Day 134

April 30 Thursday

Today was busy!!

I had to help the teachers put together bags of goodies for the students today. There was choco pies, a drink, chocolate, cookie and they put a note in it. It was to celebrate Children's Day which is Tuesday May 5th. No one even told me that we wouldn't be having class on Tuesday. I was going to make my essays due on that day but all the students say that we don't have class on that day.

In my first class one of the students doesn't like my writing on the board. She told me I need to fix it. Its not bad. Its a little crooked, but she wants it to be perfect. crazy! Its neat and you can read it. This girl is crazy. She is the same person who argued with me that the book was wrong and that i shouldn't put too much faith in the book. Other students were trying to show her that the book was right but she was determined to make a case about how it was wrong. The book was right!!

In my 2nd class we reviewed and then I let them play games. We played a game where you have to start a word with the last letter of the last word that was said and you can't repeat words that someone else said. Dog-Green-nose-egg, etc. One of the students gave me some sort of ice cream before class. Other students in the class always give me chips and other stuff before class.

In my 3rd class we went over a few pages and I gave them a word search. They said the word search was too hard. When I left class one of the Korean teachers asked me if I could stay with that class longer. They were giving a test in the other classes and they needed more time. So I stayed with my 3rd class and I just let them play hangman the whole time. I wasn't going to get too far ahead in the book. Then I wouldn't have anything to teach later.

I finally got to go to my 4th class at 8:10. I only had 15 minutes left to teach. I didn't actually teach them anything. I gave them their weekly test and corrected it and then class was over. When I was leaving they said "class is over". I said "I have to teach another class".

Then we only went over 2 pages in my 5th class. We are finished with that writing book. They will start a new book next week. They have to buy a new book and we may only go through 3-4 units in the month of May. This class was being silly as always. They were writing about school. During the time that they were writing they were constantly asking me questions. They wanted to know the price of coke in America. It's more expensive in America. I just had to guess what it would be. I can't do all that complicated math in my head. They were asking me if I had heard of all sorts of movies--some I had and some I hadn't.

The exchange rate went down today! I hope its still down when I need to transfer money on May 12th! $1 USD = 1277 won. Since I've been here its flucuated between 1262all the way to 1500.

A global outbreak of Swine flu is imminent. WHO raised the pandemic level to level 5. Level 6 is the highest.

On a Saturday Night--Son Dam Bi--KOREAN POP MUSIC

You'd never guess that this song is about a breakup...its so upbeat and she looks so happy...

Sorry Sorry--Super Junior-----KOREAN POP MUSIC

all the kids are singing this song...I like it! Super Junior is a 13 member boy band. i've never seen a boy band that large!

Sample Essay from one of my classes

Topic: What do you want to be in the future? Describe your dream job.

I want future is astronaut astronaut is out the would a look at Koren, Japan, USA, and everything. I'm dream job is astronaut. astronaut must is very try but very fun I'm think It's very great I'm would do every day a go to school from monday to saturday. Sunday is go to church but I'm would do every day is eat.


There are a lot of punctuation errors-lack of punctuation. There are also places where sentences need to start with a capital letter. There are sentences that I don't understand. This is the hardest essay to correct!

Day 133

April 29 Wednesday

For lunch I went out with 2 korean teachers. We went to a restaurant across the street called Chosun. There was only one thing on the menu that wasn't spicy. It was some sort of beef in soup. It was pretty good.

My computer is making a very loud noise. Sounds like the moter is really loud. Its probably because it is old. I need a new computer. I really want a mini laptop but they are expensive over here and shipping one from America is expensive too.

one of my students missed last Thursday so she wanted to know if I would review the material with her today. I went over what we learned when she was absent.

There is one of my students in my lowest class that is always saying something that I told him. He's 10 years old. One of my youngest students and he's so adorable. His name is Harry and one day in class I told him "Harry, turn around" because he was talking to someone during class. Now for the past week he's been saying "harry turn around" all the time. He uses it with other people's names. There is a student called Sonic in that class and today he was saying "sonic, turn around." haha.

Today I graded all my essays. Some of them are pretty bad. There are some places in a few essays where I had no clue what they were saying so I just circled it and said "I dont understand what you are saying". It didn't even make sense. I only had one that was off topic.

I only have 2 classes today.

In my 2nd class we were going to start class. I told them what page to open their book. One of the guys said "I don't have" but he didnt say what he didnt have. I thought he might not have his book. I said "you dont have your book?" Then he got out his book and said "I don't have a brain." Silly boy.

Day 132

April 28 Tuesday

I got a package today! A lot of goodies from home! I have jelly, tuna, tang, country time lemonade mix, tights. I took my tang to school and I've already drank a small water bottle full..(about 16 oz).

I had to go to Nokbeon today to meet with mk. He said he is going to talk to the managers at the officetel. I'm suppose to get 5,000 won back. He said my gas bill was wrong. He wanted the receipt.I only had the paper receipt from the bank. I didn't have the actual bill because they took it at the bank and didn't return it to me so i had to go to the bank. He got a copy of the bills that I paid. Why does he need a receipt for all my bills? So while we were at the bank he was asking me if I wanted to teach the bank teller English on the weekends. I don't know. I don't want all of my weekends taken from me. The teller wants to go to dinner with me on Sunday. Mk gave her his number so they can set up a time. He always makes plans then asks me "is that okay?". I didn't want to tell her no. I just wish mk didn't have to go out with us. Mk was asking me what I was doing this weekend. I told him I didn't know yet. He said "lets have dinner togethers". I didn't give him an answer. I don't really want to go out to dinner with him, but now we have plans with the bank teller so I will be. While I was at the bank he was going to pay a bill for another teacher. He was trying to pay it at the ATM. He's suppose to be showing me what to do, but he doesn't even know what he's doing. Then one of the tellers pointed him to the right machine.

When I went in my first class there wasn't anyone in the class. There was one bookbag on the desk. Then slowly most of them came in. The last student showed up at 4:20. They just walk in and take their time like its no big deal. 3 students were absent. They called one of the students to ask her where she was. She didnt come today because she is studying for midterms. 3 of my students didn't turn in their essays. Some of the essays were really short. one of them was completly off topic. The topic was "what you want to be when you grow up". One essay said "I want to be a doctor because I get many pay." That's the whole essay-one sentence. One of my students in the class wanted to give me a Korean name. My Korean name is Kim Suo Jung.

In my 2nd class 2 people didn't turn in their essay. That class is good so I gave them an extra day. One girl wasn't there when I assigned the essay so I gave her the assignment. I'm going to be ahead in this class so I'm going to think of some extra fun things to do. I just let them play games. They like me because I let them play games. We are almost finished with unit 8. I've been going slow in that class. We only have 1 unit left in the book. i have 4 weeks left to cover 1 unit. Why did I have to start at unit 3? Today we finished early so I let them play a game. they played hangman.

In my 3rd class 2 of the students didn't bring their essay. We reviewed the lesson then I let them play hangman using vocabulary words from the unit.

In my 4th class only 1 person brought their essay. During class the boys were being silly as always. Near the end of class I don't know what happened. I was looking at my book and all of a sudden I see one of the student's glasses fall on the floor. Then I looked at him and he was crying. the student beside him said he was angry. Maybe the student behind him did something to make him angry. The student behind him thought it was funny. I asked him if he was okay and he said he was.

