Things Lists

First and most importantly:

I had my class make handprint turkeys! We put down our fingers twice cause I thought it looked nicer than the traditional one head and 4 feathers. Guess which one is mine! The school didn't really do anything for Thanksgiving but we did watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving episode in a kindergarten class. I got invited to a dinner that a friend of a friend was having and there were about 12 of us plus 2 turkeys, mashed potatoes, stuffing and a few other traditional dishes. Thank goodness for Costco! Everyone payed $20 and brought booze and it was really great time. The weird thing is that since my parents are having a Thanksgiving dinner for me and my other friends had a Thanksgiving celebration last month, I will have had 3 Thanksgivings this year! Awesome! In New Zealand and Australia there was never the slightest hint of Thanksgiving and now in the least western country of them all I got invited to 2 dinners. It makes sense since there are so many Americans here. That wasn't the case in the other countries.

I'm coming home in less than a week! I only have 3 work days remaining! Three days of teaching English to Korean kids! I am so excited to go home. In my down time in class I've made 4 lists that I wanted to share: things I will miss, things I won't miss, random weird things that I've failed to mention, and things I'm looking forward to at home. I will try to exclude food in these lists because then I'd be typing for days.

Things I will miss:

• Random kids and adults saying "hello!" on the street. They're always so excited to speak English and when you say "hello" back it makes their day. One day I was walking down the street and there were a few teenage boys grouped together whispering as they looked at me and one of them finally had the guts to say, "What's up?" When I responded "What up!" and gave him a high five they made me feel like a celebrity because they were so excited.
• Family style dining. I didn't mention any specific food so it's okay. 
• Events every weekend that all your friends know about because they were all invited via facebook. On the side of my facebook I usually have 6 upcoming events I'm invited to. Then I talk to my friends and it's, "are you going to the [insert location here] party?" There is quite a lot of social activity that I'll miss.
• Noraebang. These are the private singing rooms that come with a few microphones and tambourines and it's a BLAST. It's nothing like what we know as karaoke in the States which is usually awful. 
• Knowing tons of people. I'm not popular, it's just that everyone knows each other. It's just the way it is with the foreigner crowd- we stick together. 
• Having the option to stay out all night. I rarely last past 2am and don't care for bars very much but it's nice to be able to stay out until 4 or 5 if I want to. 
• Cheap taxis. They may be insane drivers swerving everywhere but a half-hour cab ride rarely costs more than $8.
• Having a steady job and apartment. That's pretty self-explanatory. 
• Cute kids in Kindergarten. They drive me nuts but sometimes they can be really sweet and adorable. 
• My super fun friends. I have a few girlfriends here that are just SO fun. They're nice, smart, funny and we have a ball together. I love that we have events and theme nights. I'm so happy I got to know them and I'll miss the crap out of them.
• Joking about "the old country." Sighing and saying, "ah, the old country" just makes me smile. Also giving ourselves airs about seeing "foreign films."
• Talking about people near you knowing they can't understand what the hell you're saying. Russell and I would do this all the time and one of us would usually say, "we can't do this at home." It's fun to say, "what is she wearing?!" and "thanks for cutting me off, jerk" openly next to the culprit with the satisfaction of knowing they have no clue you're talking about them.
• Not tipping ever. Getting back in the groove of tipping is going to be a rough adjustment. 
• Funny mistranslated signs and t-shirts. When I read things like, "It makes you have super happy fun time!" or worse, it makes me giggle. 

• Being able to afford everything I want to do or buy. I don't need a lot and it's cheap here. 
• Students telling me I'm beautiful and/or giving me things. If I wear makeup or change my hair they say nice things. I love getting candy and little gifts from my students! Sometimes they can really boost you up, those kids. 
• The heating system. In my apartment and most places the heating is through the floor so your feet are always nice and toasty!

