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.