STICKER!!!!!

That's the first thing I hear the second I walk in the classroom. I've become quite crafty with how I can get the kids to do what I want, when I want. The deal is that when the bell rings and I walk in the door, they should all be in their seats with my books out and homework open and ready for checking. Well...bam, that worked. However I'm sadly probably the only one keeping the sticker business alive.

This is: Alex, James, and Bill...my first, and favorite, class of the day

This is Christine, Bill, Kevin, and Chris (also a favorite)

Here is J-Train, T-Money, Wendawg, and Jas-Face (I gave them gangster names)

Winter has arrived and it is freezing! For most of the people that I talk to, that don't seem to know, it gets cold here! It's nothing like Chicago and there is no snow (yet), but still, cold is cold. The school looks all state of the art, but the rooms are all icy cold. Each room has a space heater and I can't find it in my heart to hog it all to myself, so we all wear our coats and scarves in class.

We had our work Christmas party this past Friday. Again, drinking in school (our library? i know) feels so so wrong on many levels, but I have to realize I'm in a different country. I can imagine my sister cringing back home at some of these photos. However, they must be doing something right if these kids are so smart.

If you can see past the booze pouring, the man with the pony-tail and red sweater is my boss. The other guys are my co-workers. And yes, that is a picture of a few beers next to our story books. Ohhhhh cultural differnces....

These are the Korean women I work with. Talk about a tough crowd...They aren't very accepting of other people, especially foreigners, but I took the "suck it up because I'm loud" approach, and I think I've broken into the circle.

I keep getting messages saying "so-and-so is moving to korea". I'm reminded everyday that it is an incredibly small world. Teaching in Korea has definitely caught on with people back home. It's weird.

Just a few more days till winter vacation and I can't be more excited. I've been building up this holiday like no other. I started my holiday theme in class December 1st. Call it an overload, but I haven't heard any complaints. We are having Christmas parties the 23rd and 24th. I downloaded a bunch of Christmas movies, raided the craft store, and am ready to get down with some puffy paints.

Missing my family back home and staying as busy as I can to not be reminded of their absence. I am so thankful for their support and not thinking I've lost all my marbles for coming here. I'm thankful to have the experiences I'm having, as I never thought I would have them (or so much of them).

And most of all, I'm thankful that I never saw this coming. All my life I've been a last minute kind of person and have been punished for it. I never wanted to change this habit, though, and now I understand why. It's because the second I can predict what happens next, the more certain I am that a life of predictability isn't for me.


Until next time...

Kids Say the Darndest Things...No, really.

Bill Cosby was right, but really, when was he ever wrong. Jell-O...the crazy sweater...that slurred speech...quite a charmer. The students in my classes are always surprising me with how not grown up they are, and I love every minute of it.


This particular week, my first class of the day decided to surprise me with a new student. His name is Bile, and although I'm not sure they know what it means, they do know that details are important. Like glasses...and ears. Key elements.






This is Bile. He's pretty fly in his warm up jacket, but he lost street cred' with the glasses. PS- He also didn't do his science homework. Such a thug.


















Bile should probably see a dentist soon, as he's got some mad tooth decay.












This is Bile, with his creator, Bill. Bill gave up his eye sight so that Bile might read his homework. And that one eye is James. He's camera shy.
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So, these are just a few of the special little gems I get to teach on the regular. They really are a lot of fun and I have one of those *life is precious* moments probably once a day. That can't be a bad thing, right? Just don't throw up in/on/or around me. That'll put an end to those moments REAL quick.

Have a good weekend!

C

Snow!

It finally snowed here in Gangseo. I've watched about a dozen Christmas movies and have been listening to all the classics at work, obviously trying to get into the gist of things. So, the snow really helped with that.

It's kinda crazy, the differences between teaching rules in the states and rules in the US. We have a Christmas tree up in our front lobby, which would never fly back home. We go out and drink with our student's parents, yep, that wouldn't fly either. Students try to stick their fingers up teachers' butts to surprise them, and well, that shouldn't fly anywhere.

I keep tripping myself up by saying the word Christmas, instead of holiday, but then I realize that it doesn't matter so much here. I know that some of my teacher friends back home can't even be photographed with a beer, let alone admit they drink. It's like I'm living in opposite land over here. It doesn't seem to have a dramatic role on the children though. The kids are super smart, well behaved, and so respectful. Maybe the US has it all wrong...

I've definitely found my niche when it comes to my teaching style. I love telling them stories and making them believe they're true. Even the older kids seem to buy it. I push the arts and crafts even though it's not a part of the curriculum. It's just great to tell a story and see them all staring back at me, all big eyed and actually paying attention.

Granted there are the bad days. There are LOTS of those. The amount of ground we're supposed to cover for each class is ridiculous. I'm always telling the students how bad I feel for them, because they are pushed way too hard. But hey, stories and craft time isn't whats churning out the mass amounts of doctors, lawyers, and suits from this country.

