Here are more samples of why my school is awesome.

So this post is dedicated to ShinHeung Girls' Middle School and the awesome-ness of my co-workers, students, and staff.

Reasons why my school rocks:

1. Cafeteria lunch is consistently AWESOME. I hope I am not jinxing myself when I say this, but seriously. They serve the teachers exactly what they serve the students, and oh my god, it's delicious. Naturally, there are the usuals: rice (loads of it... I eat soooo much), kimchi'd something (cabbage, radishes, etc), and some kind of soup (today= budae chigaee or soldier soup, which has kimchi, hot dogs, and these little peanut shaped rice cakes that are seriously the most delicious thing in all of Korea). Plus, always another side (sprouts, noodles, fried squash, sauteed veggies, etc) and some kind of meat dish (fish, pork and potatoes, chicken, pot stickers, sweet and sour chicken). It's so much food, and it's as much as your little heart desires. Probably every other day there is also some kind of extra treat (banana milk, apples, fruit salad, fruit juice, etc).

2. My students are hilarious. They write me notes in class sometimes. Let me rephrase this, one class had about 4 students who wrote notes to me. They all say essentially the same thing, To: English Teacher~~ Hi teacher! My name is ________. 1st grade, 5 class. Teacher, you very tall. Teacher very very cute. I'm is very short. (korean sad face: T.T)
Sometimes there will be some variation, such as when one student wrote, " teacher!! I like black people!! Please. introduce me to black people~/" HILARIOUS. Seriously.

Plus my students come into my office still during lunch or after school. They come chat about all sorts of different things, and they love gossiping with me, or playing games and stuff. I have them help me with my cyworld, and we talk about kpop sometimes.

3. I have been able to get really involved really quickly. I work some Saturdays at a special program in Chinatown. And I'm doing a dance for and English festival at the end of October. We're doing a dance to High School Musical's "School's Out" that is going to be awesome. The students worked on the choreography for the dance, and we practice ALL the time, which is really fun. They always bring snacks, which are delicious, and terrible for me. They always give me the biggest piece, which is ridiculous. They are really patient with my terrible dancing and memory for the moves. Plus, they are really hardworking and dedicated to making the dance as awesome as possible. It's 7 Grade 3's, and they are WONDERFUL. Love the crap out of them. The pictures are of the girls I'm doing the dance with.

4. My co-teachers treat me like I am their child. Since I don't speak Korean and don't have any idea what the hell I'm doing with life here, they step me through everything. My co-teacher has bought my Dream Concert tickets on gmarket (a Korean language only ebay/ticketmaster/amazon combination), called for directions and instructions for getting my phone fixed, paying my bills, showed me the bus schedules and how they all work, and then does all my paperwork and such for me. Another co-teacher of mine invites me for coffee in her office every day. She got me an electric teapot in my classroom. She burnt me a dvd with three different movies on it (district 9, sunshine cleaning, and 17 again). She made me a stamp that says "I love English" and has my name on it for me to use in class (OMG LOVE!). Then they all translate everything everyone else says for me so that I can understand all the compliments everyone showers on me on a daily basis.

5. This picture. ahahahaha. The arrow is pointing in the general direction of the school. ahahahahaha again.

So yeah.

xoxo,
A

Random Asides

This weekend topped my previous weekend with respect to going out, but that's easy to do considering that since orientation I haven't really gone out at all. So, this weekend I went down to Seoul Friday night, which ended up being a great idea, especially considering that I don't really have classes this week. Instead of 18 hours of classroom time, I actually only have 8 hours, three of which will be spent reading a book while the students study for exams. As such, I didn't really have to plan for classes, and so was able to kick back and thoroughly enjoy my weekend. ^^

Friday night I met Beth and Bekah at a Mexican restaurant. I had already eaten at home before leaving, and so I didn't eat anything. We got up to their place and hung out for a little while, watching some t.v. As people started coming over, we moved the gathering to the rooftop which I had described before, but is pretty sweet. There were about 10 people at the height of the gathering, which is cool with me. We were just hanging out, drinking, playing games. We played never have I ever, and this game where someone says "who is most/least likely to..." and then on the count of three everyone points to the person they think is most/least likely. There are other rules but that's the premise. Everyone presumed me the prude of the group through much of the game, which is fine by me. IMO, better than everyone presuming me the skank.

Anyhow, so then we headed back downstairs and hit the sack. Slept in Beth's bed again, and evade fan death AGAIN. Boy, we are lucky lucky girls. Anyways, so we had practice at 1, so we all slept in until like 11:00 or so. Bekah and I went down to the Waffle Factory for good old American breakfast with Carne and Vernal, two guys who played ultimate at UCSD. It was delicious (pancakes, bacon, potatoes, scrambled eggs, ham, maple syrup and HONEY butter, hellz yeah) albeit a bit pricey. Headed to the fields via taxi (definitely the easiest way to get there from their house). I balled at practice, which was awesome. I felt really good at practice, no aches/pains, and my throws looked solid. After practice, a group of about 9 of us went to this delicious burger place, where I had a bbq bacon cheeseburger (OMG, so delectable) as did half the table.

Headed back to Bekah & Beth's place for showers. Given that there were like 7 people showering,this ordeal took quite a bit of time. Beth and I managed to get back first and so we were able to take the first two showers, which was awesome. Ventured over to a micro-brewery called Ka-Brew (I love the name) for all-you-can-drink beer for 10,000 won, which is just under 10 bucks. In good ol' gainesville, cup nights are usually less than that, but in Korea, that's a regular steal. Plus it wasn't just cass or hite. They had a dark ale and a weizen that were pretty decent. Did a little boatracing (two times, two Ws, reppin' florida to the fullest) and this game called Ts&Ss, a game Tweazy introduced. Basically it's a word association game, but the word you say cannot begin with a T or an S, nor can it be a name. Obvi, breaking the rule means you lose. I was okay, although I did try to start a round with table, which is obviously illegal and it wasn't even a free association, it was the word I started with (which is 2 drinks). Then went to Itaewon, a really ex-pat laden area. Went to this one bar where we all had a shot of whiskey and a jagerbomb (my first ever!!) before dipping. Then walked up "hooker hill" which is exactly what it sounds like to Polly's, a shady American dance club. But the music was good, even if there were creepers that I had to be saved from on more than one occasion. Danced like crazy, got home around 3:30.

