Weekend of Birthdays

This weekend was so much fun! It was a weekend full of birthdays. Taleah’s birthday was on Friday so she convinced Jade to let us get off work at 5. We all rushed home to get dressed to the nine’s and head to Seoul. The theme was “All Black Everything” so everyone was wearing black from head to toe, with a few colorful accessories. I thought it was cute to have all of us looking the same and I was pretty excited to wear my zipper-back black dress and my wild multi-colored heels ;-) The plan was to go to a nice restaurant at one of the hotels in Seoul and attend an all you can eat/all you can drink buffet for only 25,000 won each. All of us had been looking forward to it all week and were dying of hunger on our way up to Seoul. When we arrived, at about 9:15, we found out that the buffet ended at 9!!! We were so upset!! We thought about staying and just eating at the restaurant, but a just a bowl of fresh fruit was 40,000 won! No way!!! Taleah decided to stay with a bunch of her friends and meet up with us later, so Andy, Tia, Katie, and I decided to go to a convenient store to pick up some soju and buy some cheap food at Gecko’s in Itaewon. Amy, Sarah, Janine and the rest of the group met up with a little later to grab some drinks. We were sitting in the back of the restaurant at a long table and we laughed so hard when we realized that we sat with white people at one end, Asians in the middle, and black people on the other end! Sorta interesting how that just seems to happen. Sociology at it’s best. After dinner and drinks, we went out dancing at a few clubs. We danced the night away, having the most amazing time goofy dancing with Andy and breaking it down on the dance floor and having goofy dancing contests with Andy. At some point Summer Nights from Grease song came on and Amy and Andy acted the whole thing out. I guess you had to be there (or drinking) but it was pretty cute. After meeting some new people and dancing like we think we look good for a few hours we made our way back early, around 6am. Even though everyone was pretty upset about the buffet we had been looking forward to, it ended up being a pretty entertaining night!

Chase's birthday was on Sunday, so we celebrated on Saturday night. Him and his Pyongtaek family came over and we had little party in my apartment, which is WAY too small for 10 people!! We played some Catch Phrase and just hung out and drank for a few hours before going to Suwon for the night. We all met up with the other Dongtan girls, bar hopped for a few hours while the boys ended up meeting a group of Korean guys and having a soju drinking contest- they lost! I bought some chicken on a stick for the first time, Katelan and I had a stick fight- pretty funny stuff. Everyone was definitely celebrating Chase’s birthday as if it was their own, we all had a blast that night! Sunday hurt a lot. When we met up at 7pm on Sunday for Chase’s birthday dinner everyone was quiet and still dying from the night before.

This weekend Amy and I were having a pretty interesting conversation. We were talking about how my kids go nuts whenever they look me in the eye and see that they are blue because they aren’t used to seeing color in eyes. All the Asians look exactly the same. I have definitely been talking the diversification of Americans for granted. At home there is all sorts of colors for eyes, hair and skin. Here they only have black hair and black eyes. That's why their style is so wild and unique-because it's the only way they can express themselves. Some Asians have perms or crazy cuts and dye job to make themselves look different from the rest of the crowd. It must get so boring looking exactly like everyone else. It’s times like these that I appreciate the red hair.

Alright, well that pretty much sums of the weekend. Be back soon.

Thursday = Tearsday

Wow, today was one crazy day! I’ve decided that today should not have been called Thursday, but Tearsday instead. I had three criers today, and I cried. I haven’t dealt with so many tears in a long time, if ever. Today, during P.E. with my morning class, I let my students run around and play together. At some point, Sally decided to be a big jerk and tell Sarah that she isn’t a friend, and that Kevin and Jessica are (that’s what I could gather from the blubbering slur of broken English). Sarah was so upset, I felt so bad for her but I knew that I couldn't do anything to make her feel better, so I asked Sally to sincerely apologized and told them they were allowed to speak in Korean to talk about what happened and solve the problem. Sally and Sarah fight over Kevin, so whichever one has him for the hour makes the point to make the other feel bad, this was probably just another one of their little competitions. If only I could understand Korean and get to the bottom of this love triangle. The only thing I am sure of is that Kevin is a P.I.M.P. hahaha

