Is this normal?

Last night at dinner, my friend Josh said to Molly and I (who have been here 8 weeks and 5 weeks, respectively), "You begin to normalize everything once you realize you live here. For instance, right now, we are sitting in a Korean restaurant down a small back alley with Nepalese flags hanging on the wall, we're drinking wine made from rice which we poured from a golden kettle out of bowls with our hands, and we're eating raw kimchi and raw tofu that was just served to us by a man who has waistlength hair and is wearing a muumuu. That's weird. But... it isn't, you see?"

The aforementioned "strange but not really" meal. It was delicious, by the way.

This conversation stemmed from a bout of venting about my past few days here... there have been several instances I've felt lost in translation past my frustration level; throw in a stressful week at school and a killer nasal infection, and a cozy Friday night dinner with friends was much needed. Sadly, my illness plus a rowdy night at a club in Hongdae after dinner led to my missing an ice fishing trip I was looking forward to this weekend... but my new Korean doctor (who wears a funny earring and speaks pretty decent English) insisted I get lots of rest and take the funny Korean pills he prescribed me, and I've decided to follow doctor's orders this time. Hopefully by Monday I'll be as good as new. 

None of my previous comments are to say that I'm feeling unhappy; I'm still having the time of my life here, and I've decided to turn my frustrations into accomplishments. I've begun to study Korean. Believe it or not, it's an extremely fun language to learn, and SUPER fun to write. I'm working on the alphabet and numbers at the moment. Luckily, I've got a few friends who know some Korean and are willing to tutor me on weeknights. 

Josh eagerly beginning my Korean lessons over dinner. Numbers 1-10 on a napkin, anyone?

Eventually understanding Korean will certainly be helpful for day-to-day life in Seoul, but for me the fascinating part is making comparisons and contrasts to English.  The more I learn about Korean, the more I realize why my kids repeatedly make the same mistakes while speaking English, and understanding why they make the mistakes they do will be extraordinarily helpful for teaching. 

Speaking of the kiddos, they were as wonderful as they always are over the past couple of weeks. My classes have started falling into routines, which is lovely. The little ones know exactly what to do throughout the day without me asking them, and that makes me smile a lot. These kids are such quick learners I still can't get over it. The amount my kids have learned and retained in one month absolutely blows my mind. I love them. 

 

Learning about shadows in my cute little classroom

 

June (love of my life)  rockin' a bowtie and some cake

While I adore my kids and would like to say I can't get enough of them, by the time Friday rolls around each week, I've had enough of them. Weekends here go by in a mere matter of seconds, so I've been cramming as much awesome into those two days per week as possible (so sad to be blogging instead of ice fishing at this moment... boo hoo illness). Last weekend Molly, Josh, Steven and I took a 3 hour bus ride to Andong, a city best known for Hahoe (pronounced "HA-hway) Village, a traditional Korean village which is home to traditional Korean masks and beautiful old houses. We visited the village, the museum, a Buddhist temple way up in the mountains, and the longest walking bridge in South Korea. We loved all the outdoor adventure, but it also happened to be the coldest weekend in Andong. After a day of freezing our collective booties off hiking and exploring, we were ready to warm up and enjoy an evening indoors.

Molly and I at the mask museum, scaring small children

 While daytime Andong is known for it's masks and villages, nighttime Andong is known for it's jjimdak and soju.  Andong jjimdakk is a delicious spicy chicken dish, nothing like anything else I've eaten here before.  Our Andong pal Nick (whom I had met on Christmas in Seoul and who graciously took us out for the evening to show us Andong)  was right when he said it reminds him a bit of home because it's quite stew-like.Our Jjimdak was accompanied by Andong soju... a special version of the Korean rice alcohol, famous for it's strength (yikes) and it's purity. Dinner was spicy, warm, tipsy, and lovely. 

Steven, Nick and I eagerly awaiting our scrumptious jjimdak

After dinner, we visited the two "foreigner bars" of Andong, met the foreign teachers of the sparsely populated city, ate some cake at the bar (no questions, please), ventured over to the noraebang across the street, and eventually retired to a "love motel" (yes, they are exactly what they sound like they are), which was extremely inexpensive and hilarious. The bed was heated, there was a dim, red lighting option in the room, and the basket of "goodies" left on the dresser was quite amusing to sort through. All four of us fell asleep giggling like little kids. It was a blast. 

The last item on today's blogging agenda is coming clean about my new addiction. As we all know, I'm not one without vices, so adding another to the bunch may or may not come as a surprise. In any case, I'm just going to come out with it: I am addicted to buying shirts with animals and funny "Konglish" printed on them. I cannot stop. I am going to end up shipping a gigantic box of these ridiculous clothes home, and I'm not going to feel bad about it for a second. I love the clothes here. The best part is, we're allowed to wear these things to school.  I'm sure my colleagues have started to wonder about me, as I show up day after day wearing shirts that say things like "Lovely Tork" and "Pussy cat, Pussy cat", but I say, "When in Korea...".

 The newest addition to my amazing Korean wardrobe... IT'S A CUPCAKE!!!

That's all for now, folks. I'd like to give a very special mention to Mary and Betsy for sending me the coolest care package of all time. I love you guys more than my new little girl with a cupcake hoodie <3.

 

I am HAH-ppy.

That's what the little Korean kiddos say when you ask, "How are you today?" It's so perfect. I wish kids AND adults in every culture responded literally when asked how they are doing. It would eliminate lots of guesswork and awkwardness. Maybe.

