i can now say that i am a teacher. a real teacher. wow, my parents must be so, um, proud. i have taken the one job that i was always told to avoid. i guess it's like drugs and sex and booze; everyone tells you not to do them, so you just do it...
im really enjoying my classes. my students finally seem to feel comfortable with me and are opening up quite a bit. the first hour of my two hour class veered off of my lesson plan into a discussion about relationships and dating. i am very proud to say that my students can now properly use the terms 'making out,' 'public displays of affection,' and 'long distance relationship.' in addition, they know what a 'pick-up line' is, and, thanks to myself and a fellow teacher, how to properly use several new lines when they go to the bars. i was asked if i had ever dated a french man; i said yes. it was like putting a drop of blood into shark-infested waters. they just wanted more and more. i made them tell me their own relationship stories at the end of class and promised that i would give them a tale on monday.
if anyone knows any good pick-up lines, please post a comment. i said that i would bring some more lines in for them.
after class this afternoon, i made my way home with the hopes of running several errands and getting some things crossed off the never-ending to-do list. i opted, instead, to buy some 'take-away' kimbap (it is not to-go here, but take-away) and watch obama's victory speech on tv. i felt quite inspired (and nourished) and decided to relax my afternoon away.
i made my way to my dear friend carla's place for dinner. we headed to insadong to do a bit of shopping. i am an avid pottery collector (god i sound old...i collect pottery and go to sleep at 9:30...nope, still not in depends...yet) and have been meaning to buy a bunch of pottery ive had my eyes on down insadong. i picked up two big mugs and four small water cups. 8,000 won. i love korea. and i love that the dollar goes far in korea at the moment. we were searching for a paper shop that carla had seen a week ago. i thought it was one way, she thought it was another. we decided that whoever lost would buy fish-shaped ice cream and red bean sandwiches.
i lost.
we had lovely korean food for dinner. i hadn't had korean food since sunday and i actually started craving it today, thus my afternoon snack of kimbap. an interesting fact i found out from my classes this week is that the number one cancer in korea is stomach cancer, and it is due to the fact that koreans eat such spicy and salty foods, as well as a lot of meat. next is liver cancer, of course due to the massive amounts of soju they drink, followed by lung cancer, caused by the massive amounts of cigarettes they smoke. but soju and cigarettes are insanely cheap here, so i guess if you want to die cheaply...
after dinner and a really great post-dinner conversation about the world and our existence, i bought those fish ice cream sandwich bar things and we headed to our favorite little dollar store to look for some candles. no luck, so we made our way further down the road, in hot pursuit of a yoga mat for yours truly. on our way, we found a big market. i asked carla if she knew what it was. apparently it is a food market that is full of american foods. but it is a black market. i guess the things they sell there were intended for the soldiers over here, but they somehow jack the stuff and sell it at this little market. i saw a big block of colby jack cheese, just sitting out in the open. it had an expiration date of february 2009. i am guessing that whoever purchases that block of cheese will not be feeling too hot after its consumption.
on our walk back, we saw a man peeing on the street. at first we weren't sure if he was peeing or if he was dumping out a bottle of water or something. it seemed like the stream was too heavy, but sure enough, after passing him and poking my head around an electric box, i saw him tucking his package back into his pants. for some reason, i dont think that will be the last time i see such an occurrence.
i made my way home and picked up a few groceries. it is starting to feel like home here, albeit without friends and family. this feels somewhat normal, as strange as that sounds. i started thinking about my reasons for coming to korea and about how unhappy i was back in madison. i dont feel unhappy anymore. i skyped dear lana at 2 am her time (sorry again, i thought you'd be just getting off work) and we chatted for awhile. she mentioned how upbeat i seemed about things. and i thought about that on the bus ride down to see carla. i feel very upbeat about life here! for the first time ever, all i have is work. no school, no other committments, no drama. its weird, but quite refreshing. its just me and what i want to do and where i want to go.
i wondered if this would be the right choice for me. it was and it is.
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