Day 72 Last day at Avalon

Day 72 Feb 27,2009 Friday

Yeah I skipped day 71..nothing worth noting happened....

I went to the bank and paid all my bills today...I was in there for about 20 minutes waiting in line. I hate that I can't do online bill pay. that really sucks.

One of the other foreign teachers told me about a phone number where I can use that number to connect to an international number and pay local rates. sweet. He's going to give me the number so I can save on calling home. The other foreign teacher told him about it.

Today was my last day at Avalon. I got my letter of release which is weirdly worded. heres what it says (the guy in charge of foreigners wrote it):

"Due to unexpected personal circumstances, we are unhappy to give a letter of release to (my name) 27th February 2009. We appreciated of your participation and dedication to this school and we hope your better living and career in Korea. We recieved your 45 days notice and the school gives you a formal letter based on mutual agreement. Thanks again for a lot of contribution to our school."

I still don't know for sure when I have to go to Immigration to cancel my Visa. The guy in charge said something about March 10 at 1pm, but said he would get back to me later when he knows the exact date. I don't think they know what they are doing. I'm suppose to have my visa cancelled before starting at a new school.

Today was the last day of the MWF classes.In my first class one of the students saw my camera and wanted to look at it. Then some of the students took a few pictures. I showed some of my pics on my camera to some girls in the class. They wouldn't let me take photos of them though. I had a lot of students absent today. 4 in my first class, 3 in my 2nd class and 1 in my last class.

In my second class there are 2 boys who know some curse words. They asked me to teach them new ones and I said no. But they already know about "god damn", "Son of a bitch" and "fuck you". and they know about the middle finger. In that class there is one kid that I have to keep telling to do his work. He would just sit there and play with his phone or just sit there and not do anything. I told him over and over what page to turn to and what activity to do. They weren't loud at all today. It sure does make a difference when the troublemaker isn't there.

In my last class my student gave me a gift. It was a hairclip. She told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands. Then she gave me the gift. She was one of my best students and she got one on one attention because she was the only person in the class for the majority of the time. She was a great student and was always eager to learn. I'll miss her. I gave her my email and phone if she wanted to keep in touch. She gave me her phone number. I told her I was leaving and she said she wanted to come whereever I was. 5 minutes after class was over she sent me a text message. It said "I miss you. I love you!". ah how sweet.


After classes the person in charge of foriegners pulled me aside into a room. They told me that my money wasn't deposited into my account yet. Then they told me that they were going to get the recruiter to pay my airfare. I told them I would pay it. I don't want to delay getting my check and I was suppose to pay it anyway if I break my contract. It was 1.6 million won which equals out to $1057 usd with todays exchange. And I have to pay an apartment management fee of 60,000. So this month I'll only be getting a little less than 500,000 won. I can live on that. I still have 300,000 in my account. I only spent 600,000 this month and that was with eating out almost daily. My pay should be in my account on Saturday.

After work me and some of the teachers went out for my going away party. We went to a restaurant where they serve Samgyup-sal. Its Korean bacon. Its very yummy. You cook it at your table. They put charcoal in the hole at your table and then you put the pork on a grill like thing and cook it. I enjoyed the meal and hanging out one last time. We also had cake because it was one of the foriegn teacher's birthday. It was really good! One of the middle school teachers gave me a dunkin donuts mug as a present. I took pictures during the meal and afterwards.

Then I came home and packed. I did a lot of cleaning also. The only thing I havent packed is the things that I have to use to get ready (outfit,shampoo,hair dryer, etc). I'm getting up at 9:45 in the morning to get everything together. I have to be at the school at 11:30 then the driver will bring me to the apartment. I'll load up all my stuff and they will take me to my new school. I have to meet with the new school at 1pm. Then I'll probably end up going to lunch with my friend Andrew.

Hopefully I'll like the new school. I'm kinda nervous about starting over again, but I think I'll have more freedom at the new school and it will definatly be better to have shorter classes!

Day 70

Day 70 Feb 25, 2009 Wed

Wow its been 10 weeks. 52 more weeks to go. I really wish it were less!

I received a card from one of my friends in Rock Hill from my Homegroup. It was sweet and thoughtful. I'd love to receive more mail. Mom sends all kind of stuff. Im going to send her a package soon. I'll post my new address once I move.

I've been eating out a lot lately at Fast food joints. mainly burger king. I know its not good but Im tired of making the same thing over and over (rice, hotdogs,hamburgers). I miss all the foods I like. I miss having an oven and a microwave. I miss grits, sweet tea, cupcakes, birthday cake, little debbie cakes, mac and cheese (I havent seen any over here!),chicken patties, corndogs, pancakes, real mountian dew, bread that doesn't taste funny, and totinos pizza. I hate not being able to cook for myself!! I can't really buy much because I don't know what it is and I can't read the directions on how to cook it. I can't wait to come back to America and eat real food again!

I got a call from the guy at the new school. He's the person in charge of the foreign teachers. He reminded me that we have to meet on Saturday to sign the contract. He was asking me when my last day at the school was. I told him Feb 27 and he said the director of my school said March 4th. What? Why do I have to be here till march 4 if my classes are over on Feb 27. I still don't know when my visa will be cancelled. I'll try to ask my foriegn liason when my last day is. Communication is so hard over here. No one understands what I'm trying to say.

I start the new job on March 2nd and I havent heard anything from my recruiter. I don't know when Im officially supposed to move in.

Today was a normal day of class. I finished the book out for all of my classes today. The book has 20 units and today was the last unit of the M/W classes. Tomorrow is the last day of the Tues/Thurs classes.

My troublemaker was absent today. Its like night and day when he's not there. I didn't have to yell one time. They were well behaved and no one spoke Korean. I saw on the attendace that he will be absent on Friday also. Kinda sad I didn't get to say goodbye and take a picture. Yes he was a pain in the you know what but he was a good kid when he would be good (which was extremly rare). I think he has great potential. His speaking/reading skills are good. He actively participated. Sometimes he wanted me to call on him for every question. I told him we need to give the other students a chance too.

Every single time I have people who forget their essays on the day they are due. I think 4 students in my 2nd class didn't bring theirs. Then some of them don't understand my markings. They got a sheet at the beginning of the semester that told them what the correction markings mean.

My 3rd class has no imagination. In our workbook exercises we were creating our own underground town. Their town could have any kind of buildings. the sky was the limit. Some of the examples in the book were a chocolate playground and a library with edible books. I was giving them a chance to think up crazy things and they were having the hardest time. They took a long time and their ideas weren't that great. One guy wouldn't even write anything.

I didn't have my 4th class because my student was absent. So I just played around on the internet and graded essays. I hate sitting around till 10pm.

I packed a little tonight. I don't have too much more to do. Friday night I need to do a through cleaning.

2 more days of classes.

I've got to remember that I owe the school 50,000 won for some deposit at the apartment. Something that we have to pay but don't get a bill for. I also need to remember to collect the money that one of the foriegn teachers owes me cause I'm a dummy who let someone borrow money.

Last week I watched the whole season 1 of Scrubs. This week I'm working on Season 2. Im up to episode 5 of 22. I'm trying to watch it from the beginning. Oh and I need to stay caught up on Season 8. I've seen all of the new episodes except for the one that would have came on this week.

The woman who had the octuplets has been in the news numerous times in the past month. I'm tired of hearing about it. How is an unemployed single mother going to raise 14 kids? When I was unemployed I could barely support myself and I didn't even have that many bills. She has 14 extra mouths to feed and bodys to clothe. how?

Another plane crashed today. A Turkish plane crashed in Amsterdam. Last I heard 9 people were dead and 50 were injured. There have been a lot of plane crashes recently.

Worry of a North Korean Missile Test

By CHOE SANG-HUN
SEOUL — North Korea announced Tuesday it was preparing to send a satellite into orbit in what American and South Korean officials believe will be a provocative test of a long-range missile capable of reaching parts of North America.

The announcement came only days after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and South Korea’s foreign minister, Yu Myung-hwan, urged the North not to carry out the test, calling such a move “very unhelpful” and “provocative.”

During her trip to Seoul last week, Mrs. Clinton called the North Korean government’s rule “tyranny,” but offered to normalize ties and provide economic help if it abandoned its nuclear weapons program. Officials in the region were awaiting the North Korean response when the announcement came on Tuesday.

“The preparations for launching experimental communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 by means of delivery rocket Unha-2 are now making brisk headway,” North Korea’s Committee of Space Technology said in a statement carried by the government news agency, KCNA.

The statement marked the first time North Korea had confirmed its activities at a missile-launching base at Musudan-ri on its east coast. It did not say when the launch would take place, but it was the clearest sign so far that it may be imminent.

In recent weeks, North Korea has said it has the right to launch a scientific satellite, an excuse, analysts in South Korea say, the North has adopted to avoid United Nations sanctions and any potential U.S. attempt to shoot down its missiles.

“It’s really absurd and funny for North Korea, a country unable to feed its own people, to say it is developing a space program,” said Kim Tae-woo, a senior analyst at the government-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analysis. “I think a missile launch is imminent, with all major preparations completed.”

A long-range ballistic missile carrying a warhead and a rocket delivering a satellite are so similar that experts said it was difficult to tell them apart until tracking technology detects a new satellite in orbit.