Later, in my special classes, Tom and Sean were wrestling when I walked into the classroom. I was put my stuff down and turned around just in time to catch a glimpse of Tom tackling Sean to the ground and see Sean’s head slamming to the ground. Oh man! I jumped to pick Sean up from the ground, give him a big hug and comfort him but there wasn't much more I can do. I let him cry and talk to me in Korean (they don't understand that I don't understand Korean) but I was secretly wishing and waiting for my Korean helper teacher to arrive. To my disappointment, she was not there today!! Awww my angel wasn't there- and lets just say that saying this period was chaotic would be a huge understatement! I have absolutely no control over these kids without her- they don't speak English and I don't speak Korean so I don't know how to tell them to sit down and shut up. At one point I was forced to shout, “HEY, QUIET!” which I hate doing and just resulted in an outburst of laughter. I missed my Korean helper teacher so much! I counted down the minutes until class was over. When it was finally time for them to put on their backpacks and jackets, they didn't understand what I was saying and continued to run around, playing and wrestling with each other again. The only other thing I know how to say that would be appropriate is “hajima” (don't do that”) so I shouted that and yet another outburst of laughter. I was a bit flustered, but I just laughed at myself because the situation was pretty funny! White American girl that doesn't speak Korean trying to control a group of 6-year-old Koreans that don't speak English- HA! I'm not sure how I ever got them out the door but I was glad when it was finally over. I have a much greater appreciation for my helper teacher now!!! Aw I just love her!

The third crier of the day was me. Sylvia Teacher came to me today to tell me that Kevin is moving to Seoul and will no longer be my student at LCI. ☹!! I can’t believe it! I'm so sad right now! It’s horrible how I like all of my students and absolutely love one, and he is the one leaving! The other teachers in the teacher’s room were making fun of me for crying. I guess I am too attached to Kevin, but I can’t help it. Anyone who spends time with Kevin would have to agree that he is the cutest, sweetest, funnies little boy ever. He is so smart, I feel like I can talk to him about anything, and I have way more fun being silly and playing with him than any other student! I'm going to miss him so much! After a minute or two, I realized I was being ridiculous for getting so sad and went up to teach my next class. During my lesson I choked up a few more times when I thought about not having Kevin as a student anymore. I bet my other students are going be really sad too, Kevin is quite the popular guy with the ladies.

Not only were my kids and myself being extra sensitive today, but my kids were also being super obnoxious! I swear they think I am a jungle gym! They are constantly tugging on me, screaming at me to look at them, jumping on me and crawling all over me. I have a pretty hard time escaping twelve 6-year-olds. The girls love to play with my hair, which I don't hate, but the boys can get much wilder! I think it’s hilarious when they attach themselves to my legs and try to hold tight as I try to walk and jiggle them off of me, they are so darn cute, I wish I didn't actually have to teach them and could just play all day instead. When I am serious about them learning, it can get annoying when 10 kids are hanging all over me, and today was definitely one of those days! Most of the time and can get them to settle down and let me teach them something, but with out my helper teacher with me today it was absolutely uncontrollable. I finally just gave up and let them run loose while I played the alphabet and color songs they like.

With all of the crying, Thank god it’s Thursday! Only one more day of work and it’s finally the weekend. I'm exhausted; I don't think I can handle another day like today, at least not until next week…

Life as a Teacher

Some of my favorite pics of my students and I in the playroom- my favorite part of my week.





I woke up this morning dreading going to work and absolutely not in the mood to teach my kids, but the minute I walked in and saw my students laughing and playing, I had a smile on my face. I love looking at them and seeing their big smiles and giggling at me when I do something they seem to think is funny. I can’t help but love these kids. It’s weird for me to think that I have never really liked kids or ever wanted any of my own, and now I am here teaching these adorable Korean babies and love them so much. They are so full of energy and excitement; I can’t help but to be in a good mood when I am around them! Except when they are obnoxious and wont sit down, stop talking or listen to me! Aggg sometimes they make me so frustrated! But I cant yell at them or be mean, so I just have to take a breath and ask them nicely until they decide they want to listen to me. Sometimes I will take away stars on my Star Board - that usually shuts them up! I’ve only had to raise my voice once, but if I ever have to resort to shouting, I am super nice for the next few minutes, I don't want them to be afraid of me or think Bri Teacher is mean! Andy’s kids call him Angry Teacher, which I think is hilarious, but secretly would hate if I were called that. Lol

