girls' generation

Who has more members, Girls' Generation / SNSD or Super Junior?  I haven't bothered to count yet.

favorite student update

For the past two weeks or so I've had one student "training" me to remember his name, ha.  I've had him in class since the term started, of course, but I see him only once a week and have hundreds of students.  With those sorts of circumstances, remembering names can be a challenge.  The "training" itself started out when he asked me if I knew his name during a pause in class, and I admitted that I didn't.  I told him that I would learn it if he would write it down - I can't remember any Korean if I can't see the written form, for some reason.  Names are especially hard because of their confusingly subtle variations and my students' unusually (for them) quiet voices when it comes to personal stuff, ha.

The day after he wrote it for me he said "Teacher!  What's my name?" in the hallway and I could only remember his given name.  The next time, though, I got it all, so now he just uses it as a greeting.  It's pretty sweet, actually, and I think it makes both of us pretty happy.  Yesterday he asked me as I was walking down the stairs to leave school, and just a few minutes ago he came to ask me through the office doors, ha.  He's done that a couple of times.  Since they are glass, he doesn't even have to come in to ask.  He stands outside, waves, and mouths, "Teacher, my name?" and I silently and slowly enunciate the syllables, after which he gives me a big smile and either claps or gives me a thumbs up.

I think my next few lessons are going to be name-use intensive.  I wonder how long it will take to learn all of them?

things that i am excited about

Friends!  Let me share my anticipatory joy with you!

I am looking forward to

-- Summer -- warm weather, longer days, summer clothes, sweltering heat, insect noises (but I dread mosquitoes), eating outside at night, teaching summer class, and having a bit of a lull in the pace of life.

-- Korean lessons -- I need to run a logistics test first (ha, a trial run to time my commute,) but if all goes well, I'll start taking classes next month.  I'll take these relatively local lessons until early summer, when I'll quit the local lessons and instead start going further into Seoul for my (higher quality + longer) lessons.  Do you know how awesome it would be to be able to speak to the people around here?  Super awesome, people.

-- Shopping -- I still haven't done Costco or any clothes shopping, but I really want to go!  Soon!  But I can't!  WAH.  Maybe I can sneak out to do some local clothing shopping this week, but I want to go back to Apujeong and I know I can't do that mid-week.  Oh well.

-- Seeing my students + teaching them -- goodness.  I miss those guys.  We haven't seen each other the past couple of days because of field trips / training / exams.

-- An Auntie Anne's pretzel.  I will probably end up getting one this weekend, and it's hard for me to convey my excitement about this.

-- Meat!  I am buying some meat tomorrow.

blogfreeze!

I'm getting a little antsy about this blogging business, buddies.  I've been "running into" people that I know on the internet lately - as in, I see posts or profiles by/of people I know, but I know they don't know I know about their internet presence, and I'm not going to tell them that I know either, ha.  Most would not care, ha, but I think a couple would be embarrassed.

Anyhoo, I'm antsy because I am pretty darn sure that Alexander, despite being 100% Korean and not  really fluent in English, could easily stumble across my blog and recognize himself in it.  That might be bad?  But not too bad, when I really think about it, because I do not really care if he gets upset about this whole thing because ... I don't really need to worry about his opinion.  Honestly, ha.

But what if I do meet some people that I care about more - should I not talk about them here?

That would be boring, right?  To both me as an author and probably to you as a reader.  I don't know about you, ha, but I enjoy hearing about the personal details of bloggers' lives.  Those details give a human touch to the writing -- and, ha, I admit that I like the drama-like quality of some of the personal discourse, ha.  (Some people seem to live Korean dramas, haha.)

Aside from the "interest" factor associated with personal details, sharing such information is also simply a way for me to connect with friends.  Sometimes I need to talk about personal stuff to get it off my chest, figure out a solution to a problem, or assure myself that I am not crazy, ha -- other times, I just want to share my joy (ie, everything Grocery Boy related = sharing of joy, haha.)  And I like knowing that I'm writing to people that I like - that they can share in my life in this way even though we're too far apart to hang out right now.  It's a way to relate, to keep in touch.

So.  What to share and keep private?  I'm not really sure, ha.  I'll think about it.

friends and plans

This first year in Korea reminds me of my first year in college.  Everything is new and fresh and I'm all eager to meet new people, and somehow or other they seem eager to meet me too.  I make friends without too much trouble, I have plans whenever I want plans, etc.  I feel tired sometimes and would often prefer just to stay in, ha, but I think to myself, "Self, this is the time to make some connections.  Push through and then later, when things lull, you'll be glad you have that friend network."  Right?  I feel like it will be harder to meet people later on - maybe that's just a misconception on my part.

Anyway, right now I need to decide what I want to do this weekend.  Can I just say that I am starting to stress about it?

STRESS
AHHH
Simply deciding what to do over the weekend shouldn't cause me distress, but it does.
Why?

Because I don't know how to handle this Alexander and the Matchmaker issue.  More later.  Right now I'm just going to deal with things on a step-by-step basis and decline a weekend invitation - I had already made other plans anyway, so it's not like I have to come up with some fake excuse.  But I do need to figure out what I'm doing with my life, ha.

i need to bake!

The urge to bake has been strong with me lately, but I can't satiate my desire.  I lack an oven.  I am going to buy one, though - you bet your buttons I will.  First I need to figure out which oven is best suited to my needs.  I see ads for a lot of these countertop steam oven things, but I have no idea how steam works with baking ...  I can see it being great for meat/fish/veggies, but sour dough bread?  Chocolate chip cookies?  If you have a clue, please fill me in on the deets.  I feel like I've talked about this before - if so, sorry.  It's an unresolved issue that circulates through my brain, ha.