The U.S. space authorities tried but could not find a new satellite after North Korea launched what it called its Kwangmyongsong-1 satellite in 1998. Western officials believed that it had actually tested its Taepodong-1 missile.

At the time, North Korean media praised Kim Jong-il, who had been confirmed as the country’s top leader, for pioneering the country’s “space development program” and said the satellite was broadcasting revolutionary Communist songs to earth.

Mr. Kim is expected to be reconfirmed as leader by the North’s rubber-stamp Parliament on March 8. Analysts in Seoul have cited the period around Mr. Kim’s re-election as a possible window for the North to launch a missile.

In recent weeks, officials and experts in the region have feared that North Korea was readying to launch the multistage Taepodong-2, the North’s most advanced missile with an estimated range of 4,200 miles and capable of reaching Alaska.

For decades, North Korea has tried to build nuclear weapons and missiles capable of delivering them, according to U.S. officials. After North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution urging it to stop all ballistic missile-related activities.

North Korea often uses its military threats to obtain concessions. The announcement Tuesday came just as Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso landed in Washington for a summit with President Obama

Day 69

Day 69 Feb 24,2009 Tuesday

Just a normal day of classes. I sent 5 people to detention today for speaking Korean.

North Korea has been in the news a lot lately. I read today that they want to launch a satellite. Other people think that is a cover up for testing a long range missle. I don't know what to think. One of the foreign teachers at our school says he is paranoid because some of his students think it will happen soon. I dont know what to think. The foreign teacher is from Canada and he was saying if something happens he will go to the Canadian embassy and get out. He was telling me to find out where the US Embassy is.

I'm just hoping nothing bad happens. I hope we don't go into a war with North Korea. I know the North and South haven't gotten along for a long time so I don't know what to make of the news.

I watched the Bachelor "Women tell all". A lot of the people who have been on previous seasons are hooking up. Of course they have to put Ryan and Trista on every single show they produce. Their one successful couple. They only Bachelor marriage so far. I can't wait to see the finale. And I want to know what is so dramatic about the "after the rose". I hate waiting to see!

Day 68

Day 68 Feb 23, 2009 Monday

Annyeonghaseyo? Jeoneun Valerie-imnida. Jeo-neun miguk saram-imnida.

That says:"Hi how are you?, I'm Valerie. Im an American".

I downloaded a korean language program on the internet. It has a lot of lessons. I won't be fluent but I'll learn some. At least make an effort. How many people in the USA can actually say "I know Korean". Its not something they offer at every school like Spanish. It will be interesting to have that on my resume "basic Korean".

I was still awake at 4:30am! I finally went to bed and got up at 11am. I made it through the day without being tired!

Today I had to write a new comment for a student. The Korean teacher said he causes a lot of problems in her class so he got kicked out of the academy. I gave him a good comment because he is good in my class. She asked me to write a bad comment because his mom will wonder why he got kicked out if he got a good comment. So I wrote that he causes problems in my class, but he doesn't really. I was shocked when she was telling me that he causes problems because he is good in my class.

I filled out comments for my bad class today. If they were a troublemaker or liked to talk in class I wrote that!

Today my 2nd class was much better. I told them that if they didn't stay in their seat, weren't quiet, called other people names or spoke in korean they were going to detention. I had to send 3 of them to detention for speaking in Korean. THe students are jealous and they get upset with me when I won't send the troublemaker to dentention. When he acts up they say "send him to dentention" and I say "I can't". I can't send him to dentention he has another class to go to after that class. One of the people that I sent to dentention told me "my mom told me not to go to detention". I don't think my students went to dentention. I saw them leaving when they should have been going to detention.

4 more days of classes.

Wednesday I will only have 3 classes instead of 4. My student in my last class said she won't be at school on Wednesday. She is the only person in the class. I'm going to do her Wednesday lesson on Friday and we'll do our regular Friday lesson which is just a review anyway.

I found Oreos at Home Plus! It was a small pack. Not a whole pack but just one roll in a box. A package like that would sell for about 99 cents in a conveinent store in the usa. I got it for 850 won which is about 57 cents. They are good! That's the first time I've seen the regular ones at home plus. I also found some cheese crackers that are really good.

Day 67

Day 67
Sun feb 22

I went to the body exhibit in Nowan. It only costed 10,000 won to get in ($6.65 usd) In the USA Body Worlds costs about 25 dollars. I don’t know if this was body worlds or not. The poster for the event was in Korean. They did have an advertisement poster up in the exhibit about body worlds in Canada. Anyway this exhibit is just like body worlds where they use plastination to preserve dead bodies. They had a lot of stuff on display and a lot of people were there. Most of the writing was in Korean so I couldn’t read what it said. Most of the body parts were in Korean and English so I knew what they were. It was very interesting. They had figures, body parts, fetuses at all stages of development. All sorts of stuff. It’s neat to see what the insides look like. (I seriously want to dissect a cadaver someday. I have to find a way to make it happen.) I tried to take pictures, but someone stopped me. I did get 2 photos though. A photo of a woman and a pregnant woman. I don’t know why it has to be so secret. I just wanted photos to remember my trip. Craziness.

Then I walked around Nowan and took a few photos.

Then I headed to Yeoudio Park. I walked around and took pictures. It’s a nice place. It would be a great place just to take a walk sometime. They have a traditional Korean forest with trees indigenous to Korea. I wanted to take pictures today but its winter and most of the trees don’t have any leaves. I’ll go back in springtime for good pictures. I also loved their clever name for one part of the park. It’s called “Grassy Field”. Great.

Then I headed out to Yiodo Full Gospel church for their young adult English worship service at 6:20. I laughed when I saw the ushers outside kicking a ball around while the service was going on inside. It was in the Education building on the 9th floor. I liked the service. The praise team and leaders are all Korean. I actually recognized one of the praise songs. They sang one of Eddie James’ songs “I am Free”. The pastor preached from John 11:38-40. The Title of the message was “take away that stone.” I’d say there might have been around 30 people in the service. People of all ages, not just young adults. My translator from last week was there. There were 3 other white people there. I met 2 of them. One was from Denmark and the other from Australia. They welcome the newcomers so I stood up and introduced myself. I said “Im Valerie, I teach English in Uijeongbu”. Everyone was surprised that I came such a long way to attend. After the service the pastor of the young adults wanted to meet with the newcomers. There was me and 2 other Koreans and another guy from the church. It was kinda like he was doing a short bible study with us. He was using a chapter out of “The Purpose Driven Life” chapter 2 “you are not an accident”. He wanted to know what that meant to us. I finally got out of there around 9pm.

I wasn’t planning on it lasting that long! I knew I wouldn’t make it back in time to take the bus back to Home Plus. I stopped in Itaewon to eat at McDonalds. I had a big Mac set. It’s not a combo over here. It’s a “Set”. Its only 4,900 so it’s reasonably priced. ($3.30 with today's exchange. The only good thing about a weak won is things cost a lot less when you convert to USD. The bad thing is when its converted to USD you don't have that much!)Then I went to Subway to get a sub to eat later. Then I headed home. I had to take a cab since it was too late to ride the bus. I paid 3200 won(2.16) for the cab ride. I hate how it’s always a different price. Some cab drivers take different routes and it ends up costing more. Yesterday it costed 4100. ($2.76)

I tried my sub later on and it was good. I had a roast beef sub. Their roast beef doesn’t look like ours. Ours is a brownish color and theirs looks more like ham. I was worried that it might taste different. I asked for “honey mustard” but they gave me regular mustard. Guess they don’t have honey mustard. Anyway I liked the sub. It was 4,300 ($2.90 usd) for a 6 inch. Maybe I should start the subway diet. I need to. And I’ll join a gym once I get settled in. I’m already getting plenty of exercise-tons of walking and stairs, but I need some weightlifting to get toned.

*currency conversion is bank rates...what you would get if you exchanged at a bank..rates are for Feb 23,2009 (they flucuate daily!)

Day 66 Interview and Itaewon

Day 66 Feb 21,2009 Saturday

Today I had an interview at Myoung Sung Academy. It's right near the Nokbeon exit on Line 3. My interview was at 2. I always give myself plenty of time to get to places. I got there in an hour and had time to spare. So I went and sat in Dunkin Donuts for a little while. Then I went back to the station and called the person who was suppose to meet me there. The school was just a short walk from the subway station.

When I got there I met the director and another lady named Sunny. The director, sunny, and mr kim (the guy who met me at the subway) were in the interview room with me. They asked me a few questions then Sunny asked me if I would model teach. I was shocked. I wasn't expecting it. I said "I dont have anything prepared". Then she gave me some books and gave me some time to prepare. So I went into a classroom while they listened. I was nervous. I was just pretending like I had students in the room which is kinda weird and I was scared about how they would think I was doing and I was reading from a ciriculum that I wasnt accustomed to. I did an okay job. They really liked my lesson for the lower level students. They said I had a good speed and pronunciation. Then they wanted to see me write on the board. They liked my handwriting.

THen I sat in the room for a little while and then we went to visit another campus and talked for a short time there. The person who picked me up wanted to meet me for dinner in Itaewon at 7pm so I had time to burn. I was finally through with school stuff at 4pm. wow that was a long time! I have to go back next Saturday to sign my contract. I'll probably be moving in next weekend too. I start teaching on March 2nd. I think Im going to like this school better. The classes are only 45 minutes instead of 75. 75 is way too long!! And I've already met 2 of the other 3 foreign teachers.

