WANTED: SPRING BREAK!!!

WANTED: SPRING BREAK
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I'm in desperate need for a spring vacation. The weather is lovely, warm, and sunny. I wake up happy and chipper. However, I go to school and see my students and my mood instantly falls into the gutter! All they have to do is say hello to me and I'm already crabby. This is how I know I'm ready for a vacation from them.

While I was in school, I really looked forward to breaks/vacations from school and were usually needed very much. It was nice to get a mental break even if I didn't do anything special. Then I would come back refreshed and ready to go. I didn't know how much the teachers needed it too. However, at my current job I don't have those vacations. I have a few random days off throughout the year and I have 10 days of vacation I can apply to take, but not all at once.

Since my mental state is disintegrating day by day, I think that I will need to request a vacation soon. Even though I don't have a lot of money to go someplace nice, I think I will take some time off and just play around my apartment, go for walks, go hiking, and just a little R&R! Especially since the cherry blossoms are going to be in full bloom soon, so it will be a nice time to walk around and admire the landscape.

So, hopefully in the next blog I can write about the cherry blossoms that I walked around and saw. Along with pictures.

Geoje Island

Geoje Island is the second largest island in Korea. It's second to Jeju Island and is on the south-eastern shore of Korea. It's about a 3.5 hour drive from Gwangju to our destination in Geoje.

On our drive to Geoje Island, we stopped in Tongyeong. We went on the largest cable car ride in Korea. It was a 10 minute cable ride up the mountain. Then we hiked around for about an hour. It was a lot of fun seeing some of the Korean signs and just watching the Korean people. It's funny how we're the same but those little quirks amuse you so much. ;-) The place that we hiked around was called Hallyeo National Marine Park. It was beautiful and I highly recommend it. You can see many islands including one of Japan's islands. So, litterally, they can see Japan from their backyards!

Then we entered the city and drove past the famous turtle ship replica in Tongyeong Port. It's a beautiful ship and is in the traditional asian ship style. Across the port is Dongpirang Village. It's an area of the town that a bunch of art students painted. The walls, houses, signs, and some of the sidewalks are all painted with different pictures as you hike up to the top of the hill. It was a lot of fun. Everyone was having fun taking pictures with the pictures on the wall. It was all beautiful artwork and it can't help but lift your spirit. I feel that, living in that neighborhood would make you constantly happy. When you reach the top  you're greeted by a beautiful view of the harbor and a fresh sea breeze. We also were lucky, because across the harbor there was a concert going on so it gave an extra festive feel to it. Being the crazy foreigners that we are, we decided to start dancing in the street. We were up on the peak and a buch of passerbys decided to stop and watch the crazy dancing foreigners. It felt like I was putting on a performance. As, dusk approached we decided to head out to our pension and eat dinner because we were all starving at this point.

We stayed in a beautiful, expensive pension. It had two bedrooms with the softest beds, which is very rare for Korea. Korea has the hardest beds I've even slept on! It's equivalent to sleeping on the floor! So, we were very happy with the beds. It also had a kitchen, big flatscreen TV, couch and a private balcony with it's own grill. It was absolutly beautiful.

We busted out the chips and salsa to eat while we grilled our samgyupsal and cooked our rice. We decided to start a squat club. This is because all the ajummas, older women, squat on the side of the street selling their home grown produce. Erin, just recently got engaged to a Korean man and will be staying in Korea. I hope to follow her example. So, we decided that we need to have a squat club to sell our produce together. So, in order to not embarrass ourselves when it comes to squatting time we started our squat training. It's difficult to squat that long!!!

So, eventually the meat and rice are ready and we enjoy dinner. We had samgyupsal, rice, salad, and some strawberries for dessert. Of course, with samgyupsal your also have to partake in a little soju. We had our nice Korean meal and headed inside for a few drinking games. We played a little image game, santa-maria, baskin robins 31, 3-6-9, dalgi, and the flick the soju cap game. Once we wore ourselves out on the Korean games we switched to a modified version of the game of spoons. We called it chopsticks because we used chopsticks. There were 5 girls and one boy playing at this point and it was intense! We had bloody cuts on our hands from nails, broken chopsticks, and elbows in the guts. It was so much fun! Then, it was time to pass out!

In the morning, I was woken up at 9am by Wesley and Jane, two of the Koreans. I don't know why they like to wake up so early! Us foreigners weren't too happy about that. But we got free breakfast from the pension. They had hardboiled eggs, sausage, toast, cereal, orange juice, and milk. This was the most western style breakfast I've ever had here. Usually it kimchi and rice!

The only downer of the trip is that it rained the next day. And I'm not talking just a drizzle either. It poured and was unbelievably windy. So, we decided not to take a ferrry and go around Geoje Island. It would have been miserable. Instead, we decided to head back to Gwangju. However, and hour into our trip back, Wesley, our driver, found out that he left his clothes with his credit cards in the pension. So, we had to drive all the way back and get them. It was terrible because Erin and I get very carsick. So, he prolonged our suffering by two hours!

To make matters worse, by the time we got home it was a beautiful day and would have been perfect for an island tour. But, we'll have to make a second trip to make sure we see everything.

