McDonald's delivers here. I don't speak from experience seeing as I don't really care for McDonald's and the only Korean I know is hello, goodbye, thank you and the first eight numbers. That will either get me no order at all or eight big Macs. I'd rather just stay away. I must say, however, that is an ingenius idea. I'm curious as to why the United States hasn't jumped on the McDonald's delivery bandwagon (or in this case, a moped with a box on back). I'm assuming it's because too many fat Americans eat McDonald's more than once a day and it would be near impossible to deliver all those meals to the greedy population.

I've been sick all week with a cold. I'm not complaining, but just clearing the air as to why I haven't kept up the bloggin'. Every teacher has the sickness hit them some point or another, and I up to this point, I was the only one kinder teacher that hadn't been attacked by the bug. I was getting a little overzealous about my immune system when it hit me first thing Monday morning. That humbled me. I lost my voice yelling at all the kids. I tried to make them feel sorry for me (ha) but that didn't work. I really like these kids. I'm growing attached to them. Though I love my job so far, I don't think I want to teach in a public elementary school when I get back. This job is perfect for me, but I can't imagine it would be back home for some reason.

Jihee's husband bought her dream today. That's one of the first things my coteacher told me this morning. She said it's probably a cultural thing. Oh, you don't say, Jihee! If it isn't, why is no one buying my dreams???? Apparantly it's tied to Shamanism. If you have a beautiful, vivid dream and tell it to someone you really love, like family, or a significant other, and they want to pocket that memory for themselves or make it come true, they buy it off you. She made 30 won off her husband this morning. What a sucker! She probably made the whole thing up. Regardless, I'm going to bring this one back home with me and see if I can pawn my dreams off for a little extra spending money. I wonder if you have a terrible dream/nightmare about someone else if you're obligated to pay them to make it go away... I don't think it works that way.

At the gym today I couldn't help but laugh. I'm the only American there (except occasionally this one older dude... he's my nemesis.. the other foreigner) at TechnoGym in Korea, listening to latino raggeaton on my ipod and wearing a purple Obama T-shirt. Granted no one can hear my music, but the mix of cultures all in one was just funny to me. I love the mix; I hope the mix just keeps on....

Last night was one of the first nights in a while that I stayed in and enjoyed time with... me. It was really nice and I've decided I don't want to go out drinking as much as I do, certainly because Sonjoon, the trainer at TECHNO GYM would be very dissapointed in me. He has been teaching me a number a day. I'm at about seven. I'd like to learn more than the numbers...let's be real. But it's all about baby steppin my way to the bigger picture. I have to start somewhere so "hanna, tul, set, net, tasot, yosot, ilgop" it is for now. The annoying thing is that the numbers change when placed infront of an object. Most of what I learn is by listening to the more seasoned American teachers and occassionally the Korean teachers but they talk too fast.

I went out for dinner (to a charming little Italian place we discovered) the other night with an older teacher with whom I work with. She's not old but she's under the impression that her age matters a lot to me. I certainly didn't intend for it to come off in a negative way, but I guess it did. The thing is, I'm just so facinated with all of her life stories, dating experiences and whereabouts that I hope to aspire to be like her over my next 5 or 10 years. She is well-travelled, independent, strong and extremely intelligent. I look up to her but she doesn't quite understand that.

I'm still convinced Daniel in my Aries class has it out for me. I wrote a note home to his mother mentioning that he never stays in his seat and his mother responded that he was probably just really bored in my class. I'm getting zero support from her. He also broke my headband today. I don't even like that stupid headband. I can, however, tell you exactly where I got it: a cheapass street fair in Almunecar, Spain. It cost me one euro. I haven't been keeping up with the European exchange rate these days seeing as I'm more focused on the Korean won, but I can't imagine the net loss is too great... maybe $1.50 max. That's not the point. The point is he was so unapologetic, even if it was an accident, that it makes me think he truly dislikes me.

