Almost 3 whole months.

I've been here since January 2nd I believe, which means that at the end of March, it will have been 3 months. That's crazy on multiple levels. One, it's gone fast! Time flies here. Two, I still have 11 months to go, as opposed to 9 like originally planned. Three, I've been living in South Korea for three months. Bizarre.

Things are going pretty well. I've been going to school, Korean class, and trying to balance sightseeing/exploring/drinking with relaxing/sleeping/being grumpy. Let me explain. Working with children all day requires a constant good mood and patience. So sometimes, I really enjoy being alone and not smiling. It sounds depressing. But trust me, it's necessary.

I'm much more adjusted to the new schedule of the new school now. I like it a lot. It's a great environment and the people are very nice. The kids are insane, mostly in a good way and when they learn something, I feel responsible.


I'm getting better at dealing with bloody noses and green snot bubbles. I say "go see Lisa Teacher!" Or I say "go get a tissue". Hahaha. Pathetic. I know.

Jason and I went to a seafood buffet place that is on our road. It is a giant place. All you can eat for 2 hours for less than 30 bucks. 32,000 won to be specific. This place is excellent. I ate my body weight in crab legs, sushi, prime rib, fresh fruit, soup, waffles and ice cream. I cannot even begin to explain how huge and overwhelming this place is. It was great.

The weather has been unpredictable. We have had some yellow days due to that Chinese dust. We have had snow. We have had sun. We have had rain. We have had ice. We have had crazy wind. It's been crazy and hard to guess what's coming. The real kicker is that somedays we'll walk to school in beautiful blue skies with the sun shining and at lunch time we'll look outside and see the biggest snowflakes ever falling fast. Then we walk home in 10 cm of snow. The next morning we walk to school on ice and come home to hot sun. It's nuts.

I think I understand ages enough to really explain it to you. In real life, I am 22 years old. In Korea, I am 24. Here's why. The day you are born, you are 1. Everyone gets a year older on January 1st. So if you're born on December 31st, you are 2 years old on your second day of life. Since 1987 is 24 years from 2010, that's how old I am. It's confusing if I think about it too much. But what it means is that when we are told we are teaching 5 6 and 7 year olds, they are really anywhere from 3-7. Which is crazy young. To be learning 2 languages.

It has also come to my attention that while I am able to have a pretty good understanding of what to expect from my kids, and which ones I like and which ones are so cute, there is still so much of their personality that I am missing, due to the language barrier. Some of my favorite cuties just chatter at me in Korean all morning. They are usually smiling, but I have absolutely no idea what they are saying, which is probably how they feel about me too.

After 3 months I can safely say that this is a good idea for me. As of right this second, I think I'm only going to do one year. But that will probably change about 57 more times over the next 11 months. Let me talk this through. February sucked. It was stressful and I was ready to come home. Now that things are going well, I know I can do my year. This is a good deal and a good country. I miss home. I also think that there are cooler/different countries that would be cool to live in. However, it's not like I have a plan for real life or any idea of what I want to do with life, so I guess there's not really any reason to rush home. It will always be there. And I guess I am only 22 or 24. I don't know.

Shoot me an email with news. I want gossip and other big news. I know about the health care thing and I know that Purdue, Cornell, and Butler did well in basketball thus far.

I miss you and I love you!

Another Picture Post.

Robot Classroom. My Homeroom. I'm still in the process of decorating it.

Teacher's desk in Robot Classroom.

This is Etaoin from Ireland, Aria from Korea and Katie from Indiana. At the Underground. Aria's sister goes to OSU and Aria is moving to Ohio in April. Small world. I actually met her sister and she has heard of Wooster!

This is Scarlet from Elephant Class. She is a pistol.

This is Shelly and Clara from my homeroom, Robot Classroom. This is a rare moment where they are both smiling/laughing.

The McDonald's Delivery bikes that I was talking about in that post that was bullet points. One or two back I believe.

I realize this is a bad picture of me, but I wanted to show you perspective of the size of the toilets at school. They are tiny. It's just funny.

Juli from Puppy Class. 50% sweet heart. 50% terror.

Joseph from Zebra Class. INSANE.

Jason from Zebra. His mother is the owner/director/principal of the school. He's a cutie. His older brother, Justin looks just like him-except older.

Fred. He's an elementary student who comes to our school for the after-school program.

Erin, Anastacia and Clare from King class. This is during playtime after lunch and before circle time. Play time is about 20 minutes where they either play with the food, the squirt guns, or just run in circles screaming.

Dora from Elephant. So sweet and so smart.

Daniel and Amy from Puppy. These kids are Korean Age 5. So anywhere from 3-4 years old. Class time consists of them running around, screaming, laughing, and just generally ignoring me and all attempts are education.