Things I won't miss:

• The men spitting on the street. Spitting is gross and they're always hocking huge loogies as they walk by. UGH- so gross!
• People running into me, hitting me with shopping carts or just standing WAY too close. They have little concept of personal space and worse, they are completely unaware of other people. That's why they hit me with their damn carts. They don't watch where they're going and they have no clue when other people are near them. It's REALLY annoying. 
• Being stared at. Most of the time I can just ignore it but I have days when I either stare back with my evil eyes or I just fume internally shouting, "STOP FRICKIN STARING AT ME!"
• Co-workers and students speaking Korean and then you hear your name. Being talked about in another language when you're in earshot- is anything more irksome?
• Being a fatty. Living here is not a healthy lifestyle and I can't help to compare myself to thin Korean girls. I have no idea how they do it. 
• THE WHINING. Koreans LOVE to whine. Especially the girls because they think it's adorable. I really don't understand the appeal of Korean women mainly for this reason. 
• Unnecessary office hours. Part of the culture here is you're not supposed to leave work until your boss leaves. So even when classes and planning are done, you have to sit there, pointlessly. It's so damn stupid I can't stand it. 
• Having to talk to my boss through a translator. You'd think that someone who owns an English school would know how to speak it but you'd be dead wrong. Most haegwon (private language school) owners don't speak English beyond a few words.
• Being scared to go to the doctor/post office or other office where you know you need some Korean but you have none. I tried to go to the doctor today, as a matter of fact. I just have a cold but I want to be well for my flight so I wanted to be examined and get some meds. I went to where I thought someone told me a doctor was and accidently found myself in the office of a doctor for oriental medicine. It was the only place I knew so I stuck it out. After miming my symptoms and coughing for him he told me I could get acupuncture or he could just give me some medicine. Yay! Medicine! Oriental weird medicine. He had me talk to his daughter on the phone because she spoke excellent English and I walked out with 6 packages of a weird drink. I'm supposed to drink 3 packets a day after each meal. We'll see how this works out. I certainly wasn't about to have acupuncture. I'm all for new experiences but I wasn't in the mood for experimenting. I want to be home where I can speak English to a freakin normal doctor. 
• Bratty kids. Sometimes I just want to smack them. 
• Forced conversation with boring foreigners who happen to be in the same situation as me. All we have in common is Korea and I don't care what cute thing one of your students said today. 
• Being expected to go out and drink every weekend, at least. I don't really like bars or drinking that much but that's just part of the life here.
• Not being able to look up movie times unless I'm physically at the theater. Everything online is in Korean and if I want to see a movie I have to go to the theater and hope there's something I want to see around that time. 
• Not having to put "uh" at the end of words to be understood. No more of that-uh!
• The confused/surprised noise children make if you change ONE THING. If my hair is up and I take it down in class they all gasp and make the noise and are shocked, SHOCKED that something has changed. It drives me nuts.
• Lack of elevator and line etiquette. When they wait for an elevator to come they stand directly in front of it. The people on the elevator have to fight their way through to get off. They never wait to the side. They also cut in lines a lot. 
• Sitting on the floor to eat. I never got used to it. Something always falls asleep and my knees hurt. Then when I'm full I make the old person noise of getting off the floor- "uuuugggghhhhhh!"

Weird things:

• Couplewear. Men and women walking down the street often wear matching t-shirts, pants, sweatshirts, and/or shoes. Couples like to match. I can't imagine ever wanting to do that with my boyfriend except maybe if it was on Halloween.
• Taxi drivers watching TV. All cabs have TVs in them right in the center on top of the dashboard. It's shocking at first but later you barely notice it.
• Men with purses. One night while sitting outside a convenience store we played a drinking game with our beers and when you had to drink was when you saw a man with a purse. There were many drinks. 
• Same-sex hand holding. These are not gay couples. They are friends, men and women, of the same sex, holding hands. If one of my girlfriends tried to hold my hand while walking down the street it would make me extremely uncomfortable. 
• Soju juice boxes. This is the Korean booze of choice in a small juice box complete with straw.

