Take a picture, trick!

Alert the press, the blog is officially back.  I suspended blog for a bit because there was a chance I was going to be leaving Korea and the stress of the situation caused me to have no ambition to write.  Contrary to how I sometimes sound, I am quite happy here.  I don't think I would stay longer than a year, but I am enjoying all the trials and tribulations of living in a country so foreign from my own.  I just tend to focus on more of the negative aspects in the blog mostly because they result in more interesting stories!  Anyway, it was actually reasons at home that were causing me to think of leaving.  My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in February, and until she had the surgery to remove the tumor, we didn't know what the recovery process would be (if she was stage one, two, etc).  I made the decision that if her treatment required chemo, I would leave here to be with her.   I can't imagine her going through that without me there.  THANKFULLY, she had the surgery this week and is now cancer-free.  We are immensely relieved and hopeful that her recovery will be as easy as possible.  So that's that.

Things are pretty much the same old around here now.  School has been mega draining.  We worked 6 days this week bc we had to attend some retarded (sorry for the use of this non-pc word, but it's appropriate) workshop on a Saturday, so we all pulled 60+ hours this week.   Only cool thing was the workshop was up north near the border, so we got to see life up there from the bus.  We are planning a full border tour when the weather gets better -- not independently of course.  I don't need to be sentenced to 12 years of hard labor!

Oh!  How could I forget?!  We had a field trip yesterday to a play called "Doggy Poo."  I knew that was the title going in, but I didn't anticipate the main character to be a giant piece of poo.  Talk about poo poo smell!  I don't get what it is about Koreans and their apparent  fascination with poop, but this is supposedly a very famous play!  All the older kids in the afternoon program had seen it before!  Anyway, here is a quick summary (from what I gathered, it was in Korean but a Korean coworker explained a couple things to clarify).  At the beginning, there is a scruffy dog running around.  Scruffy dog takes giant poop on the stage, this is all acted out.  Lights fade to black, then there is a spotlight on just the poo, which is now huge and steaming.  Poo is a person!  So Poo is having a rough life and thinks no one wants to be her friend.  Her one friend - who was compost (this part had to be translated to me) up and left with some farmer in a wheel barrel and then some random dancing chickens and hen didn't want to hang out either.  This all goes on for about an hour until Poo meets a flower and melts into the ground doing this crazy expressive dance and helps the flower grow.  WTF?!  I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it though!  Someone has pictures, I will steal and post soon.

Things that Make You Go Hmmmm

A restaurant up the street from my apartment has potentially the most disturbing toilet I have seen thus far in SoKo.  The hole that drains the water when you flush is actually covered with a screen, so nothing but liquid can go down.  Next to the toilet are giant tongs, so you can scoop out any tissue you accidentally toss in there, or better yet, your number 2.  It is my assumption that if you do a number 2 in there, you would then toss it in the trash can.  Also, the bathroom is unisex and also doubles as the mop closet.  The entire menu with pictures is on the wall next to the toilet, so you can decide what to order while you are in there enjoying the ambiance.  Oh, and of course there's no sink...at all.  So obvs my dumbass threw tissue in there and flushed 3 times before I realized what the situation was.  Then I had to use the tongs... GA-ROSS!!

I have picked up the worst expression from my kindergarteners.  They will hold a book or whatever up to my face and say, "Alexandra Teacher, smell this.  It's poo poo smell."  I find myself saying poo poo smell all the time now.  FML!

blog on hiatus

After my last post, I received several "why can't you just quit" emails.  Well, to break it down, the school owns my ass.  Unlike many foreign countries, when you work in Korea your employer owns your visa.  Meaning, if I was to quit or get fired, I would have to leave the country immediately.  Now, if I was to immediately find another job, I could ask my school to release me early from my one year contract and then I could transfer my visa to new employer.  However, chances of them cooperating when I am basically bailing are slim to none.  What normally happens if you are so miserable you have to quit, is you find a new employer that is willing fly you to Japan to chill for a few days while a brand new visa is processed and then you return to go to your new job.  In the meantime, you are contractually obligated to repay your previous school the airfare they spent to fly you to Korea (about 1k) and repay any vacation days or holidays you have used (about 2 weeks total right now).   Plus you have to move out of your apartment and store your stuff with a friend, or lug it all to Japan with you.  Oh!  And since most jobs here have one year contracts, if I was to quit now and start a new position April 1, that would mean I have just committed to another year in Korea.  So, that's the 411 there.   And no, none of that is going down.

With that being said, the blog is being temporarily discontinued for a bit.  Please email or FB to keep in touch during the interim.

xoxo

Umm Yeahhhhh...

Hello Peter. What's happening? Ahhh, we have a sort of a problem here. Yeah, you apparently didn't put one of the new cover sheets on your T.P.S. report.

Uh, huh.  My mom explained to me yesterday that I am not allowed to quit my job.  As much as I want, as much as everyone there wants to, I can't quit.  It is the most draining job I have ever had.  This week has been especially terrible.  I now have over 200 kids a week, that I see multiple times.  Just to clarify, I teach most kids 3 times a week, and there are 200 kids in total.  So 200 kids, 3 times a week.  No wonder I am staying out til all hours, I need to release some frustration! I have tons of first graders.  Yesterday, it took me like 10 minutes to explain how to write your homework down in the homework notebook.  Before, at the end of the day, I often had older kids who are much easier to teach.  They have been in school for a while, their English is very strong, they don't have behavior issues, and you can sit for a little at the table with them while teaching.  Little kids are very hard to sit with.  You have to constantly watch what they are doing.  "Why are you under the table?  Are you on the right page?  Don't throw your eraser!  I am serious, I better not hear the words poo poo again!" and on and on.  And "Teacherrrr!  What page?!  Danny keeps looking at me!  Joey go like this to me!"  Ahhhh, by the end of this year, I am going to be a mental person.

