Ah, Yes...Another Confusing Morning In Korea

My landlord – well I assume he’s my landlord – keeps coming to my house and EVERY time he comes, it’s while I’m either getting in or out of the shower which is SO obnoxious. He must stand there and knock for a long time every day because, by the time I hear him, he’s knocking like he’s being chased by a murderer or something. Then, by the time I throw some clothes on, he’s shaking my door so hard that I'm worried he might tear it off.

I open the door with an annoyed, confused look on my face and he says something in Korean, as if I understand. I let him in because whatever…and then he comes in to do totally useless things. He’s currently in my bathroom changing a light bulb that already worked. Why? I don’t know. And he smells like cigarettes so now my apartment will too. Also, he came and got my little pink slippers from under my kitchen table and wore them (he looked really pretty) on my WET bathroom floor. Then he put that back in the kitchen…so now both floors are wet and dirty. Aaaaand now he’s gone. K thanks weirdo….I’m sure I’ll see you at the same inconvenient time tomorrow so you can perform yet another useless task!

Hummmmmmmmm...

This weekend I got to try something I’d been wanting to experience for a long time. Some friends of mine were going to a meditation lesson at a Buddhist temple so I tagged along with them. It was so cool! 

First, the monk gave us an introduction and explained how to sit and what to do. We started with a 20-minute seated meditation and we were supposed to focus on breathing. The idea was to breathe in and out slowly and count our breaths to help us focus but it was INSANELY difficult to not think about other things. Then the monk banged some little stick thing (as you can see, I’m not too familiar with the Buddhist terminology yet) to let us know that it was time to stand up. Even though it wasn’t that loud, I wasn’t expecting the sound so I jumped about a mile when she hit it. We then stood up and did a slow walking meditation for 10 minutes. We walked in circles around the room, following the monk like a line of quiet, reflective little ducklings. She went slower than the rest of us and I was right behind her so I could feel people gaining on me from behind which would normally make me laugh but I, Shannon O’Brien, held in the urge. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever successfully done that in my life. That’s one small step for Uncle Shan and one giant leap for loud, crazy people everywhere!

            Afterwards, we had tea with the monk so we could talk and she answered our questions. Since I didn’t really know much about Buddhism to begin with, I didn’t really have any questions to ask but I learned a lot just by listening to everyone else. I’m so excited to go back to the class and learn more about it. Seriously…they know what’s up.

I Teach The Cutest Kids In The World

I can't believe it but I've already been working here for three months which means classes are resetting and some of my students are changing. Here are a few of my favorite messages that my kids sent me over this past few months:

Subject: I love you!!

Hello?? teachr I am jessica!! 

I am enjoy your class.
And I like you!!
Good by^^Lets see in thursday~~^^ I love you very much!!

Hello, teacher. I"m daisy.  I"m don"t know review home work. The review is not home work the speaking and writing? I"m sorry write it. Because teacher is busy. But I don"t like stay nine o"clock.......

You are so so so so so so so so~~~beatiful,handsome,kind.
I love you~~~
Claire

Teacher..I am Stuart..
Teacher says we need to wear a costume in Halloween...
But I don"t have a Halloween costume...
Can I buy a mask and go to Halloween?
Only mask......

teacher, hello^_^v my name is Krista.
 I am waiting your class. Because you is good and very funny.
 HAHAHA... I"m a bad student(?) or good student(?)??
 Please answer to me...
 See you soon♥

A lot of them are also sending me really cute messages now because they won't be in my class anymore. I'm gonna miss their cute little faces!!!

Teacher my name is chole..
I missing you forever~~~
I visit Your class when I have time..
I love you!!!!!♡♡♡♡

teacher hi!! my name is krista.
I"m very sad. Because I go to IP
So I miss you, but I visit your class when I finish my class.
I have time often.. So I go to your class..
I miss you very much..
Thank you for teach me
"m very sad and miss. I visit your class.
 Bye.. I LOVE YOU♥_♥

Gahhh!! I LOVE my job!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is my 3^rd month of Thanksgiving in a row! September was Korean Thanksgiving, October was Canadian Thanksgiving (I have a few Canadian coworkers) and today, obviously, was Thanksgiving for the good old U.S. of A. I haven’t eaten turkey or maple leaves or kimchi or whatever I’m supposed to eat but I’ve definitely been celebrating! Every day I wake up with more reasons to be grateful than I had the day before. I’m celebrating by being excited every single day from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed about the opportunities that I’ve been given.

Things That I’m Most Grateful For This Year:

1. My amazing family, friends, students and coworkers who make me smile every day
2. My American citizenship because it gives me the invaluable opportunity to live anywhere in the world that I want to
3. A job that I look forward to just as much as I look forward to the weekends
4. My own apartment because I can offer it to anyone and everyone whenever I want
5. My health and the new-found ability to afford healthcare
6. Technology that keeps me as close with my friends & family on the opposite side of the world as we would be if they were here with me
7. The fact that I can still learn new things every day even though I’m technically no longer a student
8. My most recent obsession: bachata (sorry, but I had to)

I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, turkey, football and lots of things to be grateful for!! :)

Let The Medical Adventures Begin!

Last night, I experienced the same kind of stomach pain that landed me in a hospital bed in California a few months ago (where my gallbladder was removed), so I decided to go to the doctor today. Turns out, it was a giant waste of time.

I decided I’d kill two birds with one stone and see a doctor for my toe (that’s been red, swollen and hurting for almost four months now) since I was already at the hospital. I went to him first and, after X-rays (which only cost $4), he told me it wasn’t broken. Still, he either didn’t know what was wrong or didn’t know how to say it in English. He explained a few things to me in Korean while I just stared at him and then he sent me out of his office with a prescription. I still didn’t know what was wrong but I bought the medicine because it was only $7. The nurse instructed me to wear bigger shoes and not play soccer and to come back for another X-ray if the meds didn’t help.

I then went to the gastroenterologist (which my surgeon in Cali warned me I would need to see if my stomach issues continued). He spoke a little more English than the first doctor, but not quite enough. From the time I spent talking to him, I gathered that he thought there was nothing really wrong with my stomach and also that I would not be allowed to take the pills that I had just bought for my toe because they’re bad for your stomach (there were three pills: a pain killer, an anti-inflammatory & one for the upset stomach that the other two pills were sure to cause…the third he told me I could take).

