here's to the night...

ok ok. so i am a terrible blogger. it happens. adhd plus a lack of time and an apathetic nature mean that i things like this blog get put on the back burner for things like work, napping, more work, and then more napping.

so what's been going on? well, let me break it down for you. life continues in its normal patterns. i go to work and come home and do it all over again, 5 days a week. the other two days, i just try to catch up on much needed sleep and save up some time to have random adventures. this semester has been insane, and we are not even a full month into it. they added two more classes to my schedule, which means even less time for me to get anything actually done at work. when i teach 7 classes i actually have to do prep for on a daily basis and 3 others on top of that, i would really like to know how i am supposed to get any sleep. seriously. sleep is a priority for me. and i get about 5 hours a night, if i am lucky at this point. by the time i get home, i am going to look like hell.

speaking of home, i can't wait to get back. i am going to be in some serious need of sunlight. i go in to work every morning around 8:15 and i get home around 6:30. i never get to see the light of day! it makes me kinda sad.

but, i do have some joyous news! after 6 months in korea, turk and i discovered something beautiful. i like to call this discovery 'home plus.' it is like an oasis that is the desert of korea. they had something there that was so wonderful, i cried out in joy when i laid my eyes upon it. 'what is this wondrous sight?' you may ask. the answer is ranch dressing, my friends. i think a tear or two of joy escaped my eyes as i quickly grabbed the bottle, disregarding the eight dollar price tag, and held it close to my bosom like a mother grasping her long lost child.

in other news, it is that time of year, once again...lent is upon me, and i have completely given up all forms of fast food. it isn't as hard here as it would be if i were at home and if i had mike, cory, and jordon all shoving fries in my face like last year. also, there isn't a jack in the box within several thousands of miles, so that helps.

also, spring time is upon us here in korea!!! i broke out the flip flops the other day. my toes wiggled with joy at their once again found freedom. springtime means i start coming out of hibernation and i am willing to go out again. i have been venturing out more lately, especially with jun. whenever he gets time away from work and he is in the country, we try to spend at least one day during the weekend together.

this week it was really warm. i actually went walking around ilsan and lake park all day last sunday with turk and our friend peter. this weekend, turk and i spent all day sunday wandering around seoul. we walked from gwanghwamun to myeongdong and down to insadong. it was really nice to be outside all day, even if it was a bit breezy and cloudy. we finally discovered the famous tea room in insadong with the birds flying around in it and we got directions to a zoo that we are going to try to go to next weekend if it is nice. we also went to a buddhist temple today. it was a pretty amazing experience. we even got to tie prayers to the prayer line. i find the buddhist culture fascinating, and although i can confidently say that i am and always will be a christian, i want to learn as much as i can about other faiths. i am interested in understanding what others believe and why.

anyway, i can't wait for the weather to get warmer so i can start going out and doing stuff again. you guys know how much i hate the cold...and in korea, i have to walk around in it - hence why i have been avoiding going out. but i have cabin fever and i am ready to break out!

and, just for the record, yes, my old laptop is dead...may it rest in peace...which means that i had to buy a new one. i wasn't happy about spending the money, but my new lappy at least meshes with my camera so i can upload videos...so be on the lookout for some stuff soon!

anyway, until next time - from korea with love,

-g

after all, being a slacker is what i excell in...

i realize that i haven't posted in a while, much to the annoyance of some friends and family back home. i apologize...but really, life goes on here as usual. i go to work and hang out and get into random weird situations. this is my life. after a while, it gets tedious posting these seemingly mundane moments in my life, but i suppose for some of you, they are still of interest...

i suppose i can give a quick recap of the last few weeks...we got a new guy at work. his name is peter, and he is from canada. he seems pretty cool, so no complaints. as for the school, it is crazier than ever. for the last 3 weeks, we taught an english winter camp for random students, all of whom i started to adore. friday, they ended the camp with a talent show for parents and the class i was in charge of did a play, a magic show, and sang the song 'lemon tree' by fool's garden. they were absolutely adorable. and as a result, i will never get that song out of my head...