All this would be somewhat tolerable if I liked my coworkers.  I felt so silly saying to my mom, "Moooooommmm, I want to quit!  No one there is nice to me!"  Well, no one is really nice to each other, it's not just me.  Like I mentioned, we got 2 newbies last week.  One dude's luggage didn't come for 2 days.  Part of the job of being the head teacher is to welcome you when you get here, show you how to use your appliances, and help you settle.  So he gets in at night and has no Korean money, no bags, no food.  He asked her to borrow $10 Korean to get some food, toothpaste, etc.  Her response, "There's a bank down the street, it will be open in the morning, just change your money then."  He was like, uhhh, I kinda wanted to eat tonight too... Anyway, he didn't get the 10.   That's how everyone is there!  Apparently last week a post it was left on my desk about a class I was supposed to observe instead of having a break.  I'm chatting about how I have to finish my grading when across the room I hear the dino say,"Ummm, Alexandra, you don't have that break today, remember?"  Uh, no, I don't fucking remember.  And believe me, I would not forget about the loss of  my only break.  "Yeahhh, you are supposed to observe GT1 reading class."  "No, I'm not."  "Ok, hold on, I am going to get Lumbergh."  Ok, like why do you care?!  Anyway, Lumbergh (not real name) comes up.  "Yeah, Alexandra, there was a post-it on your desk earlier in the week. "  Me: "I didn't see it."  Her: "Well, yeah, it was there.  And I know it was there, because I saw it there, because I put it there."  Are you fucking kidding me?!?!  Her:  "It would really be best if you didn't take your break today."  Ok, I guess I won't!  Oh, and break is not like a real break.  It's the only time we get to grade and plan.  It's not like I am taking a walk or on FB.  Anyway, my point is, you see me 10.5 hours a day, why didn't you just tell me?  Oh yeah, because then you would have to talk to me...  Stuff like this happens all the time.

Ok, I am finished.  9 more months...

It's all about the Hamiltons, baby!

Not sure what it is about Korea that gives me the stamina to be able to stay out til the wee hours of the morning. I guess it's because that's just what you do here.  This weekend was pretty crazy.  Today is Independence Day, so we had a long weekend, holla!  We def celebrated!  Friday night the teachers at school had a dinner to say goodbye to 2 teachers and welcome the new ones.  AWKWARD!.  I have never met a group of people who are so difficult to talk to!  I mean, I didn't have a beer! And anyone who knows me knows I never turn down a beer.   Argh, anyway, at least the food was delish.  We had shabu shabu (sorry no pic) at a place near the school.

On Saturday, Jullia and I went to get haircuts and I did my usual weekend routine of hitting up Myeungdong for some retail therapy.  The 1st H&M in Korea was opening that day, so obvs I couldn't miss that event.  However, I didn't anticipate the red carpet and line to get in, so I hit Forever 21 and bounced.  I brought out one of the new teachers to meet Jullia and a Korean friend for dinner in Hongdae.  We had a fun squid meal called osambulgogi which was so good, but spicy!  This night ended up being really fun!  We bounced around Hongdae a lot, ending up going to 3 different places and meeting up with some friends.  The second place was ooc!  Everyone in there was getting crunky!  Peeps pouring tequila right out of the bottle into your mouth!  I didn't partake because I knew I would die, but I did get in trouble here for breaking a light on the ceiling while I was dancing on a table (dancing on tables is huge here).  Me, Scott, and same Korean friend who was at dinner decided it was a good idea to stay out til the subway opens again so we don't have to cab, we're always thinking ahead.  We somehow lost track of time and ended up not leaving til 7, at which point it was time for breakfast (obvs).  It is so easy to lose track of time because everyone is still out!  The restaurant we went to was packed!  We had squid soup (of course, what else would you eat for breakfast?), and finally called it a night at 830 in the morning!!!  WHAT?!  We got back home (all the teachers live in the same apt building) and decided we were still hungry and needed Egg McMuffins, so of course we hit McD's.  I made it home for real at 9:30, just in time to bump into Dino on her way to church, ouch.  She was of course, very unfriendly when she saw us by the elevator with our McD's cup.

I was tired on Sunday, but it was supposed to be 50 and sunny, so I didn't want to waste a good day sleeping.  I dragged myself out and we were going to have a picnic at the river, but when we got there we were freezing and decided to just go out to eat.  We had planned for a week to noreabang (karaoke) on Sunday night, so we got together the crew and made it happen.  It was so fun!  Noreabang places are not bars, they are private rooms with flashing lights, tv, sound system like you're giving a concert, couches, etc (see pics).  You get a couple microphones and tamborines -- I guess some places even have costumes you can wear.  And you can bring anything you want in, alcohol, food, etc.  It rocks!  We had a blast!  I went home at  3 and that was considered "leaving early."

Tomorrow is the start of a new school year.  UGHHH!  Not looking forward to this!  It's going to be a rough week, but at least it's shorter!

Jullia and Scott doing a duet, me busting moves.

Jullia and Flavio (yes, a Spanish name) duetting.

Kyo and I, I am really belting it out!  Kyo was the best singer by far.

Us, from L to R, Goeun, me, Scott, Kyo, and YS.  Jullia and I love YS.  I am trying to get him to marry me and move to America, but for some reason he's not having it.  Strange :-P