Brown Class

These are pictures of the youngest kids I teach the most, Brown. They are all about 4 years old American age, but are considered 5 to 6 here. I teach them Phonics and Language at least two times a day. They love Science class the most which I used to teach them.

Obviously a group shot minus Chris and Edward who where absent today.

Suzy who always reminds me how to spell her name. She's super cute and smart but I guess has a really crappy home life :(.

Dave who never listens. Him and Justin (further down) are my trouble makers. It's hard to get him to do anything other then draw Wall-E.

Michael, who is one of my favorites. He's so cute and always happy.

Joseph, who can be good when he wants to be. He's also really smart but is loud and sometimes doesn't listen.

Jinny and Jimmy. She is sweet, he is not. They're both very quiet for the most part.

Sally, the baby. She's cute but can't do anything for herself. At least twice during class she will say "Teacher help me" on the simplest things. Today she asked me to help her cut something out and draw a triangle by connecting numbered dots.

Apple, who is crazy. Her mom came up with the name because her friends call her Gweneth Paltrow.

Justin, who refuses to do any work what so ever. He will sit and do anything in his power not to work. Whether that be drawing flowers instead of cutting out paper or just coloring everything black when he's supposed to be tracing letters.

Matthew, who is sneaky. Today he asked, "Teacher, bathroom please," and I said okay. As he's leaving I tell the rest of the class we're going to draw pictures on blank pieces of paper and he looks at me with a mischievous smile and says, "Oh no bathroom."

Food

A staple for any living creature. To bad I can never find any around here. Or wait, I can I just can't communicate or read what the hell they have at the restaurants. Today was pitiful. After work I was hungry. I was debating on whether or not I wanted to attempt to cook rice or just go to a restaurant. My laziness won over, so I grabbed my Fromers and headed off to a small mom and pop place.

The first one I went to I pass by a lot. It's a sit down on the floor kind of place. So I look at their menu on the wall, look at my book and try to figure out what they had. No luck. Fromers you failed me. I sat there for about 10 minutes staring at the wall then staring at my book. I quickly sneaked out to try and not be noticed. Humiliating.

Then I was about to give up when I saw another, even smaller, place. I get in and I find out it's a sushi place. I like sushi but it wasn't what I was in the mood for. I sat down anyway with my Fromers and translated the only thing that was both in the menu and in my book. Rice with raw fish. Pass thanks, so I left, dejected.

So I decide to go back home. On my way home is a little grocery store. I think to myself, "Maybe I'll get some mu kimchi for rice" (my favorite kind). I go into the store and low and behold they don't have it.

In the end my sad pitiful self ate a bowl of frosted flakes. Thanks Tony the Tiger. Your cereal tastes good in any country.

Insadong

I think is where I was at today. I'm not sure. None the less it was pretty much a foreigner trap with all sorts of little Korean things and so forth. I'm horrible at figuring out what I should take a picture of so here are a few.

Me and my cousin Jun Gu at the restaurant they decided to take me. I had rice with raw salmon. Tasty.

My cousin Seong Hwan and his girlfriend.

This out door touristy thing I don't know. I wasn't to impressed but I'm in this hate shopping phase right now. Tragic I know. That banner is a picture of Kim Jong Il with funny hair and sun glasses.

A giant blob of sugar ginger candy. The guy shaves part of it with this block and then puts a mound of it on a stick.

I was told it was some marketing thing and they were advertising something. The girl saw me taking a picture and posed for me.

Something that I wanted to talk about in Korea. Couples will wear the same clothes. Jun Gu told me that it was a lot more popular in the early 2000's (is that how you say that?) but some couples still do it. This was the best picture I got of them.

Jun Gu flipped out over this guy. I guess he's some famous K1 fighter or something so he insisted that I take his picture. Koreans really like K1 fighters. This famous Russian one was eating at the restaurant next to YBM and the Korean teachers all ran downstairs with their cell phones, giggling like typical Korean girls, trying to take a picture.

We walked a lot today. I started feeling dizzy, or just off balance towards the end so I ended up going home. I felt bad because they had walked me to Lotte Department store but I just didn't feel up for more walking.

Dongdaemun Part 2

It was a pretty uneventful day today. I went to Dongdaemun Market finally but it took me two hours to find it. I had gone into some other 8 floor building stores and looked around before actually finding the market. When I did get there I was to tired to really look around so I decided to go back home. Plus I'm sick so it wasn't all the great. I love shopping and yet I hate it as well.

I went to a different jimjabang tonight at the Hotel Prima. It was okay but not worth the $16.50. I had gone into the sauna and then into a cold tub then a hot one. Towards the end I wasn't feeling very well and figured I needed water stat. Well once I actually got to the water cooler I was starting to feel dizzy and my hands and feet went numb. I took one drink and went down to the floor. I've never fainted or passed out before but I'm sure this was close to it. I would close my eyes for a few seconds and then make myself open my eyes to drink more water. The Korean ladies where all, "Are you alright" and I pretty much just said I needed water. Kind of embarressing sitting on the floor naked by the water cooler but what are you going to do.

