Seoulified

Time is precious in Seoul! It goes by so so so fast! I find myself rushing around everywhere- never can I just leisurely take a stroll!-anyways- It's hard to keep up on here also. I am finally used to the air here and I just cant wait for the rainy season to end and the cold to start! Somethings to mention-
 I learned in Korea if you eat the "last" anything (because here no one eats alone- food is served for at least 2 ppl) it means that you will become fatter and fatter. It is bad luck to eat the "last" anything on a plate.
I discovered "Soju" it is a a rice wine, comparable to Vodka or Sake. It is native to Korea and very very cheap- like 1,200 won which is around a $1.00 in the States. Talking with Korean women--- a girl does not leave home "typically" until they are married- they live with their parents until they do and do not/can not live with their boyfriends. If you are unmarried still at 30- you will never get married- you are considered old and it's too late for you.
When eating- it is a sign that the food you're eating is delicious and you like it if you slurp- eat loudly and quickly- it's considered weird to them that we eat quietly.
They serve pickles with their pizza. Some pizza has potato on it- some have mayonnaise on it. It's interesting.
Today is Monday and I am off work Tues- Thurs. for  "Chusok" "Korean Thanksgiving" It celebrates Korean's ancestors and is in the middle of what they call "harvest season." The whole country takes 3 days off and apparently everything is closed- like Christmas for us. People visit their hometowns and eat traditional Korean food- like Songpyeon ( a half moon-shaped rice cake) If someone can make a pretty Songpyeon, he or she will be blessed with a good marriage.
Just this past weekend Katie, Emily and I discovered an ON THE BORDER!!!!! I was in shock- I was what the hell is this place doing here!!!??? It has never tasted so good but was super-duper expensive.
I have eaten a lot of yummy Korean food, I love and crave Bi bim bap- it has no meat usually, but can be made with beef or octopus. Also, Kimchi mandu- which is like a dumpling- Ahhh so good!!! Kimchi is served with every mean in Korea.
In one of my special classes- some of my students and I were talking about eating octopus. "Teacher it is so delicious and fun to eat!" They would explain that they eat it when it's still alive and it wiggles all around in your mouth and it's fun to chew it and kill it- ew! One girl said her brother had a tentacle go up his nasal passage- he pulled it out and put it back in his mouth. OMG!!!! I am going to try octopus at some point- but not soon!
I have bought a lot of bright pretty things for my desk- and also have things I have brought from back home- and all my little girls gather around my desk and have to TOUCH everything. "Teacher what's this? Teacher you have strange things."  They love the Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer I have!  The school gave me a big box of my very own business cards- with my picture and everything- so cool!
I find myself racking my brain- because I am teaching what I have learned as a child and I don't remember learning it. To explain the meanings of words and how we use them is quite difficult. Teaching is exhausting but it flies by because I am immersed in what i am teaching. My students want to learn English so badly, I am taking my job very seriously and want to help them as best as i can. Sometimes, I explain a statement/saying/meaning of a word in 3-5 different angles before a light bulb turns on in their head and they can understand/translate the lesson I'm teaching. It can get tedious- it makes me want to go hug all my Spanish teachers I had in school, because I know how they probably felt, at times, when teaching English speaking students Spanish as a second language. One weird, annoying thing about my school- the principal is very old fashioned. She is in her 50's- never married- and a bit bitter- (this came from someone else's mouth- who has been teaching at the school a lot longer than me) She does not condone Korean and English teachers to talk freely. It is a bit segregated. There is an awesome Korean girl working on the first floor, she is pretty high up, her name is Lily- she wants to hang out and go out with us- but if she is SEEN out with us- oh no- she is in much trouble! Also, if she is seen talking to us she is given awful looks by the principal and a couple of other Korean staff members. It's very professional- no stepping over the "outside of school" line. It is simply a Korean cultural difference. They do not mix work and outside of work together.- Well at least at my school they do not. My partner teacher is AWESOME- she drinks with us after work sometimes, but I think it's very hush hush.
When I wear my hair up my students ask about my tattoo on my neck- what's this teacher (as they point to my neck) when I say a tattoo they don't know what that is- i have to explain. Tattoos are not prevalent at all in Korea. You can get a tattoo in one area I was told but cleanliness is a scary issue. I think I will wait to get my Korean tattoo back in the States. I walked down the streets of Seoul bare foot once and my feet were black black black and sore for days- if I didn't get anything from that- then I "maybe" I will be OK getting a tattoo here, LOL.
Two weekends ago I went to the Seoul Tower! It was so fun- got to see this huge city! and mountains! It was awesome! Got lost in the city afterward, stumbled across a cool market, went to the World Cup Stadium to watch FC Seoul play soccer- they won! It was a foreigner's game, which was fun! Then saw an AMERICAN movie, Killers.