At the end of September our homeroom kinder classes put on a ridiculous little play in the gym. My Gemini class is performing Snow White. They are coming along, but I'm a little worried about the outcome of this masterpiece. All I know is that the end of this month is going to be chock-full of work! We have a fieldtrip to the botanical gardens soon, Chusok festival (where I get to dress up in traditional costume and make rice cakes...stay tuned for that special day!), market day (where they buy things with stickers they may or may not have deserved for good behavior) and last but not least, the big show, SNOW WHITE!

Techno gym was closed today; I had a feeling it would be because it's Sunday. I know there is a mountain nearby so I tried that instead and went hiking. I found the mountain only about 5 minutes from my apartment! I'm very excited about that! These past two weeks I've been a little busy, considering most of my time is spent working till 6pm everyday. So, trying to find a mountain after a long day of working with children in the evening, as the sun is setting is probably not in my best interest. Today nothing was really standing in my way except maybe the threating storm clouds, but that's nothing new here. Most of the people hiking were older folks and maybe some children. I did stand out a tiny bit. The weirdest thing was that I noticed a lot of people were wearing those face masks that cover your mouth (typically seen where there is a mass outbreak of swine flu, bird flue, you know animal-born illnesses). Maybe there is a plauge no one warned me about. I figured the fresh air up in this Cheonan mountain is harmless. The purpose of the masks is a mystery to me. I saw a beautiful golden Buddha statue on the way down. It appeared out of the blue... I guess out of the green since it was in the mountains. I've been on the hunt for Cheonan's large golden Buddha statue so I may have found it which would be dissapointing because I was expecting much larger.

Went to Boom Bar which is one of the three that we frequent (Boom bar, Kooma and Wa bar). They are a bunch of crazy bartenders there named Pooh, Tigger and Wally. Well I thought Wally wasn't there last night until I found out he was the huge asian bobblehead costume that kept coming over to me and writing messages to me in Spanish. I still don't know why he was wearing that. He is very cute. He speaks a little English and I guess a little Spanish apparently. He has a tattoo in Spanish on his arm "Lo mas acordado, lo mas olvidado" : "The most remembered, the most forgotten". After an hour of guessing games about who this mystery costumed man was, he flashed me the tattoo on his arm and it all became clear. It was entertaining. By the end of the night, one of the boys we work with must have told Pooh that it was my birthday yesterday. All of a sudden I heard him shouting my name over the intercom and starting a fire show. A fire show is basically the bartenders tossing bottles around and lighting them on fire, making fire shots and such for people in the bar to drink. I drank the fire shot. Then suddenly the bartenders were throwing some weird foam on me (like silly string almost) and sparklers were being passed around. To top it off, the cutest bartender girl came over to me, with part of a horse cotume (only the head) and gave me a birthday cake they'd thrown together last minute in the kitchen. It was so sweet. I can't express how much I appreciated it. Koreans are the nicest people.

This afternoon, I went with two girls Tessa and Jenny to what's called a jjimjilbang: a public bathhouse. The men and women split up and go into seperate locker rooms, get butt naked, shower and enjoy the bathhouse. So, I acted accordingly. First, everyone must go through a full cleaning: brushing teeth, washing hair, shaving, you name it.... just the works. When all clean there are maybe 6 different baths to enjoy. There is a hot tub basically, a freezing cool pool, a lukewarm pool with jets and a few more. There is also a sauna. The women ranged from babies to old women. It was quite an experience. Though very refreshing, it's not something I'd get in the habit of doing too often. It is a bit time consuming and I do have my own shower. After a stressful week though, I can see where it would come in handy.

