SNOW!

Today was officially the first snow. I love it…for now. Snow and I have that kind of relationship. It’s cool for about  a week, and then I’m over it. I also love it because it means it’s not quite as cold out…

Anyway, On Friday I spent the day not giving a shit and saying goodbye to all of last semesters little brats. I’m so glad to see some of them graduate and go to the middle school, but also a little scared that I’ll hafta teach some of my younger students again this semester. I bought donuts for one class, and they said to me, “50C Teacher, you’re cheap. You bought Dunking and not Krispy Kreme!” I wanted to punch a few.

I got my schedule for this semester. It’s kinda crappy and yet still okay at the same time…I think. I teach fewer classes. I have 6 spares, which means there’s six class spots a week that I don’t have to teach…at least I’ll finally be able grade things. I’m gonna go in early tomorrow to clean out my desk and get more organized. Yay! I am excited to have new students, but I got a lot of low level reading classes…and the rest of my classes are just regular reading. I HATE reading classes. Too boring. Then a few days after Christmas we start intensives- that means work from 12 till 10pm every day. I refuse to go…but we’ll see how that works out.

Friday, after work Danny came over again for a 24 marathon. He’d never seen it but I was sure he’d get addicted. We invited over Lynsie and Aaron and ordered some pizzas and drank the Dr. Pepper I found at the grocery store near my house that I never knew existed. I kicked them out, and then Danny and I stayed up till 6am watching 24 Season 1 (which I’ve seen twice already). He would have stayed up longer if I wasnt so tired. I finally got the cord to hook up my computer to my tv and so we had a sweet setup. Reluctantly, we went to bed (in separate rooms!).

In the morning we woke up and went to Myeongdong to buy new phone accessories. Previously, we both had this heart charm that Vanessa gave us…it was a kind of friendship charm…but everyone kept asking if we were a couple so we decided that we should change it. So this time we shelled out a big 1,000won ($1) for cute kitties. It was FREEEEEEZING…so I bought ear muffs and let Danny pick out some gloves for me. My feet were still frozen tho and I was miserably cold.

After buying our friendship charms we met one of Danny’s roomies at a coffee shop in Suwon (near D’s university). When he left we waited for Sexy Sung Jin to come have dinner with us. Sung Jin, an adorable first year who I’m sure is still afraid of girls, finally agreed to meet me. I’m making progress. He usta run away when he saw me. His English isn’t very good at all, but I just tease him a lot and he seems to get the gist. He’s so cute. Like a puppy! We had cheesy kimchi over rice….YUM! I told Sung Jin I’d pay if he kissed me. Sung Jin nearly died. I paid anyway.

Danny ran into his senior at the restaurant. He was having dinner with his girlfriend. When he asked Danny what he was up to, Danny lied and said he was having dinner with his girlfriend- ME! Sung Jin giggled and I just waved (not knowing what they were talking about). D’s senior looked totally shocked so it was kinda funny in retrospect. D’s dating a black girl…SCANDAL! haha. I wonder what he was actually thinking.

That's My Pat Bing Su!

Pat Bing Su Laugh

Pat Bing Su

Me and Sung Jin

Today I woke at noon, just in time to be late for my Korean lesson. I learned some new things like ” The bookstore is near the library. The library is in front of the hospital.” Stuff like that. I’m quite proud of my progress. Yesterday I had a “conversation” with a cab driver.

Ian Last Weekend

After lessons I left to meet Ian (speaking of Ian, check out that hot picture of him from last week) and Basillia (a Korean teacher from my hagwon known as “hot teacher”). We were supposta meet Aaron and Lynsie too but neither of us called them. Ian thought I had..I thought he had. Anyway, we were sans A&L, but I had fun anyway. We went to this amazing Chinese restaurant near Honkuk University station. We ordered SOO much food because both Ian and I are fat kids at heart. The last dish he ordered was…interesting. He asked me if I ate egg…and I said “yes,” but I thought he meant egg egg…but he meant fish ovaries and fish intestines…not the same. I tried both. The intestines were kinda good, but the ovaries looked like the inside of a penis and had the texture of meat so it creeped me out. After dinner we got more food and drank some Korean Rice Wine (which is like carbonated milk…pretty good) at a place where the ajummas kept cursing and cracking jokes. Then after that we had ice cream Coldstone. I had a fat day today.

Rice Wine

Korean Rice Wine

Ian wont let me take pics anymore

EVER

Basillia aka Hot Teacher

Ovaries and Intestines

When I got home I wrote D’s essay for him. He’s got some English class he needed help with. I don’t mind. He bought me a delicious lunch yesterday to make up for it, and it was too easy for me. Now, I’m doing this.