Three times today I thought about what I would bake if I could bake.  First of all, I'd bake cookies, clearly.  Cookies to give to the printing people because I feel like I'm an idiot whenever I have to go in there, so the cookies will (I hope?) make me seem like a benign idiot instead of an annoying one.  Cookies to put in either the teacher lunch room or the office - still debating that one.  It'd be less than a hundred for the lunch room, so really, not a big deal - I've made a *lot* of cookies in my life, so what's another 100?  It might, ha, be more of an endeavor if my oven can only handle 8 cookies at a time, though, haha.  Lastly, I saw Grocery Boy again today and said hello to him - he was as beautiful as ever - but this time I did not stop to talk.  I was walking and talking with a student, so I felt it would be rude to ditch her for him, and well - he had a person next to him and I'd be more embarrassed talking with two people instead of just one.  ANYWAY, point is that I want to give Grocery Boy a cookie, haha.  I'm not very imaginative, and giving people food is one way that I can express my fondness, hah.

on the way in ...

just want to share this before i forget:

i just got to school a few minutes ago.  i saw one teacher who is always super nice walking just ahead of me.  since she always says hello to me, i figured it would be best to say hello to her as well.  so i did - and she turned around and smiled, and then she came over and held my hand!

hah, awww.  we walked up the hill hand in hand and she told me the names of korean plants.

grocery boy sighting!

Wah!  Friends, I saw Grocery Boy again today!  What is more important, however, is that

I talked to Grocery Boy!  Or, more accurately, Grocery Boy talked to me.

Here's a visual aid -

/////crosswalk/////crosswalk////////crosswalk/////////////////

-------------------- (road) ---------------------------

oooo-edge of sidewalk-ooooooooooooooooooooooo

------X-----------------------------------------------

(X = mysterious person on motorbike, ie Grocery Boy)-

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

--------------------(me)-----------------------------

I opt for the middle when I can because Koreans usually walk in both directions and leave the middle open for people like me, who prefer not to worry about avoiding collisions.  I was away from the road because the mysterious person on the motorbike slightly intimidated me - I tend to give those people room whenever I see them.  Also there was no one else there, so standing next to him would have been odd anyway, ha.  I stood around for a minute before I heard that cute hello (in Korean) but this time not quite so loud as it usually is, ha - that would have been hilarious, but a bit more out of place in the situation.  I looked up, confirmed the source -- cue beaming, haha. Also, cue awkward two second pause wherein I decide that it is indeed a good idea to walk closer to him despite the  fact that we may not be able to say anything else to each other, haha.  I think we both thought that - we had similar looks of, "Well, we said hi - now what?" on our faces, ha.

But Grocery Boy is full of surprises, it seems.  He does indeed know jusssst a little English, ha, enough so that by using both languages and hand gestures, ha, we were able to talk about hometowns, destinations, and ages.  Snazz, right friends?

I say so.  When the light changed we had to stop chatting and so we said goodbye (in ... in Korean?  I can't remember, ha) -- and then we crossed paths again in three minutes when I passed in front of his shop, hah.  This time I got a wave and an English goodbye!  He's mixing it up, haha.

grocery boy sighting!

I saw Grocery Boy again today!  Did my heart flutter?  Just a bit, friends, just a bit.  I was actually planning on shopping at his store (not because of him, ha, but because I was nearby and needed groceries) - so I was on my merry little way to the main door when I heard, "Annyonghaseyo!"  It looks better in Korean --


안녕하세요!!


Who else could it be but Grocery Boy?  He had been moving something or helping someone outside of the store and had noticed me as I walked by - I hadn't noticed him until he spoke up, as happens more often than not, ha.  How cute is that?  I don't care if he's being nice just to sell me stuff, people - I get a kick out of his excellent spot-the-foreigner/KP abilities.

For some reason I stopped walking -- I don't know what was going on there, haha.  Maybe some part of me wanted to chat or somehow acknowledge his friendliness, but neither of us has that much ability in the other's language.  Yet.  (I am working on it, people.)

Anyway, there I am, hesitating about 5 feet away from him, and my brain finally kicks into motion with, "Wait, what?  Why did you stop?  What are you going to say?"  Thankfully, Grocery Boy saved me by asking me where I was going -- in Korean.  Magically, I can sometimes understand things like this - part of it is context - what else would he be asking? - the other part, ha, is the ability to recognize small parts of sentences - "where" and some form of the verb "go" - so I replied with, "I'm shopping!" and gestured towards the store.  (Shopping is actually almost the same in English and Korean, peeps.  Convenient!)  He said, "Really?!" - in Korean, ha - cute.  I was like, "Yep!"  (But that was more of a nod and a smile and then an embarrassed head duck as I scampered away to collect a shopping basket, ha.)

So then I wandered the aisles a little while, staring vacantly at the goods in the store.  I didn't have any clear shopping goals other than "cookies would be good" and "I should probably get some vegetables."  Usually I have more of a plan, ha, but not today.  I collected a few things (cookies, oyster sauce, and a bottle of water -- for my orchid, haha) before Grocery Boy found me and said something to me in Korean.  I stared at him for a second but then decided to go with the "I'm fine" response to what I assumed was a "Do you need help with anything?" question -- but that didn't clear things up, ha, so I tried "Ah, I'm just looking right now" with a sweeping gesture over the goods nearby and he said, "Ah," and nodded, and went back to man the register.

So then (you are getting the detailed version of events, clearly!) I went over to the cabbage.  I did need a cabbage.  I did not want to have to give it to the vegetable lady to check, but I figured, what the heck, I am going to have to get used to this sooner or later.  But as luck had it, my favorite cabbage had been labeled already - someone had chosen it and then changed his or her mind, so it was back in the pile.  I did get some carrots, though.  Maybe I will post a picture of those carrots for your viewing pleasure - they are very different than the carrots we eat back home, fellow Americans.