I'm glad I'll be closer to Seoul now. It won't be so far if i want to go to Itaewon or anywhere else in Seoul. And I'll be able to visit that church more often. I can't believe that in the 9 weeks I've been here I've only been to church once. I'm so used to not ever missing church! but I knew finding a church over here would be a challenge because of the language differences.

I talked to my recruiter. I found out he quit from the agency that I was using. Now I have another recruiter. We'll probably still keep in touch though. He is opening up an office in Itaewon.

I went to Itaewon and had a lot of time to burn. I walked around Hamilton shopping center and then just roamed the streets. I met Mr Kim at 7pm at the subway station. He was going to take me to a korean restaurant but he couldnt rememeber where it was. I suggested the mexican restaurant so we went there. I had a taco salad. It was good. I had a mountain dew while I was there. Something about the taste was a little off. It wasnt as good as I rememeber it to be. Maybe it tastes different over here or maybe it was because I hadnt had it in so long.

After eating we decided to go out to a bar. I suggested the 80's bar but we went up th ere and it was closed. Why would they have their sign up in the hall if they were closed. the sign said "happy hour 5:30-10:30". we went there around 8:30. It was closed. If its closed take down the sign!! So we ended up going to Geckos for a little while. We just talked a lot while we were there which was pretty hard with the loud music. We stayed there till around 10pm.

When I was on the subway home I remembered I was suppose to call my mom at 10pm. oops. I was side tracked. I didn't remember the card number off the top of my head and I didn't bring it with me so i didn't call.I wasnt planning on staying out that late. In fact I was planning on going to the interview then heading to the body exhibit but I had a change in plans.

I'm hoping the body exhibit is open on Sunday. I'm planning on going there tomorrow. If its not open I'll just hangout in Itaewon. Itaewon is my favorite place so far! Its full of foreigners! Then I'm going to Yiodo full gospel church for a young adult english service at 6:20pm. Then I might stop in Itaewon to eat supper at mcdonalds then head home and finish correcting essays.

In a few weeks its time to start exploring Seoul. There are so many things to see!

Day 65

Day 65 Feb 20, 2009 Friday

The snow is all gone. It melted fast.

I can't wait till it gets warm! Its so cold outside!

Today I saw a head on collision as I was walking to school. It was 2 small vans..like a 15 passenger van but smaller. I don't think it did any serious damage. I could see the vans and the fronts weren't smashed in. I know the driver of the one van wasn't hurt. Right after it happened he jumped out and checked on the other person. The guy that jumped out was the one who caused the crash. He was about to turn and the other person was coming straight. Koreans are bad drivers. Im surprised I havent seen more crashes!

Today during my time before class I was busy! I had to write comments for 31 students. I also had to prepare extra material. I also had to grade essays. I didn't get finished with the essays. I'll have to give them back on Monday and let them be due on Wednesday.

My 2nd class wasn't as bad as usual. They still call the troublemaker names but they were doing their work more than previous weeks. I still have to go around the room and make them do their work. One of the boys really likes to say "God Damn". He doesnt even know what it means. I said thats bad and if he said it again I would send him to dentention. He didnt say it again. One of the other boys asked the trouble maker "do you want to go to hell?" and "do you want to die?". These students are mean which causes the trouble maker to yell at them even more. I keep telling them that when they make fun of him they are making him cause more trouble. They won't stop! I told the Korean teacher to call 4 of the boys parents.I wrote down one name to send to dentention for speaking in korean.

Some of the boys were asking me if Knew what Nintendo was. Ha! They weren't even born when I got my first nintendo. I told them I had a nintendo and super nintendo. I told them about the games I like. When I told them I liked Mario Cart they wanted to know what my favorite character was. I said peach. She's the girl.

Im so glad its the weekend. I have an interview tomorrow at 2pm and Im going to see the body exhibit in Nowan. Sunday I'm going to church in Seoul. Probably the 6:20 service this week.

I only have 5 more days of classes.

I've got to start packing!!

North Korea warns of possible war with South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea warned Sunday that South Korea's confrontational policies may trigger a war on the divided peninsula, a message coming two days after the communist country vowed to abandon all peace agreements with its southern neighbor.

Relations between the two Koreas have been strained since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office nearly a year ago in Seoul, pledging to take a harder line on the North. Tension heightened Friday when the North said it was ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace accords with South Korea.

The tension may lead to "an unavoidable military conflict and a war," North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried Sunday by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

"The policy of confrontation" by the South Korean government is "the very source of military conflicts and war" between the Koreas, it said.

The North has accused Lee's government of preparing to stage a war, which South Korea denies. Earlier this month, the North's military declared it adopted an "all-out confrontational posture" to defeat any southern aggression.

In its Friday statement, the North said it would no longer respect a disputed sea border with the South on the west of the peninsula, raising the prospect for a new armed clash in the area — already the scene of bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.

President Lee sought to downplay the statement and called it "not unusual." He indicated his government will wait until the North is ready for talks in good faith.

A South Korean Defense Ministry official said Sunday that the country's navy remains on alert along the western sea border. The official — speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy — said the ministry has not detected any unusual movements of the North Korean military.

The two Koreas technically remain at war because their three-year conflict ended in 1953 with a truce, not a peace treaty. The peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified border, with tens of thousands of troops stationed on both sides.

Day 64

Day 64 Feb 19, 2009 Thursday

bad news: currently the won is weakening..Its plunged 15% this year..Maybe I picked the wrong year to come!that means my money is worth less in USD. I think the whole world is feeling the effects of the bad economy.

I got another phone bill today. It was from KT. Its really weird how they can just get all my information. I didn't sign up for their service, but I got a bill sent to the school. It was for 27,000 won (about $25 usd). When I dial that 1-800 number on the calling card I am being charged for long distance since its an 800 in the USA. I need to find a Korean calling card or sign up with a service that allows international calling. I think I might try one I found online. Its a prepaid card where you can use a Korean access number and its only about 9 cents a minute.

I also got my electric bill. Its only 11,000 which is about $10 usd. I'll probably go pay both bills at the bank on Monday before school if I cant figure out how to use internet banking.

It snowed tonight...just a tiny bit.....first time I've ever seen 4 snows in one winter. We are lucky in SC to get one snow a year if we get that. There isn't any accumulation but still..it snowed. I'm not a big fan of snow. Just doesn't excite me.Its actually snowing at this moment at 3am on Friday while I am writing this.

a cab driver beeped the horn at me and waved today. what's up with that? maybe he recognized me.haha.

We had a meeting with the person in charge of foreigners. If they even speak one word of Korean we can send them to daily bridge. Now is the time to be really strict..send them all to daily bridge! They want to give me a going away party next Friday. I asked the guy in charge when my visa would be cancelled and he didn't really give me an answer. He wanted to know when my start date at the new school would be. I don't know yet. They are under the impression that I don't have to cancel my visa. Just keep the one I have until I get a new one. I hate the communication problems!! When I told them that I was interviewing at Andrew's school the other foreign teacher said that sounded "sketchy".

I sent 8 kids to detention today. All of them didn't go. I think some of them decided they just didn't want to go. I gave all the names to the detention staff and the Korean teacher. I sent one girl for not doing her homework. She constantly doesn't do her homework and I've been nice and didn't send her but today I did. Plus she said some Korean also. I sent one guy because he threw something at another student. All the rest were in detention because they spoke Korean.

I think I'll be strict till the end of the semester-6 more class days. If they act up I'll send them to daily bridge. Too bad that one of the biggest troublemakers cant be sent to detention! I can still get the Korean teacher to call his parents.

I'm shocked at how some of these kids don't have time to be kids. They are in school all day long. A lot of the students go from one academy to the next. One of my students wrote in his essay about how he wishes he had some free time. He's one of those who go from one academy to the next. He hates the English school because its long and boring.

Today in my 2nd class everyone wanted to go to the bathroom. I don't know what to do. One person asks then all of a sudden everyone has to go. I hate that! But what if I don't let them go. They will tell their parents then I will get asked by a foreign teacher "why didn't you let him go to the bathroom?"

I have to give student comments for all my classes. I have a hard time of knowing what to say. Today I filled out comments for 3 of my classes. The classes I've filled out so far are my good classes. I gave them good comments. except this one guy who is always late and likes to sleep. I gave him a bad comment. I'm going to give bad comments to all my troublemakers.

My interview was moved. Now its at 2pm on Saturday.

I think I'll go see the body exhibit after the interview. Maybe I'll stop in Itaewon for lunch after my interview since its only about 30 mins away from the interview site. I might go to mcdonalds.

I think Saturday I'll try to ride all of the subway lines. I know I will start out on #1 then transfer to #3 for my interview. Then I'll transfer to #6 to go eat lunch. Then transfer to #4 to go to the body exhibit. I better put some more money on my Subway card! I think Im down to 4,000 won.

On Sunday I think I might try out the English Young Adult service at Yiodo. or maybe one of the regular services. I haven't made up my mind yet. I wish I could do both but I don't want to be stuck there all day long with nothing to do since the services are 7 hours apart. the 11am service and the 6:20 service.

Day 63

Day 63 9 weeks

Its hard writing this everyday! I wonder if whoever is reading gets tired of reading the same old crap every single day. Same problems everyday.