It’s 2:20am so I should go to bed now. Early(ier) day tomorrow.

NIGHT! 잘자!

Ps. Check out these ghetto FUBU subway cars. bahahaah. yes.

FUBU Train

Fubu Subway

uThis weekend I went to Suwon, again…for a couple of reasons (or shall we say Koreans) actually. First, I was set to meet Sung Min at his military base. I was a little nervous that his English speaking skills would make it too difficult for us to communicate, and so I backed a box of Dunkin Doughnuts to try and keep him occupied during my stay. Suwon is a good 2 hours subway ride away, then a 20 minute wait for a cab at Suwon station, and finally a 20 minute cab ride ($8) to the base. When I arrived all I could see was two heavily armed soldiers in their camo military coats and a almost dilapidated white house. Following Sung Min’s directions, I hesitantly entered the building to see before me some shabby, granny-looking curtains and a dozen or so families gathered with their home-sick sons for a quick weekend visit. To the right of me was a small desk, seated at it was one soldier. I pointed to my piece of paper with Sung Min’s name on it and the guy behind the counter took my passport and tried avoiding eye contact with me. He quickly called his English speaking solider friend (who was followed by a few eager soldiers, excited to see a foreigner for the first time in years) to ask me a few basic questions. All of them marveled as they read my the name I’d written on the piece of paper in front of them, they read my english name…they giggled a little. Then they looked at me like they wanted to ask a question but were far too afraid. “Nevermind,” they laughed bashfully, and turned away.

I waited, awkwardly standing in the corner nearest the desk, while Sung Min took his time. When he finally arrived he seemed absolutely terrified. He’d told me over the phone just an hour before that he was really really nervous because I was the first foreigner he’d ever met. He sort of paced around a bit, looking at the full meeting room, and decided it’d be best to take me back to his room to meet his roomies (who had all declined to join him in meeting me because they were too afraid of me! haha). So when I got to the room they literally screamed “Omo!” They shrieked and then they all started laughing. I got a few “Hellos” and the rest just kinda smiled at me but were far too afraid to talk. It was pretty adorable. One of them gave me an ice cream cup and I just kinda sat there trying to come up with things to say to Sung Min. His English was much better than I expected. It was such a relief. Plus, one of his roomies (the one in the picture with the bright light reflecting off of his jacket) really wanted to practice his English with me. He could really only say “What is your name.” “Where are you from.” etc.

After a bit Sung Min walked me around the base. It was rough, and reminded me that Korea isn’t quite the “first world.” I forget sometimes that its technically still developing because Seoul is so high-tech and awesome, but the base was an eye-opener. It was literally 2 dormitories, a church, a convenience store and some run-down tennis courts, basketball courts, etc. Sung Min repeated over and over again how much he hated it there. He’s got 6 months left though! Ah. I left an hour and a half after arriving, but I’ll visit them again. They look so bored its sad, and so I wanna be able to at least help break the monotony.

After leaving I went to Suwon station to see a movie with Danny. We saw “Blindness.” Just….don’t see it. It’s not terrible, but it is mildly retarded. Plus, I had to pee the entire time, but Korean movie watchers are so intense so I was a little afraid to stand up and go out. After the movie we had dinner and frozen yogurt, and then parted ways again.

Sunday started out as business as usual. I met Min Hye for Korean lessons, and then waited for about 2.5 hours to meet these university students who needed me to help them with a project. They met me in Itaewon the only time I ever went there. I was coming out of the bathroom and they asked if they could interview me for class. I guess I gave a good interview so they called me again. It was pretty fun, but they were a little quiet at first…it got less awkward as the night went on. We went out for boil fish…like you eat pieces of meat off of a whole fish. It was delicious, but really difficult for me to eat with chopsticks. I felt retarded, because normally I’m so good at chopsticks. Anyway, I ate some stuff I couldnt recognize, but I didnt ask what it was cuz it might make me sick to know. Then they took me to this cafe called Free Cafe (can’t remember the Korean name). It was SOOO cute and fancy. We had $7 Bubble Tea’s and I got a free fortune telling. I’m not into that stuff AT ALL, but they ordered it for me as a surprise. The guy didnt touch me or anything so it was okay I guess. He just looked up some stuff in a book.

Stickers!

My fortune was pretty bad a$$. Apparently I’m gonna be a student for awhile and eventually get my PhD. I’m apparently really smart haha. I’m great at teaching so I’ll become a professor. I’ll get married to a guy that’s born in 1982 or 1983, and he WON’T be a friend. He’ll be someone from work. So LIEN that means I WILL NOT BEING MARRYING DANNY!!!! (what about “just friends” do people not understand…you too falco!) We’ll have 2 kids, a boy and a girl. The only thing I didn’t like is that I’m supposta be 32 when I get married, and that’s a little old in my opinion. So I decided not to believe that part. OH and also the guy said (parents close your eyes) that my husband and I will have great sex. The Koreans started giggling like mad when the fortune teller guy said that but I didnt know what they were laughing at as I was still waiting for the translation. They could barely tell me the fortune teller said that…but hahahha…what a funny thing to say.