These carrots required bagging - it took me a minute to separate a bag from the bunch, because I am slow - mentally and physically, ha.  I was going carry my bag of carrots in my hand while I looked at the rest of the produce before going to the label lady, that way I could just hand my goods to her all at once.  Grocery Boy must have been keeping an eye on me because he came over, said something to me in Korean, and took my carrots from me to hand to the lady, haha.  Then he went back to his register, I got my carrots back from the lady, tried asking a man who worked there if I needed to do anything with my cabbage, succeeded in just confusing him, ha, and then went over to the sauces to look for okonomiyaki sauce.  No dice there, alas.

As I was getting ready to pay, I noticed that Grocery Boy was still at the checkout counter, but that another person had started working as well on the opposite counter - both had one person in each line.  Which to choose?  I delayed, thinking that it would be fun to go with Grocery Boy.  But his people took a while - questions of some sort - so I ended up choosing the other line (not because I was in a hurry, ha, but because I was clearly done shopping and to do otherwise would have been soooo obvious, haha) which was cool too because a nice lady took over just before I got there.  Not that the man who had been before her was uncool, but the ladies and Grocery Boy are always super sweet to me, ha.

Right!  So I paid, said thank you in two languages to the checkout lady, then paused while putting my money in my purse, thinking, "Ah, I should - should I? -- say goodbye to Grocery Boy?"  The checkout lady had already said goodbye to me, and in that split second of my own hesitation at the threshold, Grocery Boy said goodbye to me as well.  I turned around and said goodbye to him with a little nod and smile, and that was it.

Man, I sure draw out certain experiences, don't I?  That whole shopping thing didn't take that long, but I can make mountains out of molehills whenever Grocery Boy (or any boy, really) is concerned, ha.

And just when you thought the night was over -- one. more. post.

See?  Very different!  Very dirty!  And big!  Not as big as some I've seen around here, but way chunkier than the US varieties.  I am interested to see how they are to cook.  I was just planning on being boring with them and seasoning them with ginger, orange, and cardamom.  I'm tame like that, haha.  It would be better with honey - hm.  I'll have to acquire some.

guy update

'sup, my homies?

It's time for a Guy Update.

No, friends, I did not end up running into one of those Attractive Guys that I mentioned earlier - the ones that sat near me at the restaurant.  Alas.  But I have seen the potential Hosts again.  I do really think they are hosts of some sort - they are pushing something for women, and the women aren't interested, ha.  I saw the matching suit fellas again the other night trying to give Korean ladies flyers -- what gives, no flyers for me?  I was crushed by exclusion.  Joke!  But (non-joke) I was sad that my curiosity was not sated and that I couldn't ask my companions about it because my companions did not have the English ability to answer my question.  Maybe!  Maybe the suited fellas are trying to get chicks to come to a booking club?!  This is a possibility!  But how would the booking club get hot guys to work for it?  What other use would they have aside from recruiting women, since the club makes money off of men?!  Oh man.  Such questions.

Fact!  There are several -- several! -- attractive co-workers at my fine place of employment.  Why?  I do not know!  There are not as many Hot Male Teachers in the US as there are over here, it seems.  Is something wrong with these fellows?  Do they really want to be teachers, or is this a fall-back, or prep for something else?  What is going on?  Before you actually answer me, let me say that "Yes, I do know that teaching is a desirable field in Korea."  But really, it's not as Snazzy as it's rumored to be, and it's certainly not a position of power - unless you are the principal.  So why are these guys here?  Do they love Children and Learning?

Anyway, I shouldn't be one to look a gift horse in the mouth.  I get to glance at these people all of the time.  Isn't that nice?  Glance in the lunchroom.  Glance in the hallway.  Overall, haha, I actually do not get to see these people much, and they, in general, do not care about my existence.  I have a theory that the hottest of the hot has something against me - he is colder and more disrespectful to me than any of the teachers in the entire school.  Is he snooty because he's hot, or because he secretly knows that I am confused because he is hot and at a school, and therefore I believe that he has a major disability/defect/etc. of some sort that I just don't know about yet?  I like to think the latter, but it is probably the former.  (My entire set of assumptions regarding male teachers only applies to Korea, btw. )

But!  But.  I did get to meet a cute co-worker recently.  Cute cute cute.  I am confused as to whether or not he has a girlfriend - I think he said that he didn't, but I could have misunderstood.  I know that there are probably quite a few female teachers crushing on him, ha.  It's understandable.  He's very considerate, adorable as all get out, has a beautiful smile, nice voice.  Let's call him Aurelius, just in case I ever get the opportunity to interact with (and report on, hah) him again.  Do I have a crush on him?  Nope!  I am only crushing on Grocery Boy at the moment.  ^^

You know who is super nice?  I'll tell you!  A man I'll call Antonio is super nice.  Antonio continually pulled me out of the way of people/cars when we were walking in a group a while back.  I appreciate that.  I'm new here, disoriented as all get out, and easily distracted by flashing lights - which are everywhere.  There weren't any close calls, ha, but I'm sure he saved me from some annoyed honking at the very least.

