yesterday i woke up and knew that i was supposed to head into seoul. i looked out the window and of course it was raining. eh, not a big deal. i have an umbrella and my coat is waterproof. walk outside to head to the bus stop and the wind is blowing something fierce. it was my first time catching the bus to seoul and i was alone. it was really easy. there is an express bus that will drop you off in downtown seoul in 45 minutes. mars was going to meet me there at the bus stop. so i get there and it's POURING down rain. my shoes are completely soaked through and i'm waiting. she shows up about 10 minutes later and we go off in search for the next bus that we need to take.
we walk from bus stop to bus stop to bus stop in the rain. my shoes i feel like i need to ring out. we finally find a bus stop that has the line that we need and we stand there and wait for probably 15 minutes. we tried invoking murphy's law by lighting cigarettes knowing that the minute we did our bus would pull up. it didn't work.
we finally get on the 471 and head out. oh, goodness. i know what my dad was talking about when he would make fun of me for giving it some gas, then letting up, then giving it some more gas. we were having to stand and were bouncing all over the place. sometimes he'd start going and then slam on brakes. it was horrible.
that took forever. we finally get to the stop where we need to be and grab a taxi. he told us we needed to cross the road and get one over there. so we did. when the taxi pulled up he splashed water all over us.
we pull up at the hotel (we were going to an engagement party) and it was AWESOME! it was all maori people. who by the way are some of the most gracious and polite people ever. there was a buffet and all you could drink :) i kept going for the chardonnay and garlic bread and cheese. mhmm. i probably had....too much. i know that mars did.
i might come back and put pictures on here, but maybe not. there was a phillipino house band that was playing and they were awesome for the following reasons.
1. the girls belt buckle said bitch
2. the bass player had on monster shoes
3. the girl with the belt buckle also had her top woven into her pants
4. she could sing!! she gave Whitney and Mariah a run for their money
5. they were all ridiculously nice
6. the guy singer looked to be about 50 but still was wearing orange baggy pants and a hip hop shirt
they were super fabulous. in such a bad way but they could sing and had everyone dancing all night. we had a dance circle, okay...oval with a bunch of korean's. it's funny how it just didn't matter. we all wanted to dance...
i was trying to drag mars out so that we could catch the buses when she informs me that we're taking a taxi. alright. i'm glad that we did. we just had drunk chat and our driver was so fabulous. we get back and our friends band is playing at the pub so we head there. i had a couple of beers and then after purchasing one more, i decide that it's time to call it a night and came home.
but last night was fabulous.
i met more wonderful people.
and i'm an adopted maori.
-
kimmie
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
will you watch....
"will you watch" is a phrase that i thought that i was finished with. will you watch my bag, will you watch my smokes, will you watch my things because i don't want to carry them with me. in america, this phrase is used often.
so when i was out the other night, and got up to go grab a drink and someone said "don't worry, i'll watch your bag" i was caught off guard. koreans don't steal. (other than identities i learned this morning, ha). oh, wait.....foreigners do. because we cannot behave. we cannot behave in our own country, so why would we be able to do it here?
i am at a loss.
and it really makes me angry.
who are these people who were raised like this?
and how did they get here?
lesson learned. hold on to your things. they will get stolen. by foreigners.
number 2 reason today is strange...
i woke up at 5am. parched after a night of pints. oh, i do adore my thursdays. i had to go to the bank this morning to open an account so that i can get paid...the guy was really nice but i cannot get an ATM card for THREE months. meaning....if i need money..i have to go during my lunch break or before school to withdraw. ridiculous. and a pain. apparently identities have been stolen so they have to keep an eye on your account for three months to make sure it's legit? because after 3 months, nothing bad can happen to you....it's just an ATM card.
whatever. i have an account now.
oh, and while we were sitting at the window making my account, the guy looks up and laughing says "did you two drink beer last night"...."maybe"...."i can smell it".....hmm... we didn't drink that much promise. and it was probably her, not me :) haha. come on, it was thursday. leave me alone.
number 3.
as i was walking to school, i turn the corner and see a make-shift homeless village? um...i don't really know how to explain this. there were about 10 rows of 4 each, all wealthy people sitting on cardboard boxes. then on the side there were people sleeping on cardboard boxes. and then some people were just sitting in lawn chairs. it caught me off guard and i was chugging coffee (yay caramel macchiatos in a can!) so i just kept walking...
number 4.
today at work....all of the kids are on a field trip. i obviously didn't go. so i have nothing to do until 12:50. i plan on doing lesson plans, cleaning/organizing.......or just playing on the internet and then going upstairs and reading my book. probably the latter....
well, thats my strange friday and it's only 11am.