Power Ball!

Afterwards we went to a sticker photo shop and took sticker photos. They are MAD on that stuff in Korea. Like the beepin LOVE IT. It was crazy in that machine but so much fun. Then, we parted ways.

Now tomorrow is back to work…blah. It’s our last week with the group of kids and 9:30 endings…but I’ll tell you about how my hagwon managed to make my job worse later. I’ll update soon.

-50Cent

My New Coat! Yay Winter!

So I got paid on Monday. YAY! I was dissapointed to be reminded that my hagwon takes out 200,000 won for the first 2 months for some apartment fee. BOOO! On top of that tomorrow I’ll be transferring half of my check to my parents to cover student loans, credit card fees, and to pay back Brazil. This responsible adult thing is not sitting well with me. So expensive. On top of that I’ve got a cell phone bill coming and my utilities bills. Apparently you can not pay for like 3 months before they turn anything off…I’m not saying I’m going to explore that option…I’m just saying. The worst part is that I found this great little shop called Commonwealth something. It’s just the kind of shop that I love. The kind you’d find in Lil’ 5 in Atlanta. I spent 100 bucks there. I know I know. I don’t even have any money. But there was this dress on Friday and this jacket Today…and okay no excuses. But really I was pursuaded by the supurb English of the girl behind the counter. I think we’ll end up partying together.

New Hoodie:

On another note, my kids all think I’m fat and badly dressed. Well not all, but last week one kid told me I looked like I was pregnant, and one whole class screamed “Jenny teacher, we hate your passion.” Passion meaning fashion. They told me this on a day when I was just wearing a black cotton baby-doll dress and black tights- by the far the most uninteresting outfit ever. Apparently my dress was too short. I don’t really understand, but Korean kids definitely have a different sense of fashion than Americans. Everything I wear is just wrong and makes me look like an ajumma (old lady), even when I’m only wearing jeans and a polo. Anything mildly conservative is considered old fashioned. J-Crew and Banana would not do well with the young ppl here. (Let me also point out that my most recent hoodie addition actually says: Dirty South. Drop it like its hot. 2005. Ya heard!”

On the weekend I just did the same old thing and hung out with Danny. We watched Step Brothers (which he thought was funny but I thought was retarded) and Saw V (which we both agreed was a waste of time). We also went to a pool hall and played some pool. He won 2 and I won 1 in the last second. The next day he took me to CoEx mall at Samsung-dong. It was big and fun, and a lot like an American style mall. There were so many cool shops and American shoe stores, so I think I’ll be returning there next paycheck to by some Chuck Taylors because I need some sneakers like woah. Actually I need shoes, but you can’t buy shoes ove ra size 7 here, so basically I’m screwed.

As usual I had my Korean lessons on Sunday (my Saturday lessons have been taken over by Danny), and afterwards my tutor took me to a really tasty Mexican restuarant called Dos Tacos (near Gangnam station). I was so nice to have a burrito. I had a shrimp and potato burrito that I’m still dreaming about. It’s expensive though, in my opinion. $7.50 for my burrito. But then again, they do have to import all that cheese.

Next weekend I’m going to see Eagle Eye with Danny. We know its old, but we’ve been meaning to go see it for ages. I’m suprised its even still in the theaters. Before that I”m heading down to an army base near Suwon to meet Sung Min. YAY! He’s been calling me for the past few days, and its really interesting trying to communicate with him via phone. His typing English skills are pretty okay, but his speaking skills are…not terrible..but a little bit hard to understand. I’m not sure he understood even half of our 15 minute conversation. He was like “I’m so excited. I’ll practice my English before you come. You’re the first American I’ve ever met!” Hahahha. It’s a lot of pressure for me. What if I suck and he hates America forever. I’ll try to do my country proud.

Anyway, I’m bout to go to work. I’ll talk to ya’ll later.

Pepero Sticks!

I don’t know much about it except that it’s a genius marketing ploy by the Pepero company. Apparently 11/11 looks like Pepero sticks, and so everyone gives away a crap ton of Pepero on the day.  It can be romantic (as many of the boxes are shaped as hearts, etc), but you can also give it to friends, coworkers, anyone…. Some of my students said they’d bring me some either today or Wednesday so I’m pretty excited because Pepero is frickin delicious. Ne way. I’m copying and pasting what Wikipedia said below…

Pepero Day is an observance in South Korea similar to Valentine’s Day or Sweetest Day. It is named after the Korean snack Pepero and held on November 11, since the date “11/11″ resembles five sticks of Pepero. The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts.

