Rousin Rabbles

Here’s some stuff written by my kids at work. This is one of the best essays I’ve received since I’ve worked there. I don’t agree with a lot of what she says, but her writing is incredible.

Most teenagers think that volunteer work is just a waste of time because they do not get anything in return, and does not have any benefits for themselves. Including this cognition, teenagers being too busy, plus the disabled people’s unkindness, these are the reasons why teenagers hesitate to volunteer to help their community.

The primary reason why young people nowaday do not give enough time to help their community is because they are too busy studying. These days, even elementary students go to academies after school. Situations like this do not make time for teenagers to help their community. It is just the adults’ greed, expecting young people to study hard and volunteer.

In addition, why would someone spend their precious time helping others without getting anything? Adolescence is a very important part of people’s lives, hence, they should spend every minute of time wisely. However, if teenagers think of their lives in a long term, helping their community do not benefit them much. It may be a chance for them to learn responsibility, cooperation or being grateful. Yet, these can be fulfilled from other activities, such as babysitting or helping their own grandparents.

Sometimes, the disable people’s attitudes also contribute to one of the reasons why teenagers do not volunteer enough. Some of those disable people do not even thank teenagers for helping, and also say that they do not need help. For example, I once went to a place where disable elderly people stayed. I wanted to be nice and slowly pushed the wheelchair for one of the elders. Suddenly, he turned back and shouted at me. He said he could wheelchair by himself.

I agree that young people nowadays do not give enough time to help their community. On the other hand, there are reasons why they do not. First, it is the teenagers’ bad cognition, but this can be fixed if Korean education lets the young people to have more time to spend other than studying. Lastly, sometimes the disabled people’s unkind attitudes make the young people not want to help them.
-Liz

***

This is one of the worst essays I’ve received. It’s not actually that bad, but the kid who wrote it in class never tries:

Young people now days are very diffrent than young people at the past. Of course, how they think on their community is also diffrent than the past ones.

Some old people nowdays are thinking that young people nowdays are not giving enough time to help their community. However, that is wrong.

People have changed alot from the past. The culture and the way they think have also changed when people changed. However, the old people doesn’t relize that.

Old people think young people aren’t giving enough time on their community. However, that isn’t true. Young people are giving enough time in their culture. Some young people nowdays spend lots of time on their job but the olders doesn’t seem to know that.

It matters on how old people thinks, but the young people are giving enough time on their community.

***

14 out of the 17 kids in my speaking class got a detention from me today for continually speaking when they were not supposed to. I gave them three questions to write about while they were in detention and to turn in to me after detention was over. Here’s what some of them wrote:

I think everyone should change thinking that speak in small voice is ok. And I think we should stop talking when you are talking and do not talk in Korean. Also if we talk when others are speaking that will be very noisy and we cannot evaluate their speaking like today’s class. I think every one talking is bad but we are so talkative. There are so much topics that make us exciting. I will be quiet and more participate your class. And I did listened to the tapes in class. Sorry for make you annoying and will change. Sorry teacher!

Do you remember when you give me some advice? Your advice was very helpful and now I have motivation to study and it was impressive that you knew my problem well and understand. Thank you!

I know our class is too big to controll all over the students and I know we should be quiet and participate in class but some students are not. I understand you are angry and annoying. However most of student like your teaching method like tape recorder and listen-then correct it.

But some students don’t like it and they start talking. Why don’t you make seat arrangement chart? I think it makes students quiet and good for you. For example, noisy student seat in front of you and intimage friend seat far from him or her.

I want to keep good relationship with you and also other student! Sorry teacher...
-Lana

***

Since it was our tape that we heard in class, I felt so nervous that other friends would laugh at me. That’s the reason I kept talking when hearing the recordings. but I shouldn’t have, because, it might disrupt other people from concentrating on their work. Also, I talked with my friends during the recording. I heard one person’s answer was totally ruined because of the noise. Because this is a real practice of TOEFL iBT, I shouldn’t have talked, causing troubles.