Went to bed, evaded fan death, league at 1:30= Paris Baguette at 12:30. Got to the fields, won a game real fast, had a beer, celebrated Jin's birthday. Got hit on (sort-of) by really really really drunk jin. Went out to eat at this awesome spicy soup place. omg, so effing delicious. Got really drunk at dinner, thanks to the abundance of Koreans with us. The soju and mekhju were flowing. Did a sort of soju bomb, which was disgusting, but the presentation was impressive. I own Jaebom 13,000 won for dinner, because I was straight up out of cash. Went to Yongsan shopping center/tracks/idk what to call it, and found an open terrace-y area where we drank some more, threw around some, and danced on a stage to Korean music. I got octopus danced. I played some flutterguts (went 1-2, but I did pretty well until the last game, for the championship, when I fell apart). Then went back to Bekahs to try to catch a bus back to Incheon. I left their house just before midnight, but all the ATMs in their entire neighborhood don't dispense cash at 11:30, so I couldn't get cash to pay a taxi driver to take me to the bus station or for the bus thing. I couldn't even recharge my t-money card because you have to use cash. Stayed at Bekahs, woke up at 5:10 and took the subway back to Incheon this morning. omg, SUCKED.

So that was my weekend.

Onto what this post was initially supposed to be about:

My phone story:

I had been having problems with my phone for a while, pretty much from the second day I got it, but I had been ignoring it. My teacher had called twice to ask for help, and they said I had to go to a special service center. Then I called their English service line, which was of no use because I hardly talked to the lady once, because she need a translator, that being a student of mine/another English teacher. I had a student write down an explanation in Korea of what was wrong with my phone (can't place calls, can't receive calls, send/receive texts, but only sometimes... error message: use after registration). So, I figured that hopefully I was prepared enough to have my problem fixed. I was hoping I could just waltz in and have them either fix my phone or offer me a new one really quick and easy. So that's not exactly what happened. Basically I went to the service center, and there was a whole group of women dressed up really cute and matchy, and I got signaled over to one, where I sat down, gave her my phone and my notebook with my student's explanation of the problem. She asked me for my name, phone number, etc. I gave it to her. She then said a bunch of stuff in Korean that I didn't understand and handed me a buzzer of sorts with a receipt taped to it. She put my phone in a little silk embroidered bag and carried it off, motioning me to follow her. We went to the back, where about 6 tech people were working on different phones. There were people sitting around. I walked up and sat down, and handed the guy my notebook, declaring, "I don't speak Korean, sorry." Still, he spoke Korean to me and I was just like uh, I don't know what you're saying. And he clearly was embarassed (for me, by himself, idk), and I felt really bad because it's not his fault I don't speak the official language of the country. It was really hard because he obviously had questions, and he couldn't communicate them to me. I spoke slowly in english which I think he could understand more or less, and I explained my problem. I tried calling a Korean friend, with no luck. Then another guy came over and got on his phone speaking Korean and looking at me like a retard. He eventually handed his phone to me, saying talk to my friend. I answered the phone and this lady translated some very basic questions. How long have you had this phone? when did this start? How long will you be in Korea? etc. I told her, handed the phone back. Then the guy basically just said to me *korean korean korean* upgrade *korean korean korean* and all I heard was upgrade and I was like yes yes yes yes yes do that. So they upgraded my phone and all it took was three phone calls to a translator, two brief cries, two really wonderful Korean phone service people, and a lot of my remnding myself "if this is the worst thing that has happened to you here so far, you are a lucky little bitch"

So it was a lot more traumatic at the moment than it sounds now, but this story was recapped in like 10 seconds for what actually took almost an hour (and only should have taken 20-30 minutes if only I could speak Korean). It was rough. Trust me.

But now my phone works like a charm. As they say in Korea: FIGHTING! (pronounced: pie-ting), which is a cheer of encouragement.

I'm gonna drop another Korean phrase on you:

Go, go, go! (said quickly with an overly perky high pitched voice).

I'm out.

xoxo,
A

Public Transport

So these are my options for traversing this great land of the morning calm:

1. Walking

I do this often. For various reasons. First, because I think it's good exercise since the only restaurants close to my apartment are one Korean restaurant, two bakeries, a McDonalds and a chain called bbq chicken and beer (never been) which is going to make me incredibly fat if I don't watch out. The other reason I walk so frequently is because I have no idea what bus to take to get back to my apartment/get to the train station/go to e-mart or it is too expensive to take a taxi. Taxis aren't terribly expensive, but still. I took a taxi to the phone service place to get it fixed (this is a whole other story for another time... seriously, my first adventure ALONE in a situation where I am not in the least linguistically prepared to succeed), and it cost 4200 won. That's right around 4 bucks, but the bus costs 90 cents or so, and walking is free. I decided I would walk a little ways and look for a bus stop that had buses running to the general vicinity of my apartment. I ended up walking for about a half hour before I found a bus that *supposedly* went to my apartment area. I made it home safely, needless to say, although it was a bit of an adventure.

