Filed under: Friends, Korean Culture, Korean Friends, Korean Life | Tags: beer, dae hyuk, darts, Falco, gangnam, language exchange, norebang, NOW bar, sang seng, yeoksam
(muchos fotos aqui)
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.
Filed under: Korean Culture, Korean Life | Tags: bowl cut, hiking, Korea, korean cultlure, korean fashion, pencil cases, quesitons about korea, Shinee
(disclaimer: these are just observations…i think think korean culture is fascinating, but sometimes it just cracks me up.)
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.
Filed under: Uncategorized
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.
Filed under: Funny Story, Korean Culture, Korean Friends, Korean Life | Tags: Ajusshi, hongdae, itaewon, Lee Hyori, norebang, oppa, tae yang, won seok
Reading (13 yrs old) Class
The kids are officially confused. I think it’ll be my task next week to explain multiculturalism to them. The other day they told Jen Teacher that she couldn’t be American because she wasn’t Black like me. Jen tried to explain that America has all types of people, but I”m not quite sure they get it. It makes sense though. Chinese people live in China, Japanese in Japan, and Koreans in Korea. So they can’t quite grasp the idea of everyone living together. It’s just nonsense to them. Eventually! Eventually they’ll get it.
Filed under: Uncategorized
note: i actually started writing this LAST weekend…but then I got lazy.
This weekend was interesting. That’s the best and only way to describe it…interesting.
On Friday I was renamed “Chocolate Pie” by one of my students. “Teacher, he called you ‘Chocolate Pie!” I didn’t even know how to respond to that. If that was supposed to be an insult it just came out so adorable. One of the guys at work said he’s going to put me in his phone as that, so that every time i call it can say “Chocolate Pie.” All the foreign teachers have started calling me that too which is pretty funny, and honestly I sort of like it.
Filed under: Apartment, Funny Story, Korean Culture, Korean Friends, Korean Life | Tags: class, esl korea, funny, gaelic football, haircut, rock, same name
students
Filed under: Apartment, Funny Story, Korean Culture, Korean Life | Tags: Apartment, esl, faucet, hagwon, lotte mart, north korea
My Apartment
Words can’t express the amount of horror that came over my face when Matt opened the door to my apartment. I couldn’t help but think…”Wait wait….this is South Korea, right?” as I noticed the brown stained walls, broken tiles, tilted kitchen (it was actually at a slant), broken furniture, smell of rotten kimchi, and duct taped sliding doors. No really, for a moment I thought I’d accidentally ended up in North Korea or 1940’s Soviet Russia. I kid you not. It was THAT bad. I wanted to cry for like 30 seconds…but then I spent the rest of the night laughing and talking to my oppas about my shock and dismay. They were…well not too comforting…