What else, what else - Oh.  Well, hmm.  I could Rant a little, but I'm not sure if that's wise.  Hmm.  Conclusion:  it's not, ha, but I'll do it just a bit! ^^  Here's the sitch -

Someone is trying to set me up with someone else - let's call the guy Alexander - and he didn't ask me what I think about this process.  He just said, "Alexander likes you" and then proceeded to act on his own to get us together.  I dislike this - if I liked the guy, ha, it might be different, but I do not like Alexander and I do not like being blatantly coerced.  Matchmaker made the guy I was talking to -- and enjoying talking to! -- get up and move to make a spot for Alexander!  Not like, "Hey, scoot over one so there is room," but "Hey, get up and switch chairs so Alexander can sit next to KP," -- super obvious stuff like that.  (I am KP, btw.  FYI.  LOL? ... )  So, that is a little annoying.  I need to figure out how to deal with Alexander.  He's nice, but I could only like him as a friend.  If he wants to be friends, cool, but if not, I'm happy with dropping him.  Sounds shallow, ha, but it will save us both time if I get direct, I think.  How to do it, though!  And minimize the impact on my social circle?  Complications galore.

I feel like I am leaving someone out?  Hm.  Well, no.  I have a couple of male friends, but at the moment, I think they are just friends.  It's hard for me to know at this point in time, given their background, behaviors, etc.  Anyway, that's all for right now!  I'll update more when I've interacted further with the opposite sex, ha.

new threads

Friends, I've been thinking about clothes lately.  It's springtime and I am ready to put away winter clothing.  To do that, however, I'm going to need to increase my warm weather clothing collection.  This means I need to Go Shopping.

I like the following dresses.  I have no idea if they'll actually fit me or not.  I'll order by my size in Korean, but I have my doubts, ha.  The ones I'm showing you here I'll snag online, but I'm planning on doing some in-person shopping in the near future -- maybe even tonight, if I can rouse myself to meet the occasion, ha.

The dominant fashion styles here are pretty different than those in the West.  They are influenced by the West, sure, but I think Korea's fashion scene also takes a ton of inspiration from the mavericks in Japan.  Japanese style is generally much more daring, and, I must say, much more unique than what I see over here.  When it comes to female clothing, Asian designers and consumers seem to place a great emphasis on the femininity of womens clothing.  Some styles are masculine, but they are generally worn in feminine ways.  It's the classic issue of the the man's vest and suspenders on the female body - they do not disguise femininity, but instead draw attention to it.

I see a lot of very short skirts and dresses over here, ha.  I think the expanse of bared leg is okay with folks because so many Asian women are super slender.  It doesn't seem as suggestive or dangerous to expose a lot of leg if your leg is a stick that connects to a nearly non-existent hip.  Of course, there are curvy Asian ladies as well - all shapes and sizes, really, just like everywhere.  But the stick women of Asia really are something, and are more common than stick women in the West.  I'm slim enough to pull off some of the Asian styles, but I do have hips and just bigger bones in general - I lack the "delicate" look, ha.  We'll see how this fashion exploration goes.

no sympathy for most koreans

More on this later, people.  But I'm posting about it now so that I don't forget or back down from my own self-challenge.  I want to write about the Korean work ethic, the Korean workplace, and the Korean mindset towards all of this.  That's book material, really, so I'll only give you all some aspect of that thought jumble.

Hmm.  I'll ponder it.  Let it stew in my brain.

Prompted by: people (teachers, students, everyone) sleeping in school.

+1 USA

- 1 Korea

high five!!

Holy cow, do my male students ever love to give high fives.  This is rarely done between themselves, though - it's an act that they reserve for me.  If they see me in the hallway, a certain group of guys will yell, "Teacher!  Teacher!  High five!" and after our hands meet they act like they are "all that and a bag of chips," haha.  One of my students persisted in saying "Nice to meet you!" and shaking my hand for the first three weeks.  Thank heavens, this guy has switched to the high five method of greeting me -- it's way easier and doesn't make me want to stop and explain the difference between "Nice to meet you" and "Nice to see you," ha.

Today my students (two mentally gifted, if not high level kids) decided it would be hilarious to yell my name whenever there was a down moment in class.  Generally I'd ignore them.  If I chose not to ignore them, though, they'd either a) ask for help, b) ask for a high five, or c) ask for candy.  They got no candy, they got all the help they needed, and they generally got high fives - at least until I decided that my hand hurt because their high fives were too hard, so I quit, ha.

I also had two members of the "HEY! TEACHER!" group come in and do a round or two of their shouting act again today -- still hilarious.  I do love those guys especially, it's true -- and not because they shout my name, ha.  I love them because they say hilarious things like, "I hate cats!  Cats are dirty!  But delicious!  Cats are delicious!" -- and then, two weeks later -- "SPAM?!  I love SPAM!  SPAM is delicious!"  (This guy may very well love Spam, but I do not think he has tried cat.)

What else?  Hmm, students are giving me candy.  It's pretty great, ha.  I generally just like to collect it instead of consume it - I think it's cute and it makes me smile to see it, ha.  Today I ate a piece, though, because it was after lunch and I needed to chew on something.  Pretty grapetastic, I must say, and it made my students (the ones who demanded high fives, as a matter of fact) start demanding to know my gum source, haha.

Annnd, hm.  My students have to be at school for way too long every day, and I know that they don't put in as many hours as many school kids do.  Lame all around - I think all of these kids need more sleep.  Their bodies can't like this schedule.  One of my more bizarre but adorable kids told me that he would be at school until 9:00pm, and considering that he got there around 8:00am, I think that's pretty unfortunate.  Yeah yeah, some kids go to hagwon later than that, but this is regular school - same building all day long.  Not for me, certainly.

school slippers in korea

Earlier today I knelt down a bit to help a student with his worksheet.  When I tried to stand up, I noticed that something was blocking my foot's movement a bit, so I turned around to see what the kids behind me were up to.  They were in the act of standing up and returning to their seats when I gave them the "What gives?" look, but since I smiled when I did it, ha, they happily explained that they were interested in my shoes - they must have been crouching behind me while my back was turned and measuring them, ha.