According to one story, Pepero Day was started in 1994 by students at a girls’ middle school in Busan, where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow “as tall and slender as a Pepero”^{[citation needed]} (Pepero means “thin like a stick”). However, it is more likely it was initiated by Lotte, the company which produces Pepero.

In Japan, a similar Pocky Day was held on November 11 in 1999, which was the 11th year of the Heisei era. The date, 11/11 of the 11th year, resembled 6 sticks of Pocky.

and my stupid students got “Kissing You” by SNSD (or Girl’s Generation)… It’s kind of a stupid song but the chorus always takes over my brain. The overcrowded, over plastic surgeried (if thats even a word) teeny boppers are loathed by a majority of my students for being too fake…but that doesnt stop them from singing that song in class. AHHH!

Yes We Did!

Wa, 50CS Teacher! Waaaa! As my students would say to show their disapproval (generally only used when I’m singing or telling a bad joke). Now I’m saying WA! because I’ve really dropped the ball lately on this whole updating thing. I have been a little busy, but no excuses. Mostly I’m just too lazy. Hmm…so what’s happened recently.

Well…I now have a least a little faith in my county. OBAMA F’in DID IT! I stayed up all night checking his stats, and woke up early in the morning to watch some election madness. Only I was disappointed because they were playing some stupid children’s cartoon on AFN (American Forces Network), the only channel that is completely in English. I screamed a little and spent an hour trying to find somewhere to watch the election stuff online. I finally settled for the constant refreshing of CNN.com. I was pleased with what I saw. Finally at about 11am AFN started playing ABC news. By about 12:50 Korea time I was told that Obama was my new president. I screamed so loud I’m sure I worried the neighbors. I cried every time they showed a Black person on television, and I started feeling a bit homesick. No one to scream with. No one could really understand my feelings. I’m the only Black teacher at my hagwon (i think…although their may or may not be a black/korean guy in my office), and one of a few Americans. I instantly called Falco and we screamed together a bit.

It was such an emotional day. I contemplated calling in sick to work…taking a “YAY! Black people!” day, but in the end I just toughed it out. It was nice though, because all of the kids were so excited that Obama won. Since I was Black they made it a point to bring it up every moment of the day. “Jenny teacher, I love Black people skin. You…Obama. Yay! Black people!” or as one 7 year old said “Obama win. Black people sooo happy.” The general mood in S. Korea is that Obama winning is absolutely a good thing. As my kids told me, Mccain is bald. They don’t dig the baldies too much here. But many are worried about Obama’s proposed Open Trade policy with Korea. They live off of their exports, and if those drop then they are in trouble. Personally I think they’ll be f***ed for a while, but in the long run a strong American economy is best for them too. But then again…what do I know.

His gift of TP for my house (Korean custom)

Change of subject. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this but I absolutely have a new best friend. Dae Hyuk and I have been like this-close-only-he’s-over-there for a month now. We talk every single day, and every weekend he’s free he crashes at my apartment. I bought him a bed and everything, and he has his own room which is nice. No no no no no no…its NOT like that…no matter what Falco tells you. Our relationship is entirely platonic!!! I must admit though, its nice to have such a close friend here. Other than him and Vanessa I’m a little lonely here somtimes. Plus, he’s Korean and a boy so I can make him do all the things I cant do. Order food for me late at night. Take out my disgusting garbage (that had been sitting outside for a month) and clean up the maggots that had grown all over the bag…. And next weekend he’s showing me how to make Korean food. He was a chef in the army. I just wish he didn’t live 2 hours away! It’d be much more convenient. Thank goodness I have a spare room.

Anywho, he came over again this weekend. He met me at my hagwon at 9:30 like he normally does. All of my coworkers were like…”He comes so often. Is he your boyfriend?” I unsuccessfully convinced him that he was NOT. Then we headed over to Ron’s apartment (Ron’s a Korean American with a VERY thick Valley accent and absolutely no Korean speaking skills) and played Playstation 3 and drank wine. Then we (Ron 28, Ron’s friend Bruce 26, Aaron my coworker 24, and Aarons gf Lindsay 23) headed to a bar for food and chatting.

Ron sniff ours awesome pitcher of beer.

