As a student

I'm in a classroom again as a student! Monday was my first day of Korean class. It was fun. And I got super excited to learn everything! Then again that's how I've always been with the first week of classes. I took a placement exam and my past year of doing nothing paid off as I was placed in the 1B class. Yay!

I started teaching at my new school in Gangnam. It's so different at a, well, different school. So I'm constantly reminding myself that I'll have to take this first week or so to adjust and just chill. It's quite shocking to be in a crowd of students and not recognize a single face. It's amazing how attached I became to my dear little ones at my Incheon school. I pictured their faces yesterday as I looked into the blank faces of my new students.

My co-teachers at my last school were practically like my BFFs. The main co-teacher at my new school is going to be the one I click with the most I think. There's another foreign teacher, too, and so that's nice to have someone to talk to. But every time I talk at lunch or in the office of 10 teachers (the last school it was just 2 of us in our office) I get looks and I think it's because my voice is louder than I realize.

I've come to the conclusion this past year that in English you have to talk louder. Koreans can pretty much whisper a whole conversation but try that in English and it's all mumbled secrets for the listener. Trust me, I've tried to be quiet on the phone. The hand over the mouth thing only works half as well in English than in Korean. I don't get it but I'm thinking it'll be my research project for the next year. Go Linguists!!!

Much love. <3

Lip Drama

I'm suspicious that the dragonfly visitor bit my lip. I awoke to a huge numbness with a swollen portion of my bottom lip.

I got so bored I cut my hair...well, got it cut. I had it thinned to about half the thickness and trimmed a few cm's. I wanted a lightweight ponytail...for ultimate. Yes, I want to run faster.

The End

A visitor

A dragonfly flew into my room through the 2 tiny windows past the wide blinds. Therefore, it could not find the windows to get out. Thankfully it's just sleeping for the night. But I'm not looking forward to the buzzing when I wake up.

Where are those people who love to touch bugs and insects when you need them?

Lazy Bones

For my new job in Gangnam, Seoul we were suggested to partake in a race that Gangnam is holding. I signed up for the 5k run. Found out that the school district office me signed up for the 10k. Yeah, only a lil over 6 miles but it's next weekend and I'm not trained for it.

Wish me luck!

And Beth and I signed on our new place in Itaewon. Move the day before my run.

suh-kar-d!

I got me some shivers the alarm coming from those speakers you see all over Korea...you know...for emergencies.

I didn't see any ppl scrambling around outside and finally settled a bit after calling Emily and her school didn't make her leave. I also found three 4th graders in the hallway telling me it's just "practice. soldiers."

leftovers?

It's hard to clean up Lam-yeon in Korea. Well, like, in America I'd just get those cup-o-noodles...the spicy ones of course. But when I buy regular rameon here I can't finish it and so food has it's own trash bag and stuff...maybe I'll just sneak down to the convenient store to dispose my food. I mean, that's where I bought the stuff anyhow.

Actually, I should just have better dinners planned out...

strolling

On Wednesday evening I ventured to find a keopi shope (Konglish accent on coffee shop) during my break in a temporary English gig. I just finished eating traditional Korean porridge so I was full.

On my walking adventure I found a really nice area of Incheon near its City Hall Station. It had been quite rainy all day and dreadfully cloudy. But as the rain lifted I turned a corner and found an area full of sunshine. It was quite remarkable. It was a ritzy area of high rise apartments. And it wasn't so much that the apartments were fascinating in themselves but the sun reflected off the windows so beautifully. Vines were wrapped around the fancy gates bordering the complex. The bridge across a road passing through the community was quite like in a fairy tale as I saw a woman pushing her stroller across it. And the art on the walls that supported underneath the bridge were colorful and vibrant. The landscaping included a variety of unique plants. I thought there was a young tree from every country. The sky was a clear blue behind and above each sky rise structure. I kept glaring above and all around me thinking in the back of my mind that if anyone saw me I would have looked like a kid on their first visit to Willy Wonka's factory.

In short, my coffee run turned into a nice late-afternoon leisurely stroll in the sunshine of another world.