My shoes, or slippers, really, are pretty darn high, readers.  Maybe an inch and a half or two inches - platform sorts of things.  It took me forever to find them, and while I was happy with them at first - and still am, in many ways - I think they really hurt my feet, ha.  This weekend I noticed that I still had red marks on my feet on Sunday evening from wearing them during the prior week.  That's with two days of slipper-free recovery, people, and those marks aren't the usual friction blisters - they are just like ... pressure wounds, ha.  The slipper band is hard and my feet are weak and not fatty enough to take that sort of hard line without injury, haha.

Anyway, I bought them (as I explained to my curious students) because my winter pants are all long - I have most of them tailored for heels.  If I wear flat slippers, I'd have to roll up my pants to keep from stepping on them.  Lame.  So since one is not allowed to wear normal footwear in school over here, people go out and buy slippers.  They don't have to be slipper slippers - just something clearly not normal, ha.  Most people -- well, most male teachers and all students -- tend to wear athletic looking, super-cheap slippers.  The female teachers are a bit more discerning.  One of my fellow teachers has Coach knockoff heeled slippers, another has Croc slippers (like, Croc ballet slippers - that's what they look like, ha), and several have shoes just like mine - platform slippers in black.

After hearing my explanation on the pant height issue, my students (a few young men) stood up to compare themselves with me.  I laughed and stepped out of my shoes to show them how much of a boost they gave me - this pleased them immensely since they are all clearly taller than me when I'm out of my shoes, but shorter when I am in them, haha.  They like being tall, and they really like being taller than their female teacher, ha.

When summer rolls around, I'll switch to lower, flatter, and hopefully more comfortable slippers.  I won't have to worry about pant length if I'm wearing skirts all the time, so I'll be able to have more flexibility when it comes to slipper choice.  Before that, though, maybe I can get some slipper pictures up here for your viewing pleasure, ha.

visiting the DMZ

This past weekend I visited the DMZ.  Let me tell you, friends, this was not something I had been hankering to do.  First of all, the idea just seemed kind of dull and troublesome.  Aside from that, I think I have some Moral Issues with the commodification of a war relic, a border that is a testament to the animosity between nations.  Am I alone in that thinking?  Well, you tell me.  Let me know if you support it, disparage it, or don't care either way.  I want to know what you think of the tourist aspect of the DMZ.

That first picture up there was taken at Paju, a strange sort of DMZ tourist kick-off spot.  It has a few dining establishments, a theme park, a big building that you can walk up on to look out towards the border, and a big ticket area where you can purchases tickets for the buses that wait there.  It also has a variety of photo op areas - these seem to be popular in Korea.  You can fly kites there, or play traditional Korean games.  What does all of this have to do with the DMZ?  I am not sure.  It's problematic.

Anyway, the bus tickets weren't expensive.  Don't remember how much exactly, but I think somewhere around 10,000 won.  We bought ours for a bus that would make four stops.

The first stop was at the train station that would, theoretically, connect the North and the South.  It is small and shiny.  The soldiers there were cheerful and willing to pose for photos.  They were also pretty large - I think they must have been selected based on their physical qualities, ha.  The little development that the station is on is rather empty since there isn't much commerce (of goods or people) between the two countries at the moment.

The second stop was at a lookout point.  There you can look out and see the two villages of the north and the south.  Despite the word that the North's village is a ghost town, I saw several people out and about near there.  Still looks like a non-functional town, but it's not like it's totally abandoned.  The flag poles are cool - the North's taller than the South's by a good bit.  The South Korean soldiers here are more solemn than the station ones, but still unimposing.

The third stop was at the Third Tunnel.  This was actually kind of cool - I do like tunnels, and the thought of North Korea being so persistent with them over the years is something to marvel at, certainly.  (They had at least four tunnels, made at different times, all seeming to head towards Seoul.)  And they had to dig through granite!  Yikes.  That had to be fun.  The tunnel place has lockers for your stuff, hard hats for you to wear down into the tunnel, and a museum to check out when you emerge.  The museum had some items left over from the war on display and a great deal of hilarious (but disturbing) lit on display.  The video that the museum shows is worth watching, if only for the bizarreness of it, and thankfully you can get little headphones with your native language for your listening pleasure.

The last stop was a souvenir shop.  If you want North Korean goods, you can buy some there.  I think the biggest seller might be the alcohol.

So!  That was the trip.  I didn't see the JSA -- if you're looking for North Korean soldiers and more solemn South Korean soldiers, that's the place to go.  It's in Panmunjon - or it's called Panmunjon - something like that.  Anyway, that place is much more strict than the others - I think you might have to abide by a dress code and watch your behavior there a bit more.  It's the most politically interesting of all the places, I think, at least from a current standpoint.  I'm going to post a few more pictures from Paju - photo taking opportunities at the other places were limited and I was unmotivated, ha.

attractive guys

I have a feeling that a lot of posts on this blog are going to be little snippets of me gushing about handsome men, haha.

Yesterday when I was out with my friends, two extremely attractive fellows ending up eating next to us.  They were both quite tall and a little broader across the shoulders than a lot of the Korean men I see.  They kept glancing over at me, but alas, ha, I think that was because I was the only foreigner in the room, haha.  They were probably thinking, "What is that chick doing out here?  And does she speak Korean?  No?  Weird."  My thoughts, on the other hand, were something like, "Oh my goodness.  So hot.  But I cannot talk to them.  I cannot even get out of my chair."  Haha.  I was kind of wedged in my spot by other people, and even if I could get out, it would have been rude to leave my dining companions just to talk to strangers.

