Another weekend seemed to just dissapear...

On Saturday, the girls and I took a day trip to see the Big Buddha statue in Cheonan. Supposedly, it's the biggest in Asia. It was very massive and impressive. It was a beautiful, sunny day too so we got lucky. We walked around the temples and the town below as well. The temples were very colorful and the designs were so intricate.

It was a pretty early evening after going to see Big Buddha because we got up at 4am today for a deep sea fishing trip our boss took us on. We took a two hour bus ride to the port. It was a bit rainy when we got there so we were extremely skeptical about being on an open boat for six hours. Luckily the rain stopped. We fished for quite a few hours. I was getting lucky during the begginning (caught 3 fish in a row) but then my fishing weight kept getting stuck and lost in the ocean so I gave up after losing my 4th weight. It wasn't fair to everyone else to keep using them. A lot of people caught baby octopus. Our bus driver caught a baby octopus, took it off the hook and shoved it in his mouth, still alive and squirming, like it was a freaking handful of chips. It was the most disgusting thing. I did eat raw fish, chopped up right in front of us, but there was no way an octopus was gonna suck at my cheeks and tounge while I tried to eat it.  After fishing for 6 hours we went to the captain's house and his wife made us lunch. It was so sweet and welcoming. Afterwards, we headed back home, back on the bus and then bam! Sunday night already and work all over again. Luckily we have no big plans next weekend and we can all just sleep and do nothing.

I just got back from having dinner with Jody (whom I met in the DC consulate back in August) and her friends. It was the best place I've been to in Korea so far. It was a burger place run by a Korean husband and wife. Burger joints aren't terribly popular here, but it's such a trendy looking place that I think it'd be a hit no matter what they served. There was a big, warm oven in the middle of the restaurant. It was a very chic place with a rustic flare to it. There were nice, big cozy couches in private corners. The atmosphere was amazing; it was very well lit and peaceful. I found it to be the perfect place for me to wind down on a Friday evening. It was a nice treat after the weeks of hell.

I especially love that I met a few new people in Cheonan. Jody's friends were so sweet and seem like people I would be friends with back in the US. They all live about 15 minutes away from my house by foot. It's refreshing and comforting to feel like I've lived here for awhile and have friends in all different parts of the city like I would back home. And fortunately, it's relatively easy to get around to all the parts of town.

Last night I went to get dinner with Rex. We ate food that I haven't had here before which is nice because the food selection is becoming a little monotonous. Really... there isn't much variety compared to the USA where we have every type of food. So anyways I had what's called jajangmyeon, which is noodles with a Chinese-like soy sauce and lots of onions. I love onions.  He asked the server to bring me a fork, which is pretty funny to me. My friend Sohee did the same thing when I visited her in Seoul. I used chopsticks though. He was surprized. My students are also very impressed when I eat with chopsticks, eventhough they've watched me do it for 2 months now. Their newest kick is hearing me hum Korean songs or say a few Korean sentences or words. We have a strict NO KOREAN policy so I stray away from using Korean, but every now and then during lunchtime (never classtime) I'll throw a little "hanna, tul, set, net, tasot, yasot, ilgop, yador, ahop, yol" their way and they burst into a fit of giggles. It's just numbers one through ten, but if I say it fast, they like that. I'm learning a lot more than just the numbers, but I don't want to rile them up too much.

At school we have this dreadful thing called open class, where the parents literally sit in my class and observe me teaching their kids. It's pretty intimidating and miserable. I thought I did a really great job, but I guess not. One little boy, Eric, isn't much of a participater and his mom flipped on him and left the classroom when he didn't answer my questions. I didn't think much of it. Yeah, it was freaking embarrassing and weird and the other moms were shocked too, but what could I do? Anyways, it turned into a bigger thing I suppose, and now our head Korean teacher is sitting in during my class. It makes me very uncomfortable that she is there. I also think it is unfair and rude that they are stepping in during my class, but the parents are so demanding at our school, that I guess my bosses are taking any and all measures to satisfy the parents. I really hate it. Sometimes the disadvantage of this job for everyone is that we feel like we can never do anything right, no matter how hard we try. We really don't get anything but negative feedback so it's hard to feel optimistic about the hard work we put in.

I'm complaining for just this moment, but really, I'm happy here.

