Last Weekend, Part 1

On Saturday, I went to a street market in Seoul. It was pretty unimpressive, but I did score these glasses, which I think go really well with my red hat.

That night, I met up with Heather, Jason, and Hannah (she's dating one of our co-teachers who is home in Ireland until May) at a vegan restaurant in Insadong. Did you know Jesus was a vegan? Yup.

Delicious

On the floor

After dinner, we happened upon this band playing in the street. I think they are called Four Brothers, but we're not sure. I have a giant crush on the one to the far left playing guitar.

My Birthday at School

My co-teachers got me a coffee cake (a literal interpretation, in a mug) from Paris Baguette. Delicious.

This is another one of my favorite classes. Yesterday I chased them around like a zombie and then they taught me Taekwondo moves.

Hard at work.

My Kids!

These are my youngest kids. I think they are all about 5 or 6 years old. They are absolutely nuts and this photo is a total fluke. It must have been taken during a 3 second span where they were not punching each other, screaming, stealing marbles, or just generally living in another world where I do not exist.

This is Alex. I want to steal him. He's like a little person.

This is Aron. He is pretty much a wild banshee all the time. This is his drawing of the sun and a cloud.

My favorite class. They are a little bit older. Its all girls and two boys, Chris and Gene. I still don't know which is which, so I always address them both at the same time.

Clockwise from purple jacket: Debbie, Jodie, Lucy, Belle, Sandy

Miley, Kate, Carrie

St. - Pat - Rick's - Day

Last weekend, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day, and me and Tommy's birthdays. He is a day older than me. There was a parade, but we watched it from a restaurant while we ate. We then headed down to enjoy the music, dancing, and other randomness that is St. Paddy's in Korea.

They were giving out free shirts, but you had to put it on right there. We obliged and sported those amazing shirts the rest of the day.

The Gang

Getting Hip

Getting mysterious

Getting Adorable

Getting Serious

Getting Smart

Getting Real

Getting Dancey

Getting Irish

This ahjumma (old Korean lady) was not supposed to be inside the ropes, but then she started doing push-ups, and you just can't touch that.

Apartment Chronicles, Part 1: Trash Criminals

This is maybe 1/4 of the trash we accumulated while cleaning out our apartment. We didn't have any problems just taking it down like this and leaving it by all the other trash downstairs. But, apparently, Korea does have a problem. About 20 minutes after taking down this last load, we received an ominous knock on our door. Its like when everyone you know is all together in a house, and the doorbell rings, and everyone just kinda looks around, like "What the...?" I looked through the peephole and saw what looked to be a security guard, but it could have been a police officer for all I know. He yelled at me in Korean, and then to make things fair, he yelled at Heather in Korean. Its always hilarious when people here try to talk to Heather because she will just completely engage in the conversation in full-blown English, to which the Korean always meets with more nonsense, assuming if they talk long enough they might both understand what the heck is going on. I, on the other hand, just shake my head and shrug my shoulders until they leave me alone.

Anyway, this man was clearly very angry with us, and we were still at a loss as to why this might be. The very angry man was insisting we leave our apartment and come with him. UH, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? NO WAY! I'VE SEEN BROKEDOWN PALACE. The very angry man finally leaves and by this point we somewhat understand he is mad about the trash. We contact our co-teacher online to find out the deal, and she explained they have strict trash rules in Korea, rules they take extremely seriously. Oh, that would have been nice of someone to tell us about as we hauled out other people's trash from our apartment for three days.

Lesson Learned.

Almost.

20 minutes after that run-in, the very angry man is knocking on our door again. I look through the peephole and tell Heather I am not opening the door. "Elisse, you have to!" "But, he has someone with him!" "And...I'm pretty sure he has all of our trash." I am not kidding. This security guard and his buddy hauled back up all of our trash, to the 7th floor.

Square One.

Update: Two weeks later, we have finally figured out the trash system in Korea. Its ridiculous, but at least we are in on the absurdity now.

Weekend Recap

Friday nights, I have class until 9:45, so we decided to stay in and have Africa Night. I made pasta and we watched Invisible Children and Blood Diamond and ate peanut butter cookies. I had class on Saturday (we teach one Saturday a month) afternoon, and then we headed to Itaewon with Cynthia and Jason to watch A Night of Shakespeare at Roofers Bar. Above is a photo of their staircase. Itaewon is geared towards westerners, so when we got off the train it felt like we landed in any big American city. Roofers was filled with artsy white people. It was cool, but I think we are preferring places with a mix of Koreans and westerners.

Cynthia, Heather, Jason (having a beer)

On sunday, we woke up late and decided to explore a big market area in Seoul. This is a praying Donald Duck on the cab's dash.

It was raining when we got there, so we had some food at an American chain restaurant and went home. Sad. Isn't this chandelier cool, though? Champagne glasses!