In my last class 3 people didn't bring their essays. So Thursday will be the last day anyone can turn in their essays. This seriously messed up my whole schedule I made on when I would assign the final draft.

I only have 2 classes tomorrow so I'm going to use that time to correct all of my essays.

This Swine flu is getting out of hand!! Now its reached Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region. Its spread to six countries. Quit spreading it!! Don't bring it to South Korea!!

Day 131

April 27 Monday

I'm in the subway station before school and mk calls me. "Did you get a bill?" I asked him "What kind of bill am I looking for?" He says "Water, internet, gas". I told him that I had already paid my gas bill. Then he is shocked. He says "really?" Like I'm so stupid that I couldn't have paid a bill all by myself. I still told him that I hadn't received a bill for the internet yet. He said when I get a bill I should bring it to the school. Why? Then he proceeds to tell me "Check your mail everyday for a bill." I have told him numerous times that I check my mailbox everyday. It was empty today. I'm not a child! I know how to check my mail and pay my bills!!

We had a small thunderstorm today. The thunder only lasted about 10 minutes. The students heard thunder and they ran to the window to see the rain. Then they all commented on how they didn't bring their umbrella today.

One of my students from the 2nd level moved to the 3rd level and now she is back in the 2nd level. Why does she keep moving back and forth?

I still have the same problem with essays. In my first class 4 people didn't bring their essay. 2 people gave it to me on Friday. In my 2nd class all 3 didn't bring it. When I asked for it one of the students said "I wasn't here on Friday." I know he wasn't there on Friday, but he was there when I gave him the essay on Monday and told him when it was due. Not being in class on Friday is not an excuse for not turning in his essay. The other 2 students didn't have theirs either. My student in my 3rd class had his essay. It was good. Too short, but good.

I wonder how many essays I will get tomorrow.

I'm buying a DSLR soon! I'm going to get a Nikon D40. I like it because its smaller than most DSLR cameras. I found someone who is selling one. It's less than a year old. They are selling the body, a bag, wireless remote, 2 batteries, charger, 1 GB memory card for 350,000 won which comes out to $260 with today's exchange rate. That is an awesome deal. I know if I bought one on my own it would be probably 400,000 won with no extras. I was thinking of buying one anyway. It doesn't come with a lens but I can buy a basic lens for about 100 dollars or so. He was selling a fancy lens (Sigma 18-200mm) but the lens was more than the camera and I didn't need a lens that big. I'll probably get a 18-55mm lens. I saw a few on Gmarket(korea) for around 125,000 won (around 100 usd).

I got a call from mk around 8 from mk. He said that I had to come to his school tomorrow because my gas bill was wrong. I hate having to go all the way to his school. I don't know what is wrong with my gas bill or how he would even know that something was wrong. He didn't even know I paid it until I told him today. I have to bring my receipt so he can see.

I went to check out a gym that I'm going to join at the beginning of the month. Its over in Bulwang. My friend Lesley goes there. She met me there and gave me a tour. We went around 10pm and there were a lot of people there. I went in the locker room and there were naked women everywhere. I don't think I'll shower there. I'm just not comfortable walking around naked in front of people. Asians are all skinny and I'm not. After I lose a lot of weight then I might but I'll just wait to go home and shower. Then I talked to one of the trainers. When we were telling him goodbye he said "I hope to see you everyday."ha. We also talked to this guy who is from Indiana.

I've got to get on track! I've got to start eating better and exercising. I wonder if 5kg a month is realistic (11 lbs). If I can lose that much a month then it won't take me that long to get to a good point. If that were possible I'd be looking good when I came back home! I've got 10 months to reach my goal. What is my goal? I'm not sure exactly. I just want to get to a point where I feel healthy and comfortable with the way I look. I havent put a pound goal out there yet-just when I feel good. Probably somewhere around 130-150.

Day 130 Lotus Lantern Festival

April 26 Sunday

Today I headed out to the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul. They have the festival every year to celebrate Buddha's birthday. It's in the area near Jogyesa Temple. I went to the Buddhist Street Festival and the Lantern Parade.

There were tons of people at the festival. The streets were packed. From 12-7 they had the Buddhist Street Festival. There were a lot of different booths where you could make crafts and other things like accupunture. I didn't participate in any of the activities I just walked around and looked.

I went over to the performance area and saw the performances. I watched all of the foreigner traditional dance show. There were performers from other Buddhist nations such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Mongolia. Then they had a Buddhist ceremony or something. They were chanting and dancing. The show was put on by students who are studying at the Buddhist University.

I left after the Buddhist exhibition and went to get something to eat right near the festival. I chose Mcdonalds. That's all I ever want. I'm surrounded by new foods and I just want Mcdonalds. What's my favorite Korean restaurant? Mcdonalds! Looks like a lot more people chose Mcdonalds too. It was packed!

I saw something interesting while I was walking around. There was a man in a suit riding a bicycle with this huge flag that said "Lord Jesus: Heaven on one side and "No Jesus: Hell". It was interesting to see them riding near the Buddhist festival.

They also had a sort of talent show for teenagers. It was interesting. The first act sang "Let the Bodies hit the floor". They had their own groupie. There was this white guy who was in front of the stage jumping up and down. I think he was drunk. He had a can of beer in his hand. I saw him flip off the camera. and later he shouted 'mother fuckers'. I enjoyed the girls who did a hip hop dance and there were some B-boys.

Then I headed down the parade. I should have claimed a space early, but I didn't. So I ended up in a not so great spot. It wasn't a great view for photo taking. The police were in my way when I was trying to take photos-i still got some decent photos.They were standing there so no one would go into the street. There was this one old lady who they kept telling to move back but she never really listened. Plus I was right under a lightpole so some of my photos didn't turn out too well. The parade was suppose to start at 7:00 but it didn't start till 7:30. It was packed where I was standing. Shoulder to shoulder and when I would raise my arms to take a photo I didn't have room to put them back down. It was really cramped. And people kept pushing through the crowd to get in and out. I wasn't too impressed with the parade. It was just a bunch of people carrying lanterns through the street. I enjoyed seeing the big floats that were lanterns, but I didn't care for all the groups of small lanterns being carried. The parade was way too long. 2 hours! After the parade they had a Daedong celebration. Its sorta like a huge party. The street is closed off and everyone is standing in the street listening to various singers and watching performers. I didn't stay for the celebration. I went to eat at Mcdonalds and then I headed home.

After seeing all of my pictures I realize how much I really need a DSLR. (Nothing is wrong with my camera-its great)I want a camera with point and shoot capabililities. My camera has a delay so its hard to get action shots. I want to be able to buy all kinds of different lenses also. My camera is only 3 Megapixels so I'd like to have a better picture quality also.And I want to learn how to use all the cool features of a dslr. I think I might just have to splurge and get one. I really want a Nikon D40-I like it because its smaller than most DSLR cameras. I've seen good reviews about it too. I might be able to find a good price since people are probably dropping prices because of the economy. I need to start shopping around.

