Hondae & Casino Night!

The beginning of this week started like any normal week.. but the last three days seemed like they lasted forever! A new branch of my school opened up in Songpa, which is like 10 minutes away from my school now. I guess for all new schools theres a "parents meeting" (meaning an auditorium is filled with crazy ajumas, Korean moms, of children who will be attending that school. Mr Song, DYB's CEO, has the Native teachers put on a little song and dance for the crowd. However, I was the ONLY new native teacher out of the 7 native teachers in my area who was not asked to go! At first it made me feel left out, like the last kid picked for dodgeball, but if he did get picked teams would be uneven, so the captains say sorry, you can have next game. Ben called Yumi and said "she forgot to tell you", which I believed at the moment but thought it was still strange. How do you forget to tell someone that when you told everyone else? I mean.. we all work together. But I just went with it. I got to sleep in while everyone else had to wake up early and sing and dance, so I wasn't too worried. 

The next day, Mark told me why I didn't get invited. He said my image wasn't really "Korean mother friendly", meaning I'm not really what they want to see teaching their kids! I was shocked! But only a little, because I kind of expected this. In Korea, everything is about image. You could be the worst at something, but if you look a certain type then you are set. They love alan because of his fair skin. Mark said he doesn't get invited often because he is Korean American, and they want to see white people. So anyway, later that day Rene stopped me on my way to class and gave me an alternate, but along the same lines of, explanation of my absence at the parents meeting. Yumi told everyone who was going so late, like at 9 oclock the night before, and Rene thought that it would be too late to inform me, being that I would need to shave and get dressed up and work on my image, so, sparing me the stress of getting ready he just told me to go to the next one. He reassured me that it wasn't something I needed to worry about, he just didn't want to put all this on me at once. (why does everyone always think im a bum!) 

Anyway, so Friday morning, my day off mind you, all the new teachers had a meeting with Mr Song. He gave us a lecture and then we had a workshop with Rene where we learned more about how to teach. We were split up into groups of 5 or so. Every group had a discussion leader who was picked before the meeting, and naturally, that was me. Mr Song started his speech and then wrote some stuff on the board like Who to teach, How to teach, Why to teach, What to teach, and had each group answer the questions. Each group had to present their answers to Mr Song and the rest of the room at the front on a little stage, and the easiest way to do that was to make the discussion leader present (you can see where this is going).. 

I got up to present and was a nervous wreck. I had my standard right hand under my left armpit pose while I was trying to act like I knew what I was doing in giving this speech. I hated it. Everyone made fun of me for standing like that! But I couldn't help it, I was freakin out. I hate talking in front of groups, but I thought I pulled it off pretty well. A couple hours later we got a break and got some coffee. I got a shower right before I went to the meeting, so I checked a mirror to see how my hair was drying, and yep, you guessed it, it was all messed up! haha I was like damn.... but I met Mr. Song before so it wasn't like this was our first time. ( The first time I met Mr. Song: I never EVER wear my hair down. But this one day I was like whatever, I'll let it down to dry today, because its bad to pull your hair up while its wet, and besides, I won't be seeing any students or anyone but the people I work with, and I'm not worried about them. So I'm strolling along down the street enjoying the day. I get to DYB and get on the elevator. All of a sudden an arm pokes through the elevator doors and stops them from closing. I'm thinkin "Oh, this dude just wants to get on the elevator", and in walks Mr Song. My jaw about dropped. He is rarely ever seen at school. He's usually off doing business stuff. So he started making small talk with me but in my head I was having this conversation "Hi Mr Song. Yes, Thanks for hiring me for this great school. What? No, no I'm not a crackhead, but thanks for asking. Yes, I have other shoes than these. No, I don't usually wear my hair down". We got off the elevator and parted our ways and that was that. ) To top it off, after the meeting alan was like "oh, you have lint in your beard, its been there all day" I was like great.. thanks for telling me after it was over. Since I shave now (yes! I actually do.. sometimes..) when I dry my self off, the lint from the towel gets stuck in the little stubs. Its so annoying.

On Fridays, my days off, I always wake up feeling depressed. I enjoy having the day off and all, and love the solemnness, but sometimes I just wish I was working so I could hang out with people. This Friday I went to Insadong, which is like the cultural center for shopping for native Korean arts and crafts and such. I passed this park on the way so I decided to stop in. It wasn't that great but I'll add the picture because there isn't any pictures yet.

