proper travel attire required...

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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