I fell down the stairs in the subway station. I heard the train I needed coming so I was going too fast down the stairs and I think I missed a step and I landed on my rear end. I was fine. I didn't get hurt. I just got up and got on the subway.

I am so tired!! I had to get up early 3 days in a row! And I didn't go to bed any earlier than usual.

Pictures- Lotus Lantern Festival

Lotus Lantern Festival

Day 129

April 25th Saturday

Today I was suppose to go to a Foreigners Flea Market with Lesley. There was some mixup about the dates.

I arrived at the Sinseol-dong station around 12:30. We were going to meet at 12:30. While I was looking for the exit this Korean man started talking to me. He asked where I was from. He said he used to live in Los Angeles. His English was good. He talked to me while I was walking to the flea market. I got to the flea market around 12:40 and I called Lesley because I didnt know where we were going to meet. Then she told me that the foreigners flea market was tomorrow. There was some mixup on the dates. Some websites said today other websites said tomorrow. She said she would come anyway since I came all the way out there.

There was a regular flea market going on today. There were tons of booths set up with people selling things. I looked around for a while since I knew it was going to take Lesley a while to get there. I didn't see anything I wanted to buy. Lesley called and said she was going to take a taxi. I went to stand outside. It was very cold and I didn't wear my coat. And it was starting to rain. I didn't bring an umbrella either.

It took Lesley a long time to get there. There was some kind of bike race going on and traffic was jammed.

When she got there we just walked around. We were looking for somewhere to eat that wasn't Korean. We finally saw an Emart and I saw Burger King. We ate there.

So we were planning on going to the foreigner flea market but its tomorrow so we just walked around and ate at bk. Then we went our separate ways.

On my way home I stopped at Itaewon. It was raining so I was getting wet. I wanted to look for some clothes. I didnt have much success. I did end up buying a dress and a shirt to sleep in.i hate the lack of selection.

Then I came back home. I was planning on going to the Lotus Lantern Fesival pre activities but I just went home after a long day.

I was so tired! I took a long nap and then went shopping at E-mart. I just ended up getting some headphones and some dust remover. My laptop had a lot of dust between the keys so I got that can with air in it and now my laptop is clean! I was looking for camera batteries but I couldnt find any. plenty of regular batteries but no camera batteries. I want to try to find Energizer Lithium. I couldn't find it in E-mart. I used to see it in Home Plus, but I don't live close to HP anymore. I was also looking at shoes. I want some heels to wear with my dresses. I can wear a size 250 in korean shoes which equals a size 8 in America. I didn't end up buying any. I saw a nice pair of red patent leather shoes that I liked but they didn't have a price on them. I don't want them to start ringing them up and find out they are too expensive for me. I may go later and look at shoes again. But then again Im contemplating-heels hurt! and I have to do a lot of walking. I might end up never wearing them. I do like to wear heels with dresses, but I just don't think its very sensible. I'd have to carry a pair of flats with me to wear when I have to walk a lot from subway station to my destination. I'd only end up wearing the heels for a short amount of time. I'd consider buying a cheap pair of heels. I saw some that I liked for 9,900, but they were yellow and a little tight. I'm not crazy about yellow shoes. I do want a pair of red shoes, but I don't want to pay a lot of money.

I'm going to see Lesley's gym on Monday. If I like it I'm going to join at the first of the month. I really need to go to the gym. Its a bit pricey but if it helps it will be worth it. They give you 3 free personal training sessions to show you how to do stuff. They rent out shorts and a shirt to wear while you're there. I don't have to buy any gym clothes. Lesley will be my gym buddy.

Tomorrow I am going to the Lantern Festival festivities. There will be various booths set up during the day and a parade at night.

Day 128....long wait at immigration

April 24 Friday

I had to get up early today so I could be at the immigration office at 11am. I had to meet MK there so I could apply for my Alien Registration Card. I got my number at 11:04am. I was 1137 and there were 47 people in front of me. I paid 10,000 won then mk asked me for my photo. I told him "I gave it to you." He forgot to bring it. (and he's the one who told me not to forget my forms!!)So he had to go home and get my form and my photo. There were tons of people in the immigration office. They only had 2 windows open at one time so it was moving very slowly. At one point they only had 1 window open. I was just observing everyone. There was this small kid who took the pen with the string attached to it. The woman at the desk came over to the woman who had the kid and was arguing and then she took the pen away from the kid and the kid started crying. I thought it was funny. The mom shouldn't have let her kid take the pen. While I'm waiting Mk is making small talk. He tells me "check your mailbox everyday to see if you have a bill". He is crazy. I'm a grown up. I know how to check my mail for bills. I walk by the mailbox every day. Half of the mail I get isn't even mine. I told him "I always pay my bills."

I finally got up to the counter at 12:50 or so. I gave them all my forms and I have to go pick up my ARC next Friday. Then I have to have a meeting with mk to set up medical, pension. We finally got out of there around 1pm. I was there for 2 hours! I was hoping to be out of there soon. I didn't bring my bookbag with me because I didn't think I'd be there that long. Then I had to go home and get my bookbag. I didn't leave my house till 2pm. I was about 20 minutes late for school.

My first and second classes today were normal. I actually had 2 students turn in their essays early! One of my students in my first class didn't want to take his weekly test. It was easy stuff to. Like "These are my eyes" and you had to match the picture with the statements about your face, hair or "She has long hair and braces". He just didn't want to do it. I told him that I was giving him a zero and he didnt seem to mind.

In my 3rd class one of the boys kept rolling up his paper and using it as a megaphone to startle the guy in front of him.

I actually have a full weekend planned. For the past 2 weekends I havent went anywhere.

Saturday-Foreigner's flea market with Lesley, Lotus Lantern Festival with a Meetup group.
Sunday--Lotus Lantern Festival

I was in E-mart around 10:30pm and I got a phone call from mk. He always likes to ask me "how are you" and "Where are you now?" Then he asks "Did you check your mailbox? Did you have a bill?". I told him that yes I did check my box and I didnt have a bill. He said "When you get a bill bring it to my school". oh my goodness. If he asks me one more time if I got a bill I'm going to ask him why. and I want to know what kind of bill Im suppose to be looking for. I've already paid my gas bill and cable bill. I told him that I haven't received my internet bill and he's suppose to be calling the company about that. Here's what I want to say- "I'm not stupid. I know how to pay bills!"

Day 127...part 2

So today is my busy day. 5 classes.

In my first class 5 people where there when I got there. 1 was absent and 3 people were late. There was a song in the book and they all thought it was funny. One of the girls kept asking me "play it again." I played it 3 times. One of my students told me it was her birthday and she gave me a piece of candy. goodness--that candy was nasty!! At the end of class some of the girls wanted my phone number. 4 of the girls typed it into their phone and they also gave me their numbers. One of them sent me a message with her name so I'd know who it was.

There wasn't much material to cover in my 2nd class. We were talking about family members-aunt, cousin, parents, husband, wife, son, daughter, uncle. I didn't want to cover too much so I was going to let them play a game at the end of class for the last 10 mins. The 3 girls were tired so they wanted to play the quiet game. One of the guys was bored and the other did his homework. Maybe I need to start preparing word searches for the kids. I think they would enjoy that. I would also consider making a game with the material we've made. I think a Jeopardy style game would be fun and interesting for the kids. I'm almost through with the book and I have 5 weeks left in the semester.