I tried to listen to the tape, but I noticed who’s voice it is and couldn’t accurately say out loud. So I talked with my friend next to me. However, I should have listened to the tape because that is one good way to improve my speaking skill. I will not talk or disturb other people in my speaking class again. I should try to hear every recordings and should find out defects. I’m sorry that I disturbed every other’s speaking class and made teacher angry.
-Bethany

***

From next time, I will not talk as I am not supposed to. Also, I will not hinder other students when they record. I believe other students would feel same as me, and they and I will behave better at next time. In addition, I will try to listen to the tape carefully and find what is not appropriate. Kelsi, I am sorry, Kelsi, I am sorry. *repeat five more times* I apologize to you. I make an apology for talking when I am not supposed to. I will not talk in the class when I am not supposed to. I will not disturb other people. I will listen very carefully to the tapes in class.
-Angela

***

I’m so sorry. I don’t really now why I spoke when I was not supposed to speak. I think I didn’t know I’m not supposed to talk. But I listened to the record. I’m sorry. I will always do my best to concentrate and take your class more seriously. I think your class is great. I’m sorry I talked during your class and I think it was a mistake. I will be careful. I can’t explain why I spoke at the time but I know that I was not allowed to speak and I feel very sorry about disrupting your class. Your speaking class is very good and it is being a lot of help to me improving my speaking skills. Thank you. And again I’m sorry.
-Jenny

***

In other news, we went to the beach over the weekend. I'm pretty burnt. The burn on my face is turning into a pretty nice tan tho. My legs, however, are a different story. My left leg is still pretty swollen and still pretty red. Today was the first day I woke up and could actually move my knees and it was amazing!

Michael will be leaving at the end of the semester.

ESL class is getting better. I kind of just changed how I ran the class. I made everything ridiculously easy so they have no excuse not to talk. So once they start talking, then I can ask them more complicated questions and we can discuss more difficult concepts. It's working pretty well! A few of the kids don't like me too much because I gave them detention for not doing what they were supposed to be doing in class. They have a hard time reading their book for homework, so at the end of class I've started giving them like 10 minutes to at least start the pages they're supposed to read for next time. Some of them just sit there and stare at the wall, or color on their paper. They are shocked as hell when I tell them at the end of class to go to detention. Hoon told me some of the kids from my speaking class were confused because they didn't know exactly what they did (because apparently telling kids not to talk, and having them do it anyway is not obvious enough) and were sad about being in detention. I told him I didn't want to be mean but there are too many kids in that class for them to all be talking. He reminded me that I'm head teacher and it's my job to be mean =) Apparently the meaner you are, the more the kids respect you. What? I'm going to go paint my nails and take more medicine so I don't have to hurt every time I move.

k

last friday started out as another ordinary day. i left for work at 215, got there a little after 230, worked, and wound up staying until 3am. but that's not even why it wasn't an ordinary day. the weirdest thing happened to me. i woke up, and i understood korean. now, before then i could understand some and communicate a little bit, but nothing like what it is now. i can eavesdrop! even if i can't fully understand what they're saying, i can look at them like i do. it freaks them out. i stayed at work with three of the korean teachers and they were discussing various things in korean and every once in a while i'd chime in...you should have seen the looks on their faces. they were so very confused about how i could possibly understand what they were saying. i can't tell them what i think in korean because i think my pronunciation is awful and i'm still working on the grammar thing...so when i talk to them, it's still usually in english...which i think throws them off even more. pretend it were you: speaking korean with friend, white girl living in korea 4.5 months suddenly understands what you and friends talk about, lets you know she knows what you're talking about by conversing with you in english. what? it's sweet.