While out on the street we passed a group of several young, tall, extremely handsome young men.  But the weird thing was that they were all wearing suits - very similar suits.  They looked like "hosts" - like the young guys that serve drinks to old ladies in those clubs in Japan.  (Don't know if you've heard about that or not.)  Were they?  If so, I didn't know that they had those things in Korea.  If they weren't, then what were they?  Were they working somewhere, or did they all just happen to look really good and come from very formal jobs?  Things to to ponder.  Now I have to get ready for the DMZ adventure -- looks like it might rain.  Uh oh, hah.

well

that was very different than what i was expecting
haha
well, i had a good time with people this evening.  details - maybe later, maybe never.  we'll see.
i have to wake up early tomorrow - going to the dmz.  that should be ... interesting.
honestly, it's one place in korea that i really don't care about at all.  but if i go, i can say i've been - that's something, right?

maybe!
love you all.  will update when i have greater control of my cognitive abilties.

worksheets

There are a lot of people teaching English on this fine planet.  Many of them use the internet as an inspiration for their lessons - many of them also post the material that they use in their class on the internet for others to use.

Problem is, I like about 2% of what I see.  That's really depressing, ha.  It's not that only 2% of the stuff is good, it's just that only 2% of the stuff fits the ability and needs of my students.

So I generally make my own worksheets.  They aren't revolutionary - they are similar to a lot of what I see, just fixed to the level of my kids and the themes of my classes.  I would consider posting them for others to use, but I'm too embarrassed, ha, and maybe they are too specific.  I'll think about it.

The use of worksheets themselves is an interesting issue.  What is their place in the ESL classroom?  I think the answer really depends on the students and the teacher.  More on this later, perhaps.

avoided grocery boy, did my laundry

I saw but did not greet the Grocery Boy today.  This is a first.  I spotted him from far away, this time - he was milling about in front of his fine food vending establishment, and I could tell that if I slowed down, he would be inside - or at least not directly in front of me, ha - by the time I passed.  So I slowed down.

Why miss a life-brightening interaction, you ask?

Well.  Today was a little tough.  I was too tired/stressed/carrying too much crap to want to say hello to one of my favorite people in Korea.  Lame of me, I know.  I was even wearing a cute outfit!  I got compliments from teachers today, which I take only slightly more seriously than compliments from students, ha - but still.  Apparently I looked, "Beautiful and calm."  Word.  That's pretty darn impressive, friends, considering how not calm I felt on the inside.  But I can keep up appearances.

The day ended well, though.  I met a friend for dinner, then I came home and cleaned my apartment a bit while doing the laundry.  I freaking love doing my laundry, apparently.  I do it all the time.  At least two or three times a week.  I like the sound of the machine, I like the smell of the clean clothes drying.  I like shaking things out, hanging them up, etc.  I don't think I'd enjoy doing the laundry if I had bigger loads of clothes, though.  Generally my wash here has to go in small shifts to fit the washer and then the rack, ha -- things are just on a smaller scale.

I have a social meeting with my fellow teachers tomorrow.  I wonder how that will go?  Hmm!  I'll keep you posted.

hello!

Some of my students have decided to take saying hello to the next level.

The trio that enjoyed bursting into my Monday class shouting "Hey! Teacher! [Korean words!]!!!!" repeatedly has stopped that, ha, but now they shout my name in the hallway at the same loud volume, ha.  "HEY!!! TEACHER!"  It's hilarious and I think it perplexes the other teachers who are passing.

After school yesterday I ended up chatting with some of my darling students as we waited by the intersection.  ("Darling students" because these few in particular are really sweet, ha.)  Anyhoo, as I was talking with them a bus passed and I am *positive* that I heard someone shout my name.  From the bus.  These kids, haha.

I like how they say hello to me whenever they see me.  I know, acknowledging me is the basis of respect, and that's been ground into them since day one.  Just because they say hello doesn't mean that they like me.  But some of them do, ha, and that's kind of nice, isn't it?  To be cheerfully greeted by nice people really brightens one's day.

grocery boy

Grocery Boy is easily one of my favorite people in Korea.  We met when I was wandering through the aisles of his rather small grocery store - I think I had paused near the Pepsi.  He asked if I needed help finding anything, but due to the language barrier, this request took some guesswork on my part and repeated tries on his, ha.  Anyway, I thanked him but declined the offer since all I needed was the Pepsi, which I had found, ha.  That was our interaction on that first meeting.

On our next meeting, we saw each other near the Sale Pile.  If things are on sale, they get moved to this special island and stacked rather high.  Anyhoo, he asked me something (in Korean) about a can of fish.  "Mackerel," I said and he nodded.  "Well, I don't know what to do with Mackerel, so I probably don't need any.  Though I like peaches," I said, gesturing towards the cans of peaches next to the cans of fish.  "Peaches!" smiled Grocery Boy.  "Yes, they are delicious!  Kim -" I paused with a questioning glance and he nodded and affirmed my pronunciation, "is also good."  That's what was behind the peaches in the Sale Pile.  But I didn't need any of it, so I just smiled, nodded goodbye / thanks, and went to pay for my other goods.

Since then I've only seen him in passing.  I walk by his store on my way home from school.  If he's outside, he beams at me, says hello in Korean - sometimes following up with an English "Hi," and gives me a cute overly deep bow.  He'll stop whatever else he's doing to greet me, even if I'm not looking at him - there have been a couple of times when I wouldn't have noticed he was outside unless he spoke up.  What a doll, haha.  It's impossible not to smile back to someone like him, so I'm always super cheerful and smiley after one of our two-second greetings, ha.

So!  That's my Grocery Boy.  In case you want to develop a mental image of him, picture a tall Korean fellow - skinny, ha, with a cute narrow face and a huge smile.

grocery stores

I'll probably write about grocery shopping a billion times, ha.

