Everything is still going great here in Korea!!! I can't believe that I've already been here for nearly two months! I still feel like I've just arrived. I'm thinking the next ten months are just going to fly right on by!!!
Everything at work is still going great. I had a couple students drop and that made me really sad. Who knew I would get semi-attached the little ankle-biters?! I've already made a couple kids cry in my classes and I've made a couple kids REALLY hate me for putting the smack down on them. But it's so funny because they seem to forget it after 5 minutes and then they're all smiles again. CRAZY kids!
My kindergarten classes are watching the Powerpuff Girls episode "Paste Makes Waste" and we're supposed to put on a play for their parents. OH. MY. GOD. These kids have zero attention span and I'm supposed to have them memorize five lines each!? Ha, wish me luck! I may end up having ZERO kindergarten classes after their parents pull them out of ECC!
Other than that, my classes are going pretty smoothly. Sometimes I feel like I'm not even teaching them anything. In my older classes, we basically do our thing with their student books, read conversations about the environement (which, by the way, is really fun to make them aluminum foil 5 times super fast...hahaha), and then we just talk. Last week I was trying to be "matchmaker" for a couple of my students who are in different classes on different days...haha. They were loving it. One of my favorite students, whose name is John but I call him JohnKim cuz it's more fun, is so dramatic about everything.
ME: JohnKim, please read the first paragraph.
JohnKim: All?? All paragraph?!
ME: Yes! Please read the first paragraph.
JohnKim: ahWHAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAA?!?!
Cracks me up every time. I hope I have him in my class forever.
On Thursday, we have a "Flea Market" for the kindergartners and apparently I'm selling clothes. And that also means I have to wake up extra early...and by extra early, I mean I have to be there at 10 am instead of 12:20pm. Ouch. That sucks for me because I'm used to getting up at 11:00am. Poor me. haha
Today we had a random holiday. I'm not sure why...and no one ever told me why either. So, my co-workers and I decided to party it up in Ilsan last night to celebrate the unknown holiday. This night was one of the most interesting nights so far...
As you may know, it's Korea's rainy season. When we left Hwajeong, there was steady rain but nothing too bad. But when we arrived in Ilsan, I noticed a guy completely drenched walking down the subway stairs. Me, being all smart, was thining, "Huh, did he fall into a puddle?" (What?! I know, I have my glorious moments...) But no, it was pouring like no tomorrow. I've felt an umbrella be so inadequate in my life. Even with my umbrella, I was soaked from my feet to my knees. What a way to start the evening...looking like a drowned rat!
We go to the first bar, Torro's, and have a couple cocktails. They have a nice outdoor patio, the bartender's cute, and the drinks are only 3000 won. What's not to love about this bar? Then my friend Cassie find broken glass in her beer and the bartender's like, "What do you want me to do about it?" Huh, not so cute anymore... While we're there, I see one of my friends, Fritz, who I consider Mr. Ilsan because he knows everyone and everywhere to go in Ilsan. While talking to him, a random Korean guy, which I find out his name is Danny, comes up and starts talking to us. Assuming he was one of Fritz's friends, I ask him where he's going and what he's going to do this evening. I soon find out that he is not Fritz's friend but he insists that we join him at the next bar, Soul Train. Well, we were planning on going to Soul Train but being a little sketched out by him, we decide to go there later and maybe see him and his friends there.
We end up going to the Korean hip-hop bar, Bar Boom, across the street to check things out. Nothing much is happening so Cassie decides to go, leaving just me and Priscilla and Fritz. Well, we stay for a drink and then decide to hit up Soul Train. Lo and behold, Danny and his friends are there waiting for us. Perfect. There are about 5 other people in this bar so there's really no way to escape these guys. So, being the polite person I always am, we agree to sit with them at a table and buy us a round of drinks. We begin dancing with some other people and meet this other random guy and his crazy Chinese girlfriend...(which I'm still convinced wasn't really his girlfriend...but she thought she was...) So, after realizing she's kinda psycho, I was like "PEACE" and left them. Well, Danny and his buddies were ready to leave (finally) but not without asking for my phone number. Hmmmm...okay...why not, I can always use Korean friends. So, I give him my number and I look at his phone and he has a picture of a girl as his wallpaper.