I know no more about my toe and stomach than I did when I woke up this morning. But I can’t say I’m surprised. (This is why I put off the medical adventures for so long…I still have the dentist and eye doctor to tackle but I’m not up for it just yet.) Almost every time I’ve gone to the doctor in my adult life, I’ve walked away without answers. Really, the only differences between today and doctor visits in the U.S. were the language barrier and the fact that I could actually afford it for once! I think it’s a fair trade and, at this point in my life, I definitely prefer to take this end of the deal.

Manners

The society you grow up in truly determines how you think. Of course all of the people within each society are different – they have their own ideas and think for themselves – but at the same time, they all live under the same umbrella of thinking…a general idea of what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s normal and what’s weird. Once you’re taken out of the environment you’re used to, though, you learn that there is not really as much of a “right and wrong,” as there is a difference. Manners are the perfect example because they exist in every country but they’re very different in each one.

            When I lived in Mexico, I said good morning/afternoon/evening to everyone I passed in the streets. I didn’t tip servers or cab drivers. Whenever I entered a room, I greeted everyone with a kiss on the right cheek, no matter how long it took. If there was someone I didn’t know, I introduced myself that same way and I did it all over again on my way out.

            When I lived in Italy, I greeted people with two kisses on the cheeks – first the right and then the left (which caused problems for me because of the habits I developed in Mexico…I often tried to go left first and had issues). I ate with my elbows on the table to show that I was enjoying the food and ate whatever was put in front of me, even if I didn’t want it. 

            Now that I live in Korea, I bow when I say hello, goodbye or thank you to someone and I use two hands when I hand money to a store clerk (if I only use one hand, I rest my other on my arm or stomach). I yell across the room to get my server’s attention when I’m out to eat and, again, I don't tip.

            My manners in the States are very different than they are everywhere else. I tip. I don’t talk to strangers. I keep my elbows off the table and I don’t kiss people on the cheek when I meet them. I don’t yell at my server from across the restaurant and I don’t bow when I say thank you to my cashier at Walmart.

I change my manners depending on where I am but some things always stay the same. Hocking loogies, as well as many other unacceptable (by US standards) bodily functions are ordinary in public here but I don’t take part in that part of the culture, simply because I've never wanted to. At the same time, I do plenty of things that are somewhat looked down upon by every culture I’ve been a part of: I laugh really loudly in quiet, public places, I walk around in sweats after working out (obviously without showering), and I poke fun at whatever country I’m in at any given time.

I often entertain myself with the idea of people from one of these countries trying to live in one of the others. It happens all the time but the first couple weeks inside that person's brain must be hilarious, with them wondering how in the world anyone thinks (fill in the blank) is normal. I know for a fact that the word "crazy" comes out a lot when someone first gets to a new country. In all seriousness though, adjusting the way you think so you can adapt to random cultural differences like these is one of the absolute best parts of getting to live in different countries and I'm already excited to do it in the next one I move to! :D

My Students Are Hilarious

The other day in class, the kids were supposed to be practicing their new vocabulary words that had to do with possible future careers. The answers in the following activity were supposed to be:

1. I want to be an actor.
2. I want to be a cartoonist.
3. I want to be a comedian.
4. I want to be a conductor.
5. I want to be a movie director.

But instead of actor for number one, my student said, “I want to be a...........terrorist?” (Here the close-up:)

I have to admit that, not only was his answer hilarious, but it was actually a more accurate description of the picture. :)

Attack!! (...just kidding)

Yesterday I witnessed my first North-Korea-Attack Drill and it was so weird. I was walking home from the store and suddenly people with flags blew whistles and walked out into the intersections so that traffic everywhere had to stop…even pedestrians weren’t allowed to cross the street. Within a matter of seconds, everything in the country came to a halt. Most people went inside somewhere or just stood still but a few of us kept walking (I can’t let a little North Korean attack stop me from getting to work on time now, can I?).

I felt like I was walking through a ghost town in a horror movie. As I walked along, almost no one else was moving. Life had completely paused. The people standing in the intersections stared at their watches and whispered occasionally but, since no one couldn’t hear them, it was completely silent. Twice I walked past stores that still had music playing inside them so the music would fade in as I got closer and then fade right back out as I walked away, just like the eerie opening scene of your typical scary movie.

After maybe ten minutes, the people in the intersections blew their whistles and went away and life in one of the most populated cities in the world went right back to normal. People came back out of wherever they had gone and started walking around again. Everyone started talking and the cars and motorcycles began to speed by. It was suddenly like North Korea had never attacked...  ;)

Anyway, another interesting experience to add to the list...

This Weekend Was For Sure The Best I've Had In Seoul!

I’ve been meaning to update all of my salseros and bachateros for a while but now seems like a more perfect time than ever!! There is plenty of salsa/bachata/merengue (and even reggaeton) here in Korea and it’s pretty much all I’ve been doing on the weekends! I’ve been having so much fun with it and I’ve met so many wonderful people!! This weekend, though, there was a bachata festival which put my excitement through the roof (I’m sure you all remember how much I freaked out about the last one)!! I took workshops with Troy & Brittney, Jorge Elizondo and Ryu & Kaori and, as an added bonus: it was much cheaper and more intimate than the bachata festival in San Francisco that I went to last year. I even got to dance with Troy (who, for my non-bachateros, is probably the most famous male bachata instructor in the world). It was SO much fun!! I had a lot of friends there and got to meet even more people. Life couldn’t be better.

Also, Bridget (that I met on the airplane on the way here) came to stay with me and we had a blast. It was fun getting to know her and we rarely stopped laughing. She learned how to bachata (and she was good!!) and, together, we learned how to ride a tandem bike (which was not only a leg workout, but also an ab workout from all the laughing). She also got to see parts of Seoul before she left the country and I got to see new parts as well because we got lost every time I tried to take her somewhere. It was fun seeing how well each other were doing after our initial trip here together when we had no idea what to expect.

