Until all is lost, unto the beauty of the day.

Okay... so.

Got back from Kyoto last week with my mom. I would go into details about the trip, but I simply don't have the energy. If you want to see pictures, you can go here. The entire time she was in Gyeongju though, was, well... incredible. I wish she could have stayed longer. Really.

I wasn't stressed out when my mom was here, and I don't think I'm necessarily stressed out now, but my body is suddenly unfamiliar to me. Every few days if not less I feel nauseous and weak. I was eating extremely well in Japan, a hearty breakfast and everything, but now I am back to my old eating habits, and don't seem to ever feel hungry. And if I am hungry, I can never finish my meal. I don't know.

Let's break the last two weeks into pros and cons:

Cons

1. I got dismissed from my job... fired would be the proper verb. This happened because of my spinal/back/leg problems. I took my three days of contractual sick leave all within a week and a half of each other, and my boss approached me and said that she wanted to change teachers because I can't guarantee her that I won't need more time off in the future. And she's right, but I didn't break my contract. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. There is no guarantee that my replacement teacher wouldn't take four days of work, or that he'd even be a good teacher. I am concerned for my students, and am so, so sad that I have to leave them.

As I've said before, Koreans don't do well with sick leave. Parents complain. They are paying good money for a native English teacher, and when I'm not there, my boss has to cover my classes. The entire situation is extremely complicated, and I am getting opinions from everyone, and I don't know. It's just difficult. I've been in contact with the Korean Labor Ward and have e-mailed a lawyer who specializes in foreign teacher rights. The thing is though, is that I'm not completely opposed to going home. I would say realistically, even with the nerve root injection (which cost me a cool $200), I am only at about 35-40% of my physical capability. Obviously room for improvement.

However, she expects me to pay for my own flight home. She broke my contract based on a hypothetical. I am going to fight this (the flight home she wants me to pay), find out what my rights are, and possibly take another job within the next week, week and a half. She made a business decision, and it looks as though I might need to as well.

2. I think this is causing my body to act up. I can't seem to get a grip on my quality of life. Every day I am dealing with some other aspect of this mess. I really, really like my boss. I don't believe that she is doing anything maliciously. I don't want to believe she is capable of that. But the more people I talk to, specifically one friend who has run her own hagwon for seven years and is married to a Korean, the more I feel like an idiot. Everything from the apparently obscene taxes that are being taken out of my paycheck, to the fact that she found a replacement so quickly, to continually pushing for back surgery when I've said I don't want it, etc. The whole situation is taking an incessant toll on my body and on my life.

Pros

1. Jeff is home. Let me repeat. JEFF IS HOME! A lot has happened since he has been gone for the last seven weeks, and chatting with him has put me in a strange sort of peace. A little more complete.

2. Him and Megan are coming to Gyeongju one week from tomorrow. Holy rice balls. I just want to hug them for hours. I'm going to cry, I know it.

3. I am planning a massive road trip when I come home. Visiting my friends who are scattered around the States. Nothing sounds more appealing to me than driving (which I've greatly missed for the last 5 months) across the country with my iPod, good company, and incredible scenery. From Michigan to Montana, to Oregon, to California, to Arizona, to Louisiana, then rounding up in Florida. This is all assuming, of course, that I don't accompany Amit on her trip out west in September. It just depends. If I am coming home in early September like at this moment I am supposed to be, I will go with Amit, which would be all kinds of beautiful. If I come home in late September, I will go on my own road trip with anyone who wants to accompany me for a leg of it. It will be epic either way, and I would rather go with someone whether it be Amit or whoever than go by myself. I am currently taking applications.

4. I have a boyfriend. Haha! He's going to read this and give me a slightly harder time than usual. It's complicated, as it always is with him and I, but it's really, really good. If everything works out, we will hopefully be teaching abroad together once I get my back sorted. But yeah. Big smiles. :)

So more pros than cons, which is good. Looking over this post I have more things to look forward to than the one thing that is bringing me down. And whatever happens, I know I am not done traveling. I will only be home for as long as absolutely necessary, and then I'm off again.

Staying global, kids.

Seoul Brother Version 2.0 or British Embassy... ing.

On a whim, George and I upped and went to Seoul this past weekend. When I say on a whim, I really mean he asked me to go on a Thursday, and we were en route to the megalopolis Saturday morning. We arrived at about 2 ish (after having left at 10-- having planned to be on a bus by that time-- yeah, I was late). Although the ride is long, the buses stop for about 15 minutes halfway through.