Ron wouldnt stop talking about his job working at sex-shop and other sex related things. It was mad awkward with a Korean in our midst since talking about that stuff is pretty taboo. Danny just laughed it off, and thank goodness he didnt understand most of it. It was REALLY uncomfortable explaining things to him and so finally he just asked me to stop. Then Ian, a Korean teacher from my hagwon, came and joined us. We begged him to norebang (singing room) with us, and he refused. So, we got him drunk and then he willingly busted out with some old school Korean rap and a little Greenday. It was maaad fun. We stayed at the norebang until about 4am, then headed off to eat some delicious foods.

We had clams. YUUUUUM! But it was prepared in a more traditional Korean way. AAAALIIIIVE! They just throw live clams over some coals and you wait until their shells pop open. I screamed “WHY IS IT MOVING” cuz at first they wiggle about a bit and its a little gross. But a few seconds later the wiggling stops and they just looking f***ing delicious. I ate so many I nearly sick. Ron continued talking about sex and penis and other inappropriate things. He was so drunk (off of his 2 bottles of wine and a million beers/soju shots) that we all just ignored him. Finally Danny and I split (the last ones other than Ian) at 5:30am and headed back to my apartment. We talked until about 6:30 and then went to bed (Danny in his room of course!).

Lins and Aaron

Me and Bruce Norebanging It!

Ron and Brucey

Me and Dae Hyuk

The next day was Saturday. Danny and I woke up at like 1pm and stumbled out of bed and out to Hyewa station for lunch. Kimchi stew (김치 찌개) for me, and Udon for him. Afterwards I treated him to some Haagen Daz because it was the first one I’d seen since I got to Korea. It was SOOO good. He loved it. Much better than Baskin Robbins (which is EVERYWHERE here…but they use fake sugar EW!). I had plans to meet Won Seok, and so I abandoned Danny and met WS in Suwon. We ate dinner at a beer lounge and then went to see Mama Mia (which is RETARDED by the way). It was his suggestion. Afterward I met back up with Danny and we rode the 2 hour train ride back to my apartment.

SOOO FAR!! That’s where Danny lives- wish he lived closer. We’d left on the Subway to late and the last train stopped well before my house. So we stood outside in the cold for a while before randomly finding a bus to Junggye. We got off too early on accident and walked around until we found a cab. We grabbed some fries at McD, and got uber excited for the pizza we’d be getting form our favorite pizza joint. Only at 1:30am it was actually closed! BLAST! So we went back to my apartment and spent a good hour calling every pizza place in a 20 mile radius. We failed. So we ate cup noodle and potato chips and watched She’s the Man (his suggestion, even though I wont lie… I love Amanda B!) The next morning Danny headed back to Suwon and I left for my Korean lessons.

Min Hye and BF

Min Hye (my tutor) and her boyfriend took me out after my lesson to get some amazing Korea food. First they ordered some soup that’s traditional to eat for a hangover. Starts with a B but I dont remember the name. Its delicious (if you like fish)! Then they ordered some fried, battered, and sauced fish for the main meal. AHHH SOOOO GOOOOD! We talked for like 2 hours until the guy at the restaurant kind of signaled for us to leave. We went to Paris Croissant (apparently only located in super posh areas of town) for Oreo Cheesecake and Pumpkin Walnut something pie. SOOOOOOO good. Min Hye asked me about prom and told me how jealous she was that we get to wear prom dresses. She was disappointed to find out that I didn’t go to mine. Bleh, anyway, that’s that.

Now its Monday (actually Tuesday since its so late). The kids were surprisingly uninteresting today so nothing to report on that front.

I’ll try to update more regularly so that my posts don’t have to be so long. This one’ll take a few days for ya’ll to read.

Alright well gnight (잘자!)

So BOA finally released her new English single, “Eat You Up”. It is MUCH (or muchee in Konglish) better than I thought…and man…girl can dance. Sometimes her accent is a little annoying, and I’m not saying the song will be a hit by any means, but its not retarded…like some non-Asian/K-pop lovers might just enjoy it a little. But really check out home gurls dancin’….looks like some ish from America’s Best Dance Crew…

my phone!

The weekend is OVER. sigh. So terrible.The idea of going back to work tomorrow makes me a little sad. i don’t HATE my job, but i don’t love it either. Sooo many hours….in a row…no breaks…so many loud kids. ah. Tomorrow i teach phonics too, my youngest class. it’s mostly just screaming and me covering my ears and hiding in the corner.

My weekend was really fun though…although i feel like without a three day holiday weekends are really just saturday and then nap/recovery day. On saturday I GOT A PHONE!!! some random guy from one of my language exchange websites helped me set it up. Literally, the first time I ever met him in person, he got a phone for me. he didn’t pay for it (don’t worry ^^;;) but in order for me to have a monthly plan a korean had to put it under their name. Anyway, he really saved the day and my phone is totally boss. It’s fully equipped with an english-korean dictionary and an interactive subway map (which is SO useful). It’s like the only phone in Korea without television though, but I don’t mind since I can’t understand Korean tv anyway.