In my morning class, I have Kevin, Jessica, Sarah, and Sally. Jessica is my slower student, who aggravates me most often. Every time I ask her a question, she just tilts her head to the side and gives me a funny look, looks around and pretends she can’t hear me, or says “gecko”. She seems to think she is a frog, so she is constantly saying “gecko” instead of “yes” or “no”, hops to the board when I have her come write on the board, and slithers her tongue in and out of her mouth whenever I am sitting with her trying to help her with her worksheets. Its may sound cute to you, but trust me, it is freakin annoying! She makes me nuts whenever I am having the class work on an exercise worksheet or practice writing, and she just sits there playing with her dress or staring at God knows what. I feel like I spend most of class time trying to help her as she ignores me and the other students keep shouting, “Teacher finished, teacher I’m finished.” It’s been quite the challenge for me to find a balance between challenging Kevin, Sally, and Sarah and trying not to leave Jessica behind. I want her to succeed, and I know she is smart, but she just can’t concentrate on school or something??? Don't get me wrong though, I love all of my students, Jessica is just the one who pushes my patience the most. Kevin is absolutely my favorite student!!! I have mostly girls in my class, so I really enjoy having Kevin around. He is so adorable and loves for me to hold him to give him big hugs. He is always grabbing me and asks me questions to see if I am smarter than him. He claims that he is smarter than me, so he always asks, “What is 100+100+100+100+100+100+100?” and is shocked when I can tell him the answer. I love teasing him and messing up his hair. He is what gets me through the day; I swear I would take him home with me if I could. I just looove that little man! I already think about how sad I am going to be in a year when I have to leave him.

Today my kids and I were having a good time jumping around and singing nursery rhymes. I taught them the words to Baa Baa Black Sheep and played a bunch of youtube videos of the song. We always get into a circle, hold hands and jump around and complete to see who can shout it the loudest. It’s too cute, sometimes I wish I had a video camera in the room so I could look back on those moments in the future. I wish I had a video camera in the playroom too!! LCI has a playroom that has places for the kids to hide and climb, there is a slide and trampoline in there too. My 20 minutes in there with the kids are what I look forward to most all week. I love getting into trains and sliding down the slide with the kids and holding their hands to get them uncomfortably high on the trampoline haha. The kids are always scream and fighting for who gets to jump with me or slide with me next. I usually just let the girls play together and play with Kevin the whole time. I like to bring my camera with us so they can use it to take pictures of each other and me playing with them. I have some great pictures I will post soon!!

Hahahaha I just thought of something - today I saw one of my 6 year olds eat glue! I’ve never seen that before! Awww my days are so crazy sometimes. I read this somewhere and thought that it was SO TRUE: “My friend once told me that being an English teacher is like being a monkey. If you really think about it, he's right. Not only are we English teachers trying to make a difference by helping people speak our language, but we are entertainers for a 3 hour class; therapists as we hear about their problems in life; saints for the patience we have for their pronunciation and correcting the same mistakes we hear over and over; babysitters for a group of 5 to 15 children; fortune tellers when we can finish their sentences before they can because we know the mistake they're going to make and, finally, cheerleaders when we see that they're either making progress or not, and they just need a little encouragement to keep going.” This is pretty much my life in a nutshell.

Other than work, I spend every spare minute I have finishing up my TEFL certificate. I spend my breaks and hours each night after the gym working on it. It is such a pain in the ass. I really wish I finished it before I got here. I am definitely going to be celebrating when I finally finish it!!!! Its so hectic working all day, making time for the gym, and coming home to work on my TEFL and trying to keep up with my blog, skyping, emails, and staying in touch on facebook. I don't have time for all of it, so I guess this is my apology for my late responses and not staying in better touch. I'm hoping that my life slows down a bit and I will have more time to spend talking to my family and friends from home after I finally finish this damn TEFL certificate!!!

Whelp, that's all I have to say.

St. Patrick's Day

A little group shot of course.


A portion of the huge crowd at the all-you-can-eat-and-drink Irish pub. I can't believe Andy could start a chant with so many people- now that's talent.


Katelan painting inappropriate things on Andy's face


Getting festive.. Gotta love Katelan and Kim's mask and paint.


Chase looking cheesy and Andy looking slightly uncomfortable...


