Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, actually, you still have one more day. Lucky you. Well, my little kindergartners graduated. It was cute and they were all dressed up - girls in all white and boys in suits. I brought my camera, but my battery was dead, so I have no pictures. So sad. I'm going to steal some from coworkers. I had to help out with the ceremony by calling kids names over the microphone and telling about the awards they received. I was not excited to do that. I tried to get out of it, but I guess they wanted freckles. I HATE speaking in from of a lot of people. I was so nervous. My voice was shaking a bit and I was trying REALLY hard not to laugh. I made it through without completely embarrassing myself. I did laugh a few times, but not directly into the microphone. I learned a few things from that day. 1) I hate public speaking. 2) I think it's really annoying hearing my voice in the microphone. 3) I may have to rethink my future career as the next Britney Spears.

Today, I went to a movie. It was an awful kids movie called The Secret of Moonacre. It was the only movie playing at that time and I really wanted a movie experience, so I caved and saw it. Of course, I bought popcorn and I would like to report that it tasted pretty close to popcorn in the US, minus the butter. They also make caramel popcorn and it smelled wonderful. Next time I will try it. When you buy your movie ticket, you are assigned a seat in the theater. It's nice, because you don't have to worry about getting there early enough to get a good seat! However, it does make some things complicated. Back in my "bad ass" days, my cousin Katie and I would occasionally go to two movies in a row. We would pay for the first ticket and then sneak into the next movie. Please don't tell the cops. I am VERY remorseful, not. Sorry mom. Anyways, having an assigned seat would make sneaking into movies very difficult if it was a busy night. I think Korean theater owners are reformed movie-stealer-bandits and wanted to deter hoodlums like myself from making bad choices. Good job. Mission Accomplished.

I would like to report that I am 98.3% better. I'm not quite fully healthy, but so close! It's very exciting. I have been in a little rut lately. I think the homesick bug has bitten me pretty good and have been trying to come out of it. This is the longest I have been away from home or at least from someone/something familiar. The more people I meet here, the more it has become apparent that I am so blessed to have all of you in my life. Thanks for being the rock stars that you are! I have been here 4 months now, which is crazy. It has gone by SO fast, but right now, it worries me that I still have many months to go. I know I will get out of this rut and be fine, so I just need to take it day by day! I knew I would I have these feelings eventually and I still signed up for it. It's time to suck it up and continue. Time to walk it off...

I wish you all a happy and peaceful week. That jobs will be found and stress will leave your mind, at least for a few days. That bodies will be healed and broken hearts mended.

Love you all. xoxoxo

did you know...
- Younger Korean couples like to wear matching outfits. I'm not kidding. It's hilarious.
- Korean men enjoy their man purses and you should too.
- Many Korean public bathrooms do not have toilets. They are porcelain holes in the floor that you squat over. I'm not a fan.
- Seoul, the 2nd largest city in the world, closes their subway at 12 am. Annoying.
- The Korean Won (currency) is doing AWFUL right, which is not making the exchange rate very fun.
- As much as I tell you silly things about Koreans, I love the people and the country.
- People are not worried about the North Korean conflict. They have a lot of faith in their military and the US. I'm not sure if
that makes them naive or idiots.
- According to my alchy business men, men in Korean have pride issues, too. It must be a biological flaw (among others) that all men have huge issues with asking for directions when they are lost. Just thought I would throw that out there. Very crucial findings.
- Oh, and women still have no issues. I know you were wondering.

Turn That Frown Upside Down....