Hope the snow keeps up. Would love to pelt some kids with snowballs right when they walk in the door. Heart warming...

C

*The More You Know*

Just thought you all should know:




Koreans don't have arm hair. It's true.



That is all.

K- POP

Ok so I know we have deep fried pop singers like Britney and Crustina Aguilera...oh and Lady Caca, who could forget...but no matter how many books I read, or museums I visit, or countries I explore, no amount of culture seems to steer me away from what is : trash/pop music.



I am a sinner.




Here in Korea, they have this fever worse than that which is the Swine....it's K-Pop. Uppity boy and girl bands singing and dancing their little hearts out. It's painful to watch, but listening can be quite catchy. I've downloaded (yes, illegaly) a dozen or songs and they make the best work out/ walk to work / party all the time jams.



Take a listen:

2NE1 - I don't care (my students constantly sing this)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgAxMO1KD0&feature=fvst

Brown Eyed Girls- Abracadabra ( such a catchy song, a risque video though)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTqQjOJ7jk

Anyways, if you're looking for a good work out mix or dance music, behold K-Pop!

There's No Place Like Home For the Holidays

And it's true...but I've got the travel bug so Vietnam it is! We bought our tickets and the countdown has begun. We leave Christmas morning and will come back the night of New Year's day. Can NOT wait to be in 90 degree weather on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Christmas and New Years in a new country will be a change from my Indiana roots, but I'm pushing this whole "don't fear change" thing. We plan on scuba diving, cliff jumping, possibly eating a cobra heart (it happens). Who knows.

There will be plenty of pictures with a new camera, finally. Now...if I could just get the next 23 days to fly by...

This picture is irrelevant to the post, but it makes me happy. Taken on Halloween at a street festival. That night = outta control. This is me, Jina, and Kelley the Canadian.

Turkey Day in the land of few turkeys...

Hi guys!

So Thanksgiving was last week. I was pretty sad, seeing as I had to work till 9:30pm on Thursday which pretty much vetoed any chance of having any Turkey Day plans. If you know me at all, you know I'm a holiday nut. I'm die hard. I watched Christmas vacation the first week of October. I listen to that whacked out Delilah on 93.9...even all the way in Korea. My Canadian friend Kelley said we should just celebrate it on Saturday. She has a pretty big apartment and she offered to host. I was pretty happy, but not expecting much. It's hard to find a turkey here and when you do, they're realllllly expensive. Thankfully, Bravo and all his foody genius found a place that would make all my Turkey Day dreams come true. The army base!!!! Yeah, I know, doesn't sound thrilling or very appetizing for that matter. They offered a whole Thanksgiving dinner, including all the fixings. I really love to cook, or attempt to, and am known to make a pretty good pie, but apartments don't have ovens in Korea. So, yeah, scratch that.

It took us 2.5 hours to get to the army base. In true Thanksgiving fashion, I hadn't eaten at all (to save room of course) and it seemed like 10 hours. I needed some photographic evidence that we actually carried a feast to feed 10 people on the subway. It was epic.

The dinner was surprisingly good, and there's nothing like 7 bottles of wine to wash those homesick blues away. I laughed way too much, ate too much, drank too much, pretty much everything in surplus.

Turkey and wine? Why yes.

Proving that yes, I have been eating. Enough with the facebook comments!

Bravo likes food. A lot.

Then we went to go see A Christmas Carol in 3D at the Imax. Probably a bad idea. I couldn't figure out if the 3D glasses were making things look fuzzy or if it was all that wine...Oh well. Either way, it was a GREAT Thanksgiving and I'm very thankful to be in this new place, with new friends.

James....he's a character.

Hope everyone back home had a wonderful holiday :)

Do the Macarena- Iiiiiiiiyyy!

Nah, it's not the macarena. (Thank God). These are pictures of the dancers at the restaurant we went to for my birthday. The girls were beautiful and I was glad to be so close to them. Enjoy~

Also thought I'd throw in a picture of me as a baby, looking pretty Asian if I do say so myself.

And then me, with my asian parents....

Cheers everyone :)

The Birthday Dinner: Take 2

On Saturday night, the day after my birthday, Bravo took me to this really cool restaurant about an hour away, called Suraon. It's a place to go when you're celebrating, as I could tell by the various party rooms and random celebrations going on. There was a giant picture of a baby in one room, and a large group of business men in another. The waitress put us right next to the stage, which was pretty cool. Everyone was dressed in traditional Korean garb and a full band of Korean instruments played on the stage. At this restaurant, you pick from a set menu of traditional, royal Korean food. Bravo picked for us, but we really couldn't tell what anything was. It was a 14 course meal of complete craziness. This has to be the strangest dinner I have ever had (if you don't count my first thanksgiving I cooked). I wanted to show the foods in order of what we had, but it's just too hard to do with this website. Sorry all.