Once we got there, and George didn't get us lost on the subway,

we booked an overly priced hotel in Itaewon, and headed for the British Embassy to say hello to the British Ambassador to Korea, Martin, his wife Fiona, and their son, Thomas-- family friends of George's parents. Aside from the fact that they had to leave early to have dinner at the Korean Prime Minister's house, they were an extremely normal and lovely family. Fiona showed me around the Embassy; she showed me where they host dinner parties, and their incredibly beautiful English-esque (so she says) garden where events are also hosted. We sipped English tea and peach papaya juice, and chatted about hockey-- don't get me started. Thomas then showed George and I the pool and gave us a more intricate tour of the garden. We only stayed for just under two hours, as they had dinner plans and we wanted to start our evening.

Terrace view of the backyard/garden

Low level view

Terrace

Back of the Embassy

Poolside (sort of)

Suffice it to say, this was absolutely one of the highlights since I've been here. We are planning to go back once Gyeongju FC games dwindle down, and summer takes full effect. As George put it so eloquently (he wants to be a guest writer on this post-- so I'm sure he'll tell you about it in his own words) when we return, we can use the Embassy's amenities to their fullest extent. Swim in the pool, attempt to play tennis, walk around the garden, drink gin and tonic on the terrace. I'm not sure how a weekend could be better spent.

After we said our goodbyes and promised to meet up with Thomas after dinner, we went and ate at a super cute French bistro in Itaewon. Unfortunately, the best part of the meal was George's salmon appetizer and the French wine we ordered, as my plaice was not up to par, and my celery and pumpkin soup tasted like pureed nothing. But after eating only about five things in Gyeongju, pureed nothing and mediocre fish is still better than most things we could get back home.

When we finished our meals we met up with Thomas and his friend Nina for drinks. I wish I had gotten more pictures of the four of us at the first bar we went to, as it was so beautifully decorated and so Westernized they didn't even serve Korean beer. Nina left shortly afterwards, and the three of us ended up at a Mexican restaurant where we drank London Pride, and I answered Thomas' polite questions about Michigan and the Great Lakes-- a topic I am all too willing to discuss.

Eventually we transferred locations to a bar that offered strawberry soju by the pitcher. Not the classiest of drinks. But I did get good pictures.

An ode to MC Hammer

George and Thomas

To be continued.
aka...
I'm almost late for work.

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasting time.

The title of this post is a quote by Bertrand Russell (British author, mathematician, philosopher), and I feel it accurately describes the hours I spend chatting with friends over pasta rather than working on lesson plans, stumbling the internet, and reading when I should be (or at least I tell myself) studying the Korean alphabet. It also perfectly describes this past weekend, as seen below. Also, some pictures from the past few weeks, per the request of people who don't have Facebook, and have made some sort of statement regarding my face. So, you (we) go.

Playground from down below

View from George and Steve's roof

Matt, Jay and I

Jay, Kayley, and George's arm

Kayley and I/A&B/Red and Blue

Feelin that TWO-TONE!

The only really recent picture of me, taken this past Saturday. Per the usual, I'm not looking at the camera.

It is officially June, which almost marks my three month anniversary of my time in Korea (short of three days). If I could explain how fast a quarter of a year has gone by, I would. But alas, I cannot, and I can only say that my time here has gone by as fast as everyone said it would. I feel like I need to do a lot more. I want to visit Seoul in the daytime, swim in the sea in Busan, hike Namsan, bike along unmarked trails, and learn how to cook. I want to go to a South African braai, play guitar in a coffeehouse (getting there), and master the Korean alphabet. In time.

I saw this back at home and it made my day. Hopefully it will makes yours, too. A tribute to Miles, pug(gles), and dog lovers everywhere.

Love, love, love.

Seoul Sister (Brother)

In t-minus 8 hours, I will be on a 4.5 hour bus ride en route to Seoul.

There will definitely be some mad updating when I get back on Sunday.

-로라

Update: I didn't arrive in Seoul until 5 p.m. yesterday, because I was busy following a live Red Wings blog during during game 3. Definitely a mistake. There is way too much to see in that city of 10 million to feel aesthetically or culturally fulfilled after having only been there for a night and a day.

En Route:

Couples like to dress alike

Arrival:

Sick.

Seoul is a mad house. I met up with some friends in Itaewon, which is around the corner from a military base. While there, one can't help but stumble upon hundreds of Westerners; at least one third of the pedestrian traffic. Easily. This is a huge change from life in Gyeongju.

International cuisine is everywhere. There are Shawarma street vendors, Greek, Mexican, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Caribbean restaurants. There are New York Steakhouses, Thai curry stands, authentic Italian hole-in-the-wall restuarants, etc. You name it, Seoul has it. It is literally one of the biggest metropolitan cities in the world, second to only Tokyo.

* * *

We ate dinner at a Greek restaurant called Santorini, where I was able to indulge in saganaki and chicken with lemon sauce (amazing). After dinner we went to a bar called The Bungalow, where you sit in hammock-type chairs, the floor is filled with sand, and margaritas are a reasonable price (W7,000 = $5.50 US). The Bungalow got old real quick, though. There were too many military men doing too many tequila shots, all the while making Americans look like fools who drink too much. So we left, and headed for Hongdae.