ok, so...in the last month quite a bit has happened. i moved into my new place. actually, it's kim's old place. i don't like it. it's ok, there's nothing wrong with it, i just liked my place more. the view was better and i had curtains. the morning i moved, the moving "team" showed up...by "team," i mean one adjashi (old man). of course, when we start moving all of my stuff, they finally are just starting to clean kim's apartment. three weeks after she left. i was very annoyed, to say the least. i knew that kim's air con didn't work, so i made it a point to let someone know a week in advance that it didn't work. if you haven't yet heard me complain about the humidity here, i'm about to. take the worst humidity you've ever felt in your life...multiply it by three...you've got korea in the summer. walk outside and within minutes you're drenched. it's not sweat, it's just humidity. it's awful. anyhoo, i asked them to fix the air con before i moved in. no. of course they didn't. so for a few days i had no air con...it was unbearable. i do believe i was grouchier than usual. there's just something uncomfortable about being soaking wet for no reason at all. the air con not working wasn't even the best part about my move. the adjumma (old woman) who was cleaning my place, and did a terrible job, stole from me!! it's not like a juice box or bandages are really that important to me, but it's a matter of principle. the adjashi made me go downstairs and help him with something, and while i was gone she helped herself to another juice box, but didn't finish the one i gave her in the first place. she hid the juice box in her stuff. wench. she just kept following me around asking me for my stuff. i even gave her a box of tissues because i had like four. i felt sorry for her, but not sorry enough to be ok with her taking my stuff. she just kept telling me that because she is adjumma i should give her stuff and that her back hurts, blah blah blah. she even asked how much money i made!! and she told me i looked 30! i pretended i didn't understand most of what she said, but the fact is, i did understand...and i wanted her to leave immediately. but i couldn't remember how to say "go away" in korean. she stuck around to help me unpack some of my stuff, and she completely rearranged my room. i understand the hierarchy in korea and biting my tongue was all i could do to not go off on her. as i was waiting for her to leave, i started opening boxes and moving stuff around, she opened a box too and decided that since there were bandages on top and she was adjumma, she deserved to have some. she didn't see me watching her, but i was. i watched her greedily take them and rush over to her bag of tricks and throw them in. hmmf.

so, to "celebrate" my new apartment i had a housewarming party. a potluck with foreign food! hooray! it was me, mau, grace, keri, patrick, mike, lukas, josh, and maybe a couple other people. patrick made some amazing pasta salad. he let me keep the leftovers =) it was a fun night that ended in fireworks and sparklers down by the river. we were celebrating four days after canada day, the fourth of july, and my new apartment. fun and festivities all around.

i also went to a book store called kyobo in bundang. no joke, i was in heaven. HEAVEN. it also had an art box. what more could i ask for? tons of books and office supplies. if you know me, you know i love my office supplies. there's something refreshing about a new box of paper clips or another notebook. ah, it was great, i need to return soon. i bought a couple books and a time magazine (i won't bore you with what i bought at artbox). i've been reading like a madman lately and trading books with the other foreigners. it's nice to be in company of intellectual people who enjoy reading and discussing books and current events. it's also nice because they don't make fun of me for wanting to spend a couple hours after work on a friday reading before i do anything else. an interesting change from home.

a few weeks ago i went to seoul with steve. he was my designated tour guide. we went to gyeongbokgung palace, but unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there. so we took pictures in front of it and went and hung out in insadong. he kept questioning my sense of direction. ha. silly boy. i knew how to get there, but he didn't think i did...even by the time we were 20 feet from where we needed to be, he was still questioning whether or not i knew where i was going. it's ok though, i got to rub it in his face when he asked some guy and he told him the exact same thing i did. but anyway, we saw a buddhist temple, walked around and looked at cool stuff, i bought a t-shirt that makes me look like a tourist, and a few other random things. i suggested to steve a game we should play...it was called, "i don't speak korean." we talked to people in english (even though steve is korean). it was hilarious...you shoulda seen the looks on people's faces when steve started speaking english to them and not korean. we couldn't figure out how to get out of the parking lot (we're not dumb, they lowered the gate arm and you actually had to ask them to raise it for you..but they were on the opposite side of the lot than where the gate arm was). steve asked the attendant in english. poor guy about had a heart attack. i was amused though. we laughed about the look on his face the whole way home. when you look at my photo site and see the pictures of the palace, you can find certain pictures that have me telling you what the different things are. =) neato.

things have been a little crazy at work. we just started a new semester. hoon's dad had a stroke and is paralyzed on one side of his body, so hoon has been scarce and a little moody. but things are finally getting back to normal. his dad is doing fine and is back at home. however, that upsets hoon because he thinks his dad should be in the hospital. we wrote a book during holding period for fall semester. and by "we," i mean all of the foreign teachers. it should be a decent book. we started summer intensives on wednesday (yes, on a wednesday) and things are still a little disorganized. i agreed to teach an esl class in ivy (they share our building, but i work at nokjiwon...which has the really smart kids), and i have never been so happy to leave a class in my life. i love my nokjiwon students. a lot. i don't dislike the ivy students because they can't understand what i say, i dislike them because the air con in the room doesn't work and they're brats. unfortunately i can't always understand what they say in korean, so when they talk i just glare at them and act like i know they just insulted me. one kid played with his phone and kept turning around and talking to his friends. so i beat him. ruthlessly. ok, i didn't beat him...but i made it very clear he shouldn't do that anymore because i'm a mean teacher. none of them have english names either...so i had to call attendance for 17 korean kids. ash.