-
kimmie
so when i was out the other night, and got up to go grab a drink and someone said "don't worry, i'll watch your bag" i was caught off guard. koreans don't steal. (other than identities i learned this morning, ha). oh, wait.....foreigners do. because we cannot behave. we cannot behave in our own country, so why would we be able to do it here?
i am at a loss.
and it really makes me angry.
who are these people who were raised like this?
and how did they get here?
lesson learned. hold on to your things. they will get stolen. by foreigners.
number 2 reason today is strange...
i woke up at 5am. parched after a night of pints. oh, i do adore my thursdays. i had to go to the bank this morning to open an account so that i can get paid...the guy was really nice but i cannot get an ATM card for THREE months. meaning....if i need money..i have to go during my lunch break or before school to withdraw. ridiculous. and a pain. apparently identities have been stolen so they have to keep an eye on your account for three months to make sure it's legit? because after 3 months, nothing bad can happen to you....it's just an ATM card.
whatever. i have an account now.
oh, and while we were sitting at the window making my account, the guy looks up and laughing says "did you two drink beer last night"...."maybe"...."i can smell it".....hmm... we didn't drink that much promise. and it was probably her, not me :) haha. come on, it was thursday. leave me alone.
number 3.
as i was walking to school, i turn the corner and see a make-shift homeless village? um...i don't really know how to explain this. there were about 10 rows of 4 each, all wealthy people sitting on cardboard boxes. then on the side there were people sleeping on cardboard boxes. and then some people were just sitting in lawn chairs. it caught me off guard and i was chugging coffee (yay caramel macchiatos in a can!) so i just kept walking...
number 4.
today at work....all of the kids are on a field trip. i obviously didn't go. so i have nothing to do until 12:50. i plan on doing lesson plans, cleaning/organizing.......or just playing on the internet and then going upstairs and reading my book. probably the latter....
well, thats my strange friday and it's only 11am.
-
kimmie
Monday, April 20, 2009
ode to a rainy monday...
i awoke this morning feeling great. i was ready to lay back down but nessa was online so we chatted a bit. got ready, walked over to Westerndom where I knew a bank was that I needed (and found out later that there is one attached to my building, eek!). I get over there thinking that the bank opened at 9:30. Thats fine, class doesn't start until 10:30. I go back downstairs and grab a latte (first trip to Starbucks here). Head back upstairs and I see people in there....not employees...wait..it's only 9:10. I go to open the door, but it's locked. Thats fine...I'll just stand here and wait. Then the people inside came out. I DIDN"T PUSH THE DOOR! i tried to pull on it. Of course it wouldn't work! I went in and they ushered me to the one man who spoke Englsih (yay!). I sit down and tell him that I need to cash a money order. No problem, except he runs around handing everyone different print outs. 30 minutes later he tells me that he needs my passport (isn't that the purpose of the ARC card?). I off I go to work, except as soon as I walked outside the bottom fell out of the sky (it was pretty when I left) so no umbrella. A newspaper stand man was laughing at me. So I came back to my apartment to get my crappy umbrella and head to work. Work was actually lovely today. It was really good. It did however continue to rain ALL day and even still now. I checked the weather and it will continue to do so for a while. Oh, well. After work, a co worker agrees to drive us all home. I forgot the part where I gave away my umbrella (it had stopped raining for a bit, didn't figure i would need it!). oh well. a co worker drove us home and here I am. In the morning I'm going to the bank by my house, and this time i'm prepared!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
lazy lazy sunday
I apologize for not posting regularly. There just seems to not be enough time. So much is happening every day that it just piles up and then I don't want to write.....so here we go...a long post. I might even get the pictures off of my camera...