The weekend is over which is good because I’m exhausted and need to rest up for dancing this coming weekend! I’ve got 100 adorable little elementary school kids to keep me rolling on the floor with laughter until then (today one of my kids with bad handwriting – his “f” and “t” look the same – wrote the wrong word in the blank on an activity and when I went to check his work, I read: “The peacock’s tits are amazing.”) so I’ll be here in Seoul, enjoying every second of my life, if anyone needs me. 

The Good Old Language Barrier

Since my crappy old camera officially died and my amazing coworkers have been taking me on weekly adventures to different parts Seoul, I decided to buy a new camera yesterday. I had an entire conversation with the man who worked in the store, even though we only understood about one word from each sentence the other said. He was speaking only Korean and I, obviously, was speaking only English but he still managed to help me get a good deal!

I always enjoy language barriers and I’m not sure why. As much as I love languages, there’s something fun to me about trying to communicate without words. Although the people in the stores are probably annoyed by it, I think it’s fun to have entire conversations in expressive faces and hand gestures.

I even love when our class textbooks say something strange because whoever wrote them isn't actually a native speaker. They make me laugh every day. While I would most likely describe the word barbecue as “grilling food outside,” our book today explained it with this example: “Let’s have a dinner of meat in the garden tomorrow.”

It made me laugh. And crave a dinner of meat.

I Hope Laughing Is Considered Professional

For the most part, I’m able to contain my laughter enough that only students in my class can hear me – but sometimes I'm attacked by uncontrollable laughter and I'm sure students in the neighboring classrooms can as well.

Sometimes it's something small, like a pronunciation mistake. Just yesterday, we had the word “photographer” but one kid read it, “potato-grapher” which I thought was pretty hilarious.

Other times, it's something that I really shouldn't laugh at. Yesterday, one of my kids who is really smart (but is often disruptive) was being a giant pain in the butt. At one point, when he raised his hand, he threw his head back and accidentally smacked it on the desk behind him. He was fine but it sounded like it really hurt. I probably should’ve yelled at him for messing around, but instead I just laughed…really, really hard.

No matter what I'm laughing at, though, the students never understand why I think it's funny and that's a good thing, especially in the case of what happened the other day. It's well-known that ESL learners have a lot of trouble pronouncing the –ed ending on words where the –ed sounds like [t] and my kids are no exception. They always say “finished” when they complete an activity but it sounds like [fin-ish-ed] rather than [fin-isht] so I always hound them about it. The other day, I made one kid repeat it like 15 times because he was improving but still didn’t quite have it. Eventually I emphasized only the very last part for him…the [sht] sound. He was annoyed with me but was trying his hardest anyway. He used his whole body to try this one last time and you could see in his face how hard he was working. He slapped his hands down on the desk for emphasis and, lo and behold, he yelled “shit!” (I should mention that Koreans have trouble saying consonants without a vowel in between them.) I cackled full-force and couldn’t stop laughing for way too long. My students kept asking me what was so funny but, since I couldn’t explain the real reason, I said it was the face he made when he said it. He was embarrassed and I felt bad about laughing at him but I really couldn’t stop. I had little outbursts for the entire rest of the class. It wasn’t exactly professional, but it was awesome. :)

When You Get Your Hair Cut In Korea...

You will have to take your shoes off when you enter the shop.

Someone who is not going to cut your hair will do everything but (she’ll wash it and clip it up while it’s wet so that you have no opportunity to show the person who does cut your hair what you want done).

The hair dresser will be super nice but will not really listen when you explain what you want (even though he asked).

He will sing to you in his best falsetto voice for the entire FIVE minutes that it takes him to cut your hair.

He will do exactly what you tried to ask him not to do when he wasn’t listening.

The other woman will return to help him blow-dry your hair.

At the very end, he'll ask you right before you get out of the chair how your Halloween was (and he'll say it sounds like you had a lot of fun because you're losing your voice...even though it's just your normal voice).

You will not know whether or not to tip because the rules are different in Korea.

You will be flustered from being confused about tipping so you will start to walk out of the store in the slippers that they gave you at the beginning, instead of your own shoes, and everyone will yell at you in Korean to come back and change.

In the end, you'll walk out the door into beautiful Seoul and it's perfect weather. You’ll find it amusing that people in other countries can never cut your hair correctly and you'll be perfectly happy to be where you are with your crappy hair cut.

A Perfect Day

As I always say, disasters make for the best adventures. This morning, my friend, Jacqui, and I had plans to meet up with some coworkers to go to a famous palace here in Seoul. Jacqui and I met up successfully but we were already running late and we underestimated how long it would take us to get there. I’d accidentally left my phone at home, she didn’t have our friends’ numbers (plus her phone was dying) and we couldn’t get a hold of anyone to help us get in touch with them. After five minutes of waiting at our meeting spot, we realized that, not only were we half an hour late, but that we were at the wrong subway exit. We sprinted back into the metro and came out the other side still hopeful but we were much too late. The laughter never ended but I was sure that our coworkers would never invite us anywhere again after that. We decided to get coffee (and as a bonus, while inside Dunkin Donuts, we got to witness two old, old men yelling at each other and preparing for a physical fight). After that, we went into the palace and, almost as soon as we got inside, we ran into our friends so it all worked out perfectly! They thought it was funny that we were so dumb (and to add on to that, my camera battery died after the second picture I took). The palace buildings were beautiful and the whole place was covered with trees changing colors. It was amazing (and a side note: I can’t explain how obsessed I am with this weather)!! Afterwards, we walked around the little town, got interviewed on camera (I don’t know what it was for) about Free Trade Coffee, so I got to represent for my favorite country, Mexico, and then we had some delicious Korean food together!

            Now it’s time for another day at the best job in the world and it will be followed by a full night of salsa and bachata with some of the best people I’ve met here. Life honestly couldn’t get any better. I can’t really express how happy I am in words so *SQUEEEEEAL!!!!*

The Importance Of Reading Carefully

Since the moment I got to my gate at the airport, I’ve been making new friends. The first person I met was a girl from the States named Bridget who was going to spend a few months in another part of Korea. We chatted for a while on the way here and talked about possibly visiting each other before she left the country. I started planning my trip to see her a couple of months ago and I invited my friend and ex-roomie from Italy, Jooyeon, to join me…or so I thought. We had an ongoing conversation for about three weeks, discussing the details of the trip and talking about how excited we were to go. I also told her about a mutual friend’s (from Italy) birthday party that weekend and, only when she asked me, “Who’s Ryan?” did I realize that I’d been talking to the wrong Jooyeon the whole time. I had inadvertently invited Jooyeon’s friend, Jooyeon, that I met the night I got here and had only ever talked to in real life for about five minutes. Dumb.