I walked to the door of my 3rd class. The lights were off and it felt like the door wouldn't open. Then I walked back to the teacher's room. I saw a head pop out of the room but they didn't know that I saw them. The 2 students were hiding. I saw the student under his desk. He popped up and said 'surprise'. Then he kept talking to himself. Then about a minute later the other student popped up from another desk at the back of the class. She was better at hiding than he was. One of my students was absent from this class. After class one of the students called him and I talked to him briefly on the phone. I asked him how he was and he said "not good." So Im guessing he was sick.

My 4th class was making all sorts of noises. the girls sounded like sheep and one of the boys resembled a pig.haha.

My 5th class was their normal crazy selves. They love to draw all over the pictures in their book. Especially making blood come out of people's eyes. One of my students really likes math. They were writing about school. The phrase was-"I like math because__________". He wrote "I like math because I like math". Then "I like school because I like math." We finished early and I let them play a game. We played 3,6,9. One time we made it all the way to 30 before someone messed up. One time it ended early because someone skipped a number. When someone messes up they like to hit that person.

Day 127....very interesting start to the day...

April 23 Thursday

My neighbor's friend texted me around 1:45 am and asked me if I was sleeping. I told him I was still awake and he asked me if I wanted to join him and my neighbor. So I went out at 2am with 2 korean guys. My neighbor doesn't speak much english, but his friend speaks a lot better English. He has lived in Australia before and he is moving back to Australia in a few weeks (he's a referee in Australia)(my neighbor is a football coach (soccer is "football" over here). I told them that in America Soccer and Football are two very different sports. I found out that both of them are 27 in Korean age. So in America they would be 25 years old. We were going to eat at a chicken place but it was closing when we got there. They wanted to go drink beer but there weren't any bars open near our officetel so they went to family mart and got some beer. They bought me a coke. Then we went back to the soccer office. It was interesting. We were sitting in the office and talking. They were drinking beer.(they drank 3 big bottles of beer together). My neighbor was drunk. The guy who doesnt speak good english kept talking in korean to his friend who can speak better english. then he translates. I can actually understand his friend. They were teaching me some korean but I don't remember it. They taught me a curse word in korean.haha. The neighbor who can't speak much english loves to say "fuck". He really likes to say "fuck English. I'm Korean". (he really doesn't like English). He also likes to say "mother fucker nigger"(he doesn't really understand what it means though). His friend advised him not to say that to any black people. They also explained that they are scared of black people. My neighbor told me how much he likes children. He showed me a picture on his cell phone of 3 of the students-they were 7 and 8 years old. He also showed me a pic of his younger brother. His dad has been married 3 times. His younger brother has a different mom than him. He told me "this is my son." His friend told me it was his younger brother. The neighbor called his boss over to the office at 3:30am. His boss came over and was speaking to me in broken english. They said that the boss is crazy. When he got up to go to the bathroom they advised me to go home. (the office is right beside my house). I'm in 302 and the office is 303). I snuck out while the boss was in the bathroom.

They were telling me that the soccer coach wants me to teach the children how to speak English. I'd consider it if I had enough time. I don't know how I would fit it into my schedule.

Yesterday I was reading a funny post on Dave's ESL cafe. There was a woman asking "Where do I find handsome Korean men?" And one of the answers was "In the man purse section of the dept store". Yes men carry the "murse" around here. Someone else said said that they'll be wearing a shiny suit with a pink tie and shirt ensemble. Thats also true. Men aren't afraid to wear pink. Lots of men wear pink. I don't know what is up with the shiny suits. I'm not a fan of the shiny suits.

NKorea accuses SKorea of tampering with border

I think NKorea just likes to stay in the news!

here's the link to the article:

NKorea accuses SKorea

They are accusing South Korea of moving a marker on the border dozens of meters to the North.

Day 126

April 22 Wednesday

18 weeks. 44 weeks before I get to come home. 42 more weeks of teaching.

I downloaded the last episode of "Chuck" last night. I love that show. The whole concept of the show is how Chuck is a spy. In the last episode his dad got the intersect out of his head or we think he did. Next week is the season finale. If they did get the intersect out then how much longer will this show survive if Chuck won't be affilated with the CIA anymore? Maybe they are slowly winding down the show.

I was told earlier today that monthly tests (I hate monthly tests!) were going to be April 30th and May 1st. I was just told now that we might not have monthly tests. They might have TESOL tests instead. That would be nice and save me the trouble of making and grading the monthly tests.

I only have 2 classes today. I start teaching at 7:10pm and I finish at 8:45pm.

I found out that we teach in quarters. This quarter will be March, April, May. So there's 13 weeks in all. If there are 13 weeks and there are only 10 or 12 units in the books then why did I have to start on unit 3 or 5? So that gives me 7 units to complete in 13 weeks. I'm going to be way ahead. Well I don't understand. I'm going to be ahead. This is crazy!

I eat a lot of dongas (pork cutlet). I have it almost everyday. I like it because it tastes good and its cheap. Its only 3,500 won which is $2.60 usd. Thats a good portion of food for such a cheap price. The only thing I'll miss about korea is the low cost of living/eating.

We are always having problems with the copier at work. The korean teacher showed me where another one was upstairs. Everytime I went up there to try to make a copy someone was always up there. I'll have to make copies tomorrow.

My first class was good as usual.

The students in my 2nd class took an extra dose of their crazy pills! 2 of the students didn't bring their book to class. So one of the girls let the boys share her book and the girls shared a book. While we were reading the boys were being silly and elongating the words and pronouncing them wrong just to make everyone laugh. We were laughing all during class. At the end of class one of the boys said that today was a fun class.

I went to E-mart tonight and bought a memory foam pillow. Maybe that will help. I'm doing all I can to try to feel comfortable. It costed 38,000 won. ($28.00 usd)

When I was walking back to my apartment I saw one of my neighbors that talked to me a few weeks ago. The whole ordeal where we couldn't understand each other and used google translate. Anyway he was talking to me and I still can't understand him. He asked for my phone number again so I gave it to him. He has a nice phone-touch screen. I had already given him my number before. He said he was going to call me. I don't mind talking to him, but the language barrier is really hard. Maybe I could help him with his English. I think he wants me to teach him. Since his English is on such a low level I could bring home my textbooks and teach him out of them if he wanted help.

Day 125

april 21, Tuesday

Today I slept till 12:50. At 12:51pm I got a text from mk. He must have been the one who was calling my apartment phone. Someone called my apartment phone 3 times and let it ring forever and ever. I don't even know why he brought a phone for my apartment. I didn't ask for it and I never answer it. I use my cell phone all the time. Anyway I got a text from him. He said "i need to talk to you. meet me at my school at 1:40. bring your passport." He better be glad I can get dressed quickly. That gave me 50 minutes to get dressed and be over there. I left my house at 1:30 and took the bus. He calls at 1:35 and asks "where are you?". He always does that. Calls before its time to be there. i was on my way. I got there at like 1:42. He tells me to sit down. He needs my passport so he can go to the hospital and check on my medical check. Then he makes me sit there for no reason at all and he's asking me stuff about school and teachers. and "hows your table?" (dude its a table..it does the job its suppose to). I mentioned to him that I haven't received a bill from the internet company. After explaining it to him for about 5 mins he finally understood and said he would call the company. Goodness. How did he ever live in the US? He can't even understand that I need a bill. He keeps telling me that its my responsibility to pay the internet. I said "I know. I need a bill." he goes on and on and I keep saying "i need a bill". I have to go back tonight so he can tell me how my medical check was.