I don't know where I left off. Last Sunday we had girls day. Lunch, movie, and 4 bottles of wine.
Did I mention that they had a delicious cheese plate? FOR CHEAP! next girls day we're going back...mhmm the cheese was so good!
they opened up the place for us. so we were sitting alone in the top of this wine shop just chatting for hours. It was lovely!
So then my week...what happened?.....I worked and nothing too eventful. OH! i discovered Indian food...it is absolutely delicious! I will probably eat there too much. Oh, wow. If you haven't eaten it....GO! NOW!!
On Tuesday my friend popped by my door and invited me for pints downstairs. Tudari Tuesdays are always a great time. Same thing happened on Thursday. She popped by and invited me for pints. I was wanting to go to Punk Night at 11. At 12 we were still drinking pints. We said that we would only stay at Punk Night for an hour, hahaha. Yeah right. Lets just say that street food is a delicious way to put some food in your belly to sober you up a bit....so here we are...
mhmm. sausage on a stick. i swear it is probably my favorite thing to eat here in Korea :) But Thursdays at Punk Night is where I'm really starting to meet people and feel I guess kind of comfortable. It's with the people that I met there that I went to Seoul last night to watch their band play, The Flying Maru. And where I saw another awesome band....Number 1 Korean. They are a ska band, who are on Myspace. The music they have up does not compare with how they sound in concert. I think it's the energy level. Anyway...here are some pictures..
this band was pretty cool. didn't catch their name. apparently they make fun of westerners. and there were a LOT of us there last night. The name of the gig is Funky Funky, haha. but this band pictured is like a punk/pop act. I must say that it is a breath of fresh air because most korean music is girl/boy bands. they had a good energy and i enjoyed them...
then came number 1 korean..
they were really cool. i enjoyed them quite a bit...then came Flying Maru who were dressed as Ajummas (old women). You see them ALL over the place in the mornings. Power walking with their SARS mask, track pants, and visor that hangs down to their chin....You'll see in pictures...
after they played another band played who were basically like an electric core band. they had guitar and a synthesizer...and perhaps a bass? for a couple of songs maybe. they were a lot of fun but by that time I was exhausted and ready to go home. that didn't happen so we just DANCED like maniacs all night. not booty dancing like in America....but just fun dancing. I like that much better. haha.
ah, this is the point where i wish that i had a tv. if i did...i would watch it, but since not...i'm going back to sleep.
-
kimmie
I don't know where I left off. Last Sunday we had girls day. Lunch, movie, and 4 bottles of wine.
Did I mention that they had a delicious cheese plate? FOR CHEAP! next girls day we're going back...mhmm the cheese was so good!
they opened up the place for us. so we were sitting alone in the top of this wine shop just chatting for hours. It was lovely!
So then my week...what happened?.....I worked and nothing too eventful. OH! i discovered Indian food...it is absolutely delicious! I will probably eat there too much. Oh, wow. If you haven't eaten it....GO! NOW!!
On Tuesday my friend popped by my door and invited me for pints downstairs. Tudari Tuesdays are always a great time. Same thing happened on Thursday. She popped by and invited me for pints. I was wanting to go to Punk Night at 11. At 12 we were still drinking pints. We said that we would only stay at Punk Night for an hour, hahaha. Yeah right. Lets just say that street food is a delicious way to put some food in your belly to sober you up a bit....so here we are...
mhmm. sausage on a stick. i swear it is probably my favorite thing to eat here in Korea :) But Thursdays at Punk Night is where I'm really starting to meet people and feel I guess kind of comfortable. It's with the people that I met there that I went to Seoul last night to watch their band play, The Flying Maru. And where I saw another awesome band....Number 1 Korean. They are a ska band, who are on Myspace. The music they have up does not compare with how they sound in concert. I think it's the energy level. Anyway...here are some pictures..
this band was pretty cool. didn't catch their name. apparently they make fun of westerners. and there were a LOT of us there last night. The name of the gig is Funky Funky, haha. but this band pictured is like a punk/pop act. I must say that it is a breath of fresh air because most korean music is girl/boy bands. they had a good energy and i enjoyed them...then came number 1 korean..
they were really cool. i enjoyed them quite a bit...then came Flying Maru who were dressed as Ajummas (old women). You see them ALL over the place in the mornings. Power walking with their SARS mask, track pants, and visor that hangs down to their chin....You'll see in pictures...
after they played another band played who were basically like an electric core band. they had guitar and a synthesizer...and perhaps a bass? for a couple of songs maybe. they were a lot of fun but by that time I was exhausted and ready to go home. that didn't happen so we just DANCED like maniacs all night. not booty dancing like in America....but just fun dancing. I like that much better. haha.ah, this is the point where i wish that i had a tv. if i did...i would watch it, but since not...i'm going back to sleep.