I eventually fessed up to accidentally inviting her and then two days later realized I couldn’t go anyway so the whole thing was really unnecessary.

Then yesterday morning, that very same Bridget was online and I don’t know what is wrong with me that I don’t EVER read last names anymore but I mistook her for my friend Bridget from home and sent her a facebook chat that said “sluttt.” I apologized as soon as I realized who it was but it was fine…she thought it was funny. Seriously though, I either need to not friend people on facebook that I don’t know very well or I need to learn to read. Side note: Bridget (from the plane) is actually coming to visit me next weekend so it all worked out! :)

If I had 1,000 won ($1) for every time I failed…

1. A few weeks ago, my friend was starting to come down with a cold so I went all motherly on her and popped her full of zinc, echinacea, vitamin C, and multivitamins. I didn’t realize, however, that it is very important to eat when you take zinc. If not, you will immediately start to feel nauseas and, if you are my friend, you will throw up everything you’ve eaten in the past two days. When she started vomiting, I turned on “Bartender” by T-Pain nice and loudly (it was the first thing that came up on my itunes) because I know how embarrassing it can be for someone to hear you be sick. I, of course, apologized afterwards for making her puke…and I apologized for DJing her vomiting episode as well because, looking back, I realized that it must’ve seemed a little insensitive to blast such a song while she felt so crappy. I’m surprised she didn’t get up and punch me in the face once she regained her strength.

2. This past weekend, another friend and I ordered rice cakes which, in Korea, means thick, delicious noodles made from rice and covered in a spicy sauce. They’re slippery and a little bit difficult for me to pick up no matter what, but they were given to us in a plastic bag and we were supposed to eat them with chopsticks (and did I mention we were riding in a taxi?). I felt more uncoordinated than Bambi when he learns to walk and my friend had to do all but feed them to me. Anyway, since I only got some of it on the back seat of that poor man's cab, I consider it a semi-successful failure.

3. A few days ago, one of my students failed to do his homework. He is a new student but he’s smart and knew how to do it so there was really no excuse. I gave him homework detention just like we teachers are supposed to. Then, however, he started to cry and he’s so freaking cute that I just couldn’t handle it. Even though we’re supposed to be super strict about detention, I took it away. On top of that, I really wanted to give him a hug but I knew that’d be taking it too far. I failed big time that day at being a strict teacher. Oops.

4. I’m not the only one, though! Since the bug exterminator came to my house, I’ve killed more bugs than ever. I’m now leaving them dead on the floor so that when I make him come back to spray again, he can see that he, too, failed.

The Handyman Can (even at the most inconvenient times)

I can’t decide what I think about customer service type things in this country. Things get done here (much unlike when I lived in Italy) but in very strange ways.

I recently requested that my apartment be sprayed for bugs because I’ve had some nasty little roach things in here. In the U.S., that would mean that I'd schedule a time for the roach man to come spray. This morning, however, someone unexpectedly knocked on my door so I decided not to answer; I can’t see outside without opening the door and I knew I wouldn’t be able to understand whoever it was anyway. After a few knocks though, they just came in! It was the “handyman” from our school (who has the spare key to my apartment) and the bug spray guy! Thank god they didn’t come in 10 minutes later because I would’ve been in the shower with the bathroom door open and that wouldn't have been pretty. It annoyed me that they came without telling me ahead of time but at least they were there to fulfill my request. They finally left and I was able to shower. Ten seconds after I got out though, I heard them knocking AGAIN and that time I really wasn’t dressed. I ignored them because they were annoying me but it didn’t matter – they had a key. So they started to come back in, saying something about signing a contract and I made them wait outside until was dressed. They came back in to sign some paper that didn’t require my signature (I couldn’t read it anyway) so they might as well have done it outside and slipped it under my door. They sat on my kitchen floor to sign it because my table had stuff all over it…again, I wasn’t expecting company. It’s weird to me that that kind of thing doesn’t bother people here. They could tell I was annoyed and they felt bad about it. They apologized and everything but seriously...call next time and ask if it's okay. It's not that hard.

To add to it all, I just killed a freaking bug. I’m so confused…but this is the beauty of adapting to a culture with a completely different way of thinking.

Side note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my amazing sister, Erin!! She turns 26 today and I love her so much!!! :D Hope you have a great day and an awesome year chiquita!!

I'm Becoming Korean!

Why? Well...

1. I got my first paycheck!!

I’m officially bringin in the won, but I’m still rarely fully successful when I try to spend it. Besides being stingy, I have trouble buying things here because I don’t speak Korean. Today I went to the market to buy a few things but I ended up with 6 peaches, 7 bananas and 10 freaking yams because when I tried to ask for less than that, they thought I was talking about the price. The fact that I can only eat peaches, bananas and yams for the next week will be my motivation to practice harder in the free Korean classes that I just started taking on Saturdays!

2. I successfully steamed vegetables!

I’ve never really been able to cook but I’ve been living on my own for a while now so I’ve learned some ways to feed myself. Until now, I’d mostly been getting enough vegetables by roasting them in the oven, or microwaving frozen veggies. Here, though, I don’t have an oven or a microwave so I had to resort to steaming them, which I had never done before. I know it’s easy to normal people but I'd never done it before so I had some issues. Today was my third try and the first time it really worked so I'm pretty proud of my steamy little self ( and p.s...the yams are good so it’s fine that I ended up with ten this morning.)

3. I drank Soju (Korean liquor) outside of a convenient store.

For some reason, sitting at little tables and drinking outside of convenient stores is big here, so my friend and I decided to try it. As weird as I thought it was before I tried it, it was actually a really good time! It’s like a bar in that you can just sit and relax and chat with a friend, but you don’t have to pay a ton of money for drinks. It’s actually a pretty genius idea. I didn’t get so hammered that I had to have another adult carry me home so I’m not totally a Korean adult, but I’m doing my best.

