twinkle twinkle

bright lights, big city:

the first time i played guitar hero, i sucked, royally. megan and greg, however, are champs!

i work on a street known as hagwon row. why? hagwons are places where koreans go to learn english. guess how many hagwons there are on this particular street? it's chockfull of em.
now that i'm teaching, i've become a nightowl. my classes begin at 4:30 and end at 10:30. what do i do immediately after class? that's right. i get my grub on! here, i'm feasting on tempura sweet potatoes and rice cakes in a spicy sauce. mmmmm! all eaten with one long wooden stick.

me, chipmunk cheeked. jason, cutie shallow dimpled cheek.

theresa, nacho, and monkey!

monkey, gettin cheeky with nacho:

joy and joyness

i watched amelie (for probably the umpteenth time) the other day with theresa and clara. it is such a stinkin cute movie with such gorgeous vibrant colors and a fabulous storyline, how can anyone not like it? (clara said it was a crime against humanity not to watch it, it's that good. and yes, i agree.) i was reminded of the simple things amelie embraces: enjoying the touch of grains, breaking the crunchy topping of creme brulee, glancing at the faces of movie goers, noticing the little details...it made me realize, that there are many easy pleasures in the seemingly mundane. here's what i've noticed recently:

*kindness from strangers in transit. overhearing snidbits of directions, excuse me? how do i get to...or is this the way to...? simple questions and answers but how comforting to know exactly where you're going.

*hilarity on the train: if it can be sold, vendors will sell it. seriously. even on the train. people will try to sell you stockings, cd's, gloves, chestnut clippers, portable sewing devices, and multifunctional fleece wraps. on the way home from work, my co-workers, who are rockstars, and i watched this hilarious demonstration from a most charismatic salesman. he was selling this fleece wrap that could be used as 1) earmuffs 2) headwrap 3) eyepillow 4) neck warmer 5)noseguard. the best part though, was that he randomly spoke english--not bad either!--and when he was demonstrating the head wrap, he said, "now i'm a princess and i don't like black. so i change color to red!" hey! reversible too! what?! at 2,000 won, that's a steal! and no, i was not suckered into buying one, but, the lady sitting next to me and i had a really good chuckle at his performance. (that was nice too, that the lady and i glanced at each other and smiled.)

*shared experiences: my coworkers and i have had a rushed introduction to teaching. some of us had a week's worth of training, some of us, had only a crash course in 2 days. during the first day of classes, we were all trying to make sure we had our shit together, had enough print outs, etc and while it was stressful, there was this really great feeling of support and understanding. well, we're all feeling s.o.l., but hey! at least we're in this together! after classes, we shared the highlights or lowlights, and laughed about it all. pyeongchun, the branch where i work, aka p-town, has solid people. i already like this crew.

*kitty love. i'm usually more of a dog person, but, i've gotta say, my friends' cats are super affectionate and darling. just yesterday, lucy gave me lovins my licking my hand while i scratched the underside of her neck. her tongue tickled my skin--prickly prickly! and charlie, he's mr. irresistible.

*speaking of irresistible, ooh wee! hotties. yep. korea is full of em. i mean, HOTTIES! wow. sometimes i don't wear my eyeglasses or contacts, i know, i'm a bit of a freak that way, but, i don't really mind not seeing things so clearly. but when i do see things sharply, it's like a whole new world, full of hotties. what's a girl to do with all this hotness? well, as of right now, simply observing is enough...

day 2

with the anxiety of day one behind me, day two proved to be much smoother and less panicked. in general, i've found that my elementary school students are easily animated, making class time zoom, while the middle schoolers are a bit more of a challenge to involve. but, once you do rope 'em in, they are on! (stories and details coming soon!)

i've been tired from prepping--ooh! i write on wipe erase boards and staple welcome packets together and the printer is both my beloved friend and bitter enemy.--i've not had much time for other things...i think that after this first week, the transition from work to home will be less time consuming since i'll have moved into my new apt by this sunday! yeah! i found a nice place which would be described as a junior one bedroom apt in the states. photos forthcoming, but now, it's time for sleep! i'm exhausted!

the very first day!

despite the flurry of frenetic energy, i have successfully completed teaching my very first day of classes. and while i'm exhausted, i'm also deliriously relieved. my classes are 3 hours long and i taught two classes tonight. yep, do the math. i talked for nearly 6 hours straight. i've fallen in love with each of my students already. there are the students that are the immediate talkers, the ones who aren't afraid of embarrassment, the ones who while they may not know whether the answer is correct or not, they have the balls and courage to speak! then there are the really shy students, the ones who talk in a voice so small, i have to strain my ears to be able to hear them. they are nowhere near as outgoing as the former group but are so cute in their earnest effort to do a good job. i love everyone's energy, their spunk and personality. teaching is going to so tiring yet so rewarding!

