my kids crack me up.

• up steer = upstairs
• a-freek-a = africa
• sex-cartoon = saskatoon
• prairie/perry = pierre (they had SO much trouble with this name)
• "use his poket and go fast" = used his rocket to go fast

• Question on a test: "What would you do to escape from a kidnapper and why?"
• Answer: "I would lick them. They would think it was nasty and put me down and I would run away."

• We were talking about items we had lost and what to do to find them. 
• (with a very serious face) "Teacher! I lost my marbles!"   .....  I couldn't keep it together

• "Teacher, do you want to be Korean when you get older? I want to be American when I grow up. I want to be pink like you."

• In one homework story I read, a lion came out of a cage and punched a school bus.

These are some of my kids. They crack me up.

this face...HI-larious

she's my favorite :)

my unruly class

it's hard to be mad at these sweet faces...but it happens

my favorite & my little trouble maker

my poor hair dryer..

just shorted out :( i loved that thing! it started sputtering and smoking...not good! So it looks like I'll be looking for a new one shortly!

Until then...I'll be air-drying my hair today. aka it's going to end up in a bun or braid. oh well! At least it's not too too cold today :)

Coex Mall

The mall is actually in the basement/lower levels of the Coex Building. It seems a little odd to me, but it's perfectly normal here. After the baseball game, Lillian and I met up with Helen and Shakayla at the mall. We got food and coffee & wondered around for a bit. It was fun :) The trip home was interesting though - we missed our subway stop, had to get on a different train, got on a train going the wrong direction, missed a connecting train by a few seconds...it was a mess lol. We finally made it home an hour later, where I promptly fell asleep :) All in all, a good day though!

Some pretty wall installation art on the 2nd floor

Helen!

The knock-off Apple Store

The Hello Kitty Store had everything...even toilet bowl cleaners

Interesting column installation

Just some of the name brands at the mall

More pretty columns

Pretty shoe store chandelier 

They even thank you for leaving :)

Korean Baseball!

Yesterday, I made my 1st trip out of Bucheon since arriving in my new city and went to Seoul for some Korean Baseball. It was the Doosan Bears VS the SK Wyverns. The explanation I got was that a wyvern was an imaginary flying dragon. Odd, right? The game was a lot of fun - it was only a practice game though, which ended up being good because the crowds weren't too crazy and it was free to get in :) I went with a few teachers from work. It was fun :) The Doosan Bears lost, but at least the weather was nice!!

stadium entrance

the stands slowly filled up a bit more

my kimbap snack!

the Doosan Bears!

Ziyo!

the fans get really into it

these guys were serious fans - they cheered the WHOLE game

the scoreboard was HUGE!

the other team's pitcher had a funny windup

week 1: done!

So my first week went by with only mild glitches (whew!). There was a computer outage on my first day teaching that caused some anxiety, but it was figured out rather quickly. I have a range of ages with my kids and for the most part, they are all rather well behaved and (so far) I like them quite a bit :)

I'm finally in my permanent apartment (yippee!!) and I must say, I like it quite a bit. There is storage space galore, which is  nice. Except I could only bring 3 suitcases (1 being a carryon) so I honestly couldn't bring that much stuff. So I have tons of extra space :)

I was internet-less for a day once I moved in, which was quite disconcerting. My entire life / outside connections to my world back home is via the internet. Not having it was not an experience I would like to have again. not. at. all. But until I ask tomorrow about getting my internet hooked up, I'm stealing some random WiFi network for the time being. yay for wireless!