My Weird Life Gets Weirder

The thing that scares me about agreeing to live somewhere for more than just a few months is that I might get completely used to my surroundings and then get bored. Well, the longer I live in Seoul, the weirder it gets so I’m finally confident that I’ll be able to stay here as long as it takes me to pay back my school loans.

WEIRD: I suppose this could happen anywhere but I’ve been to quite a few different cities and Seoul is the first place that this ever happened to me. Some dude followed me for almost half an hour last night as I was trying to walk home. Ignoring him didn’t work so I pretended I didn’t understand English and I answered everything he said in Spanish so he’d give up and go away. Instead, he used charades and loud, slow English to explain that he wanted to get drinks with me. I smiled and told him in Spanish to please f off but he didn’t quite. He continued following me from across the street and, every once in a while, he crossed back to my side to ask me for my number or something stupid. He eventually took off running up ahead of me and stood in a dark little alleyway (ironically, the one I live in but I really hope he didn’t actually know that) and then stood there and watched me walk by. I obviously wasn’t going to go home while he was standing right there, so I went to my friend’s house and made sure he didn’t see where I went once I turned the corner. The weirdest part was that he didn’t seem the stalker type. He was around my age, well-dressed, and didn’t appear to be under the influence of anything. Seriously though…so annoying.

WEIRDER: I’ve said before that the traffic here is nuts but today it hit a whole new level. I literally saw a girl get hit by a car. We were walking on a tiny little street FILLED with people and I don’t understand why cars ever try to drive through there at all but, every few minutes, one does and they’re in everyone’s way. They go pretty slowly but they don’t really stop so it’s mostly on the pedestrians to get off the road in time. Well, this one tiny little Korean girl in stilettos didn’t do her job well enough (the eyes in the back of her head must’ve be out of order) because a car hit her from behind. She slid a little but somehow didn’t fall over (I guess because he hit her pretty slowly and her arm was linked with her friend’s). The sound of her high heel sliding on the pavement was disgusting and she ended sort of sitting on the car for a second. The girl looked a little stunned as she moved off to the side of the street and the car pulled up and rolled down the window to apologize quickly before driving off. Everyone around stared for a second and then kept walking as if nothing had ever happened. It was like experiencing a flash mob where something ridiculous happens for just a moment and then things go immediately back to normal and you’re not sure if it happened in real life or if you just imagined it. So weird. (P.S. The pun in the first line was really not intended...I realized it when I was reading over this.)

WEIRDEST: There is a hospital near my house that I go by often and there are always patients hobbling around just outside the door…gowns, crutches and all…smoking and hanging out. That’s strange enough on it’s own but the other day I saw the craziest thing. I was on an extremely busy street, walking to the grocery store (very, very, very far from the hospital) and I passed a man who was walking around, dressed in his hospital gown, pulling his IV pole along with him. Seriously…when I was in the hospital, visitors had to sanitize their hands before coming anywhere near me. I can’t imagine the size of the bricks nurses would’ve shit had I tried to walk outside with my IV pole still connected…and that man was at least a mile away from any healthcare facility. He was with his wife but…I mean…I just don’t get how that’s allowed. SO WEIRD.

With situations as random as these waiting for me around every corner in Seoul, how could I ever get bored? :)

Return Of The Creepy Neighbor

That’s right – he came back! Two nights ago, I was in my kitchen, skyping with my friend and suddenly I heard “excuse me” from right outside my bedroom window again. Since it was light inside and dark outside, I couldn’t see anything but his creepy silouette and he was right up against my window. As soon as he’d gotten my attention in English, he switched to Korean and began to yell at me. I obviously had no idea what he was saying and he had just scared the crap out of me by showing up there, but I tried to understand what he was telling me.  Obviously I couldn’t, so as he tried to convey one message to me, I tried to convey an “I don’t understand a damn word you’re saying” message back to him. I looked at him with a confused look on my face. I shrugged my shoulders. I stuttered as I answered him. I told him in English, “I don’t understand Korean.” I looked at him apologetically. I asked my friend on skype (while he was still talking) what she thought he might be saying and she looked at me like I was crazy…so then I sent him the same look. He didn’t respond like a normal person to any of my messages. He just kept yelling at me so I decided to switch tactics.

I thought it might be a good idea to pretend that I suddenly understood what he was saying since it worked so well the first time. I pretended to have a moment of clarity and I said “Ohhhhh, okay!” as I nodded my head and smiled. It worked! He went away! I don’t know if he was satisfied or not because, remember, I couldn’t see him. He left though and that was good enough for me. I’m not sure what went through his mind at that particular moment. Did he really think that I went from not understanding a word of Korean to suddenly being able to understand the whole language? Maybe he thought that I’d suddenly turned into a Korean. Or perhaps he realized that I was never going to understand him and that I just wanted him to go away. Who knows?

Anyway, today I told my boss and she sent a coworker to talk to my landlord to talk to my neighbor. Yes, that’s the difficulty that comes with a language barrier. But it worked! I found out that I am, in fact, too loud for my neighbor. This shouldn’t come as a shock to me since my last neighbor wrote an entire letter to the building manager complaining about the noise level of our apartment. Still, I thought I was being much quieter here because I’m by myself… Apparently that’s not the case. There’s a happy ending to this story, though! My neighbor and I now have a deal: I will try to be quieter and he will not knock on my freaking bedroom window at night and yell at me in languages I don’t understand. Yay!

Missions (Mostly) Accomplished

I realized today that I’ve recently accomplished two goals:

1. A friend and I were discussing whether or not we liked flying and I remembered a day from when I was nine years old. I was on my way to Arizona to visit my grandma and I was so excited to be flying in an airplane. I remember hoping to myself that one day I would travel so much that I’d get completely sick of flying like all the businessmen around me seemed to be. I can’t say I’m totally there but after so many flights with Ryan Air last year and after paying for my flights over the past five years, I’m pretty damn close. Anyway, I feel like it’s a forgotten mission accomplished and I’m excited about it!
2. Then at lunch, I noticed that my chopsticks skills have improved tenfold since I’ve been here. We went out to eat the first day I was here and I ended up switching to a spoon shortly after the meal had started. Today, however, I realized that I don’t even think about using them anymore! Immediately after I said it out loud though, my overjoyed little fingers slipped and I accidentally flung a pickled radish into the air; it ricocheted off of me and landed on the floor but I promise it was just a fluke. Life’s funny and it just couldn’t let me get away with being so proud of myself.