I also passed this display on the street. Its live trees with Korean flags as leaves. The middle part of the flag is yin and yang. The four little hash marks around it stand for the four elements fire, water, earth, and metal. 

This is the only Starbucks written in Korean in all of Korea, to keep with Insadong's identity as a cultural center. Literally, "Suh-ta-beok-su Keo-pee"

These little lamps were everywhere! I loved them. Some saleswoman came up to me and told me that every single part of these lamps are made of paper. They are made into such great intricate nature designs! But I think because of that they would be impossible to send home. 

I'm the worst shopper. It takes me forever to make a decision, even if I go out to eat somewhere. I will 95% of the time order the same thing at the same places every time, otherwise I could stare at the menu for hours. I dunno why, I'm not really thinkin of much.. which is probably the problem because I'm not really considering what I want, just what I think would be the best. Anyway, Korea is the WORST. If you even walk down the street and glance at something in a shop window, the person workin in the shop will come running after you with like 5 things in their hands trying to convince you you need to buy them. I hate it. When I go into a shop, as soon as I see an Ajuma approaching me I immediately head in the opposite direction. I feel so bad telling them I don't want to buy something when they come up to me and show me things, so I just try to avoid the whole situation. That being said, when I first got to Insadong I stopped at this stand selling necklaces. I really liked some of his stuff but I kept going to see what else I could get (the whole point of me going was to buy Grace a birthday present). I didn't really see anything else I really liked so I went back to this stand. I wish I was exaggerating when I say I stood at this stand for 40 minutes trying to decide what to buy, and if I wanted to even buy anything. I saw the guy who owned the stand start coming to me and I freaked out. I didn't want to sit there and have him explain every single thing, but I also liked his stuff so much that I decided to stay. He ended up being a great guy! I told him this kinda stuff makes me anxious and he just said "take your time, theres no rush", and walked away. Ten minutes later he came back to find me in the same exact pose I was in when he left me. He started striking up a conversation about how he lived in Queens for about 20 years working as a cabbie and other odd jobs, and now he makes jewelry out of natural stones wrapped in bronze and silver, and hand braids the bands (his website is http://cafe.daum.net/garogie ) so if you like anything let me know and I'll pick it up for you. His stuff is pretty cheap, I think the most expensive thing I asked about was about $40. Anyway, he started getting into a deep conversation about life and taking advantage of every day and every experience, and he ended up being one of the most genuine, warm hearted and kind people I have met since in Korea. I felt like I've known him my whole life and that we could be good friends, even though he's like 55. He had really caring and comforting eyes and never broke eye contact with me, and he immediately made me less anxious. He shook my hand for a good 5 minutes and told me to enjoy my time in Korea and don't take any moment for granted and such.. which usually you just brush off like ya ya I know I know.. but something was different about him. He told me to come back anytime. I left him feeling so happy that I thought about him the rest of the night. Maybe it was because I always feel anxious on my days off and seek the comfort of other people, but he was great. 

This is so smart! I thought it was corny at first but it makes sense. At a lot of Korean restaurants they have food they sell in a display case, but the food is make out of plastic! How real does it look! The big bowl is Bibimbap, which is just like vegetables and rice. The top left corner is the infamous kimchi that you get with every meal. 

This Saturday was an early morning Saturday, we had to be there at 8. After work, me and Joon (on of the  top English teacher in DYB, he teaches "Song's class" which is the highest level kids) didn't want to go home just yet. The afternoon was beautiful, so we went to the Han river to have some beers and some finger food. They day was lovely! It was so great to get out of the claustrophobic feeling of having buildings surrounding you and into an open place. There is a bike track along the river that was filled with bikers of all ages.

There was also a bunch of people sail boating this day.

Joon just moved apartments and went to Home Plus, which is like a gigantic Wal-Mart, if you can even imagine that. He had to pick up shelves and some homie kinda stuff, and since I didn't have anything planned I tagged along. Korea is so smart! Since its a small city with a lot of people, the buildings like this are multiple stories. Between each story is flat escalators. The buggies have like little stoppers on the wheels, and the escalators have grooves on them deep enough for the wheels to fit in, so when you are on the escalator the stoppers stop your buggie from rolling down the escalator! Its great! You don't even have to hold on to the the buggy and it will stay there. I grabbed some things too while I was there. I bought this Brita water filter when I first got here because I didn't want to have to constantly buy bottled water. However, because kimchi is the most rotten and foul thing known to man, my whole fridge and everything in it smells like kimchi. It completely ruins the water. Korean people have fridges, and then kimchi fridges where they store massive amounts of kimchi and other foul smelling things like fish. I bought this glass tupperware container thinking this will hold the smell in. I also bought a fridge deodorizer just in case (the next morning I opened my fridge and nothing changed. This stuff is evil but so damn good). I also bought some red wine and some nice cheese recommended by Joon called grana padano, both of which I am enjoying at the moment. The cheese is so good! Its like asiago style. I proceeded to checkout and I ended up with $120 worth of stuff. I was like how did this happen!?!? I felt so depressed that when I got home I immediately tore into mass cleaning my apartment. 