Things I'm looking forward to at home:

• DISNEYLAND!!!!
• Taking a break from work. The last break I had was in July and I just can't wait to relax and be lazy.
• Thanksgiving, my birthday and Christmas at home because I love those holidays with my family. 
• A fire in the fireplace.
• Watching old movies with my mom. We both love them. Last time I was home we watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!
• Walking my doggies. I love taking them out and they love it too. 
• Sleeping with my kitty. He loves sleeping with people and I love having him chilling with me.
• Laundry out of the dryer. For a year everything has been dried on a rack. Warm laundry is going to feel so luxurious!
• Jacuzzi time. Talk about luxurious!
• Running on the beach. I haven't run for awhile but I love running at home so I think I'll get back into it.
• Playing my music in the background at family dinners. We all love it.
• Trips to Costco. I love going with Mom or Dad to Costco cause they always buy me little gifties :)
• Shopping with Tracy. She's my favorite shopping partner and I actually have a little money so she'll pick out some great stuff for me. 
• My old jewelry. They're like old friends and they always remind  me of my grandmother's awesome taste in gems. 
• Getting my hair done. I can't wait to be a beautiful blonde again!
• Pedicures with Tracy. Really a lot of sister beautifying activities. 
• Baking. I love to bake and I haven't had access to an oven for a whole year! Russell and I made a pie and brownies in his toaster oven but it wasn't the same. 
• Seeing the sunset on the ocean from my house. 
• English TV. I watch stuff on my computer all the time but being able to flip through the channels sounds like fun. 

There's really a million things I'm looking forward to but obviously the biggest is being with my family. I miss them so much and I thought about them every day. My parents, my siblings, my cousins and my aunts and uncles are all really interesting, fun people and I can't wait to be with them again! I love you all so much and I'll see you soon!

Love,
Kube

A Thanksgiving and a Halloween

I love my Champagne Thursday friends- they do the most amazing things. I am going to miss them.

One of my champagne girl friends, Kristin, is leaving Korea for a spell to visit family and whatnot back home and before she left she wanted a nice Thanksgiving meal with her husband and friends here. They got an actual turkey from Costco and there was a LOT of food, booze and friends. The spread was absolutely amazing! Turkey, two kinds of stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, deviled eggs, stuffed peppers, bacon wrapped mushrooms... they even had non-Thanksgiving foods like lasagna, ham, Vietnamese soup, and some others I don't remember. I was mostly about the turkey and stuffing. For dessert? Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, tiramisu, persimmon ice-cream pie, and more. My friend Sonya made hot apple cider with whiskey and on a cool night it was really delicious and made you warm inside and out. The party lasted all day and well into the night and there was a lot of laughing and singing (Russell brought his guitar). It was one of my best days in Korea.

Only part of the feast is pictured. 

Hanging around before supper time. 

At school we had a Halloween party for the kindergartners. I bought a cheap fireman's costume meant for little boys to wear. One of the Korean teachers asked if any of us had ever carved a pumpkin and I say, "yes, of course" while Jennifer said, "nope, never."  This girl is a 28 year old American and has NEVER carved a pumpkin?! You know what, don't get me started on Jennifer. Her naiveté and inexperience just of life in general is insane. She's super Christian and all she's ever done is gone to church. ANYWAY, I carved a pumpkin in front of all the kindergartners because I've had a fun childhood and know how to do such things. Then we watched some of "The Nightmare Before Christmas," because it's awesome and halloweeny. 

Me, a couple power rangers, and Batman. Also my youngest class. 

My older K class. 

The entrance to my school pimped out for Halloween!

One of my classrooms I decorated.  Decent view, too.