I've made yet another trip to HomePlus for foodstuffs. I even ventured out into the produce department! I was so proud of myself until a man that worked there told me in his best broken English that I couldn't have the bunch of bananas that I had so carefully picked out because they were a sample. Whoops! I'll have to remember to take a picture of HomePlus the next time I go - this store is massive!! I wondered around a bit before it got to busy/crazy and it is pretty much exactly like a Korean Super Walmart. There's food, clothing, school supplies, kitchen items, bedding/linens, an automotive sections and a small pet section as well. It's crazy how much they fit in this store! It's almost a little overwhelming lol

Dinner tonight was delish - I have leftovers too, so I can have it for dinner tomorrow too! yay! It was a stew-type dish, with rice, chicken, 1/2 a potato and a carrot. nom nom nommmm. My kitchen is pretty tiny, but it's just me, so it works pretty well :)

I even figured out how to work the washing machine! I patiently translated all of the buttons and got everything working without a hitch...only to not know how to open it when the clothes were done! My smelling-good, clean clothes were trapped inside the washer for about an hour, until I had the genius idea to google the manual for the machine (which I had to translate too, mind you). But I eventually got the door open, so now I know how to work my washing machine with only minor issues :)

For now, I'm off to clean some more and put things away. A fellow teacher is coming in the morning to help me move my mattress up to the loft (yay!), so once I get everything moved and put away, I'll take pictures / video of my new place!!

my schedule!

I finally got my schedule worked out. MWF my days go from 2:40pm - 7:10pm, Tuesdays go from 3:30pm - 8:15pm & Thursdays are from 4:20pm - 8:15pm. I have to be at school every day by 2pm though, to get everything prepared for the day. So much to know!! I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon though :)

yay! i get hulu!

my head instructor is so awesome - she told me about a website, from which you can download software that will block/reassign your ip address so that it doesn't look like you're where your original ip says you are :)

so now i get hulu AND i get my google voice calling feature back. i did a little happy dance. this is awesome :)

a tour of my temp apartment

robot toilet!

this was the toilet in the hotel in Seoul. it was INTENSE. 

lucky for me, there was a regular flusher on the side :)

gotta love the pictures on the controls too.

coffee making adventures!

the aftermath of me making coffee - i had to ghetto-rig it & put it in a tea bag to brew it :)

also. i use this pot for everything. EVERYTHING.

HomePlus! and other tidbits

I just got back from my 2nd trip to HomePlus today - the 1st time I went with two teachers from the school; the 2nd, I decided I needed to brave it on my own. It turned out ok, I would say though. It was definitely more interesting the 2nd time :)

Genius that I am, I forgot gloves back in the states. So I had to go on a hunt to find them at HomePlus. Being a foreigner, I had no idea where gloves would be in the clothing department. A nice lady working there saw the confused look on my face and tried to help. So I mimed gloves…needless to say, the point didn’t cross the language barrier. 3 HomePlus worker ladies, a nice Korean man who spoke some English and LOTS of laughing by almost all involved, I was directed to gloves. I found a pair that fit me, too! I’d call that a great success :)

This time around, I bought fabric softener and detergent, dish soap, and some other food-related odds & ends. I bought some coffee that I honeslty don’t know if it is brew or instant, but I’ll find out in the morning! I can’t be going to a coffee shop every morning – I spent as much for a bag of coffee as a large cup would cost at a coffee shop. I feel satisfied with my decision though :) I just hope it tastes good! It’s hazelnut, so I’m really hoping it does.

Other funny facts from the day...
- I used a Christmas stocking I found in the cupboard as an oven mitt. I originally thought it was an oven mitt & only found out it wasn’t upon use.
- I startled more than one person with my appearance. Most amusingly, 2 small children. They did a very obvious double-take, their small mouths agape. It was adorable! I assume they don’t see many foreigners, much less ones of my height. And I’m thinking my assumption is true, as the number of foreigners I saw today I could count on one hand (and that’s including me)
- I had to watch a YouTube video to figure out how to work my washing machine. The one I have wasn’t exactly like the one in the video, but the characters were similar enough that I could work it out. And after lots of fiddling, button pushing and a few trips to Google Translate, I figured out how to turn it on. I’m so proud of myself :)