Gym god has a name, well nickname, and it's a bit silly: Rex. Anyways, Rex and I are teaching each other English and Korean now, since we both want to learn and we both speak like babies in eachother's language. I'm actually learning a lot really quickly because I'm forced to with him. It's really a lot of fun. Even though we have such a hard time communicating, we've both learned a lot about each other. It's so interesting to me the way language doesn't have to be a total barrier. On the contrary, it makes everything that much more exciting and new.

He's a pretty interesting character. At the gym, I'm so intimidated by him. He has a very serious look and he's built like a fighter and that's because he is one... kendo for 14 years now. But he is one of the kindest people, after talking to him and getting to know him based off of his personality and not his kung fu panda style. It's still hard to believe we are becoming friends since I had such a different/strong opinion of him a month ago.

Aside from my new friendship, I went to an International Deli festival in Daejon, the town over... very decieving and dissapointing... there were no meat and cheese products to be found. The signs all wrote "Interntional Deli' festival" which leads me to believe they don't even know what Deli means because we sure don't put an apostrophe on it. Still, it was fun. There wasn't much as far as international goes, but Korea tried it's best. There were mostly tons of foreigners drinking beer. The Deli festival turned into a rock show at night, which was incredibly entertaining, watching Korean headbangers! And just across the street was a hot air balloon festival and fireworks. All in all, a good day. Korean festivals are always a surprize, but usually in the best sense as far as surprizes go. I'm not complaining!

Week two of life suck is actually almost over. It feels like Monday. Some of my report cards got deleted this week. I had about 50 to write. Cool. I'm also working on what's called a monthly plan (for 4 classes), which details the coming month's homework and activties. And I'm also planning a lesson for an open class next week, where the parents get to sit in my class and watch the whole dea...intimidating to say the least. It's not just me freaking, it's all of us. If we had much of a break during the 9 to 6 workday I wouldn't be complaining, but a lot of this work has to be done after hours, which cramps my style because I don't like to go to the gym past 7.

On a lighter note, speaking of the gym, the Technogym super bro/gym god spoke to me yesterday... well sort of. He told the trainer he liked my headband and my style and the trainer translated and told me. Then gym bro looked at me and said one word: "beautiful". Charming huh? He came over to me later to correct my bicep machine form... they're always correcting me there. It drives me insane. He asked my name and age and we tried to communicate beyond that, but no such luck. I asked him if he was Korean....real cute.. of course he's Korean, idiot! He's 30, but since all Asians age so gracefully, I assumed he was 24 or 25. He came to say goodbye before he left, which was super friendly. I'm glad to have an in with gym god now. Today we had the same routine. We tried to communicate via my Korean Lonely Planet pocket reference book when I came in. He corrected my form again on the lat pull! Uh. And then he came to say goodbye when he left. We're buds now. Also, new gym update: I have been spotting other foreigners in my territory! Ha... one of them is a guy I already know, Travis. I've been suggesting it to him for weeks now. But this other mystery foreigner.... better watch his step :)

The week was long. I guess it was just busy. It flew by really, but we were crammed with work and the weekend didn't slow us down.

I went to the English exchange after work as usual on Moday. Jenny and I went out afterwads with Joel, Hero and Lawrence to this charming Korean restaurant. I love finding new places outside of my neighborhood. They are really inviting and friendly. It's nice to feel like every Sunday and Monday is a new change of pace from the work place.

Tuesday night was something else. Jenny, Josh (her husband) and I went to see the Korean beauty pageant (miss america basically). Just getting there took some energy. We didn't know exactly where Samgeori park was so we just winged it. We were on that bus for something like an hour, asking everyone where the park was. We had the whole front half of the bus trying to explain it to us. We got there. There were plastic chairs PILED high everywhere, with people standing in them to watch musical performances the pageant had put on. Kids were geeking out over K-Pop artisits such as CnBlue, 2PM, and After School. I know a few of their songs and bragged to my students about the event the next day... major cool points for Emily teacher (well, atleast I think it's fair to assume that makes me cool). Anyways, we followed suit and climbed into these wobbly chair stacks to see the show too. I was in the middle in a shorter stack, with Jenny and Josh on slightly higer piles to my sides. We had so many Koreans come over to us to say hello, tell us we were beautiful and photograph us. We were like royalty in our high stack of chairs, towering over those that came by to....stare at us.