-
kimmie
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
la festa/voting
okay, so today was apparently a holiday that i didn't know about. it's one of those that public schools get off and us....well we didn't. today was national voting day or something. i found out about it tonight when i questioned the fact that i heard a ton of screaming girls outside of the window.
i live a block away from a place called la festa...it's a huge shopping area. all of the bars that i go to are there. the best places to buy bread are a minutes walk away. meat street...oh my. delicious.
so i decided to walk over there to see what all of the noise was...and my goodness...here are the pictures..
this is what i saw.
then this happened...
um....korean hip hop band? i think so...the choreography was awesome...
they started break dancing and were pretty good...
then these guys came on stage and EVERYONE went crazy. boy bands are still HUGE here. look at these outfits!
this was awesome! i wish america celebrated voting like this!
i live a block away from a place called la festa...it's a huge shopping area. all of the bars that i go to are there. the best places to buy bread are a minutes walk away. meat street...oh my. delicious.
so i decided to walk over there to see what all of the noise was...and my goodness...here are the pictures..
this is what i saw.then this happened...
um....korean hip hop band? i think so...the choreography was awesome...
they started break dancing and were pretty good...then these guys came on stage and EVERYONE went crazy. boy bands are still HUGE here. look at these outfits!
this was awesome! i wish america celebrated voting like this!
three weeks
well, today marks 3 weeks from my boarding a plane to move halfway around the world. time sure flies. it doesn't seem like this long, and at the same time it feels like it's been longer. today my horrible class was good. I spoke to the korean teacher who i assume talked to them. today they told me if they didn't understand so i was able to further break down the material. but today is the interesting class. treasures is the ...ugh one. i think that everyone hates treasures. it's basically the same as BTN just a lot more...unorganized. the workbook isn't in any kind of order and a lot of the pages have already been filled in, so you just look for pages that aren't and make them do those. i need to figure out a way to make that class more interesting.
three weeks means that it's almost payday. i'm already at the point where i'm hating everything in my closet and trying to create new outfits is a pain. i feel confident that i'll be able to buy tops here. i need to find a tailor because all of my pants are falling off of me and i seem to have misplaced my belt..i wore it yesterday, so where did it go?
today the weather was so nice. it was WARM outside. as happy as i am about warm weather, i'm also scared because that means that monsoon weather and ridiculous summer heat is on the horizon. i seem to have had more to say, but really i think that i just want to eat dinner and go watch tv down the hall...
friday the kids are easter egg hunting and i'll be damned if i don't get pictures of all of the kids. they really are just way too cute.
-
kimmie
today the weather was so nice. it was WARM outside. as happy as i am about warm weather, i'm also scared because that means that monsoon weather and ridiculous summer heat is on the horizon. i seem to have had more to say, but really i think that i just want to eat dinner and go watch tv down the hall...
friday the kids are easter egg hunting and i'll be damned if i don't get pictures of all of the kids. they really are just way too cute.
-
kimmie
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
ah, tuesday
today, today, today...
today i....took my lunch to school and it was delicious (ham & cheese, pringles (hot and spicy, mhmm)
today i...planted flower seeds with my first graders on the roof. this might possibly be my new get away. it was just so lovely to see the view. also, it was very windy and the seeds were blowing everywhere and my kids were chasing seed packets all over the place. it was rather cute.