Yesterday was my birthday as well as the going away/welcoming party for the the teachers leaving and the new teachers arriving. A huge group of us went out for kalbi which is basically barbequed pork but you bbq it yourself. We sat on the floor on cushions and ate with chopsticks. the real deal. And we drank bowls of Makgeoli, which is rice wine. That wine was making me feel pretty good by the end of dinner and thank god for that, because the new teachers had to get up front, give a lame speech and sing a song. It was embarrassing. To top it off, everyone decided instead of a bar they wanted to go get drunk in a noribang, which is a karaoke room you rent out with your friends for the night. It was actually really fun. We drank soju which is basically vodka and sang for an hour. And we eventually ended up in WA Bar and met up with some other friends. It was a great birthday but a rough morning that's for sure. Thank god the children were'nt unbearable today. Two of them did cry though because they were being sensitve about feelings. Yeah ok...grow up. The crybabies today were June, who is very feminine to begin with, so the tears came as no surprize. I think he enjoys crying he does it so much. And Aidan cried. He is the worst little kid in school, so when his sensitive side comes out it shocks me. At my school, SLP, we are told to be very affectionate and "touch the kids a lot". sounds awkward but it's kind of a rule or else the parents think "we don't like their children". So usually I have no problem when it comes to the sadness of children. I can just plop them on my lap, tickle them, hug them, rub their backs, the whole deal. They are all touchy feely though especially the little boys. And when I say touchy I don't mean they're playing kissy face on the playground with the girls, but all the little boys run around hugging each other and rubbing and touching and sometimes kissing. It's bizzare but normal behavior for them. And the girls are very touchy and lovey with the little boys too. It's so cute but they make me uncomfortable sometimes.

I just returned from another adventure... to the hospital this time to check sure my health in stable enough for Korean standards. I don't know. I was poked and proded for a bit... eye exam, ear exam, dental check, lung exam, urine test, blood test, the whole package. I think I had a cavity but I couldn't understand so I just smiled and said thank you in Korean, "Kamsahamnida". Koreans take a lot of pride in their teeth. The children and most of the teachers brush their teeth after eating a meal. The other day even, I saw the bartender at WA bar pull out a toothbrush... at the bar! and start going to town on her teeth. It makes a lot of sense. It's a very healthy habit. And a healthy person is a happy person. Atleast that's what my students had to memorize and recite back to me last week. Good habits include exercise and eating right and get this... bad habits are, as you may know.. watching too much tv and of course.... eating while sleeping. Huh??? That's some sneaky shit... eating in bed. I laughed out loud.

The kids had another little laugh today because they saw my "undergarments". Ok, no they did not and I'm pretty positive they lied about seeing my belly button yesterday. I wore a very appropriate outfit. My top was see through so I wore a white tank top underneath. However, white tank tops for females and white undershirts for males are equal to "underwear". Ok. I've seen Korean women dress that way on the streets so I'm sure it's permissable. The young women dress so beautifully here. As I mentioned before, they are always in heels, making most of them look even longer and leaner than usual. They wear a lot of billowy tops with short shorts or skirts. They expose their legs a lot more than their chest and arms, but with beautiful, skinny legs, why not? Some girls push it on the shorts, but for the most part I think the look is very tasteful, nothing too tight and revealing but always very sexy. The look is soft and flowy and reminds me of springtime.

The grapes here are amazing. The skin is a lot thicker so we don't eat that part. The grape inside just plops right out. They seriously taste like a little sip of Welch's grape juice every time I pop one in my mouth. They are the best grapes I've ever eaten in my life. I watch over my kinder classes while they eat snack (with my homeroom Gemini class) and lunch (with my Aries class), and most of the time they want me to try the food with them, which is usually Korean food. It is mostly delicious except for kimchi which is pickled and spiced cabbage. They eat it all the time. It will never grow on me. I have however become a big fan of kimbap, which in my mind is basically sushi. I can get a whole roll for about a buck!!!! And a whole roll here isn't a few pieces like in sushi places back home... this is a whopping 12 pieces :)

In my Aries class ( I spend about 2 hours with 2 different kinder classes which are Aries and Gemini) I reached up to get whatever it was and the kids saw my belly button. They freaked out in a fit of laughter! So, they love belly buttons. It's like they don't have them or something. They do. They showed me. I asked them to write about a person that makes them laugh and why. All the little boys said "Emily teachers makes me laugh becase of belly button beauty" whatever that is. And they said they like me better than Jihee teacher (she's the Korean teacher that takes my classes for the other 2 hours). I hope she doesn't see that. Anyways, the other teachers said the kids are really into belly buttons and it was bound to happen one of these days... better sooner than later I suppose... you know get it all out in the open.. Emily teacher has a belly button... sigh of relief.