I'll start where everyone is wondering. Yes, I met a nice guy, yes we get along, no i don't know what's going to happen. I'm leaving and we both know it so we're just enjoying the first and last week we have together, or rather the few hours in between his work/training LOL.
Now to other things. I cried about 10 times in the last 12 hours! I thought I had crid so much last nite that I wouldn't cry at school but silly me. I made it about 20 min. I ate lunch,hugged the lunch lady walked into the teachers room and myviceprincipal said "I won't be here when you finish so i'll say goodbye now" He shook my hand and told me thanks for teaching and he'll miss me and good life and I started to tear up. 3 of the teachers saw me. i pulled it together went and taught/played with the frist grade. The teacher came in and saw us playing, watched then left Of course the kids started fighting 5 min after he left one of the kids ran to get the teacher but they stopped finally and I distracted them with another game. Crazy 1st graders. 2nd grade never showed up so I cleaned and took down all the decorations. Mentor teacher took me to say bye to the principal and he said thanks for coming and I was a good teacher and gave me a box with a few gifts in it and I started tearing AGAIN. Then administration ladies saw me and got said we'll miss you faces and I started tearing even more then my students came looking for me so I cleaned up in the bathroom. Then one of the teachers brought me coffee and they all told me to calm down and they'll miss me and all that. I got up to go teach but then the 3rd graders came in the teachers room and I couldn't look at them without tearing they came over and hugged me and said teacher don't cry which of course made it worse. Then finally one girl wanted to take a picture and told me "you must stop crying because you don't look good" so i laughed and took pictures then went to teach the 4th graders. We played and I said bye, cleaned up the classroom for the last time and went to get my things. Hugged the secretary shook hands with all the teachers and started walking away, one of the teachers gave me a ride to my town and I walked the rest of the way home, it was nice to walk, it calmed me down long enough to get through my apartment door before I started crying for real for like 5 min. I think I'm ok now for a lil while. I gotta finish packing and figure out if I'm throwing away or sending home all the stuff that can't fit in my luggage. Someone needs to come over and take some of this stuff! I think I'm going to cry once a day til I leave. I know I'll cry when I leave my Korean family, forsure!
P.S instead of everyone saying "you should come back to visit" or "yo should get another teaching job" or "I hope to see you again" people are telling me "you need to marry a Korean man so you can stay" LMAO ... I LOVE KOREANS
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Excited to come, happy to stay and sad to leave.
It's 12:30am and I couldn't sleep cuz I was crying. It's not that I don't wanna go home but I don't wanna leave either. I'm so grateful I was able to have this experience. I'm thankful for everyone who put up with and/or helped me. I'm not even upset at the ppl who wronged me. All I know is that in 2 weeks it'll all be over and I'll be sitting in a room wondering if I was really on the other side of the world. I know it won't seem real, it will always seem like a dream. Not in the sense that everythihng is perfect here but just the thought that I would have the opportunity to live in Korea for 5 months and that it actually happened is unbelievable. I still have 7 more days of class but already I'm crying thinking that I'll prolly never see my kids again. It's also strange to think that even if I could put my feelings into words I can't tell any of my teachers how I feel lol. I still have strong classroom jealousy and wish my teachers woulda spent more time with me, but I understand why and wouldn't trade my school with even the nicest ones I've seen.
The vice principal sits facing all the teachers in the teacher's room. I still think I see amusement in his eye everyday when I say hello in Korean. I appreciate that he attempted conversations with me those two times he brought me home, even though it puts him at a vulnerable position. I know he genuinly worries about me especially when it started to get cold. Even without words I felt his fatherly care.
I can't help but smile when I think of the 1st grade teacher. He was everyone's grandpa. I'll miss seeing him play and joke with the kids, or help them finish the last of their lunches. I admire that the kids love him but he was also not afraid to punish them. He also treated me like a granddaughter without babying me. I looked forward to seeing him because he almost always spoke to me even if it was in Korean and we both knew I didn't understand. He made me smile everyday especially when he started yelling at me for not speaking Korean.
Tim's mom and the office administrator was so bubblely and smiley. I don't know how she handles the energy her boys have but they are all so sweet when they calm down. (and super smart!). I can't wait to see what they become...if i ever get to.