today i...got so pissed off, i almost cried...again. so for the afternoon classes there are probably 4 or 5 different sets of classes: BTN (better than native, ha), english time, esl phonics, TREASURES! (ugh!) and some others. I teach BTN, English Time, and....Treasures which is the devil. My last class of the day is the WORST! they defy me and try to make my life horrible. Ever since my boss came in and told me in front of them that I'm asking them to do too much (by making them do work that they CAN do) they just....I don't know. So we read a story Thursday and then today I came in and started asking them if they remembered the story, etc. "yes, we remember"..."well what was it about"...."rabbit"..."what about the rabbit"..."i don't know"..."read it again and we'll talk about it"....they read it again...asked another simple question. all i got was shrugs. then one of my kids said that he wasn't going to do the work. so i told him to go to the corner. he said no. i drug him there. he later told me that he was going to behave and didn't. i slammed the door and left. when i went to the office to take care of something that no one ever told me about i was telling my boss about it and she just kind of shrugged her shoulders. and then i said "i don't know what to do!" to which she replied "if you don't know then i don't know either"...I JUST TOLD YOU THAT THEY DEFY ME!
tomorrow....mean teacher comes back. i hate having them do this stupid shit in workbooks...but really...their parents PAID for these books and expect to see the work done out of them. This is what I hate...I teach out of workbooks. I have kids who can't even recognize LETTERS and i'm supposed to have them writing. I hadn't even finished going through the alphabet with them before I got the workbooks. It definently makes it easier for me but still....AAAH!
the end...whew. just needed to get it off my chest.
tomorrow i think i might take pb & j. we'll see though.
i have to do dishes...always doing dishes..
-
kimmie
today i....took my lunch to school and it was delicious (ham & cheese, pringles (hot and spicy, mhmm)
today i...planted flower seeds with my first graders on the roof. this might possibly be my new get away. it was just so lovely to see the view. also, it was very windy and the seeds were blowing everywhere and my kids were chasing seed packets all over the place. it was rather cute.
today i...got so pissed off, i almost cried...again. so for the afternoon classes there are probably 4 or 5 different sets of classes: BTN (better than native, ha), english time, esl phonics, TREASURES! (ugh!) and some others. I teach BTN, English Time, and....Treasures which is the devil. My last class of the day is the WORST! they defy me and try to make my life horrible. Ever since my boss came in and told me in front of them that I'm asking them to do too much (by making them do work that they CAN do) they just....I don't know. So we read a story Thursday and then today I came in and started asking them if they remembered the story, etc. "yes, we remember"..."well what was it about"...."rabbit"..."what about the rabbit"..."i don't know"..."read it again and we'll talk about it"....they read it again...asked another simple question. all i got was shrugs. then one of my kids said that he wasn't going to do the work. so i told him to go to the corner. he said no. i drug him there. he later told me that he was going to behave and didn't. i slammed the door and left. when i went to the office to take care of something that no one ever told me about i was telling my boss about it and she just kind of shrugged her shoulders. and then i said "i don't know what to do!" to which she replied "if you don't know then i don't know either"...I JUST TOLD YOU THAT THEY DEFY ME!
tomorrow....mean teacher comes back. i hate having them do this stupid shit in workbooks...but really...their parents PAID for these books and expect to see the work done out of them. This is what I hate...I teach out of workbooks. I have kids who can't even recognize LETTERS and i'm supposed to have them writing. I hadn't even finished going through the alphabet with them before I got the workbooks. It definently makes it easier for me but still....AAAH!
the end...whew. just needed to get it off my chest.
tomorrow i think i might take pb & j. we'll see though.
i have to do dishes...always doing dishes..
-
kimmie
Sunday, April 5, 2009
seoul awesome
get it? okay, good.
pictures. then details....in essence..a picture post...
Today...I decided to ride the subway to Seoul. It was an adventure! I went by myself like a big girl and navigated fine. The ride to Seoul took forever. I guess where I was going was deep in the heart of Seoul..or on the South side or something. The line that I had to take to get there...stopped TWENTY NINE times...then I got onto a different line...hopped over 4 and there I was...
for some reason it's not letting me add more pictures...eh...I'll figure it out later. So anyway, I knew that the event that I was going to was going to be in a convention hall type space...but i had never seen it before and didn't really know what to think. You have to walk through a courtyard to get to the actual Mall area. I saw..Bennigans...ColdStone Creamery....a lot of things. This is a really good area to shop, other than it being 1.5 hours away! On a METRO!...
