Thursday, March 24, 2011

It snowed a pretty good snow today, March 24th. A little late for snow in my opinion, especially since I was wearing short sleeves a week ago. Luckily tomorrow I'll be going to Changwon, down south to visit Hannah, where hopefully it is a bit warmer. My gym trainer told Josh, Jenny and I with all seriousness, in a very stern voice, "Be Careful!" of the changing weather patterns.  I'll beware.

In other news, I still love my new students. They are easy going and it's honestly effortless to be with them. They are the reason I love my job instead of dread it. Though it was a little bittersweet watching my old students move to new classes and a whole new program, I was relieved to have a fresh start. However, four little boys in my old Aries class (Kevin, Jeff, Tom and Daniel) need an extra tutoring class, and I was available to do the job every Tuesday and Thursday. It's a little hard establishing new terms as their elementary teacher and not kinder, but they're doing a fair job respecting my rules for our new special class. I'm honestly really happy to teach these boys again for my remaining months here.

A few posts back, I clamied to be one of the biggest Cheonan Skywalkers Volleyball fans. Well, I'm going to go right ahead and retract that statement. I'm 100% sure the biggest fans wouldn't miss the playoffs! There was a playoff game yesterday and today. I know this because I watched them on TV at the gym, wearing my Cheonan skywalkers t-shirt (unplanned t-shirt coincidence.. I think the fan in me just knew). So, we're going to the last playoff game this coming Tuesday. We had a hunch that playoffs were around the corner, but we just did not play off that hunch like a true fan would! I blame this mishap on my meager Korean skills...hard to be the biggest, truest fan when I don't speak Korean. Better believe this Tuesday I'm going to cheer my little heart out.. let's go Skywalkers!!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The past few weekends I've spent in Seoul, which is such a breath of fresh air. Though I love Cheonan and it's smaller, intimate feel, the big, international and eclectic city is a fun place to visit. And, it's only a 30 minute train ride.
A few weekends ago, we went to support Josh in an art auction (fundraiser for unwed mothers in Korea)  in which he had a couple of his pieces. It was an excellent art show that included a spoken word section as well. The speakers were very passionate and talented. After the event, we stayed the night in a jimjilbang (a public bathhouse). Jimjilbangs usually have more than one floor. The first floor is usally the bath areas (one for men and one for women). The other floors are a common (not quiet area with restaurants etc) room, a common sleeping room and seperate male and female sleeping rooms (all on mats on the floor). Jenny, Josh and I decided to stay in the common sleeping area and figured it'd be the best bet. It was so loud and brightly lit and a few weirdos sleeping way too close for comfort. For only 8 bucks, what can you expect?

This past weekend was beautiful. We spent the afternoon out in the warm sun exploring Hongdae art market. Jenny, Josh, Julie and I got little caricature cloth dolls of ourselves... they are very cute and creative. Hopefully Josh will be able to bring his art to the market soon. Afterwards, we went on  boose cruise along the Han River. No one really cared for the music, which was a downer, but it was such a clear, crisp spring night on the water to enjoy. Afterwards, we went to a burlesque show. It was a good show with good music to dance to. And again, we slept in the jimjilbang, but we made sure to do it the smart way. So, we said goodnight to Josh and went to sleep in seperate male/female sections. These sections are basically like 40 little dark caves on the floor for people to crawl into and sleep in individually. I find it really cozy and safe, but of course a little hard on the floor. It's actually kind of fun.
The next morning, waking up at the jimjilbang (bathouse), I had a place to shower, get in the hot tub and enjoy a little time in the sauna before starting my morning. It's very refreshing. We all went to All American Diner for breakfast. We got free refills on coffee, which is such a simple but delicious American pleasure!
After breakfast with everyone, I seperated and met up with Sohee in an area called Meyongdong. The shopping there was exceptional and I found a Forever 21! We had coffee in the cutest little place. Really the place is meant for couples because there are tiny, seperate, curtained off rooms on the floor with a tv, a small table and lights that dim (wink). After coffee, catching up and shopping, we got a very delicious Japanese dinner that I'd never had before called Omurice. So delicious!
I took the train home and here I am... off to another work week!

Monday, March 7, 2011

I'm almost famous. One of my student's father saw Jenny, Josh and I on the Korean KBS sports channel for a televised volleyball game. Maybe famous is a bit of an overstatement, but this is the first step... air time on Korean television... few years later rolling with the big dogs in LA.

Jenny and I started watching volleyball games while running on the treadmills at the gym a few months back but never realized Cheonan had a team. We are the Cheonan Skywalkers!!! Our trainer, Lee, told us about the games and we've been to about 5 of them. We're pretty big fans. And as far as the foreign crowd, I'd say we're the biggest fans in Cheonan. For some reason volleyball is extremely popular as a national sport and it's quite a hit with the teenie boppers. After the games the young schoolgirls (sometimes still in uniform) chase after the players and wait at the team bus for them. I may or may not have chased after a few players myself just like the rest of the giddy schoolgirls...

Because of our enthusiasm last Saturday, we were even interviewed by a woman that works for Hyundai (the sponsor of the Skywalkers team). I was estatic!