'round & 'round

i'm sitting in a p.c. bang (p.c. room, aka, internet cafe) in pyeongchun, steps away from work. it's a bit smoky, (yes, koreans can smoke just about everywhere, there's ashtrays even in some bathroom stalls.) noisy--think, lots of internet games are being played, pow! kabang!--and blue. blue lights overhead. it's unbelievably warm and i'm beginning to feel like my job is an absurd disply of inefficiency.

a word about efficiency: i am an efficient person. it's an aquired trait, learned from my mother and from various jobs which required me to be on top of my game. sometimes, my uber efficiency methods have gotten the better of me, and i admit, it was not pretty. i've since learned not to be overly stringent about organization methods, or rather, i've learned that i cannot, nor do i want to, control things that i am unable to control. however, this is starting to get stupid.

(whoa. sidenote: random dude next to me is seriously getting into, INTO, his game! and shouting things like, "what can i do? how do i do that?!" all i can see, is someone running in the forest...oooh now, he's fighting some sort of hairy dragon monster!)

stupid in the sense that i feel like i'm circling round and round, asking the same questions to different people but not getting any concrete answers. stupid, yes? yes. and it seems that this is the way things are. so deal with it, right? right. welcome to teaching. welcome back to the working world.

a very full day

this morning, i ran a bit behind schedule and feared being late for my last day of training. (which, paradoxically covered orientation materials, things that should've been my first day's goods.) all week, i've been a big fan of bus route 146, which takes about 25-40 minutes, depending on traffic. (have i mentioned yet how terrible--terrrrrrrrrible!--seoul traffic can be? it can be so bad, so ridonkulous!) i was waiting for the bus, but with only 15 minutes on the clock, (i didn't want to make a bad impression on the final day.) i hailed a cab. (have i mentioned that cab fares are quite reasonable in seoul--it's very nice!) i asked the older cabbie driver to take me to the the training center. luckily for me, i had a business card with the training center's address written in korean and i handed it to him. but he didn't know where it was and i sure as hell didn't think i would've been able to direct him, so the grace of technology, in the form of his gps system, came in handy dandy.

while waiting at a red light, the cabbie noticed a bmw aboard a tow truck to our right, noted it a very expensive car and asked if i'd want to drive one. uh, how i do i tell him that 1) i entertain no thoughts of owning a car in korea, let a lone a bmw. and 2) i would never want to drive in korea, people here drive like maniacs! i politely apologized to him for my lack of korean and instead of the usual response of, "yes, your korean is awful!" he became curious and we had quite a nice exchange. he asked me why i was in korea when i could be in america? (my answer, to live and work in korea and to learn korean!), didn't i miss my mother (yes, very much so), do you eat out? (yes and i cook too!), what! you cook? (yes!), how old are you? (28), you should get married, soon! (uh...sure!) i made it to the center with 5 minutes to spare! i paid my fare and after i received my change, the cabbie told me that i was very pretty and gave me a really sweet smile. not the creepy mccreepy old nasty man smile, but the really genuine kind. a smile that made me want to ask him if he'd be my friend kind of smile. it'd been a while since i was told that i was pretty. i had forgotten how nice it is to hear those words...

training was a bit tedious. we went over company policies and basic grammar skills, and took tests of both. phew, i passed all my exams! the training was over! afterwards, the housing overview presentation took place and after that, i signed my contract and after that, i went with three other newbie instructors to meet a realtor who would show us a few housing options in pyeongchun, the area of seoul where i'll be working and most likely living.

my fellow pyeongchun coworkers--we were in different training groups so we didn't meet until the housing presentation today--david and chris are really cool, really young--as in graduated '07 young!--solid quality people. i'm excited to meet the rest of the crew...i spoke with the faculty manager today to introduce myself and he let me in on the in, anyone who's anyone, calls pyeongchun, "p-town." hollaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

we were on the subway for about an hour from the training center to pyeongchun--looong ride--and there, we met michael, the realtor. he seemed alright, and we walked from the train stop about 7 minutes to our first of three housing visits. it was a nice place. it even has a little room, which can be used as a sleeping room--literally, only a bed might fit there--or a nice study area. all of us immediately liked it. the next places were very similar in layout, but, didn't have quite as nice a feel. and with each visit, i felt myself growing both 1) tired, as in wiped out. 2) anxious about finding a place that feels right and making a commitment to it. finding housing is different in korea, that's for sure, and there's quite a lot of fees. damn you fees!

michael is supposed to call me tomorrow to let me know when we'll see other apts in a different area, different area but still relatively close to work. i'm starting to feel confused. do i want to be closer to the friends i know and have made that live in the gangnam area or do i want to be closer to work? do i want a quieter pace of life at pyeongchun or do i want to be in the center of activity? what are the most important aspects? hmmm...things to ponder.
monkey gets his burger on:

guess what this one says? co-ca-colr-ra.

and this one? cuh-rean tah-ruhr (clean towel!)

it's official!

i have a job!!!!! i have a job!!!!! i sign the final contract tomorrow and i think i begin teaching as early as monday. oooooooooooh weeeeeeeeeeee! let the games begin, let the apt search commence, oh my goodness, i need a nap!