The rest of the week is just a terrible blur. I didn't even exist. I fell into a black hole and had the life sucked out of me.

Then I came back to life Saturday night. But before Saturday night, there was Saturday day. And it was weird. A few of the teachers, myself included, attended what we call "Sports Day" for the kinder kids. Jenny, Reuven and I were exhausted from staying out till 4 the night before at Boom Bar. All of the parents and our students were in this huge gym. First thing first, we had to introduce ourselves. Then we danced a childs dance infront of everyone. Not only was it incredibly intimidating having all of the intense parents watching us do this gross dance, but it was awkward. Then the children and their parents competed in games, while we basically stood around, pointless, occassionally playing with our students. The kids were competitive, but these parents were insane. A lot of children were bawling because they didn't all win prizes. It was insane. I was in a zoo. We finished the sports day with a cool down, which was a massive circle link of everyone massaging each other. Weird. Pull that little stunt in the US and you have a law suit on your hands. Luckily I was inbetween two of my students and not their parents. I don't need so and so's mom rubbing my back, though I believe I deserve it at this point. I like my students a lot. Really. I was happy to be there.

BUT because we were at Sports Day till 6, Jenny, Reuven and I were late to Global Gathering in Seoul, which was just a huge techno festival! It was a beautiful night and the venue was right on the Han River. It was EXACTLY what I needed. I cannot express that more. Unfortunately I missed most of Justice (my favorite) but Fat Boy Slim put on such a crowd-pleasing show! I danced my little heart out. I was so physically drained from the week, Friday night's late hours and Sports Day, but it was the perfect wake-up. It's nice to know I'm still alive. Reuven and I were living it up. I like Seoul a lot. I think I can see myself moving there sometime if I were to teach in Korea again. It was so diverse. The young Koreans  that attended were also more liberal and international. In Cheonan, the younger Korean crowd is still a little traditional, which is great, but it's harder to relate. We got to bed sometime at 5 and woke up and got American style brunch in Itaewon, the foreigner neighborhood in Seoul, which is like a mini America. It's something else.

Now I'm home... just up from a nap. About to start week two of life-suck.

I'm going on my second month and it feels as if I've been here for six. It's already fall and I'm thinking, what did I do this summer in Korea? Well... nothing because I just got here. It seems that long! I wasn't even in Korea during the summer; I was traveling cross country with Rob, working at O'charley's, living the good life in my parent's house. I just got here! I'm glad the days are going by so fast. I feel like I've been here for months but I also feel like I've just arrived. It's a weird feeling... so comfortable at points but also so foreign and new at others.

So, as I was saying, I haven't been here long at all and I've gotten slammed with a few surprises. We had an American teacher leave recently due to some personal issues and therefore, we all have to pick up an extra class, leaving many of us with next to no breaks during the work day, but supposedly an extra bonus. Not only that, but my Korean coteacher is also leaving this Friday. She has been extremely helpful and we work incredibly well together. I am by no means prepared to have her leave and be replaced by some new teacher that doesn't know the students, the rules and the overall chaos of the job! I'm still new myself and struggling to piece together this puzzle of a job. I can't be expected to be the more experienced teacher of the two of us. I'm not really feeling terribly stressed which is surprising, but just a little overwhelmed with the long days. When the work day is over, the work day is over and I put my job to rest. As my coworker Jenny says, I leave the stress at work. That is true, but it's going to start taking a physical toll on all of us the more and more hours we have to put it.

The trainer at the gym will frequently ask me "Did you eat?" or "How was your meal?" when I stroll in around 6 or 7. I thought it was weird Korean gym protocol... making sure we are working out with food in our bellies. Well, while reading up on my Korean studies, I came across this: "At lunchtime, dinnertime or immediately afterward, Koreans often greet someone they know by asking shik.sa ha.shoss.o. yo (Did you have a meal?). So ingrained is this habit that many Koreans will ask non-Koreans the same question in English. A simple ne (yes) is all that's expected - if you go into detail about what you had for your meal, you may be met with bewildered looks." No kidding! I keep answering him with "Oh yeah I ate at 4:30 at school. I had... (whatever it was that day)." I taught him what I assume to be a good English equivalent: good afternoon or good evening. And I explained what I'd learned from my recent discovery and why I've been answering him the way I have. Even though it's hard to communicate with each other, we had a little laugh about it and now both understand the slight misunderstanding.