My medical check was good. I had to fill out a form and get some other forms. I have to go to the immigration office on Friday at 11am.

I have 5 classes today.

I had to assign more essays today. I explained the topic in class. One of the students in the first class asked the Korean teacher what the topic was. I guess she wasn't paying attention when I read the topic. I think its going to be interesting to the essays.

The students in my 1st class are always late. I walk into class and there are 5 students. (there are 11 students in the class). Then one by one they come in to class. That delays starting class by a few minutes.

I had a new student in my 2nd class and 2 students were absent. We finished the unit on food. One of the students in the class wanted the class to go fast. She told me to go fast. When we were reading she would read really fast.haha.

In my 3rd class one of my students was tired. He kept laying his head down and closing his eyes. Then the other students would point at him and we would call his name. I assigned a new essay for this class and they told me it was too hard. I agree, but the school says I have to. yuck.

My 4th class takes their crazy pills before my class. There are 3 boys and one girl. The girl is really quiet but the boys are always talkative and active. Today the craziest one of the bunch kept picking on the boy in front of him. He kept touching him and trying to tickle him.

After I went to Nokbeon tonight I went to get dinner at Pizza School. Pizza School is good. You get a medium size pizza for 5,000 won. ($3.70 usd-We need a cheap pizza place in America!). Its not a personal pan-it's the size of a normal medium. The taste is pretty good. Its no Papa John's but its still good. I like it because its cheap!

I tried a new candy bar tonight. I picked it up at Family Mart. It was 1,000 won (74 cents) and it was called Mr. Big. The motto of the bar is "When you're this big, they call you mister." ha. the nutrition facts were in korean but ingrediants were in english. I read it and it was made in Canada. The description was "Crisped Rice, caramel, and peanuts".I liked it.

Day 123/124

April 19/20 Sunday/Monday

Sunday was another lazy day around the house. I went to bed around 5:30am and woke up around 4:30pm. I love sleeping in! Saturday and Sunday I didn't even leave the house. Didn't even step out my door. On Saturday all I ate was macaroni and cheese and corndogs and ice cream and candy. On Sunday all I ate was ice cream. Early Monday morning around 1am I ate macaroni and cheese.

Why do I have an intercom in my room? Today someone came over the intercom around 10am and woke me up. They were speaking in Korean so I have no clue what they said.

Now its back to work. I only have 3 classes today.

In my first class one of my students didnt show up until 10 minutes before class was over. Today in that class we talked about characteristics such as having long hair/short hair, wearing glasses, having braces, having dark/light hair. I assigned them the essay. I don't even know what kind of essays I'll get. I explained that Im only going to ask once and thats on Monday. One of the girls wanted help with how to write hers. I was helping her 2-3 mins after class ended.

In my second class 2 of my students were absent. Today in that class we talked about some of the same characteristics like dark hair/fair hair, long or short hair, what color of eyes. There were these people in the book and I got them to tell me what kinds of clothes and what color they were wearing. they did well. I also assigned them an essay. the topic is "what do you want to be when you grow up?" (I'm using the same topic for levels 3-6).

Why are people in South Korea so obsessed with weight. It's perfectly fine over here just to ask someone what they weigh. That's so wrong. Today my students asked me "What's your kilogram?". I told them I didn't know. I know but I'm not going to tell them!! (its rude to ask people what they weigh-esp a woman..i dont care if its acceptable in their culture. Its not acceptable in mine!) One of the students told me he weighed 25 kg (he's 11) and the 13 year old said she was 55kg.

In my 3rd class we did a writing unit. I also assigned him an essay. He's my highest level student. His topic was "school" (favorite and least favorite subjects).

Why must they torture me with making the kids write essays?! I think half of the students won't even turn them in. That's fine. I'll just lower their "assignment" grade. Its not like they are actually learning how to write in the lower levels. I dont have adequate time to teach them. I'm just giving them a topic and they have to figure out how to write about it. When I correct their papers all they are going to do is copy my corrections. Or do what they want. I've actually had 2nd drafts that were worse that the first!! In my higher levels I'm actually behind where I need to be in speaking because there isn't enough time. I teach one writing class and one speaking class a week to my 4 highest levels. I need to cover a unit a week but thats impossible! a writing unit is short, but you can't rush through the speaking. THey have to grasp the concepts. Its useless if you rush through the book but they don't understand a thing.

Day 122

April 18 Saturday

When I went to bed it was already bright outside. Yep I was still awake till around 7am.

Then I slept all day till around 3pm.

I haven't done anything productive. I haven't even gotten dressed. Its been a lazy day around the house.

I was planning on going to Yeouido this weekend. I wanted to go see the cherry blossoms. Then some teachers at school told me that the cherry blossoms were gone. There was a spring flower festival until today. Would people still come if there are no flowers to look at? Thats like running out of watermelons on the last day of the watermelon festival.

Anyway I just decided to stay home. I may trek out there tomorrow just to go to the park. Just depends on whether or not I feel like going somewhere. Sometimes I just like to stay in and do nothing.

Random observations in Seoul....

Just my observations I've made....

1. Its way overcrowded! Forget about personal space. You won't be having any!(Imagine fitting 49 million people into a country the size of Florida).When I go out to popular places in Seoul its always crowded. Going to E-Mart is like shopping at Walmart near Christmas-every single day! (There is no walmart in South Korea) Almost everyone lives in these big highrise apartment buildings. There aren't many houses.

2. I don't think there are any traffic or parking rules whatsoever..red lights don't mean anything. People run them all the time. People park all over the sidewalks. You actually have to watch out not to get hit on the sidewalk. Thats where you are suppose to be safe! People also ride scooters and bikes on the sidewalk. If you hesitate at the green light they will beep!

3. Koreans love spicy food. I try to find something that isn't spicy Like Dongas (pork cutlet)or samgyeopsal (its like bacon).

4. All korean dishes in restaurants come with a lot of free side dishes. And they keep refilling the side dishes. Most food is cheap here. You can get a decent size lunch for 4,000 won which would be less than $4 usd. They eat with chopsticks. Koreans also like to share food. Its common for everyone to sample things from everyone's plate or have one communal dish on the table. They don't tip here. The price on the menu is what you pay. You don't have to figure out how much tax to pay.

5. You can get Mcdonalds delivered to your house.Other places will deliver food in real dishes in these boxes then you just put the dishes back outside your door and they will pick them up.All the delivery guys drive scooters.

6. Koreans drink a lot! Koreans consume the most alcohol. There are people who are drunk every day of the week and any time of the day. There aren't any open container laws either. You can sit out in front of the store and drink your beer. They sell beer at almost every event.