Hongdae is one of the 25 major districts in Seoul. Having never been to New York or Los Angeles, this was my first real taste of any sort of metropolis. I loved it too much. There is an endless nightlife, people from all over the world enjoying each others' company, live music in every third bar (or at least it seemed), incredible dance clubs, and, as previously stated, 24 hour international cuisine vendors available on every corner.

A dance club in Hongdae.

The night (morning) ended late. Even though it was 7 a.m., I was too awake to sleep, so I hopped a bus back to Gyeongju at 7:55, and arrived back in my little microcosm near 12:00. Whenever I go back to the city that boasts 10 million people (22 million in the greater metropolitan area), I will be sure to book a motel.

Good Evening, Nito and/or Good Morning, Granito.

I'd like to dedicate this post to my one and only partner in secondary English education crime, Ms. Kelly Granito; a poetic warrior, a fierce educator, and a voice of daily reason. As is the case with most people from home, when I talk to Kelly, if it is her morning it is my evening, and vice versa. Hence the title.

Kelly and I met during our sophomore year at Western. I found myself at her apartment one night, and per the usual small talk (What year are you? Where are you from? What's your major/minor?), we realized we were both studying exactly the same thing. There is something to be said for people you meet while in college; there is an automatic connection because you will inevitably have something in common with them. We, they, are a dime a dozen. But to meet someone who is spending their time writing the same papers, having the same discussions and thought processes as you are, it takes your friendship to an entirely different level. As is the case with Kelly and I.

Over the course of the last three years, we have spent hours upon hours chatting about everything from relationships to Janet's essays, to Obama and Dr. Dre, and of course, anything correlating with education-- which most things do. We took four baccalaureate classes together our senior year: Topics in Literature; Popular Culture, Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools, Studies in Verse, and Teaching Students with Special Needs in the Secondary Classroom, aka the worst class either of us have ever taken. Seriously, the WORST CLASS ever. Which is saying a lot, being that it was a 4 credit class and you need at least 122 credits to graduate. That means that out of about 36 classes, this one was the worst. That takes some serious [lack of] effort. Nito and I would just sit there, for three hours a week, wondering how the hell a high school educator was getting paid to teach an upper-level education course to college students. F that. Seriously. It still pisses me off that it was such a waste of our time.

So on top of having taken these classes together, Nito and I were also given the Adolescent Literature Award, recommended to us by two of our favorite professors, Dr. Webb and Dr. Nash. One of the reasons we had initially bonded was because we had both had Dr. Nash for Adolescent Literature. She was one of those professors who, to put it quite simply, shook shit up. Some of the best discussions I ever had were in her classes, and she was such an inspiration as a professor that I took three of them in total. Nito and I had both taken the Adolescent Lit class at different times, but had both read the same book she had assigned, The Diary of a Teenage Girl. When we then took Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools with Dr. Webb, for our final project, we grouped together with three other girls to create a teaching unit based around the theme of literature and sexuality (if you click this link, you will be taken to the website we made for the project; still really, really proud of it). Because Kelly and I had interwoven a novel we were taught in Dr. Nash's Adolescent Lit class, and then used it as our base text for our final project in Dr. Webb's class, the two professors decided we should be given the Adolescent Literature Award. And there you have it. Super sweet. Kelly is someone who, whether she knows this or not, had always challenged me in the classes we took together. She almost always got higher grades than me on papers (for every 92% I got, she got a 96%). She made me want to work harder. Being given an award with her from two established professors was, to me, a highlight of my college career.

Then there was last summer. Kelly and I went to Rothbury, Michigan's first festival, with six other friends. I could wax poetic about my time there... the 36 hours of non-stop dancing, watching The Wailers, 311, and Dave Matthews all in one day, the conversations, the people... but, I won't. Suffice it to say it was one of the best times of my life.

Us on Saturday at Rothbury. Dirty and slightly intoxicated, in the middle of swaying to Michael Franti, and about 3 hours until Dave Matthews.

So, Nito, here's to you; to the time we've spent together, to academia, and to the many, many hours I am sure we will spend chatting daily/nightly about the men and women in our lives. You are the shit. I love you!

Me Likey

Current play(life)list:

Kings of Leon: Sex On Fire
The Band: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Fionn Regan: Hunter's Map
Guster: Come Downstairs and Say Hello
Jack Johnson: Breakdown
Jason Mraz: After An Afternoon
Old Crow Medicine Show: Wagon Wheel
Silversun Pickups: Three Seed
The Avett Brothers: Swept Me Away
The Prize Fighter Inferno: The Going Price For Home
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles: You Really Got a Hold On Me
The Fugees: Fu-Gee-La
James Taylor: Mexico
Jeff Lynne: Lift Me Up

* * *

Twouble with Twitters-- "Don't you twitterstand? You can become a twitter-elbrity!"
Hilarious! Although it makes me feel guilty for updating my facebook status. =/

Anis Mogjani-- "Rock out like the mangoes are in season. Rock out like the record player won't skip. Rock out like this was the last weekend, like these were the last words, like you don't wanna ever forget how." Slam poet.

