First, and most importantly, I can shout from the rooftops: in April, I will be an AUNT!!!! Hooray! I am sooo excited for Nick and Jess! And let's be honest, Bob and Kris are pretty jazzed about the grandparents gig too!
Next, (I hope you're sitting down for this, Mom) today marked a major milestone in my life. I ate meat for the first time in three and a half years. For about a week, I have been giving this decision major thought. A huge part of Korean culture is community. Community EVERYTHING. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, eating. In several restaurant settings, it is common to share food. This could be side dishes like kimchi and pickled radish, but could also be the entire meal, entree included. Also, much of Korean cuisine contains some form of meat whether it is chicken or beef broth or actual pieces of meat strewn into much of the food choices. This year (or however long I decide to stay here...), it is my goal to soak up and experience as much Korean culture as possible. I do not want to exclude myself from Korean traditions or outings because of my distaste for meat. So, when the opportunity presents itself, I will, indeed, be partaking in meat. This does not mean that I will eat meat at every meal because let's not forget the reason I ceased eating meat in the first place: I simply do not enjoy the flavor or texture of many meats. But, this way, I know I can try new things and not get sick. For those of you who are wondering, the meat I ate today was highly processed ham on a piece of Korean sweet potato pizza that was bought by our vice principal to celebrate Chusak (Korean Thanksgiving) in our teachers meeting. It tasted weird (the ham, not the pizza...perhaps it was the texture too.). But, after two slices of heavily hammed pizza, my body has yet to freak out, so I'm hoping if I take it slow and don't go overboard, I will avoid getting sick. I think my body will take it fairly well since I eat so much fish and seafood and have never had a problem. But, (Mom) remember, this is not the end of the vegetarian (or, technically pescatarian) game, it is merely a timeout. When I step foot in the U-S-A, it's back to my old habits. Get excited.
On Wednesdays, I usually teach four classes of the girls and one class for teachers. Today, in addition to the normal schedule, we also held an open class. This means that we prepared (and practiced a little...) a class that would be viewed by other area teachers. They give us feedback on our lesson and it also showcases our school. The lesson went pretty well, but there were some obvious things that could be improved upon. All in all, it was a great experience, and I got a lot of good feedback to apply to my everyday teaching. Also, immediately following the class, we went to the meeting to hear all of the comments from the teachers who observed our classes. This happened during the time that I usually teach a class, so I ended up teaching one less class than I thought I would, which made for a more chill day. The girls slept and chilled during their usual class time (they've been taking exams periodically all week and will continue tomorrow, so they are wiped!) and we got the eat, drink and get advice! Pretty sweet setup! Also, the class that sat through open class was the same class that I teach first thing in the morning and we spent most of the regular class preparing for open class, so I only taught two of my own lessons today! I was worried about feeling overly tired after today, but it was such a great day and went by really quickly.
In my teacher class today, there were only four "students" because everyone else (usually there are 11) was really busy with preparations for a really important meeting at the middle school. We had such a great conversation. We practiced my planned lesson, which took about 15 minutes since there were so few people and then talked about their plans for Chusak next week and differences between holidays in Korea and the US. We talked a lot about traditions and I learned a lot! They also asked if I had a boyfriend. The whole class was middle aged men so I was surprised they would ask me such a question, but part of Korean culture is extreme curiosity and it may have been that that was an easy thing to say. I also sort of got invited to go to Chusak with one of the men, but I'm not sure if he was serious or not... It felt like he only invited me because I thought I might have other plans and I knew I couldn't go, but we'll see what happens...
The girls are starting to warm up to me and they truly warm my heart! Today, as she was leaving class, a girl slyly passed me the following note (taken verbatim):
Hi No-L!!
I'm (Korean name) (in English name is Amy)
I want to be your friend!
because I want to make new friend
and I think you need Korean friend isn't it?
I think we will be good friend
I like English but I can't well.
I've very sad (Korean style sad face)
but it's okay, because you will teach me! (Korean style happy face)
Good bye ~
See you.
How adorable is that? Of course we will be super tight! Another girl came up to me after a class, touched my upper arm and whispered, "I like your shoes!" That's our little secret I guess...
I also got a cell phone today! The phone is pretty sweet. It has some real intense LED light action and makes cool noises...very high tech. And the best part is it was free with my contract! I got a one year contract, which is sometimes hard to get because phone companies often refuse to let foreigners sign contracts and force them to use pay as you go phones, which make them much more money. I only have 150 minutes a month, but I think that will be more than enough since I only have two contacts so far! And, all of my bills (cell phone, internet, utilities) are automatically taken from my account each month, which would normally not fly with me in the US, but I spend so little money here that I think I will enjoy the convenience of not having to physically pay bills. I'll still have statements available to me so I am aware of what the charges are, etc., but I'm glad I don't have to send a bill somewhere or worry about picking up my mail. At school, my mail is delivered to my desk, and today someone even found me and told me I had a package before I even made it to my desk. Such service!
More exciting news: since the first year students are taking an all day test tomorrow and all of my classes are first year students, I don't teach tomorrow. I still go to work, but I have no obligations, so hopefully I will get a lot done! Also, because of Chusak, we get paid almost a whole week earlier! Hooray!
Another bit of excitement: I think (knock on wood) fall has arrived in Korea. Today was beautiful weather for the first time since I have been here. It has either been unbearably hot and humid or raining. Today was the first day I didn't sweat my bum off on the way to school! I had every intention of taking pictures of the beautiful landscape in which I live, but I was so busy today and forgot to grab my camera on the way to lunch that I didn't get it done. Hopefully I will remember tomorrow. I hope you'll settle, instead, for pictures of the brochure in which I was featured that caused the photoshoot hilarity of last week:
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| On the cover - this is the from the recovery shoot in the library... |
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| I think I was telling her all about Snickers the Wonder dog... or my favorite food... |
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| Action shot! The bubble says my name and where I went to school, but they mistakenly wrote Iowa University... |
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