There were SO many people. One thing about Koreans is there is no "excuse me", they'll just push you out of the way. You just learn to deal with it and start pushing back. So I get into the mall and it is HUGE! there was pizza hut, starbucks (those are everywhere)......AND!!
QUIZNO'S!!!!!!
I almost had a heart attack. Lets just say that I ate there and there was no way for me to tell them what I didn't want on there...so I just ate it. So good! Lettuce doesn't bother me anymore so all was well. I took a picture of it :)
OH! Mars told me that there was a bookstore in there that sold English books....so I bought some. Only two. I know that I don't have much money, but really. I think that there are maybe 2 bookstores in Korea that sell English books. I got paperback in all fairness and only bought two. The selection wasn't that great, but it didn't matter. I was in book heaven :)
Alright so the entire reason for going to Seoul was that New Zealand apparently puts on this shindig every year, I assume to draw up interest for tourism and just products from New Zealand. I got to try NZ wine, apple juice, and some energy drink. I also had the pleasure of meeting the Maori peoples most famous Opera singer. She was so pretty and amazing voice. Very nice as well. Apparently she went to school with one of my friends here. Then there was traditional Maori dancing on stage. There are pictures of all of this as well. I guess I'll just put them on facebook and be done with it.
What else....
I guess thats about it for right now. OH! i'm catching a cold. yay! apparently two weeks is sufficient time for this. I think that everyone gets sick within two weeks. tomorrow i'm hopefully going to the pharmacy. Right now it's only in my throat and a little in my chest. Every morning when I wake up I feel like death and start coughing up fun stuff.
Other than that....things are great! I'm just ready for payday/money to arrive. Hopefully this week it'll come! I need toilet paper and groceries!
-
Kimmie
pictures. then details....in essence..a picture post...
Today...I decided to ride the subway to Seoul. It was an adventure! I went by myself like a big girl and navigated fine. The ride to Seoul took forever. I guess where I was going was deep in the heart of Seoul..or on the South side or something. The line that I had to take to get there...stopped TWENTY NINE times...then I got onto a different line...hopped over 4 and there I was...
for some reason it's not letting me add more pictures...eh...I'll figure it out later. So anyway, I knew that the event that I was going to was going to be in a convention hall type space...but i had never seen it before and didn't really know what to think. You have to walk through a courtyard to get to the actual Mall area. I saw..Bennigans...ColdStone Creamery....a lot of things. This is a really good area to shop, other than it being 1.5 hours away! On a METRO!...
There were SO many people. One thing about Koreans is there is no "excuse me", they'll just push you out of the way. You just learn to deal with it and start pushing back. So I get into the mall and it is HUGE! there was pizza hut, starbucks (those are everywhere)......AND!!
QUIZNO'S!!!!!!
I almost had a heart attack. Lets just say that I ate there and there was no way for me to tell them what I didn't want on there...so I just ate it. So good! Lettuce doesn't bother me anymore so all was well. I took a picture of it :)
OH! Mars told me that there was a bookstore in there that sold English books....so I bought some. Only two. I know that I don't have much money, but really. I think that there are maybe 2 bookstores in Korea that sell English books. I got paperback in all fairness and only bought two. The selection wasn't that great, but it didn't matter. I was in book heaven :)
Alright so the entire reason for going to Seoul was that New Zealand apparently puts on this shindig every year, I assume to draw up interest for tourism and just products from New Zealand. I got to try NZ wine, apple juice, and some energy drink. I also had the pleasure of meeting the Maori peoples most famous Opera singer. She was so pretty and amazing voice. Very nice as well. Apparently she went to school with one of my friends here. Then there was traditional Maori dancing on stage. There are pictures of all of this as well. I guess I'll just put them on facebook and be done with it.
What else....
I guess thats about it for right now. OH! i'm catching a cold. yay! apparently two weeks is sufficient time for this. I think that everyone gets sick within two weeks. tomorrow i'm hopefully going to the pharmacy. Right now it's only in my throat and a little in my chest. Every morning when I wake up I feel like death and start coughing up fun stuff.
Other than that....things are great! I'm just ready for payday/money to arrive. Hopefully this week it'll come! I need toilet paper and groceries!
