Haesa Go

First off, sorry for being a pretty mediocre poster these days. I'm just really really really effing busy.

Anyways, today I have a free moment so I figured I'd post an update.

Like I said, I moved. I still have no pictures up of my apartment because I've been so busy. I still have to order a desk from gmarket (I picked out out and then ie crashed and I lost the page and I've been lazy about it). I still have to buy some shelves/drawers to store my purses/sweaters/winter hats/scarves. I still have to determine if my ant problem is gone or if they come back. I still have to get internet in my apartment. Once those things are finished, I will take some pictures and then I will post those pictures. k?

My apartment is great besides the ants and the strange humidity and lack of circulation in the apartment. I have two rooms, and my a/c is in the bedroom which makes the living area/kitchen a bit stuffy. But oh well. My refigerator is perpetually empty but I swear that one day I'll fix that. Currently my fridge contains: two pre-made steamed rice bowls, two natures valley salty&sweet chewy granola bars, three hot dogs, a bottle of water, a bottle of strawberry/veg juice, and a bottle of apple/carrot juice. And that's it. I swear I'll start cooking again.

The main reason I'm not cooking these days is because four days a week I am not home until 9 p.m. or later and I eat out.

Monday through Wednesday I'm teaching English at a nearby maritime high school (imagine a technical school specializing in ship navigation and mechanics) from 6:30-9:15 each night. I get to the school everyday at about 6 p.m. and me and the other English teachers eat dinner there at the school. On Thursday nights, I eat in 구월동, which is the arts center area, because I have Korean class near there. There is a donkasu place I like there. Maybe I'll take a picture of the donkasu I eat one day. Who knows.

Teaching at Haesa Go (that's the shortened form of maritime high school) is a trip. It's all boys. All my students are grade 1 (so they are 16 years old, roughly). They like to talk about sports and  music and insulting each other, but it's a whole different world from teaching my girls. I've learned to become really intense. About a third of each class is terrified of me, the other 2/3 thinks it's hilarious. I find those proportions to be satisfactory for my needs. The students have very low levels, but they are hilarious.

I teach three periods a night, the same three classes each day. My first period class is my favorite, and my second period class is my least favorite. My first period class has taken to calling me 누나 and I think it's really funny. I didn't like it at first, but now I think it's cute and endearing. For you non-Korean speakers out there, 누나 is noona, and it's a word that boys use for girls who are older than them, but not a ton older. It really means older sister (only for boys to use to girls, not girls to girls). It's a semi-respectful word, but it shows a certain level of closeness, usually. My second class is like a living hell. The boys are bored and disinterested and disruptive. I hate it. My third class is just kind of mediocre.

Anyhow, I'm teaching those classes and they are quite a toll. Yesterday at the very beginning of 3rd period, I had a student (not mine) come to my classroom and hand me a little chalk box and he said, "present". I took it and knew it wasn't chalk. I opened it and it looked like there was something wrapped in a leaf. My students all said, oh teacher, 곱등이! I didn't think that was it, but that's what they were yelling. 곱등이 (gopdeungi) is this bug native to japan, Korea and Taiwan. It's a jumping bug and it's pretty nasty looking. I dumped the box out and it turns out it was just this really fat long bright green caterpillar. He was actually pretty cute. He's skin/shell/whatever it is was meant to look like a leaf so he could blend in. He was super bright green. I wish, in retrospect that I had a camera with me to catch a picture, but I didn't. My boys were pretty afraid of it, but I dealt with it. I put it back in the box and figured we could release it after class finished. After class, I took the box and pretended like I would throw it on one of my students. He subsequently freaked out and ran away terrified. Then I gave the box to another student and told him to take it out, and he took the box and pretended he would throw it on me. I freaked a little too. Eventually another teacher took it and we brought it outside.

It was pretty awesome.

This is 곱등이

What was actually in the chalk box, more or less.

Another student told me about how a grade 2 student beat him with a tennis racket. It was horrifying. The reason he got beat? Because during dinner he made eye contact with the grade 2 student. >.< omg, crazy. Then, later that class, that same student got a text message that his best friends father had died. Most depressing day ever.

Anyways, a friend of mine who teaches at the school just got admitted to the hospital for gastro issues. That sucks a lot, especially because he was supposed to plan today's lesson so now I'm a bit up shit creek in that respect. I hopefully will go visit him today or tomorrow, depending on my schedule.

That's it!

xoxo
A