I'll miss the "oh, you made it here again, good to see you" looks from the 2nd grade teacher. I'll miss seeing the 1st graders trying not to be seen rushing through the halls with their hands folded behind their backs. I'll miss not hearing "victoria teacher" 500 times a day. I'll miss walking into my classroom never having a clue what i'll find or who will pop out from under tables, or out of cabinets LOL. I'll miss the school wide tag/hide and go seek games. I'll miss seeing Mary and Peach's matching outfits and the pretty lil Sopia and Isabel who look like twins but everyone swears they're not related.
I'll most def miss the lunch lady, she always so happy to see me and cooks such wonderful things. The school nurse too both take care of me the best they can, always shovig extra food at me! And everyone who knows me knows that's the easiest way to make me happy.
There's just so much that I feel like I'm leaving. I know no one will really miss me, there will always be another English teacher, another foreigner in the strange building or at the bus stop but it doesn't bother me. I'm just glad that Korea opened it's doors to me. The TaLK program was to better educate the Korean people but I feel like I've learned so much more than I taught anyone. I can't believe I'm gettin paid for this! I'm just so grateful.
I was excited to come, happy to stay and sad to leave.
The vice principal sits facing all the teachers in the teacher's room. I still think I see amusement in his eye everyday when I say hello in Korean. I appreciate that he attempted conversations with me those two times he brought me home, even though it puts him at a vulnerable position. I know he genuinly worries about me especially when it started to get cold. Even without words I felt his fatherly care.
I can't help but smile when I think of the 1st grade teacher. He was everyone's grandpa. I'll miss seeing him play and joke with the kids, or help them finish the last of their lunches. I admire that the kids love him but he was also not afraid to punish them. He also treated me like a granddaughter without babying me. I looked forward to seeing him because he almost always spoke to me even if it was in Korean and we both knew I didn't understand. He made me smile everyday especially when he started yelling at me for not speaking Korean.
Tim's mom and the office administrator was so bubblely and smiley. I don't know how she handles the energy her boys have but they are all so sweet when they calm down. (and super smart!). I can't wait to see what they become...if i ever get to.
I'll miss the "oh, you made it here again, good to see you" looks from the 2nd grade teacher. I'll miss seeing the 1st graders trying not to be seen rushing through the halls with their hands folded behind their backs. I'll miss not hearing "victoria teacher" 500 times a day. I'll miss walking into my classroom never having a clue what i'll find or who will pop out from under tables, or out of cabinets LOL. I'll miss the school wide tag/hide and go seek games. I'll miss seeing Mary and Peach's matching outfits and the pretty lil Sopia and Isabel who look like twins but everyone swears they're not related.
I'll most def miss the lunch lady, she always so happy to see me and cooks such wonderful things. The school nurse too both take care of me the best they can, always shovig extra food at me! And everyone who knows me knows that's the easiest way to make me happy.
There's just so much that I feel like I'm leaving. I know no one will really miss me, there will always be another English teacher, another foreigner in the strange building or at the bus stop but it doesn't bother me. I'm just glad that Korea opened it's doors to me. The TaLK program was to better educate the Korean people but I feel like I've learned so much more than I taught anyone. I can't believe I'm gettin paid for this! I'm just so grateful.
I was excited to come, happy to stay and sad to leave.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Korea
I've noticed a few things in Korea and know I'll miss things so figured I'd start a list.
1. Kimchi - love it now, still think it's strange but can't go a week without it.
2. Shiny things - Koreans love to shine! Shiny suits, hair clips, puffy jackets, shoes, everything
3. Spicy stuff - they eat hot peppers dipped in chilli sauce... often. Nothing more to say.
4. Hot stuff - the soup is served boiling and it's finished 5 min after it touches the table! how u eat boiling stuff? no idea, i thought it was physically impossible.
5. Soju - everyone drinks it, all the time. it's cheap, makes friends, lets ppl have more fun and speak english, magic stuff!
6. Heated floors - even though it takes longer to heat a room they're amazing
7. Parking - it's where ever u feel like it. Don't have to pay for it, doesn't even have to be a spot. U can park on the sidewalk, in the middle of an intersection, middle of the road, doesn't matter.
8. Crazy buses - I'm not sure they teach drivers how to use the clutch when driving cuz the gears grind like crazy. Also they drive like the buses can't flip over. Which brings me to #9
9. Random speed bumps - couldnt understand why there were speed bumps in the middle of country roads or empty roads til i started riding the bus. It's so the drivers don't kill people!
