I'm officially the teacher for Taleah’s class now. I’m still nervous trying to be a really fun teacher for them and I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the extra work these kids are. I have to be much more energetic when I’m teaching and small tasks such as checking homework or writing the weekly comment cards takes much more time and effort! I’ve been getting a little flustered because everything takes twice as long! I need so much more patience and have to plan ahead even more than before. Taleah spoke Korean so she could communicate with them or answer questions that they didn't know how to ask in English and now they come up to me, constantly talking to me in Korean and expect me to know what they are talking about. I get especially frustrated when it is time to clean up and go home but they all take so long to do everything so I am rushing around trying to make sure they cleaned their mess, have all of their stuff, putting their jackets on for them and I'm still late getting them to the bus. I feel like there is just so much to do with so little time! I feel like John and Kate Plus 8, minus John. Will all of the chaos of eight kids I’ve been really hating this job. It’s just not as rewarding as it was when I only had four students that I had more time to get to know. I really loved those students and enjoyed coming to work in the morning to see them and joke and play with them, now it feels much more like a job. I don't feel very connected with these students, maybe because they loved Taleah so much or because its only been a few days and I haven’t had the chance to play with them, but all I know now is that my favorite part is helping them put on their jackets for them to go home. Sad huh?
Other than class…life in Korea has been pretty good. Andy’s girlfriend will be coming soon and we are all excited to meet her! She’ll be here for 18 days so we keep teasing Andy that we will forget about him by the time she leaves ‘cause we know we won’t be seeing much of him while she is here. Oooo and Boyz II Men are coming to Seoul on the 17th and we are stoked! There are so many amazing concerts we are going to miss while we are here and the likelihood that one of our favorite artists will come to Korea is slim, so we are pretty happy that we found a concert that we could go to! Maybe it will make me feel a little better about missing Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Sublime, and Tom Petty…but I highly doubt it!
This weekend we went out for our friend John’s birthday in Suwon. He is a member of Katelan’s Pyongtaek family, and with the Dongtan family we had a pretty great group of people. John wanted to go to the Suwon versus Seongnam soccer game before a night out in Suwon. Everyone was pretty pumped to go to a soccer game in Korea to do something a little different than just drink. It was my first professional game since Roma and it was quite a few others first real game. It felt really good to do something more cultural and to see all of the Koreans getting so intense and into the game. We vowed to come back for an even bigger game soon and sit in the section with all of the crazy fans. Most of the group was drinking during the game to ‘pre-game’ the bars, but Katelan and I decided to limit ourselves to two beers so we could save our won for the Boyz II Men concert. Things aren’t necessarily expensive here, but it’s so easy to spend, spend, spend.
There was a good-sized group with us out in Suwon so it was complicated to keep everyone together and make sure nobody was left behind. Matt, John’s best friend, did an amazing job of playing coordinator! They are from Georgia and are just the nicest, most thoughtful guys I have ever met! It was only natural that Matt was the one making sure everyone was together and having a good time. I was impressed with his dedication so I bought him a beer. There’s no way I could have had the patience to make sure 25 people were all in the right place and having fun, if someone got lost, I’d just let them figure it out. I mean, we were on only one strip so it wouldn't have been hard to find everyone… anyways, the night was definitely a success! I think it is safe to say that absolutely everyone had a great time. I don't feel like going into every detail of the night, so I thought I would just share some highlights: finding a volleyball at the game and playing with it all night without losing it (pretty impressive for a group of 25 drinking kids), seeing a Korean celebrating his 21 birthday by being taped to a pole and having his friends kick and hit him, going to the batting cages and watching John get hit with a pitch, and watching John tackle all of the boys and have a sword fight with fake sunflowers. All of the above items are extremely random, hence the night being so much fun! But maybe you had to be there…
The following day, Katelan and I woke up and headed to Pyongtaek to see a movie. My first movie in a foreign theater, but once we got there we realized that the movie we wanted to see wasn't playing. Instead, we just made a day of it and shopped around Pyongtaek for a few hours with Chase. We took Chase to a boys clothing store and helped him pick out new clothes for a new, Korean style he wants to adopt (because they dress so well!). Shopping with Chase made me miss my brother a lot! I miss being at home and shopping with my brother to help him pick out new shoes or new clothes, I always enjoyed our time spent together that way. I was trying not to spend money so I didn't buy anything, but I did buy a pair of hiking boots that I am thrilled about! I plan on going on as much hikes as possible while I am here so I can see what Korea is all about, visit some old temples, and of course get some exercise! Hopefully I will be able to wear my new shoes soon! For dinner, Chase took us to a burger joint that supposedly has the most amazing burgers around. He wasn't lying! The small restaurant was called Bearly Burger and played old school Elvis songs. My mom loves Elvis, so I started to miss her a bit too, but then my burger came! Katelan and I split it ‘cause we knew we couldn't handle the whole thing alone, but daang it was amazing! So delicious, I can’t wait for my next one! And the best part is, they gave us large cups (that you NEVER find in Korea) and a big pitcher of lemon water. I thought I died and went to America. YuuuuME!
As Katelan, Chase and I wondered around Pyongtaek, we started talking and Chase told me that Kevin and Daniel (the WSU guys that Tia, Katie and I replaced) are considering coming back to Korea in September! I was shocked! I guess being back home is boring and they aren’t having any fun, so they want to leave again. When I heard about this, it made me not want to come back home either. Not that I don't love love looove all of my friends and family, but its nice to be in a place where there is a lot to do and places to travel on vacation. Daniel and Kevin are from Tacoma, so I'm sure I would be feeling the same way they do if I came home. Well, I plan on coming home for a least a month after I am done with my contract in Korea, but Katelan, Chase and I are pretty serious about the idea of moving to Australia in April 2011. We’re trying to recruit Kara, Addy, and a few other people (Ariel, Whit, Lucia, Alyssa – hint hint). I think Australia would be absolutely amazing! Living on the beaches of paradise and not taking life seriously for a few months sounds like the way I want to live. I think we are going to buy one-way plane tickets in the next few months to make sure it actually happens. I'm in debt and broke right now, but if I am good with my money while I am here and use the money I receive at the end of my contract, I think I’ll be good to go! Awww cant wait!!! Not sure what my plan will be for after that, maybe another year of teaching in Seoul, maybe backpack through South America, I’ll just have to wait and see where life takes me. Man it feels good to have no real idea about what my life will become…
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