4 months

Well. I've been in Korea for four months. Pretty crazy. This past weekend, Sara Brown and I went south to Daegu. I believe that it is the third largest city in South Korea. I got up early Saturday and hopped on a bus for 40 minutes to get to Suwon. I met SaraBrown in Suwon and we got on a KTX train for 3 hours. There were no seats, but we got standing room in the dining car. About half way through, we were able to sit on a bench. We got to Daegu around 1 and started our Adventure. I should note that when we hang out, it's titled "Adventures from the Annex to Asia".
We wandered around for a while in search of a Herbal Medicine Market. We found it. It was lame. So we decided to get on bus 401 for an hour to Gatbawi. Gatbawi is a tourist town at the bottom of Mt. Palgong.
We started to walk up the mountain via a incredibly steep concrete ramp. It was very very steep. After a bit we made it to a Buddhist temple. But it was a small one. We stopped and took some pictures and looked around. And then we trekked on. But this time, we went up through the woods and rocks instead of the ramp. It was hard going sometimes, but it was really fun. It was a beautiful day, the first nice nice nice weekend of the year. It was warm and sunny. I even got burn/beginning of a tan. Heyoo!! Anyway, we were going up a rocky trail and got to a peak. We could still see things that were higher than us, but we were at the top of a peak. And there was a temple. So we checked it out. It was pretty cool and there were a lot of statues of Buddha. Made me feel real ignorant about the religion, so maybe I'll start doing some research. Maybe. Anyway, it was cool. But we could see up to a giant temple where there was chanting. We also saw a sign that said it was .5 km to the next peak. So we went up. Again. Through the woods, rocks, and mud. There was a point that we were using a rope to get up the rocks. We made it. We were sweaty and tired, but we made it. It was cool. There were a lot of people doing the buddhist bows and a giant statue of him. We walked around, checked things out, and then went down some stairs. We thought we were on side that was heading towards Daegu. Whoops.
We went down and realized that we were NOT on the same side of the Mountain that we started on. We didn't really know what to do, so we got on a bus with the plan of getting to a town and going from there. The bus driver started yelling at us, and we didn't know what to do. We were tired, dirty, and getting scared. The driver was yelling and an old man in the back of the bus said that he could speak English and would help us. He said that the driver was scared because we were foreign and he really wanted to know where we were getting off. I said "we have no idea, but we want to end up in Daegu and we came on bus 401 and have no idea where we are." They sorted it out and told us what bus we needed to get on after they told us where to get off. So we made it. Whew.
We then went to a Love Motel, got a room, took a shower, and felt much better about life. Love Motels? They're all over Korea. You can rent them hourly or for the night. Some are real sketch but they're cheap. The one we stayed in was clean and comfortable and 50,000 won. About 40-45 dollars. Sweet. Next we got some dinner and wandered around the bar area. It was really fun even though we didn't meet any new people. It was really fun to hang out with Sara. We got up at 10 Sunday and walked around Deagu more. We found a Market that had vegetables and clothes and shoes and stuff. And we had lunch and got back on the train. We still had standing room only tickets, but we both sat on the floor and read books that we bought in the station. As of that trip I am now reading Love in the Time of Cholera. I think I like it, but it's not really an easy read.Blue skies. Mountains. Buddha. Temple.
A lion. Me. A mountain. A temple. A beautiful day.
SaraBrown and a whole lot of Buddhas. Great day.

Look! We did some new things in Korea! Made it to a temple! Heyoo.

I went to a Cherry Blossom Festival last weekend. We'll get to that in the next post. This one is longer than I was planning on. I love you. I miss you. Hope you're enjoying spring. I'll be home in 10 months!

Busted

• I sold my bike. I feel much better. After I got someone to agree to buy it, I got a little nervous that I would regret it. But when I was riding it into Suji I realized how stressful it is for me to deal with a bike. There are too many people, they yell at you in Korean, and it hurts my butt.
• SaraBrown came to Suji last weekend. We went to Wooster together. From the Annex to Asia. That should be the title of our movie. I took her to the Underground. Had to. It was destiny.
  
