Sorry

I feel a little bad because I've let this blog kind of fall by the wayside a little, which is unfortunate. I've been really busy with the other blog and giveaways and stuff (if you are into kpop, check it out here)

Plus tumblr really is a much easier platform, and nicer on the eyes.

Nonetheless I will try to recap the last few weeks, but it's been a haze in a lot of places.

I tested 650+ students for speaking exams. Every student at my school grade 1-3. Grade one had a dialogue which they had to translate to Korean and memorize. The dialogue was pretty simple. But the students had real trouble memorizing it, I noticed. And grade 2/3 received three questions. They had to choose one and prepare a speech answering the one question. This went better than the dialogue, but not that great. Grading was the most difficult thing as I got no guidance regarding the division of grades (I am under the impression that ideal distribution would be like a bell where the largest number of students got a middle score. I was later informed that 20-30% of all students should receive a 10/10. lol My grading scale had to change quick.

Then I had my open class. Open class is a period when your class is open for your principal, other teachers from your school, teachers from other schools (foreign teachers and native teachers), and district supervisors to come in and watch and evaluate your lesson. Then there is a open discussion afterwards. Luckily, I knew most of the people who came in to watch and I got great feedback. Also, my class was PERFECT. So that was a relief because the class I had tends to be crazy talkative.

Now, exams are all finished, and I've got 6 more days of school left (I think it's only five days of classes, if my memory of last year serves me right). Today was my first day telling my students that I won't be around next semester. It was actually really really sad. I had some not very good classes today, and it was still sad. When I have class with my grade ones, and the grade threes (who are the only students I've taught the WHOLE time I've been here) it's gonna be super hard. I didn't cry today, but I almost did.

Well, what's next?

I have been accepted to study Korean at Sogang University (not a big deal, the acceptance, they accept everyone; the big deal is what level I test in to). I will be attending Korean classes Mon-Fri 9a.m. to 1 p.m. no breaks.

To help pay for this little endeavor, I've also secured (well, contract isn't finalized, but I've been offered) a part-time job at a pre-kindergarten hagwon (private after school program). The students are super young, 24 months to 4 years, and really adorable. I've visited the pre-k before and my good friend works there. I've currently been offered a job Tues-Fri 4-6p.m. so 8 hours a week, with a possibility for the addition of Monday and/or Saturday classes (up to about 15 hours/week). I'm really excited about this job and how great the timing works into my schedule (it still leaves evenings free for studying and plenty of time in the afternoon for lunch and class prep/studying.

The problem?

a) Housing: It's really difficult finding housing in Seoul. Especially without a ton of money. You see, monthly rent is often quite cheap (consistently less than 600usd/month, usually close to 450-500usd/month for a furnished studio in the middle of the 5th biggest city in the world is pretty damn cheap). However, Korea has key money, which is basically a gigantic deposit. I'm used to a first and last month's deposit policy. Here, however, it's not uncommon to pay 5-10,000 US Dollars in a deposit (which is returned at the end of the contract assuming no damages are incurred) before the contract starts. This policy stems from the 전세 system, which is this crazy idea to pay an enormous deposit (25,000 usd+) on an apartment and then pay absolutely no rent for the next 12 months and receive your original 25,000usd back upon contract termination. Basically free rent (the landlord profits from the interest earned on that deposit typically). Ten-fifteen years ago, this was almost the only system in place. THese days, they are moving to a 월세 system, or monthly rent system. But, still, the huge deposits are a result of the previous area of monster deposits. Needless to say, I don't have a spare 5-10,000usd hanging around for me to use on a deposit, so I'm super limited. Add my two beautiful kitties to the mix, and it's been tough. Hoon is looking at a place tomorrow, and I'm checking a place out Saturday that hopefully might work.