10. Bang obsession - 90% of girls and 80% of boys have bangs! It's to make their faces look smaller but my goodness! The k ajust is a must when walking by any reflective surface. The girls run holding their bangs down! It's ridiculous.
11.You die! - Playing games is fun because A: there's always punishment involved like gettin flicked in ur forehead or slapped on the wrist or pounded on the back. and B: you never lose a game... you die!
12. Lunch time - eating at school is great! The teachers eat with their class and the students must eat all their food and show their empty tray to the teacher before gettin permission to leave. I wish American schools were lik that (if they served better food).
13. Quipta - Koreans are cute ALL the time. The only Koreans i've seen in public with out a complete outfit on are the bums. The boys not only wear clothes that fit but they dress like they have a job. The girls dress like they're going on their first date all the time. It's crazy but it also is making me scared to go home. I hate seeing people looking bummy all day every day.
14. Konglish - the English craze it literally crazy, i wish they would tone it down but I do love Konglish and seeing English mistakes or just off the wall things written on shirts, especially when ajumas are wearing them.
15. Saving Face - I LOVE that Koreans are fake (to a certain degree). Theyare generally respectful and secretive about their personal issues. Everyone either ignores you or is super nice. Everyone does their best to appear good, nice, perfect, put together and pleasing. Makes friendship more special and life easier.
16. Fireworks on the beach - what a great idea, there's a million places to buy fireworks and a bunch of people fire them off and it's so much fun.
17.Teacher - I love when my kids call me Victoria teacher or say anything and throw teacher in like "ok, teacher" or "teacher whyyyyeeee" or "teacher..umm..hello how are you? I'm fine. and you? fine. Bye teacher" or my new favorite "HiAnnyonghaseyo, teacher!"
18. Muli-yo and nei- they're just amazing phrases to learn and will get u through any situation.
19. Korean bathrooms - so easy to clean, amazing set up if u live alone. A lil frustrating when ur in a rush and get ur socks wet cuz didn't bother with slippers.
20. Late closing time - closing time is 6 not 5 like in the states AND a lot of places stay open til 10pm AND fun places stay open til 6am not 2am like in the states!!!
21. Cheap transportation - I LOVE CHEAP BUSES, TAXI, and TRAIN rides! I travel every weekend and am not broke! AMAZING!
22. KPOP - so catchy, fun, interesting, mixes so much stuff together. I'll miss hearing it blasting from phone and beauty stores.
23. Delievery - everyone even McD's delievers! Some places even bring a tray with dishes and stuff and when you're finished u just leave it in your apartment hall and they come pick it up!
24. No tip - eating out is fairly cheap and there's no tipping. Service industry is amazing and ther's no tipping! Makes going out that much more fun.
25. LPM - like the Korean TJMaxx but better cuz they sell everything and funnier stuff.
There's a bunch more but I'm tired and need to sleep so i can wake up early and work on lesson plans.
1. Kimchi - love it now, still think it's strange but can't go a week without it.
2. Shiny things - Koreans love to shine! Shiny suits, hair clips, puffy jackets, shoes, everything
3. Spicy stuff - they eat hot peppers dipped in chilli sauce... often. Nothing more to say.
4. Hot stuff - the soup is served boiling and it's finished 5 min after it touches the table! how u eat boiling stuff? no idea, i thought it was physically impossible.
5. Soju - everyone drinks it, all the time. it's cheap, makes friends, lets ppl have more fun and speak english, magic stuff!
6. Heated floors - even though it takes longer to heat a room they're amazing
7. Parking - it's where ever u feel like it. Don't have to pay for it, doesn't even have to be a spot. U can park on the sidewalk, in the middle of an intersection, middle of the road, doesn't matter.
8. Crazy buses - I'm not sure they teach drivers how to use the clutch when driving cuz the gears grind like crazy. Also they drive like the buses can't flip over. Which brings me to #9
9. Random speed bumps - couldnt understand why there were speed bumps in the middle of country roads or empty roads til i started riding the bus. It's so the drivers don't kill people!
10. Bang obsession - 90% of girls and 80% of boys have bangs! It's to make their faces look smaller but my goodness! The k ajust is a must when walking by any reflective surface. The girls run holding their bangs down! It's ridiculous.