this weekend was the end of an era...my laptop's backlight went out...which meant i had to go to yongsan and buy a new one...not something i really looked forward to, but the deed is done. i got a descent deal...i talked the guy down over 200 won and got a free bag, wireless mouse, and both an american and korean plug out of it all because the guy thought i was pretty...sometimes being a girl rocks. in case you didn't know...korean men dig when girls whine about prices and love to haggle with them...apparently it is a weird complex, but i won't argue. i will whine my little heart out over a price if it will save me money. i am a bargaining champion these days.

i did get to spend time with jun recently and went to the american base in seoul. it was pretty impressive, although we got there too late to do too much, i still was like a little kid in a candy store. it's funny how little things like seeing a ford can make your day...

other than that, i have just been staying in my normal routine...work, home, and the weekends in seoul and out with friends. i can't believe i have already been here for 5 months...although it seems like i have been here for forever some days...i can't wait to come home!

anyway, i know this one is pretty short, but i will make it up soon with a post about weird stuff in korea that you can all laugh at.

much love!

another one bites the dust...

this past week was just the grading week at the school and so all i had to do was teach after school classes, which meant a lot of free time to read and sit on facebook at work. it sounds awesome to get paid to do nothing...but really, it is just really boring. and with the absence of the kids...it was kind of lonely and sad. schools should never be open unless the students are there...

anyway, p. lee had a christmas celebration dinner on the 23rd for the faculty and the seniors came, so that provided for a bit of entertainment and a few photo opportunities. other than that, not too much excitement occurred during the week. i went to work on christmas eve and afterwards, turk and i went in to la festa and western dom for dinner and some last minute shopping. while searching for dinner, we found what can only be described as the mecca of all donkasseu places. (donkasseu is fried pork cutlet) they smothered the delicious, crispy, golden meat with gobs of REAL melted cheese. now, many of you probably would be disgusted at this description. but let me remind you that:
1. i am an american and meat and cheese are two staples in my diet.
2. i am in korea and meat and cheese are not staples is the diet here.
3. i haven't had real, unprocessed cheese in 4 months since i left america.
4. i am a southern american and deep fried goodness is part of who i am.
anyway...just know that it was the most delicious thing i have put in my mouth in a long time. i had a joygasm with each bite. after dinner, i was able to get a few final purchases and my own gift to myself - the amazing hood/scarf! it sounds anticlimactic, i know...but trust me...it's the most amazing invention ever.

christmas day was just like any other day in korea. it was strange for me. i am used to it being an important even in american culture, but koreans disregard it as just another day. i spent the morning opening my package from stephanie and cooking breakfast. i giggled with delight as i opened the wrapped gifts. some days i am curious as to whether or not i really am an adult or just an oversized toddler. after my morning in solitude, i ventured over to turks, where we exchanged gifts and watched random christmas movies (like rudolph and santa clause is coming to town - thanks steph!!!). it made the day a bit more christmasy. after that, we walked down through town, wandering in and out of random shops we had never been into before. it was more or less a day for exploration. we ended up walking all the way to la festa and had ari meet us there for dinner and a bit of meandering. afterwards, i went back to turk's for some hot chocolate (yah, i know...very adult of me) and another movie. then, it was back to my place, where i found eun pyo waiting for me with a cake and a clean apartment! it was...awesome! i invited turk and peter over to share in the tasty treat and we all stayed up much too late for our own good!

saturday rolled around with eun pyo oversleeping and missing his soccer game. after i cooked him breakfast and sent him on his way, i met up with turk and peter and we set out for western dome to buy tickets for sherlock holmes, which just came out in korea. we wasted the day in the area until the movie began by grabbing lunch and walking around and finally going to a game room where we playes scrabble and barrel of monkeys (seriously) for several hours. You have no idea how entertaining playing random board games can be when you are playing children's games as fully grown adults. after that, we went to the movie and then back home.

sunday was pretty spectacular. turk, peter, and i went into itaewon for some lunch and darts. we ended up at a turkish restaurant where we ate doner kebabs among other things i can't recall. after that, we visited the mosque where i actually went in to the women's prayer room. it was pretty interesting, although i felt like a second class citizen having to go to other rooms. it was still a humbling experience that i am glad i got. while walking back through the streets, i heard the call to prayer. after we got back to the main part of itaewon, it started snowing again. we stopped off at ankara picnic for kebabs (the best in korea) and went shopping. we stopped off at scrouge's for a snack and some darts for a few hours before heading off to dongdaemun for some more shopping. i was able to get a lot of things today and was actually quite thrilled with my haggling abilities. we headed home around seven and went out for some kimchi jiggae before heading home for the night.

