Long needed vacation

The time has come for me to pack my bags and leave Gwangju. I can't say I'm sad because I'm not. I've been looking forward to this five day vacation for two months now. You would think because of my excitement I would be traveling and exploring other parts of the world, but I'm not. I'm just sooooooo excited for a break and the opportunity to do nothing. The lady pictured will be hosting my stay for the next 3-4 days. I do have a request; you must wear your hair like this 2 days out of the 4. Thanks Ashley! Bags are packed, apartment cleaned, trash taken out...it's time to go.

By the way -- Taking pictures while chatting on Skype can be pretty entertaining.

I'm tired Korea. I'm tired.

I don't necessarily want this to be a Debbie Downer post, but it will most likely be. Sorry. The past week has literally been my breaking point. I've reached my limit of what I can handle. For starters, I've had the pleasure to listen to construction workers drill holes in the street at 7:45 am for the past two fucking days. This drilling continues to last the entire day, which I know because I come home for lunch and the annoying sound of drill entering cement is still going on. I also have to enter a construction site to enter my building -- I'm literally walking down this [pictured] street while an excavator is loading dirt into a dump truck. Now mind you, I don't tend to carry hard hats in my purse so I'm praying debris wont come crashing down on my head killing me instantly. As I was walking home today, the drilling looks complete however the construction is not done. 

There's just a lot of annoying things going on at work again. A student was taken out of my kindergarten class and put with another teacher. This had absolutely nothing to do with me. It was completely down to try and make the other class a little bigger and add a male student to make two. So I completely agree that this was a necessary move. I just don't agree with how it was handled. If I'm the teacher (which I am) I should be informed on what the hell is going on, but no. I found out about this on Monday by walking in on a conversation two other teachers were having. As I asked questions to figure out why and who will be moving I suggested all teachers have a meeting to decide on who will be moving or at least get us all on the same page. Now I definitely understand if my supervisor did not want to have a meeting, but I should still have been informed. I tried asking numerous times about who/when the student would be moved, but no one seemed to either A. want to tell me or B. didn't know. My last conversation ended with me telling my supervisor to please tell me when something is decided. I found out the next day by the student's new teacher asking me if I got the memo. I responded with, "of course I didn't." She then informed me with what was going on.

I know this does not sound like a huge deal and independently it really isn't. HOWEVER, two other co-workers of mine do not have hot water because the bill was never changed into their account. They've been here five-six months now. Not only do they not have hot water, but they have to pay the past 6 months of bills. This also happened to me except and thank-god it was only with my home phone. Another co-worker will be finishing her contract July 27th, but because of "confusion" she now is working until August 5th. We also don't have a replacement for her yet. Yay.

Overall, I really miss common courtesy, quietness, personal space boundaries and organization at work.

On a better note, Mud Festival was an absolute blast. The beach was packed full of foreigners (~60%) while the rest were Koreans. I didn't do anything crazy. It was just a lot of playing in the mud, hanging out on the beach, swimming in the sea, repeat. I was up until 4:30/5 am Saturday, which I regretted the next day. I would definitely do it again -- it was just nice to hang out with old friends as well as meet some great people.

Mud Festival

I don't have much to say today. Another long day at work, but for dinner I went to one of my favorite Gwangju restaurants - Lemon Table. They have delicious burgers and sauteed vegetables. Probably one of the only places that serve cooked veggies as a side. I've personally never been disappointed with my meal.

I'm not going to write too much tonight because I'm getting up early to catch a bus to Boryeong, which is where Mud Festival will take place. What is Mud Festival? It's basically a big beach festival with a ton of mud. So yes...you get dirty. I can not wait until this weekend starts. I've literally been looking forward to Mud Festival since I heard about it three months ago.

More info here:

http://www.mudfestival.or.kr/english/festival/festival1.php

I'm going to be a dirty girl this weekend and I can't wait! Good night.

I finally got my wings

For the most part today was just another Thursday at school. Except...I finally got my wings. For my kindergartners today was actually field trip so the morning (like every other field trip) took a lot out of me. Thank goodness we didn't do anything that required me to exert myself. Today we attended the musical "The Prince and the Pauper." Everyone seemed to really enjoy it including myself who was able to sit back and relax!

By the time my afternoon classes started at 3pm, I was already exhausted. I literally thought if I was home [home being U.S.A.] this would be a day to go home "sick." Don't worry I stuck through it. Plus, I'm fairly certain if I was truly ill I still would not be allowed to go home.

As I, with my dreary eyes, walked into 3rd period my hyperactive 8 year olds ran up to me screaming their random thoughts. I immediately went into robot mode. As I'm getting the classroom together I only respond with "yes," "yes," and "wow." I know this sounds horrible, but anyone who has worked with kids knows how tiring some things are and how it's difficult to always engage in every little thing an 8 year old wants to tell you. As I finish writing the necessary information on the white board I turn to see Kayla standing right behind me. She points to her backpack and says, "Angel Teacher, I have your wings." This immediately changed my mood! It was probably one of the funniest things that has happened.

So much to do and I'm exhausted

Monday through Friday I work at 9 am. Unfortunately, I have a huge break from 10:45am - 3:00pm. At times this break can be nice if I have errands to complete, but for the most part it's annoying. I would much rather work straight through and get off at 6pm. I just feel like I'm wasting time.

Today during my break I was planning to make a visit to the post office. I've literally had a bag full of letters, postcards and random other items to send to friends for months. Mom, Dad & siblings - you will get your stuff when I come home; be patient. I told myself I would definitely send these things on Wednesday during my break. Seeing how today is Wednesday and I have a ton of journals and essays to correct my visit to the P.O. will have to wait.