I got my package today. There’s just one problem-the jeans are too long. My mom got “average” length. She needs to remember that I’m a midget and I need “petite”. Oh well. I’ll roll up the bottoms or go to a tailor. I also got more of the caramel candy with white cream in the middle. I think she’s trying to make me gain weight. I don’t need to do that! I also got some cheddar and sour cream potato chips! Yum!

I hate having to go to school 2 hours early. I sit there for 2 hours in a daze checking every email and website I can think of. Maybe I’ll just start showing up later on my last week. The other foreign teachers are never there at 2pm. They come in around 2:30-3:00pm. I just don’t want someone to start looking for me when I don’t show up at 2pm cause I’m always there at 2pm.

I get so frustrated with these kids! They don’t treat their Korean teachers like that so why do they act up in my class? Do they think its funny to watch me yell at them over and over?

My first class is usually good but today they were really rowdy. I told the Korean teacher about them. They were loud and throwing stuff. The Korean teacher made them apologize after class. After class they were standing outside my door and the troublemakers all said they were sorry. Today was the first time that I had a problem with that class.

My 2nd class is always a problem! I just don’t understand why they are so mean. I don’t think they even care about me. I’m just some mean teacher that they can torture. That’s why I decided not to go into teaching. I once thought about teaching music. I really wanted to be a chorus instructor but I see the way students treat teachers so I never pursued it.

I have an interview on Saturday at 1pm with my friend Andrew’s school. Hopefully I’ll like it there. He likes it so far.

I have 7 more days of classes and I’m done at this school. I need to start packing cause I need to move out next weekend. Wow. I’ve got so much to do. I hate packing! Maybe I’ll just throw everything in the suitcase instead of taking my time packing everything up! And I’ll wait till the last minute.

I finally got to watch The Bachelor. Now it’s down to Melissa and Molly. Next week is the women tell all show. That should be interesting. I can’t wait for the episode where Deanna comes back. I want to see what she has to say. They keep showing him staying on the balcony crying. I want to know what that’s about. Also what’s up with the “intimate” after the rose ceremony? The bachelor is full of drama and they keep showing previews to make you want to watch.

I always laugh at those girls who go on the show. When they get dumped they act like it’s the end of the world. Like he was the last good man on Earth. Crazy. There are plenty of fish in the sea people. (I think my fish didn’t survive.) How can you fall for someone that fast in 6 weeks? It’s just not realistic. Maybe I’ll try out one year. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Definitely. The Bachelor definitely isn’t the place for me. They always make fun of anyone who goes on there who actually has good morals.

day 62 change in plans

Day 62 Feb 17,2009 Tuesday

I was reading an article yesterday and I found out that 4 people died on the Seoul subway on Saturday. Wow. One person jumped in front of the subway then another guy jumped on the track to save him and he got hit by another subway train. both died. Then the other 2 were either accidents or suicide attempts. Now Seoul wants to put up screens at all the stations so people can't jump on to the tracks.

I've been emailing this guy on Myspace. He lives in Scotland.He wants to come to South Korea to meet me. I don't know if he is just saying that or if he really wants to come. Why would someone come from Scotland to South Korea to meet me? If he was serious I told him we could meet in a public place. At least if I'm in public I will have plenty of people around and I might would bring a friend along just to have someone there in case he's crazy. I think its just a bunch of BS. I don't think he will come from Scotland to South Korea. That would be stupid and expensive! Maybe he's rich since he says he is an engineer. I don't know who to believe these days.

My package should be here tomorrow!! Mom sent me some jeans and some American potato chips. yum.

I got my phone bill yesterday. It was 99,000 won. wow.8,000 of that was tax. so I spent around 20,000 or so on downloading. You pay for the songs plus a fee for using the "music on" service. I knew it would be 60,000 but I can't believe it costed so much to download songs/ring tones. I downloaded about 6 songs and one ringtone. I really like my ring tone "Video Killed the Radio Star".

I think I might get out this weekend and go see that body exhibit in Nowan. Its similar to Body Worlds. I've been wanting to go for a while. I've got to go before March 1 because it closes then.

Today while I'm at school I get a text message from Andrew, a former teacher at my school. He says that my recruiter sent my resume to the school. He heard that from someone who works at the school. So I hadn't heard anything about this so I emailed my recruiter. I talked to him on the phone at night. He said that that school with the preschoolers was having financial problems so he wasn't going to send me there. I was getting exited about teaching preschool. I'm glad my recruiter is looking out for me. He sent my resume to Andrew's school and I have an interview on Saturday. At least I'll be reunited with my Carolina buddy. The first American I met in Seoul. Now I'll still be teaching elementary students during nighttime hours. I'll be closer to Seoul. It won't take so long to get to places on the Subway-thats a big plus.

One of the teachers asked me today why one of the pages were blank in the student's Friday activities. A parent wanted to know why we skipped that page. I told the Korean teacher that the students would get too loud if I put them in groups to do group work. I told her they are too loud all the time and I have to beg them to do their work on Friday.

I had to give vocabulary tests again today. I hate that it takes so much time away from my teaching time. I didn't get to the workbook exercises in the first class. They were ready to do the exercises but I told them we didn't have time. I took some pictures at the end of class. One student wouldn't let me take her picture and another student covered her face. oh well. I wanted to have memories but some students wont let me.

One student in my 2nd class didn't bring a pencil to class. I let him use my pen for the test and the activities. During the test he was clicking the pen. Another student took his test and folded it up and started to play with his eraser. I don't know why he had a blade. He was cutting up his eraser with a blade. Then another student tried to cut his eraser with a plastic ruler.

My middle school class wouldn't let me take pictures of them. I told them I was leaving next week and I wanted pictures but oh well.

I can't wait to download The Bachelor. I know Jillian is gone and there are all kinds of messages on the message boards about some shocking ending. And something about a private final rose ceremony. I don't know. I'll have to watch. Hopefully someone uploads it soon! I want to see what Deanna says to him in New Zealand and the fantasy dates.

I'm loving Season 8 of "Scrubs". I've seen every episode so far! I've also started downloaded episodes from the beginning. Tonight I watched Season 1 episodes 1-4

I'm also caught up on "Chuck".

I'm keeping up with most of my shows although I have no tv service and I'm not in America to see them. I have to download the episodes online through a bit torrent site.

day 61

day 61 Feb. 16,2009 Monday

I had to give a vocabulary test in my class which took 25 minutes.That took away from the time that I had to teach. I only finished the lesson in one class. I had to rush in all the other classes.

The students in my 2nd class never listen. I came in the classroom and the first thing I said was "if you have to go to the bathroom go now". And guess what? Still about 4 or 5 people still asked if they could go. One student just got up during class and started to walk out. I said "where are you going?". "To the bathroom". I said "you didn't ask". Then he asks. I'm scared of what might happen if I don't let them go. The parents call the school about every little thing that happens. They might call and say "she wouldn't let them go to the bathroom." This class is horrible. I don't know why they are so loud. I have to keep yelling for them to be quiet and it doesn't help! Today I had to rush through 2 lessons. We didn't even get to their workbook exercises.

I knew I'd have people who forgot their essay. I had at least 4 students who forgot their essay.

5 more mon/wed/friday classes. I need to take my camera soon so I can get pictures to remember them. I took a pic of the girl in my last class. 7 more classes to go! I think I have about 60 students in all.

4 more Tues/Thurs classes

Day 60 largest church in the world

Day 60 February 15th, 2009 Sunday

Ok I skipped day 58..who cares anyway..it was just my gripes about Friday classes. In my first class the guys really love weapons. We talked about going shopping so their short writing assignment was what they would buy if they were shopping. Half of the guys bought knives, dynamite, guns, etc. and last week they talked about killing people. wow. And in my last class with one student we finished early and had a fun game of hangman going on. I reminded all my students to bring in their essays tomorrow. I'm sure someone will forget. I hate that!

It was freezing today!

Back to Day 60. Today I visited the largest church in the world. Yiodo Full Gospel church in Seoul, South Korea. They are in the assembly of God denom. and have over 800,000 members. The sanctuary holds over 10,000 people and it was almost full. They have 7 services every Sunday. I went to the 3pm service.

Directions: Take Line #5 (Purple line) to Yeouinaru station. Take Exit number 1 and walk straight a few minutes. It will be on the left side which is the same side as the subway exit. You can also take exit 2 or 5 and ride bus #33-1, 3, 104, 119, or 326

I like the concept of afternoon services. This church has to have 7 services so they everyone can come. Theres a high demand for a lot of services.

I left my apartment at 11:30 am. I waited at the bus stop for about 20 minutes. Maybe not as many buses run on Sunday. I don't know. I've never waited 20 mins for a bus. So then I took the #1 line and transferred to the #5 line. I arrived at Yeouinaru station around 2pm. I took exit one and walked about 10 minutes. It wasn't hard to find. I sat down and the 1pm service was just getting out at 2:15pm. I watched all the people come out. There are about 20 men dressed in white coats and black pants who stand there in front of the church and bow and say something for a few minutes as the people are coming out of the church.

I went inside around 2:30. I was standing out in the lobby and a Korean man talked to me. He was the principal of an English school. He asked me where I was from and if this was my first time. He said he would be my interpreter for the service. Guess the information I found was wrong. I read that the 3pm service had English translation. All the stuff I've read said they lead you to a foreigners section and you wear a headset. Guess it wasn't true about the 3pm service. Praise and Worship started shortly after we sat down near the front.