* * *

It has been a fairly slow week for me here in Gyeongju. First of all, it is damn cold, making me not want to go out and do much. According to AccuWeather (which you know I live by) it is 37 degrees with a "real feel" of 28. Brr. It made my hot and fresh mendu dinner all the more delicious. Well that, and I also forgot to turn my heat off when I left today so I came home to a surprisingly warm apartment. Not the worst thing in the world!

The other night Diane and I had dinner at some chain restaurant in wonsungdong. It was delicious. My meal consisted of spicy ramen noodle soup with egg and mozzarella. Immediately after we treated ourselves to ice cream from Baskin Robins (boom batty much?). They serve the babiest of sizes there, and all for fairly cheap (2500W/cup). I am going to have to really try to not go there frequently. Instead of grabbing a cab home, we decided to walk. We walked past the Gyeongju stadium where our home opener is being held. It is huge and beautiful and says "Gyeongju" in the stands. It is definitely a professional stadium, with flood lights and room for 10,000 fans. I hope my leg is feeling up to it.

We also walked past this statue of a Korean general on a horse pointing his sword onward and upward. It was really amazing. It's got to be like, 20 feet tall or so. Huge. I estimate that it's a couple hundred years old. I don't know the name of the General, just that he fought off the Japanese. I have heard Koreans say that Japan has invaded Korea "2,000 times in 2,000 years". Not to be taken literally of course, but an interesting indigenous perspective all the same.

In other news, North Korea has a (test range) missile on a launch pad. The images from GoogleEarth that have been shown in the media show it clearly. The North Korean government is saying they are sending a satellite into space, but from what I've heard and read, nobody believes that. Supposedly the missile could reach somewhere as far as Alaska. The whole thing has got the Japanese military protecting the sea as well as part of their territory that the North Koreans have mapped out as "missile zone". The Japanese are concerned that debris could hit near Tokyo. I don't know. I try to keep myself informed and I keep reading about it. The conclusion I've come to is that ultimately North Korea is calling a nuclear weapon a satellite; China, who is a distant ally of the North has remained relatively quiet about the situation; Japan has urged the North to scrap its' plan, saying that it would "damage peace and stability".
The U.S. and South Korea, along with Japan, are strongly opposed to North Korea testing long range missiles, and say that the North would "face international sanctions under a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibiting ballistic activity by Pyongyang (NK President)".

I'm not worried, and I won't be worried until the Koreans worry, which here in SoKo, they are not. Just something to think about. To end this rant-tacular blog on a positive note, here are a couple pictures of the Gyeongju crew from Aleesha's birthday last Friday.

George and Steve

Nightmare Before Soju (props to Diane for the pic)

Beau, Diane, and Simon

Bill, Simon, and Aleesha

Kelly, Beau, Lena, and Dave

Diane and I

Til next time... it better be warm by then! :)

Flashing Lights.

It has been a few days. I do apologize. I notice that the counter goes up each day and I feel slightly pressured to write a blog every other day, but I have been super busy, hence the small delay. Hmm. That rhymed and it was unintentional.
I pretty much only have time at this moment to talk about three things; the incredible mountain that is my backyard, the dance clubs and foreign bars in Daegu, and my CouchSurfer.

First, the mountain. My friend Steve said we should hike it at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning, and I figured he was full of it, so I called his bluff. Full of it he was not, my friends. This mountain/20 minute "hike" if you walk fast is about 10 minutes from my apartment.

One of the temples is supposedly the oldest in South Korea, although I'm not sure which one. My favorite part of that morning was the sight opposite the city, which was just layer upon layer upon layer of mountains. It looked completely surreal. I also loved the bamboo forest (last picture)... it was totally novel and unexpected to see towering bamboos just ahead of me as we were descending the mountain. There were also people praying up and around where we walked inside of these little mini-temples that were lit with what looked to be about 100 tea lights. It was really beautiful. I was told you can also stay the night in those temples, although nobody seems to know how to arrange it.

I do have more pictures from Saturday night in Daegu, and I want to talk about my CouchSurfer Johanna from Sweden, but I have officially run out of time.

More later. :)

Update: It is currently 11:50 p.m. Wednesday night. Johanna is fast asleep, as she has to wake up at 4 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. train to Busan, and then a ferry to Japan. Brave girl. She's really sweet and has been a perfect guest. She stayed for a total of 3 nights with me, in which the time we spent together has been pleasantly educational. I don't know what else to say about it, really. She just kind of did her own thing during the day while I worked, helped me cook dinner, taught me about Sweden, and talked to me about her boyfriend.