Day 25!

I just realized that today is my 25th day in Seoul and I haven't been blogging as much as I've meant to. Long story short: I could not be happier. I absolutely love it here. I'm making new friends every time I go somewhere and having an awesome time learning about this country. I love my job, my students, my coworkers and having my own apartment. The Latin dance here is amazing! I wake up every day more excited to be here than I was the day before and I am often too excited to go to sleep at night. I feel so lucky to get to be doing this (and I can't believe they're paying me for it!!).

Below are some things I've been meaning to blog about but haven't had the time for:

Koreans Are Very Helpful

I’ve been super busy exploring Seoul every day with my new friend, Jacqui, from Canada. We mastered the subway system right away (because it’s easy) and we rarely get lost when walking around (that’s, obviously, thanks to Jacqui because I can barely find my way to the end of the tiny street I grew up on). We did get lost trying to walk home (from very far away) around 1:00 a.m. the other night and there was no one around to ask for help for a long time. Finally, we saw three girls biking and I decided to “ask them for directions,” even though we obviously don’t speak the same language. But surprise! Even though almost NO ONE around here speaks English, the girl we happened to ask is an English teacher. Even though we told them not to, they got off their bikes and walked the rest of the way with us, stopping every once in a while to check their iphones and make sure we were going the right way.

Koreans Are Healthy (for the most part)
1. The food here is AMAZING. You can go out to eat and get a very healthy and filling dinner for less than $5.00 and everything is delicious. My friend and I already have a favorite place where the owner knows us and our “usuals.” I would feel fat about that, except that what I order is vegetables and really healthy rice. (Side note: The food she makes is so good that I even like the kimchi she serves with it which is really saying something for me ‘cause I typically hate that stuff.) Tonight when we went there for dinner, she taught me how to pronounce the name of my favorite dish (which is called yangpunibibimbap, by the way).

2. When I want to take a jog, I go to a park near my apartment that has a large track around the perimeter and I am never the only one there. There are always tons of Koreans….walking the track. I dodge the businessmen who stay healthy by lapping the track at snail-speed while smoking cigarettes on their lunch breaks and the women who mini-step in their high heels around the track, carrying umbrellas in order to stay out of the sun. They all must wonder why the hell some white chick is running on the track...and IN THE SUNLIGHT!! They probably think I’m the weirdest creature on this planet...but whatever. It's nice that we can all...umm...work out? together.

My Experiment:

I spend quite a bit of time walking through the streets here and the majority of people completely ignore me but there are a few who stare as well. Neither type of person really bothers me, but I’ve always loved the friendliness of places like Mexico where everyone says ‘good morning’ or ‘good evening’ or whatever to everyone they see as they pass each other in the streets. I’m used to at least acknowledging the fact that other people exist when I see them so I do the whole eye contact combined with that close-mouthed half-smile thing and sometimes I even throw in a slight head nod to be polite. When I first got here, I realized that when I did that people either looked at me like I was crazy or looked away very quickly and awkwardly. I started conducting an experiment and smiling at literally everyone I passed just to see how many people acknowledged me and how they would react. It’s been an ongoing experiment since then and, while I have no concrete numbers, it's really entertaining to me. I’m going to continue it and I’m sure I’ll come up with some sort of final theory in a few months.

아무도 그것을 말하는없는 경우에도 모든 이름은 영어로되어 있습니다

One of the first things I noticed here was that the names of the majority of the businesses and restaurants here are in English. However…no one around here, including the people who work inside these buildings, seem to speak or understand more than three words of English. As far as I can tell, it makes about as much sense as it would if I titled all of the sections of this blog in Korean for you English speakers. (By the way…the above title means “The names of everything are in English even though no one speaks it,” according to Google Translate.)

Traffic Lights Don’t Matter

Just the same as in pretty much every other foreign country I’ve been to, traffic lights here are pretty meaningless. I learned the night that I got to Korea that you will almost die every time you cross a street unless you wait at least five seconds after the light turns red for the people running the lights. But it goes beyond that. Not only do tiny, fast cars go speeding through intersections a few seconds after the light turns red, but I often see even the city buses driving under the red lights when it is as far away from their turn as it possibly could be…and they act like it’s completely normal.

The Kids Are Adorable

Yes Erin, it's true. But it's not just the little babies. Today my friend and I went to visit a palace, where I had my first taste of real Asian architecture and it was incredible. We got a free tour by the smartest little 12-year-old I've ever met in my life. He volunteers 5 hours of his time every other week on Sundays to give tours of the Deoksugung Palace, in order to teach foreigners about his country. Are you kidding me? I never would've thought to do something like that...especially when I was 12. He was so professional and adorable and he was able to answer every single question we had. He spoke perfect English because he went to Canada to study English for three months...I didn't ask when but I can only assume it was around the time he hit double digits. I can only hope that one day I am as smart and awesome as that kid (although, unfortunately, I know that dream will never become a reality for me).

In the picture above I'm with my friend Jacqui from Canada and our adorable little tour guide! :)

The Past Few Days Have Been Interesting...

Last Saturday night, I dragged my friend to a salsa class and she enjoyed it but didn’t want to stay out the rest of the night so I ended up staying out by myself. At first it was really awkward…I’m pretty sure I was the only person sitting at a table by myself and all I had to do was drink my bottled water. Every couple of songs, someone asked me to dance, but there weren’t very many people there. Then, however, they started playing bachata (my absolute favorite for anyone who isn’t familiar with my obsession) and the guy I was dancing with and I realized we’d both learned bachata in the Bay Area, where he’s from and where I spent the past year. Then he introduced me to all of his friends, who were English teachers from all over the place. They’re living a few hours south of Seoul and were here visiting for the weekend. I ended up hanging out with them and they invited me to go with them to another salsa club. Obviously I went and had a ton of fun. :) One of the girls met someone there who started dancing with us so, when my new friends left at 2:00 a.m., I still had someone to hang out with. I stayed with him until the club closed at 3:30 and then we hung out in Quizno’s for two hours and talked while we waited for the metro to open to go home. My feet hurt but that was by far the best night I’ve had in Seoul!

