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:

WHYYYYYYY?!

The students in my school are taught this really horrible, awful, annoying habit. Every time they do this, it makes me CRAZY. I will come to class and say something like "open your books, please" and I will have barely gotten that out when one of my kindergartners blurts out "why." The little ones recently learned this word in my class as well as in other classes. Keep in mind that they are always learning new words including other question words. This is not, as was suggested by one of my co-workers who doesn't teach kindergarten, "a new word they want to impress the teacher with." They don't do that. This is the Korean teacher not knowing that that is EXTREMELY RUDE. When they first began this behavior I responded with the classic, "because I said so" and this developed into "because I'm the teacher and I said so." Finally I started going nuts and countering with "DON'T ASK ME 'WHY' THAT MAKES KIMBERLY TEACHER VERY ANGRY." I mean I know they don't fully understand why it's so rude and unacceptable but all I hear when they ask why IMMEDIATELY after I ask them to do something is, "why should I, ya stupid American woman?" So it makes me crazy. In one of my classes that this was a recent development I ended up writing "DON'T ASK WHY!" On the top of the white board to stay. Now in that class when they say it (which doesn't happen nearly as often anymore thank goodness) I respond with a cool, "what does it say on the board?" They read it and open their damn books or whatever.

In one of my slightly older classes, there is one student this has been a problem with. The other day I asked her to get out hr notebook or some other such thing, she of course countered with an impudent "why" and the student next to her turned with horror and whispered to her, "don't ask Kimberly Teacher 'why'!!!!!!" And that made my day. It really did.

Today in my only middle school class, who I have never heard this from and who I was hoping wouldn't have this habit, this kid that drives me nuts woke the dragon. He talks a lot to his friend in this class and so I told him as I have so many times before, "Jeff, please don't speak Korean in this class. It's time to speak English." When he asked 'why' he had no idea what was coming. I raised my voice and gave him the evil eye while saying, "BECAUSE I AM AN AMERICAN LIVING IN KOREA THAT HAS TO LISTEN TO KOREAN THAT I DONT UNDERSTAND ALL DAY LONG. I WANT TO SPEAK ENGLISH AND THIS IS ENGLISH CLASS. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SPEAK ENGLISH THEN GET OUT BECAUSE I AM SICK OF HEARING KOREAN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" I got the smile off his face and his friend said, "teacher's face red!" I felt that my face was very hot because I was so angry at this point. After that the class went much more smoothly.

Well now that I got that out I feel much better. This whole "why" business just really winds me up sometimes.

This time next week I'll be in Thailand. I'm excited but I can never get too excited because it doesn't feel real. I've wanted to go to Thailand for a very long time because I've seen so many pictures in magazines growing up. My friends and I wanted to go around this time last year but it seemed too dangerous so we went to Vietnam instead (ittybitty-boo, as my father might say). Now I finally get to go! And one of my best friends in the whole world is meeting me there on her first trip out of the country! That's the best part really. I get to travel a pretty good deal but usually I have to be on my own. Although last year things seemed to turn around in that department. Last year I got to go with another bestie to Vietnam and about a month later I got to do Japan with my brother. This year it's one of my very best girl friends to Thailand and hopefully Europe with my boyfriend when our contracts are up. That last one isn't definite because it really depends on how much money we have and how much our work will pitch in for the ticket (they're supposed to provide you with a ticket home but since we want to go to Europe they might give us tickets there, or give us money that our tickets home would be worth). Traveling with loved ones is the best!

I think I'm done writing now.  I will leave you, my beloved fans, with a picture that tells you a little about some of the materials I have to work with.

Which of these is not like the other? Don't worry I did the good teacher thing and taped a bit of paper with "kid" written on it over the disaster. When I first saw it I laughed quite a bit because it's as if the person making them just guessed what a baby goat was called.

Blog-Uh

I had a conversation with my Mom the other day and when she mentioned my blog I told her, "I have nothing of interest to say. I just go to work and hang out with friends and live my life that happens to be in Korea." She told me I should just write about the movies I watch, the books I read, or some other business that to me is mundane but to a mom- priceless. So that's just what I'm going to do.