I still need to go to Homeplus today, to stave off starvation.  Laziness is such a huge force with me after school, ha, and I neglected to eat my After School Snack, so my energy is super low right now.  I need food, but I don't want to bother to go get it.  Pathetic.  I will, though.  I think.  Let me check how much cash I have, haha.  I don't want to use the ATM and give those bank people 500 of my hard-earned won, so I'd rather wait until tomorrow morning and swipe some cash then.

I did get some liquids earlier today though - very important stuff.  I've been dehydrated lately - I can feel it.  I cramp up easily like this - like some sort of dried out sponge girl, I lose my flexibility without any water in my body, ha.  So to combat this dehydration, what is better to buy than --- Gatorade!  Yeah!  What is up with Korea and Gatorade, though?  They sell it like it's a juice instead of a sports drink.  I guess it's not really that different in terms of utility, perhaps -- not sure.

So I bought Gatorade (original flavor), white vinegar (it's less common than I thought it would be!), and a Pepsi.  Pepsi is my usual drug of choice - well, aside from my fake Zrytec.  And chocolate.  I eat a lot of chocolate over here.   I think it's my way of compensating for not eating enough fat.  I need more fat and salt in my diet.  (Not often one gets to say something like that, eh?)

Anyway, I bought my liquids (that sounds gross) at the grocery store near my school.  They are absolutely wonderful people over there, ha.  I walked in and had about three different store employees say hello to me (in English) and wave.  Super sweet of them!  The checkout lady asked me what my name is -- it took her a couple of tries, but she got it.  Then I asked hers -- annnnd I think I've already forgotten her first name.  I have the second syllable and the last name, but the first!  Mixed up.  Alas.  I'll have to ask again, ha.

This is the same store, as it happens, where my Grocery Boy works.  I did not see him today, alas, but I'll keep an eye out for him, and I will eventually give you more details on him, ha.

OK!  That's enough.  I should get myself to Homeplus.  Think I'll buy some chicken and cereal.  Maybe a salad.

How was your flight!?? Where did you stop? Which airports?? Annnnnd what are your impressions of the Seoul airport?

it was a very pleasant flight over! (sorry if you're getting this message twice -- and sorry also for it being so late! maybe it's of no use for you now.)

i flew from a major east coast us airport direct to incheon, and i'm happy with that move. i don't like layovers - just a bother overall. the ride itself was smooth, and the korean air attendants were of course very nice.

seoul airport -- incheon airport, really - is huge, empty, very clean. it was easy to get around there. they have free carts for you to use to move your luggage - that made life less stressful, ha.

Ask me anything

not a bad beginning

ahhh!

It happened again.  Today in class a different student called me over for some sort of consultation.  It took me a while to figure out what he was going on about -- he was trying to get me to show him my arms to confirm his suspicion that my arms are indeed hairy.  Hilarious, yes.  He said, "My head, your arm. Same!"

THANKS.

Hahaha.  I then helped him to realize that he and the cat on his worksheet were also similar since they were both hairy, and so in that way I got back at him a little, since he hates cats.

I am going to have to take a picture of my arm so that you all don't get the wrong idea about my arm hair.  It's not manly arm hair - it's light enough, fine.  But it's not Korean arm hair -- which is basically nonexistent.  This general lack of body hair is one reason that I'm surprised to have seen a couple of chick mustaches here -- I thought they just didn't have the propensity for that sort of thing, but I guess there are exceptions.

My arm hair looks lighter in the summer when it's bleached by the sun and my skin is more tan -- but lately (the past four summers, ha) I have stayed out of the sun or worn a lot of sunscreen, so I'm rather pale.  Should I lose the pale here?  I'm pondering.  Or I could wax my arms.  Or not care.  Things to ponder, haha.

In other reassuring news, though, one of my favorites reaffirmed his "love" for me.  He wanted a hug earlier today, which he did not get, ha, and then later in class when another student thanked me and told me that he loved me (because I spelled Logitech for him ... ) my Singer (who was the first to say that I have hairy arms, ha) immediately yelled at him.  He said, "Don't touch her!  She's mine.  Hands off!"  Hahaha.  It was some of the best English he's ever used in class, so I didn't do anything aside from laugh at them.

Mondays are usually not my best days because they are so busy, but I enjoyed myself today. Cool.  I hope the good vibes carry though the rest of the week -- we'll see.

saturday

I had a nice weekend.  A little less busy than I was originally anticipating, but that suits me just fine.

Friday and today aren't really worth talking about.  So I'll get right to Saturday.

On Saturday, I visited Seoul with a new friend.  That was fun.  You know, I was going to give you the play-by-play of how it all went down, and then I thought to myself, "Self.  I bet he might just read blogs."  This blog is unknown to the world right now, really, so I doubt he'd read this any time soon.  But what if it gets on some list later, and he happens to come upon it, and read about himself?  Would that be ... bad?  Let me think.

Posting about his private thoughts and ideas - that would be bad.  He told that stuff to me, so that's where it ends on that subject.  Posting about what we did - probably fine.  Posting about my thoughts on ... him?  I, personally, would love to read that sort of stuff about myself, ha, at least the initial thoughts from someone I've just met.  Especially if they didn't know that I knew about their writing, you know?

Urm, hm.  Dang, just thinking about the morality or whatnot of blogging about people actually makes me sleepy, ha.  I guess I give up and get tired when faced with an obstacle.  Probably why math homework always put me to sleep almost instantly, haha.

He seems like a very nice guy.  I don't know him well yet, and I don't really have that solid of a grasp on his personality.  It doesn't usually take me this long to get that, so I'm surprised that he's eluding me.  Ha, clearly, it's not intentional.  We're both very open with each other.  It's just that some things seem to be unclear.  I'll figure it out eventually, I think.