monday was in itself not so bad. i slept until 2, which was AWESOME to say the least. i met up with turk around 4 and we went to costco to get supplies to have a taco night, which was super yummy! after that, we ended up playing this rpg board game that his step mom had sent him for christmas, called catan. it was pretty entertaining, to say the least. i said my goodbyes early and headed home.

today was by far the busiest day. turk, cathleen, and i made plans to visit grace in incheon. we met up with her in boopyung and walked through the underground shopping mall and to china town where we had lunch and wandered the streets a bit. we went to a chinese museum and played dress-up in all the random chinese and korean traditional clothes. after that, we walked along the pier and it began to snow again. we stopped in at an arcade where we shot guns and played air hockey and goofed off. after we had walked the entire length of the pier, we ended the night with a couple hours at a noraebang before we said our goodbyes and made the hour long trip back to baekseok.

all in all, my break hasn't been too crazy or exciting, but i think a relaxing vacation was just what i needed! i will save the big trip for the summer when it is actually warm enough for me to go outside!

if you only knew...

so, my first semester of teaching is officially over...and i breath out a sigh of relief. it wasn't as hard as i would have imagined, yet in so many ways, it was more difficult than i would ever have believed possible.

this week, i was swamped with work...between trying to get eight different finals written and final grades done, all i can say is that i was in need of a nap. but, i have gotten into a pretty good routine at work and i am almost able to get everything done while i am there which means i don't have too much to bring home at night.

as expected, most of my kids did amazingly, and i don't have a single F to report, which makes me pretty happy. with the coming of the end of term, i had to say goodbye to my students, which was actually really hard for me. each one of my students has a pretty special place in my heart, especially my seniors. i will admit my biases. i adore each and every one of them as much as i would if they were my own. their successes and their failures, their struggles, their joys, and their frustrations, i take to heart as if it were my own child's. i know i will miss them all when i have to say my final goodbyes at the end of the school year, and i know i will not be able to escape without tears flowing. sometimes i am too emotional for my own good.

this weekend, it was rather frigid. i can sense winter approaching and it seems to be ready to stay, so i am bunkering down for the long haul. the more the temperature diminishes, the less people see of me. i did end up making it out to sunny's after what i can only describe as the friday night ritual in which turk, ben, and i - and occasionally another co-worker or two - go to pizza school for a few slices and random discussions ranging from sports to america to the theory that p. lee might be a reptilian monster sent back from the future, hell bent on world domination (but that is a discussion for another day). sunny's was typical for a friday night. i conversed with all the regulars and even met a new teacher, fresh off the boat in ilsan. we talked about home and all the random food we missed, from crunch-wrap supremes to the crunchies at long john silvers. there was nothing we left out. we talked about author's and i got to share my love for hemingway with a few people, all the while wishing i could be half the literary genious i believe him to be.

i said my goodbye's early, a little after midnight, ready to leave the smoke-filled atmosphere of the bar for a more relaxed environment. i sat in my apartment until three in the morning, sipping on a bottle of wine until its contents had diminished into mere droplets clinging to the mouth of the bottle, all the while contemplating what i am doing with my life and dispelling the nagging sense of homesickness and emptiness that has been haunting me since my arrival.

saturday and sunday have both been pretty mundane. i called my mom and andy henson. both phone calls have been long overdue and both i regretted immediately after they were made. every time i call home, it is just a reminder of how much i want to be there with everyone. i spent the day cleaning and reading which is something i haven't really had too much time since i have been here. i quickly got irritated with the silence and found that i can listen to the point online, so i thank God for internet streaming radio. as much as i do love kpop, i do miss listening to music that has some sense of depth...and music that i actually understand what they are saying. i went once, only for a brief period, and that was to have dinner with turk...it was a kimchi jjiggae night...and it was well worth the excursion into the frigid night. i saved my most difficult call for sunday. i called cory for the second time since i have been in korea. out of everyone, it is the hardest to be away from him, my best friend in so many ways. we chatted about everything back home and about how thanksgiving was without me, about his new girlfriend and about our friends back home. it made me sad to think of all the things i was missing. cory and i have been together for so long that i never thought about what it would be like to not have him there until he wasn't. now, i long for the days when i would pop into his room and we would talk about the uneventful days of our lives or we would sit quietly together and watch the newest anime that he was into. to most people, that sounds lame, but i was content. cory was my closest companion and confidant, and the remembrance that we are apart stings each time i think about it.