b) Visa Oh My God. Immigration is the most obnoxious thing ever. You see, I am currently here on a teaching visa, and actually my part-time employer has offered to sponsor my visa (same kind) which is very kind (part-timers often don't get visa sponsorship... without a connection at the place, I'd never have had this kind of support). However, I am going to be in America at the time of my current visa's expiration and Immigration seemed to have no idea how to handle this situation and the prospect of extending my visa, claiming I couldn't file to extend my visa until the very day it is set to expire. They repeatedly said to me, well, just come back on the 25th of August. As if it is feasible for me to change my non-refundable plane ticket and all my plans at the drop of a hat. When I said that wasn't possible, they just sucked air through their teeth and said, well that's a problem. Then they indicated that I would have to go on a visa run. To those of you unfamiliar with this term (almost everyone who isn't currently teaching abroad) a visa run is when you make a trip to a foreign country in order to apply for a new visa (this is if you currently are not on any teaching visa, only like a tourist visa) because you cannot apply in Korea for that visa. Most people go to Osaka for this procedure, and typically your employer will cover it. However, I don't know why I'd have to do a visa run if I am here now ready to submit all the required documentation a month and a half before my current visa expires. They are telling me to just let my visa expire and then travel abroad. When I will be in America, abroad, for three weeks. Right, sure, no problem. WHAT? WHY CAN'T I EXTEND MY VISA BEFORE I LEAVE? That's crazy.

Finally I found someone with a brain who told me that actually all I have to do is go now to immigration once and then again to the same office after I return to mark a change of workplace. Welp, that's simple enough. Why didn't someone tell me in the previous 5 hours I spent trying to figure this situation out???

Now I'm at a cafe, and it's getting late and I should hit the sack.

The reason I can't write at my apartment is because the kitties managed to chew the ethernet cable (the little plastic part at the end). They bent the plastic just enough to make my internet non-usable. So I cancelled my internet and go to a cafe twice/week to get the wifi. The rest of the time I only use my phone or my work computer to access the internet. It's cheaper this way anyhow. I'd probably be going to a cafe this often anyways. and now I don't have to pay the 38,000 won/month that my internet cost.

Thanks for listening to this ramble.

This weekend a follower of my tumblr is coming to town and I'm looking forward to meeting up with her. Also, wish me luck with my doggone housing search!

xoxo
Wally

Taxi Drivers and other Run-ins

As a 6'1" (186 cm) tall, blonde hair, very fair skinned woman in Korea, I get quite a bit of attention everywhere I go. It's 9 a.m. here and I've only been outside for maybe 25 minutes total, but I've already gotten about 10 uncomfortable stares plus two random "Hello"s from people I don't know. Standard for a day.

However, I particularly enjoy seeing the look of surprise on a Korean's face when I speak Korean to them. In the last six months or so, my Korean has improved dramatically from bumbling and slow, broken Korean to simple phrases come naturally and complicated explanations or conversations can be had if you are patient with me. And so, when I take a taxi or am approached by a Korean person I can generally make conversation with them without seeming like a complete idiot. It's a nice development and it only took 18 months to achieve.

I have two stories today:

On Valentine's Day I mentioned that I had a little grocery dilemma so I ended up at Home Plus where I made an unsuccessful attempt at finding cream. After picking up some hot dogs (which are HORRIBLE by the way... worst hot dogs ever), I hopped in a cab and said, "신포시장 가주세요" and off we went to Sinpo Market. After a minute he asked me where in sinpo I wanted to go, and I fumbled a bit as my apartment is kind of in a difficult to describe location as it relates to the market. So I just said, "길 알려줄까요?" Shall I just tell you the way? And he said okay. Then he looked at me and announced, I thought you were a Korean.

I beamed as I said, no, American. And we had the usual conversation: what do you do? Teacher. Where? How long? Do you like Korea? Do you like kimchi? You speak Korean well. etc. etc. Then he asked me "결혼했어요?" Are you married? To which I answered no. Oh, you're solo, he mused. To which I interjected, 근데 남자친구 있어요!" And so we started talking about my boyfriend. How old is he. Is he an English teacher? (HA) What does he do? I explained he is still in university, and the taxi driver asked, which university? 중앙대 I replied. And he said... oooooooh, GOOD! (Jungang Univerisity is considered maybe in the top 10 of Korea, just outside the SKY schools (Seoul, Korea, Yonsei University), so it's pretty cool to most Korean that he goes there. Then he asked what he studies. "채육" I replied. Physical Education. Ooooooooh, the taxi driver said, disappointed. "Engineering good! Doctor, good! 채육? hmph" I laughed and then we were at my apartment and I left.