Love is the language.

Update: 12:23 a.m. Friday morning. T.G.I.MF.F! Here are some pictures from last Saturday in Daegu. :)

My room at the love motel.

Daegu by drizzle.

George kissing Steve's hand.

Flashing Lightskies. ;)

This is my official video test. Crossing my fingers!

And thus concludes my most prolonged post yet. Tomorrow is another birthday celebration, this time for my friend Aleesha. Saturday I'm going biking with Diane, Beau, Sherwin, Sarah, and Simon. It's getting really beautiful here with all of the cherry blossoms blooming and I hope to have some really incredible pictures for my next post. Til then. :)

Well you can't stop nothin' if you got no control.

I realized after talking to a friend last night that I didn't have my favorite Jack Johnson CD, In Between Dreams. The moment I got home from the bar I downloaded it, and as I was walking to work today (and back) with my iPod on I was reminded of how much I love that album. Listening to those songs (specifically Breakdown, Better Together, and Never Knowin') took me back to a place I haven't been in years, yet at the same time gave me this fresh perspective that I have been needing to hear. The juxtaposition of both old and new emotions felt particularly powerful as I walked past friendly Koreans (annyoung haseo!) and waved to the school kids playing in the park, all the while with my own little life soundtrack supporting my every move in my ears. Music, man. There is so much that it invokes in a person. For me it has always been an affinity for lyrical prowess mixed with a catchy melody and a beautiful voice (hence my favorite, Jason Mraz). Or anything with a good beat, a dystopian theme (Deltron), a song that will make you nod your head (311), instrumental jam-dance-groove (Lotus), the utmost simplicity of a guy and a guitar (Avett Brothers), or anything my family and I get down on (Jeff Lynn, XTC, Fountains of Wayne, John Mayer, Death Cab For Cutie). Hmm. Nostalgia is creeping in.

* * *
School today was a blast. I love Fridays. I was sitting on the floor in a circle with my E1-B class (1st graders, I believe) and observing them play Uno. I really am going to bring my camera next Friday because you have to see these kids. They are so damn cute. Since a lot of what I teach them is learned through repetition, they have a tendency to copy what I say. Today I had a class of 10 of the cutest Korean kids repeating "oh my god" over and over again. I couldn't get enough of it. They are like trained animals, and I mean that in the best way possible. I was saying "oh my god" with every type of voice inflection I could think of. Valley girl style (oh my gahd!), irritated style (Oh. My. GOD), freaking out style (ohmygodohmygodohmygod!), et al. I will have all of these uploaded on video by next Friday; I figured out how to upload them by the way, and it only took a change on one of the camcorder settings. Psh.

With my older classes I played Apples to Apples for Kids, which is quickly becoming another favorite of mine. If you haven't played the game, it's really simple. Everyone gets a certain amount of red cards (I do 4 for my students), and I choose one green card. On the one green card it might say "small", or "clean", or "colorful", or "fuzzy", or "spooky"... a plethora of adjectives. On the red cards that the students have it would say anything ranging from Ronald McDonald, My Teacher, Bears, Clowns, In the Basement, Sharks, etcetera. They have to pick 1 of 4 red cards that they think matches the adjective the best. Can you imagine the hilarity of playing this game with Korean students who are just scratching the surface of the English language? I had a green card and it said "dirty". The red cards I receieved were My Grandpa, Sunshine, Spaghetti, and Sand. Another good one was "fancy" and I got Hot Chocolate, My Mom, Ice Cream, and Fireworks. My favorite today however was "pretty", to which I received My Teacher, Rainbows, Fishing, and Mountains. A difficult decision, but I always choose My Teacher when they relate to a positive adjective. It makes the brown noser feel good and it makes me think that they actually might have an idea of what the adjective means. It's a win win situation.

* * *
On a different note, I am going to Daegu tomorrow with a bunch of foreigners for the soccer game on Sunday. The Gyeongju team, which I am now officially apart of, is playing Daegu United. They are a team of US military guys and originally, the field was going to be the one on the Airforce base, but now it is somewhere else in Daegu which I've heard is good because anyone can go. When it was supposed to be held at the base, anyone who was playing or who wanted to attend had to give their full name and nationality to someone in advance, as well as bring their passport and a second ID to get escorted onto the field. It's more lax now which I anticipate will bring more people out. Maybe. I really don't know what to expect from Daegu. I've been told there are a lot of Western restaurants, as well as a Western crowd which makes sense seeing as it is an American Airforce base. I will let you know though.

I am late for someone's birthday dinner. I do not know who this someone is, but everyone is going out for drinks and apparently a karaoke bar (aka norebang, prounced nore-ree-bong). Should a novel night.

Til next time.

A Weekend Taste

A little ways down from my apartment.

And again.