The excitement of the day has worn me out, for sure. So for now, I’m going to make some dumplings, look over class material, unpack a smidge so I can find clothes I want to wear, and relax. I think I might be getting the hang of this whole Korea thing :)

bucheon!

whew! the last few days have been a mess - time flew by SO fast & i didn't have much time for anything except studying & sleeping when i could. but all the hard work paid off because I PASSED!! i'm now in Bucheon, which will be my city for the next year. yay!

the cab ride here felt like it took FOREVERRR. for one thing, i didn't know where we were going, which automatically makes the time draggggg. another thing was the fact that we were in friday evening rush hour. which, no matter where you are, is a complete zoo. even more so here - people drive like mad men! but one odd thing...i have yet to see a car wreck! they're intense, but very defensive drivers, i think.

---

the people at my school are amazing. they're all super nice & welcoming. i'm so excited to start teaching! the kids that i saw are so adorable, i can't even get over it. i feel like a giant; it's great :)

i just got back from my 1st adventure into my new city; my head instructor (she's from toronto) and another teacher (she's korean, but from california) took me out to lunch & then to home plus to get some necessities. home plus is like a super walmart - they have everything from produce to shoes to home goods (like towels...i had to go buy a few) i took pictures along the way so i'll try & upload them soon. it is a VERY urban setting; at minimum, everything is 2-3 stories, all the way up to at least 20. and there are giant signs and advertisements everywhere as well. it's crazy.

so now i'm off to clean my temporary apartment a little bit. the teacher i'm replacing won't move out until next week, so i'm living in a temp place for the time being. which is ok with me - it's actually pretty spacious :) i have 2 couches, a little loveseat/easy chair & a cushy chair. i might try to take the cushy chair with me since it's so cute - everything here is furniture left from the person you lived here before me. so everything's fair game. how cool is that?! i'll have to see what Min (the teacher i'm replacing) has at his apartment. there's a couch here that's really pretty (and green!) so i might want to bring it with me. also, another cool thing - my bed's up in a loft, leaving the main living space pretty open uncluttered by bedding things & whatnot. so all in all, i think i like my city (and, albeit temporary) my new digs.

off to clean & unpack a few things! i might even try to work the washing machine. crazy!

nothing says 'welcome to korea' like...

..having to squat over an old fashioned toilet. aka a hole in the floor. it wasn't a plain ol' hole though; it was like someone took a men's urinal and inlaid it into the floor. it was weird. and the used toilet paper went into a basket next to the hole. very very odd. but hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go, right?

today went pretty well though - surprisingly well for how much information was thrown at us. and the amount of work we have to do to prep for tomorrow. i'm super excited for the curriculum, there's just a lot that i have to know. it's a bit intense. the amount of energy required for this position is crazy. but the material is fun, as long as you don't take yourself too seriously and are more concerned with teaching the kids than you are about making a fool of yourself. sometimes you look/sound silly, but if you get the point across & they learn something, it's totally worth it :)

2 down, 3 to go! tomorrow we mock teach the 'sprout' section of the curriculum, which is equivalent to US grade 2-3. should be interesting. wish me luck!

1 down, 4 to go

So the 1st day of training went well. They split us up into 2 groups based on what section of the company we're teaching for - CDI or April English. I'm super excited to teach for April - it's a section of the company for lower proficiency students that is more high-energy and is creatively-based structure than other sections. It's for students K-6, & I'll more than likely be teaching mostly students in grades 2-4. AH the curriculum is so cute. I can't get over it. I'm so excited.


1 day down, 4 to go. We were given subway cards so that we can get used to traveling the subway system in s.Korea. It's a little confusing because I'm not used to any of the names of the stops, but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. I found out where I'm living at the end of the week - yay! Just have to get through this week of training and off I go! It's going to be an intense week, for sure, but I think I can handle it. SO SO excited :)

aaaand off to get ready for the day & get some coffee/breakfast. It's really nice having Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts right down the road :)