Now I’m mostly just jealous of everyone’s PMP (personal media device..i’d like to just call it pimp). My friend Dae Hyuk (or Danny) that I met this weekend has one, and it made our 1 hour bus ride from Gangnam station sooo much better. We just watch Friends the whole way. Although I must mention that he had High School Musical 2 and Kung Fu Panda (which he admitted to having watched twice) saved on it too. No comment. Endless teasing. “Zac Efron is the coolest.” Direct quote. I kid you NOT. I guess I’m jumping ahead a little…lets backtrack.

here are the photos for the events that follow.

So after I met up with Sang Seng to get my phone, I almost immediately left to chill with Dae Hyuk. Dae Hyuk is my Korean friend who studied in Canada for 1 year and was transformed into a gangsta by his Chinese-Canadian friend. I kid you NOT he says “yo” at least every other word, and the other day even interjected a “you got beef with me” into an actual conversation. We’d been talking on skype like every day for weeks now, so it was reallye xciting to finally meet up in person. He was exactly the same as in our phone conversations, which is good because it meant that I could kid around with him a lot still and his English is absolutely the BEST so far. I don’t even have to slow down my talking speed or erase all slang when talking, and he’s only really been studying English for the past 2 years…it’s mad crazy “yo, eh” as he would say.

So he treated me to some DELICIOUS noodles with delicious spicy seafood in it..mmm…i can still remember it. So delicious! Then we walked around Myung Bung haha…or whatever its called..(I keep forgetting) for a bit. It’s a HUGE overcrowded market with tons of American shops like “Forever 21″ but also a $#!+ ton of little stands where you could buy an entire outfit for $10 (10,000W). We got a little bored of walking around, so we sat down and had some fresh buble tea. Mmm… he almost ordered me kiwi and killed me, but I stopped him just in time and went for a refreshing peach. We sat at a table and talked for almost 2 hours about a wide range of personal stuff and then headed off for Suwon (to go visit Aju University, where he goes to uni.) He’s 23 but (because of military service and study in Canada) he’s only a sophomore (English literature major).

When we got there we just walked around his university a bit but it had gotten MAD cold. Well…not like winter cold, but like I should brought a proper jacket cold. So on our way to his room to get me a sweatshirt we ran into Sexy Sung Jin. Backstory: Whenever I chat with Dae Hyuk his roomie, Sung Jin (who is 19), is sitting next to him. So joking I’m always like “Agi (baby), talk to me.” or “Where’s Sexy Sung Jin.” “I can’t wait to meet Sung Jin.” etc etc. I don’t know how that started, but it did and I’m more than happy to continue the ongoing joke. Sung Jin speaks almost no English, so he usually just understand the words SEXY or AGI…so I occassionally have Dae Hyuk teach me some funny Korean phrases like “Come to me, baby.” etc etc. Sung Jin was far too afraid to actually meet me, as he told Dae Hyuk. So we end up accidentally running into Sexy Sung Jin!! He was so scared, he nearly just made a run for it. I screamed, in my loud American voice, “AGI! SEXY SUNG JIN-A” hahaha. Poor Sung Jin. He just gave a polite bow and kept walking.

norEbang

So after our brief encounter with my agi, Dae Hyuk and I went for a bite to eat again. This time I had kimchi stew and he had some other kind of stew. YUMMY! When we finished we headed to a bar and ate tasty Korean bar snacks (yea a lot of food) like fish cakes, salted dried squid (which is SOOO good…it tastes like a variation of beef jerky), and fries (a little slice of Americana). Then, Falco called and wanted to chill, and since she lives kind of near there she stopped by and we all went to norebang (singing room). NO-RE-BAAANG! If I remember correctly we sang a variety of songs from Big Bang’s “Lies” to “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls. My favorites were “Your Body is a Wonderland” and “I”ll Make Love to You” by Boys to Men. This time we even busted out the tambourines that the norebang supplies FOR FREE! When we finished it was nearly 1am but Falco didn’t wanna hit the sack yet, so we all headed to NOW bar in Suwon for some drinks, darts, and pool.

i'm so BOSS at darts...almost a bullseye

It was almost empty, although Falco assures us that its normally packed. That was fine though. We met a Koran guy who grew up in Ecuador, an Inuit (who explained to me that in Inuit language Haagen Das is how you say goodbye) ninja, and a Black guy from France. They were all a little over the top, but it made the night

yea, boy!

interesting, I guess. Dae Hyuk drank too much, and since he’s allergic to beer he broke out in hives and turned BRIGHT red. So we left the bar early…at 5:30am…he went to his home and I slept over at Falco’s. We didn’t actually hit the sack until 6am and I woke up at 10am to get ready to go to my Korean lessons (which i was late for…again. my tutor was PISSED). That was my weekend other than the fact that I bought a new sweater for 10 bucks the Gangnam subway station.