after i hung up, i swept away a few silent tears, and got on with my day. i tried being productive, looking into jobs back home. i figure it is never too early to start, and i really want to get information on working on an indian reservation. i am taking this into serious consideration. i am also looking into international schools in south america, in case things don't pan out back home. i figure, i have an entire month ahead of me with no real tedious work in the mix, so i have made a promise to myself. i am going to start writing, for ME, again. i have been feeling rather uninspired lately and so i am going to search for inspiration. i am going to get out of seoul and into the country. i am going to search through art and poetry and writing and music and nature and humanity until i find something that makes me feel alive again...something that makes me want to create something from that life that i feel pulsing through my veins. that is the promise i have made to myself. hopefully i can keep it.

wait...where am i?

the days, as always, seem to be passing in a blur. i can't believe i am getting ready for finals week. my first semester of teaching is almost over. it feels like it just started yesterday! i am a week short of being here for four months already. i still feels like yesterday i was getting on a plane to a far away land where i knew only one person among millions.

school life here is far from dull. there isn't a week that goes by that the administration doesn't decide to do something rediculous and get my temper fired up. take, for example, two weeks ago during chapel where the pastor/principal (whom we have dubbed as p. lee aka the anti-christ) decided it was ok to start swearing from the pulpit during a sermon. the word kesa-ki (son of a bitch) is generally not a term that goes hand in hand with the word of God, where i come from. anyway, when all was said and done, i realized that there was no way in hell i was going to work for that man for longer than my contract required.

besides the crazy people i actually work for, the children are generally a joy, when they aren't being the typical student who doesn't do their homework or study for tests or come to class on time, that is. they are generally greatful for the smallest things you do for them, which is something different in comparison to a lot of students back home. i made a promise with my 7th graders that if they were all able to get a 100% on the last test that they took before finals, that i would let them watch a movie of their chosing and i would bring them each a snack. i did this primarily to motivate about 4 of the girls in class who never seem to study for the tests or try during class too often. anyway, you should have seen these kids. it was like someone finally lit a fire under their asses. in the end, they all ended up making perfect scores, so i followed through with my end of the bargain and let them watch twilight on thursday and friday and i brought them popcorn on friday. when i walked into the room, they were all astounded that i actually followed through with my promise. i have never been thanked so much in my life for making good on a promise.

one of the funniest thing i have seen so far though, has got to be what happened this thursday in my 8th grade class. turk teaches them the hour before me and we both had finished with our content for the semester, and the students had all been working really hard this semester, so we both decided to allow them to watch a movie (they all voted for twilight). as a side note - korean students - boys and girls - are all addicted to twilight and everything twilight related. it is actually pretty crazy. anyway, they were watching the scene right when bella and edward are about to kiss for the first time and the bell rang so i paused it and they all started screaming at me and begging to watch for 5 more minutes. i obliged after much pleading. right as it is about to happen, turk pops in the door and pauses it again which leads to another round of squeals of protest as only a room primarily full of 8th grade girls can deliver. he finally relented and as he unpaused it, the battery of the computer died! you should have seen the looks of utter horror on the faces of these children at the thought they would have to wait until the next day to finish the movie. feeling for the students' plight, turk and i plugged the laptop into an outlet in the teachers' office where half of the 8th grade class crowed around, with one of the students peering in from the glass just to watch the scene. it was sheer comedy watching these students from the teachers' perspectives.