Today was a blast but it started off in the weirdest way. Another friend that I met in Italy is here teaching English too and we hadn’t seen each other yet so we decided to meet at an amusement park (we were off work today because it was Korea’s Thanksgiving). I was getting ready to go and I heard a rattling of either my door or my window. At first I thought someone was coming in, but I didn’t know who the hell it could be. I had given my friend, Jacqui, a spare set of keys to my house and I thought maybe it could be her because she was going to the amusement park with me today. But seriously…we were meeting elsewhere and she’s not rude enough to come walking into my house without talking to me first. So I went back to brushing my teeth. The noise continued so I finally turned down my music and started walking to the door to see what it was. Then I heard a man say one of the few words in Korean that I recognize which means “over here.” I looked into my bedroom and, through my window, I saw an older Korean dude standing there. He seemed somewhat concerned about something so I was trying to understand what he was telling me. However, besides the fact that I don’t understand Korean, I had just woken up, had my pants unbuttoned, had a mouthful of toothpaste and had just had the shit scared out of me. After a couple minutes of me trying to figure out what he was talking about and where he was pointing, I pretended I understood so he would go away and he did. I still have no idea what the hell he wanted (the only thing I can think of is that maybe he wanted my music turned down but that couldn’t have been it because it wasn’t even on anymore...and it wasn't very loud to begin with). Anyway, from now on, I’m keeping my window closed when I get ready in the mornings!

Work, Work, Work?

            Work is fun so far! There’s only one exception: I’ve been warned by a lot of people at my school that, if I’m not mean in the beginning, I’ll get walked all over because kids don’t respect foreign teachers as much as they do Korean teachers. So I’ve been pretending that I care way more than I actually do about small misbehaviors and I’ve been scaring the crap out of little kids left and right. Combining mini-lectures that begin with things like “You do NOT come into my classroom acting like that!” and my death-glare that I have almost perfected is enough to scare the 똥 out of any little kid that crosses my path. I definitely wouldn’t say I enjoy acting like that, but at the same time it’s kind of amusing to me that I am capable of intimidating people since I never knew I could before. On the first day, one little kid said “yes, sir” to me in the meekest little voice I’d ever heard. Poor thing.

Besides being mean out of obligation, though, I think I’m really going to enjoy teaching here. I’ve only worked three days so far, but I’m having a lot of fun with my kids. I spent my last class of today explaining to the kids how I used to fake sick in high school to get out of it. Of course…leave it to an American to teach Korean kids how to slack off. But whatever…I taught them how to fake sick in English so they were definitely learning. Plus, I think these kids work way too hard so they deserve the break if they can pull it off. Anyway, it’s going to be a good year and I'm excited!

The Ten Most Important Things I Learned In the Past Two Days

1. How to prepare all different types of Korean food (I made Seung Yeon, the girl I met on the plane, read and translate all of the labels of everything in the grocery store to me) although I probably won’t remember most of it.
2. I AM able to cook chicken all the way through on the first try!
3. How to take the subway to salsa/bachata clubs!
4. The same address (mine specifically) will be written a different way every time you ask a different Korean to write it.
5. Plugging in a DVD player from the United States will cause it to pop and smoke uncontrollably, even for a few minutes after you unplug it and rush it outside.
6. A truck goes through the streets here once a week to “kill all the bugs” (but I literally just killed a mosquito so I don’t think it works very well).
7. There are no rules or guidelines for teachers at private schools in this country.
8. There are two choices for footwear in gyms: gym shoes or slippers. They make you take off any other type of shoe and wear their not-at-all-protective slippers in order to walk by the weights section.
9. Giving blood and urine, as well as taking many other medical tests, is hilarious when you have no idea what anyone around you is saying or why you’re doing whatever they asked you to do.
10. Farting is public is not uncommon (I was told this yesterday and then today a middle-aged woman proved it as I passed her in the street).

... Living in Korea is fun.

I can sleep again!!

Deciding to move somewhere that I didn’t already know I loved and where I really only knew one person truly was a CRAZY idea. Getting here was like having the first-day-at-a-new-job jitters…but it was actually my first day at a new job, apartment, alphabet, language, transportation system, way of eating, way of thinking….everything! So my jitters were like regular jitters times a thousand, which is why I was too wound up to sleep for the first couple of nights. It is fun though and I’m really glad I decided to do this! (Plus, I slept 11 hours last night!)

I didn’t want to study the language before coming because I wanted to see what it would be like to be completely immersed in a culture I didn’t understand. The answer? I can’t even choose a word to describe it. Confusing for sure. Bizarre? Definitely somewhat nerve-wracking. Awesome because I know I’ll learn a lot every day that I’m here. I feel like I’m playing some kind of game, though, because real life as I know it isn’t anything like this.

I can’t read anything around here so it’s hard to do much without help. If Megan hadn't shown me, I wouldn’t have a clue about how anything in my apartment worked or how to get ANYwhere. As of yesterday, I can get myself to the grocery store, the subway station, the dollar store and my bank. However, I can’t read anything so I can’t really buy anything at the store or go anywhere on the subway. Plus there are zero dollars—excuse me—zero won in my bank account because I haven’t started working yet, so there’s not much point in knowing how to get there.

It’s also hard to get around because all of the buildings look the same to me. They all have signs outside of them that I assume say different things, making it easy for natives to get around. I, on the other hand, have to make mental notes like “okay, to get home later I will: turn left onto the busy street, then turn right by the chicken place, then take a left after the brick building with a white car next to it.” No joke…that’s actually how I get home from the grocery store.

Looks like I need to go start studying my Korean!! :D

Day Two (8/26/11)

My body is running on straight adrenaline. Even though I am still completely sleep-deprived, I only slept six hours and couldn’t fall back to sleep when I woke up early this morning. Still...it was nice waking up in this cute little apartment with lots of wonderful messages on facebook from all my friends!

