one week, good food, korean women love bush

Well, I survived a week. Actually it's been a week and 3 days now since I've arrived. Oh wow. That means that I've spent a lot of money in...a week. This week has been strange, stressful and felt much longer than a week. I moved into my apartment on Monday which is quite roomy and just empty for the time being. Every day I'm checking the dumpsters for free goodies (koreans throw away everything, they don't necessarily believe in second hand things) so it's good for us foreigners...we just snap up all of the unwanted items. It's crazy what you can find...tables, rugs, tvs, microwaves...whatever. And it's not really in a dumpster, it's just off to the side where all of the trash bins are. Have I written about the trash? I need to go outside and take pictures because...it's a bit ridiculous. Okay...for a country who is so ridiculous with recycling, I have NEVER seen more litter. And really, the litter is just naked women on postcards with their phone numbers on them (remember, prostitution is a friend here, AND theres a brothel in the building connected to mine)..okay..so you have your trash bag, which is quite small...and you have a food scraps bag and everything else is recycling and when you go downstairs there are several bins.

One thing about being here, is that i'm realizing that my english is getting worse! haha. the other day i asked my kids to write the sentence "we had food to drink". oh well. tonight i made my first meal in my apartment...penne and spaghetti sauce. i'm pretty proud of myself. i must say that i've been drinking a good bit of soda here. but also a lot a lot of water.

last night we went to hot yoga. it seemed like something neat to do and i felt like i was going to die while i was in there but afterwards i felt great. my horrible day just disappeared and my headache went away a bit until i had some wine and soju at a friends apartment. hot yoga....is yoga that takes place in a room that is heated to 104 degrees. i have NEVER sweated more in my life. i had horrible balance but....i loved it. as soon as payday comes i'm going to get a membership. it's only a 10 minute walk from my apartment (as is everything else it seems!) so thats good and its in a part of town that i haven't really had a chance to discover. i've been meaning to get over there and just haven't had the chance. if i'm not doing something then i'm sleeping, so i don't know. anyway...back to the yoga. they gave us keys to a locker so we went in there to hang up our coats, hats/scarves/many layers (it's cold!). and well...there are just women walking around butt ass naked. there is no way i could shower in there with everyone but after the class i understand why they would want to. after the class we went in there to grab our stuff and it was like all 30 people who were in class with us were in there naked hanging out. i'm too prudish. the lady who was teaching the class was very great. she made sure to say as much as she could in english but for the most part we just had to look to see what was going on. she stayed by us a good bit to correct our form. so yeah...i like yoga. crazy.

okay...school. my school is extremely unorganized, i think that i've hinted at this before. the other day, well, yesterday i was in class and i had assigned some homework which i had been assured that they could do. i get to class and see that only ONE of the four kids has done the work. i was so pissed. i made them sit there quietly doing the work and they were still defying me. i told one to go sit in the corner and he said no. i went to get a korean teacher and all i could find was my boss who came in and belittled me in front of them! she told me that they could not do that work and that i shouldn't have assigned it. but really...they can their just lazy and were testing me and she took their side. i was so pissed off i just left the room, went to the bathroom and started crying. i got myself together and came back and she started back again. after class was over...i let them go early, i needed a break. the korean teacher i split the class with came in and apologized for not telling me where they were. NO ONE TELLS YOU ANYTHING! you have to figure it all out yourself. luckily i do have SOME teaching experience but aaaah! turns out most places are like this but this is one of the most unorganized that many have seen.

last night we had a girls night to just vent about our schools and everything else. it's hard to remember that i haven't been here that long so of course i don't have it figured out. but it feels like i've been here longer than i have. i don't know. i need to go clean dishes and figure out if anything is going on tonight besides sleep!

Work, Work, Awkwardness

I'm sitting here at work on my lunch break. Generally we use any planning time on the computers. I am so overwhelmed. I have no idea where these kids are at or what they are supposed to be doing. I was warned correctly, everything here changes at the last minute. I found out last night about a meeting we're having this afternoon. I just got a new schedule, different from the one i recieved yesterday.

i teach 9 classes a day, 30 to 40 minutes a piece. yesterday...there was a specific amount i was to get done with a class and there was no way to do it, having never seen the book before. they have to go through a book every 2 days so tomorrow i have to test them on material i haven't really gone over with them. One of my classes this morning, I gave them the wrong material. It was too over their heads...their Korean teacher asked me if i wanted them to bring their crayons and i said yes..only to give them the worksheet and them have no idea what it was. i need to stick specifically with the alphabet with them. ugh....we all feel the same way. there needs to be some kind of guidelines laid out for each class about what to do and expectations, and there are none. I don't want to complain, i do really like this place but i just feel like i'm in over my head.

I moved into my new apartment last night and it is totally bare. i need things to fill it up but those cost money! OH! this morning i almost burned the place down. i had my straightener plugged into the converter and was JUST about finished when the entire thing shot out of the wall, turned black and started smoking. it was pretty sweet. so i guess i need a new straightener..

okay, lunch break is almost over.

OH! and i don't have internet at my apartment, or a tv, or anything really. so i basically just sleep and watch movies on my lap top. laaaame.