2. Taking the bus

This is an economical, but highly limited option. This option is limited to the 6 or so buses that run somewhat close to my apartment, as the prospect of tranferring buses seems unendingly long and impossibly difficult. Frankly, taking the bus is pretty cool. Lots of people stare at me like I'm crazy, as I have yet to been on the bus with a single other westerner at any time. It's odd because I see westerners around my way fairly often (everyday I see at least one person who is from the west), but I have never, ever, ever seen a western person riding or even waiting for the bus. It's a pretty simple task really. Especially since most of the buses make announcements about where you are in English. Just stay alert during the ride and be prepared to push people out of your way and pushed out of other peoples' ways. I take the bus to e-mart. I take the bus to dongincheon. I take the bus to shinpo market. I take the bus to city hall. I take the bus all over. I take the bus so I can use the next form of transportation:

3. Train/subway

I suppose it really is a train, since it isn't underground. But, I take the train often. This is because there is nothing where I live, and so to meet with other EPIK people, or to go to Seoul I must take the train. The train/subways themselves, as well as their stations are usually VERY nice. The subway is very clean, and very efficient. In fact, the other day, I took the train to Juan station (about 4 stops down from me) and I stepped onto the train to discover it had been decorated to the nines for the fall. We are talking flowers and orange and yellow and red leaves everywhere, and the doors all had different mural-type images on them. See picture. That's my subway. Each stop is spaced about 2 minutes apart, and there is a rapid train to Yongsan in Seoul which cuts down my travel time to Seoul significantly. I need to get a copy of the Yongsan rapid schedule so I can make sure I catch that instead of the regular. It probably cuts a third off the time it takes to get to Seoul. Anyhow, it's really well run, and usually only moderately crowded. In Incheon, it is almost never crowded but as we approach Seoul, naturally the subway becomes increasingly busy.

I don't mind the influx of people, as long as they are not creepers. Unfortunately, as a 6'2" fair skinned blonde chick, the creepers abound. Last trip to Seoul, this total weirdo old man (we are talking OLD here, like 60+) is staring at me, and standing MUCH closer than is necessary to me. I am standing, holding on to a railing, but then seats open up (luckily none next to each other) and I grab one away from the guy. Problem solved, right? WRONG. In fact, the man just takes my walking away as a beckoning, and so he follows me (after a delay of about 35 seconds, just long enough to allow me to breathe a sigh of relief), and he proceeds to stand over me, again unnecessarily close. At this point, I choose simply to turn my ipod up (oh the soothing sounds of taeyang cooing in my ear *swooooon*) and ignore him. Bad decision. This gives him the impression that I don't mind IF HE TOUCHES ME. So, he leans in, hand reaching out directly towards my chest, and I attempt to lean out of the way (damn that lady next to me, firmly holding onto her personal space). But falter not, he pushes forward while I manage to eck out a guttural grunt of disgust (words had left me) as he pullsa strand of my blonde hair off my sweater just above my chest. Had his hand lingered a half second longer or a half centimeter lower, old man would have lost his damn fingers.

Anyways, as for my other transportation story. This involves sleeping on the subway. The trains here are easily the smoothest running trains I have every ridden (I've taken a fair number of trains/subways in my day, from Europe to chitown to tri-rail), and nothing compares to the KTX trains. Seriously, they have straps to hold onto but you really don't need them. As such, it is very very easy to fall asleep on the train. In fact, I myself am guilty of that very charge. After a long day of Ultimate, an hour and a half trip back to Incheon on a subway that gently rocks you back and forth while the crooning of k-pops is piped through my ipod headphones is my idea of heaven. Evidentally, mine and everyone else on the subway. My second time ever taking the subway back from Seoul, I am sitting between two gentleman. One, an older man, who had been sitting there from the moment I got on the train, and the other, a high school boy, still dressed in his school uniform after a long day of studying at hagwons (or, as they call them in English, Academy). The older man was already dozing softly when I was sitting down (he was lucky enough to get a seat by the door, which has a guardrailing that can act as a surprisingly comfortable pillow) and the boy, along with his friend, got on about two stops later. The boy leans his head back against the glass and starts to nod off gently. The man to my left is clearly in a deep sleep. And what should happen next. The older man rolls his head forward, to the right, and then forward again. He leans forward a bit more, and a bit more, and a bit more, until it seems he is about to put his head in his lap, when BOOM, he falls forward, face first into the floor. Poor old guy is splayed out on the floor, and I gasp in shock, not really sure what the appropriate response is. He gets up, rubs his eyes, sits right back down and promptly falls back asleep. Evidentally, this is nothing to be worried about. All the while the high school boy is sleeping next to me, nodding awake everytime his head slips to one side or the other. As the journey progresses, though, his head manages to slip just a few millimeters further each time before he jolts awake. The next thing I know, his shoulder is digging into my arm as he slips into a deeper sleep. I nudge him awake. The same thing happens again. I nudge him awake. And again. But this time, I cannot nudge him awake. Instead, his tired head falls gently on my shoulder, and I'm sitting on the training wondering, what is the korean protocol for this situation? I don't want to be rude, but my arm is falling asleep. Luckily, his friend takes notice and promptly knees him in the shin (ouch!). He sits up, but only for about a minute. His head sinks again, and he leans into me with dead weight of sleep, and I look up pleadingly at his friend. His friend again comes to my rescue by grabbing his friend by the hair and pulling his head off my shoulder. Again, apparently this is common. From what I've seen since then, everyone sleeps on the train, and everyone leans into each other. Common courtesy appears to be to allow the person to sleep in comfort until he/she impedes your comfort. Dually noted.

I have so many things to tell everyone, and not nearly enough time or energy to type it all!

Upcoming posts:
1. How to get your phone fixed in Korea when it stops working.
2. How to get rejected for McDonalds delivery (probably a blessing, really)
3. Signing up for Korean lessons.
4. Getting oogled everywhere you go.
5. How to respond to students writing you HILARIOUS notes during class.
6. How to stay strong at the sight of dozens of pink ribbon and flower laden cafes and the delicious pastries and cakes they contain.
7. Why my students are better than yours.

xoxo,
A

The Things I Miss:

1. FUEL- frisbee here is wonderful. Really, it is. I can't even really tell you just how much I am loving ultimate here. The people are amazing and friendly and fun. I spend every weekend with them (thanks Bekah for your couch). But it's still not FUEL. Skype me everyone! Plus, what I wouldn't give for a BoBo, Dani, Kelly house party...