11.You die! - Playing games is fun because A: there's always punishment involved like gettin flicked in ur forehead or slapped on the wrist or pounded on the back. and B: you never lose a game... you die!
12. Lunch time - eating at school is great! The teachers eat with their class and the students must eat all their food and show their empty tray to the teacher before gettin permission to leave. I wish American schools were lik that (if they served better food).
13. Quipta - Koreans are cute ALL the time. The only Koreans i've seen in public with out a complete outfit on are the bums. The boys not only wear clothes that fit but they dress like they have a job. The girls dress like they're going on their first date all the time. It's crazy but it also is making me scared to go home. I hate seeing people looking bummy all day every day.
14. Konglish - the English craze it literally crazy, i wish they would tone it down but I do love Konglish and seeing English mistakes or just off the wall things written on shirts, especially when ajumas are wearing them.
15. Saving Face - I LOVE that Koreans are fake (to a certain degree). Theyare generally respectful and secretive about their personal issues. Everyone either ignores you or is super nice. Everyone does their best to appear good, nice, perfect, put together and pleasing. Makes friendship more special and life easier.
16. Fireworks on the beach - what a great idea, there's a million places to buy fireworks and a bunch of people fire them off and it's so much fun.
17.Teacher - I love when my kids call me Victoria teacher or say anything and throw teacher in like "ok, teacher" or "teacher whyyyyeeee" or "teacher..umm..hello how are you? I'm fine. and you? fine. Bye teacher" or my new favorite "HiAnnyonghaseyo, teacher!"
18. Muli-yo and nei- they're just amazing phrases to learn and will get u through any situation.
19. Korean bathrooms - so easy to clean, amazing set up if u live alone. A lil frustrating when ur in a rush and get ur socks wet cuz didn't bother with slippers.
20. Late closing time - closing time is 6 not 5 like in the states AND a lot of places stay open til 10pm AND fun places stay open til 6am not 2am like in the states!!!
21. Cheap transportation - I LOVE CHEAP BUSES, TAXI, and TRAIN rides! I travel every weekend and am not broke! AMAZING!
22. KPOP - so catchy, fun, interesting, mixes so much stuff together. I'll miss hearing it blasting from phone and beauty stores.
23. Delievery - everyone even McD's delievers! Some places even bring a tray with dishes and stuff and when you're finished u just leave it in your apartment hall and they come pick it up!
24. No tip - eating out is fairly cheap and there's no tipping. Service industry is amazing and ther's no tipping! Makes going out that much more fun.
25. LPM - like the Korean TJMaxx but better cuz they sell everything and funnier stuff.
There's a bunch more but I'm tired and need to sleep so i can wake up early and work on lesson plans.
Procrastinating again
Haven't written in 2 weeks i think. Someone on skype said they read it and it reminded me that it's about time for a new post... I'm supposed to b writting lesson plans that I haven't typed up in 2 weeks so figured I'd blog instead.
My open class went well. i was super nervous when the teachers showed up WITH a video camera! But it went really well. They said they liked me a lot at the meeting we had after. SOOO much has happend in two weeks soo much so:
Thanksgiving I went to Gumi's Waeguk Cook for a thanksgiving dinner. Arrived at 7:30 and didn't eat until 10pm so u know i was upset and starving. They ended up running out of food there were so many ppl and the electricity in the kitchen blew. Ended up calling off school on Friday cuz I knew we weren't gonna make it back home. Hung out and went out in Daegu all weekend. Almost missed school on Monday, hot mess I know!
I went out for dinner and drinks every day the rest of the week. It was my Korean friends bday tue, then went to a moder dance performance wit Joyann, Ana and Daehwan. Next day headed back to Gumi for another bday party. Ended up gettin my jacket stolen at one of the bars and just to make things fun I had left everything important in said jacket! I always always take my phone and cards out of my jacket and put them n my pocket but didn't that nite and so everything was gone. I had no phone, bank card, ARC, student ID, bus card, apartment key..nothing. Had to borrow a jacket but we all went to Busan anyway. These nice friends paid for my food and stuff for the rest of the weekend. Such a crazy weekend! Bday girl ended up with a briuse on her forehead lol. Someone tried to sell me off to a crazy old Korean man as his wife. They even told himI was the princess of Quebec or something! The man not only followed us to the train station but bought a ticket to go back with us and found a nun so he could find a place for us to get married!! Stalked me on the train i had to hide for an hour. Finally made it back. They started cookin, steak, ribs, potatos, corn, greens and brownies. I couldn't resist so i ended up stayin Sunday nite instead of going home. Some of us were watching tv in the living room when we heard a loud boom. (we were watching jarhead so we thought it was a bomb from N.Korea) we yelled to the ppl in the kitchen but they didn't answer. Found out it was the stove. Still dangerous but we hood LOL anyway...Next moring jumped on a bus home and realized i didn't have my key, my landlady was no where to b found so i had to go to school that day with all my bags frm the weekend and without putting myself together or havin my lesson plans!