Every once and a while the man would tell me the basic idea of what they were singing about in the song. They had 8 people in their praise and worship team and a band that doesn't sit on the stage but on the front row in the congregation.

They had a good choir and it was big. I think there were about 7 rows of people and at least 20 people on each row.
This was a very lively pentecostal church. I like the spirit of worship. I liked watching one of the praise team members. He was really getting into it and jumping up and down and really praising God.

I don't even know what the message was about. The Korean man would translate every once and a while, but I can't remember now. he doesnt use power point like im used to.haha. I enjoyed a Christian rock video he showed even though I have no clue what it was saying.

They had an altar call but no alters and no one comes to the front. And they said a healing prayer. The only reason I know that they had those is because it said "altar call" and "healing prayer" on the screen!

They did praise and worship at the end of the service also. I actually recognized one of the melodies, but I didn't know the words to the song. I enjoyed watching their dancers that were at the front during praise and worship. It was a group of young girls.

They had a dance team visiting from Argentina today. I enjoyed their 2 songs they did during service. One sounded like tango music and they danced to it. The other was that Lifehouse song that I've seen done as a drama many times. I really enjoyed it. THe only English part of the service! (the music was in English).

I think service was over around 4:30pm. I left around 4:45 because the man was telling me how to get back to the subway. I didn't take his directions. I took the way I knew. He also told me about their young adult English worship service. Its at 6:20 every Sunday night. I definatly might try that out soon. I definatly want to go to the Korean service again. I like the atmosphere even though I don't know whats going on.
I got back to the subway and got on line 5 and transferred to line 6. I decided I wanted to go eat supper in Itaewon. I really like Gecko's terrace so I went there. I ordered the cheeseburger and just sat there for a while listening to the English music. They have a great cheeseburger. Its expensive 10,500 won ($7.47) but its good.There were a lot of foreigners there. I just sat alone and no one bothered me.

One thing that bothers me about Korean restaurants is how the waiter brings you your food and then they never check on you again. And I don't think you get free refills. No one offered to refill my empty coke. drinks are expensive. a regular cup of coke was 3,000 won ($2.13) for about 16 oz probably.

On the 3rd floor of the same place as Geckos there is a bar called "Footloose". An 80's bar! I'll have to check that out sometime. If you didn't know it, I love 80's music. I really like The Breakfast club in Charlotte!

Then I went to Mcdonalds to pick up a big mac. I wanted to see if their big mac was as good as it was in America. I didn't eat it right then. I took it home to try later. I tried it later and it was good! It had 3 pieces of meat. I think the ones in America only have 2 pieces of meat. and its cheaper. It was 3,400 won which is $2.42.

random observation: Korean men don't mind holding their woman's pocketbook. I see men over here doing it all the time. It cracked me up today when I saw this man on the subway just holding his wife's purse on his shoulder. Oh and Koreans love to sleep on the subway. Its funny to watch them sleeping. I was watching this one guy and his head kept going over to the side. His head ended up on this other guys shoulder. That guy got up then. haha.

Then I went home.

I watched "Flash of Genius" tonight. Good movie.

Day 59 too much adventure for one day!

Day 59 Feb. 14, 2009 Saturday.

Ok so my days are out of order...day 58 will be posted shortly.

Its Valentine's day and I'm not celebrating. I'm all alone.

My day started at midnight. I arrived in Itaewon close to midnight. My friend, Andrew, invited me out to hangout all night long with him and some other people.

While Im walking out on the street in Itaewon trying to find Geckos some random guy comes up to talk to me. What is it with all these foreign men trying to hit on me?? Am I a foreign man magnet or are they just desperate and will settle? I hate their pushiness also. They don't even know me and they want to hangout and have my phone number. He was like can we be friends and can we hangout? He wanted my number but I wouldnt give it to him. He gave me his number. I'm in control. He can't contact me. I'm not going to call.

We started out at Gecko's Terrace. It was packed! lots of foreigners were there. We stayed there about 10 minutes or so. Then we headed over to Baby Guiness. We met up with my recruiter and andrew's recruiter and her boyfriend and one other English teacher there. We stayed there for a while. I hadn't had supper so I ate chicken tenders which were okay. I also drank a coke. I also had a shot of something. I don't know what it was called! I just sat around and watched people play darts and listen to a conversation on Canada vs. America. There was a canadian girl and a few Americans. We stayed there until the bar closed.

Then we headed over to Bricxx. Its a bar where they serve Hookah. They tried to get me to try the Hookah but I wouldn't. While we were there they got into some deep discussions about religion and other things. There were 4 of us involved. 2 Christians, an athiest and someone who isn't sure what to believe. They were debating all sorts of things like creationism vs evolution. I just listened. While we were there another canadian came up to talk to us. He's been in South Korea for about 3 years. Then he hung out with us for the rest of the night. We stayed at this bar till it closed.

Then we headed out to a place they call "hooker hill" to find more bars to go to. We went to a bar called Grand Ole Opry. A country bar. They tried jello shots. They also got a pictcher of beer. I took one sip. yuck. It was nasty! How do people drink that stuff?

We stayed there for a little while and I met another English teacher who interviewed to teach at Avalon at my school but she stayed with her school. She was really drunk and talked a lot. She was from South Africa.

THen we headed out to a bar called club Friend. I just sat and talked to the other english teacher while the other people played pool. While I was there another foriegn guy from Africa came up to talk to me. He just wouldnt leave me alone even when we were trying to scare him away by telling him we were lesbians..haha. We told him that we were getting married next week. he didnt believe it. He kept asking me if he could buy me a drink and I kept saying no. He just wouldnt take the hint. I wouldnt give him my number and he kept asking can we hangout and I said no. He was telling me "something about you just attracted me to you" and "the more you say no the more Im attracted"...What?? thats crazy. I stayed at the bar till it closed at 7am, by then my friend andrew had left me. He liked the girl he was with so they left together. He left his coat at the bar. The other english teacher knew him so she said she would take it back to him. That guy that came to talk to me just wouldnt leave. He said he wanted to "see me out". I said I want to leave by myself. Then he followed me out. He followed me and the other girl all the way to the subway. creepy guy!!

Then I got on the subway and headed home. I think I arrived at home around 8:30 or so. I went over to central tower to check out the movie showings. The movie I want to see is playing! Im going to see it today. THen I took a bus back to home plus and got home around 9am and went to bed and got up at 4pm. I slept good! I can sleep in the day or the night.

I saw that "He's Just not that into you" was finally playing at THC9. I wanted to go to the 6:10 showing. I had heard that bus 23 goes right to the subway so I decided I'd take it since the stop was right near my apartment. So I rode the bus for an hour before we made it to the subway. We got all the way to the end of the route in yangju and I was the only person on the bus then the route started over. The bus driver was talking to me but I have no clue what he said. He probably wanted to know why that idiot was on his bus so long! Being in a foreign country and not knowing the language always means there will be some sort of adventure to have. I wonder if all the koreans laugh at all the foreigners mistakes. I should have just walked further and gotten on the bus that I always ride which doesn't take that long to get near the subway. I missed the time for the movie. So I decided to go ahead and eat supper at KFC. I got the twister combo. It was good!

Then I went to amusing world and played phoenix darts and went to the PC cafe.

Then I finally got to see the movie at the 8:40 showing. I stood and waited for my number to show up. In this theater you wait for your number. There are 5 counters and one person in line at a time. You only go up when your number shows up on their screen. I showed them what movie I wanted and I got to pick out my seat. Then I got popcorn and a drink. Their popcorn/drink set is a good value. You get this huge drink and huge popcorn for 6,000 won which is less than $6 bucks. and the ticket to get in was only 8,000 won which is less than $8. In America you would pay $10 for the ticket and about $8 for a small drink and popcorn.

The movie was good. I liked it and it had a good cast. So many big stars in one movie. Ben affleck, drew barrymore, jennifer aniston, the guy from entourage, scarlet johanson. The movie just makes me realize how I'll probably never fall in love. I think I'll just have to face that fact. I think I just need a guy to sweep me off my feet so I'll quit thinking that all men are jerks.

I finally got to download this week's episode of "The Bachelor". now its down to 3 people. I can't wait to see next week's episode. Deanna comes back.

Day 57

Day 57 February 12, 2009 Thursday

Classes were okay today.

In my first class a student gave me a piece of candy. I tried it when I got home. It was nasty!

In my 2nd class a student (a girl) gave me some chocolates in a pretty box and an artificial rose. (I also tried the chocolates when I got home. They aren't that good. its the thought that counts).My 2nd class was a lot better today. I guess calling their parents helped. And they got a warning from their Korean teacher. I was glad they were acting better today.

My last class is one of my favorites. There are only 3 students and they are good so I don't mind when they talk about things that are off topic (which is often)! I guess all of my students are taking the psychopath test because everyone is talking about it. My students in my last class were talking about it. One of the students said he likes my class. Probably because I'm not strict and I let them go off on tangents a lot. One of my students was laughing so hard he cried near the end of class when he was talking to the other guy. That was funny. 2 of my students were singing a song. They said "everybody was kung fu fighting. they were fast as lightening"..haha. They wanted to know if I knew any Korean. I only know 3 words. Its funny what I know. I know: Hello, Wanna die?, and really? Those might come in handy.