Story 2:
Yesterday, I was walking home and on the street leading to my school a Korean woman was walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the street. I had my earphones in, jamming to some big bang, but I did notice that she was crossing the street and seemed to be looking right at me. So I took my earphones out, and our conversation, entirely in Korean began:
Woman: Are you Russian?
Me: No.
Woman: Where are you from?
Me: America:
Woman: Oh! America! Do you speak English well?
Me: (confused...) uh, yeah.
Woman: Oh good, do you speak Korean well?
Me: Uh, a little.
Woman: You speak really well! What do you do here?
Me: Teacher. That school *pointing*
Woman: Oh, my son is in the boys school next door. 3rd grade.
Me: oh okay.
Woman: At my house I have a son. I want him to speak English. Teach him.
Me: Umm, I'm a little busy. I don't know *this is weird*
Woman: I want him to speak English well, so what can I do? How much would it be to teach him?
Me: I don't know... uhhh *mumble* 40,000 won/50,000 won, for one hour.
Woman: Oh okay, and when can you do it.
Me: Um, I don't know, I'm taking a Korean class and I am really busy these days.
Woman: Oh you're busy. I see.
Me: Yes.
Woman: let's walk together. Where are you going? Where do you live?
Me: Sinpo.
Woman: Ah, Sinpo, okay. Let's walk. How long have you lived in Korea.
Me: Since 2009. A year and a half or so.
Woman: Wow! You speak Korean so well!
Me: No, just a little.
Woman: How long will you stay in Korea?
Me: I don't know exactly. 계속 (continually... without end?)
Woman: Really??? No! Why? How? 계속??
Me: I don't know exactly. I like it here.
Woman: Will you teach at that school always?
Me: No, I want to study Korean.
Woman: But already your Korean is good.
Me: I want it to be better. And I will go to Seoul to study.
Woman: Ah. But you don't want to leave Korea?
Me: No, I like Korea.
Woman: Why? (She legit couldn't understand why I would like it here)
Me: The people are nice. The food is good. My job is good.
Woman: The food? Do you like kimchi?
Me: Yes, I like everything.
Woman: Would you like to eat some 떡국 (rice cake soup) at my house? I have 떡국. Let's eat together.
Me: I'm sorry, I have to go.
Woman: Just a little 떡국 and we can talk. And my son.
Me: I'm really sorry, but I have to go study. I'm sorry. *walks quickly away*

I guess I missed out on an opportunity to a) eat possibly delicious homemade 떡국 and b) get a sweet tutoring job, but it seemed weird. In America, we don't just go to strangers homes and eat soup. I guess in Korea I could do it. I told my boyfriend about and he was like, wow, good job! GO! I was like, uh no.

That's it!

xoxo
A

A New Video

So I finally tried making a video with a Korean song and its English translation subbed. I did GD & TOP's Intro for High High because I'm currently working on translating the cd. If I'm lucky I'll get all the singles translated. It'd be extra nice if I could get 집에가지마 and Baby Goodnight up on youtube before they start promotions in mid-January. I don't want to make any promises because my pace has been pretty slow (only two songs translated so far...)

But anyways, here's my first attempt at subbing a song (GD's part is a little rough because I struggled with the controls and it's too much work to re-edit it at this point, but TOP's part and the hook is pretty perfect).

Also, I'll hopefully get a blog made sometime this week. Luckily I don't have any classes, AND my office partner has vacation this week so I can make videos without much interruption. I'll probs be bringing my laptop to school a bunch starting tuesday or wednesday.

Also also, in the apartment above me people are having sex. It's kind of annoying.

xoxo
A

한의사

Well, my non-kpop fans, this post is for you. Also, to my k-pop fans, this could be for you too. A dose of Korean culture of the non-pop-music variety.

I know, these kinds of posts come few and far between, but this is definitely something I would consider worth blogging about because it's kind of interesting. It was for me at least.