Anyway, I just had to update today because I can't stop thinking about my kids. My first week of teaching was amazing. I had been a bit worried about starting my very first classroom here fresh out of university (I've switched "college" to "university" in order to avoid confusion here), and I'd spent lots of time wondering how I would do as a brand new teacher even if I'd started in CPS at home. It's tricky, because they don't offer anyone very much positive feedback here in general, so I think an important part of my growth in Korea will involve being satisfied with the job I am doing on my own, and for myself and no one else. I am going to work on validating my own efforts and successes in the classroom and feeling content with that.

Friday Play Gym time... I crawled through the tubes as much as they did.

I'm elated to report that all the kids I teach seem to love being in my classroom. We all get along so well, and I have been working really hard to over-prep for the entire month so that I have lots of extra time to do more fun and exciting activities with my kids. I absolutely cannot wait to get further into the year so I can try out a million different things in my classroom.

 Lucy's first Show and Tell... she was so great!

Of course, I've been balancing work with play as well, so time has really been flying already. I cannot believe I've already been here three weeks. That thought makes my head spin. I'm spending both nights this weekend in the "foreigner parts" of Seoul... last night I went to my first Korean club in Hongdae (I was obsessed with the laser lights), and tonight I'm going back to Itaewon to explore and mingle with some other foreigners. That's week 3 for me!

I am HAH-ppy.

Noraebang and Me

I'm halfway through my first week of teaching, and time is already flying. My schedule will continuously change, but for the next month I teach morning kindergarten, afternoon elementary, reading club, and I tutor the son of the principal of LCI. It's hard to believe how quickly I have fallen in love with the kids. I teach all different levels, which is wonderful because I was hoping this work would be challenging and it definitely will be. My elementary class is comprised of total beginners... they've come to me with basically zero English. Today after classwork, I began teaching them the Hokey Pokey, which was SO much fun.

<3 Kiddos with Rhonda Teacher<3

There's just as much going on outside of school as there is with my precious kiddos inside of school. The most important of them all is Noraebang. Noraebang is Korean karaoke in private rooms. If you've ever witnessed me playing American Idol Karaoke on Playstation nonstop for hours at a time, you'll have already assumed that I believe Noraebang is my calling. I'll stop there, because I could go on for hours. I. Love. Noarebang. 

 Ginger anime @ my first Noraebang

Aside from teaching children who don't speak my native language and falling in love with new things like Noraebang, jimjilbangs, and Korean BBQ, life is beginning to feel frighteningly normal in Seoul. Yesterday I made the 3.5 hour round trip journey to the immigration office to apply for my alien card (FINALLY). When I emerged from the subway at the office (which is over an hour away from my apartment),  I thought to myself, "Wow, I'm a long way from home right now". The fact that the irony of that thought didn't register with me until a moment had passed made me realize, "Oh my, this is my home now". It was actually a quite profound moment, until I was nearly killed by a man who decided to drive his giant SUV up on the sidewalk (a standard occurrence here... you want to avoid traffic, you go for it, and endanger some pedestrians).

Tomorrow I'm going to check out the Seoul Improv scene, tonight I'm joining a gym with my neighbor, and in February I plan to enroll in a Taekwando class with Stephy from LCI. To top off the first half of my first week, I've quickly fallen into a group of people who are mostly from Canada and who initiated me into Wing Night at a Canadian bar in Itaewon this week. 

Finally, Kelly (also from LCI) LARGELY improved this chapter of my life by taking me to the only authentic Southern BBQ restaurant in Seoul, so I'm pleased to write that I now know where to find my love, my life, my pulled pork sandwich.

Just some good ol' Seoul livin'. Now to hit the gym...

Happy New Year

Today is January 1st in Seoul. I'm coming up on 2 weeks here, and it's been absolutely crazy. A man I met at the bar last night told me I should write a blog while I'm here because even if no one reads it (sad), it will act as a journal so I can see how my views of things have changed since the time I arrived here. I liked that idea, so here we are.

Last week I trained at LCI, I moved into my apartment (which is small and adorable and which I will soon leave to move into the "dorm" apartment with some other teachers), and I celebrated Christmas with some teachers from LCI before they headed off to Japan.  The week flew by.

 Flipping adorable.

This week was holiday break, so I had tons of free time to explore Seoul. And explore I did.  I've eaten tons of Korean food (congealed cow blood, anyone?), shopped in the subway stations, visited a Buddhist temple, meditated with a monk, ice skated, explored a traditional Korean village, partied with a crazy American/Canadian band, and rang in the New Year with a ton of fun people in Hongdae. I am currently experiencing my first real Soju hangover, which I had been warned leaves you glued to your bed for an entire day. Fact.

 Lanterns at BongEun Sa Temple

My favorite Korean activity so far has been my trip to the jimjilbang (a bathhouse full of different spa treatments and hot tubs and pools). Everyone gets naked and walks around, which at first was a bit strange but in the end reminded me of my love of skinny dipping (Awww, good ol' Lake Michigan). Molly (from LCI) and I are going to make jimjilbangs a weekly occasion.

 Molly and I having tea at the temple

So, first 2 weeks in a flash = fish dessert waffle carts, lots and lots and lots of people, cramming onto the subway like sardines, SHOPPING, Soju, LOGS (my new favorite food),  adorable Korean kiddos, Korean BBQ, jimjilbangs, walking, people dressed as animals everywhere, running out of money already, funny little teeny tiny dogs, stray cats replacing squirrels, bad hangovers, delicious street food, super friendly people, and absolute OUT OF CONTROL on the streets at all times. I'm elated to be here.

 Old and new beauty