Now I’m sleep as all beep and ready to hit the sack.

More bloggin next time. Ciao.

-50CS

1. Hiking gear. I can’t even tell you how many ajummas and ajusshis I’ve seen sporting full out hiking gear. I’m talking hiking boots, the oh so famous visor, full on hiking clothes, water bottle backpacks…the whole deal. I just don’t get it. I know there’s a few mountains around here, but there’s no way in hell that 7 out of 8 ajummas are going hiking on any given day.

2. Couples outfits. Okay, I knew about the Koreans and their couple outfits but its soooooo much lamer in person. Couples wearing matching shoes. Couples wearing matching tshirts with teddy bears on them. Couples wearing jeans, a Polham hoodie, and matching Chucks. Its just too wrong. SO WRONG. I’m all for doing as the natives do..but thats just flat out crossing the line.

3. Boys caring girls’ purses. As Kyle from work said “There are the boys who carry girls purses and the boys who **** the girls with purses. Never the twain shall mix.” In America if your girl makes you carry her purse you’re a little b****. Or as Mr. Williams would say, “You’ve been WIFED.” Wiped. That’s all I have to say about Korean men. I get it. It’s a nice gesture. But matching outfits and the purse…I can’t help but wanna tease you relentlessly. How did u let this happen. It’s not China. There’s no massive shortage of women. You dont’ have to do this. YOU DONT HAVE TO. Also, Falco let a guy carry her purse. I just have to point this out. I just have to.

4. Pencil Cases. No really. Pencil cases? One of the 13 year old boys in one of my classes has a baby blue pencil case with bunnies and flowers are all over it. I said “노는게!” Which I think translates into “You are gay.” And he was like “Teacher, you wanna fight?” So i told him to step to the front of the classroom and put his fists up. I stood there in ready stance, but the little punk backed down haha. As my friend Ashley from Australia said- “You’re really teaching them some progressive ways aren’t you, 50CS”. Yes I am. All those years a womens college are finally paying off haha. Anyway, Koreans are mad on pencil cases….especially the girls (but not excluding the boys). One of their prizes for doing their homework is a pencil cases…those kids would die for one. You’d have to AT LEAST give an American kid money or movie tickets or something.

5. Choreographed dancing. The love it. Walking down the street, a popular song comes on, choreographed dancing. In a night club boys step to the middle and then choreographed dancing. Same Name told me that at one club she went to a group of about 6 guys did some choreographed moves for a good 20 minutes straight, ignoring all girls that stared their way. Which leads me to…

6. Step Up 2. I don’t know either. But I’ve heard it mentioned more times than necessary. More people have mentioned to me than Americans that actually went to see the movie in the theaters…or could sit through it when they rented it.

7. The 80′s. You thought the 80′s were back State Side? PSSSH! It’s NOTHING compared to the Korean hipsters. Reeboks. REEBOK! When was the last time you’ve ever even heard that name. I kid you not, it has to be the most popular shoe on the market along with air force ones and various versions of nike street wear. Skinny jeans- but not just for the emo kids. Korean young men, a lot of whom are much more petite and girlish figured than your average American boy, look a lot more feminine in skinny jeans. It usually doesnt help that they are also wearing low vneck shirts. Although I must admit, I like the Koreans being mad on hats.

8. Murses. The man purse is all the rage. I get it though, it’s practical. I’m also adjusting to it. But for the first few weeks it was just too Ryan Seacrest for me.

9. The closet. You’ll meet the gayest person of your ENTIRE LIFE and they will be with their wife/girlfriend. The absolute GAYEST. Like more than Ryan Seacrest. More than Clay Aiken. I’m talking Carson Cresly (sp) from Queer Eye gay. Perez Hilton gay. GAAAAY. Yet if they ever admitted it I’d give you a million bucks. The other thing is that girls still have crushes on them. Take SuperJunior (the boy band). They can practically make out on national television and all the girls are like “they are so cute.” Gaydar hasn’t kicked in here…AT ALL. Although, I must admit that some of my male Korean friends think SuJu are absolute homos. Also, I’ve seen a good deal of future MoHo’s here that will come out as soon as they study abroad (and a broad. haha)

10. Having one haircut that never changes. If your a boy- the SHINEE cut. If you’re a girl- BANGS. Then everyday it never changes. Same Name went from having curly hair to straight hair (via flat iron) and the Korean girls on my floor were so confused.

