The Things Kids Say....

March 17, 2019

Happy St. Patrick's Day LOL...

Friday I feel like I lost a little bit of control over the kids all day...plus it was raining and we had a moment where it sounded as if something exploded but was only lightning. The only thing that I feel was worthy of discussing about school was something that one of my students wrote. The books are written obviously by a non-native English speaker based on the grammar issues and story lines. One story is about a kid with bad habits who burps and farts everywhere. So, naturally, this book chooses vocabulary words like burp and fart... around middle school aged children... genius plan.

So this particular class is supposed to write their own sentences with their vocab words for homework. One girl had a very colorful sentence and I had to do my best not to react or attract the attention of the other kids. It read, "The burp smells like shit." Not sure where she heard this or if she found her English sentences on the internet but I had to correct her without it being embarrassing or being a joke. So I walked around next to her, crossed out the bad words and told her we don't use words like this because they aren't nice, and then proceeded to rewrite the sentence to "The burp smells bad." I'm not even prepared for the stuff I'm going to see over this year.

I was in dire need of time out though. I went to a shabu shabu place with 2 coworkers (like a hot soup place that you add the ingredients to in a boiling broth). It was going to help my sickness. You know I've come a long way when they wanted the mushroom add-ins and I said that's fine I just won't eat those. They literally brought over a bouquet of various mushrooms, many of which I'd never seen before. One looked like a little furry animal while others appeared to be like sea anemones. Not gonna lie, it was a big test for me.

We dropped the beef, some noodles and veggies, and then the fungus into the pot. We had regular and spicy broth of which I enjoyed the spicy best. Basically you can eat it as a soup or you can make a little "eggroll" out of the rice paper wraps they provided. I had beef, veggies, and pineapple and was perfectly content. The mushrooms didn't even phase me and a few times I considered - very briefly - tasting one or two but never got that far. Haha if some of my exes could see me now they'd think that my past behavior towards mushrooms was all a rouse. I've gone as far as driving them to the store to get toothpaste and a brush plus gum or mints after they ate them because I refused to kiss them after they ate mushrooms.

Afterwards, my neighbor/coworker and I wanted ice cream (again) but this time Baskin Robbins. I had a waffle cone with a scoop of mint chocolate chip and one scoop of popping popping banana strawberry chocolate (which is now my new favorite flavor) while the rain stopped. It had pop rocks in it and tasted like an amazing banana split sundae without all of the work. We had decided earlier to go to the bar later since it was everyone else's payday and I had survived another week. Came home to rest a few and make myself a tad more presentable.

It was a good time just sitting and talking with my coworker (we'll call her K since I believe I'll spend more time with her than anyone else). Two other teachers from another school showed up so we decided to team up for a round of darts. I finally ended up hitting bulls eye 3 times that night and even ended up winning both a team game and a solo game. Super exciting. There is a Korean gentleman that we are all acquainted with (speaks little English) but we invited him to play after one of the teachers left. K said she's never seen him so friendly and involved. He's been really shy the few times that I have seen him. But he is an artist also like our Canadian friend, V-dog (LOL - I don't feel it's polite to use their real names so I am creating nicknames for them for their anonymity).

The bar was closing at 3am so K, the Korean guy, and I decided to waste an hour with some beers at the norebang (karaoke room). It was a good and interesting experience. I am glad that I can have fun in the most unusual of settings and it seems that K is a lot like that also. She does her own thing and enjoys herself without being the girl that is the overly flirtatious or drunk girl and I really enjoy that about her. She is very comfortable and unfiltered and it's refreshing.

Saturday I decided I was going to meet up with one of the Koreans I had been speaking to for over a year on a language exchange program. He came to my city this time and we awkwardly stumbled over some language barriers for about 6 hours over coffee and then some more over beer and chicken for lunch. He wants to improve his listening and speaking skills so he can move to the states to work on his business there. I guess many Koreans have concerns about their economic situations and capabilities here for various reasons and our country always seems promising for foreigners. Of course, every single one of them will mention that they are afraid of the danger of guns there. So, if you wonder what other countries think, it's usually that we're a golden land of opportunities with gun slinging gangs everywhere - is that really so far from the truth though??

Got in and did laundry and decided to sleep early since I have been sick. This weekend I've been feeling a little more in an unfamiliar place than I have to date - both in terms of my living conditions and emotionally. No need to delve into that really because it is minor and luckily sleeping will resolve it. I did read one page on my golden book that I had friends write me letters in. Finished up a small round of grocery getting - and excited to try some of my overpriced Australian ground beef in some homemade tacos tomorrow. I brought taco seasoning with me but please feel free to supply me with more... the majority of the weekend has been chill and just talking on the phone to friends and family. One of my closest friends has booked her flight to come visit me in May so I am excited about that.

I guess as things become more "commonplace" around me it feels like there's less surprising things to discuss, but the good news is that I'm surviving and not going crazy as of yet. I do miss out on news around the globe unless people I know are talking about it. There was a plane crash and a mosque shooting I barely got wind of through coworkers. This is both good and bad to not have a connection to world news but I will muster on. I hope to have some great stories next weekend since I am spending the whole weekend in another city at the Jindo Sea Parting Festival. There will be colored powders thrown, music, togas, food, etc. Wish me luck.

Jewels