Today, after school I went to the doctor. But I didn't go to just any doctor, I went to the 한의원, a traditional Korean doctor's office. These kinds of doctors offices are pretty common, and are usually just tucked into the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th floors of buildings throughout the city. The only things that I think are more common than the 한의원 are 학원 and 약국, academies and pharmacies respectively. In fact, in the building where my 한의원 was located, there was one academy and two pharmacies. So yeah.

Anyhow, a traditional Korean doctor is a certified medical professional (not a crazy had with a cabinet full of herbs) that specializes in traditional oriental healing practices. The two most common reasons to go to a traditional doctor are general aches and pains or weight loss. However, people also go to traditional doctors for an array of other reasons including general sickness, constipation, sprained ankles and insomnia. I won't tell you why I went, because hey, that's my business, but I went regardless.

At a traditional Korean doctor you usually get two kinds of treatments: traditional medicine (usually in the drink form and I don't mean a syrup I mean a poach of tea-like liquid that is herbal and gross) or acupuncture. You can choose to do one or both, depending on the severity of the case and such.

Anyways, I got both, and I will supposedly be attending biweekly acupuncture sessions through the end of december.

It was my first acupuncture experience and though I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, the actually experience was not how I'd thought it'd be.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

First I'd like to brag that except for a small sprinkling of English from the doctor, and my co-teacher doing the check-in and helping me with payment options (one time or in installments is evidently a phrase I should have learned by now...) my whole visit was performed entirely in Korean. I walked in to the consultation room and after his first question (are you a teacher) I was sure to warn: "한국말 잘 못 해요~" Which translates to I don't speak Korean well. He replied that it would be fine (in Korean) and proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions about my health practices, exercising habits, treatment options, acupuncture session availability and the like. My biggest communication issues came over the discussion of weight and my height, and then later in the Korean word for aerobic exercise (which I totally didn't know). But everything worked out, and i understood his instructions pretty thoroughly. I don't mean to show off, but I must say I'm a bit proud that I could speak to the doctor and more importantly understand his treatment advice in Korean with only very little difficulty.

Then, it was off to the acupuncture room. I laid down a bed and they had me roll my shirt up just a bit to revel my belly. That's the only place they would be doing acupuncture today, and an assistant pulled over a machine and called the doctor over. The doctor then told me not to worry as it wouldn't hurt. And he speedily (and pretty much painlessly) inserted 10 or 12 needles into my stomach area (I can't remember exactly the number, except to say it was even and higher than 8). I wasn't really watching as I was laying down, but it seemed like he would line it up and then kind of tap the top into my skin. It was almost completely painless, with only the tiniest discomfort as he adjusted the third or fourth needle. Then he attached what appeared to be clamps to each needle. The clamps had wires leading to some machine near my bed, and as he turned the machine on there was a sudden strange vibrating sensation sweeping across my abdomen. Again, not painful, but as he adjusted the levels to greater intensity, he told me, if/when it begins to hurt (the korean word for if and when is sometimes the same... you can emphasize if-ness with an additional word, but otherwise it's the same) I should tell him. So he increased the intensity and it began to be only a tiny bit painful (kind of like a much more mild tattoo... in a nonpainful area) and I told him and he adjusted the intensity down just enough to alleviate the pain and then he left the room.

I didn't know exactly how long the acupuncture would last (I didn't think to ask, which seems foolish). It ended up being in the ballpark of 20 to 30 minutes and it wasn't so bad. After the doctor left, the assistant came back in and turned on a heat lamp which she directed at my belly so I was comfortably warm with just a general vibration through my abdomen. Then it was all over, and I was done.

I'll be going back on Saturday or next Monday for my next session so that should be interesting. Next time I will try to take a picture of it in progress for you guys.

That's it!

xoxo
A

A Text conversation with my boyfriend.

Me: I called for delivery!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did it I did it!!!!!^^ (this is the exact transcript... I was really happy because I had to speak Koeran)
Me: but it never came... ㅠ ㅠ ㅠ ㅠ ㅠ(1 hour after calling... I was really sad)
Me: Nevermind it came (Ten minutes after the preceding text)
BF: (1 hour after my most recent text) Kitty! (That is his nickname for me) Bring your baby!! and my parents and grandmom will come.
Me: (utterly confused) my baby??? and when will your parents come?
BF: Yay gostop. and idk well. maybe they will come to eat dinner.
Me: My baby is gostop? 왜? (Korean for why?)
BF: because I think gostop looks like my baby. so my baby means your baby too~
Me: you have a baby???
BF: hahaha no 고스톱을 아기라고 생각했어요. (rough translation: hahaha no I thought to call gostop a baby)

what. the. fuck.

