White Day

March 14, 2019

Okay, working 5 days a week is a bum rap FYI. I do not miss it. Also, kids are the same all over the globe. They will be hyper, disrespectful, lead a person to madness, and their continent of origin makes no difference. Part of me wishes that I could pick and choose my own students to teach while the other part wants to run as far away from all of the ankle biting rascals - no matter how adorable some of them are.

Teacher's meeting tomorrow but it's finally Friday, for everyone else it's payday - not me. I have to wait another month. While your contract should clearly state on it when you receive a paycheck, it does not usually mention anything about not getting paid until you have worked for a month. I knew shadowing was not paid time. I thought that we receive prorated pay at least. So scratch any earlier  info I may have shared and be prepared to go to your foreign country with enough money to survive comfortably for at least 2-3 months. Luckily I have money in the bank but I am also making making payments on things while I am away that eat away at my savings.

I did go to the bar Wednesday after work with my coworker. It just felt like a long day and the kids seemed to have been loaded with sugar or something because even the class that I can barely get to speak was loud and out of control. At the bar I had a Corona ($10 later) and they brought it to me with a lemon in it... Limes are a little more expensive. But when I asked the waiter for salt he looked at me in confusion so a mutual acquaintance explained that sometimes Americans do that (he's Canadian - an expat artist). I do not get drunk off of beer which is why I drink it and this is a good thing but I only had one. This bar also has salted popcorn as a bar treat that is perfect to satisfy that American palette. Unfortunately, I still tend to forget things and realized after I strolled home at 1am that morning that I had forgotten my scarf there. I haven't played darts since I was young so needless to say I wasn't so good but I was getting improving my 1am LOL.

Thursday morning I had my appointment at immigration to get my Alien Residency Card so that I can get a bank account, a phone in my name, and my health insurance. I was trying not to be out late the night before but some things sometimes happen. The director was running behind schedule and I had to remind myself that some people are just chronically 'late' or on their own time but I was fearful that I'd miss my appointment time and have to wait forever and not have time to plan for my classes before work.

My appointment was at 10:20a and my director was driving through traffic in a casual Mario Andretti kind of way. The driving here is intense. People merge where there's no space to merge. I think it felt like at least 3-4 times we'd surely be in an accident, yet I thought about it and realized I have not seen one accident or car that was beaten up/body damaged since I've been here. The driving still did not have a good affect on my nerves. We arrived promptly at 10:28a and I was asked to jump out of the car and hurry to the place "where everyone else was" LOL. My number was 70 and there were on 68 so looks like the timing was okay.

It only took about 25 minutes to pay and have them do some paperwork of which I will receive my ARC in the mail in a few weeks. I had time to go home to eat lunch and then walk to school.Today was also White Day here - like Valentine's Day but only the guys get the ladies stuff whereas Valentine's Day is more for the women to get the men chocolate and stuff. One student brought me candy and while I should've said no because she didn't share with the other students, I couldn't pass up a Kit Kat.

Thursday was pretty uneventful but I was starving when work was finished so my co-worker and I decided to go for dinner. There was a place near the school on our way home that had grill and beef - beef that looked very yummy and since it's so expensive here, it seemed even more enticing. We thought it was 18,900 won for 2 people but turns out it was actually per person. A little salty about the cost but not at all disappointed with the good quality of non-Korean cow - and yes, there's quite a difference between the two. We definitely take our access to good beef for granted in the US.

We also had to stop by the bar to retrieve my scarf but we took the scenic route. my coworker brought up McDs ice cream and apple pies so we stopped there first and then afterwards at a cafe, The Coffee Bean, for some hot tea and a bagel. It's easy just to eat and eat a lot here if you're not careful. But the ice cream and tea sounded amazing as I have started to get a sore throat and this would ease the discomfort. I brought some antibiotics and cold medicines thankfully because I know if I didn't begin to doctor myself it would quickly turn into bronchitis and I don't have insurance yet (although it'd still cost me less than $50 to go to a dr).

Have very few plans for this weekend because the following weekend I will be on my first trip/excursion so I want to take it easy this weekend. We'll see how things go.

Jewels