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Kim

Day 3

Today, I slept. A lot. I got in pretty late last night. I went to meet up with Josh and Carla as we were all going out in a large group for Scott's last night. We ended up sitting in Martin's apartment for a while, drinking Soju and eating fruit and talking. After a while, we all went out. Mars, Carla, Josh and myself went out to eat...where I mastered CHOPSTICKS!! we took a picture of it because it was pretty amazing. I'm feeling pretty comfortable about my chopsticks ability right now. As with everything else...pictures will come later when i'm not using a korean computer. So...tomorrow maybe. After we ate we all headed out to Westernville, a cozy little bar and realized that everyone was leaving there and went to the Frog and the Toad. If you are a foreigner, this is where you hang out to meet other...well, foreigners. We ended up having about 10+ people sitting at our table. I met some nice girls from Canada whose job sounds like it sucks...a lot. A guy from Ireland, and a guy from Texas. Everyone was really nice. I discovered that Cass beer, really isn't all that bad. Mars had to run downstairs to get some smokes and i asked how much they were....TWO DOLLARS! but they only have Marlboro's...and i'm not a fan. they taste like ass. apparently you can get Camel's in Seoul but thats not going to happen.

I move out of this hotel room tomorrow morning. I'm taking all of my luggage to the school and then after school I'll move in. The apartment we were hanging out in last night is in the same building, so Scott offered to let me see the place. It is SO cute. And pretty roomy. Granted, it's still small by American standards but it's more than enough for me. I can't wait to get in and start decorating and setting up. He's leaving me a computer desk and a chair, but I'm going to want to get a small couch and a table. We're having a housewarming Monday night there. Mars is cooking Chicken Curry and we're all going to relax and play games. There is so much that I need to buy though but so much has been provided (thanks scott!).

I need to make a list so that I don't forget what all I need to buy...but I'm really excited about all of this. It is going better than I ever could have imagined! I just can't wait to get over there because I'm tired of having to take taxi's to hang out!!

OH! last night I knew that i was meeting them at La Festa so i decided to go early and just get out of the hotel. I decided to walk there to save on cab fare (about 40+ minutes). got there and realized that i wanted something to drink, went to grab my wallet and dun dun...i left it at the hotel..so i had to walk all the way back and then took a taxi. haha. i'm glad that i did because halfway there it started raining.

Thats all you get for today...back to re-packing/organizing and getting ready for the big day tomorrow! I have to figure out where all of these kids are and then go from there...eek!

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Kim

BC...not British Columbia

Last night i went out and had a blast. Perhaps i had a bit too much soju...but it is korea. soju is drank like water here. you order a bottle, and a bottle of cider and out comes 3 shot glasses. you cheers to everything and it's a good deal of fun. after the first round it gets better...and i was sipping on mine. it is a korean tradition that when someone new is around you take them out and treat them to a night on the town. i was lucky to have mine on my first real day here!

so i slept like a babe last night and it was great. i woke up today around 1pm haha and realized, oh shit! i need to go get birth control. i jumped online to get the name of the brand that i want to take and set off on a birth control adventure. i went to the front desk and asked him where the pharmacy was. he seemed confused so i started fake coughing and pointing to my throat. he came back with some tylenol sinus, i thanked him and asked him about the pharmacy again. he found a girl who spoke some english and she led me out side and told me to go left.

well i was walking left, and left, and maybe in squares when i see an american couple. you better believe i tagged them down! their names are Lacey and Caleb, and they are from Texas. I asked if they knew where the pharmacy was and they said....YES! so they pointed me in the right direction and then at the last second, lacey said i'll go with you to show you. they paid for my bus fare and took me straight to the pharmacy. the pharmacist spoke english and i got my BC right away, for $6 over the counter. woot woot! it's an irish brand that a lot of people seem to enjoy...the pack is really weird, i'll take a picture eventually. but yeah...that was my adventure so far today. now i'm back in the room drinking delicious water and watching bad korean television. i might try and go back to sleep. i keep telling myself that sleeping a lot is okay since i didn't really get to sleep off my jet lag yet.

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kim

6 Hours

It hasn't completely hit me yet that I'm moving to another country for a year.
I'm still in the process of doing laundry, haven't even begun to pack but have everything piled up in the floor that I'm planning to take. I have to finish packing before I can begin cleaning.


I cleaned out my car today, I'm such a packrat. I keep everything. I found a million movie ticket stubs, baseball tickets, and yes..I still have my parking ticket from Stone Mountain from Paris Reunion 2007. I always wait until the last minute...

I'm nervous but really excited.

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Kim

5 days to departure

Well, I can't sleep. Anxiety has gripped my shoulders and like many of the past few nights I am finding myself, alone in a friends apartment playing on the internet and creating run-on sentences. Perhaps this is my curse for finally having a lap top, ha.

I have been in Atlanta since Tuesday and have been thoroughly enjoying my stay. I do truly have the most wonderful friends, who have been patient with my broke ass, allowing me to stay on their couches, in their beds, or in tonight's case, the roommates bed (thanks andrea!)

I decided to create this blog to keep track of my adventures. I generally do a very poor job at communicating, or journaling. But this will be the longest trip that I have ever been on. Can I even call it a trip since I'm actually moving halfway around the world (literally, Korea is 12 hours ahead, ass). Livejournal is so passe, blogspot seems to be a bit more politically correct.

What do I want to talk about? Oh, yeah...how I'm afraid that I'm going to be a really horrible teacher. Living in another country, alone doesn't seem to scare me but I'm simply afraid that I'm going to be bad at my job. And that I will run out of deoderant.

I was excited to be flying on an airline that I had heard of but after research, it appears that United is just a cheap-o flight. My legs are too long for those tiny little seats. I guess I have to see who I can woo into letting me have the emergency exit. I had a dream the other night that I was stuck in the middle seat on the middle row, so I just laid down in the floor and slept the entire time. Is that allowed?

OH! Callie and I skyped today. That sounds dirty, but still. We wanted to figure out how it worked so we did. SO! get skype and we can chat...

Eh..1st post out of the way...
I'm going to try and keep this up.

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Kim