For two reasons.
1. Me calling for delivery alone and without help is a big step and he didn't recognize it.
2. what. the. fuck.

For the record, he and I have never had any conversations with this much confusion in them. I have no idea where this came from, and I'm sort of still trying to figure that out.

Found it

Will.I.Am

So everyone who isn't living under a k-pop rock (which means only people in Korea or people who are weirdly obsessed with kpop) already knows that Will.I.Am worked with 2ne1 on their upcoming international release. What most people didn't know was that Will.i.am is completely fucking crazy about Korean stuff. Basically anything, it seems, about Korea, is intriguing to him.

He has a new release with Nicki Minaj (you know, that crazy huge-assed Lil Kim 2.0) which is gonna be a total radio killer, as Billboard reports it.

It's tough to find a quality copy of the music video, which is unfortunate. On youtube there is only a low quality mirrored video...ㅠ

Luckily, being the psycho I am, I searched the Korean engines on which this video is spreading like wildfire. Unfortunately, Korea sucks about using weird ass video encoding, so I can't embed it here, but here's a link to the first site I stumbled upon that had it: CHECK IT OUT

Goals

Tomorrow's goals:

1. Go to the bank. Transfer a bunch of money.
2. Go back to school. Pay off a good chunk of my student loans.
3. Buy my sister a gift for being awesome enough to do me a huuuuuuuge favor.
4. Make my lessons for next week.
5. Finish all of the Intro Sogang University Korean course. (Start level 2?)
6. Transcribe all of Big Bang Vol 1 onto www.reallykpop.com (So far only two songs are up)
7. Translate Digital Bounce by Se7en
8. Go to the gym at 6 a.m. and get in a short workout (cardio and abs only... no time for weights)
9. Make speaking exam questions.
10. Actually buy a desk for my damn apartment.

Let's see if I can even get half of that done. Thank god it's exam day. Hopefully that'll empower me. ^^

Taeyang Lyrics Announcement

So. The day has arrived when I promised Taeyang Solar Lyrics. It's not actually the afternoon, but the late evening, but a good friend here is leaving tomorrow, so I spent the afternoon with her. Sorry. But, it's still the big day.

Well, where are the lyrics, then, you may be wondering? Well, actually, they aren't here. Not one single lyrics is here.

Well, where are all the lyrics you promised?

Oh mysterious imaginary interviewer, the lyrics are someplace special. And I don't mean my heart.

Why don't you post them like you said you would?

Well, I realized that uploading the lyrics here would be both time consuming and difficult to not format, not to mention the fact that they would quickly end up in the archives behind my other worthless blogposts. Now, call me a psycho fangirl, but I think a blog archive is no place to put such musical treasures as Taeyang's Solar album lyrics.

So no lyrics?

Silly interviewer, I didn't say no lyrics. I said, no lyrics here.

WHERE ARE THEY GOD DAMNIT?

Oh, they are over at www.reallykpop.weebly.com

Wait, huh? What's that?

Well, imaginary mediaperson, it's the website I made just this week in order to give a proper home to the Taeyang lyrics. It's hosted on weebly.com, a website making site, but I'm considering buying my own domain. I'm not sure yet, though.

Wait, so you made a whole website for Taeyang's Solar Album Lyrics?

Not just Taeyang's Solar Album, but any other songs I have time/interest in uploading. I hope to include sections for big bang and 2pm in the near future, but it'll take time.

Are there English translations on the site?

Why yes, in fact, there are. Every song is typed out (BY MY OWN HANDS) in hangul directly from the Solar Deluxe Album 68-page photo book. Then, each song is romanized for pronunciation purposes. This, also, was done entirely by me. Then, I managed to translate the songs to English.

Why don't you just take the lyrics off other websites?