St. Patrick’s Day did not disappoint! I have had amazing St. Patty’s Days for the past two years, Germany and Vegas last year, so I had some low expectations for this year. I didn't think it would live up to Germany or Vegas, but it was just as amazing. The only thing I was missing was Tanya!

On the actual day of St. Patrick’s Day it was a Wednesday and we worked all day, so we didn't get to celebrate much. Korean’s don't celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, so when all of the foreign teachers wore green, the Korean teachers looked at us funny. I tried to explain to my students why we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but they didn't understand why. I thought it would be so much fun to do a St. Patty’s art and craft or have a green party, but our boss wouldn't let us. After work Andy, Tia, Katie, and I met up with the other Dongtan girls for dinner and drinks. There were a few other groups of foreigners celebrating St. Patty’s Day as well. I thought the bar new what St. Patrick’s Day was because so many foreigners go there, but the only decorations they had were a Guinness sign and a bunch of Halloween decorations. It was pretty funny, maybe they thought it was Halloween???

We celebrated St. Patty’s Day in Seoul. There was a huge parade and festival with cheerleaders, big balloons, free Guinness, and all sorts of other fun festival things. We met up with the other Dongtan girls, Katelan, Chase, Chris and their Pyongtaek family at a bar. There were a bunch of Irish, Canadians and Americans there all dressed up in green, hats, necklaces and face paint. It was such a great time. Later we went to an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink for 50,000 won. It was packed full of people from all over the world! The copious amount of food was phenomenal and there were several live bands, some better than others. I was talking to a bunch of different people; especially British and Irish people and full enjoyed using my fake Irish accent all night. I like to think I am pretty believable, plus the red hair helps ;-) At one point, Andy got the whole crowd to jump up and down say “HEEEEYY-OOoooo” and hoping around in a circle with our arms around each other. He cracks me up! Its so funny how this little white boy has such a huge personality and is always the life of the party No matter where he goes! There is a video of him doing this on Facebook if you are interested in checking it out…

We ended the night short, probably because we started so early, but I was happy to not waste my day away sleeping and being productive today. Well that pretty much sums up my St. Patty’s day; next year is going to have a lot to live up to. Not much can top these past three years. It’s not wonder why St. Patrick’s Day is my favorite holiday (tied with Halloween). Back to school for another week of babysitting…

Adjusting to LCI

This week has been going a lot better at work, so far. I am starting to get use to my hectic and chaotic days, and my classroom is slowly coming together. I spend every spare minute I have during the day trying to get prepared for the next, and making things for my classroom. I really want a cute classroom that my kids with enjoy so I am taking my time to pull it all together. Hopefully I will be done soon and can post some pictures. I am really beginning to love my new students! I was really attached to Kevin’s classes, so my new students had a lot to live up to, but so far so good. I have Bebe again, which is great because she is such a cutie-pie! I still have a few student who drive me crazy by talking too much, or screaming “TEACHER ME” or “I'm DOOONE!” whenever they finish something I ask them to do, even if it is jus to simple turn the page. I try to ignore them or ask them to not yell, hopefully they will chill out with the screaming soon cause I don't think I could stand hearing that 100 times a day for the next year.

Right now I am teaching my morning class of six years olds about emotions such as frustration, confidence and embarrassment. Kevin, Sally, Sarah and Jessica love it when I get really goofy and animated to explain things to them. I find it to be more effective to make fun of myself a lot to keep them entertained and learning. I spend the majority of my day with my morning class (9am- 1:40pm) so I am getting to know them a lot better and get to teach them a variety of topics. I am really interested in what they will be like in a year and excited to watch their progress!! My mid-day classes, we call them “Special Classes”, are 6 and 7 year olds that have never, or barely, been exposed to the English language. Right now I am teaching them the alphabet and colors. These are probably my most draining and frustrating classes, but it’s teaching me a lot about patience. They are so stinkin’ cute, I cant help my just adore them! My Korean helper-teacher is my little angle during these two classes because she can calm the kids down or tell them what to do if they don't understand me ☺ My last class of the day, EC 2, is a group of 11 obnoxious little animals! I have 9 girls and two boys. One of the little boys, David, is really shy but really quite and Lucas isn’t quite but a little brat. I call him my little rebel. Jessica and Nicole are really loud and like to scream answers, and Elizabeth, Mary and Ella are my little sweethearts! They are very soft -spoken, but very smart and love giving me hugs and stickers, which is a big compliment in Teacher-Student Land. This class is learning about the parts of the body, reading, writing and verb vocabulary right now.