-
Kimmie
Saturday, April 4, 2009
food.
today i ate.....kfc for dinner. after walking around and looking at pictures after pictures after pictures, i ran across a kfc and ran inside! i felt like everyone was looking at me like "of course theres a white person in the kfc". i didn't care. it was delicious. they even gave me honey mustard! and like the popeyes at home used to do, they had the hot sauce injected into it...mhmm. i never thought kfc could be so delicious! after that little adventure i came back to my house and realized that i need to buy toilet paper.
tomorrow i'm making my first venture on the subway. and going to seoul. one of my friends is from new zealand and apparently the embassy is holding some kind of "get to know new zealand" thing so...i'm going to go. it's going to take about an hour and a half to get there, probably longer because we know that i get confused easily. but looking at the subway map, it seems like it's pretty easy to get around.
so yeah..thats my day.
-
kimmie
tomorrow i'm making my first venture on the subway. and going to seoul. one of my friends is from new zealand and apparently the embassy is holding some kind of "get to know new zealand" thing so...i'm going to go. it's going to take about an hour and a half to get there, probably longer because we know that i get confused easily. but looking at the subway map, it seems like it's pretty easy to get around.
so yeah..thats my day.
-
kimmie
Friday, April 3, 2009
work = soju, karaoke, and dancing
Last night was the reason that i should probably always have my camera on me, but like always it's just sitting here on the table. Two days ago I had heard a few of the Korean teachers talking about a work dinner thing. At first I was like....I don't really want to go and started arranging other plans for my Friday night. Well, yesterday at work. Rebecca, one of the Korean teachers said that I should go because Director would be paying for it. My broke ass was like "ooh, a free meal, okay, i'll go". I'm definitely glad that I did.
We started out going to a restaurant across the street. It was the first time that I had been to a restaurant where you take off your shoes going in and then sit on the floor. In Korean...I wish I had a picture to explain..at your table there is a big hole in the middle that they put a bucket of hot coals in. Then you order your meat and they come and put a grate over the coals and you cook your own meat. Last night we had marinated pork..but you wrap it up in lettuce. At a Korean meal there is no empty space on the table. There are so many side dishes (last night there was pumpkin...delicious!) Well after a little while the Soju started pouring. I've learned to love it. Then we had some rice wine, really good as well. We just kept ordering more and more meat. I think that my little table had 5 orders of meat...for about 3 of us, haha. The restaurant became really crowded and we were being shushed and tables were moving away from us. There were probably 20 of us there. It was all of the lead Korean teachers and then all of us foreign except for one. Director was running around passing out shots...we had so much. Then Jennifer said that we were going to karaoke. Oh, God....so we went to Karaoke where as soon as we got there they put a ton of Cass beer cans on the table....we ended up having to get more. But Asian karaoke isn't like at home. Here you have your own little room that you go into....So they were singing Korean songs and we were all dancing and having a great time.
AFTER that...Director said that we were going to a night club. At this point....everyone was drunk. Where is the nightclub? Director paid for all of our taxis and we get there and it was not like anything that I had ever seen...again, I wish that I had pictures! You walk into this room that is about half the size of a football field..maybe larger and there are rows and rows of seating. There are a MILLION employees so you end up bowing a lot (respect thing) and then they lead you to the table. Again..the table is filled with beer but this time we got fruit as well! The stage had pop acts playing. Korean music is stuck behind American, still heavy into the pop boy/girl bands. I had no idea what they were saying but it was so much fun. All of us were just out there dancing. We had our own dance circle..We were all feeling the love, haha.
Then it's time to go....and wait...it's only 11pm. I barely remember taking the taxi home. Karla and I went on a tour of our apartment building and then we went to the expatriate bar...a few more beers, and a ton of white people later...we came home.
That was my Friday in Korea.
Sidenote: all of those damn alphabet fish...worthless, haha. All of my kids are now using workbooks!