Today had a great day at school. Did a money/shopping lesson, it was so cool. And i went to dinner with Daehwan and Hyo Ju I'ma miss those two soosoooo much! I'ma cry when I have o say bye and I hope they come and visit me.
Tomorrow Dr.Koh comes to Pohang to visit us, check up and hopefully not yell at me for ignoring class stuff. I'm still looking forward to dinner. I'm so happy I was allowed to have this experience and thankful to her for putting it together. I don't think home will be the same and I'll miss here so much. I've caught the travel bug. Worldwide and locally. Traveling every weekend here made me realize it is possible. Even though in the states it's much more expensive. I just can't stand being home or in one spot for too long. (the spain trip i was looking at before Korea is still open and I'm def doing that one or coming back to Korea.)
My open class went well. i was super nervous when the teachers showed up WITH a video camera! But it went really well. They said they liked me a lot at the meeting we had after. SOOO much has happend in two weeks soo much so:
Thanksgiving I went to Gumi's Waeguk Cook for a thanksgiving dinner. Arrived at 7:30 and didn't eat until 10pm so u know i was upset and starving. They ended up running out of food there were so many ppl and the electricity in the kitchen blew. Ended up calling off school on Friday cuz I knew we weren't gonna make it back home. Hung out and went out in Daegu all weekend. Almost missed school on Monday, hot mess I know!
I went out for dinner and drinks every day the rest of the week. It was my Korean friends bday tue, then went to a moder dance performance wit Joyann, Ana and Daehwan. Next day headed back to Gumi for another bday party. Ended up gettin my jacket stolen at one of the bars and just to make things fun I had left everything important in said jacket! I always always take my phone and cards out of my jacket and put them n my pocket but didn't that nite and so everything was gone. I had no phone, bank card, ARC, student ID, bus card, apartment key..nothing. Had to borrow a jacket but we all went to Busan anyway. These nice friends paid for my food and stuff for the rest of the weekend. Such a crazy weekend! Bday girl ended up with a briuse on her forehead lol. Someone tried to sell me off to a crazy old Korean man as his wife. They even told himI was the princess of Quebec or something! The man not only followed us to the train station but bought a ticket to go back with us and found a nun so he could find a place for us to get married!! Stalked me on the train i had to hide for an hour. Finally made it back. They started cookin, steak, ribs, potatos, corn, greens and brownies. I couldn't resist so i ended up stayin Sunday nite instead of going home. Some of us were watching tv in the living room when we heard a loud boom. (we were watching jarhead so we thought it was a bomb from N.Korea) we yelled to the ppl in the kitchen but they didn't answer. Found out it was the stove. Still dangerous but we hood LOL anyway...Next moring jumped on a bus home and realized i didn't have my key, my landlady was no where to b found so i had to go to school that day with all my bags frm the weekend and without putting myself together or havin my lesson plans!
Today had a great day at school. Did a money/shopping lesson, it was so cool. And i went to dinner with Daehwan and Hyo Ju I'ma miss those two soosoooo much! I'ma cry when I have o say bye and I hope they come and visit me.
Tomorrow Dr.Koh comes to Pohang to visit us, check up and hopefully not yell at me for ignoring class stuff. I'm still looking forward to dinner. I'm so happy I was allowed to have this experience and thankful to her for putting it together. I don't think home will be the same and I'll miss here so much. I've caught the travel bug. Worldwide and locally. Traveling every weekend here made me realize it is possible. Even though in the states it's much more expensive. I just can't stand being home or in one spot for too long. (the spain trip i was looking at before Korea is still open and I'm def doing that one or coming back to Korea.)
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