My partner teacher took Katie, Emily and I to an art museum and the Deoksugung Palace near city hall in Seoul not tool long ago. We walked up just as the guards were changing. It was so cool to see their uniforms- they were so colorful!  The art exhibit was marvelous- realism in Asian art- many pieces were from the Philippines. Inside the walls it was very peaceful and had a pretty and serene for being right in the center of a HUGE city.  


This past weekend one of the other English teachers had a BBQ at his place and people from everywhere were there. England, Australia, Scotland, Texas, Oregon, Canada, MS, IN, Korea, and other places I'm sure- it was friends of friends- I haven't been to a party as fun as this in a VERY long time. There would be spurts of heated debates that would flare up- then it would die down- start back up- its like everyone had at least one moment. I'm not going to divulge the topic I went off on. I played a ukulele and was told i was good! ha! nevertheless i had a blast playing it and acted like i knew what i was doing but couldn't make but 4 sounds come out of it, so i started banging on it and made everyone else try to play.
I just love the human interaction that i have come in counter with. It's been amazing so far. It takes a special type of person to be able to move to a foreign country, work and live WILLINGLY. I share similar mindsets with the other westerners that are here. It's nice.

 Today is Thursday, I have spent a couple of days at Osan Airbase which is in Songtan. I traveled by subway to a bus station, then took a bus down to the small city- in all it took 1 1/2 hours. It was fun but I was a little nervous- I did it on my own. I met Casey who is stationed there. It was SUPER intimidating at the front gate of the base. There was razor wire at the top of the walls which made it look haunting and forbidden. There were many Americans armed, and there were a Korean soldiers armed- but they were not armed like we were. They had BIG guns on a strap at their backs and were very scary just to look at. I have never been on a base before. It is so much fun! It's like a little American town with American things- it's just fantastic LOL! I saw many jets take off and wow are they loud! Helicopters, jets were flying everywhere. I was told they go south to train and practice maneuvers and have "practice fights"- like they did in Top Gun! Hahaha! Also, they sometimes go to the North Korean border and drop bombs just to say "Hey, we're still here!"
I am going to take a trip up to the DMZ very soon with Casey. I am very excited about it!!!

This past Monday, went to Iteawon, a big night life area with foreigners from around the world, and was out all night long! Bars do not close here- it's amazing!!!!! I love it! I also ended up at a casino at 6 AM in the morning and played roulette for the first time- who knew gambling could be fun!- I didn't win but it was fun! I met people from Japan out that night. You can most definitely tell a difference between Korean people and Japanese people. I also met Korean gangster rappers- OH BOY- was that hilarious. We talked to some Turkish men who made us Turkish kabobs, which I eat every chance I can because they are delicious, the guy was talking all serious and I couldn't stop laughing because his fly was down the whole way. I didn't want to tell him because I didn't know how he would react to it. There is a big I guess the word to use is "business"  for prostitutes in Korea. I have seen many of these on the streets- they are referred to as "juicy girls." Oh oh- we also ran into some guys from Uganda- not in a good way- one of my coworkers Marty saw this guy push down a Korean woman really hard- he walked up to him and confronted him- "why would you push a woman!?" type talk- oh my- it started to get heated- then 3 of his friends came- I was the only one paying attention to what was happening (everyone else was in lala drunk land)  i went and grabbed Katie to come stand with me by Marty because we could not abandon him- then the guys started talking to me asking me questions and saying they feel all disrespected and shit- I made sure the Korean lady was okay- i was acting all tough (well as tough as i could!!!) but OMG they were so big and intimidating and had such thick African accents. The initial guy then came at Marty and I kid you not- that's when this little Korean lady who was cooking mandu on the street came in between them and split us up- i got VERY scared because I just knew they could really do some damage to us if they wanted to. In retrospect- I think this was the scenario- The lady who was pushed down was a prostitute- and the African guy maybe was her pimp- that's why he was treating her the way he was- and when we got involved his friends flocked from like 3 different corners.

On a different note- I met a guy from Nigeria in the subway- he has been in Korea for close to 3 years. He buys used clothing here and sends them back home to his hometown in Nigeria. He told me he misses his home and mother so much but can not go back- he said it is very corrupted there and he likes how peaceful it is in Korea. He was very nice and helped Emily and I find our correct train.

Korea Korea- oh how I love thee. I hope the new does not wear off and you stay fun everyday!

CHEERS!