the kids aren't always fun and games, of course. i actually have to be a teacher and so there are those moments when the kids aren't so adoreable. like when you are trying to teach them and they aren't paying attention or they are arguing with their classmates. we are all assigned a specific class as a 'homeroom' teacher. it was randomly decided that we would be assigned whichever class we taught after lunch. it was my luck to get 6th grade. these kids, while adorable, are exactly that, 6th graders. i never wanted to teach that age level because these kids drive even the most patient of people to their wit's end. you try playing games with them to review and they argue about teams. you try to get through a lesson, but it is always interupted with, 'teacher - she is looking at me funny!' or some random comment like that. it is enough to make me want to pull out my hair! i can't stand when people bicker and argue like that. anyway, they can be sweet and endearing, but we have decided that i have the worst homeroom out of everyone. it was a student in my homeroom that broke my hand, after all. and it was a student in my homeroom that first decided to tell everyone i was chubby. yes...i have officially been called chubby. for the first time in my life. albeit, it was by an undernourished stick of a korean girl, but i was called chubby nonetheless. it is a rediculous notion for me to take it to heart, i know. i am far from being a porker. but it is things like these that make me wonder if my homeroom is trying to kill me, or at least drive me to insanity.

anway, enough about school. my weekends have been pretty tame. i have just been trying to keep up with school and whatnot. last weekend, however, gus was in korea with his girlfriend, hanna, and so it was like a mini-high school reunion of sorts. last saturday, jun, gus, hanna, and i all got together, along with turk, and spent time together for the first time since high school. it was pretty great. we went to the war museum with jun acting as the tour guide, as always. he had to leave early due having to take a test the next day, but turk and i took gus and hanna to insadong for some tea. it was crazy cold out and we had actually seen the first snow of the year that morning, so hanna and gus decided they wanted to see a movie so we took them to yongsan which is where the closest imax was. they bought tickets and we hung out with them through dinner. i actually wasn't feeling that great, so i ended up excusing myself early. i ended up having a 24 hour flu, which was not awesome, so i will spare everyone details.

this past week, i was extremely busy, trying to get everything prepared for finals week. i have to give 2 extra finals on top of what most of the teachers are giving because i teach the french and spanish classes. by thursday, i was ready for a break, so i ended up getting a pizza with turk and ben and we hung out at turk's place and played xbox for a few hours. it was really relaxing and it reminded me of all the nights i would sit with cory while he played. i miss that more than anything, as lame as it sounds. in fact, there is nothing more i wish i could do right now than sit and watch cory play persona. i am going through withdrawel!

friday was pretty uneventful due to the fact that i was exhausted from the week and turk, jess, and i had plans to be in seoul early for a day of christmas shopping. i went to sunny's, but called in an early night. we got into itaewon saturday around 11 and got some shopping in before having lunch at a place called the maharaja, which is a little indian food place. it was not too bad and i actually got the first decent cup of coffee there since i have been in korea, so i was quite satisfied. after a bit more shopping we went to insadong to finish up with a few more purchases. i had intended to go to hongdae and dongdaemun, but i was pretty beat and ready to relax. we got home aroung 5:30, and i was content to sit and read for the rest of the evening. aroung 10:30, however, i got a call from jess, beckoning me to come to sunny's, which i obliged. before i went over, i messaged my buddy peter, who lives in my building, and told him to come by. i sat in sunny's with ari and jess and peter, chatting it up, until the realization that i hadn't eaten dinner suddenly made itself very clear with the distinct craving for a big mac coinciding. i talked jess and peter into making a mcdonald's trip, seeing as ari had left earlier. while waiting for the bus, i gave up (it was cold outside, after all) and started heading back to sunny's. jess decided to go home. as i am crossing the street, i see the bus i was waiting for, and peter and i quickly make a mad dash and catch it just in time. mcdonald's cravings are worth the two dollars in bus fares. we grabbed mcdonald's in la festa right after midnight and made the bus back to baekseok right before the buses shut down for the evening. we went back to sunny's, our purchases in hand. of course, i brought sunny back a big mac - an offering to my friend who let me bring in fast food instead of ordering food from him. i sat there until almost 3 a.m. with peter, just talking about home and about other random stuff. i slept in today for the first time since last week, and it felt awesome. but, now, i have to get ready to get back to the grind and start writing my finals!

a korean thanksgiving...and other adventures

ok, i left off with turk and i spending last saturday in a toilet museum, among other things. the next day, we decided to go into itaewon for some darts and lunch. we got there around 2. needless to say, i didn't get home until 2 the next morning...somehow with both grant and eun pyo both in tail. i really have to question how i end up getting into these types of situations.