Well, the truth is, I thought about it. It would be much less time consuming but I discovered that there are lots of mistakes throughout the process. I believe that using the cd inserts enables me to have the best chance at an accurate set of hangul lyrics. In addition, I personally have found some romanizations of certain songs not jut confusing buy wildly inaccurate. I tried to use a standardized romanization set, but there are some variations when I feel they are helpful for pronunciation. Finally, as far as translations go, when they existed online, I compared usually at least two other sets of lyrics, in addition to creating and translating each line on my own. For perhaps three to four songs, I could not find lyrics and so I translated them entirely alone, using nothing more than my own grammatical knowledge, google translate, and my cell phone's Korean-English dictionary.

Holy shit. Why did you do so much work for something no one will ever read?

Well, frankly, because I'm bat-shit crazy, plus I'm a fangirl. Also, I figured even if no one so much as looks at it, it will at least help my Korean typing/translating/vocabularly skilly improve. Plus, hopefully I'll learn the lyrics to my favorite songs better myself this way.


*Notes: On Taeyang's Solar album, I still haven't translated 기도 (Prayer), and I haven't typed anything for 나만 바라봐 (Look Only at Me). Being re-releases from the HOT mini-album, I figured if I had to cut something, that would be it. As such, those will be posted no later than July 12th. I promise.

Also, Can't Stop Won't Stop, 2PM's mini-album is up next.

Also also, PLEASE COMMENT AND COMPLETE THE SURVEY on the homepage for the site. If you see mistakes or think something could be improved, please let me know! Once again, the site is: www.reallykpop.weebly.com

xoxo
A

Damn, I wish i was a native Spanish Speaker

Korea's office of Tourism is hiring a native Spanish Speaker to do translation and other website maintenance work (blogging, etc.) for their Spanish section of the visitkorea.or.kr website. They prefer native Spanish Speakers who are already living in Korea, but are taking application for those who also live abroad. You must have a high level of English OR Korean speaking ability (imagine if you had both) and experience translating from English or Korean to Spanish. I think that my writing and reading abilities would probably suffice for this position, but my speaking and listening is regretably low, especially now. Plus, I'm not a native speaker of spanish, so i wouldn't qualify.

Anyways, if any of my readers out there want to come to Korea and happen to be fluent in Spanish and English/Korean, you should apply. This would be a really great opportunity to work in a reliable job here on the peninsula. ^_^

For more information click here to be directed to the want ad posted on the visitkorea.or.kr site.

Sorries

So I've been kind of an epic fail at posting these days. I know I know, it's been less than a week since my last post, which is way better than most of my blogging friends out there, but it's pretty bad compared to my recent 3+ posts/week that had been going on for the last couple months.

I'm still hella busy, which is why I haven't been posting. I started a post on Friday, but that never got finished. So I'll leave you with these bits of blogging ridiculousness:

1. I FUCKING HATE HANGUL WRITING PROGRAM. This is not the written language that I hate, but rather a Korean word processor that I am required to use to prepare my worksheets/lessons for my summer camp. It's used for all government documents here, which I think is just fucking stupid. Here's the thought process: hey, we need a Korean language word processor, and right now (btw it's 1989 or something like that), nothing exists for that. Let's make one. *Fast Forward to 2000* Hey MSWord has Korean compatability now, and that's what the rest of the world is using, should we use that? Nah, fuck it, why would our government want to use that? It's not like we have to interact with other countries, right? So, now I'm stuck using this stupid program that has the weirdest formatting (when adding pictures it makes portions of your type disappear in the editing section, but when you print preview it, everything is there-- frustrating much?), and which doesn't work on my office computer so I have to use my significantly hotter and more uncomfortable classroom computer to even create these effing documents, which I cannot access on my mac laptop at home, nor will I be able to access stateside if I ever decide, hey, those were some good activities, I'd like to use them again.

2. I love M&Ms. My co-teacher bought me a couple bags. They are supposed to be for my summer camp class, but I have an extra bag of peanut m&ms which I just looooooooove. So, yeah, those are mine.