For that Saturday halloween celebration I went over to Sonja's to join the Champagne Thursday girls. Sasha is amazing at hair and make-up and her and a couple of the other girls had the idea that we should all be Mexican Day of the Dead people sporting sugar skulls. We found some pics online and basically I said, "oh, I gotta have the one with the teeth- tres scary!" We drank, we laughed and we looked amazing. Courtney brought me a dress to wear (she specifically told me before, "omg Kim I have the perfect dress for you to wear!" I thought it was just meh, but I liked that it was plain so my make-up would not be upstaged. Sonja also happened to have a tiny top hat in her apartment and when I saw I knew I had the perfect accessory. Sasha did my hair and make-up and then I believe I had my best Halloween look ever! On the way to the party we had a LOT of Koreans staring excitedly and asking to take pictures of us. Even when I was at the party I had tons of people taking pictures and I do believe we made quite the sensation!

She's got the look!

Creepy.

I call this, "terrifyingly pensive."

Me and my pal Courtney

Me and the BF, Russell

From left to right: Kristin, Lindsey, Sasha, Courtney, Sasha's husband Ryan, Moi, and Sonja

It has been a good month. Only 3 and a half weeks left! More on that later.

Teaching and Trips

I have a lot of photos that have to do with life at school! Yippee! This may be the greatest picture I have ever seen in a text book- it was a lesson about being sick and following advice:

Is she or is she not CLEARLY giving the finger? What else could that possibly be? It's not like she's trying to get the waitress's attention at a restaurant. She's got to be saying something like, "you want me to go to work?! Fuck you, can't you see I'm sick?!" The kids would never notice, not the eight year olds the book is for anyway. Bless them.

At the end of every elementary class we do about 20 minutes of writing. Here is an example of the end of a lesson and a writing exercise I make on what we learned (the lesson was about how to use comparative adjectives with er or est):

Close up shot

Irene, complete with mouse ears, writing it out. 

Today we went on a field trip to a farm of sorts. The kids used a little scythe to gather some stalks of rice then put it through one of these which separates the rice from the stalks. Then they pounded some rice to separate the little skin that's on it. After that we went up a mountain to dig up some sweet potatoes. Last but not least we pounded some rice goo that makes a dessert I don't know how to pronounce, but they're gooey rice cakes with little to no taste. 

Here comes the rice!

Step on the pounder dealy!

Up the mountain to the sweet potatoes. 

Diggin em up!

Flora found a keeper!

Hammering out gooey rice.

Ever wondered what Korean moms pack for their kid's lunches? At school the kids get rice, kimchi, some kind of soup, a vegetable side that is usually seasoned with sesame oil and red pepper flakes, and the main which can be curry, eggy pancake, fish cakes, or some other weird thing. For their packed lunches, the vast majority of kids have kimbap. I guess kimbap is the Korean sandwich but it's much prettier and looks a lot harder to make to me. Most of them get a container of kimbap, a container of fruit and some packaged snack like cheetos. 

Carter had kimbap, some weird meat nuggets (the brown things) and some banana.

Agato enjoying his kimbap and using his kiddie chopsticks. 

Theses were a little different from kimbap but I don't know what it was. I thought this was better than kimbap but less pretty.  I've never seen the kids at school use a fork- that's new.

You get the idea. 

So that about covers typical school life, plus an extra special field trip. It was a beautiful day and nice to be outside but I was absolutely exhausted afterwards. G'night!

So I Missed a Month- Sue Me

Less than 2 months left and counting! It was been an interesting 10 months with lots of laughs but I am getting very homesick right about now. Also I've really been working my butt off with these kids and it's fun but can get exhausting. I will recap my past few weeks with pictures since they say a thousand words and I'm too lazy to actually say them. 

Seriously?

We had Chuseok which is some kind f Korean Thanksgiving. A 5 day weekend was nice and the kids came to school in hanbok (traditional Korean garb). We played a confusing game that involved throwing sticks and moving pieces on a board. I had no clue what the heck this game was and I don't think either team won. 

Go Luci- throw those sticks!

My youngest class. I know- they're adorable.

Russell and I took a holiday to Busan for one last weekend at the beach before the fall weather really kicked in. Since then it definitely has. The water was nice and warm and we had a hotel room with a nice view for 2 nights. It was really nice.

Our school also went on a trip to the fire station where Korean firemen spoke some Korean fire stuff to the students. I listened to my ipod. 