2. Alison Stolow- gossiping on the couch. giggling on the couch. studying on the couch. crying on the couch. watching shitty t.v. on the couch. drinking on the couch (and not on the couch). spending every waking moment of our lives on the couch.

3. Gossip Girl & Greek- along with this, I mean I mean the shows and the people I would watch them with (Paigey, Ali again, Sarah, etc.) Hulu does not work here, so I have no idea what is going on. I am seriously considering spending money to download them on itunes.

4. the LOEF- I have my quilt, and it makes me feel that much closer to each of you. I love you girls lots.

5. Pretzels- I discussed this with Paige, but seriously, wtf, Korea? Why do you not have pretzels? Seriously. All salty foods here are either not salty (the potato chips are either mad spicy or slightly sweet) or seafood flavored (I do NOT want squid chips). I didn't even eat pretzels that much, but seriously, I need something.

6. The 'Bu- public transportation is good for the environment and all, but it is somewhat inconvenient when your bus takes 15 minutes to get to your stop, and then you have to wait for the subway another 15 minutes, just to get someplace that would really only take 10 minutes by car. Plus, the malibu was like my child.

7. My sissy- Mel. That's all there is to say. She's hilarious. Skyping helps.

8. Mochi- ice cream here is good, but not as good as Mochi, and certainly not as good without Sar-bear and Nickipants.

9. the ELI- that job was cake. No disciplining students (they actually wanted to learn english), relatively similar levels, relaxed atmosphere, 10 hrs/week, COFFEE TALK

10. baking- I do not have an oven here, and I have been craving fresh, chewy cookies for the last month. I WANT BAKED GOODS.

In spite of these 10 things I really miss (and trust me there are more, I just can't think of them right now), I would not go back to the USA anytime soon. You would have to bribe me to come back. I'll take squid crackers, kupa, ShinHeung Girls Middle School, and ice cream from the familymart any day.

I fucking love the shit out of this place. Seriously.

Writing down the things I miss, oddly enough, made me realize how much I love it here. There aren't that many things to miss, really. I don't mean to sound callous, or uncaring or cold, although it may seem that I am. Frankly, the people I care most about will stay in my life, and those that don't matter, will exit quietly. I am grateful for that which I have in the United States and in Korea.

Up next: A subway commentary, complete with pictures. Look out on Thursday or Friday.

xoxo,
A

Big news!

I can now access my blog from school. UNBLOCKED! Heck yes!

Now in my downtime I can spend hours wasting away typing blogposts and witty comments on other people's blogs.

xoxo,
A

My weekend

This weekend was wonderful wonderful wonderful and will hopefully start a chain of equally great weekends for a while now.

Let me start by saying that on Friday night, I skyped BoBo and my sister, which started my weekend off just perfectly. I hadn't talked to BoBo in a loooong time, and man oh man, have I missed that girl. Really, I miss everyone on FUEL a whole lots. Then skyping with my sissy is always a wonderful thing. I talked to BoBo for like 40 minutes or so, and then I talked to Melly for like an hour+. During the chat, I took a hilarious picture of Melly where she had added some video effect with her camera, and it was funny. See right for said picture.

Also, on Friday, I got tickets to DREAM CONCERT! The link is for a travel package, and is all in Korean/Japanese/Chinese, but you'll still get the idea. This is basically the biggest k-pop concert inKorea. The biggest 15 names in k-pop will be performing (including BIG BANG, super junior, tvxq, lee hyori, 2ne1, 2pm, WonderGirls and everyone else that matters). Tickets were only 5,000 won (or just under five bucks) because it is a benefit concert. JACKPOT.

Anyways, then Saturday morning I talked to Mommy on skype. While I was skyping Moms, guess what happened? My doorbell rang, and it was a package! FROM NICKIPANTS! She sent me a lovely letter (I have the same stationary, Nick... haha, xoxox) and a new stuffed Ty griaffe (you did, indeed, spell it correctly). OMG, I absolutely love it. Now i have four giraffes on my nightstand, plus four giraffe pictures on my door. HOORAY!

Then, I left for Seoul at about 11 a.m. to meet with Ara and her sister. Ara is my old conversation partner/student at UF/the ELI. Ara moved back to Korea in July, and this was the second time I saw her. We met at Gyeongbokgung station which I had never heard of before. It's kind of near the northern part of the city. It's a really historic and artsy area. We visited Gyeongbok Palace, the largest and main palace of the Joseon dynasty. The palace was enormous and beautiful. Even the subway station was beautiful and reflected the historic nature of the area. One of the station exits was literally right next to the palace, which is quite convenient. When we first got there they were doing a sort of changing of the guards, which was really neat. The palace had a lot of similar architecture and decoration as the buddhist temple we visited during orientation. Still though, the palace was roughly ten times larger, but didn't have as many (or, rather, any) statues of buddha.

We visited the king's chambers, the queen's chambers, and the house of the king's mother, which had the most beautiful view of a garden and lake. The king's room/house/chambers (it's hard to describe exactly what it is because it's not super big, and it's sort of connected to another enormous potion of the palace, so I don't know how to explain it. One of the coolest things was that there is a walkway connect all the different sections of the palace. The middle of the walkway was just slightly (an inch or two) elevated, and that middle portion was for the king and other royalty only, and the side portions are for the servants and plebs. I was walking on the plebs part at first, and Ara told me that there was a part for the king and queen, and I made sure to walk on that part as much as possible from that point on. In the kings room, you could see the room where the king ate (which is two the left of the entrance), and then where he and his "lady friends" would sleep at night (note: this is NOT where the queen slept, haha). If you'll notice in the picture of the rooms where people sleep, the "beds" are straw mats. There is one bed that is a straw mat elevated on a wooden platform or bedframe of sorts. This is where the king slept. If you look closely at the picture (sorry they are so small, but the bigger the picture the longer it takes to load), you will see small wooden boxes on every mat. These wooden boxes are pillows. I can imagine this is not very comfortable, and in addition to that, they are tiny, so you move at all, your head will fall right off the "pillow"-box, and hit the floor.