Today I had of the greatest moments! I walked into my last class of the day, EC 2, and began my usual greeting when Elizabeth came up to me and gave me a yellow piece of paper full of stickers and Ella handed me a small plastic, pink Disney Princess envelope. I gave them a big smile and thank you and placed them on my desk to look at later. I always like the make sure to look really excited whenever I get stickers, but don't want to give them too much attention and make the other students jealous, uncomfortable, or feel like they have to bring me stickers. After class, I opened up the Disney Princess envelope that Ella gave me. First I saw a piece of paper with a drawing a tall, brunette girl with long hair, I thought it was super cute and assumed she was drawing me, even thought I don’t have brown hair. I unfolded the second piece of paper and there was a picture of the brunette girl standing next to a board that had the ABCs on it and a note that read: “Hello my name is Ella. Bri teacher thank. Bri teacher I love you. Your beautiful brown hair color is beautiful. Teach give lessons. thank Love Ella.” Awww it was the sweetest thing anyone has ever given to me. I’ve been given some really amazing things in my life, but this one touched me the most. It felt so good knowing that my students like their teacher and all my hard work is appreciated. I just wanted to give Ella the biggest hug, but class was already over. It seems small, but I will always smile when I think back to that note my student gave me in Korea.


We joined the gym this week! We went with our Korean friends Lyla and Lynn to join with them and for them to help us translate, which was really helpful! We walked around the gym to see what we were getting into and it all looked decent. Not large, but just enough. We decided to come back in the next day to officially join and start the new workout plan, but this time it was only Katie and I, which made communication with the desk clerk slow and confusing. She didn't understand a thing we were saying and obviously we didn't understand the questions she was answering. I pretty much just showed her the 60,000 won and put three fingers up to gesture for 3-month membership without any of the additional options she was trying to sell to us. Katie and I felt pretty darn proud of ourselves when we finally got it all sorted out and were able to work out. After a month of eating about 3 donuts a day and tons of pizza, ice cream, and sweets, it felt great to begin my new workout plan. We are going to Guam in 4 months and I am feeling pretty motivated!

Birthday Party in Seoul

Today is White Day in Korea, but for me it is sleep day! White Day is a Korean holiday very similar to Valentine’s Day in the U.S. but here it is celebrated differently. Valentine’s Day is for the woman to buy present for their man, and White Day is for the man to buy gifts for their woman. Not that this is relevant to me. I spent the entire day sleeping and watching TV online. I haven’t talked to Tia or Katie all day, which is a bit weird, but it’s probably because we are all so exhausted from yet another late night out in Seoul. We stayed in on Friday because we had big plans to go to a huge, luxurious spa all day Saturday, but ended up going shopping in Suwon instead. We really want to do more cultural activities, like visiting an old folk village that isn’t too far away, but the weather has been so crappy that we’ve decided to postpone the outdoor cultural trips until its warmer outside. Shopping in Suwon was great though; I bought some new jewelry, a dress, sweaters, and two new outrageous pairs of heels. I absolutely love shoe shopping in Korea because they have my size in everything (not the case for Katie and Tia) and the style is wild. I can find things here that I would never find, or have the chance to wear, in the US!

Last night was our friend Dave’s birthday, so we went up to Itaewom, in Seoul, to meet up with him and all of his friends to celebrate. Everyone met up at a huge Irish pub, which turned out to be an absolute blast! And we didn't have to pay for a drink all night ☺ A few guys were being nice and bought a round for Katie, Tia and I to welcome us to Korea, even though we’ve been here for a month now, but I wasn’t complaining! Dave had his entire hockey team with him. Most of them were from New Finland and had thick Canadian accents, which was pretty interesting to listen to. Early in the evening I saw a Korea girl dancing on a table with a crowd of creepy guys surrounding her, I took a few pictures because it is so rare that you see one of the Koreans getting all wild like that. They played a lot of great music, so there was a good amount of dancing going on at the pub. There were some girls that came up to us and start dancing on us to get us to dance, and a group of guys were in a line with their arms around each other’s necks doing some sort of line dance. I was telling Katie that I was experiencing some culture shock because I was surrounded by white people and hearing English everywhere, it was almost overwhelming. I'm not used to being somewhere and having the ability to talking to whomever I wanted, I didn't know what to do with myself- I was almost uncomfortable. I'm so curious to see how I will feel when I come back home. I doubt I will have a hard time though, because I will expect it, I definitely never expect to walk into a room full of Americans or Canadians when I am in Korea.