the gum

So I’m at the subway stop at Hongdae waiting for Falco (I”d been waiting for a good hour, mind you), when the guy turns around and goes “Oh!”…he was shocked to see me standing there. “America? High five. Hello. What’s up. High five.” So I give him a high five and say hello, and he’s absolutely gleaming. He doesn’t stick around or anything he just starts almost skipping off towards the subway entrance. Then he just turns around and comes back, takes out a bottle, and tells me to open my hands. “Here,” he said. “What is this?” I replied. “Gum. For you.” Yup…he gave me two pieces of gum. For no reason! Oh, Korea.

me and falco

This past weekend was CRAZY. That’s the only way I can describe it. I had plans to meet up with Falco on Saturday, grab a bite, and then go off to a party in Itaewon where we’d meet a few foreign teachers from my job. When I got to the subway station where I was supposed to meet Falco, she wasn’t there. So I reach in my bag to get my handy-dandy-notebook and like a genius I’d forgotten to bring. That meant no Falco number and no foreign teachers’ in Itaewon numbers. #@*&! I panicked a little…well as much as someone as chill as myself panics. I decided I’d wait for 1 hour and then head down to a PC room to see if I could find Won Seok Oppa’s or Falco’s phone number. An hour went by, and no Falco. So I headed East in search of a PC Room…instead, I found Falco waiting at the WRONG EXIT! Grr! I’d said exit 4, but she was just patiently waiting at Exit 2.

So we went to a PC room and luckily Won Seok Oppa was online. I forced him into saying he’d hang out with us, as to save the night I’d ruined with forgetting my phone numbers. He acquiesced and we decided to meet in Bundang (like WAAAY south Seoul…actually it’s not even considered Seoul I don’t think) to go clubbing with him and some of his friends. All we had to do was NOT miss the last train.

ness eating noodles

So after a delicious dinner and some soju at one of those cute Korean restaurants where they make you take off

me with chopsticks

your shoes we decided to head down to Bundang. We didn’t want to miss the last train. On the way, I suggested we see if I could find a new pair of leggings because mine had ripped…it took at total of 10 minutes to find, and then we hopped on a train. It was about 11:15 by now. The subway, we thought, stopped running at 12. So, since we were already on a train we thought that meant we were in the clear. We were talking so much we missed a transfer and had to figure out an alternate route. By 11:45 we were at our last transfer station. Hope on this train and then we’re almost there. But…as we pull up..the last train WAS LEAVING!!! Another &%#@ !

We tried catching a bus but couldn’t figure out the bus system and no one spoke English. We were both too far from home for it to be worth it to catch a cab solo, so we decided to just catch a cab to Bundang and split the fair. The only catch was that we’d literally have to party ALL NIGHT…which we could do. So 20,ooo won later (20 bucks) we were there. Cabs are SOO cheap here. Only about 10 bucks each and we’d traveled for over 20 minutes.

When we arrived Won Seok Oppa was there with Ajusshi and about 4 other guys. Only Won Seok Oppa and Ajusshi could speak a comfortable amount of English…the others could just mumble a few words…it was interesting. We went nightclub hoping and finally found one that suited us. We danced. WE DANCED so hard…and for like hours and hours and hours..which I normally find impossible. It was sooo much fun. Won Seok Oppa is actually a great dancer and so were a few of his friends…which is awesome since most of the guys in there were a little awkward..maybe just because it was such a sausage fest in there. (Also, what was up with there being like 5 Black guys in there? Where’d they come from? )

Won Seok Oppa and one of his friends gave us some examples of how Korean girls dance versus American girls. The Korean girl one was all sweet and innocent…a little rocking back and forth. American girls…ahahhahahaha….were like freakin it. Ness and I were dying of laughter. So funny. Then we showed them a few American classics like “Shopping Cart” “Sprinkler” “Lawn Mower” and “Hop Scotch.” We took it back Middle School style.

Anyway…we ended up going back to Falco’s (in Suwon) to hang out some more… We were up until about 9am the next day. So I had to take the 2 hour train back to Nowon by myself. AHh. so miserable. Since I was further out from the city..being Black was a much bigger deal. EVERYONE was staring. Like completely turned around staring at me. I just went to sleep. Then, home, korean lessons (which i was late for and actually missed), hanging out at the language cafe till 10:30pm, and then home. Chatting on the internet till 2…then sleep. Mount Holyoke trained me to not need sleep.

Anyway, that was my weekend. This weekend I’m meeting Dae Hyuk for some karaoke and lunch. Later, I’m meeting Won Seok Oppa for dinner and some discussion about which university he should attend in America.

Ok. The end.

-50CS