ME: Who's that? (Sketchy look on my face)
Danny: It's my girlfriend.
ME: (Thinking: AhWHAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!) Wait, that's your girlfriend? Then why are you asking me for my phone number?
Danny: (Erases picture off phone) Is that better?
ME: You're kidding, right?
Danny: What?
ME: (Evil Asian Eye Stare) I don't think you're girlfriend wants you to have other girl's phone numbers.
Danny: Ummmm.... (Deer-in-headlights look on his face) Well...I want to learn English from you.
ME: Your best friend is from Seattle. Learn English from him.
So this brings me to point out that I've learned a thing or two from my Korean co-workers prior to this conversation. Apparently, many (but not all) Korean guys will have a girlfriend and then ladies on the side. And a lot of those ladies will think that they are the girlfriend. And the parents have a huge say in who their son marries, the guy will drop any girl if the parents don't approve. SNAP. (Oh yeah, and they tell me to be really careful about guys b/c some may just want an American green card. I was like, really...sucks to be them cuz I'm not getting married anytime soon...)
Okay, back to the Ilsan night. So those guys leave and we end up going back to Bar Boom to check out the scene once again. There are more people there and better music playing, so we decide to stick around. Fritz, being Mr. Social Butterfly, starts chatting up a bunch of guys and tells me and Priscilla to pull up a chair. Everyone is real nice and we're having one swell of a time. Noticing that the sun's coming up and the bar is closing, we decide that it's not yet time to head home. We go to a restaurant and get some sam gap sal, soju (b/c even at 5:30am soju is appropriate...) and den jeong sigae (sp? an awesome spicy bean paste soup that I can have at any time, any day...bring it on!). While there, this guy joins us and who is it? The random guy from Soul Train with the crazy girlfriend. Well, at first I thought they were all friends...everyone was being nice and sharing soju and food. And then all of a sudden, he gets into an argument with one of the other guys and then they step outside. WTF?
So his friends go out and do whatever they are to stop them from fighting. Meanwhile, Priscilla and I are just sitting there thinking, What the heezy just happened? The guys come in and out of the restaurant. And then after about 20 minutes, they were all gone. Priscilla and I didn't want to get stuck with the bill so I go out to look for them. Instead, I find Fritz talking with another group of Koreans in another restaurant... weird. He ends up paying for the bill even though I told him we should split three ways.
As we're leaving the restaurant, the owner comes running after us with a cell phone, a blue ADIDAS bag, and an umbrella...neither which was mine or Priscilla. Well, we couldn't tell him to keep them so I ended up taking them home with me.
After this, Priscilla and I catch cab and get home at roughly 8:00am. At about 11:30, the random cell phone rings. And rings. And rings. He has some crazy Korean hip hop song as his ring tone and I swear, I know all the lyrics. I finally answer it. After talking to about 8 people, one finally knows English, who is the owner's older brother. He spoke English very well with very little accent, which is a rare thing. Since I had made plans to meet up with my friend, Jun, in Itaewon and the brother lives near Itaewon, we decide to meet up a the subway station so I can give him the goods. Hooray!
I meet the brother at the subway station and learn that he works for the Korean government. Ahhhh, that explains the excellent English skills. He thanked me and gave me his business card saying, "If you ever get in trouble, feel free to call me". YESSSSSSS! I got a friend who works for the government! All the crap that happened last night was sooo worth it! hahaha. Let's just hope I never have to call for serious.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my little adventure. More so than actually living it! haha! Oh, Korea. I think I've decided Korea is way better than Vegas...