Around one corner of each house, there was a cut-out area that was covered and stuff. In this picture, you can see this area. This area is like an area where you have access to all the water/fluid run-off from the showers and toilets in the rooms of the royalty. The doctors of the king and queen would squat in these cut-out areas, and open a door to smell, taste and touch the excrement of the king and queen to determine their health and general well-being or to diagnose illnesses. If you ask me, being the kings doctor those days would have sucked.

The picture here is of the gardens and view from the "backyard" of the King's mother's quarters. Her area was very very large and beautiful, and she had this absolutely stunning view of the mountains behind her, along with this beautiful little pond and pagoda type thingy. I think it is a prayer room.

Behind the king's mother's house was an additional secondary palace that the last king of the Joseon dynasty built. This building was where the king and his family lived when there was a fire that destroyed much of the original palace area. Also, this is where the king and his family lived when Japan (evil evil Japan) attacked and entered the palace grounds. In addition to all of this, this building was the very first building in all of Korea to be fitted with electricity, by the Edison Electric Light company. Interesting, huh?

After that, we went to the National Folk Museum of Korea, which was located on the grounds of the palace area, and was incredibly beautiful as well. We all took pictures with our respective zodiac animal. For those of you born between January 29, 1987 and February 16, 1988, like me, we were born in the year of the fire rabbit. For those who are curious, the rabbit is supposed to be moderately introverted (haha, not applicable to meet) and prefer not to be a leader (again, false). They are also typically cosmopolitan and "classy" or stylish. They are also considered considerate, but sneaky. Fire rabbits are considered more mysterious and look to live life to the fullest (and here I am in Korea, doing just that!) They are charming, but can tend to throw a tantrum here or there. Rabbits make excellent doctors, therapists, musicians, actors and TEACHERS! A rabbit's most compatible with people from the year of the sheep or goat ('79 and '91 are those closest to my age-- guess I need to look for some 18 year olds... hahahaha), and their enemy is the rooster (people born in '81 and '93 are those closest to my age).

Anyways, then we went to lunch, which was delicious and enormous and included what was missing in this picture, which was two hot pots of soup (one tofu, one spicy veggie). It was also so so so so so delicious. We couldn't even come close to finishing between the three of us. After that, we went up to an area of traditional houses that overlooked much of Seoul. The view was beautiful, although the walk up a mountainside was difficult. It was worth it though. Then we went to Insa-dong, an area popular for traditional Korean arts and souvenirs and whatnot. We saw a bunch of weird weird people protesting and advertising all sorts of things (movies, websites, products and North Korean refugee treatment, among others). We went to a shopping mall and sampled all sorts of delicious Korean treats. We watched people making these cotton candy/nut things, that are really neat. While they explain the process and make the things, they have a clearly rehearsed script, and they usually speak some English. One of the sets of people we stopped to watch were particularly hilarious. One (the one I'm in the picture with) told me he wanted a girlfriend and asked me where I'm from and such. Then he let me get behind the booth where they were selling/making/performing and take a picture with him. They were HILARIOUS, and kept winking at me and joking in English. It was awesome. We went to a coffee place and had a delicious CUPCAKE and coffee (see fbook for pictures from Ara on my profile). We sat there for a long time talking and laughing a ton because we were all very tired from all the walking we did (several miles, easily).

We left and had some delicious street food (chicken and rice tea) for dinner. It was amazing and super super cheap. They helped me figure out how to get to Bekah's, where I was staying for the night, and then we parted ways. It was a great great day.

At Bekahs, we grilled some food, and hung-out on her rooftop in Itaewon which has an awesome view of Seoul tower, which lights up really pretty at night. I haven't been to Seoul tower YET, but I will soon! Ara promised to take me sometime. It was really fun hanging out with a group of ultimate people in Seoul. It was a dynamic very similar to those I've felt hanging out with High Level and FUEL and stuff, so it was really nice. We were up on the rooftop till 1 am, listening to KRS-1 and telling stories and discussing fan death (see also: this). Ironically, I slept in beth's room that night and she had a fan on. SO DANGEROUS.

This morning we woke up and Bekah and I walked down to Paris Baguette for breakfast (pumpkin roll and sugar donut, delectable), and then headed to the fields for practice/fall league. My team won, bringing our record to 4-0, which is awesome. The game we had today was really competitive (13-11) and so much fun. The girls played savage on both teams, so I got a nice little workout in. Played some barefoot pickup after, drank Korean beer, and basically hung out for a bit. Then I headed home. This was the only really suck part of the weekend, just because it is a long trip (an hour and half or more) and the subway was really cold and I was really smelly and tired.

I interrupt today's regularly scheduled blogpost for this announcement:
Ali: we need to talk. Seriously.

Anyways, that was my weekend. I'm not completely done prepping for my classes this week, but I've got enough done that I can finish it up tomorrow morning before classes.

I hope everyone else had as wonderful a weekend as I did!

xoxo
A

This is my apartment. This is where I live.

Yo. So finally, the pictures are taken (after a bit of tidying) and they are ripe to be posted here. So, with no further ado, ladies and gentleman (yeojas and namchas), this is my apartment:

I live in a moderately large single apartment. There is no bedroom, as evidenced by my bed sitting in the middle of the floor next to my desk, coffee table and nightstand. Note that the bed is on the floor, a la Asia style. There is very little to say about the bed arrangement except that it is very difficult to get out of my bed after frisbee practices on the weekends. For those of you who have lived with me before (that's you, sarah, paigey, ali & stella, and nicki too, who didn't technically live with me, but knows all about how I roll anyways), please not the mild accumulation of things on one side of my bed. Old habits die hard, my friends, or they don't die at all. I'm doing my best to keep this pile to a minimum, but it is a bit difficult. In my first two weeks, I was given about a zillion sheets of paper with important information, and I don't really have anyplace to put them, since my apartment is lacking in the desk department. The desk truly is the crappiest part of the arrangement. For some reason unbeknownst to me, there is packing tape ALL over my desk. I peeled some off, but it left a sticky residue of tape adhesive that was a huge pain to remove (luckily, they have BAM cleaner here, and that my aparment already had some). For those of you who care to make sentimental notes: 1) LOEF quilt, which I use nightly. 2) Giraffe items from Kate, Teen, Justin & Alisha litter my nightstand, as well as my door. 3) Where's Wally photo book sitting on my coffee table. That completes my list of all the comforts of home that I brought with me. If anyone would like to mail me additional giraffe things they happen to stumble across, that would be stellar. Holla bout my addy.