These were taken today as I was walking back from shopping. David the Californian accompanied me to Home Plus, which is comparable to a Wal-Mart or a Meijer. I got some essential things that I had forgotten at home (tweezers, nail clippers, a hair brush), some more groceries, and cleaning supplies. It was a successful trip followed by lunch at McDonald's.

* * *

Except for Friday when I got sick, this weekend was really enjoyable. Even though I wasn't feeling well Friday night, I went to Movie Night at Nicole's hagwon (private school) with a bunch of other foreigners and watched Friday the 13th. It's a ridiculous movie, but the idea is super fun. I guess every Friday they have these movie get togethers at Nicole's school, which is really beautiful and is loaded with a large projector to accommodate the activity. She provided snacks and drinks and a welcoming atmosphere, and so there we sat, about 20 or so ESL teachers from around the globe, and watched the cheesiest of scary movies in honor of the date.

Last night Aleesha (Canada), myself, David, Steve (England), and Matt (New Zealand) went to London Hop and had some Hite. Then Aleesha and I went and had dinner across the street at her favorite "Orange Restaurant", which is a chain here that serves really good fried rice and sushi. So we ate, went back to London Hop, and then the five of us went to a bar Aleesha suggested where we drank fruit soju. It basically tastes like cheap vodka mixed with fruit juice. After a couple pitchers of that we scurried across the street to a place I think is called Paul's Bar or Pool's Bar. It was pretty cool-- it was lit with blueish lights and candles and you could request songs, so we all had a chance to put in song requests and then the DJ would download them for us. The night wrapped up around 3:30 (bars don't seem to close here in Korea), at which point I took a taxi back with Steve and Matt, came home and slept until 2:00 today.

This brings us to the present, where I am waiting for a call from either Dave or Simon, both of whom are going to a DVD bong tonight. A DVD bong is a place where you can go with a group of friends, bring your own drinks, and watch a movie of your choice on a huge projection screen-- all for the low cost of around $15,000W (divide that by five or so; just about $3.00 a person). I am really looking forward to seeing what these things are all about... people seem really into them here.

I STILL cannot figure out why my videos won't post to the blog, and I'm getting to a point of desperation. The format is in AVI, which Blogger says it accepts, yet it does not allow me to upload. It just consistently says "Uploading Video", when really it's not. I think I am going to have to e-mail Blogger help or something.

Til next time. :)

Friday The Thirteenth

I managed to not catch whatever was going around when all my friends felt like shit back at home. However now that I'm in Gyeongju, I think I am catching something; it started in my throat this morning and it is progressively getting worse. I have The Sickness. At least I think I do. I am trying to take as many vitamins as possible, as well as drink as much water as my body will allow. I plan on sleeping in tomorrow (T.G.I.MF.F!), so hopefully that will make me feel better.

Matt and I decided to reschedule hiking tomorrow due to The Sickness. Not to mention it was 53 and humid here today, and tomorrow it's supposed to be like, 35. The weather changes are affecting me and making me cranky. I went to bed too late last night and had to get up early for physical therapy, and when I awoke it was cloudy and gray outside, making me want to isolate myself and not do anything. But alas, I walked to the doctor, and surely enough I fell asleep with my moon pants on. I was rudely awakened by the physical therapist snapping the connecting thingies off of my legs. The good news is that although I am feeling below average, my leg is greatly improving. I could jump around with the kidlets today and not feel like I was going to collapse. I didn't even notice how much better it was because it's so natural for your legs to feel how they are supposed to. Friday is "Game Day" so I let my students play Hangman and Bingo. Beautiful. The games allowed me not to speak that much and just let them guess letters and match their bingo cards. I can't believe I'm done with my first week of teaching.

The walk home today was particularly nice even though it was rainy and humid. Looking ahead of me were the mountains, with pockets of clouds resting in between them. Again, I didn't have my camera and I was kicking myself for it-- it was so gorgeous. The view gave me this inherent urge to pack my backpack, fill it with water and granola, and head off. Unfortunately my adventurous desires are going to have to be put on hold until I am not running a fever.

* * *

Last night was mine and Simon's welcome dinner. I met some really, really cool people. After we ate some sort of spicy chicken (or pork, not sure) in lettuce wraps, we went to a bar where they were playing 50 cent and TuPac. Simon and I were the only ones who seemed to notice the Western music. A lot of people who I've met have been here for 2+ years, so I can only assume that any kind of music back from home is generally something they would not be familiar with.

Man. I just looked at my clock and I'm about to be late to dinner. I'm not even really hungry, but I know I should eat. I feel like I'm not making too much sense right now, I'm just typing and not editing nor really caring about what I'm saying. Whatevs though. The Sickness is getting to the brain.

More tomorrow. :)

See below.

The title of this post is also the background on my computer, taken from postsecret.com. I strongly suggest anyone and everyone to visit the website at least once—I can guarantee, at the very least, that it will spark a strong emotion in you, if not an outright obsession.