7. Not many people speak English. English education is very important here, but Koreans aren't very good at speaking English.

8. Its very hard to find "plus" size clothing. I've heard that if you're over an American size 8 or 10 that you will have a hard time finding clothes. I only know of a few places and the selection isn't that great!

9. Men aren't that worried about appearing masculine. Boys hold hands. Boys also tell other guys that they are handsome. A lot of the men wear pink. They carry a "murse" (man purse). You can also find them carrying their woman's purse. Skinny jeans are popular for guys. I do like the tailored suits and pink.

10. Kids love hangman and rock,paper,scissors. I use rps to determine who goes first on games. Its the only fair way.

11. They use a different system to determine age. When you are born you are 1 year old. When the near year comes around you are 2. If you were born on December 31st you are one. Then on January 1st you would be 2. You age another year on the 1st of the year.

12. They celebrate the Lunar new year instead of Jan 1st. Lunar new year is a family oriented event where people return to their hometowns. The dates change every year. Its usually around the end of January.

13. If a holiday falls on a Saturday then thats when it is. That's not good for this year since most of the holidays fall on a Saturday so I don't get any days off from work for holidays. If it falls on a Saturday you don't get Friday or Monday off.

14. Most of the kids are in school all day long. They go to school during the day. Then they go to after school academies to learn other subjects like English and Math. Studying is more important that extracurricular activities.

15. If you are foreign people stare at you. Especially kids. They point and say "waegookin" which means foreigner.

16. The subway gets really crowded at certian times of the day. Some times the seats are full and there are people standing in the aisle also. I've been on a train that was so crowded you could barely move.

17. There are tons of stairs everywhere. I saw someone running up and down the stairs at the subway. I wish I were in that good of shape. By the time I go up 60 stairs (yes I counted) out of the subway I have to stop and rest!

18. They don't use dryers. clothes are dried on a drying rack.

19. The shower is just a showerhead in the middle of the bathroom-no walk in shower or shower curtain-the bathroom gets wet. There is a drain in the middle of the bathroom. It does help with cleaning the bathroom though. Just take down the handheld showerhead and spray it everywhere.

20. They don't wear shoes in the house. You take off your shoes at the door.

21. They have public bath places where you can shower off then take a warm bath or a cold bath. Its not really a bath but more like just relaxing in the water. You clean off before getting into the "bath". Everyone is just walking around naked. Men and women are separated.

22. They have PC rooms that are open 24 hours. There are usually a lot of people in there playing games. Starcraft and Sudden Attack are popular over here.

23. When you go to the movie theater you can choose where you want to sit. The tickets and refreshments are a lot cheaper. A ticket is 8,000 won which is less than $8 usd.

24. They have DVD rooms where you can sit in a little room (usually used by couples) and watch movies that have come to DVD on a projector screen.

25. They love kimchi(spicy fermented cabbage) and rice. Some koreans eat rice everyday.

26. Koreans like to squat. A lot of the toilets are "squat potties". They don't flush their toilet paper down the toilet.They put it in a trashcan beside the toilet. Some places don't even have toilet paper or soap in the bathroom.

27. My apartment doesn't even have a fire alarm or an extinguisher-apparently they have no fire codes or laws. My last apt didn't even have a sprinkler system. I think my apt has sprinklers-they are these things on the ceiling that look like sprinklers!

28. They have no food safety program over here. They don't do restaurant food inspections. You're taking a risk everytime you eat out.

29. There are tons of street vendors everywhere selling everything from food,fruit, shoes, socks, etc.

30. When you are sick you go to the hospital. I don't think they have specialized family clinics like in the USA. You have to go to a pharmacy to get OTC meds. They aren't in the supermarket. OTC meds are really cheap here. I got 10 pills for coughing for @$1 usd. Birth control is about $6 and you don't need a prescription.

31. They have a lot of exercise machines outside in public areas. Metal machines that do simple things-nothing like treadmills or anything of that nature.

32. Prostitution is illegal but they don't really enforce the law. There is a place in Itaewon called "hooker hill". When you see a barber pole with 2 poles thats a sign that you can get sex acts performed in that business. These poles are everywhere!

33. You don't get your driver's license until you are 19 years old.

34. Kia and Hyundai are the major car companies. You rarely see a non korean car.

35. Most of the kids love soccer.

36. All the kids have these cute pencil cases. (I never remember pencil cases being soemthing that everyone had when I was in school). All the kids wear uniforms to school.

37. In most places you take a number and wait for your number to be displayed before going to the counter especially at places like the bank, movie theater, and post office. You don't stand in line-you just wait for your number.

38. At a restaurant the waiter doesn't keep checking on you to see if you need anything. If you need something you either ring a bell on the table or call them over to your table. Most places do not offer free refills. Most places you just pay the cashier instead of them bringing the bill to your table. They also have a lot of restaurants where you sit on the floor at a low table-its very uncomfortable! If you are with a group is custom for the oldest person to pay. They don't pour their own drinks. Its custom to have someone pour your drink for you.

39. They never card you in a bar. I've been out with all of my friends and I've never seen anyone get carded to buy alcohol. Over here the legal drinking age is 19. Some bars are open all night long. I once stayed at a bar until it closed at 7am.

40. Cabs are cheap. The subway is cheap. Buses are cheap. Gas is not cheap! They pay by the Liter. Its about $1 a Liter so about $4 a gallon.

41. Stores like E-mart have freebies taped to all sorts of stuff. I've seen free ramen noodles taped to beer, water bottles on cereal boxes, day planners on snack boxes.

41. Their version of karaoke is called a noraebang (singing room). You go into a private small room with your friends and sing karaoke.

42. Everything is measured differently over here! Kilometers instead of Miles, Celcius instead of Fahrenheit, Kilograms instead of pounds, centimeters instead of inches. I have to convert everything over to what I'm used to.

43. When Koreans speak English they put an 'e' sound on the end of everything. Englishee. Lunche. They put an 'e' sound on words that end in E or CH. like lunch, english, beach, etc. or Page-e, language-e. Konglish is also used. Its like a mixture of Korean and English. Example of Konglish: Handphone=cellphone

44. All the kids have cell phones. I had kids as young as 7 years old in my class who had a cell phone.

45. Drive thrus aren't common here. I've only seen once since I've been here.

46. The old women are called "adjummas". They usually have short curly perms and wear these huge visors.

47. Ovens aren't common here. I miss baking in the oven!

48. Seoul is one of the biggest cities in the world with a population of over 10 million. Its roughly the same size as Charlotte, North Carolina with a whole lot more people!

49. Most Koreans sleep on the floor. The beds are really hard and only have a mattress. (not a mattress and box spring like I had in the USA)

50. Most places have "ondol" heating. The heat comes up through the floor. Its very efficient.

51. Selling things on the subway is illegal but people do it a lot. They sell all sorts of cheap products and I've heard the quality isn't that great. There are also a lot of beggars on the subway. The most common that I see a lot is blind people who walk down the middle of the subway playing music and holding a basket for people to put money in. I rarely see anyone put money in the basket.

52. They eat dog soup during the summer. They have a special breed of dog that is raised specifically for eating. The boshintang (dog meat soup) restaurants aren't very common, but there are a few. I haven't tried dog meat.