• At Korean class last night, we had a teacher who is Korean but grew up in North Carolina (I believe). He spent summers in Korea with family, has done lots of random stuff, fully believes that the world is ending in 2012, is married, and currently works at a school owned by his Aunt as a translator. He's a pretty goofy dude, but he's very nice. Anyway, we were working on some review and were talking about how to order orange juice. Whether it was necessary to say cup or bottle. I decided that I should ask the following. "Let's say you wanted a juice box. How would you ask that?" He looked at me, cracked up, and said "Got to love the midwest. Bax" and laughed. BUSTED.
• School was a bummer today. We were supposed to have a field trip tomorrow to look at trees or something. It got delayed to next week, MAYBE. It's not really a bummer because I really wanted to go see trees, its a bummer because I wanted a break. The schedule is getting old. I still really like it, I'm just ready to change it up. So that happened. Then we found out that the week we have off in summer is July 28th-August 8th. What's sad about that? Look at a calendar. We have W,Th,F,S,Su, M, T. So still 5 school days off, but only one weekend. Stupid for many reasons. 1. It means we have two short weeks and everyone knows that short weeks at school are not productive. 2. Instead of having 9 days off (two weekends) we only have 7, which is less than 9. 3. I cannot believe that Koreans, who are incredibly family oriented, are ok with this schedule. Why wouldn't you want 9 days? LAME.
• You're still invited.
  
• We had to do status reports this week. I had to do Robot, my 7year old homeroom, and Apple. Apple are the 5 year olds that I read to for 40 minutes once a week. The Apple kids don't have English names and don't speak, so I don't know who they are. They each got 3 sentences about their attitude. The Robot kids each got a page. I wonder if I'll get in trouble for that. But I don't know how else to deal with it. These reports are sort of silly. here's why. 1. I write weekly updates to Robot parents. It felt a little repetitive. 2. We are told to be honest. But they don't mean that. They mean you should say "Your child does not sit still, cannot spell his name, and might be dyslexic" like this "Your child has a lot of energy, expresses creative ideas, and is still struggling with letter recognition."
  
• It's fine. I actually don't mind these reports. I think finding out about the canceled trip and the silly vacation days got to me.
• The weather was really nice Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Like warm enough to not need a jacket and sunny. Tuesday it started out sunny and when we looked outside at 3 it was snowing and cold. Silly.
• I finally got internet banking set up. I think I can only do if from one computer. Luckily I chose one at school. But now I get a better exchange rate when I transfer money home.
• It's cool to see money in my bank accounts. It's a happy feeling. Although it is a bummer to lose a chunk each month to student loans.
  
• Sunny and DaHee, the Underground owners are getting married this weekend. I'm invited. I think I'll go. The next post will be about that.
  
• Sunday is Cheney's 19th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHENEMAN!!
• Love you. Miss you. Think about you often.
  
• I really appreciate the updates that you send me. Please continue.
  

Knitting with chopsticks

Yo! So I've figured out what is the most frustrating part of living in Korea for me. You know how I read everything? All the time? Signs, posters, notes, books, etc. When I see it, I read it. And that's how I know where I am and what kind of things are going on. Well. Here, I can read nothing. That's not true. Theoretically, I can READ stuff. I just have no idea what it means. I feel like I lost a sense. I can't get a grasp on location, I can't remember where I've been, I can't figure out what's going. It's a weird thing for me. And now that I've noticed it, it's all I think about. Ugh.

Last weekend I finally made it up to Seoul. We went to an art museum and a palace. We then had dinner and started drinking. I went up with some friends fro Suji and met up with SaraBrown. Sara and I lived in the Annex together freshman year at Wooster. That was very fun. Here's the tricky part. The buses and trains stop running around 11 pm, so if you stay out past then, you either pay quite a bit for a taxi home or you stay out all night until the subway starts running again. Sometime after 6am I believe. We did that. It was very fun. I don't think I could do it weekly, but I enjoyed myself.

The weather is starting to get nice. Finally. It's going to start getting harder and harder to be inside all day. But I guess that's life now. Sweet.

It still blows my mind how fast time is moving. I'm about to go to sleep, wake up and do the second Friday of April. Unreal. I wonder if time goes this fast because I'm in Korea, because I have a job, or because I'm an adult. That's scary.

One thing that I've noticed about Koreans is that they run a lot. Not like go out for a jog. Like "I have to go from this room to that room, so I'm going to run". So you see business dudes running around and the Korean teachers I work with shuffle run all over the school. Why have I noticed this? 1. Because I don't go that fast. Ever. 2. One of the biggest challenges that we have is to try to make the kids not run, since they fall alot. Personally, I think this is so hard because as a culture they just run from A to B.

At the end of May we have a 3 day weekend for Buddha's Birthday. I was going to go on a 3 day hike in North Korea, but we found out today that trips have been temporarily canceled. So now we're trying to decide what would be cool. Beaches have been the main stream of thought. But it has got me thinking about what to do with my week off in the summer and what to do when my year is up in March. I have the first week of August off, so you should come visit me then. If noone comes, I think I'll go somewhere awesome. And I've been thinking about some traveling after my year is up. It's exciting to think about going to some more places.

Hope you're doing well.

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.