-
Kim
We started out going to a restaurant across the street. It was the first time that I had been to a restaurant where you take off your shoes going in and then sit on the floor. In Korean...I wish I had a picture to explain..at your table there is a big hole in the middle that they put a bucket of hot coals in. Then you order your meat and they come and put a grate over the coals and you cook your own meat. Last night we had marinated pork..but you wrap it up in lettuce. At a Korean meal there is no empty space on the table. There are so many side dishes (last night there was pumpkin...delicious!) Well after a little while the Soju started pouring. I've learned to love it. Then we had some rice wine, really good as well. We just kept ordering more and more meat. I think that my little table had 5 orders of meat...for about 3 of us, haha. The restaurant became really crowded and we were being shushed and tables were moving away from us. There were probably 20 of us there. It was all of the lead Korean teachers and then all of us foreign except for one. Director was running around passing out shots...we had so much. Then Jennifer said that we were going to karaoke. Oh, God....so we went to Karaoke where as soon as we got there they put a ton of Cass beer cans on the table....we ended up having to get more. But Asian karaoke isn't like at home. Here you have your own little room that you go into....So they were singing Korean songs and we were all dancing and having a great time.
AFTER that...Director said that we were going to a night club. At this point....everyone was drunk. Where is the nightclub? Director paid for all of our taxis and we get there and it was not like anything that I had ever seen...again, I wish that I had pictures! You walk into this room that is about half the size of a football field..maybe larger and there are rows and rows of seating. There are a MILLION employees so you end up bowing a lot (respect thing) and then they lead you to the table. Again..the table is filled with beer but this time we got fruit as well! The stage had pop acts playing. Korean music is stuck behind American, still heavy into the pop boy/girl bands. I had no idea what they were saying but it was so much fun. All of us were just out there dancing. We had our own dance circle..We were all feeling the love, haha.
Then it's time to go....and wait...it's only 11pm. I barely remember taking the taxi home. Karla and I went on a tour of our apartment building and then we went to the expatriate bar...a few more beers, and a ton of white people later...we came home.
That was my Friday in Korea.
Sidenote: all of those damn alphabet fish...worthless, haha. All of my kids are now using workbooks!
-
Kim
Thursday, April 2, 2009
two weeks 600 + fish later
Hmm...i think that the title says it all! two weeks has flown by. I guess that means that the rest of the time is going to follow accordingly. So far in my apartment I still only have a bed, a drying rack, this table, and a table that i stole from the hallway (people leave stuff out for others to take!). School is...school. It's getting better. I'll go through my schedule or what not. On Monday and Tuesdays I don't have a class until 10:30 but i don't finish until right at 6. On Tuesday and Thursday I have a class at 10 and I get to leave early (around 5:15). My first class of the day is always one of the little kids classes. Out of the 4 little kids classes that I have....two of them are amazing. The one I had today they just sit there and stare at you. Also they are too small to tell you their names and the Korean teachers have a hard time pronouncing them so I've just stuck with "you, come here" but really...they just sit and stare at you. Which is hard when you have action very word cards and you want them to act them out. 2 of my little kids classes are AWESOME! one of them they are just cute....they are the babies and very eager to learn. One of them wouldn't speak to me for the first week but now he yells. Another one in that class will tell you the answers but he whispers. Pictures of these kids are on my Facebook account. I don't know how to post pictures here...I guess I'll try...
Phillip the quiet precious one
Alex still trying to figure out
Phillip the quiet precious one
Alex still trying to figure out if he can trust me
the other class that i don't mind
going to!
Alright...posting pictures was easy....moving them around the page...not so much! Oh, well. It's all a learning experience I guess. I haven't really heard much in the way of how things are going back home. There are a few people that I've been able to catch on Facebook chat, I've skyped with Callie twice :) but other than that...nothing. So I want to hear how everyone is!!
Alright...posting pictures was easy....moving them around the page...not so much! Oh, well. It's all a learning experience I guess. I haven't really heard much in the way of how things are going back home. There are a few people that I've been able to catch on Facebook chat, I've skyped with Callie twice :) but other than that...nothing. So I want to hear how everyone is!!
The other day on the way to work I found a puppy. And I wanted him. But although I am allowed to have pets I don't have time for them and their pretty much really expensive here. One guy I met paid $400 for his CAT! ridiculous. and shes mean. but I'm used to that.
Alright, thats enough for now. I have to finish cutting out alphabet fish....ugh. One of the worst ideas EVER! live and learn.
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