53. English Hagwons can be a very corrupt business. Luckily, I ended up at one that actually pays me on time and takes out the correct taxes, pension from my check.

54. They like to wear shirts with nonsense English written on it. I look at the shirt and it makes no sense.

55. People who can barely speak English will try to talk to you all the time at random places. You can't understand them and they can't understand you. Its quite amusing at times. I also have people who just talk to me in Korean. They keep going and going although I probably look at them like "what in the heck is she/he saying?"

56. They start getting on the subway or elevator before the people have gotten off.

57. There is such a thing termed as 'couple wear' here. You see couples who are dressed alike. I think its cheesy and crazy! I'm not talking about matching. Wearing the same exact outfit!

58. The 14th of every month is an unoffical holiday. Feb 14 is Valentines day where the women are suppose to buy things for the men. March 14 is 'white day' where the men buy sweets/flowers for the women. So basically its like celebrating valentine's day twice. April 14th is 'black day'. The single people get together and eat black noodles.

59. Koreans love Spam. Around holidays you will find an abundance of Spam gift sets in the stores.

60. The Korean alphabet (Hangul) is really easy to learn. Their words are written in characters. Example: 안녕하세요 (Hello). I've started learning a little Korean. Its difficult to pronounce!

Day 121

April 17 Friday

I have 3 classes today.

In my first class I had a new student. The students wanted to know why he didn't have to take the test. I told them its his first day. We can't just give him a test when he hasn't learned the answers. Then I had a hard time getting them to talk. Today we were talking about faces. They learned the words face, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hair. I let them draw a face on a piece of paper then their assignment was to tell me what each part was using a model from the book that I wrote on the board. I would point to the board and ask them to say the body parts but they were doing it. I must have explained it 5 or 6 times before they finally did it. I had clear instructions on the board. I said point to the body part and tell me what it is. This is my nose. This is my hair,etc. Then they finally said it.

In my 2nd class I had a new student. One of the students from the 1st class moved up to the 2nd class. The students also wanted to know why she didn't have to take the test. I explained to them that it was her first day in my class. Then they wanted to talk and get out of their seat so I had to yell at them a few times. One of the girls has a twin that is in my tues/thurs classes and she was sitting in our class today.

I'm going to join a gym soon. One of my friends who is a teacher at the same academy at a different branch wants us to work out together. She lives in front of a gym that is 2 subway stops away from me. I can't sign up for the year contract because I'm not going to be here a year. I may sign up for a 6 month contract and do the rest from month to month since I'm only going to be here about 10 1/2 months. I've got to start eating better also. I just don't know what to eat. I can't read labels to see if the foods are healthy. Plus I don't even know what most of the food in the store is. I know I've got to stop eating fast food and drinking soft drinks if I really want to get into shape and lose weight.

Day 120

April 16, Thursday

I've almost made it through 7 weeks at my new job.
I've been in South Korea for 17 weeks.
I get to go home in @318 days. I'm not exactly sure what the date will be..somewhere around March 1st.


I finally have a table. Its a small table with 2 chairs.

Classes were good today.

My first class has 11 students and most of the time they don't understand the directions so it takes longer. I am behind in that class because I have to spend more time explaining things and trying to get them to stop talking to one another. They also begged me to play a game one day so we didn't get as much done as we should have on that day. I've got to start covering more material, but also making sure they understand.

In my 2nd class we covered 4 pages and then I let them play a game. I don't want to cover too much material. The lessons are short and the students grasp the concepts. Today we were talking about food. The students kept talking about how hungry they were after learning about food. We played a game where one person would say a word and everyone had to say a new word from the last letter of that word. Example--Fish. The next person has to think of a word that starts with H. We played that for about 10 minutes. This class loves to play games. I need to find games that can relate to the lesson.

In my 3rd class they loved the spelling race using our vocabulary words for the unit. We got finished with the words in our unit and they wanted to go back to previous units to spell those words also. I'd say the word and one person would start and everyone adds a letter until the word is spelled.

In my 4th and 5th classes we went over writing exercises.

Next week I have to assign more essays. This is going to be difficult again. The lower level classes don't know how to write. I don't teach them writing and I can't take time away from speaking class to teach writing, but I have to assign an essay every month. Getting the students to turn them in is a hassle. I'm just going to give them a week to do their first draft and if you they don't turn it in on the due date then too bad--they get a zero. I have been begging the students every class for their essays and some still haven't given them to me. This time I'm just giving zeros and I'll be lowering their "assignment" grade on their report card. I hate giving essays! I don't want to give essays to the lower levels, but I have to! I can't believe these students don't know what an essay is. Most of them are in 6th grade and they don't know how to write an essay. For some of them I basically have to write the sentences out for them and let them fill in the blank which isn't helping them learn grammer. All they are doing is copying what I wrote.

I also hate tests! I gave all of my Tues/Thurs classes their weeking test for speaking class today.

Soon I'll have the task of making a monthly writing test-4 of them will be easy to make because I can use exercises out of the writing book. I don't teach writing to 5 of my classes. I don't see why the 5 classes have to have a writing test. No one is teaching them how to write. Last month I made it too hard-a lot of them didn't understand or didn't do well. I don't know what to put on a writing test for classes that I don't teach writing to. I thought it was easy but they had a hard time understanding how to find an error in a sentence and putting words out of order and making them put them in the right order to form a sentence.

I am missing so much!

I am missing so much in my friend's lives while I'm gone.

One of my friends just had a baby in February and by the time I get back it will be one.

Another one of my friends will have a baby in June and It will be almost one when I get back.

One of my friends and an aquaintance(i only met her once) just got married a few weeks ago.

7 of my friends just got engaged within the last month or so. Some of them will already be married when I get back to the states.

Day 119...Health Check

April 15, Wednesday

I had to get up early this morn to go get my health check. I had to meet MK at 11am. My health check was at the national medical center near Dongdaemun stadium. First I got my height, weight, blood pressure and color blindness test. Then I went to see the dentist. This dentist said everything was fine. Okay so the 2 cavities that the dentist in Uijeongbu saw have disappeared.hmm. Then I had to pee in 2 cups. They actually had a western style toilet in the bathroom so that was nice. Then I had to get blood taken. She put the needle in my arm and couldn't find the vein and didn't get much blood. Then she put the needle in my hand and got what she needed to fill 3 vials. Then I had to talk to another doctor where they asked questions about "do you have this or that". I don't have any of those health problems. Then I had to go get my chest x-ray. mk said take off all of my clothes, but I knew they were only taking a picture of my chest so I left on my pants. I saw the size of that robe and I was thinking "There is no way that I am taking off my pants!" The robe was the size of a shirt. After the xray I was done and I headed home to rest for a few mins before going to school.

I only have 2 classes today. That means I get to sit around from 2:00-7:10 doing nothing. Teach 2 classes from 7:10-8:45 then sit around and do nothing again.

Classes were good today.

I had a new student in my 2nd class. Its 7 weeks into the semester and we are getting new students. They have missed so much. I guess they are just happy that they are bringing in the money. They don't care that the student is going to be so far behind. I think there is a new student in one of my lowest classes also. The korean teachers were finding books for that class and she has to make copies of the book.