Back to work,

E

Molding Minds

Last week was our first full week of school. I am really enjoying teaching and I feel comfortable in the classroom. It has been challenging as we are basically on our own as teachers to create lesson plans, communicate curriculum effectively, and entertain a group of kids that do not understand most of what I'm saying. After finishing multiple classes 20 minutes early and only knowing how to play hangman the previous week, I definitely tried to bring my A game (teacher humor) this week. I planned more to accomplish during the lessons and prepared educational games to fill in the gaps. Most of my students are absolutely wonderful. I have a handful of girls who come into the staff room before our classes and help me take all my supplies to class. I love girls. There are some bad apples and I was having a hard time managing those classes in the beginning, but now I take away cell phones, send kids outside, and threaten to take them to the front desk. No mercy. Kids DO NOT want to go outside the classroom, which was interesting to me because they seem so unconcerned about being there. I think its a matter of embarrassment being seen standing outside in the hallway. For the most part, the kids are fun, curious, and excited to learn. Hopefully I can snap some pictures soon, but I don't know what the rules are yet.

On Thursday, Heather and I were told to arrive at school at 11:30 for our medical check-up. A part of us wondered if our check-up would be done at school by Bonnie, a head Korean teacher, which would be weird but not surprising considering the past two weeks of "adventures". I was relieved when we hopped in a cab with Bonnie and headed to a medical building. We went from office to office, getting our teeth checked, blood drawn, x-rays, and such. To check your height, they use a machine that you stand on and a marker drops down and hits you on the head, sending Heather and I into fits of laughter. The nurses looked very confused, like, "what? you don't have things come down and bang people on the head to check height?" Hopefully everything checks out because once we are cleared, we can to apply for our alien cards, and that means bank accounts and cell phones! We can be like real people again.

Any of you teacher friends out there reading this, I would love suggestions and advice.

Love,

E

Mexican Food!

Last weekend, we braved the hour and a half subway trip to Gangnam, to visit the famed Dos Tacos. One leg of the trip requires boarding the most packed train you have ever seen.

Its a mexican casual grill according to the menu.

We had margaritas, and Heather and I shared a quesadilla and veggie burrito, though I'm sure we could have each had our own. It was delicious, exactly the kind of mexican I like, traditional ingredients, but with some healthy stuff added for good measure. Yum.

Happy girls. We had a serious case of the giggles that night, that may be why we're glowing. Or the chips and salsa.

Adios!

E

Its Snowing in Korea! In March!

Yes it is. I'm sure the snow is much more romantic snuggled away in a cabin, sipping cocoa, and opening presents. Unfortunately, we have to walk to and from school. Two southern California girls. With frozen noses and inappropriate footwear.

As I was writing this, Heather came in and told me to look outside again. This happened in five minutes:

These pictures were taken from our apartment. I don't know how to work my flash properly, but you get the idea.

First Day of Teaching

Yesterday was our first day actually teaching in the classroom. I started the day with two fairly similar classes consisting of 10 year olds ( I think? Korean age is a little different, but they were short, so 10 is what I guessed). I basically spoke to them and they answered questions out of workbooks. The english in the workbooks is incorrect and nonsensical at times, but it gets the general point across to the kids. The kids are adorable. The majority seem eager and enthusiastic, and the handful of brilliant students keep the classes moving along even when no one else is participating. My next class wasn't so much a class as tutoring one girl named Rachel. I wasn't left any notes on what to do with Rachel so I asked her what Vernon (the previous teacher) did with her at this time. Oh, he just spoke English with her for 45 minutes. Rachel is 14, so she showed me pictures of her dog, we made paperclip jewelry and talked about Disneyland and being cold. My final class was middle schoolers, which are actually much older in Korea, maybe 16-18 years old. They were tough. They wouldn't talk to me at all. Thank god I only had to administer a writing test for the duration of class. I gave them a topic to write about and then I read The Atlantic. When I glanced up, I'm pretty sure they were all cheating with translation devices. A new term starts Thursday so these will not be my actual classes. Just practice kids.

Love,

E

Korean Heather

Hey everybody (all 5 of you that read my blog),

You can also take a look at Heather's blog, Korean Heather. She writes more than I do, but she doesn't proofread. Don't say I didn't warn you.

-E

Yesterday I fell in love...

With Insadong. It is a beautiful dong, or neighborhood, with a more traditional Korean feel. Insadong has one main street and various alleys that lead deeper into the district (thanks wikipedia).

Just me acting like a french girl next to some ropes with paper tied on. Each one had black writing but we never found out what the whole thing meant. Why? Because we don't speak Korean!

How gorgeous are all the lights?

Wine graveyard

This shoppong center wound up to each next level. No stairs! It was awesome.

At the top of the center, hidden away, is this deck where I plan on getting married. I can't wait to see it in the Spring.

So many people, everywhere, all the time.

We ended our trip at a tea house. I got apple tea for "Nutritional Healthiness, Expectorant". Interesting, it tasted like they dumped in half a bottle of honey. Heather got rose tea for "Healthy Skin". It tasted like fish. Haha!

I love you all too!

-E