Pretty sure these kids are almost as bored as I am. Almost. 

Went to our friends house down south for an Iron Chef competition between our friends Ross and Justin. They were given a secret ingredient (cream cheese) and then had an hour to shop followed by an hour of cooking. We all even had score cards and gave the chefs our comments. Three categories: taste, originality and presentation. It was nerdy and awesome!

Russell judging the creamy pesto pasta as I still munch in the background.

Next weekend I am going up against the Iron Chef! I'm excited cause I can sorta cook. I think the fact that I can cook some veggies will be a nice change cause all we got last time was basically chicken and pasta. Cross your fingers for me!

This past saturday I went to Seoul for a bachelorette party for one of my best girlfriends here. She and her fiance met in Korea and have been dating for about a year and a half and just got engaged a few weeks ago. Russell and I are invited to the wedding but it's at the end of February in England so it looks like we might not be able to go. With any luck we'll have jobs... who knows what'll happen. Anyway there were about 8 girls and we all wore little black dresses and garter and the bride had a cute veil to wear all night. We played a game that involved getting the most points. Getting a guy to buy the bride a shot was 5 points, things like that. We got a suite that fit 5 of us in a bed to split room costs and stayed out till 4:30am. Very fun but I was beat after that. I honestly turned to one of my friends and said, "dude, I HATE partying. I want to be home in bed reading!" I'm not good at staying out late, I'm always the lame one who goes home early (early being about 2am when everyone else usually says out till about 5).

That's all for now. On thursday it's champagne night with the fun girls which I always look forward to. Then of course Saturday it's Iron Chef. 

TTFN- Ta Ta For Now!

Fun Nights

Russell plays guitar and writes his own music and plays covers for open mic nights. While I attended some of the open mics I was introduced to some of his various music friends. I probably met Sasha for the first time 4 months ago, maybe even 6. She sings while a friend of hers plays guitar. Anyway we became friendly acquatences and then about 2 months ago she invited me to a new group she created called Champagne Thursdays. It's where a couple girl friends get together, drink champagne, and talk about girly things (boys, nail polish, clothes, all the good stuff) every other Thursday. So I went for the first time not long after the invite and it was SO much fun. Most of the girls I've met here are so boring, I can't even express how they much talking to them bores me. They're all perfectly nice, and incredibly dull. I can't pinpoint it exactly, they're just boring. They are so boring, there is no other way I can express it because "boring" is simply the epitome of what they are. But the Champagne girls are fun, nice, interesting, and we just laugh our butts off.

Last night was the third Champagne Thursday and it was the BEST! They decided to have a clothes swap so everyone brought clothes they just don't like anymore and we were trying everything on, drinking champagne, talking shop and one of the girls who is married brought her adorable baby and he was just laughing and chilling with us. I brought 2 dresses my mom sent me (sorry mom but they didnt look good!) and a top that never fit quite right. I came away with a pair of heels, a pair of brand new running shoes (wrong size for her), 3 dresses (I may or may not wear one of them that is a little risque), a tank top, and a cap. Score! When I tried on a short dress I heard a cry of, "Oh my God!  Your legs are INCREDIBLE!" and "you should NEVER wear pants!" Then someone from outside came in and said, "Wow you have really nice legs!" I know my legs are awesome (Thanks for the genes, Mom!) but I never get tired of hearing how beautiful they are! But the deal they made out of it was really big and I was blushing a lot. We ended up going out to a bar that had open mic where Russell was and I wore a new short dress and heels. When we saw Russell my friend Courtney said to him, "have you SEEN her legs?!" Of course he had, but he was still impressed. He decided to go onstage with his guitar and even sing a song for me.

What a self esteem boost last night was! I love ladies telling me I'm beautiful almost as much as I love hearing it from men. We stayed out till about 4:30am and I had to be at work at 9:30 but it was worth it.

I want to write more but I'm pretty tired.

Thai Trip

I am back from Phuket, Thailand. It was an extremely long trip back and not only because I had an 8 hour layover in Shanghai (thank goodness there was a motel where you could rent rooms by the hour inside the airport).