Every week I get about 10-15 journals to correct. These are not necessarily my assignments, but assignments from Korean teachers who need their students essays/journals corrected by a native English speaker. I don't mind correcting them, but when I look over at my desk and see 15 journals awaiting to be corrected...let's just say it's not the highlight of my day.

Bachelorette Tuesdays

Every Tuesday two friends and myself get together to cook and watch The Bachelorette. It's my new obsession. Well, actually TV shows in general are my new obsession. Especially since it's monsoon season I spend most of my free time laying in bed staring at my computer screen. Don't get me wrong I use to watch T.V. back home, but never like this. I've reached my all time low. I can and have spent hours watching shows. I know...this is a little disgusting.

This rainy Tuesday evening was no different than any other Tuesday in the Ju (that's slang for Gwangju). I finished work at 6 pm and headed to Shanna's place. It was her turn to cook so she made South African Indian chicken curry! It was amazing and delicious. I absolutely love Tuesday evenings. Not only do I get to partake in one of my obsessions, but I get to indulge in another. Cooking. Since living in Korea I do not get to cook like I would like. My kitchen disgusts me so I rarely use it. Correction. I never use it. I tried to use it once, but after I turned the stove on and saw a baby cockroach crawl out I immediately turned the stove/gas off and walked away. Needless to say I haven't used my stove since. Now, the kitchen at Shanna's apartment does not disgust me. I actually think it's really cute and very nice to use when cooking. Unfortunately, I've only had the opportunity to cook twice, but next week is my turn and I'm not quite sure what to cook. I'm thinking chicken fajitas.

ps---I secretly love Ames from The Bachelorette. Not only because he's named after the town I lived in for six years, but he's so damn goofy and funny. Seeing how I've followed the show and basically know Ashley I don't think Ames is the one for her. I'm thinking Ben F. will take this one.

Trying something new

Hello hello. It's Monday and today I am extremely tired. I'm really not quite sure why I am so tired, but I literally could not stop yawning today which oddly enough came in handy. One of my lessons included learning adjectives such as happy, sad, tired, etc. So every time I yawned I just used this as an opportunity to reinforce the meaning of tired. Things have been really uneventful. I'm really just working and trying to stay dry. It's monsoon season and it constantly rains. I mean it pours from the morning until late at night. I finally broke down and bought rain boots this weekend. Seeing how my right foot is slightly bigger than the left, they don't really fit. However, I would definitely rather have dry feet/legs than have my shoes/socks continue to get soaked and smell of mold.

I've been here seven months now and although things are becoming somewhat tedious for me I feel you would like to read more on the randomness of living in S. Korea. So everyday I've decided to take a photo and give a brief story/passage (yes I said passage) on my thoughts at the moment and what was going on. I can't promise I will continue to do this the rest of my time in Korea; enjoy this while it last.

The KJB: This first photo is not too exciting. I took it while waiting at the bank. Kwangju Bank (KJB) to be exact. I haven't sent money home for a while and really needed to get cash home. Things like student & car loans don't care about you exploring life overseas. They just want their money. So I walked the five minute walk to the bank and sat for fifteen. The usual guy was no where to be found and seeing how he's the only one who knows or is comfortable with their English, after ten minutes I realized I was waiting for him. He eventually came and money was successfully sent home. I hope.

Before taking this photo I had taken others. During this time I noticed a bank employee looking at me. She had caught me taking pictures and I'm not sure what the rules are of taking pictures inside a bank. I mean, you can't take pictures inside casinos why not banks?! As I was turning my camera off she started to walk towards me. I of course started perspiring. Seeing how I was tired I wasn't really in the mood to be yelled at. There's just something about being yelled at in Korean. It's exhausting. And loud. As she's getting closer I start to channel the "Sorry I'm foreign, I don't know what I'm doing" attitude. She then taps me on the shoulder and hands me a yogurt drink. It was the highlight of my day!

Today in class:
me - If you had a robot what would you make it do?
Gwen - my chores.
me - great! Anyone else?
Macy - Nothing. Robots are jerks and fools.

Another odd thing my kids are doing. They're smelling me. I don't mean they walk by me and maybe they get a whiff of my perfume, which I don't wear to work. I mean they are literally pressing their face into my hair, back, arm and.....pits. A girl today literally smelled my armpits and said, "teacher you smell like shooka shooka, mmmmm so good teacher." I didn't know how to respond so I continued to grade her homework.

Shooks shooka - is a noise the kids make, particularly this student, when referring to something cool or funny.

Songs of the week

Current obsession:

Previous obsession - the drummer gets me every time:

Familiar food & faces

I've been here almost seven months and I'm really starting to miss a few things. Without hesitation I miss mexican food. I miss mexican food a lot!! I miss the cheesy-gooey deliciousness of fat on fat on a crispy flour tortilla. I miss salsa. I miss guacamole. I miss juicy seasoned meat that screams viva la Mexico once you bit into it. Now, don't get me wrong they have a few mexican restaurants in Korea. However, they tend to lack flavor; it's just not up to my standards.

I also miss the Ol' Jimmy Johns deli sandwich. I would love to just call up JJ's and put in my order.

#5 Vito - no tomato. substitute mayo for guacamole. jalapeno chips. cherry coke.

Mmmmmmmm. One can only dream.

This weekend is a friends wedding. I (for obvious reasons) had to miss it. Not only am I sad I couldn't be there, but I'm really sad that I'm missing this rare occasion of the girls together in one place. I miss you all and I hope you enjoyed your time together. Congratulations again Kaylee & Nick! Can't wait to see pictures.