i finished the newspapers for my journalism class, so as soon as i figure out how to get them on here, i'll do it. the korean teachers loved them! the tas are on the front of one, leslie is on the front of the other, and so hyun and heyoung want to send them home to parents, plus have them hanging up at school and on the tables for parents to look at while they are registering their kids or something like that. one of my kids wrote a huge article on black holes..he's impressive. he looks like he just stepped out of the 70s. but he's really really really REALLY quiet, and has the most adorable smile in the world! dimples!!! he's gonna be a heartbreaker! i listened to his speaking the other day and he talked so much!! i don't think i've heard him say that many words in korean, let alone english! i helped another student prepare for a writing competition, and i've been helping another one with his speaking. busy busy busy.

in addition to the craziness at work, we have revamped our teaching style. you can't make the parents happy. ever. and they're going to drive all of the korean teachers crazy by complaining so much, and drive us crazy because every time they complain we have to change something!! 9 times out of 10 their complaints are unfounded. they take pure advantage of the fact that our school is actually a business and the teachers will jump through hoops to make them happy. anyway, no more fun classes. only toefl. write an essay, correct it in front of the class, assign homework. the kids don't bring their binders or books, and the parents complain we aren't using the books or binders enough. the kids don't pay attention in class, and it's our fault they don't learn anything. they kids don't improve on the toefl, and it's our fault. they don't study, it's our fault. how exactly? i haven't quite figured it out yet...unless...IT'S NOT OUR FAULT! argh!! they say they want their kids to improve in more areas than toefl, so we get to work on the root of their writing/speaking problems, but then the parents say that their kid's score didn't improve, so we shouldn't focus on anything besides toefl. this last statement lacks serious logic. because their kid didn't improve (don't worry that they never did their homework or show up to class), we must not worry about fixing the roots of their problems, just make a temporary fix so they can get a good score on the toefl. the principle kind of echoes an economic stimulus package i heard of once...

my solace about work comes from a few places. 1. most of the kids are really awesome and they laugh at my jokes and some of them try really really hard...even better, they like me too! 2. it sucks for everyone, not just me. 3. the more i work, the faster august will go, the sooner summer intensives and summer itself will be over. 4. i get paid more. 5. brendan is coming soon. 6. i bought my ticket to the summer breeze music festival and am dying to see new found glory. 7. i'm just excited that summer is almost over. one month of this awful weather left. 8. shaun might come visit. 9. i want to go back to school. 10. i have books to read and notebooks to write in. some of the koreans believe that 26 degrees celsius (78 degrees fahrenheit) is air conditioning. sometimes it's miserable in my office because it's so hot. sometimes my kids sit in the direct path of the air con and tell me they're cold. i tell them to bring more clothes, and don't sit in front of the air con, because i'm not turning it off. it is, no joke, 10 degrees hotter in the front of the room than it is in the middle, or even in the back. i keep telling myself i'll get used to it...and maybe i'm not getting used to it, but i'm able to tolerate it...it's also been raining for about a week straight. i'm glad i have a huge umbrella and a pair of rain boots.

anyway, that about wraps it up from this side of the world. mau's sister is in town and me and grace are taking her to the express bus terminal today to go shopping. woot. and, the guy who moved out of the apartment above mine this morning has finally stopped trying to hammer nails into cement on a saturday morning. now he just walks like he's wearing thick, loud heels. i can hear it echo. goodness. i love you, shopping.