3. God tutoring the business man I tutor is ridiculous. So strange. He just shares with me these uncomfortable theories and stories and other things. These are the things he told me last night alone:
a) "Drinking one bottle vodka, okay, two bottles, I crazy" (I asked for clarification, how many people are drinking said bottle of vodka? He said, "me only one bottle, friend and me drinking together, two bottles vodka" Just thinking about drinking a whole bottle of vodka made me feel like I had severe alcohol poisoning)

"One bottle vodka okay, two bottles I crazy." 

b) *while discussing whether U.S. cities are dangerous, after baltimore was brought up* "Baltimore have many black people?" to which I replied, "yes, a fair number" to which he responded, "I see. In Seattle, very safe. My friend say Seattle is very safe, not many black people. I think in United States no job is very big problem. Many black people, not just black people but black people, hispanic people, have no job, and I think it is a very big problem to the government. People with no job take some money from government and other people work very hard and lose their money. But the people with no job, the black and hispanic people with no job, don't work, only take money." I attempted to clarify that often, the jobless people aren't jobless because they choose to be, but because they can't find work, due to the economy, lack of education, lack or resources, lack of a great number of things. It's really difficult to explain the idea that certain communities of people (black, white, hispanic, asian, middle eastern african, whatever) are basically raised into lives with few opportunities as opposed to other communities (of more wealth) where things like education, food, homes, and safety and handed to the inhabitants on a silver platter.
c) *showing me a text message he had received from a girl which contained her measurements* "shoulders is that just here to here" *points from right should to left* Yes, of course. *writes down all measurements* "Her waist, is ____cm (I don't remember). How many inches is that? Is that big or small?" After a quick calculation, I reply, "It's tiny." And her shoulders and like half of mine. "ah, I see. This is for Chinese girl. Very nice. She is the secretary for my business partner. She drives us to factories and helps negotiate sometimes. She is very pretty so good at negotiations. I am very thankful so I say I give her present. She says she wants Korean dress." Oh, she wants a hanbok (traditional Korean dress)? That's surprising. "No, she wants red dress, short skirt like this (indicates a very short skirt) so I must get this dress." Are these dresses not available in China? This is all too strange.

 I am certain that red mini dresses are available in China.

d) The kicker. "In Australia, I smoke Marijuana." (Mind you, this is all completely unprovoked. Like, he out of no where is like hey, I smoked pot back in the day). "In Australia, everyone smokes marijuana, you never try?" In response, I truthfully say, "nope, I've never tried marijuana. It's not my thing. A lot of my friend smoke, but not me." "Really?" he says in surprise, "Everyone in U.S.A. smokes the marijuana." Well, not everyone, but okay, I see his point. He goes on, "my friend and I one night Australia drinking, talking, drinking, and we go outside and he goes to a narrow street, you know, for the pissing (DIRECT QUOTE I SWEAR TO GOD), and I look over and he sit down and is rolling, you know, the marijuana, and then the police come, and they see him. I very nervous about the marijuana, and the police bring more police and they see the marijuana, but it is less than 12 grams so it is not for the selling so they say, it is okay and we go." Should the guy I tutor be talking about his run-ins with the Sydney law enforcement agency over marijuana.

I swear to god I did a google image search for "Australia Marijuana" and this was the fifth picture.

So, yeah, that's what I've been up to.

xoxo,
A

Wacky Week and Shanghai

After having an incredibly wacky week last week, I'm very much looking forward to the very very relaxed upcoming week I have ahead.

Last week, my schedule was thrown curveball upon curveball at my school. Monday morning, my co-teacher tells me, hey Wally, "tomorrow's classes are all going to be 70 minutes long instead of the standard 45 minutes. There are listening tests, so there had to be a schedule change."

my typical class schedule

Oh, okay, cool, 70 minute long classes. Not that I'm prepared to teach for a 70 minute time block, but sure, no problem. Luckily, I discovered that my activity in class took much longer to do than I had slated, and the students didn't get to finish the backs of their worksheets. Problem solved.

Well, later that day I'm informed that due to the 70 minute classes, 5th and 6th periods were cancelled on Tuesday and students were released slightly early. Oh, great, cool, I get a whole extra afternoon free as a result.