The first night I got there and I saw my room I was extremely happy and excited. I started jumping up and down and saying "YES! YES!" Here's a picture of what I walked into:

Not pictured is the TV, the sofa, the fresh fruit basket, and the balcony. A 4 star hotel that was so cheap it was easy for me to afford! I was on cloud nine when I was laying in my fluffy bed.

The next day I was energized and ready to hit the beach to waste away the day and wait for one of my best friends to come join me in this gorgeous place. I woke up to this view from my balcony:

You can't see it in this picture, but at the top of that hill is a big white Buddha statue I saw every day in Kata:

Here's my favorite Thai beer relaxing on the beach:

I got pretty burned which was kind of a bummer but it turned into a bit of a tan so it wasn't so bad after all.
Later that night I received a crushing blow when I found out Katie wasn't coming after all. I can't even tell you how upset I was and I don't want to. I didn't sleep that night and the next day I tried desperately to enjoy where I was but I just kept wishing she was there. I had a good vacation but honestly I really didn't want to be there alone and thinking about my friend bailing on me like that is still extremely upsetting.

But I was in Thailand, and I was determined to make the most of my vacation. So I booked an elephant ride and a boat trip to Phi Phi islands. I knew someone on facebook that was going to Thailand alone so I messaged her and she and I made plans to meet for dinner. I had a delicious seafood clay pot full of prawns, shrimp, mussels, clams and some delicious noodles.

 

Banana daiquiri and pad thai on the beach anyone?

The how about an elephant ride?

I got a new hotel just to change it up a bit but I still stayed in Kata. This room was amazing:

I wanted to do some souvenir shopping. I went to the lobby and asked how much a taxi was to Patong and when the woman told me it was 400 baht I said "too much!" and just went to the computer to check my email before going to the street to get a cheaper cab. She came back up to me 2 minutes later to tell me there was someone who wanted to share a cab and that's how I met my new friend Alex. She was a 20 year old English girl on a 10 day tour group through Thailand. She asked me to come to dinner with her and her friends and it was really fun and so nice not to be alone. As a side note, when roaming a street in Patong we were asked if we wanted to either see a ping pong show, take a tuk tuk ride, or buy some crap EVERY 2 SECONDS. They are very aggressive. Here's Patong:

We went out, bought some crap, had some fun.

I had to get up really early for the Phi Phi islands trip. I wasn't too sure about this because I had heard it was too touristy and the boat ride was rough. Those people were right- it was AWFUL. I felt awful on our hour long speed boat rides, it rained practically the whole time, and there were people and trash EVERYWHERE. I wish I had skipped it and had a spa day instead (I mean I had already gotten a pedicure for 3 dollars and a cheap facial but I could've used a massage). I was lured in with "hey,everyone should see it" and "you get to see where they filmed the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, 'The Beach." I fell for it. Here's some pics:

I met some people on the trip who were also teachers in Korea on their vacation and they were pretty awesome. This trip was so awful that we were just laughing practically the whole time. One of the girls said I want point "I want to shoot myself in the face" and me and the rest just busted up. It brought me back to times when my sister is being negative and there's just nothing to be done and me and my cousin Erin just laugh our butts off. So all in all I had fun even though it was an absolutely horrible trip itself. Thank goodness I met such lovely people. 

Writing this down was an ordeal. I need ice cream. 

New toy!

I got a new camera after mine broke at a party. I was actually a little happy about it because I don't like my camera. It's never taken good pictures at night or in any other dark environment. The most recent evidence of this comes from a party where the electricity went out. One of my friends wanted to take a cute picture of Russell and I and this is the best they could get:

So now that it broke I'm free! Free to experience the joy of having a new camera. This one takes panoramic shots which is SO COOL! This is the park near my apartment:

I'm going to get such great pictures in Thailand with this! I'm leaving in 3 days and it can't come soon enough.

One more shot of the park from a different place: