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.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
broken hands and frozen dreams are on the menu
wow, so i have been a slacker and haven't posted in a while, so i will give a quick run down of the major events...
last week was pam's last week (miss you already girl!) so i spent quite a few nights with her at sunny's followed by a weekend in seoul. two saturday's ago started out simple enough...the friday night before i was out until 7 a.m. with random new korean friends so i was pretty beat, but i was still up for seeing something new. turk and i went on an adventure to the aquarium at the coex mall where i saw sharks and sea turtles and monkeys (yah...) and penguins and all the random animals that make the little girl inside of me tingle with glee...i am such a dork some days...anyway...we followed that with dinner in itaewon at the thai garden to celebrate our friend yoona's birthday. of course, no trip to itaewon is complete without a few drinks at the wolfhound.
following yoona's birthday drinks, turk and i had made plans with pam and a few other friends to hit up the casino where you drink and eat for free as long as you are gambling...and i do love free things...so we spent a few hours there. we left around 2 a.m. and i was up 50 bucks, so i was ready to keep on going, the way i do when i get in a mood. we all went back to itaewon where we ended up at the loft...a pretty typical 'club' where girls drink cheap, crappy drinks for free and guys try to grind on them...gross...but, once again, i do love free stuff...i was there until around 5 when i decided it was time for a nap. turk had already gone back to ilsan so i decided to save 20 bucks and catch a ride with grant back to his place in myoung-dong considering we all had plans to meet back in itaewon for sunday lunch and darts at the wolfhound. sunday morning came too early and the day was over much too quickly. i got back to ilsan between 10 and 11 and realized that the next week at school was going to be a rough one.
the week flew by relatively quickly and wednesday our boss informed us that friday we would not have international school and that we would be having a sports day instead. yay! here's the kicker...girl teachers had to play...boy teachers only had to ref! wait to go korea! i call sexual discrimination! lol
friday came and i was pumped. the little competitor in me came out and i was smack talkin' the other teams and working hard to keep my team's spirit up. i coached my kids on how to play kickball and we were victorious against the first team we played. while we were waiting to play the next team, i watched as joseph from 12th grade kicked a ball that nailed an ajuma square in the face...i realized then that sports day was a very dangerous day!
things were going well and the kids were having fun and i was having a blast spending the day with all of them and getting to be myself around them. after kickball was lunch, followed by some very painful 4 legged (3 people tied together) racing. then, it was time for the dodge ball competition, which koreans play with volley balls...this just reeks of a bad idea, right? anyway, everything was going well.i watched kids get hit in the face and saw glasses fly to the ground. i saw my boss get nailed right where it counts (best shot of the day) and i shared many laughs with my kids...up until i tried catching a ball thrown by joy in 6th grade...and hearing that gut wrenching *crunch!* that my hand made. i hoped i had just jammed my finger, so i tried to shake it off, and jumped back into the game. by the end of the day, when i realized my finger wasn't going back in place like it should have and my hand was swollen to the size of a baseball, i figured something was wrong, but still hoped for the best. i went back to the school and taught afternoon classes with a bag of ice on my hand. not willing to be deterred from finally seeing inglorious bastards, i ignored my throbbing hand and went off with turk and ari (the new teacher from australia who replaced pam) to western dom to catch the flick and then we spent the night at sunny's where everyone was convinced that my hand was broken or i at least had a dislocated finger.
saturday, i woke up, still not able to move my pinkey finger and to a black and blue hand. yoona and i had made plans to go shopping so i quickly got dressed to meet her. when she saw my hand, she insisted i see a docter...so, we went and she translated. a few xrays later, we found that my hand was broken. he put a temporary cast on it and gave me a perscription for some anti-inflamatories (apparently a broken hand doesn't give you the need for real pain meds...vicodin! stat!) and told me to come back wednesday when i will get a cast put on for the next 3 weeks...sigh...the best part is that workman's comp doesn't exist in this country so i get to pay for this all by myself! stupid korea! at least i have insurance...lol...anyway, i spent the day shopping with yoona and then grabbed jess and ari and headed to sunny's and then to la festa to a noraebang. i got in around 3 and headed to bed.
sunday, i was supposed to go to a soccer game with kevin and grant, but i was exhausted and overslept. i did a few things around the apartment and met up with them in shinchon around 6 at beer o'clock where we played darts and had dinner. we left around 11 and i got home around midnight...ready for another week at school.
monday rolled in with subarctic temperatures and siberian winds, only to find that the heat in my apartment wasn't working like it should. that evening, hockey came by from the school and got the maintenence guys to turn on my heat and he gave me the filler piece for my comforter. unfortunately the guys couldn't get the air conditioning vent to close, so i had freezing cold air blowing directly into my apartment from the outside. luckily today, david from school came by and got it shut, so hopefully tonight i won't die from hypothermia.
i hope that has just about got everyone caught up. i know this was long, so i will do a quick recap!
pam leaves :( , aussi new teacher (ari), aquarium, yoona's bday and casino night, sports day and broken hand, freezing apartment.
anyway, typing with one hand sucks, so this is all you are getting from me. until next time, much love!
last week was pam's last week (miss you already girl!) so i spent quite a few nights with her at sunny's followed by a weekend in seoul. two saturday's ago started out simple enough...the friday night before i was out until 7 a.m. with random new korean friends so i was pretty beat, but i was still up for seeing something new. turk and i went on an adventure to the aquarium at the coex mall where i saw sharks and sea turtles and monkeys (yah...) and penguins and all the random animals that make the little girl inside of me tingle with glee...i am such a dork some days...anyway...we followed that with dinner in itaewon at the thai garden to celebrate our friend yoona's birthday. of course, no trip to itaewon is complete without a few drinks at the wolfhound.
following yoona's birthday drinks, turk and i had made plans with pam and a few other friends to hit up the casino where you drink and eat for free as long as you are gambling...and i do love free things...so we spent a few hours there. we left around 2 a.m. and i was up 50 bucks, so i was ready to keep on going, the way i do when i get in a mood. we all went back to itaewon where we ended up at the loft...a pretty typical 'club' where girls drink cheap, crappy drinks for free and guys try to grind on them...gross...but, once again, i do love free stuff...i was there until around 5 when i decided it was time for a nap. turk had already gone back to ilsan so i decided to save 20 bucks and catch a ride with grant back to his place in myoung-dong considering we all had plans to meet back in itaewon for sunday lunch and darts at the wolfhound. sunday morning came too early and the day was over much too quickly. i got back to ilsan between 10 and 11 and realized that the next week at school was going to be a rough one.
the week flew by relatively quickly and wednesday our boss informed us that friday we would not have international school and that we would be having a sports day instead. yay! here's the kicker...girl teachers had to play...boy teachers only had to ref! wait to go korea! i call sexual discrimination! lol
friday came and i was pumped. the little competitor in me came out and i was smack talkin' the other teams and working hard to keep my team's spirit up. i coached my kids on how to play kickball and we were victorious against the first team we played. while we were waiting to play the next team, i watched as joseph from 12th grade kicked a ball that nailed an ajuma square in the face...i realized then that sports day was a very dangerous day!
things were going well and the kids were having fun and i was having a blast spending the day with all of them and getting to be myself around them. after kickball was lunch, followed by some very painful 4 legged (3 people tied together) racing. then, it was time for the dodge ball competition, which koreans play with volley balls...this just reeks of a bad idea, right? anyway, everything was going well.i watched kids get hit in the face and saw glasses fly to the ground. i saw my boss get nailed right where it counts (best shot of the day) and i shared many laughs with my kids...up until i tried catching a ball thrown by joy in 6th grade...and hearing that gut wrenching *crunch!* that my hand made. i hoped i had just jammed my finger, so i tried to shake it off, and jumped back into the game. by the end of the day, when i realized my finger wasn't going back in place like it should have and my hand was swollen to the size of a baseball, i figured something was wrong, but still hoped for the best. i went back to the school and taught afternoon classes with a bag of ice on my hand. not willing to be deterred from finally seeing inglorious bastards, i ignored my throbbing hand and went off with turk and ari (the new teacher from australia who replaced pam) to western dom to catch the flick and then we spent the night at sunny's where everyone was convinced that my hand was broken or i at least had a dislocated finger.
saturday, i woke up, still not able to move my pinkey finger and to a black and blue hand. yoona and i had made plans to go shopping so i quickly got dressed to meet her. when she saw my hand, she insisted i see a docter...so, we went and she translated. a few xrays later, we found that my hand was broken. he put a temporary cast on it and gave me a perscription for some anti-inflamatories (apparently a broken hand doesn't give you the need for real pain meds...vicodin! stat!) and told me to come back wednesday when i will get a cast put on for the next 3 weeks...sigh...the best part is that workman's comp doesn't exist in this country so i get to pay for this all by myself! stupid korea! at least i have insurance...lol...anyway, i spent the day shopping with yoona and then grabbed jess and ari and headed to sunny's and then to la festa to a noraebang. i got in around 3 and headed to bed.
sunday, i was supposed to go to a soccer game with kevin and grant, but i was exhausted and overslept. i did a few things around the apartment and met up with them in shinchon around 6 at beer o'clock where we played darts and had dinner. we left around 11 and i got home around midnight...ready for another week at school.
monday rolled in with subarctic temperatures and siberian winds, only to find that the heat in my apartment wasn't working like it should. that evening, hockey came by from the school and got the maintenence guys to turn on my heat and he gave me the filler piece for my comforter. unfortunately the guys couldn't get the air conditioning vent to close, so i had freezing cold air blowing directly into my apartment from the outside. luckily today, david from school came by and got it shut, so hopefully tonight i won't die from hypothermia.
i hope that has just about got everyone caught up. i know this was long, so i will do a quick recap!
pam leaves :( , aussi new teacher (ari), aquarium, yoona's bday and casino night, sports day and broken hand, freezing apartment.
anyway, typing with one hand sucks, so this is all you are getting from me. until next time, much love!
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