Helloooooo. I haven't done a lot of interesting things lately, so I don't have a whole lot to report. I have spent the last week vegging out and trying to get rid of this ridiculous cold. I am NOT enjoying waking up at the butt crack of dawn every morning to tutor, but I find the men quite hilarious. They still like to tell me how hungover they are and ask about my preferences of alcohol. Maybe they are asking about my alcohol preference because they want to buy me some vino. That would be sweet. Wine is hard to come by here, at least cheap wine, which is how I like it. :) Yellow Tail, the greatest wine of all time (not), is around $25. Craziness for that quality of wine. Anyways, back to the butt crack of dawn. I take the subway every morning to work and I find the people on the subway very entertaining. You could hear a pin drop. No one says ANYTHING. Yes, it is early, but you would think there would be some sort of noise. Almost everyone is sleeping or pretending to sleep. I am always the only one who has a thermos of coffee. It must be taboo to bring a drink from home or something?? Maybe I look cheap? I love seeing people sleeping with their mouths open. I wonder what they would do if I dropped a breath mint in their mouth? Or started singing really loud to John Mayer... or started running up and down the isles. It would be a perfect norm breaker assignment (Do something abnormal in society). I had to do that assignment in high school for Mr. Woollen's class and I totally made it up. I never did it. I still feel bad, sorta. Sorry Mr. Woollen. Maybe I will do it here in Korea? uhhhh... never mind. ps. My friends totally had a crush on Mr. Woollen and I'm still confused. I won't mention any names.. (Eryn and Christine)...opps..

My kindergartners' graduate this Saturday and I am actually sad. I have grown pretty attached to them (minus the puking). Some of them will continue to come to ECC (my school) for a few classes a day, but i won't see them everyday. tear. I think it is pretty funny that we actually have a ceremony for them. Will they wear robes? Have a valedictorian? Have a graduation song? I'm not sure. I will keep you posted on all the crucial steps in their graduation that they will remember for the rest of their lives... or at least until the end of the day.

Have a wonderful weekend.
xoxo

Goodbye Freckles????

Hello! Hope all is well with everyone! Nothing too exciting to report! Teaching is going really well and I am really enjoying it! However, I can officially say today was an awful day. I love my first class of the day, my kindergartners. They are so cute...until one of them puked in my class. One of my students had told me at the beginning of class that Brian wasn't feeling well, but that isn't very unusual. My students are always sick and still come to class, which is why I am STILL fighting a cold. I just said I was sorry and continued with class, until I had to stop when he began upchucking (for some reason I love saying that word). I ran out of my classroom and got someone to clean it up and take him. We moved classrooms and they cleaned him up, then brought him back to class. I was not pleased. I didn't want to be around pukey and get sick. So, I have realized that I will not be having children anytime soon, unless my husband, Brad Pitt, will clean it up. Kids are so gross...they should come with some sort of devise that catches all of their bodily fluids AND disposes of it.... It's a good thing kids are sooo cute. Man...I miss my fav kids of all time- the twins (Duke and Graham) and my denver kiddies (Falyn and Herschel).

I have gone to a church a few times. They are all super sweet and treat us (my friend Brittney, Reuben,and I) so well. There is this one dude who is a dermatologist and has commented on my freckles a few times. On Sunday, he told me that he was opening up a new practice and he wanted me to come in and have my freckles on my face removed. I tried to tell him that they are apart of me and it would be strange not to have him. I don't think he understood and continued to tell me that Koreans always get rid of freckles with treatments- apparently they are ugly. I thought he was saying that they use a razor to remove them and started laughing hysterically. After a minute, I realized he was saying laser treatment. So, much better. I would still have skin on my face, but it would be red for a few days. haha. So, maybe I will come back and scare you all with no freckles- I would hate to be ugly in Korea.

Did you know....

- I have ants in my apartment. They got into my bread and I didn't realize it until I had already taken a bite. I didn't eat for a few hours after I had spit out my bite and dry heaved.
- Korean husbands are not always so kind to their wives. It is very common to see women with bruises on their faces/bodies. It is not talked about it, and happens far to often.
- Some of my students think Santa died because they didn't get any Christmas presents this past year.
- The reason my students freak out if their names are written in red is because in their history, those who were going to be executed were given letters that had their names written in red for blood.
- The Korean school year starts in March.
- A man came up to Reuben and I and started talking about God. He was actually saying some really interesting things, until he started telling us how Western men are ruining Asia. He said they are taking Korean women from them and creating bi-racial children... kissing in the street (so sinful)... blah blah. It was such an annoying conversation and I was so angry after it. Every time either one of us would try to talk, he would get really mad and call us arrogant. I felt like we were having a conversation from the 60's or something. I have never met someone so close-minded and ignorant. I didn't think these people still exist. Apparently, they do. I wish I would have said that I needed to go because my Korean boyfriend was at home with our love child. I wonder what he would have said then? ha.