Korea is also very resourceful. They save all the boxes that their shipments come in and you can use them to take all your stuff home. They have tables with tape and scissors so you can tape them shut. Here is Joon strapping his purchases together:

 

It made me feel so much better! But when I was washing my bathroom, since it is just one solid plastic piece, I drenched it in a bleach type cleanser, wiped it down, and washed it down with the shower. I used so much that I thought I was going to die! Breathing started to hurt and my eyes were watering so bad, but my bathroom was spotless. I was so happy that everything was done and I could finally relax. I was laying on my couch watching a movie, completely content with staying in for the night, when I got a call from Ben and Peter telling me to come to Hanti to celebrate Brien's birthday. I was like alright, I can go have a few beers on my Saturday night. I headed out there and was about to leave, when I got dragged out to Hongdae. Hongdae is surrounded by 5 universities and is full of life. I HATED IT! It was my nightmare. The place was completely trashed and disgusting. Every place we went into was a frat party! The music was like being in an earthquake. Your whole body shakes. You can't even hear yourself if you screamed, let alone trying to talk to anyone around you. We went to a bar and Brien ordered two bottles of Jose Cuervo (I could only stomach one shot and I was done, I hate tequila), and immediately left without even drinking any! We were like what happened to Brien? Eventually we found out he went to Taco Bell (I was so jealous). 

After we came home from Hongdae, me Peter Ben and Emily (American Emily, not British Emily) went to the casino (don't worry ma I only spent $50!). So much for staying in, right?? The casino was pretty cool. Koreans aren't allowed in the casinos, which is strange because they are in Korea, but I guess they have a gambling problem. Drinks were free if you were playing, and you get one free meal while you are there! I got an American breakfast that was fried eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast. It was great! By the time we got home, the sun was rising! Me and Emily went to the top of Daecheong (our apartment building) to watch the sunrise for a bit. It was beautiful!

On Monday at work, I tried to get my kids to learn how to write research papers. It failed miserably. I didn't really expect it to, they were only 14 years old, but they really wanted to learn how. It was just too hard. 

At the end of every class when you mention "Ok, for homework..." there is just loud groans. So for my one class Monday, when I said "Ok, for homework..." the students were like "Teacher! If she (pointing at a girl in class) dances to this K-pop song, no homework!" You can't argue with that logic, so I sat down and watched her dance. K-pop is like our 90's boy and girl bands (Spice Girls, N*SYNC). They love this stuff here. And every song has a dance. She nailed it. However, she is only 14 years old, so I felt kind of uncomfortable watching her do some of the more suggestive dance moves. 

Tuesday, today, was the worst! I always have trouble with this one kid in class. Today he was watching the baseball game all class. Now me being non-confrontational (I dunno how to be assertive and yell at people) I just kept saying put it away, stop watching the game, like all class). He was also ignoring me and studying for his vocab test. I walked up to him and tried to take his vocab study sheet from him but he resisted, so the piece of paper ended up ripping in half. He got so pissed! He kept making this like "kiss my teeth" voice to me, like he was challenging me, and kept doing this hand motion (which I later found out was the equivalent to the middle finger, but swearing and stuff like that is less harmful than in the states, but nonetheless this kid was a douche). I started freakin out on him telling him that I put up with him long enough and starting next week it was going to end. I told him I spend half the class reprimanding him and every suffers from it, and he just doesn't listen even if I tell him to give me his phone and everything. I was so mad after the class that I went to the teachers room and told Mark and Joon about him. They went to his room and started yelling at him! After the class he came to me and apologized and shook my hand! It was great.. Although he's definitely the type of kid who will be at it again next week. Everyone knows him and his antics. 

I've had enough wine and cheese for the night, ciao!