Only 4 more Tues/Thurs classes before I leave. I need to take my camera to school next week. I'll miss some of my students. I want to know how they progress once I leave. There are other students I won't miss because they cause a ton of trouble!

7 more Mon/Wed/Fri classes.

Day 56

Day 56 February 11, 2009 Wednesday

I've been here 8 weeks! wow. 54 left. @382 days. It sounds so long when you try to count down.

I got a package today from home! It contained a bunch of candy, my transcripts for my new job, random mail, and a lint roller. My mom sent it! I've been eating a lot of the caramel things with the white stuff in the middle. yum!

Today I had to teach 2 lessons in all of my classes. I hate 2 lesson days! there's not enough time!!

In my first class we talked about the modern vs ancient olympics and the 1988 olympics in Seoul.

My 2nd class we talked about Practical jokes. This class was very bad today. The troublemaker made trouble as always which causes the other people to gang up on him. I tell them to quit and stop calling him names but they won't. I've told the korean teacher. They also are loud and don't like to be quiet. I don't think the troublemaker would make some much trouble if they would quit dishing it right back to him. They keep hitting back and forth. Someone hit the troublemaker and made him cry near the end of class. I don't know who it was because he was crying so hard that he couldn't tell me until class was over and the students were gone. He told me the boy in the blue coat. I can't remember who was wearing the blue coat. I told the korean teacher that someone hit him. The troublemaker is gross. He stuck a pencil up his nose and then stuck it in his mouth.After he stuck the pencil in his mouth the other kids said "eat it"...well he did. I gave them a new essay today and even explained what the topic was. I bet there will still be people who write about the wrong thing. I spent so much time trying to get these students to behave and I didn't have time to go to the 2nd lesson. I'll have to do 2 lessons next time.

2 of my students asked me some bad words. One of them said "What is a son of a bitch?". Then another student said "what is god damn?" I'm not even explaining that to kids. I asked them where they heard it and they said from one of their friends. I said "those are very bad words."

In my 3rd class we talked about "Golfing in a storm" and "Lost on the mountain".

In my 4th class I only have one student. We got finished with both lessons. She is a very good student who asks a lot of questions. I have to explain so much but at least she wants to know what the words mean.

I couldn't find the 6th episode of The Bachelor!! Hopefully someone uploads it soon. I already know Naomi went home but I gotta see it! I also downloaded more scrubs episodes!

Day 55 more testing

Day 55 February 10, 2009 Tuesday

I downloaded the first 3 episodes of "Scrubs" and watched them last night. They are hilarious! I can't wait to see the rest of the season! I should get all the scrubs dvds since I didn't start watching it until recently. random fact: Zach Braff is my friend on myspace and he loves Jump, Little Children and Jay Clifford!!

Today I get woken up at 9:30am. There was some Korean guy knocking on my door. I don't know who he was or why he was in our building but I didn't like it! I wasn't getting up till noon. He was talking to me in Korean and I just gave him that blank stare and he left. Then I went back to bed.

I think I need a sign that says "I don't speak Korean. Don't knock on door before noon."

I was testing for most of the day.

The essays are terrible. I didn't give anyone a good grade.

Dictation was okay. No one got a perfect score.

I gave a lot of speaking tests. They come into a room and I ask them questions from 2 pre selected units and they have to answer in complete sentences. Some of them did a great job but others didn't do so well. Some of them didn't know most of the answers.

I also taught middle school. We talked about going on trips. I found out what grade they are in. The girl told me she is graduating elementary school-6th grade-on Thursday. My other student is in the 3rd grade of middle school. Elementary is up to 6th grade, there are 3 grades of middle school and 3 grades of high school. They don't use the 7th, 8th, etc.

The foreign teacher that left my school invited me to hangout with a group on Friday night. I don't know what we will be doing but we are going to hangout all night long until the subways start running in the morn (about 6am). Should be interesting. I don't know how big the group is. I know he invited the other foreign teacher here but he doesn't like the idea. Maybe some teachers from his school are coming. We are going to meet in Itaewon.

I downloaded the latest episode of True Beauty. That show is a trip. Billy cracked me up with his "Murse"(man purse) and he actually calls it that! I'm glad Chelsea went home. I didn't like her from the beginning. I think my favorite is Joel.

day 54 final testing and boredom

day 54 February 9, 2009 Monday

Today the students were taking their final tests. I don't know why we are giving them a final exam 3 weeks before the semester is over. It would make more sense to test them on all they have learned on the last week of school. Its just one of the many things I don't understand over here.

I had to start off in one room with a dictation test. I'd say a short sentence 3 times and they had to write down what I said.

Then they took a listening part of the test with their Korean teacher. Then I had to give them a speaking test. I'd ask them a series of questions from 2 lessons in their book and they would have to answer correctly. I was grading them on how well they gave their answer. I got done with all my students then the teacher's assistant comes downstairs to the teacher lounge to tell me that I had to do another speaking test. One of my students was late. He's late a lot. Even on the day of the final test.

All of my students in the first class did an okay job. They had grammar mistakes but other than that it was pretty good. I gave them all decent scores. Except for one kid. He only spoke one time. He didn't know the answers so I gave him a very low score. I don't even know why he had to take the test. He's only been in my class 3 times.

A lot of them made mistakes on their dictation. Lots of spelling mistakes, no punctuation and they missed some words.

between classes I was so bored. I didn't have anything to do. My speaking tests didn't take long so I had a lot of time between classes. I just sat around and played on the internet. looked at sites and played soduku.

Then I gave 5 more speaking tests. They all did a good job.

Then I had 2 hours to just sit around and do nothing. I was done by 8:00 and we have to stay till 10pm. I surfed the web, downloaded some tv shows/music/superbowl commercials and graded dictation papers. Then right before it was time to leave they gave me the essay papers I had to grade for 4 of my students. These students do not know how to write essays. They were writing about ghosts. I don't know how to grade essays so I just guessed on what to give them as a grade. The scores ranged from a 22 to 24 out of a possible 36 points.

Tomorrow I have to do this all over again. I have to give a speaking test to about 25 of my students and I have to teach a middle school class.

day 53

Day 53 February 8th, 2009 Sunday

Well nothing to report for today. Just another boring day. I have really got to get out and go to church. i just think finding one is going to be the challenge.

I wanted to go see "He's Just Not That Into You" but it wasn't playing at our theater. Why? Why would you show a preview for the movie and have the advertisement poster if you aren't going to play the movie? its crazy. Maybe its coming later and not when it was suppose to open (this weekend!)

I'm going to sound like a real jerk when I say this but I'm tired of all these foreigners (From India, Bangladesh, etc.) who can speak English who just come up to me and start talking. I don't mind meeting new people but I can't ever understand what they are saying. Today when I was at the subway station this man starts talking to me while I'm going down the stairs. The only thing I understood was "I'm from Bangladesh". Then he kept on talking and I couldn't understand a word he said because of his thick foreign accent. I got him to repeat it a million times. I finally just ended up walking away. sorry but there's no use in a unproductive conversation.

So why do they all gravitate towards me??

day 52 korean wedding and subway adventures

Day 52 February 7 2009 Saturday

I took the bus to the subway. I actually got off at the right place!!

I met my friend Michelle at the subway at 11am. She also invited 2 other people...Tim(21) and Jonathan(34) who are in the Army in Uijeongbu. They are both from the states and have been here for over a year. They both found korean girlfriends over here. Jonathan was on his phone texting his girlfriend all day long. she keeps in touch with him (a little too much!).

when I was at the subway I went in the bathroom. I found out they have squat potties at the subway. I'll never use the restroom there. Its just a hole in the ground and you squat over it.

It took us 2 hours by subway to get to Ansan. We got on the dark blue line for a few minutes then transferred to the light blue line. We had 36 stops on the light blue line before making it to our destination.

We arrived in Ansan sometime after 1pm and we went to eat at a Korean seafood restaurant. It was a place where you order a big dish and share it with everyone. It was a bunch of little fish pieces and a lot of side dishes. I like the egg dish. The sweet potato I tasted was really hard. I liked the Korean pizza. The seafood was okay. a little spicy but not too much. one of the guys ended up paying for the meal. We stayed in there for a long time because we were watching figure skating on tv. they were really into that figure skating, even the guys! All the guys mostly talked about was "i'd date her, she's really flexible."

Then we took a short cab ride to Hanyang University for the wedding.Michelle knew the groom from the gym and he invited her. It was in a room like a ballroom and everyone sat at tables. We were actually late. The bride was walking down the aisle when we got there. I loved the bride's veil. it was pretty. It was a very long veil that was longer than her train and it had sparkley things on it. She also wore a nice wedding gown. it was fitted at the topped with rouching and flared out a tiny bit at the bottom but not as much as a ballroom gown. She kept having trouble with the veil getting caught. It got caught on the ground when she was walking down the aisle before and after she got married. The groom was Korean but the bride was from Taiwan. She doesnt speak Korean so sometimes he had to translate for her. maybe they both speak english. I know the bride does.