I made it home fine. I figure it's probably a combination of eating like crap today, not drinking enough water and being sick. I wanted to get a salad but opted to just eat some cereal. It has vitamins in it. . . Hopefully sight seeing will be okay tomorrow. Maybe I should just stay home and lay in bed.

Incubus of Viral Plague

"The Devil Wears Prada" is on in Korea all of the time and I find that quote very fitting for how I feel. I'm sick for the first time in Korea. Yippy. It doesn't seem to bad right now so maybe it's just a minor cold or something. I hope.

School has been hard as I mentioned it was going to be. However, it's been alright. Since I constantly have class it makes the day go by very quickly but my voice takes a beating. Those little kids suck out your soul.

Dartmouth was so cute today though! I've taught them one other time but when I walked into the room they all yelled "Ashley Teacher!" Then Elizabeth, favorite, comes up and hugs me and tells me I look like a princess. I'm like you're a liar but very cute. I will always be in awe of how these kids love their teachers even though I feel like I'm one of the meaner ones. Like everyone tells me, they forgive easy.

I leave you with a drawing Diana, from my Read and Debate class, drew of me. It's the last class I have for the day Tuesday and Thursday. There's just two of them in there so we get through the stuff pretty quickly.

I don't know. I think I look like a South Park character. Harry, the other kid in my Read and Debate class, drew me as a panda. And no it wasn't a cute panda.

One Month Anniversary

It has been exactly one month since I arrived in Korea and what I have done? Well started working at a real 40+ hour a week job. Visited family. Walked around the outside of Dongdaemun. Went to COEX mall. Learned the subway system. Learned how to kind of read Korean, very slowly. Gone to a jimjabang (a spa where everyone is naked... yeah awkward).

The short list of what I would like to do in the near future: Actually go inside of Dongdaemun Market. Go to Namdaemun. Travel outside of Seoul. Go to Busan. Climb a mountain. Go to a Buddhist temple. Go to a palace. Get a dog. Learn how to speak Korean (this may take all year).

I can't believe it's already been a month. It feels like I've been here a lot longer and yet not long at all. Does that make sense? Anyway after my long hospital stay it's nice to be back at my place. It never really felt like home until today.

Tomorrow is going to be extremely long. I have to be there by 10:10 am and I won't leave until 8 pm. Did I discuss that I found out that I only get paid for the hours that I teach. I get there at 10:10 but I don't start teaching until 11:10 (and only for 40 minutes). So I get paid the 40 minutes that I teach. Alright in short those ten hours that I'm there I get paid for 6. It's basically so I can never get overtime. But regardless of whether I work 40 teaching hours a week I still get paid $2000 a month. That's confusing but I'm tired and can think of no other way to make it better.

I got two packages from Lucas today!! Plus stuff Genea threw in there :). I love my music note pendant it is so awesome and all that tea. I can't wait to try it out. Thank you so much!! And Lucas thanks for everything. I'm eating the goldfish as I type <3

Hospital

Well I lugged my computer and the adaptor (that may possibly weigh 10 pounds) in my backpack all the way to Uijeoungbu to find out that the wireless they have at the hospital is blocked. Lame but they have computers you can get on if you buy cards for them or something. So I'll still be able to get my internet fix. Damn you internet and your addicting ways!

I had P.E. with Yale today and I rocked it thank you very much. I bought a whistle last night and let me tell you it was the best $1.50 I ever spent. It really was quite the difference. They had one of the helper teachers (I don't really know what to call them, they don't teach. They just help or make lunch I don't know) help me during it. She just kind of yelled at them in Korean what I wanted them to do. I really do love Yale though.

When I walked in the room to get them Ethan, who always does this, yelled "ASHELEE!" and hugged my legs. It's so cute. Then YunGee was all, "Hi Ashley! I love you" while hugging my legs with Ethan. And of course there is stinking cute Brian, who is the smallest, comes running up to me screaming my name and hugging me. Just no matter what they do to make you angry they can also be so sweet. It's crazy how they just love you and don't even know you. You're just their teacher and that equals love.

I found out that I'm offically going to be a Kindergarten teacher. I'm going to be taking over the classes that another teacher taught once he leaves. So I will have Stanford (who is pictured a couple of entries back) and Brown. Being a Kindergarten teacher means that I will have to be at school by 9 am :( and I'll leave around 6 pm. At least Stanford knows me pretty well but now I'm going to have to be extra hard on them to get anything done. Usually I teach them Arts and Crafts and Science which are kind of blow offish. But now I'll have to teach them Language stuff. Stuff that is actually important in learning English. Scary.

On the Homoni front, she looks okay. She lays in bed and seems really tired. Hopefully she will be able to leave on Sunday.