After a few hours of conversing, dancing and laughing at the Irish pub, Dave wanted to head to Hongdae to do to a club. We had to split up into a few cabs to get there and unfortunately I picked the wrong cab to get into. The cab driver must have hated us because after about 15 minutes of driving towards “Hongdae”, he pulled over, told us we were in Hongdae and to get out. The streets weren’t full of lights and people wondering around, so clearly we weren’t in Hongdae, but we didn't feel like trying to argue so we just paid him, got out and waited to find another cab. It was pretty ridiculous, but I guess that's just part of the experience.

We finally made it to the bar that Dave and his friends were at, but it wasn't anything I expected. I thought I was going to walk into a big club full of Koreans, bright lights, and loud music, but it was more like the downstairs of a Frat house- DChi’s more specifically. To my surprise, this bar turned out to be a great time!! We danced all night!! The best part of the night was at around 4:30am when I was just standing next to a few people talking when Andy came running up and screaming “HEEEEEEY!” I jumped into him to give him hug and grabbed Katie and Tia to show them who had arrived. It was incredibly random and exciting! Out of all of the places in Seoul he could be, we shows up at the same place we were!! He was out with his friends from Canada, two were visiting and two are teaching English in Seoul. We danced and hung out with them until the bouncers kicked us out when they were closing. We walked outside and it was light out- always a nice little surprise. We weren’t ready to go home yet, so Tia bought some rice wine and we continued to hangout in the big ally. Finally we decided to get into a cab and head to Gagnam to catch the bus to Dongtan, so we said our goodbyes to Andy and his friends drove away. We had a relaxed morning getting some American-style breakfast at a huge Paris Baguette (absolutely delicious and paid for by some random military man being nice) and sleeping on the bus ride home.

Andy’s night didn't turn out so smooth… him and his boys ended up getting into a fight in the street, Andy tried to break it up and got punched in the face by a middle-aged woman, then they all got picked up my the police and taken to the station. HAHAHA Somehow they got it all figured out and let go, but wild story to say the least. I mean, Andy will always remember his first time in jail was in Korea and his friends have a nice memory to take back with them after their visit. I almost wish I stuck around longer to see them get arrested.

Hmmm so this weekend was pretty successful, I guess. Another good time and some more great stories. Oh, and I was able to Skype with Ariel and Ashley today! I am pretty excited about that right now, too. Its hard being far away from my best friends, but getting to see and talk to Ashley and Ariel always makes me feel much better and puts me a great mood. I'm so glad I live in an age that has things like Skype to keep me connected!!

One month and celebrating Tanya’s Birthday

It blows my mind that we are celebrating our one-month anniversary of being here in South Korea!!! This has been the fastest month of my life! I can’t even believe it! It’s also weird that we are JUST NOW beginning our year here. All of the other teachers are only here for 12 months, so this first month was only just the beginning. Sometimes I have a hard time letting it sink in that I will be here for that long, but at this rate, I will be out of here in no time!!!

To celebrate, all of the LCI foreign teachers, and Lyla (our favorite Korean teacher) went to Suwon to go out for some Indian food. I like all food, so I think everything is amazing, but Katie and some other teachers were saying it was the best meal of their lives. Maybe not, but it gives you an idea of how delicious the Indian food is here in Korea!

On Saturday night we went over to Alia and Michelle’s for game night with a bunch of people. It was such a blast! Minus when we played charades- the USA citizens versus the Canadians of the group- I was picked for the movie Billy Madison and had the worst time coming up with ways to act it out, even though it is one of my favorite movies. I tried to act out scenes, but when you can’t speak it becomes really complicated. My team was pretty pissed that I couldn't think of other ways to explain myself… oops! After a few hours of games, we decided to take it to a karaoke bar. No need to explain how much fun that was!!!