There were a lot of differences in the wedding. I didn't hear them say any vows, there was no exchanging of rings, the whole wedding ceremony only lasted like 15 minutes, no stopping for music just went straight through, no bridesmaids, and they don't stand when the bride walks in. They took the cutting the cake photo and the champagne glass photo during the ceremony. Then the groom stood in front and raised his hands and said something in Korean. then he picked up the girl and squatted down and got up. then he said something in Korean. he did that 3 times. then they asked them to touch their favorite part of the other person. he touched her nose and she touched his eyes. at first she didn't understand it and he had to translate. they also kissed each other on the forehead then later kissed on the lips. they also bowed to each set of parents. Then they walked down the aisle with the song you play when you leave. then they turned around and had their photo time. I was actually in a couple of their wedding photos. haha. one day they will look back and try to figure out who the only white person was and say "where did she come from?!" Michelle was in the picture and she wanted me to be in it to. It was me, Michelle, the bride and groom and a lot of the other guests.

Then I went into a little room where they were having a traditional ceremony. they were wearing the traditional Korean clothes. I didn't stay for the whole ceremony. Michelle said they just do a lot of bowing to people in the family.

while we were there one of the guys was telling us what the color scheme of his wedding will be. He wants green, black, and a dark red. He wants his bride to wear a black dress thats short in the front and long in the back. He things black is sexy. I've never heard a man talk about color schemes of his wedding. Usually they don't care.

We didn't stay for the reception. Michelle said you had to pay for it and it was expensive.

We took an university bus back to the subway. there is a bus that takes university students to the subway so we took it. We had to take a ton of stairs to get up to the subway!! Then we took a 2 hour subway ride back to Uijeongbu. The subway was packed every time we got on. all the seats were full and people were standing in the aisle. Its weird how people just stand in front of you on the subway. you're sitting down and you have someone standing in front of you facing you. its funny to watch everyone sleeping. a lot of people sleep sitting up on the subway. Some weird man kept bothering me on the subway. he was going around trying to get tips from people. He'd hold out his hat and point to my pocketbook. I didn't have any cash. I shook my head no. He would leave then come back later-he came by about 4 times. One time he was doing a little dance hoping I would give him money. He was this older man with something wrong with his eye and missing a lot of teeth. scary. I've also noticed that a lot of blind people get on the subway looking for money. they walk through the aisle with their stick and they are holding a box out. at the subway in uijeongbu there was a man who was laying down in the middle of the stairs acting like he was praying or something. People would put money in his hat and he would open his eyes and grab the dollar bills then go back doing whatever he was doing. So many beggars around here. its weird.

I went to KFC at central tower. I ordered a twister but they gave me a chicken sandwich instead. The twister was #7 so I held up 7 fingers. then the girl said "number 7". oh well. the sandwich was good. Its odd how everyone does their to go orders..they put your drink in a bag.

Then I rode the bus home. At the bus stop I saw one of my middle school students. She waved and me and I said Hi. I didn't go to our house warming party. I didn't get home till 7:30 and I was tired. I took a series of naps. 30 mins, 20 mins and 20 minutes.

Day 51

Day 51 February 6th, 2009 Friday

Today was a pretty good day.

Today was our special Friday classes.

In my first class we talked about "I had a fight". We go over exercises in a book. They always work ahead. One boy came in late and then he was sleeping in class. I told the boy beside him to wake him up. So they had to write about a fight they had. A lot of them liked to talk about killing. 2 of them said they had a fight with their mom and they killed her.(not in real life). Another one said he had a fight with his friend and he killed him. I couldn't get some of them to read their stories out loud. One of them was begging for a puzzle but I wouldn't give them a puzzle until they completed their work. 2 of them gave me back the puzzle and said they didn't want to finish it. Some of the others just circled random letters and said they were done. One of them wanted me to spell psycho on the board. Then they wanted me to spell psychopath. don't know why. they wrote the words in their workbook. One of them wrote the words on his desk.

In my 2nd class we talked about a popularity vote. I had another new student today. I don't understand why people sign up 3 weeks before the semester is over.I get fed up with this class. All they want to do is talk. I'm up there giving the lesson and they are just talking like there isn't a class going on. I tell them to be quiet constantly. The normal troublemaker wasn't the person making problems today. He was actually good. He wanted to answer every question. I let him answer a lot of questions since half of the class wasn't paying attention anyway. I hate how they don't pay attention then when I go around to see if they are doing their work they arent and I tell them to do it and they say they don't know how. I have to keep going around the room to make sure they are doing their work. 3 of my students changed their names this week. WHY? Where do these kids find these names? some of them are weird. A lot of them are normal like bill, Brian, Arnold, Bradley, harry. Then I have others who want to be called Shollect and Hastia. I've never heard those names before. I told the troublemaker "Thank you for being good in my class today". I only gave a word search to those people who finished their work. I'm not going to give a fun activity to those who sit around and talk all class long.

Everyone in my class wanted to go to the bathroom. not everyone but about 4 or 5. I only let them go one at a time and I told them they need to go during their 5 min break. They sit in the room during their break then they ask me in class if they can go to the bathroom.

In the 3rd class we talked about "Mamma Mia: the movie", The Silk Road, and Ms Korea's Harvard story. We worked out of a student newspaper.

4th class was good. I only have one student. we went over the whole lesson, she did all her work and asked questions then I gave her a word search. We also just talked during that time about various things.

Monday we have to give final exams. Im confused. I only know what im suppose to do in my 1st class. I give them a dictation test. I say a sentence 3 times and they have to write it down. Then I have to give them a speaking test one by one in another room. I don't know what im doing for the other classes. I'll find out on monday.

Tonight I tried out a new pizza place. It was called Cho Sun Pizza. A regular size with 6 small pieces was 8,000 won. I got combination. I liked the corn salad that came with the pizza. Its kinda like macaroni salad only with vegetables and corn. interesting. The pizza was pretty good. I find it interesting how they put corn on pizza over here. I'd never seen that on combination pizza before. It also have onions, olives, and either ham or Canadian bacon.

Tomorrow I'm going to a Korean wedding. My friend Michelle invited me. that should be interesting to see the differences. Its a 2 hour ride on the subway to get there. we are leaving at 11am. The ceremony starts at 3pm. She said we'll stay there about an hour then leave. Maybe I'll be back in time for the housewarming party.

Day 50

Day 50 February 6th 2009 Thursday

Wow its been 7 weeks!

My recruiter called me today. I guess that means I got the job. I never had an interview but he said everything was ready for the new school. he just needs some forms from me. He will send me a list of things he needs from me.

We had a meeting with the person in charge of foreigners today. We are having a housewarming party on Saturday at 6pm. I'll be late to it because I already had plans. yeah we find out about the party 2 days before. they are going to hold it in our apartment building.

We've gotten 2 checks and so far they haven't taken out any deductions-no taxes, medical, pension. We asked the guy about it and he's suppose to find out for us. We don't want to have to end up paying it later. We also asked about a payroll stub. They don't keep records over here. wow. i need records for when I have to file back home. he's checking on that for us too.

We moved our desks around today. I moved over one. The elementary teachers wanted to be together so now they are all sitting beside each other.

1st and 2nd class we talked about Korean dance. 1st class was good.The 2nd class is always rowdy. they just wont be quiet. calling their parents doesn't help them to be quiet.I don't know what their problem is. In my 2nd class I don't know why a Monday/Wed student came to my Tues/Thurs class. He just learned the same lesson twice.

I got a break from 6:50 till 8:05.

My 4th class is good. 2 boys and 1 girl. they are all good and well behaved and always do their work. Today we talked about a food festival.

For the past few meals I have been eating the same thing and Im getting tired of it. Rice and fried cheese franks. I miss having an oven! I miss totinos pizza, corn dogs, and chicken patties! I don't know how to cook anything. I don't even know what half the stuff is at the store because its in korean! I miss being able to eat bread. I've tried their bread and it tastes funny.

Day 49

Day 49 February 4 2009 Wednesday

It was warm when I was walking to school today. I had to take off my coat! I'm liking the warmer weather. I can't wait for spring!

Today Im not eating out. i've got to save money so Im going to be eating all my meals at home for the rest of the week. I eat the same thing for every meal when I eat at home. Rice and hotdogs. I fry the hotdogs and cut them up and put them in the rice.

I went to school at 2pm. During my time that I have before class I set up all my bills on online billpay with wachovia. My wire transfer should clear in a few days. I've already allotted $744 of it to go to bills for February and March.

First class was good. Today we talked about Korean Dance. I knew the lesson would be too short so I brought a word search.

My second class was horrible!! Today we talked about Narcissus. I can't ever get all the students to bring their essays when they are due. 4 people didnt bring them in today. The troublemaker from my other class that moved to this class still causes trouble. I spend tons of time yelling at him. He will not listen. He was being very bad so I gave him daily bridge. When I gave him daily bridge the whole class clapped. They liked that I gave him daily bridge(detention). He is so mean. He was calling one of the students all kinds of names. The student that he was calling names told me that the troublemaker had an IQ of one. They really don't like him. Some of the students asked "can we hit him?". I said no. Im not letting them hit him although he needs it! One of the students said "I want to give him a roundhouse kick" and another student said "I'll give him the uppercut". Haha. At least they are using what they learned! They remembered those things from the class about kickboxing. Now this class is my worst class. I spend so much time trying to get this student to stop misbehaving. Then when he wont listen the whole class gets loud. Today it got so bad that I went to the next class and got a korean teacher to come over to the room to talk to them. She said a lot of stuff to them in Korean. After the teacher came over the students said "thank you". Before I got the korean teacher I was going to take him out of the room to the principal's office but he wouldnt get up. Then I went over to get the korean teacher. I wish he didn't have to be in my class, but he has to be in my class. There are 2 classes in his level and I teach both of them on Monday/Wed/Friday.