anyway, another week rolled around at school. i got a lot accomplished. i planned out bothf my science classes for the rest of the semester. all i have to do is get a couple more tests created for them and write their finals! hooray! that just leaves me with american government to prep for. they are studying the constitution and the bill of rights, which means it is a piece of cake for me.

no week at school is complete without someone in administration doing something which makes me want to quit. the newest assenine thing is moving the time the students have chapel. they originally had it every monday after the last class. but, for some reason which is devoid of all logic, they have decided to move the time. they are cancelling every last class on mondays and hving chapel at that time. so, these kids are missing out on 1/5 of their class time. not only that, but they are refusing to give these students the 2 days they need to review for finals. considering the school's decision to mandate the midterm and final exam scores be 70% of a student's grade (they did this without the knowledge or consent of the teachers after we had already informed students about our personal grading scales) i believe taking this time away from students is a terrible idea. but then again, what else is new? i ended up getting into a pretty heated arguement about this with one of my supervisors because i feel like the students' education is the most important thing and the school is ignoring that fact. long story short, i am seriously looking into new jobs. i love my students, but this school is turning me into a very negative person, and that is something i am not ok with. since the beginning, it has done nothing but break my contract and lie to me and piss me off. i am throwing in the towel.

but, on to a more positive thing. THANKSGIVING! i was so sad to have to miss thanksgiving at home this year. the idea had me pretty down, although i tried not to show it too much. thanksgiving is just that one day of the year when nothing can go wrong for me. i love being able to spend the time cooking and being with me friends and family. this year i had to work, but sunny bought us a turkey and i helped him cook it after i got off of work. we were unable to obtain certain traditional side dishes like green bean casserole and stuffing, but we were able to put together a pretty yummy feast which was complete with pumpkin pie! mmmm!

i was pretty beat from being up late all week long doing things for school and preparing for thanksgiving stuff, so friday we stayed in ilsan. we went to dinner in la festa and walked around a bit before heading back to baekseok to sunny's for a cup of tea (in my case) and some darts and left-over pie (joygasm!). it was a pretty early night for me.

i got up early saturday to call home and then met up with turk and jess and ari at 10 for a day of shopping in dongdaemun. i love dongdaemun because i never pay what people ask for. for example, i found a cute bracelet for 15 dollars. i said it was too expensive and offered 8. she said no deal. she would discount for 10. i said no thanks. i could buy it somewhere else. she gave in and i paid 8. i win. haggling for me is like an extreme sport in which i refuse to lose.

after a day of shopping, we went to sinchon to beer o' clock for kevin's last hoorah before he leaves korea. the boys completed two of the ten shot challenges which i refuse to take part in, as always. there is a thing in this life called pure stupidity. i try to avoid that. i made it home around midnight and i attempted to go to sleep, but my night wasn't complete until i had been woken up at least 10 times by drunken phone calls from grant. some days, i hate my friends...lol

anyway, i have been a little under the weather and i somehow managed to sleep until 4 pm on sunday, when i was woken up by a phone call from eun pyo. i decided to get out of bed and do some things. it is now almost 6 pm and the only thing i have managed to accomplish is making an egg sandwhich and writing this blog. being unproductive for the win!

i will leave off with one last story which many of my buddies back home will find amusing.
so, this week, one of my students in ESL class asked me if i knew the movie, american pie. (i could already tell where this was going) i anwered that i did. she asked me if i knew the character, michelle. (i sighed to myself) i answered that i did. she yelled out, 'teacher, you are michelle!' and then she told me that i looked like her, but prettier (because all of my students believe that is they compliment me endlessly, i might give them a better grade or something i guess). moral of the story: no matter where i go, i will never escape the 'band camp girl' comparison. lol.

slacking...for the win!

i realize that ever since i broke my hand, i haven't updated this, and i apologize. keep in mind that i don't enjoy typing with one hand. once i have the use of both hands again, i fully intend to be more responsible in my postings. anyway, a lot has happened, and there are a lot of specific things i intend to dedicate full blogs to, but like i said, i don't intend to do all that work one-handed. so, for now, i am just going to get everyone up to date on the fact that i am still alive.

