So, yes, it's been a spell since I wrote but it's been a little busy and hectic. First off, I made a kid cry my first week while observing. I guess this 10 year old's mother forcefully entered her son into an English speaking contest where he has to memorize this absolutely mundane introductory speech and mother wanted us to go over it with him. Now, let me point out that the last week of February was the last week of these poor kid's freedom from public school and the little fellow really doesn't English well. Since I was the only "available" teacher who didn't have a class, I was asked to keep this adorably round little guy after class to work on this horrific task. He just wanted to go home like his classmates and thought I was being so mean to make him do this English and memorizing.
Well, when he broke out into tears, I ran to the office because honestly what else could this wicked witch from the west do?? So he was released from the building, but not before I was able to ask him in Korean if he was okay. His demeanor changed a little. I was hoping we'd be all buddy buddy when I saw him again but I didn't recall seeing him this past week in classes. Rumor has it that the other teachers recommended against him doing this to the uppers so that it could be passed on to mom, but these parents are just adamant about some things. Oh well, things happen.
So I completed my first week observing and they would be releasing me into the wild on Monday, the 4th. Sadly, this was also the week all of the kids started back to public school so being tired and a lot less interested was definitely on the agenda. I feel like the week went okay but I can honestly say that I did not feel like I was ready to be on my own yet. I could have used a second week observing.
Anyway, it was time to celebrate a 3 day weekend. I was going to meet everyone a town over but I decided to get out of the house early to avoid being offered dinner so I walked to the HomePlus (similar to a Walmart except it's 2 stories). This way I had an idea what it was like and where to find things once I was moved in and ready to shop.
After a bit of a cluster-flunk trying to find the correct bus to get to Ingye-dong where everyone was meeting, a nice lady and gentleman hailed a taxi for me and told the driver kindly where to shuttle me off to. We were meeting up for Indian food which I was looking forward to - something other than Korean already. Bear in mind, if you visit here, the cabs do not like to take cash. I believe you can pay with Samsung Pay but they all take cards. I've heard horror stories of foreigners trying to get a taxi and them not even stopping because they don't want to deal with the non-Korean language. Luckily, I made it to my destination good and in one piece ~ not a scary experience like it was in Rome.
I met up with two teachers from our school and their friends (other teachers they knew, 2 from South Africa and one from the states). The food was really good. Honestly, I enjoyed the naan the most (ironically the name of the place). Bread is my weakness next to a hearty slab of beef. Once dinner was done, we were going to head to a bar where we would meet up with some of the other teachers and make a night of it. Foreign teachers really have their own little clique in this country. One bar was the Cocky Pub where were met up with probably 7 more people, played beer pong, and Battleshots (which I can honestly say that I had never done until this night). Then we meandered towards a place called Thursday Party but it was busy and some of us older farts weren't feeling the crowd, so we went upstairs for karaoke (or norebang) which we proceeded to do until sometime after 4am. Another thing to remember is that buses and trains do not run after 12:30am so I had to take a taxi back to my foster residence and hope not to wake the owners.
Keep in mind, I probably didn't get to sleep until after 5am and had to wake up, pack, shower/get ready, and take everything downstairs to the car so that I could finally move into my own place. It would be the last time that I would see the teacher I was replacing. I think I was almost as sad to see her go as the people she had worked with the past year. I had been occasionally talking to her about the apartment, the school, what I should bring, etc, and when I finally met her I just felt like I really connected with her. But I couldn't let anything psych me out. I had to unpack, get groceries, and somehow plan for teaching on my own in 2 days.
Sunday I did my first load of laundry in my leaky washer (I was told it did this but I'll be damned if I wasn't going to bring it up and expect it fixed). No dryer though so this girl had to go old school and hang everything up to dry. The apartment come equipped with a rack from floor to ceiling in order to hang clothes. I turned a fan on them in hopes they would dry more quickly.
Now, I knew from the start that this place was a little older and run down, so to say. I had been warned not only by the director upon being hired but also by the previous tenant. I was lucky that one of the days before school, she met up with me and showed me how to get "home" and how to use everything. I was not impressed with the place but I knew I had some work ahead of me. One of the first things I did was unpack and try to find a place for everything in this rinky dink little abode. I had brought only a few items for decor since my bags were already overweight.