Alex 1, Kevin and Rex from my homeroom, Robot. Alex 1 is the smartest kid in the class and a total teacher's pet. Kevin says "teacher, Kevin more" "Kevin turn" "Kevin pencil" instead of me, my, I. A little cute, but mostly frustrating. Then there's Rex. This kid comes in in the morning, screaming as loud as he can. He then runs into me, rams his head into me and punches me. He then runs a few laps, comes back, gives me a huge hug and kiss and sits still for about 45 seconds. Repeat. All day.
This is the top floor of the school. It's where we do Circle Time and where the books are that we use. That is Jason at the Piano.

Fourth floor work area.

Fourth floor play area.

I got a camera!

Here are pictures of the new place, my place until March 2011! Taken with my new camera.

My bike that I was telling you about in the previous post. Hahahahahaha
This is Katie in Korean. But its really Like Kyaeeti. Sort of.

My kitchen.

I stood in the laundry room and took this picture. To show you the door, and living space. Fancy, I know.

Jason and his new camera. We went together and neither of know squat about cameras. But we think we got a good deal. He got that Canon Powershot. I got a little Olympus Guy. Its blue.

Standing in the door where you would be standing if you were taking off your shoes.

Bathroom. Small, new. Dries pretty fast and I have hottish water.

My apartment building. I'm in the basement though, so you can't actually see where I live.

My new address!

Line 1- KAtie Dale
Line 2- Green Tower Building 495-3
Line 3- Jukjeon - 1 Dong
Line 4- Yongin-Si
Line 5- Gyeonggi-Do
Line 6- South Korea
Line 7/Zip Code line- 448-803

Second first week-DONEZO

It's true. My first week at the new job is officially over. A lot has happened. So this post is going to be bullet points. I apologize for the stream of consciousness that you are about to paddle down. Hahahaha couldn't help it.

• McDonalds delivers. Most places do. Dudes on mopeds zip around like crazies.
• I finally have internet!!
• I do not have a T.V
• I'm going to the hospital tomorrow to get a drug test/AIDs test/ TB test. If I pass them all, I will receive an Alien Registration Card (ARC) which will allow me to do more things...and be here legally. Which is lucky because my visa expires at the end of March without it.
• I have a cell phone! Well I had it for about 3 days and it locked itself and noone knows the code. So I don't actually have it right this second, but I should again soon.
• My new apartment is in the basement.
• I like it much more now that I have internet.
• There are no normal size toilets at my new school. They are all made for 6 year olds.
• I like my new school. It is very different, but it's good.
• The kids are way less advanced than the kids at the first school. The school is divided into 3 floors, 5 year olds, 6 year olds, and 7 year olds. My homeroom is on the 4th floor, in Robot, with 7 years. But I move around and see all the kids. It's crazy how much less English they know than the Brighton kids. HOWEVER, these kids are SO MUCH HAPPIER at school. They love it. They are happy to be there, they love to learn, they love to see us. It's pretty cool.
  
• There is only a twin size bed in my new apartment and since I'm neither 8 nor in college anymore, I decided that that was not cool. So we moved Jason's big bed to his new apartment and I swiped his little bed. Now my apartment is mostly bed, but I'll work out the logistics of it eventually.
• The new place is about a 30 minute walk from downtown Suji, where I used to live. The new place is largely commercial. There are outlets here that remind me of Molly and Jess and other people who love shopping. Crocs, Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Converse, Yessica, North Face, and Columbia are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. So people travel to Suji to go out. Which is ok with me. I like Suji and have friends there and stuff. But drinking is much less appealing when a long walk is required. There is a bus, but it stops at 11:30.
  
• I have continued to take Korean classes and am thrilled with that decision now that my kids don't know English. I'm able to have a better idea of what they want. It's kind of cool.
• I think that because I took 6 years of Spanish, when I'm planning what to say to someone in a store or something, my brain says "Oh hey. Not English. Try Spanish. Oh Shit. Korean." It's weird. But I find myself reviewing Spanish alot.
• Because Wednesday was the first day of the new school year, we did not have text books this week. Which made teaching hard. But it made it easier to play with the kids and make them like me without having to worry too much about getting in trouble or too far behind in the workbooks.
  
• Puppy class kids are 5 years old. That means 3-4 years old. We're lucky if we can get them to speak/understand Korean. Let alone English. This is also the first time they've tried to use their English names.
  
• Both the 5 year floor and the 6 year floor have a very hard time remembering their English names, let alone responding to them. Its challenging. Luckily I can read Korean well enough to guess their names, get a response, and then try their English names.
• My Korean co-teachers also don't know English that well. It's cool though. Everyone is really nice and I think this is going to work out.
  
• I hope it works out. If it doesn't, I'm out.
  
• I bought a bicycle. For 80,000 won. That's less than 80 dollars. You might be thinking, "Hey Katie. You hate bikes. Why did you do that." Answer? "Why not" A friend was on her way home and needed it off her hands. What the hell.
  
• I know you're dying to see pictures. I'm dying to show them to you. Problem? No camera. Solution? Buy one. It's on my to do list. I promise.
  
• I love you. I miss you.