The first time I went to the movies in Korea was about 4 or 5 months ago. I've tried to look up movie times in Korea and for the life of me I cannot figure it out. I put "Daejeon showtimes" into Google and they come up as they always do but (surprise!) all the theaters names are in Korean. When I try to map the theaters it's all in Korean. I can't reconcile the Korean with my English brain. So one lazy Saturday I went to the big mall that I know has a theater. All the movie names are in Korean but the times are underneath posters for the movie. This was back when "Tron: Legacy" was in theaters so I decided to give it a go. I took a number, literally, because you have to take a number and wait for it to show up on a screen above a ticket counter. When I approached I said, "Tron." The man behind the counter stared at me like he thought I was going to pull out a knife. I said "Tron?" and this time he looked in every direction desperately hoping someone would swoop in and translate. I knew the title was English; it's not like I was asking for "Eat, Pray, Love." So I got a little anxious and just started saying, "Tron. Tron. TRON. TRRRRROOOOOONNNN!!!!!" I was waving my arms around like a maniac from being so exasperated. Then on the screen behind him I saw the poster for it and started pointing and  raised my voice, "TRON! TRON!" The guy turns around, sees the picture and finally I see he gets it and he says excitedly, "Tron-uh!" That's when I finally get my ticket. What the hell. In this country when there's an English word for a restaurant, movie, whatever, if you don't put an "uh" at the end they have NO IDEA what you're saying. When I go to Costco I have to say "costco-uh" or I just get a blank stare. If I order a drink and I forget to say "large-uh" instead of "large"- nothing. It's something that I find incredibly annoying. I think it's because it sounds too much like I'm casually saying "duh" and that makes me feel like a freaking idiot. 

This weekend Russell and I saw "Super 8uh." It was okay. I just love going to the movies. And I do enjoy those foreign films! On Saturday we had a Pixar marathon because Russell has only seen a couple. We made a home-made cherry pie while watching "Wall-E." Then we ate some pie while watching "Up." Then we topped it off with some "Ratatouille." He liked them all and of course he thought it was hilarious when I cried at "Up." 

I finished reading The Stand. It was great. Now I'm reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I love my Kindle!!! It's so nice to just turn on and have all those books at my fingertips. It's also nice and light so I can just hold it with one hand and I don't have to prop it open. Plus, free books. So many free books! 

I was starting to get some roots in my hair about 2 months ago so I went dark yet again. I was just too scared to try to keep my blonde going with Korean hairstylists at the helm. I do miss being blonde but one of my friends tried to get her roots done blonde and it was a TOTAL disaster so I know I made the right decision going dark. This is her and her name is KIM:

YIKES. My dark hair looks nice. It's reddish. It's fun. I only trust Nancy in Dana Point to do my hair right, especially when it comes to blonde. Thank goodness this is Kim Hiller and not Kim Jones. 

I haven't been running at all because I hurt my foot and then sprained my ankle. It's been awful with the lack of running. 

I want to go to Grad school and get my Masters in Education so I can be a teacher in other countries. 

That's all for now! 

Good Weekend

This weekend was pretty fantastic. On Friday I got invited to a poker night at my friend Mike's place and it turned out to be me and 6 guys in the game. Guess who won? Oh yeah it was me!!! I won 30 bucks and it was a grand old time. I guess all those early mornings at the Tahoe house playing poker with the cousins while waiting for the Mom's to get up and make breakfast paid off. We went to a bar after (about 3am) and played some darts and I won at that too. I was kickin every guys ass all over the place. 

Saturday was very lazy and relaxing because it was rainy outside. It was a lovely book-reading afternoon. I started reading The Stand and of course it's great and quite the page turner. 

Yesterday Russell took me screen golfing because I've never been before. It was so fun! We played two games of nine holes. I did terribly, we both did, but it was really fun. They set you up with clubs (even lady clubs for me), gloves and shoes. Then you get to drink some beers and play at a relaxed place in your private room. There's 2 couches and you can order snacks and everything. 

After screen golfing we saw the new Pirates movie and had a lovely sushi dinner. It was a fabulous weekend.

Backing up now- a couple weeks ago I went with Russell to visit our friends in Busan for their Cinco De Mayo party. They made a pinata and had a BBQ and my favorite- beer pong! It was a beautiful day too.

The next day we went to a temple to check out the decorations for Buddha's birthday.  It was the weekend that I actually found out that Korea is, in fact, very pretty in the Spring. When I first got here at the beginning of Winter everything was grey and brown and just UGLY. I thought to myself, "Yikes. Well, okay then." But now that it's Spring it's all green everywhere and there are flowers, butterflies, birds singing- the whole deal. 