In putting everything up, it created a shopping list of all the things I still needed or wanted from the the HomePlus so I started over towards the big store only to see a freaking hole-in-my-pocket Daiso store first. I think I spent about $70 this night on things to decorate and lighten up the place some. It seemed so dark and dismal - especially the bathroom. The teacher that lived here had put up a shower curtain in the very gray ugly bathroom, and bless her heart, she used .... more gray to decorate. I purchased a cherry blossom shower curtain, some things to go on the walls, and things to just make my space more efficient (and then some BS stuff that I'm sure I didn't need but it's stinkin' cute).
After that trip I didn't feel like dragging my tired feet back the same direction (probably a mile and a half) just to get groceries. I had stopped at the Burger King for chicken so luckily I wasn't in need of food anyway. But Sunday.... yep, time to go BACK that tiring walk.... past that cursed Daiso.... and finally into the grocery section of the store.
Let me just say, Koreans are amazing engineers at some things, like grocery carts. The wheels on these things are multi-directional. There's never a reason to not be able to move out of someone's way. Also, since these carts can be taken down into the parking garage and also up to the 2nd floor, they have escalator-like sidewalks that have a slight incline/decline and the carts wheels will automatically lock once they pass onto the walkway. Other things like plumbing... well, there is a lot of room for improvement there.
I knew I'd have to carry all of the groceries that I bought so I had attempted a list. To eat a fairly Americanized lifestyle here literally cost me 3 times more money to buy most of the food I would have at home. $143 later and I had to stuff everything in my backpack and 2 reusable bags that I brought with me from Daiso in California (the Japanese branch... shhh...). That was a long and hellish walk, let me tell you. But I made it, hands crumpled painfully into half fists still as I unloaded my treasures. Sadly, it barely looks like I shopped.
I sat down for a few minutes proud of my feats. Not only did I survive the Korean market shopping experience, I made it home with everything in one piece. But then as I looked around, the apartment looked even more dull. So I mustered my tired butt back to the freaking Daiso for another round of "take Julie's money". I must say that I am fairly pleased with the way things look in here now. Even the other teacher complimented me after I sent her pictures to show her what I had done. So THAT was my weekend... before being kicked out of the nest.
I could honestly start a new post for that but I'm running short on time. So in a nutshell, first day went well and got gradually more disorganized. Half the time I didn't know what book the kids were in and the other half of the time I was just lost somehow. I felt like a hot mess and a half. I even came to school 2 hours early to prepare but that seemed to do very little.
As the week progressed I managed to find a method where mostly I can keep track of the 20 different classes and their homework/daily lessons. I even offered the students no tests if they actually do all of their homework but if one kid forgets, they still get tested. I've been told that I have this power and the kids definitely seem to like this aspect of my class. The week was long and it wasn't until I was walking home Friday night that I realized I haven't had a 5 day a week job in a very very long time. The moral is, I survived. I don't recall seeing my crier so I hope I didn't scare him out of the school.
Literally, I sat at home and did nothing but bills, watch Netflix, and laundry on Saturday. I had been debating on attempting to navigate my way to Pyeongtaek to check out a wrestling promotion that I stumbled across and the promoter offered to allow me to come crash their training. So I got plenty of rest so I could make my way there. After getting on one train that took me to a dead end stop, going backwards, and then onto the other train that went all the way there, I was delightfully giddy to see an Outback Steakhouse and a Starbucks!! But then I had to take a cab to the warehouse where training was at.
They do Western style wrestling mostly and some Lucha and Japanese style (I am familiar with all of these). I know it's not usually my thing but it's something familiar that transcends the language barrier. I was amazed that the promoter speaks such great English (his full time job is a translator). Honestly, some things about the indie scene are the same no matter what country or culture you're in. Struggling to pay costs, finding sponsors, drawing a crowd, a lot of proprietary mumbo jumbo that I couldn't disclose to the average person... but it's good to know that all of his workers are paid and it's better than most indie scenes back home. I was even asked to help out with some of my skills lol. Even though there was very little English used and we ate Korean food as a group, it felt as close to home as I'd felt since I got here. :)
And that, my friends, is where I will leave you for now. I will try to keep up better. So much coming up soon..... Have a good week and enjoy your daylight savings changes. Anyeong (bye)!
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