Mentally 21

How old am I? Officially I'm 26 years old this year, 27 in Korean, but I feel as if I'm still 21. I still have the wild crazy streak, unable to make up my mind on what I want to be or where I want to go, and flat-out refusing to grow up and settle down. However, lately I've been experiencing the constant reminders of how old I really am. Friends getting married, their children growing up, and the young boys calling me nuna (older sister). This is forcing me into a state of confusion and uncertainty. I'm forced to once again look toward the future and look within myself and start making decisions. What will I do once this contract is up? Who do I want to be with? Where do I want to live?

For now, I keep trying to put-off the decision making and indulge in the crazy life. Weekends of meeting with friends, dinner, and then late night partying until 6am. I know that I will have to start making the life changing decisions soon but I keep telling myself that I have time. I have 6 months to finish my graduate school application and 5 months to apply for another job in Korea or another country. Maybe I'll just apply to everytyhing forcing my decision to the very last minute. Ha ha ha ha! See, I'm just a young girl at heart procrastinating to the very end!

"Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free till they find someone just as wild to run with them." 

I'd have to say that the most childish part of me is my choice in men. I don't know when it happened but somewhere along the line, in Korea, I seemed to have gone boy-crazy. No, not man-crazy, boy-crazy! My first Korean boyfriend was 31 and then after that they got younger and younger. I even went on a date with an 18 year old boy! How did that happen? Why would I even want to do that? Where is the future with a little boy like that? Why would I waste my time? I know, because he was cute!! See, what I mean?! Boy-crazy! I currently have 5-6 boys that I casually date. Nothing serious. Just every once in a while we meet up for a little date. Keep things light, simple, and uncomplicated. More evidence of my immaturity. I refuse to get deeply involved with a man that I'm not sure of. Why put my heart out there unprotected if I'm not sure that it won't get crushed? And really, who wants to settle for someone that doesn't make their heart constantly thump and makes you happy that you're alive and with them. I want someone who thinks I'm perfect the way I am and makes me want to strive to be a better person. I won't settle for anything less and I refuse to get serious with anyone I think is unworthy of my devotion.

"Some people are settling down, some people are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies."

I'd have to say that my views on love and relationships is my most immature and complicated thoughts right now. I mean, I have a few choices for my future and I'm sure that I will find the answer soon but when it comes to love I'm completely lost. I don't even know what kind of guy I want! But I keep telling myself that I'll know it when I find it. I just hope that I have one of those earth-shattering revalations like people do in the movies when they meet the person they're supposed to be with. Otherwise I'm totally SOL! But, everyone says not to worry about it. However, I think they're wrong. I think the way that I'm so guarded and fickle is what's stopping me from getting a steady boyfriend. Most of my friends have boyfriends or someone they're in a complicated relationship with. Then, there is me. I really don't have any prospective steady boyfriend candidates and it's all because of my attitude. I'm scared and I think that boys are like dogs. They can sense my fear and aloofnes and decide it's not worth their time to invest in someone who's not totally into it. So, I'm basically screwing myself over. But, how do you change your attitue with something like this? Who wants to get hurt? NOT ME!

So, at this point and time. I'm willing to accept any advice on the matter because I feel like Hansel and Grettle lost in the woods with no bread crumbs to follow out! So, throw me a few crumbs of advice!

Breaking Down

So, as a teacher, I know it can sometimes be incredibly rewarding to see your students absorbing the knowledge you give them but at the same time it's incredibly frustrating.

I teach kids ranging in age from 8-18. I have the full spectrum of the difficulties each age group has to offer. I have the young kids who are hard to reign in and full of energy, the ones that think that the opposite sex has coodies so that they can't be on the same team, and the ones who hate to lose and start to cry and calling me a "bad teacher" because that's the only thing they can really say.

Then, they get a little older and they're a little more obedient but at the same time they rebel behind your back. They're too afraid to be punished but want to look cool in front of their friends.

Then they get older and are just outright disrespectful. I leave the room for a photocopy and come back to writing on  the board that says "play game" and I tell them maybe next time. I'm met with screams, shouts, some start hitting things, and they tell me how "bad" I am. Then, I have to leave again and I come back to "you terrible" written on the board because the lack of game. Then they flat out refuse to do their work and are constantly talking. I try to get them to focus but to no avail. My anger meter is rising.



Feeling I get from teaching these devil children!!



I follow the strict 3 strikes rule in my class. Well, 2 of them got 3 strikes so it was time to fight them out of the classroom. I tell them to leave and go to Mr. Jo's office (the priciple) but they won't get up. They're very afraid now and I told them they should have thought of that earlier. Then I grab them by the arm, now these are 13-14 year old boys so they're difficult to drag, and I try to pull them out. I try and try but it doesn't work. Finally I throw my books on the desk and sit down telling them they need to finish 5 pages in the next 15 minutes or their mothers will all be called.



I needed to get away from the situation so I stepped outside for a bit. I come back in composed and they're throwing their books around. I pick up my books and throw them clear across the room almost hitting one, totally by accident. Then throw my pencils and pens. They all stop and sit down. Clearly the teacher has gone crazy, they're thinking.