I'm kind of tired of writing and want to get back to The Stand. I'll update some other time soon. 

A Quickie

I just have a few items of interest to update my fans on real quick before I get ready for my date.

After slacking for months I ran 3 miles at the gym on Friday and 3 today (Sunday). I'm determined to get back into running shape. I miss running and it feels great to be getting back to it. I want to be going on 6 mile runs by the end of May which is a good goal.

I found out I have a week off- the last week of July. I really want to go to Thailand. Ideally I want to go with someone else but the outlook is not so good. Worse comes to worse I'll probably just go by myself to a little resort outside Phuket and work on my tan. Boo hoo, right?

That's all I got for ya for now.

Pics and Vids

Here's a video my friend Marisol put together from when we went to eat some octopus. We eat a couple tentacles while they're still squirming. My favorite part is before Mike puts a piece in his mouth the Korean lady is talking a lot and I say, "listen to the lady, Mike- she knows what she's talking about" and he replies, "what's she saying?!" and we all laugh cause it's not like any of us have any idea what she's talking about.

Here's me talking to my students in my youngest Kindergarten class. I love how John smells his pit.

I'm afraid one of my students might turn out to be a serial killer. He drew this when we were drawing pictures of our community:

It appears to be a building on fire and men in red helmets with guns. The student's name? Angel. As in Angel of Death.

Today we went to a park and the kindergartners learned about traffic safety. Then we had a picnic. It was a beautiful spring day and all around a nice day to be in Korea.

They got to drive cool go-carts and I was jealous. 

Me and my co-teacher Sonny with our Lily Class. 

My Daisy Class running out their energy. 

It was a good week :)

Teaching Tidings

It's been a month. Look, I have nothing to say. The job is the same. Kids come, kids go, kids say the occasional silly thing. I was pointing to one girls paper trying to get her to correct a mistake and she was just staring at my hair and started touching it till I slapped her hand and said "LOOK HERE!" while desperately tapping her paper. Kindergarten has it's ups and downs. When they're acting like maniacs it seems the class will never end and when they say, "hello Teacher how are you?" it makes my day brighter. I no longer have to yell in one of my elementary classes because when I start giving the evil eye they start to cover their ears and someone says, "uh-oh, Kimberly Teacher is going to yell..." So I now I only have to threaten to yell. Sometimes a class will be really great and the kids will learn a lot and it'll be fun. Then there are the classes where the kids are bored to tears and I can't seem to get through to them at all and they learn nothing. Today when I was explaining "is" and "are" there would be a sentence and Joyce would start reading, "Sheila and I" and I would say, "okay, how many people are there?" blank stares. "Sheila," I hold up one finger, "and I" I bring up another finger and look questioningly and Irene says, "...one?" This is while I'm holding two fingers practically in front of her face. This is not a cry for teaching advice, it's just a taste of what I have to work with sometimes.

This is Agato from one of my kindergarten classes. He's equally adorable and destructive.

Teaching is hard. It's the hardest job I've ever had. It's also the best job I've ever had. Time goes by quickly, some of my students call me "beautiful teacher," it has some perks. I work longer hours than most other foreign teachers (more than any I know, in fact) but my school has some good points to counter-balance that. My school pays me on time, the director knows who I am and has taken me out to dinner, we have pretty good resources and syllabi, and other good stuff. Other people are not so lucky where they work. My best friend here may be getting fired this week for doing nothing wrong, which royally screws him over since the country changed the law about working here so he can't just get a new job. I've met a lot of people who have issues getting paid or just being heard and I'm glad I don't have the same troubles. The longer hours are a drag but I tell myself it's worth it. Eh, it kind of is.

I visited some friends in Masan last weekend and we spent a day in Busan, which is a pretty harbor city. We explored the biggest mall in the world (saw the Guinness plaque and everything) and saw some art before going to the beach and eating "Mexican" food for dinner. The burrito was delicious.

Me and Nicole panarama in Busan

That's all I have for now. Plans? On Thursday I have dinner plans with my friend Marisol and on Friday I'm having drinks with my friend Steven before heading out to the city. Maybe a bowling league game on Saturday... who knows. Same old stuff here in Korea! All that's important is that I am still happy and healthy. Hooray!