Well, still later, my co-teacher hands me a copy of the weeks schedule which is as follows:
Monday: regular classes.
Tuesday: periods 1-4, 70 minutes, period 5-6 cancelled
Wednesday: periods 1-4, normal times, periods 5-6 cancelled.
Thursday: all classes cancelled, Monday classes periods 1-3, Tuesday periods 5-6 during periods 4&5, Wednesday periods 5&6 during Thursday periods 6&7 (on Thursdays only this semester, classes start 40 minutes early and we have an extra period)
Friday: normal classes

An exact copy of the schedule change my co-teacher gave me on Monday around noon.

wtf? So now, as a result, two of my four monday classes are a week ahead, and my two thursday classes are a week behind. My school claims that this is to enable the classes to make up for missed days, but I was able to condense or expand my lessons to keep everything on track, and now my school does THIS. bla&*!sdlk%#roa#@itg;kfja! Anyways, my Monday classes will be corrected next week because there is a holiday. However, my Thursday class (as well as my Wednesday classes due to Election day, a holiday here in Korea) will be a full week behind. Thanks a whole effing lot.

Anyways, on the brighter side, I have no school on Wednesday because of Election Day. My co-teachers were shocked and appalled to discover that in the States people have to work on election day. they also admitted that even with a full day off work, none of them ever vote. wtf? I voted even when I didn't have a day off. How can that even be?

Plus, my Korean class got cancelled because we were supposed to have a week of vacation during the six months, but our teacher never did it, so here we are, two weeks left in the semester, and the second to last one she has to use for vacay. Unfortunately she gave us a crapton of homework that I can't do because it's too difficult.

PLUS, Friday afternoon, I'm flying to Shanghai, China, to compete with KUPA at a frisbee tournament. I'm really looking forward to it, and I think our team has a shot at doing pretty well. Keep your fingers crossed for us this weekened! We play Saturday and Sunday and then I leave Monday afternoon. I'm hoping to at least have time to see SOMETHING in Shanghai at least early in the morning before I have to run off to the airport.

This is the riverside promenade. This is my Shanghai goal. Even if I have to wake up at freaking 6 a.m. I'm going to see something in Shanghai.

xoxo,
A

Namsan Tower daytime

So I've posted pictures of Namsan Tower from a previous visit at night. This time I went around sunset and it was quite different. There were a LOT more people, but that might also have to do with the fact that it was like a full 15 degrees warmer this time around. I guess I'll just stick to pictures.

 

(Left) My new boyfriend. He's handsome and he doesn't talk back. perfect. (Right) Locks at Namsan Tower

We managed to choose a shockingly clear day by Seoul standards.

More locks!

To those who are interested, my next post will deal with my school trip and ideally will include an awesome video filled with awesome pictures and videos of my wonderfully amazing students.

Oh, and today I went to Hooters. See, all the great American establishments exist here, although I would say that Hooters here is significantly less "hooter-y" than your typical American version, if you know what I mean. The waitress did compliment my Korean there. So did my Korean friend, 준석오빠, when I talked to him on the phone at dinner. We had been texting all in Korean and he was impressed at my use of the future tense, negative questions, and modal use. *^__^*

xoxo
A

Tomorrow I mail my visa application. This week I book my ONE-WAY flight to Incheon, South Korea. Two and a half weeks left in Gainesville.

This weekend was wonderful. I went home and got to see ALI! We caught up on a lot of what's been going on in each others' lives. It was great to see her. Plus, Eric and Kate were visiting too, so I got to see them.

The family and I went to this great restaurant in Lake Worth called Bizaare Avenue Cafe, which was delicious. I had gnocchi alla vodka, which was spicy and delicious. Also, I got to do lots of shopping for new work-type clothes. It's so weird that I'm going to sort of be a "professional" or at least that I have to dress as though I were. I got a new skirt (so cute) a little purple shrug sweater, a blue cardigan, and a couple tops (purple french cuff, wine colored button down, etc).

Got back today. Had mochi with work (froyo talk instead of coffee talk, haha).

Once I mail this application off, I'll just get to focus on packing and preparing and maybe squeezing in a couple korean lessons? Who knows.

xoxo,
A