i left off the weekend i broke my hand. since then, i have spent a lot of time in mokdong with grant. one sunday, after spending an eventful evening of darts at beer o'clock in sinchon with kevin and grant, i was on the bus home and a random korean guy started talking to me. we made friendy-friends. his name is heemyung. anyway, long story short, i ended up going to an old italian film called 'la dolce vide' the next saturday with him at the cinema in jong-no sam ga. after that, we headed into sinchon to meet up with grant, kevin, and garth who were at a bar called 'woodstock.' there were two korean guys at a table next to us who we started talking to and somehow we all ended up going to a noraebang (karaoke room). after that, one of our new korean friends had to leave, but the other guy, who is a soccer player named eun pyo, decided to come back to mokdong with us and hang out. it was a crazy night, but that seems to be the norm for me these days. the next day was lookin' pretty rough for all of us so after grabbing lunch in sinchon at beer o'clock we all parted ways to get ready for the upcoming week.

the week at school started off pretty normally, but like clockwork, things quickly began to get rediculous. i don't even want to get into the details now...but let's just say the pastor at my school might be...the antichrist. the end of the week ended with the students missing the first two classes because he was telling the students they couldn't get into colleges without his signiture and that he was very powerful and that he could get them into any college in the world. they didn't need to take the sat or toefl tests as long as he deemed them worthy to sign over their transcripts. this guy is a nut case. he was also complaining about students who have left the school and telling lies about many of them...what a great pastor, right?

but, at least wednesday was ppeppero day (korean pocky) and many of my students brought me the yummy treats. i counted and i have 32 boxes of the stuff filling my cabinets...lol

anyway, on to the weekend. one of our korean friends, shin, was celebrating his 23rd bday and so he rented out a bar in sinchon (the barfly) and we got free drinks all night on saturday. so, naturally, grant, kevin, lynds, alexis, and i all showed up in full celebration mode. our buddy from the weekend before, eun pyo, showed up with his friend, soo hee (tiger), and things got silly, like always. we somehow all ended up in mokdong up until 6 am. the next day was sunday, and so the boys and i headed to itaewon to the wolfhound for lunch and darts. i left early (at 7) so i could meet sunny back in baekseok because i had promised him we would hang out. sunny took me to dinner and we had coffee outside next to a fire. it was actually pretty cool and reminded me of home, sitting around bonfires and drinking. after that we sat at a tea shop and listened to some live music until around midnight.

the next week at school, all hell broke loose. the pastor spent an entire morning telling the students they were all stupid and worthless, which pissed me off beyond belief. the shit this guy does is insane. needless to say, i wasn't surprised when the next evening, we walked in and witnessed an extremely pissed off korean mom going for this man's throat. it was...awesome. anyway, to make the parents happy with the school, they announced the students would be having a thanksgiving day performance on friday and each grade was to give a performance. we were notified wednesday night that we, the teachers, were supposed to perform too...oh joy! anyway, the event was really a lot of fun, and i have video of everything, so, hopefully you all will get to see it soon. the teachers decided to put on the WORST rendition of a play, ever...and to be honest, it was so bad, it was good.

friday, after classes, i had plans to meet up with eun pyo. he had texted and called all week and decided he wanted to visit me in ilsan, which i was more than happy about. tiger called me friday and asked me out for dinner as well, so both of the boys ended up in ilsan and we all went out to sunny's where i met up with turk and the usual crew. after i dominated in jenga and darts, we all came back to my place and played circle of death and downed a bottle of vodka and soju. afterwards, we said our goodnights.

eun pyo ended up staying in baekseok with me and we hung out until he had to go to work the next day - coaching little kids soccer. after that, i met up with turk at joe's sandwich for a bite before we walked around lake park and went to a toilet museum and a cactus museum - hey, don't judge us...weird shit is intriguing. after that, we walked around western dome, which is one of the big shopping districts in ilsan. we ran into a mob of screaming teenage girls all standing outside a tv station waiting to catch a glimpse of the boy pop band, shiney, and we joined in their commotion for a bit before we lost interest. while meandering through the streets, we came upon a group of break dancers giving a free performance. it was actually pretty cool, so we stopped and watched and turk got a pretty good video of it. around 6, we decided to head back to baekseok and part ways, which is where i am at right now...contemplating whether or not to go out tonight or just stay in...but the cold wind outside and my need to get some sleep is making me lean more towards staying in...i suppose i will let you know what i chose...next time!