Currently, I am sitting at my desk in my new apartment, eating men du, which is some sort of dumpling deliciousness that I picked up at the vendor outside of the grocery store. It is my second night in my new apartment, and I am finding to be adjusting more quickly than I anticipated. I have never lived alone, but I don’t think I could have asked for a better living situation. I am typing this post using Word with plans to post it tomorrow, because as of right now my internet is not up. Cate has to call what I think would be the equivalent of Charter or Comcast so that they can verify online access for me.

The apartment is super cozy and super cute and beyond livable. I will post pictures once I get everything unpacked and organized. In fact, I will probably just take a video of it and post that. I have been trying to take as many videos as pictures because they give a better representation of what life is like here in Korea. It is spacious and has a queen sized bed (thank god!), an armoire, a desk, cable TV, a little table, a cabinet, a stove, everything. Everything I could possibly need is here in my own rent free, studio apartment.

Last night I went out with my new favorite couple, Diane and Beau. I successfully took my first taxi to Sung Gundong, which is a district in Gyeongju. If Gyeongju were Oakland County, Sung Gundong, Yung angdong (specifically where I live), and some other districts that I can’t pronounce would be Royal Oak, Birmingham, Huntington Woods, Novi, and Clarkston all mixed together, yet still distinct from one another.

They took me first to a beer bar where you go in, open a fridge, and choose from a selection of international beers. We sat at a table and drank our drinks, at which point Diane suggested we go to a wine bar next. I don’t know the name of it nor do I really know exactly where it is located. I do know that every bar in Sung Gundong is right next to one another, lined up in a fluorescent, bustling college-esque town.

The wine bar was beautiful. Diane had said before we had arrived it was sort of an Arabian themed bar, and I believe that is the best way to describe it. You walk in and take your shoes off, which is something you do at many restaurants as well as whenever you enter someone else’s home. The entire bar was draped in deep red curtains with gold detail hanging lowly from the ceiling. We sat in a little corner on the also deeply red carpeted floor on thin pillows—similarly to many places I have eaten at so far, the table was barely up to my stomach. There were candles on each table which the waitress lit when we first arrived. We drank a bottle of sweet white wine, talked about our hometowns, where we had traveled (my summer tales of Ontario have been a huge part when talking about my life), and general conversation about my move to Gyeongju. Both Diane and Beau are incredibly supportive and understanding of me and my decision to move to South Korea, and have promised I will love the people here and will easily make friends. If my information is correct, there are about 500,000 people in Gyeongju, and about 70-80 foreigners. Assuming that this is accurate, it is safe to say that us foreigners are by far the minority. This being the case, they said that the foreigners stick together. Beau said even if I might not like someone, I will have a connection with that person because we have our travels in common. Needless to say spending time with those two gave me extreme comfort and a sense of camaraderie that I have been craving since I left home.

Today, Cate called me around noon and invited me to lunch and out for a walk to the lake—I was thrilled she asked me, because to be honest I didn’t really know what to do with myself when I woke up at 8. So we go to this lake, and it was just so cool I don’t even know how to begin describing it. It’s a family friendly place with lots of photo ops and food and shopping centers everywhere. I was semi-pleasantly surprised by the 8 kilometer bike ride we took. We biked around the water, up hills, down hills (way too fast!), flying past cars and people, stopping for kiwi ice cream and corn on the cob sold out of a truck. I say semi-pleasantly surprised because it was a work out that I was not prepared for. I don’t know if all Koreans are as fit as my boss and her family, but I know that I felt like a sluggish American riding around, clearly not in my comfort zone. After the bike ride I came home, showered, and went to Diane’s to hang out. I have really cliqued with her, and she has been kind enough to lend me her amenities until mine are all sorted out.

So that was today, and tomorrow is my first day of teaching. I will post everything as soon as I can.

"RAURA TEACHER!"

Currently, it is 6:11 a.m. here in Gyeongju, and I can't seem to sleep in. From what I've heard that's normal and to be expected until I get adjusted to the time difference, but I'm annoyed that I woke up feeling like it should be 10 a.m. when really it's a quarter to six. Boooooo.

Yesterday was my first day observing Stephanie at English World. My school schedule is 2:30-7:30 Monday through Friday (9 classes per day) and I will be teaching kindergartners through 14 year olds. The kindergartners and first graders are hilarious-- they are my first two classes of the day. Not only are they hilarious, they are SUPER rambunctious. At first some of them seemed a little intimidated by me. Little did they know, I was terrified of them because they come in such large numbers.

Although they are not this young, they would sound just like him if they were to sing a Beatles song, too.