I went to work in the afternoon to observe a couple of the classes that I’ll be teaching. Before coming, I was under the impression that I’d be teaching with another teacher which isn’t actually the case but it’s alright…I got it. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes though because the schooling here is different than anywhere else I’ve ever taught. Apparently my school uses corporal punishment and the teachers basically have no rules. I’m not sure what it will be like to teach in a place like that but I officially start this Thursday so I can let you all know then.

I also thought before coming that a lot more people here would be able to speak English. I’m told that, in other parts of Seoul, there are a lot of English speakers…but not in the neighborhood that I live in. Today I had to go get pictures taken for my ID card and I’m proud to say that I made it to the store, used charades to explain what I needed, and made it back to my school without getting lost! I consider today a Korean success!!

The Move to Korea (8/24-8/25/2011)

        Trip Highlights:

9:00 a.m. - My wallet converts from dollars to won!

11:45 – I board my flight and am seated next to my(one-year-from-now)self …Seung Yeon, a girl who went to a foreign country she’d never been to before to complete a one-year commitment and is on her way home. (My first new friend here!! And we’re going to hang out soon! Yay!)

3:30 p.m. – My first experience with Korean food…

3:45 – Seung Yeon laughs at me because I ate it incorrectly. Oops.

9:15 – We hit turbulence just as I am sitting down to pee…interesting experience.

Midnight – Seung Yeon teaches me how to write my address and gives me my first taste of Korean music.

2:34 a.m. – Land in Korea!! * BUT it’s actually 3:34 p.m. the next day!

4:40ish p.m. –Jooyeon & my taxi driver are waiting for me outside the gate.

5:00 – Taxi engine overheats and we spend half an hour at the mechanic’s.

5:20 – Jooyeon teaches me to say “I don’t speak Korean.”

5:45 – We get to my school…I meet my boss, take a quick tour, get my house keys and go home to my new apartment!

Well it’s definitely been an interesting day. The plane ride was great because I had so much fun talking to Seung Yeon. Landing was awesome too…seeing everything for the first time was really exciting. Then I got to see my friend, Jooyeon, at the gate (which was awesome) and she’s totally saving my ass here. I don’t know what I’d do if she weren’t here because there’s no way I’d be able to navigate this city alone.

Eventually, as the night went on, overwhelming feelings kept taking over me. My mind would switch from an anxious “I really hope I like it here” to a nervous “omg I can’t leave for a whole year, whether I want to or not” to an amazed “this is so cool!” Side note: being exhausted really isn’t helpful when you’re trying to control your feelings.

Within 20 minutes of getting to my apartment, Jooyeon and I left to go to dinner with her friends. They were nice but I spent the majority of the night listening to them speak Korean and having absolutely no idea what was going on. I think my decision to come without knowing any of the language was kind of dumb now…but Jooyeon’s friends taught me a little and told me I’m learning fast so hopefully they aren’t lying and I can learn quickly.

After dinner, we walked down to a beautiful river and where we hung out and watched a concert. The view of the water, the bridges and the city is amazing and it really calmed me down. Actually, it eventually it calmed me to the point where I was starting to pass out so I knew it was time to go home (Jooyeon helped me get there, of course. Without her help, I’d still be at the river).

Everyone I’ve met has been super nice so far and my apartment is really cute. It doesn’t feel like home yet but that’s probably because I can’t shower yet (I’m towel-less), I don’t have bed sheets and all my stuff is packed in my suitcases. I think as soon as I unpack and put up my pictures, things will be different. I think I know how to get to the metro stop by my house now, which is good, but I seriously have a lot to learn. Thank God for Jooyeon and Megan and everyone else who will be helping me out this year. Apparently I’m going into work tomorrow and, since I haven’t had more than two consecutive hours of sleep during the last three days and have a lot to do tomorrow, I’m going to bed right NOW (11:15 p.m. in Korea but 10:15 a.m. in my head). Goodnight from South Korea!!

The first time I tried to blog...

...everything was in Korean. But I've figured it out now! :D

“Preparing” To Move (8/22/11)

Catching up with friends from Mexico, Italy and California these past few days in Chicago was a blast! Now that I’m on the bus on the way back to Cleveland, though, I’m forced to actually start thinking about my move to Korea. I still haven’t started packing (even though my flight leaves in less than 36 hours) and I know that I won’t do it tonight either because I’ll be busy spending time with friends and family. Whatever…if you ask me, packing is what the last few hours in any given country are for.

When I try to picture my life in Korea, nothing very specific comes to mind. I know I’ll be learning a lot and having fun, but I have no idea how anything will look or sound and I don’t know for sure how I’ll feel about being there. I expect it to all be different than everything I’ve ever experienced before, but I don’t really know how. I don’t ever waste my time trying to plan things ahead of time, but I do have a general idea of things I want to learn about this year: the language (I currently don’t even know how to say “hello”), taekwondo (as well as of all other aspects of the Korean culture…which I also currently know nothing about), and how to cook their food (because I have to eat something while I'm there). I don’t plan to perfect any of it but I want to learn as much as I can. I also, of course, plan to continue traveling to new places, dancing salsa and bachata, and making new friends! Hopefully me moving to Korea works out as well as the rest of my random, crazy ideas because here I go!

It’s a Small World After All (8/18/11)

A few days ago, I found out that my only Korean friend will be living less than a 20-minute bus ride away from where I’ll be living in Seoul! I can hardly believe it…I mean what are the chances?? Facebook is making this small world even smaller all the time. It seems to me that it’s actually becoming more difficult to have adventures now because I can’t go anywhere without knowing people. (I also found out somewhat recently that two other friends I studied with in Italy will be in Seoul this year as well…not to mention that seemingly everyone I talk to has a friend there that they want me to meet.)

I’ve never truly experienced culture shock and I had been planning on experiencing it in Korea. However, without really even trying, I’ve already made 10+ contacts there and I have a good friend that I’m excited to see and will probably see the first day I’m there. In a place with so many English-speakers and very friendly people offering all kinds of help to me, I just can’t see it being very hard to adjust to. I assume I’ll be singing a different tune in six days when I get off the plane in Korea and have no idea where I even live (weird that I still haven’t been given an address, right?) But we won’t know until I get there.