After classes were over his korean teacher asked did I give that student daily bridge. She wanted to know why. I told her all the reasons-he won't listen, speaks loudly, disrupts class, and called other students names. She said his mom called and asked why he had daily bridge. Then the teacher told me that I cant give him daily bridge (detention) because he has to go to another private school after that class. Wow..some of these students are in school all day long. They go to regular elementary school then they go to English school then to another school. So no matter how bad he is I cant give him detention. That is so wrong!! The teacher told me to tell her when he is bad and she will punish him next class. That doesnt help me much because I still have to put up with him during class.

My 3rd class is good. They are so quiet, but they do participate. I had a new student today. He moved from another class. He used to be in the 4:10 class now he is in my 6:50 class. Today we talked about a food festival. The lesson was short so I gave them a word search near the end of class.

My 4th clas has one student. Today we talked about Narcissus. The lesson is way too short with only one student. We repeated everything twice and took time to answer questions about vocabulary and we still had a lot of time left over. The last 30 mins of class I gave her a word search and she also talked about various things. She was telling me about her guinia pig. My student that was in this class moved to a class on Tues/Thursday.

Day 48

Day 48 Febuary 3 2009 Tuesday

I went to the bank today and finished my wire transfer. It was successful. I just checked my wachovia account and its currently processing! After wachovia takes their cut I will have $988 left. All of that is going to my bills for Feb and March plus bills I owe from December and January that my mom and sister paid. I should be able to start sending out payments in about 5 days. 1,419,987won equaled out to $1,000 usd plus a 20,000 won fee to wire the money from my Korean bank (Woori).

Today's exchange rate was 1399 won=1 usd. I finally have it figured out. the lower the won the more money a dollar is worth. I always thought the won needed to be high but it needs to be low. So I want the won to go down instead of up!

I got my gas bill today. It was 51,000 won for January. I paid it while I was at the bank.

My first class was good. One of my students told me that her birthday will be on sunday and that she is leaving the second class early because her brother's birthday is today. Today we talked about an animal band and B-boys. I had to teach 2 lessons today and we didn't get finished with both. there just isn't enough time for 2. All the students in the class are well behaved. They ask tons of questions when we are doing the workbook. I'm running around the room to help everyone. They are all calling out "teacher". I help one then I go help another one. I have one student who doesnt like doing her homework. I told her that if she misses it again I will give her detention.

My 2nd class is always rowdy. Today was no exception. I have 4 girls and one boy. The major troublemakers are 8 of the boys and 1 of the girls. I kept telling them to be quiet. They just don't listen. I wrote down 9 of their names and asked the korean teacher to call their parents. I didnt write down one of the boys names. He never causes a problem. And there are 3 girls who are good. We had to go over 2 lessons and I didnt get through with both of them. I hate how about 10 minutes before class is over the students say "bye bye". I tell them "we still have 10 minutes left!".

My 3rd class is middle school. I only have 2 students and they are very good. Today we learned about birthdays. We went over the material in the book which is way too short. Then I gave them an activity to do where they fill in the blanks with vocabulary words. Then I gave them a word search with vocabulary on it.

My 4th class is good also. There are only 3 students in the class. We actually finished all the material in this class. We were talking about the first day of school. One of the students described his Korean teacher as 'inexorable' (he looked it up in his dictionary). The girl in the class said I was her favorite teacher. The girl is in 4th grade and the 2 boys are in 6th grade. The boys were telling me they were in 5th grad in 2008 and 6th grade in 2009. One boy said he wanted to study math but his mom wanted him to study English. The girl said studying English was fun.

I found out that I owe the school 40,000 won for a housing deposit for something that we don't get a bill for. probably water. 20,000 a month. I asked the foreign teacher why they just didn't take it out of our check and he said they wanted to tell us about it first. I wouldn't care if they had just taken it out of my check. Also we don't get a stub to show what we make. I don't even know if they took out taxes or medical or pension. we don't have a payroll stub. The other foreign teacher is going to tell the teacher in charge of foreigners that we want a record of what we make.

I talked to a Korean guy on the phone tonight. We met on myspace. We emailed back and forth for a while before he suggested that we meet. I decided I would since he took the reasonable route of contacting me. Emailing a while before asking to meet. He is 24 so that means he could be really as young as 22. He actually speaks good English-said he started studying English when he was 9. He wanted to meet someone to help him with English. And I need someone to help me adjust to Korean life. He's never been in Uijeongbu before so he is going to meet me at the subway station on Sunday afternoon. He lives in Seoul.

Day 47 back to nights

Day 47 Feb 2, 2009 Monday

Today we are back on nights again. I work from 2pm till 10pm. I actually teach from 4:10pm till 9:25pm.

So this morning I went to bed at 2am and got up at 10am. I got my materials together for class and got ready then headed out at 1pm to go to the bank.

I had to go to the bank to set up a wire transfer to my bank account. Well I went in and got my number. You go in and get a number then wait for your number to be called. I waited forever and finally my number was on the screen. My number was 101. When I got there they were on number 90 and there were only 4 tellers avaliable. I got a person who didn't speak English so the woman who spoke English came by to ask what I needed. I told them I needed to send money to the USA and she showed me where to go. So I didnt need to wait in the long line. Well now I know. The man who is in charge of the wire transfers speaks English. I filled out all the forms and then found out I couldnt do it without my passport. So Im going back tomorrow to take my passport and the form I filled out. I dont carry my passport around anymore since I got my alien registration card. I asked the man if i would be able to set it up online and he said yes. So from now on I can send money home over the internet using online banking. I wanted to go the bank for the first time to set it up. I wanted to send 1,400,000 won which equaled out to 995 usd with the 1406 exchange rate. 1406 won=1usd. I think I will add a little to make it 1,000 even.

Well I was in the bank for an hour which made me late to school. but it doesnt really matter. no one cares that I was late. I ended up getting there 20 mins late. no one is checking to make sure we are there at 2pm on the dot.

When I got there I went into a room and I ate my lunch that I picked up from burger king and corrected my essays. I had one essay that was so bad I didnt even know how to correct it. It wasnt in sentences. It was tons of run on sentences with no punctuation. I can't rewrite the essay for them so I don't know what I should have done. I didnt know where one sentence ended or the next began. it was bad.

My first class was good. Today in class we learned about B-boys and breakdancing. We had a part in the workbook where you draw someone doing breakdancin moves. Some of my students are so silly. One of them drew a baby santa claus that was dancing (santa claus wearing a diaper). I had a new student in this class and he doesn't have an English name. He doesnt want an English name. All the students wanted to make him a name but he didnt want one. I dont know if he knows how to write his name or maybe he doesn't understand me. I asked him to write his name on his quiz but he never did so I looked on the roll and got his korean name and wrote it on his quiz. One of my students in my first class was crying for a while in class. I don't know why. I went over and asked him if he was okay but he didn't answer. Some of his friends tried to see what was wrong but he never answered them. He just sat there and cried.

My second class was rowdy. We talked about dafodils in this class.My problem child from the last class moved to the 2nd class. He was causing problems for some of the class. He lost his eraser so all during class he kept getting up and looking for his eraser. I kept telling him to sit in his seat but he said the eraser was very important. I think the other kids were getting annoyed. They kept saying something in Korean. I also had to keep yelling at the class to be quiet. They like to talk in between activities. I also had a new student in this class. so 2 new students in all in this class--one that moved from another class and a new student.

My 3rd class was good. All 3 students are very quiet and well behaved. We talked about school in this class. They learned how to use comparative nouns. We were talking about their schools. Who goes to the biggest school? Which class size is the largest or smallest, etc.

My 4th class has one student again. I dont know what happened to the little boy that was in this class. I heard he was moving to my 2nd class but he wasnt on the roll and he wasnt in this class. So this class is my best class. The girl in my last class is very well behaved and asks a lot of questions. I explained a lot of things to her today. We learned about dafodils in this class also. I think its good for her to get one on one attention. I feel she really wants to learn. Those boys were just causing tons of interruptions.

It was a lot warmer today. I was so happy for warmer weather! I didnt need my scarf or gloves. The high for today was +8 Celcius which is 46 F. at 11:40pm its +5 celcius which is 41 F.

Its suppose to get up to +10 a few times this week! Thats 50 degrees F!

Day 46

Day 46 Febuary 1st, 2009 Sunday

Random fact: over here I am 29 years old. I aged 2 years since I've been here. In Korea, you are one when you are born so that automatically made me 28 when I got here. You turn another year older on the new year instead of your birthday so I aged another year so Im 29. I'll be 30 in January of 2010. When I return home In March of 2010 I will be 28.

its a practice referred to as East Asian age reckoning.


So my students would be a lot younger if they were in the united states.

Just another boring day.

I really need to be out going to church. I just think its going to be difficult to accomplish.

Today I went to bed at 3am and woke up around 1pm.

I watched another movie. "The Secret Lives of Bees". It was a pretty good movie.

I ate at Wips. I really like their cutlets. I like the rice and the stuff that is sorta like macaroni salad.

well thats about it.

Im so glad I get to sleep in tomorrow! I may go to bed around 1am and get up around 10am. Then I can plan my classes and correct essays. I also have to go to the bank to set up an international transfer. Then I have to be at school at 2pm.

I teach classes tomorrow from 4:10-9:30.