Back to the large numbers. When I say this, I'm over exaggerating because the maximum class size that I have is 12. The classes are 25 minutes lessons with 5 minutes in between each lesson. However, in the time between classes the kids come to the office and sit on your lap or talk to you excitedly in English, and when they all consolidate like that in a tiny room there seem to be many, many more than there actually are. If there was ever to be a battle of teachers vs. students, the students would undoubtedly win. The students are super cute though. A couple of them took to me really quickly and whenever Stephanie would introduce me, it would go something like this:

Stephanie: Everyone, this is Laura Teacher! She is your new teacher. Tomorrow Stephanie Teacher goes "bye, bye" back to the USA and Monday you will have Laura Teacher.

Me: Hi everyone!

Kids: Hi Raura! Raura Teacher!

Although that was a poor rendition, that pretty much sums it up. When I would go in the hall after my first couple classes the students would either ask what my name was or stare at me. In fact, Cate told me to wear my hair up for the first couple of days because she thought that the kids might be afraid of me! I literally LOLed to myself when she said that. Me + my height + my curly hair = scary American. Clearly! They were sweet though-- really excited about telling me their names. "My name is Gina", "My name is Lily", "My name is Trevor", etc. They practice their names a lot when they are at a younger age and I think they were trying to show off a little. Very cutesies.

I went out to a Vietnamese restaurant last night with Stephanie and a few of her friends. There are Diane and Michelle, who are from South Africa and have thick accents-- Michelle especially. I really had to listen to understand what she was saying. They apparently don't think much of Americans, with the exception of Stephanie, Bo and now myself. Bo is from Texas and he has been dating Diane for about 6 months. Hearing about their relationship is adorable-- he met her parents in Hong Kong, she will be meeting his parents in a week or so in Seoul, blah blah blah, all cute, but pulled at my heart quite a bit. Made me miss Brett a ton.

The restaurant was great, though. We got to make our own spring rolls-- definitely a novel expierence! They had these rice patties that looked like thin paper and you would dip them in hot water, at which point they would soften. Then, with your chopsticks (I am having quite the time trying to get good with them), you take it out of the steaming hot water, and then you fill it with vegetables and meats of your choice. So on mine, I had chicken, pineapple, celery, onion, some kind of thin mushroom, and peanut sauce. It reminded me a little of eating at Mongolian Barbeque except much healthier, and without actually watching your food getting cooked. I drank green tea with my little Vietnamese spring roll concoction, and then was served a huge bowl of noodle soup. The soup was good, except that I don't really have an apetite yet. Again, I've heard this is completely normal. Stephanie said she didn't really have an apetite until after her first week.

Once I returned from dinner, Cate and Mark offered to buy beer. So we sat in their living room (although almost no furniture, I'm not sure what else to call it) and drank a 6 pack. I showed them a photo album Shayna gave me back at home, as well as some going away party/Megan's birthday party pictures on my camera. Cate thinks that Jeff (Goldsmith) looks "like a character from the fairy tales", that my brothers are handsome but look nothing like me, and she kept confusing Brett with Jeff (Rosenberg). It was nice that her and Mark were so interested, though. I got to explain to them about the parties and my friends and family. At one point, Cate said "All pictures, same friends!" And she seemed happy for me. We had a nice conversation, with Cate acting as the translator. Mark said I need to go out and do everything I can while I'm here in Korea, and that if anything ever broke or needed repair at my apartment to please tell him so he can fix it-- it's like having a free landlord. Amazing!

Today, Stephanie was also kind enough to offer to meet me at 10 to show me around Gyeongju. She's going to show me the post office, grocery stores, I expect some restaurants that she likes, et al. I move into my apartment once she moves out tomorrow morning, and will officially be set up around 3:00 p.m. She said setting up my laptop will be really easy, and she was also kind enough to leave behind her Korean cell phone which I will be able to use to call Michelle and Diane. I'm a little nervous about meeting people on my own, but I know I will. Everyone's been telling me there are plenty of foreigners in Gyeongju, and once a new one moves in, everyone wants to meet that person. So I should be good to go, and Michelle and Diane said to call them as soon as I get the chance to.

To answer some questions, I will not be able to actually call anyone while I'm here. International calling rates are expensive, and I just plan on using Skype/AIM video chat/e-mail with everyone. I will get pictures up as soon as I get my own computer working, which should be tomorrow. The outlets here are different, hence why I can't just plug in my own laptop yet-- there is a convertor at my apartment.

I know you're all really interested in my hygiene, so guess what? I have yet to shower (sick!) since I've been here, and it's Friday, meaning I haven't showered since I left Tuesday (which was really Wednesday here) morning. I meant to shower yesterday before lunch (which I forgot to mention, was pork cutlets that Cate bought me), but I fell asleep an hour before I got picked up to go to the school and didn't have the time to. So I am off to the shower with no walls, the drain in the middle of the bathroom, and hopefully some breakfast soon. And who knows, I might even venture out before I go to meet Stephanie at the school. We will see how courageous I am feeling.

Til then. :)