Three Weeks In

3 weeks in and beginning my fourth! Can you believe this? I am almost a month already in. They aren’t kidding when they say the time flies!

My mom left to go back to Hawaii this Sunday. As much as she has been a royal pain in my ass at times, I still shed a few tears because she has really been the biggest help to me. Now I am on my own to face the Land of the Morning Calm (Korea) with no interpretation from her. Lord help me.

I have officially been an official teacher for a week and one day now. The kids are starting to talk to me in English more and climb on me even more…like a bunch of orangutans. At first they were shy about trying to hold conversations with me, but they are getting the used to me being their new teacher now. The teacher I replaced had lived in Korea for 5 years so had picked up on the language very well. Fortunately on the kids part, that meant that the kids could ask him for something or say something and generally he would know what they were saying. As for me who currently only has a Korean vocab of about less than 20 words, I can never understand what they are asking me so they are forced to try to figure out in English. This usually just results in them pointing at the bathroom, a spoon, more rice, or just some water. Either way, it’s breaking the language barrier!

I was talking to my co-teacher, Sonny, and explained to her that the kids here are so unbelievably affectionate. I am not sure if any of the American 7 year olds would be like this, but what do I know? The minute you sit at their level, they are just hugging you, wanting to play with your hair, holding your hands—this includes boys too!! And they are so affectionate to one another. I constantly look over and see the students hugging each other or having their arm around each other like they are the best of buds. I have had students who want to kiss me goodbye, which about makes me melt, but I just couldn’t believe their attachment with people here. Sonny explained to me since most of the kids that attend the school have well off parents, they have busy jobs that require them to be gone a lot and the kids are usually the only child. She thinks they just crave the attention when any is offered to them.
I was talking to Lindsay, a friend of mine who is a teacher in the states, about how these young kids get so excited about the littlest things. It is just so innocent when they get so excited that you drew a smiley face on their paper and they start showing all their friends like I just gave them a celebrity signature. The minute I tell them they are able to color something, there is no chance of getting my class under control for at least a good thirty minutes. They LOVE to color! I let them make butterflies today with a clothespin and 2 pieces of colored tissue paper. I swear, they could have been entertained for hours on end with these things. They were throwing them in the air and showing their friends, and were sincerely so happy and intent with the cheapest craft ever.

Furthermore, last Friday I also found out that my co-teacher, Sonny, is pregnant! She was a little shocked but she is happy to be pregnant. She already has the cutest little girl and she is hoping for another one although her husband is rooting for a boy of course. I am excited because she is only 5 weeks in and she is supposedly due in April or May which means I will see the whole 9 month pregnancy! It made me think of you Erika! :-)

I found a gym and went to it today for the first time. Possibly the nicest gym I have ever been to! Surprisingly I have packed on a few pounds while I have been here. Must be that white rice…ugh. Instead of eating my occasional 5 piece taco meal, indulging in a whole pizza, or hitting up the local Chinese buffet, I have been mainly just been eating a lot of rice, meat, and vegetables. Unfortunately, one of my co-workers said that the side dishes and a lot of the meals Koreans serve here are high in sugars because of all the sauces they put on everything. All these skinny Korean girls just must be immune to this food then! Hmph! It doesn’t help that Koreans LOVE to eat here… so you know what they say…”When in Rome…”

I am still in the “getting to know people” stage and it is sinking into me lately how much I miss talking to someone that just knows me and I don’t have to tiptoe around the conversation so they don’t think that I come off too strong. I know I am only 3 weeks in and it will take time, but I always wish I would have someone to experience this with me right now.

There is a possible hiking trip in the works so hopefully I will be reporting to you about that soon!

P.S. Did you know they DELIVER McDonalds here???? All the delivery men here ride mopeds so occasionally I see a moped with a McDonald’s logo on the back. Incredible. Not sure if they have a minimum delivery balance, but it would be cool to see if they would deliver me a 1$ McChicken right to my front doorstep!