k

my new apartment

umm whatever...the people i hang out with...*explicit content warning*

yoyo

on the bus singing a really stupid song...*explicit content warning*

gracey's konglish

and fireworks...*explicit language warning*

ahhhhhh...korea. i wish i could explain korea to you all. i can't. you're thinking: kelsi, you were an english major, you should be able to explain things... and to that i say, there are just some things you can't explain...and korea is one of those things. i'm pretty sure everyone i've met here considers themselves my mom. hoon told me today that it will be raining the rest of the week so i need to remember my umbrella. thank you. in addition to remembering my umbrella, i'm supposed to remember to eat fruits and vegetables and things that are 'good for health.' as if that weren't bad enough, i think koreans like to play matchmaker (but one person is not the matchmaker, it's a community thing...and in my case, heyoung has taken it upon herself to get all of my coworkers involved in the search. awkward). and kids are funny. according to one of my students, i'm secretly 33 years old, i'm in love with hoon, and i'm going to marry steve...hmm...i'll let you know how that turns out. a common game to play here is 'who looks younger?' i staunchly refuse to play this game because i can't win. i suddenly understand how guys feel. guys: you can't win with girls; you're always going to be wrong.

i also don't understand the metric system. why, america, are we the only people in the world who don't use the metric system? this makes it very difficult to measure things. for example, i wanted to make pancakes the other day. i have a liquid measuring cup in my apartment that the guy before me left. so, i went to lotte mart and bought some mix and some eggs, and then i went to make the pancakes and finally noticed that this stupid measuring cup is, of course, not metric. awesome. so, after finding out how much 200 cc of water is, i was forced to figure out something in grams. this proves quite difficult to do with a measuring cup that deals in volume. but, thanks to random sites on the internet, i found out how much 100 grams of sifted flour is in cups, and assumed it would be about the same for pancake mix. amazing how i had no problem reading the directions in korea, all of my troubles were in actually measuring the ingredients! when all was said and done, i had made the best pancakes in the world. we all know how horrible i am at cooking, but they turned out really well!! i even cooked them all the way through =) for those of you who have never eaten pancakes with me, i like to only cook them a little bit and leave uncooked batter on the inside of the pancake. delish. the syrup isn't quite right though..it's ok...but i think i'll try a different brand next time...maybe something not made in korea.

the new teacher came last week...she's really cool!! luckily i had looked her up on facebook and given her my phone number in case she got to the airport and no one was there. she called. no one was there to pick her and her husband up. eventually they got to suji and moved in to their apartment. wednesday after work is kim's going away party, thursday is her last day, and friday we're having a sleepover, and she leaves for new york saturday morning. it's crazy...in a few days, she'll be gone. i hate change!

i finally transfered some money home the other day...damn, i got ripped off. i sent home 1 million won, which is something like $1,000. however...the korean bank took 22000 won as a transfer fee, and my bank took $18, and the rest of the money i lost was due to the stupid exchange rate. how much did i end up with? about $920. lame sauce. while i was at the bank the exchange rate changed a couple times. why is this? is the won losing its worth, or is the dollar gaining worth? it doesn't make sense that the won is losing its worth, and i'm still not convinced that giving every american $600 is enough to move the entire economy. either way, it sucks now. two months ago, i would have made money sending money home...even after the bank fees, if i would have sent 1 million won home, i would have ended up with over a grand in my stateside bank account. LAME!!!!!

brendan will be here the 11th of august...and there is a music festival a few days before he gets here called 썸머브리즈 (summer breeze)...i fully intend on going because NEW FOUND GLORY WILL BE THERE!!!! AHHH!!! since i couldn't figure out how to make it work when i lived in the states, i'm gonna make it work in korea. they were always in kansas, and something always came up...plus, it was like a six hour drive. here, it's only like an hour bus ride...i can handle that!! lost prophets, one republic, the prodigy, panic! at the disco, simple plan, and many other awesome bands are going to be there...it's gonna be greeeeeeeeeeeat!! it'll be hotter than hades, but 100% worth it...i can't wait!! i was going to go to japan in august to see nfg, but seoul is so much closer =)

on that note...i think i'm gonna hit the hay. catch ya on the flip side.

k

*a little something i found...i deleted some of them bc they were lame*

You know you've been in Korea too long when...