This was actually served last. A small bowl of cold watermelon tea. Tasted like candy :)


















This was dessert. Fresh fruit with cute little forks, because who doesn't love little forks.


















This packaging may look scary, but inside the cabbage leaf is rice and red bean mixed together. Pretty tasty.

This may not look appetizing, but this was one of my favorite parts of dinner. It was some sort of rice porridge. There were little bits of fish cake in it. I recommend it.

And we all know how much Korean's love their kimchi. We were served so many different kinds of kimchi that I lost count. This one was exceptionally sour, which I like.

One of the first main courses, this is some baby squid and sea stag horn. Don't ask me what a sea stag horn is, I thought it was a potato. I was wrong.

Finally, REAL MEAT. I'm not sure how this was Korean. It said the beef was from Australia... but anyways, beef ribs.

Here we have some sashimi of 2 different kinds of fish. I can't really say what kind, however. The menu just said assorted raw fish. It was soaked in a mandarin sauce and had these little speckles of something that tasted like fire. hot hot hot. but good.

Here is some more sashimi. One was soft, one was chewy, and then there was some squid, which is always chewy.

This was Bravo's favorite dish. There were 7 delicacies and rolled rice cake to wrap it in. Some were vegetable, some were fish. Either way, it was awesome.

This was one of the strangest things to eat. It was a fiji pear cut into a bowl shape. Sounds delicious, right? Well then way to ruin it Korea. They soaked it in Kimchi juice. For those of you who don't know what kimchi is, it's a formented cabbage in spicy sauce. Yeah, not pear compatible.

This is some more porridge and another strange fruit/kimchi side dish.

This was my least favorite thing on the menu. The bowl on the right smelled like boondegi, a roasted silk worm street food that people sometimes eat. The smell haunts me for blocks.

The next was a side salad that had some sort of dressing on it that tasted straight up like grape kool-aid.

All and all, they were both very different.




Mmm these were awesome. The little yellow cakes on the left were fish and egg. The green was sea weed and rice. The pink was just rice cake. The dipping sauce was a bit like soy and was delicious.

This was citrus kimchi. It kind of looks like fish, but it's not. Just some more crazy kimchi. It was a really strong flavor. Hello, Kimchi!

And this was our first dish. They were Korean style spring rolls, filled with veggies, wrapped in wheat rice cake. The little flowers were even filled with veggies and made of rice cake. Very pretty and of course it tasted good.

So overall, it was an interesting dinner. I don't mean to seem so harsh on the food. It wasn't bad, it was just different. It was a great way to see some older traditional Korean food. The entertainment was also fun to see, which I will post pictures of soon. I've hit my picture limit for this post. Thanks again to Bravo for taking me here. It was a great present :) I'm sure he enjoyed the many faces I made.

Cheers :)

Turning 25..Korea Style

For my birthday (November 20th), a group of friends and I went out for some din-din and drinks, which then led to Beer O'clock, a local bar. All the bars here have really cheesy American names, it's a bit ridiculous. But anyways, we went there, shots were had, and then we decided to hit up a club in Hongdae, a more western part of Seoul. We ended up at a club called FF and I swear it was the best bar/club I've been to since coming to this country. It reminded me very much so of Chicago. A whole bunch of sweaty, too-cool for school kids dancing like they were keeping the dream alive. We sang, we danced, we drank nasty drinks. I knew it was time to call it a night when my friend James comes up and asks "Hey, this guy wants to put lipstick on me. Should I let him?" I quickly told him no and decided 4am was good enough. I headed home, richer in life, richer in blackmail, and much richer in cake (never a bad thing).

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Something Smells Fishy....

And it ain't you. Or is it? No, it's not. It's the thousands of crabs, claws, fins, and flounder being sauted and sashimied to your liking at the Noryangjin Fish Market! Hope you're not squeamish, because if you are, then you won't take well to the fish being killed by the old fashion/medieval method (aka: board with nails meets fish face). We'd been meaning to come to this place sooner. I'm a fan of fresh sea food and this is as fresh as it gets. There were hundreds of vendors and God did you know it. It smelled like...well, a lot of sea fare. There were fish from all waters, sting ray, squid, little crab, big ass crab, sea urchins, and a whole lot of other stuff I'd rather not know exist where I vacation. You can pick a fish from a tank and the shop owner will kill it and prepare it for you, to your liking. Well...when in Korea.... So we picked a small restaurant and dined on fried fish and blue crab soup. The fish was tasty. The soup...well, I always get the mouths and eyes, so let's just say nothing has changed. Enjoy the photos :)

This is one of the workers chopping off a fish's head, and with a smile!

This is/was dinner.

A lovely assortment of goodies...