My kitchen is relatively small, but does the trick. I have a microwave which is sweet. I also have a french press, but I made the unfortunate mistake of purchasing an enormous bag of coffee (see the big yellow bag off to the left) without verifying that it is, indeed, not instant. As such, I have been drinking copious amounts of very expensive instant coffee so that I can get real coffee sooner. Also note that my diet consists of a considerable flow of frosted flakes, ramen, and coke. haha. I have been eating rice twice daily, and kimchi at least daily, if not twice/day. I have two stovetop burners, and a clothes washer, but no stove. This is truly unfortunate as it precludes me from having home-baked cookies/brownies/cupcakes/muffins/cake for a full year.

I lucked out in terms of a bathroom. By this I mean, I have the following: a huge medicine cabinet to store all my toiletries (multiple what you see in the picture by two) and, more importantly, a shower. When I say that I lucked out by having a shower, I mean that most people do not have an actually shower. They do not have a bathtub, or a shower stall or anything of that nature. Instead, most people have a showerhead that rests just over the sink that the user must adjust to provide a stream of water that is a simulcrum of a shower, but in truth is really little more than a hose. I mean, yes, it's a shower head (one of those ones you can move around, that I can't think of the name of), but without an actual showerhead, it kind of lacks the je ne sais quoi of a real shower. Plus it gets all your shit wet, including the floor which you must then use jelly sandals to walk on as you finish getting ready for bed/the day. While jelly shoes may make you feel warm and fuzzy with nostalgia of the ease of childhood as represented by those glittery sandals you used to don 24.7, trust me, it will wear off after just a week of forgetting to use them and stepping in a puddle of cold water around your toilet or sink. So yeah, I have a shower, which pretty much rules. Plus my toilet can flush toilet paper, which many cannot.

The bathroom is in the hallway near the door. Also in the entry is way more closet storage than a single person could possibly EVER need. I have FOUR closets that are approximately equal in size to the ONE I had in Hume. The unfortunate thing is that I do NOT have a dresser. Luckily, there are a few drawers and shelves in the closets. Seriously though, I could probably purchase 100 new clothing items, and would still have leftover space. This is a bad thing because my closets seem sad and lonely and empty, and I long to fill them with fabulous pink Korean fashion. I have already bought a skirt, and I see many many more in my future. Please also note the plethora of shoes sitting at the door. How I am adapting to the Korean way of life! I take my shoes of whenever I go inside. Any visitors will be expected to do the same. I roll like Dianey's mom now. :-)

Now one to the best, and least functional aspect of my apartment: the LOFT! Now this is the part of my apartment that is the most envy-inducing amongst the other teachers, but frankly, it seems pointless to me. I can't stand there. My bed in on the first floor (although I would really like it to be in the loft, I can't move it up the stairs. It takes to much work to angle it properly and I don't have the time, energy or strength to do it). I made a sort of lounge space up there, but the only thing that lounges up there is my luggage and a vacuum. My t.v. and new dvd player are up there as well, but seeing as how I get just 5 channels of t.v. (all of which are Korean), I don't spend much time watch the boob tube. Additionally, I am typically so tired by the end of the day of classes, errands and dinner making that the thought of spending two hours watching a movie is overwhelming. As a result, it is just a cool space that remains unused as of yet. Additionally, I sincerely apologize for the overabundance of pastel pink and purple in the decorations. I found this in my apartment and it seemed better than spending money on seating and what not. All lucky visitors will get to spend the night in the fluffy corner of candy colors. I'm probably gonna get some more floor cushions and stuff from this little shop in the dongincheon underground shopping mall.

So. That is my apartment. Next post is about public transportation. I haven't had too many follies as of yet, and hopefully I can continue on my lucky streak for as long as possible.

I love you all dearly. I hope that the pictures of my apartment are enough to stave you off for a little while.

xoxo,
A

p.s. Today my students bought me sweet potato pizza for dinner tonight because I am helping them make a song/dance routine for an English festival. By helping them make, I mean I am participating in said song/dance routine. The song/dance is going to be amazing and the pizza was delectable. More on this later!

Remember how I said this post would be about my apartment?

I lied.

I will post a picture of my apartment building and the view from my room, as a teaser for whenever the apartment post comes. I have not yet taken picture of my apartment due primarily to its messiness and the hectic nature of my schedule which has me waking up at 6:45 a.m., at work until 4:30/5 p.m., sleeping and eating almost immediately there after. This is interspersed with bits of facebooking, blogging, and general cleaning, as well as errands that need to be run (getting internet, buying groceries, getting stuff for the classroom, etc. etc.). So my apartment is called C Palace, which, frankly, is hilarious to me because it is a far cry from a palace. Fortunately, my apartment itself, while not a palace, is still more than sufficiently big for little ol me. I have a loft that I pretty much never use (except for storing my luggage, vacuum, tv and dvd player) and then everything else downstairs. The big blue building in the picture is my apartment. It's actually two buildings, but I live in the one in the front, building A, on the 11th floor. It's an ugly color, frankly, but I make it work. At the bottom of the apartment, there are a couple restaurants (chicken & beer, a kimbab place, and another restuarant), a family mart (which is a convenience store chain), and an office for the apartments. The view from my apartment overlooks the port of Incheon, which sounds like it could be cool, but really is nothing short of LOUD and bright regardless of the time or weather. Come rain, wind, sleet or snow, the port is still going to be banging cargo and honking horns from 11 p.m. straight on through to 5 a.m., when it becomes inconspicuously quiet. This, to say the least, is inconvenient.