So, I start to lecture them saying that I get angry too and that I don't want to study all the time either but they will never ever ever get to play a game when they do things like that. By this time, it's time to leave. So, I give them their homework and send them on their way. On the way out I went to hand some homework to one of my boys but he refused it infront of the principle. Complete disrespect and it was embarrassing for me. He yells at him and the boy tell him in Korean that I physically hurt him and that I was saying "Fuck"! Luckily, I'm smart enough to understand him and yell at him calling him a liar. My priciple doesn't speak English so it's hard to explain. So, basically I look like a big ass because of these little pricks!

Even though I have been here for 1 year and 3 months, this was almost a dealbreaker of a day. It's days like these where I think, "Why the hell should I even care?" These kids don't want to be here and I'm putting in so much time, effort, and emotions. I think that if we don't get a better way to handle these situations I'll have to start looking for a new job. I've been through too much and I'm sick of it!

Spring Is Here

I love Korea! Spring comes soooooo early here. It's February 23rd and the temperature is 56F! It's practically summer compared to Wisconsin, where it is currently 23F! This is where I throw out my evil laugh at all those people living in torture in the state of Wisconsin! Mwuhahahahaha!

You can tell that it's spring time by the smell, the birds, and the way everyone acts. It's like mating season! You notice that all people think about or want seems to be love or a partner. The girls sit on one side of the classroom and giggle about the boys while the boys watch on and gossip about the girls. The middle schoolers just talk about the new school term that starts March 2nd and how they're going to get a boyfriend or girlfriend soon. That's all they want. Then, you see the young adults rutting around. The dance floor is packed at the bars and people are dancing unusually close. Koreans don't usually dance like us foreigners rubbing their bodies all over each other. But, in the spring it's a whole other story! Everyone is getting "frisky"!

I can tell by me because I'm more cheerful and I just want to play outside. I want to get a grill, lawnchair, and have a cold beer while chillin outside making a burger or steak. AWWWWW!!! I love spring!!

The Worst of Korea

So, in my 1 year and 2.5 month stint in Korea I've had some of the best times and made some of my best friends. Growing up they always say that you'll make your friends for life in college because you have a bigger group to choose from and you tend to have the most in commen with them. However, they must never have gone to Korea.

I have made the best friends in Korea. We have so much in common, do everything together, and have shared our happiness and sorrows. Even though we only know each other for a short period of time, we are the best of friends. I've been blessed with two best friends here in Korea. These are two girls that I couldn't imagine my life without. They're the two people who I put perfect trust in. I would never have to worry about talking behind backs or any real problems. For the most part, we haven't even had one disagreement in a year! Now, that's a miracle for girls who are so close.

However, with this happiness comes the sadness. I've known Kristina for about a year and we've become so close but now, in two weeks, she will be leaving Korea forever. This is the worst about Korea for those of us who choose to stay. We create tight-knit groups of friends who share everything but one day they will leave. I'm lucky, that this is my first real friend leaving Korea. But, it's a heartbreaking experience. The farewells are killers.

Kristina will be traveling to Taiwan, the Phillipines, and then back to NY. Later, she will most likely be joining her friend in Taiwan to teach there for another year. I think, once you get a taste for this lifestyle it's hard to give up. I am happy that she's staying near so that I can take a trip over there when I save some money. I mean, what's a little trip to Taiwan?! We will reunite, party, gossip, and then I will have to be on my merry way back to Korea, home. In a few years, I'm sure we will see each other again and be friends as if we never parted ways. Now, those are true friends.

I'm a very lucky girl so that I can truely say this is the worst of Korea. Losing a friend to another country. However, I shouldn't look at it as losing a friend because I know that we will always be friends. These people are my true soul-mates. With the love for adventure, travel, and the unknown. These people, I will always remember.

So, to those I've had to say good-bye to already and to those who I will soon see off, I've had a great time getting to know you, I'm happy to have met you, and I hope to reunite one day!

Vanlentine's Day in Korea

I'm celebrating my second Valentine's Day since I've been in Korea. I, of course, am celebrating it alone again. However, it's not as lonely as it would be in the states. The children here just call it chocolate day.

The major difference in Valentine's Day in Korea is that the girls give the boys chocolate. Their either make them chocolate or they buy special chocolates and give it to the boy they like. It's like a small confession of love. However, since I teach at an academy I don't get to see the kids give out chocolates to the boys they like. :-(

However, I was slightly suprised when I met two of my students right outside my apartment and they gave me chocolate and wished my a happy Valentine's Day. When I got to school was was given a larg amount of chocolates by all my students. Of course, they were all girls. And the boys ran up to me screaming for chocolate. I felt terrible that I had forgotten this useless holiday and didn't have any chocolates to give out. I guess I won't be getting any chocolates from the boys on White Day, March 14th.

I feel a little sad that I don't really know the traditions of older people on Valentine's Day. I just know what the younger kids do. Maybe next year I will learn when I have a boyfriend to spend it with. But for now, I'm happy with receiving chocolates from my kids.