1. You are immune to the smell of "kimchi breath"
3. You can pick up a single strand of noodles with chopsticks.
4. You enjoy slurping your noodles as loudly as you can.
6. You walk down the street holding hands with your buddy.
7. You can eat barefooted in a restaurant with your foot in your lap.
8. You can cut in at the front of the line of waiting people with the best of them.
10. You can fall asleep on the subway or bus and wake up at your stop.
12. You can convert any US unit measurements into metric measurements in your head. *i still can't do this though*
16. People ask if you want to go by car and you respond, "No, I'm in a hurry."
17. You wear white socks with dark pants.
18. You can use a squatting toilet and not be weirded out by it.
20. You crawl back into your house to get your coat, rather than take your shoes off or walk on floor with shoes on.
21. You bow at inanimate objects. *totally*
22. Someone says breakfast and you think fish, soup and seaweed.
24. You start believing you can blend into a large crowd of Koreans. so true!!!
26. You answer the phone by saying, "yabasayo?" *guilty*
27. You mutter "chuuh" when you're cold. *yup*
30. You answer "nay" even when speaking English to non-Korean friends. *absolutely*
33. You like Cass or Hite better than Bud or Miller.
34. It seems completely normal to stay out all night.

my kids wrote me a song so i'd give them a detention pass =) they also promised to bring me the moon!

k

i'm starting to be that girl who really sucks at updating her blog and calling her parents...

it was truly hell week here at school...not because anything too awful happened, but being head teacher is lotsa work! nothin i can't handle though...there have been a few problems with the old head teacher giving me some attitude, but i think we've got it squared away now. i love my new position! i get to be in control =) and i get to organize everything...and we all know how much i love to organize and be in control. we just started a new semester last week and i really enjoy the kids in my classes...i don't think my intensive writing class likes me very much because i make them do hard work...i gave them a worksheet yesterday and asked them to find out what was wrong with the sentences...unfortunately for them, it wasn't easy. there were problems with logic and repetition and some other things they aren't used to looking for. i wanted them to notice problems with writing that i have to see over and over again. i think they got the point when it took them five minutes to figure out they were looking at a run-on sentence. they started out looking at very specific things, but after a while began to look at the big picture.

kim's birthday was last monday, so we went out in seoul on saturday and had a bbq on sunday. hoon and new ta came out for a bit and joined all the foreigners. turns out new ta's english teacher is keri! small world... saturday was a pretty fun night...despite the fact that it took us three hours to get to seoul....we ate at dos tacos, then went bar hopping...it was really freaked out by how many foreigners were around...i actually just wanted to go back to suji and be around korean people. how strange is that? anyway, we hitched a ride to itaewon with a guy from dubai...spent the rest of the night chillin and then came home about 3. i think kim had a pretty good birthday! she leaves in like two and a half weeks!!!

i also found out that i have to move in july. boo hiss. the guy who owns my apartment is selling it and therefore can't renew my contract, so i have to move to a different apartment in charmont. grrrrrrrrrr. when that guy told me, i definitely didn't hold the look of anger from my face...he said he'd be there helping, or someone else would. i told heyoung and she offered to help too. i think i'll mostly just need boxes. this is going to be a lot easier than moving from iowa city to des moines, or vice versa. it's still gonna suck though because i already have acquired lots of crap...you know how i do.

steve and heeju's last day was last friday, so the kids threw them a party, then we all went out for a while...good times, good times...i saw steve a couple times over the week, so it's not so bad...but i miss having him at work =(

the new girl comes on wednesday and i have to prepare a bunch of materials for her to understand avalon and their ways and what's expected, etc. in addition to this, i still have to prepare my lesson plans, grade online homework, grade in class homework, and take care of lots of little stuff that requires my attention...oh yeah, and i have to teach 12-70 minute classes a week. ashhhhh (that's korean for 'argh')

oh yeah, i rocked another korean test.

i had a nice ending to a long week last night though. me, kim, and grace went to the OK mart and got a beer and sat outside for a while talking...then hoon invited me to a restaurant for skinny ta's going away party...it was a ton of fun...i'm teaching the tas useful english phrases =) at like 5am we decided to go to noraybong, but it was closed, so we all stood on the street corner talking for a while and then decided to actually go home...i really love the weekends! we were supposed to go to the dmz today, but waited to long to book the tour...brendan is for sure coming in august, so i might just go with him then...i can't wait to see him!!