Anyways, so the real reason I am posting is because I wanted share with you something wonderful about Korea. This wonderful thing is waffles. Now, you may think to yourself, "Now Allison has really gone off the deep end on this one. We have waffles in the United States!" This is true, yes, but you do not have waffles like the ones in Korea. I don't know what it is, but they are amazing. Along with a couple dozen other street food vendors selling everything from chicken kabobs to really really crunchy french fries to silkworm larvae (which I DID try once at orientation) to dried squid and octopus tentacles to dokbokki (sp? rice cakes in spicy sauce) to WAFFLES. These waffles appear to be your standard-issue circular, non-belgian, traditional waffles. However, their scent as you walk unassumingly down the streets is simply overpowering. Wafting around your nose is the sweet scent of breakfast food, just a touch sweeter than that which you might find back in the Western World. These waffles are cooked in waffle irons right there on the street before your very eyes, pulled out and then slathered with light, fluffy whipped cream and sweet apple jelly, and folded upon themselves to make a little waffle sandwich of glory. All for 500 won, or just under 50 cents. I could eat about 30 of these if the lady could make them that quickly. They are served warm, and the jelly just melts and blends with the whipped cream and I swear to god it is the most delicious taste sensation I've had in a long time.

It could just be the familiarity of waffles in an unexpected environment that makes these treats so tasty, but by god, they are amazing. It is a good thing for my waistline that the food street vendors don't set up shop near my apartment (although if they did, they could make a serious KILLING), but rather near the subways station (which I happen to frequent at least biweekly).

If you come to Korea I will buy you a waffle. or two. or three. Maybe you won't love them as much as I do, but I think they are worth every won and then some.

That's all for now folks.

xoxo,
A

My school

As promised, this post will contain a discussion (and PICTURES) of my school. Apartment pics coming sooooooon.

Anyways, so my school is called ShinHeung Girls' Middle School. It is a five minute walk from my apartment, which is very convenient. The Girls' middle school is located immediately next to a Boys' middle school by the same name (replace Girls' with Boys' and there we are). There is also an elementary school behind the middle school. The students wear uniforms at the middle school but not at the elementary school. My schools uniforms are not pretty. They aren't terrible, but they fit the girls SO poorly. The skirts are blue red and green plaid (navy background) and are below the knee and pleated. The blouses are a hideous pink (with navy blue, forest green and garnet? wtf?) and the shirts are always clearly too small for the girls. I can't tell if it's just because the uniforms are a half year old (they started in March) and the girls have just grown, or if they have always been that small. In the chest area, some of the girls can't even button all the buttons. Plus, they are entirely too short. They all have to wear tank tops underneath for modesty's sake.

My school is 4 floors, with the main office on the first, grade 1s and the teachers office/principals office are on the second floor, grade 3s are on the 3rd floor, and grade 2s are on the 4th floor. The Science lab is on the first floor, and the English lab is on the 3 floor along with the grade 3s. I basically have a whole wing of the school entirely dedicated to me, which is SWEET. I see ~575 students each week (every single once/week) which is simply not enough. To make matters worse, I don't know anyone's name, and all my students names are moderately similar (Imagine: one class, 8 students last name Kim, two Kim Yoonas, a Kim Yooni, a Kim Yang-gi, etc-- they put family names at the beginning).

My students are pretty much your standard 13 year olds on methamphetamines. By this I mean they simultaneously don't give a shit about anything in life (13 y.o.) but still manage to be the most talkative, giggly, screamy set of girls you'd ever meet. My days consist largely of students yelling, "HELLLOOOOOOOO TEACHA!" or "Hiiiiieeeeeee teacha!" Throw in a couple "nice to meet you"'s (this is what they say when they see you outside of school as well, which is humorous) and a "I'm fine thank you, and you?" or two. The talkative part is usually a good thing because they are more willing to participate in the class. Unfortunately sometimes it is difficult to get them to chill out for 10 seconds to listen to the rules of a game or conclude a class. CRAZY.

My students are great though. Really. They have taught me how to create a cyworld account (still impossibly difficult to operate because it is all in Korean, and without any obvious buttons, which makes it extra hard), talked to me about Chaebom from 2pm (so sad he is leaving Korea T.T), taught me the yeong kae baek su dance (chicken dance, ahahaha) and the nangmyeun dance (cold noodles dance), while still managing to sort of learn some English. I love having them around all the time. Most people I talk to who are teaching abroad seem to feel like they always want a reprieve from the student's attention, but I love having them around. It means they are interested and that every opportunity is teaching. My students have already asked me about essay competitions and for help with other English things.

My classroom is huge and gorgeous. It consists of three parts: 1. a large, colorful, high-tech classroom (see the huge, touch screen t.v. connected to the computer and a ridiculous microphone system (which I don't use...) The window shades have images of various world landmarks (some in the English speaking world, others not) including the statue of liberty, the Colosseum, and Tower Bridge in London (mistakenly identified on the window shade not as London Bridge, but as BIG BEN, which is a bit hilarious). There is a big world map and special Allison-made (and partially store-bought) decorations on the bulletin board. To the left of the calendar bulletin (yes that is a giraffe chillin on top of the month, there is a scene of summer with a cutout of a girl saying, "I love learning English!" 2. a listening center with 7 computers, a dozen and a half dvds, more cds and a study area. This area is not frequently used, and so I leave the lights off and the a/c off over there almost always. Occasionally during lunch a girl or two will go online over there. If you look closely at the wall, over the computers, there is a picture of Harvard University (diane!) as well as Columbia (to the right) and Yale (which you can't see). These schools are the dreams of Korean girls. 3. my office/movie screening area/reading area. haha, this area is really a hybrid. This is where my main desk is, as well as a second and third computer strictly for my use, another huge screen t.v. (for watching English movies at lunchtime), a couple hundred English books, tables, and about 2 dozen American games (Apples to Apples, Boggle, Scrabble, etc). My main desk, as you can see, appears to be a receptionist's desk for a real-estate agency of some sort. You can't tell, but there is even blue mood lighting for the background. Very cool. I also have my very own laminator, which is pretty much the greatest thing ever made. I laminate lots of stuff these days. everything, it seems, is ripe to be laminated. Currently, during lunch, we are watching the Princess Diaries (omg, Sarah, Amy, Ali-- I totally confessed my school girl crush on Michael to the students who thought it was ridiculous [I think they all prefer Erik VonDetton] ahahahah). Sometimes girls play Guess Who (which they seem to like a lot) but only in Korean. Forget asking questions in English.

