seriously, I can't believe it's been five years. Lots of craziness has gone in these five years. Don't feel like getting into all that now.
What I do feel like sharing is my fantastic victory over Korea today. I bought ONE tomato!!! Take that, stupid grocery store and even stupider veggie selling truck man!!! I get what I want, bitches! And I wanted one tomato. If graduating from college five years ago is not a sign of getting old, I definitely think counting buying one tomato as a major victory is a big sign. Also, a sign of slightly sad and lonely life. But whatever! I have regained some faith in this crazy country I'm in. Things are looking up. As are the temperatures. See what I did there? Nice.
Anyway, it is a little late for me to be posting. Nothing too exciting going on over here other than making new friends, enjoying my one tomato and been really getting into crayons lately. And I'm really looking forward to tomorrow because I found a Zumba class to go to!!! Yay!!!!
Dream big people!
PS-In case you needed a reminder of the awesomeness:
Happy late Cinco de Mayo everyone! But even more important, HAPPY 2 YEAR ELLEN ANNIVERSARY!!!!! Yes yes, the best and most awesome day of my life ever (it's in close competition for one other day, but still remains the best) happened two years ago on May 5 and thus catapulted me into TV stardom. Seriously, I can't walk around anywhere without getting stared at. Here, it may be because I'm one of very few non-Korean people wandering around, but whatever. It happens all the time. But, that is the price you have to pay for being awesome and famous.
May 5 is also the day I graduated from college FIVE years ago! Time is just flying by! Seriously, I can't believe it's been five years. Lots of craziness has gone in these five years. Don't feel like getting into all that now.
What I do feel like sharing is my fantastic victory over Korea today. I bought ONE tomato!!! Take that, stupid grocery store and even stupider veggie selling truck man!!! I get what I want, bitches! And I wanted one tomato. If graduating from college five years ago is not a sign of getting old, I definitely think counting buying one tomato as a major victory is a big sign. Also, a sign of slightly sad and lonely life. But whatever! I have regained some faith in this crazy country I'm in. Things are looking up. As are the temperatures. See what I did there? Nice.
Anyway, it is a little late for me to be posting. Nothing too exciting going on over here other than making new friends, enjoying my one tomato and been really getting into crayons lately. And I'm really looking forward to tomorrow because I found a Zumba class to go to!!! Yay!!!!
Dream big people!
PS-In case you needed a reminder of the awesomeness:
02 May 2012
Eat Your Rice
Nothing super exciting going on over here in the far East. The prison tour last week was pretty interesting. It was where the Japanese people kept Korean activists during the Japanese occupation in the early 1900s. Apparently the Japanese were total jerks. I kept my Japanese heritage to myself during the tour...I just felt it wasn't something my company needed to know. Not that I'm ashamed or anything, I just didn't feel it needed to be brought up then. There is still some animosity against the Japanese here, mainly with the older generations but I think most of it is gone now...or people my age are just kind of indifferent. Anyway, they have a museum and people can go into the basement and see how people were tortured. Our guide said they used to have reenactments and sound effects, but it was making children cry, so they stopped. And I'm glad, it was pretty creepy down there and I don't think I would have enjoyed screaming sounds in addition. They also had this box type thing that was supposed to be designed so that you couldn't stand up all the way...they would lock you in there for a few days. However, I could stand up in it just fine. I guess I am short, even by Asian standards.
After the tour, we went on a hike that was described as "easy" by our guide but my out of shape self did not find it particularly easy. It was a lot of steps and some pretty steep climbing for a pretty long amount of time. I did make it to the top, though, and go a lovely view of some construction. There were other spots where you could get a good view of Seoul, so it was nice. It was an intense walk down, almost harder than walking up. Our guide fell and possibly broke his ankle, so that was no good. There are guards are all over the place on the trail, and they are apparently not trained in emergency rescue tactics. I was told they are mainly up there so people don't take pictures of the "Blue House," which is the Korean version of the White House. However, everyone around me was taking pictures of whatever and no one was saying anything, so I'm not really sure what they are for.
Anyway, nothing too exciting this week. Had our random day off yesterday. I got some rest, took a nice stroll around a park, had Indian food for a friend's birthday and had some wine down by the river. The weather is finally nice and it's been really nice to chill down by the river in the evening. I also went "running" down by the river today and it was lovely. There are a ton of gnats, all in these huge swarms, but you can kind of dodge them if you're paying attention.
Oh yeah, so this month's theme is "health and nutrition." It already makes me laugh that we're teaching them about "healthy" eating, but the school food doesn't really include a lot of fruit and veggies...also, the Korean teachers encourage them to eat all their rice..not all their veggies. Anyway, not that I'm one to harp on healthy eating, but I also love that this Friday we're celebrating "Children's Day" by giving them a chicken burger and a soda for a picnic. Eat healthy kids...but only at home. Love it.
Looking forward to the weekend! A very important anniversary is coming up! Exciting!!!
Dream big people!
After the tour, we went on a hike that was described as "easy" by our guide but my out of shape self did not find it particularly easy. It was a lot of steps and some pretty steep climbing for a pretty long amount of time. I did make it to the top, though, and go a lovely view of some construction. There were other spots where you could get a good view of Seoul, so it was nice. It was an intense walk down, almost harder than walking up. Our guide fell and possibly broke his ankle, so that was no good. There are guards are all over the place on the trail, and they are apparently not trained in emergency rescue tactics. I was told they are mainly up there so people don't take pictures of the "Blue House," which is the Korean version of the White House. However, everyone around me was taking pictures of whatever and no one was saying anything, so I'm not really sure what they are for.
Anyway, nothing too exciting this week. Had our random day off yesterday. I got some rest, took a nice stroll around a park, had Indian food for a friend's birthday and had some wine down by the river. The weather is finally nice and it's been really nice to chill down by the river in the evening. I also went "running" down by the river today and it was lovely. There are a ton of gnats, all in these huge swarms, but you can kind of dodge them if you're paying attention.
Oh yeah, so this month's theme is "health and nutrition." It already makes me laugh that we're teaching them about "healthy" eating, but the school food doesn't really include a lot of fruit and veggies...also, the Korean teachers encourage them to eat all their rice..not all their veggies. Anyway, not that I'm one to harp on healthy eating, but I also love that this Friday we're celebrating "Children's Day" by giving them a chicken burger and a soda for a picnic. Eat healthy kids...but only at home. Love it.
Looking forward to the weekend! A very important anniversary is coming up! Exciting!!!
Dream big people!
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