i need to be gettin some stuff done around here...so i suppose i should get back at it...sorry for the constant delays in blogging...i feel like at some point in every day at least 15 people want my attention. i'm enjoying not doing anything except my stuff today. *relaxing*

anyong,
<3 k

It's been one helluva week! Basically, I have big news. I am now the foreign head teacher. Why? Because I do the head foreign teacher job better than the guy who currently holds the position. He's been here over a year, resigned and has been teaching ESL for like a gazillion years. Too bad for him, I just have a social grace he lacks, and the Korean teachers love. I am to be the liaison between Korean and foreign teachers, make sure we get done what needs to get done, and pretty much be awesome. With this new position comes a raise and a stroke to my ego. =) *cloud 9* After I was informed of this change, one of the Korean teachers told me that I might have to be stern sometimes...I told her I have no problem being a b*tch when stuff needs to get done. And how true that is...

Friday night we went to Monkey Beach, had a few drinks, came home...Saturday, Avalon took us to the musical JUMP. It was so amazing, if the tickets weren't so expensive, I'd go again in a heartbeat! It's a comical musical involving martial arts...more specifically, taekwondo and taekkyeon. https://www.hijump.co.kr/index.asp Watch this movie! It's only a clip, but you kinda get the point. It took three years and seven months to prepare. It was absolutely incredible and if it comes to a town near you...GO SEE IT!!! After the musical, we all went out to supper in Seoul, and headed back to Suji to pay a visit to Exit Bar. I'd never been there before, but it was pretty chill. This bar is where all the foreigners hang out...there were hardly any people there last night, so the pool table was free and it had decent music...no creepy people...

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday...I spent a lot of time traveling today. Actually, a total of a little more than four hours. It took me about an hour by bus to get to Suwon, then I took the train to Songtan Station. However, on the train ride to Songtan Station, the train only went to every other stop. So, once I reached the stop AFTER the one I needed to be at, I had to find another train going back the way I just came. Lucky for me, I think they only came twice an hour and I had just missed the last one. Either way, I waited about 20 minutes and finally got on the train to Songtan Station. And there I met Nathan. He had some stuff from my parents for me. This was a really nice day to be traveling...and you can't tell, but I'm being very sarcastic right now. It poured ALL DAY LONG. No joke. I woke up at 10 this morning, it was raining....I got home at 10 tonight...it was still raining. By the time I got to the train station, the bottoms of my pants were soaked. But by the time I walked another 20 minutes to Nathan's place, every item of clothing I had on was soaked. The first thing he did when I got there was bring out to hangers with some pants and a shirt on them and asked if I wanted something else to change in to. How sweet! My parents sent me some clothes, so I didn't have to worry about wearing his (although I did steal his sweatshirt when I left because my jacket was still dripping). He called me a cab later on to go back to the train station, but it was a Base Cab. Meaning, it came from Osan. It was a lot cheaper, but here's the kicker: they don't take Won, they take Dollars!!! So before I left Nathan made sure I had some American currency to pay with. I switched him 10000 Won for ten bucks, and then asked him how much money I just made off him...apparently, I made out like a bandit! Long story short, I traveled another two hours home. I went and hung out with Grace and Kim and we had girl talk and ordered pizza and watched Sex in the City. Even though Nathan and I have somewhat of an interesting past, and sometimes he frustrates me, it was REALLY nice to see someone from home. In person. REALLY NICE. It wasn't just someone from home, it was someone who has known me for 12 years and someone who knows all of my quirks and stupid things. I know of six people from home who are here: Nathan, Becca and Naomi (I went to Prague with them in 2003), John, Seewoo (I met him at Iowa), and Erin (I worked with her at Parking). I have only seen Nathan. I've talked to the other people, but haven't had a chance to meet up with them yet. Crazy schedules, different cities...it gets complicated!

I'm so happy to have some more clothes! And Easter Candy! And Jiffy Pop! And to know that John is coming to Korea with more stuff from my parents!! And there's another box on its way...soon!! I don't think I mentioned this yet, but I bought a keyboard last weekend! Hopefully I'll have time to play it soon. I really wish I had a maid though. And I also wish that someone could learn Korean for me and I could just know it. That would be stellar.

At any rate, I should probably hit the hay. All that sitting on buses and trains and walking in the rain, I'm tired!! I wish you all a great week!

k