Anyways, so like I said, during lunch students often come in and hang out, and sometimes some students come in after school too (particularly Scarlet and Audrey, my FAVORITES). During that, they do all sorts of things but for the last two weeks usually there are about 3-7 girls crowded around my desk gossiping with me about who the cutest member of 2pm, big bang, ShinEE, etc is, or helping me set up an account on cyworld (Korean facebook).

I LOVE IT HERE. Seriously. I haven't the slightest bit of homesickness (yet). Knock on wood. Everything here is great. Ask me again in a month or so. We'll see how I feel then.

p.s. I went to a doughnut shop today called Doughnut Plant New York City. SO DELICIOUS. A bit pricy, but the doughnuts are huge and I had an espresso one, and they are so COOOOOOL. srsly. Come visit, and we will enjoy Korean doughnuts.

Up next: a discussion of my apartment, the subways (and the people who ride them), SHOPPING, and more about my students and co-teachers (who are the greatest people in Korea).

xoxo,
A

INTERNET

is in my apartment! YAHOO!

Anyways, so today was a bit of a hassle with the internet and whatnot. The guy came to install my internet, but had problems with my laptop. Unfortunately I don't speak Korean and he didn't really speak much English so he didn't know how to tell me what was wrong. He asked me to call a Korean person, so I called my co-teacher, but she didn't answer. Then, thank GOD for Ara, because I called her and she was able to translate. Also beneficial was the fact that she is a computer science person and so she could actually understand what everything the guy was saying meant. She basically told me there was something wrong with my OS, which made me really nervous. Then she told me that I probably had a virus, but she wasn't sure, and the guy couldn't figure it out. I wasn't letting the guy off the internet connection hook just yet though, so I sat him down and had him connect the mini (OMG THANK YOU MATT!) and then while he did that I messed around with my computer (blindly because I know nothing about it, as most of you know) and I ended up completely solving the problem. He just plugged the eathernet cable in, and boom, internet. haha.

So, after 35 or so minutes of work and phone calls in Korean & English, I had internet in my apartment. The guy left and I sat down and went online, which was AWESOME. Then I glanced over and what do I find? The guys wallet. Unfortunately, he had left a few minutes ago and there was no way I was going to catch him (11 floors on the elevator or stairs can really slow you down). Soooo, I called the phone company and had them call him and send him back to my apartment. He got his wallet, I got my internet, everyone was happy.

But, I was late to dinner in Bupyeong as a result, although it was not a big deal really. We ate at this little place and I had Sogogi, which is like bulgogi but with spicy sauce instead of sweet sauce. Then, we went to Coldstones for ice cream. The guys there all spoke English which was awesome. We ate outside and danced to kpop that was blaring on the street.

Anyways, I wanted to share how Korea is such a place of contrasts. The technology here, as I have mentioned is so so advanced. Cell phones function as debit cards, phones, checkbook balances, and tv's. Every taxi has a gps that often times doubles as a t.v. (I don't really understand this concept but the taxi drivers ALWAYS are watching t.v.) My apartment door doesn't have an actual key but this sweet little metal thing that you put up to a little indentation and it automatically unlocks, and then automatically locks behind you.

However, something in Korea just don't seem nearly where they should be given the technology. Probably 50% of the bathrooms (including 75% in my school) are squatters, so no toilet, no seat. They do flush, but you can't flush toilet paper. Plus NO WHERE has toilet paper, so you have to carry your own everywhere.

It's really interesting actually, to see all the technology and things and think, oh man, Korea is SO ahead of the United States (which it definitely, definitely, definitely is).

Here's a good story though, to round out my post:

I went to E-Mart the other day. E-Mart is sort of a much nicer Super Wal-Mart. It's a big chain store that sells clothes, furniture, electronics, and food. There is a McDonalds, a Baskin Robbins and a E-Mart brand food court in the one near me. This is where I do most of my shopping. I was there about a week ago buying some groceries. I was in the frozen food aisle (which is a bit terrifying because there are about 2 dozen people making samples and pushing their food on you and yelling, a lot). I was looking at some mandoo and pork loin cutlets (typical frozen meat in Korea) and am going around a freezer when, what do I see? A boy, between 5 & 7 y.o., pants dropped, peeing on the floor. Of the frozen goods section. E-Mart is not a street market or a small dirt-floor store. This is a/c, linolieum, fluorescent lighting, with a couple hundred people in it at any one time. And a freaking kid is pissing on the floor. No joke. About a half-dozen other people saw this, but no one bothered to tell his mother (including me, but I didn't because I don't speak Korean), who was completely oblivious, deciding on exactly which frozen pizza she wanted for her floor-peeing child to eat that night for dinner. Then, the boy proceeded to pull up his pants, run over to his mother and attempt to get her attention. Fail. then, he took the cart, which had a younger brother in it (3y.o. maybe) and started pushing the cart and brother into large stacks of water. I SWEAR TO GOD. The mom and child ended up walking off, without so much as a second glance and the stream of pee left on the linoleum flooring of E-mart's frozen food section.

IT WAS CRAZY.

I will post soon about my school (I have pictures), my apartment (PICTURES!) and life in general. Just wanted share the info and let everyone know I'm alive!!

xoxoxoxoxoxo,
A