On Sunday, Katelan, Chase, Tia, Katie and I decided to get some lunch and pick up an ice-cream cake for Tanya. It was her birthday so we wanted to do something to celebrate. The ice-cream cake was the closest to being “Tanya” that we could find, then we bought some candles that read “ I love you”, and “23”, and some fun party hats. When we got it back to my apartment (my apartment is the designated party room), we lit it up and sang happy birthday to her. I was fun, but really sad at the same time. We all made a wish before blowing out the candles, but the only thing I could think of was having her back, so I just hoped she was there watching over us and blew out the candles. We ate a huge lunch, so I was shocked to see that we ate the entire cake- even with Tia being lactose intolerant LOL. It was delicious! Afterwards, we tried to call Tanya’s mom, but it was late so she didn't answer. We spent the better part of the afternoon reminiscing about our great times with Tanya and the accident. It’s still unbelievably painful for us, but I don't feel like writing in my blog about it, so I wont… Next was Wedding Crashers and a nap.

Overall, it has been a really good weekend. Nothing too crazy, but I enjoyed my time staying in Dongtan for the weekend instead of the usual trips to Seoul. But I'm not looking forward to another insanely busy week at work, except for getting to play with my students ☺

Playing hard to Work Even Harder

I am exhausted!!! These past 3 days have been some of the most stressful days of my life. LCI started on Tuesday, we have all new students and a different system for our classes, and we have absolutely no time to prepare. It was about 5:45 on Friday night when Sue, our supervisor, told us that we had to put together a detail lesson plan for the month and weeks of March for the 3 sets of classes we teach. It may not sound life a lot, but trust me – it's a HUGE amount of work! We had a 3-day weekend, but with abrupt notice required us to come in on Monday and spend hours running around trying to figure out what books we are supposed to use, where those books are, and what to do with the books. We had absolutely zero instruction and were expected to just figure it out. We don't have all of the books yet, so each tea her is required to makes copies of our daily lesson for each student. That's 1 copy machine for 12 teachers who have about 45 students each! By the time I was able to use the copy machine, it had some mysterious paper jam over and over and over again, so I couldn't make the copies I needed for class the next day. A few of us went into school early to use the copy machine, but again, that one copy machine for all of us to use in the short amount of time we had before class. I ended up just playing games and singing songs with my students all morning- which I didn't hate, In my later classes, I have my youngest students who are learning English for the first time. They speak zero English and don't have English names, so I was able to name them after some of my friends from home – Joe, Michael, Monica, Evan, Megan, Whitney, Lisa.- I didn't name them after my close friends from WSU because Katie already had that covered. ( Ariel - sorry I couldn't name one after you, you’re name is too hard for them to pronounce) I spent all of my time with these classes teaching them their name and how to say “my name is”. I found myself being really frustrated that I couldn't communicate with any of them, tell them to stop talking, or explain what to do with the paper I just passed out. I never let it show, of course, but I was definitely a learning/growing experience! Today I noticed that my patience level was much higher.. I’m interested to see how high my patience level is when I come home next year. I doubt I’ll ever be told I talk too fast ever again. I ‘ve enjoyed my time in the classroom these past 2 days, but it’s absolutely exhausting!!!

Not only did we have to come in on our day off (no pay, yet again), and come in 45 minutes early, but we all ended up staying at the school until 9pm yesterday and 7:30 today so that we could have time to make our lesson plans, post them onto the website, make a billion copies of our book, and I still had to work on putting my classroom together. We have ridiculous amounts of work to do with no time. I was growing increasingly frustrated today when I was rushing around all day, knowing that I am not even close to being caught up and I'm not getting a dime for all of the extra time and energy I have been putting in. All of the teachers are really frustrated with the amount of work we have to do as teachers at LCI, while still getting paid the same amount as we did at Brown English Language School.

By the time we get done with work everyday, I come home, get ready for bed and fall asleep. I don't have the energy to do anything else, just go to bed and dread waking up for another tiring day at LCI. Sorry if this seems like a little vent session, but I guess if you are reading my blog you want to know what is going on in my life- now you know that during the week I really don't have one. If I had to sum up my life in a sentence, it would be- I play hard, to work harder. But that's life for most, isn’t it? Hopefully my dinner at Chicken Galbi, a delicious restaurant in Dongtan, with my friends will make up for this arduous workweek!