He was more of a gentlemen than most fellows I've interacted with (throughout my life) have been.  Still surprises me to be treated like a lady, ha.  Korean men that I interact with as more than strangers have generally been really polite - holding doors, making sure I'm comfortable, seated first, etc.  Before coming here, I'd never had a man make sure that I had a seat on the subway and 'stand guard' over me as we progressed to our destination.  If there are empty seats next to me, the guy will sit down, otherwise he keeps standing.  Pretty impressive, given how driven to find seats many Koreans seem to be, ha.

I like the way most Korean men dress.  The suits are hilarious and wonderful, for the most part - I will not object to a shiny suit if it's worn with confidence and well-fitted, ha.  The casual clothing is super-dressy, really - I know they put more effort into their "look" than I do, most of the time.  The guys here also tend to be quite slim, perhaps fit as well - that's always hard to tell just from a glance.  I do not like comparing myself with these guys, though.  I'm much more "masculine" than they are in some ways and that just bothers me, ha. (I know I must weigh more than many of them, and I'm positive that I often have bigger hips, ha.  And I'm often taller.  And!  And -- I have more arm hair.  Fun.)

As for how the chicks dress -- hmmm.  There are too many questionable chick outfits for me to be a wholehearted supporter of Korean Chick Fashion.  More on this later, because I think I might actually be able to fall asleep now.  Yay!  And "Eeeps."  Time to add the "Maybe I won't wake up on time" fear to my "how will the lesson plan go?" anxiety, haha.  Sorry that this post didn't really include the promised weekend details, ha.

tomorrow's class, hm.

This is not good.  It's late over here and I can't get to sleep.  It's always hard for me to sleep on Sunday nights.  Guess it's the "oh gosh, I hope this lesson plan works" feeling keeping me awake, ha.  My lesson plan tomorrow will involve a lot of cats.  Cats and prepositions.  Cats are the perfect preposition animals, you know.  The cat is in the box.  The cat is on the table.  The cat is under the chair.  Et cetera.  That, and I am also going to throw in some fabulous adjectives.  We learned things like strong and weak last week, so this week it'll be fat and thin.  I try not to overload the kids - I take things a little bit at a time.  Who wants to learn all of the prepositions in one day?  Not my kids, that's for sure.  They want to watch a funny video, preferably the Simpsons, and then they want to get out early for lunch.  And if possible, they would like candy - two pieces each, minimum.

They will never get the Simpsons (unless I am somehow forced by my co-teachers to show it -- doubtful.)  They will probably get some more candy.  Funny video?  Depends on their definition of "funny."  They haven't gotten out early for lunch recently, and I plan to keep it that way.  My co-teacher is wishy-washy on this subject.  If they ask her, she will ask me if I can let them out early and I'm like, "Fine, whatevs, lady."  (In my mind.  I generally say, "That's fine.")  If I finish my activity early though, say by two or three minutes, she says, "Oh, is that all you had planned?  There is nothing else?" like I'm supposed to time everything perfectly.  I'm still trying to remember which classes are sharp and which aren't - I've been taking notes, but so far things have varied a bit so I'm not positive on the deets yet.  The details.

Anyway, this is boring even me, so I am going to switch topics, postpone my sleep, and tell you about my weekend!  huzzah

friday

Things of note from the day, in no particular order --

1.  I have the internet!  (Dear ones, we can Skype!)  It took a long time to install - I think something was wrong.  I'm paying - I think - for speeds of 50mbps -- I'm getting a download speed of just over 1mbps.  Um.  Is that how it really works?  Because if so, lameness galore.  My theory is that something was Really Wrong - like the wiring being incompatible with the high speed stuff they advertise - so I'm really on some old system.  We'll find out.  I'm going to ask my Thrifty and Efficient Co-Teacher to check the matter out -- she's pretty amazing when it comes to Getting Answers.

1.5  I made the cute little internet man nervous with my non-Korean-speaking awkwardness!  This is my Foreigner Skill.  I make most Korean men that have to interact with me mildly uncomfortable -- unless they are old.  The old ones are generally pretty chill and hard to ruffle, ha.

2.  I thought that I couldn't watch dramas with the internet -- as in, something in Korea is blocking me.  But - thank heavens - I updated something and now I can watch dramas - at least some of them.  PHEW.  Right now, I'm taking a little break from Down with Love (Taiwanese, so far it's absolutely wonderful) to write this blog entry.

3.  I'm sitting on my bed with my tea, my dramas, and my incandescent dimmer-touch-switch bedside lamp.  I freaking love incandescent light, tea, and dramas.  And my bed is not so bad either!

4.  I have Weekend Plans!  Of some sort, ha.  I have no idea how it will all pan out, but I will update on the adventures or lack thereof regardless.

5.  I am charged 500 (okay, that's basically nothing, but over time it will add up!) won by my bank's own ATM if I use the thing on the weekends.  Um.  How incredibly lame is that?  Banks here have horrible hours --- AND mine charges me to use its own ATM?!  Right in front of the bank.  So uncool.  I'm going to open an account with another bank eventually -- I will take my money out of my current account and put it in that new one, leaving enough in this just to pay automatic deductions.  I hope the new bank doesn't charge like that -- at the very least, I'm just aiming for an easier way to put money back in my home account.

6.  I just can't get over how much I adore a handful of my students -- and -- my grocery boy.  More on all of these wonderful people later!

7.  Anti-climatic (was there ever any hope for drama with this post anyway?) last point!  I am bad at texting over here.  I'm really slow, overly verbose, and the whole process itself is darn hard!  I think there must be an easier way.  Also, where are the rest of the Korean characters?  I can't use the dictionary unless I figure out how to type the whole alphabet.  And I want apostrophes too.