I'm getting a table tomorrow! They are delivering it at 3pm. Thats good.

My room is so clean! I cleaned tonight since I knew someone would be delivering the table. I didn't want them to see my mess.

Day 118....Black Day

April 14..Tuesday

Today is Black Day. It's a holiday for singles. Its for the people who didn't participated in Valentine's day or White Day. I'm not participating in the festivities though.

Black Day (April 14) is a South Korean informal tradition for single people (a.k.a. Unit Solo/Solo Regiment, lee: 솔로부대) to get together and eat Jajangmyeon (noodles with black bean sauce), sometimes a white sauce is mixed for those who did not celebrate White Day.

The idea is that those who did not give or receive gifts on Valentine's Day (February 14) or White Day (March 14) can get together and eat Jajangmyeon (짜장면), white Korean noodles with black bean sauce (hence the name), to commiserate their singledom.
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I went to the bank today.I paid 2 bills using this machine that's like an ATM. I don't even have to see a teller to pay bills. I got my bill for the cable today. It was 14,000 for half of the month. (didn't sign up till 3/14). I paid my gas bill and cable bill.Then I wanted to send money home. The exchange rate for today was 1337 but she was going to give me a discount since I use that bank. The discounted rate would have been 1330 which would be 751usd for 1,000,000 won. I filled out all the forms and I had a paper with me that had all my information. She found out that I had transferred with Woori. In Korea you can only send money home from one bank. She said she would have to call Woori and I guess close my account there.She said it would take 10 minutes and I didn't have time to wait so I just left. She will keep my forms for whenever I come back.

I got to school a little late. Since I need to close my woori account I asked one of the korean teachers to call LG and switch my account. They couldn't switch my account because I don't know my foreign registration number (because they took my ARC card away). I didn't write it down because I always just show my card, but I don't have a card. I'll have to wait till I get my new ARC card. Then switch my LG account over to IBK. Then I can close my woori bank account and transfer money home. Why does this have to be so complicated? I was fine with Woori but the school made me go with their bank of preference which is IBK so now I have to close my woori account and use my IBK. And I have to go all the way to Nokbeon if I need to go to the bank. Which is a 15 minute walk or a 5 minute bus ride.

Classes were okay today. We didn't cover as much as I wanted to in my first class. Some students were late so that delayed the class a little. 6 people were there on time. 2 people were late. and 3 were absent. I'm going to have to spend more time on Was/Were because I don't think they are grasping the concept.

2nd class was good. One of the students brought ice cream so that delayed starting that class, but we are right on track so it didn't disrupt the flow of class. We went over 2 pages. then we reviewed the unit. then for the last 10 minutes I let them play a game. they played hangman.

When I went in my 3rd class there was no one in the class. Then about a minute later one student showed up. I started the lesson and about 5 minutes into it another student came in. The other student showed up about 5 minutes before class was over.

My 4th class is crazy! I was getting them to spell words in the vocabulary. They were acting all silly while they were spelling the words.One of the guys was asking me about American bad words. I wouldn't tell him any. I'm not going to tell children the bad words. Later in the class he said "I know one. Son of a bitch". This class loves the corny songs in the book. We listened to the one that went with today's lesson. Then they wanted to listen to the one in unit 3 that we heard a month ago. They laughed hysterically while it was playing. It is a funny song. At the end of class I let them listen to songs from unit 1 and 2 since we didn't cover those lessons.

I have to get up bright and early to go to the hospital tomorrow. I have to be there at 11am.

Yeouido Spring Flower Festival....

The Yeouido Spring Flower Festival is held every year in April, when the cherry blossoms burst into bloom on Yeouido’s streets. When the 1400-plus cherry trees are in spectacular full bloom, Yunjungno Avenue, located behind the National Assembly, becomes a cherry-blossom tunnel.
Various events are held near the 5.7 km avenue to make the tourist experience more memorable. The cherry blossom avenue is brightly illuminated from 6:30 p.m. every evening, allowing friends, families and lovers to enjoy the picturesque avenue late into the night.

Event Programs: Various means of transportation will take you to Yunjungno Road, Yeouido. In addition, visitors can enjoy a variety of spring flowers such as forsythias and azalea, and it attracts many tourists every year.
Seoul’s mounted police will parade on horseback along the blossom-laden avenue, sure to be a thrilling sight for tourists. Rock festivals, fascinating magic shows, pungmullori (traditional Korean percussion music that combines ritual, dance, theatre, and acrobatics), and inline skate stunts can also be seen along the 5.7 km cherry blossom avenue. Spectacular fireworks will light up the Han River on the last day of the festival to signal its closure. Street vendors will be set up during the festival period, so why not try some typical Korean street foods?

Festival Highlights: The Yeouido Spring Flower Festival is even more beautiful at night. It is best to go to the festival later in the afternoon and stay through the evening, as it may be very hot around noontime.
Many people bring their cameras to take memorable pictures of the night views, with the white cherry blossoms aglow in the streetlights. Vehicles are prohibited on Yunjungno during the festival period, and there is traffic congestion around nearby areas, so the subway is the most convenient transportation to the festival.

Transportation

① Get off at the Yeouinaru Station of subway line 5→Take exit 1 and walk towards the LG Twin Towers
② Get off at Yeouido Station of subway line 5 →Take exit 2 and walk towards the front gate of the National Assembly building

Day 116/117

April 12/13 Sunday/Monday

I'm such a bad person. I didn't go to church on Easter. I slept in and stayed inside all day long. I didn't even get dressed. I didn't even step outside my door. It was a lazy day inside.

I was looking at some of the stuff I bought. They still have the orignal prices on it. They came from a store called INC...I dont think I've ever seen that store in NC/SC. Anyway those shirts regularly sell for $49 for a dressy tshirt. I would never pay that much!! I got these in Itaewon for 15,000 won each.($11.29)

I found out that I have to the hospital for my health check on Wednesday at 11am. Dongdaemun Stadium.

I mailed a package home today. I sent some things to my family-candy, souveniers, and a book. It was a little over 1400 grams. It costed 23,400 won $17.61usd.

Tomorrow I have to go to the bank. I need to pay a bill and transfer 1 million won to my American account. Its only going to be around $740 usd after fees. I'll be able to send more home after next month when that stupid 200,000 security deposit stops coming out. At the rate I'm going I'm not going to have the amount in my account that I hoped I would have. I was hoping to have around $10,000 saved up. I might end up with $8,000 or so. Maybe I'll buy a corolla instead so I can pay it off quickly, but I really want a sportier car. We'll see how things turn out when I get home. Maybe I'll land a great paying job and I can afford a sporty car. That's still a long way away!!

classes were good today. I only had 3. I was done at 7:05pm.

After work one of the Korean teachers wanted me to go out with her. She said she was feeling gloomy and she wanted me to hangout with her to cheer her up. She took me to Palgakjeong. Its on top of Mt. Namsan in the center of Seoul. We went up to Palgakjeong pavillion. From there you can see a great view of Seoul. We plan to go back sometime in the daytime so you can see the view and so I can take my camera!

I love Seoul. I think its great that I get an opportunity to live abroad in a big city. I'm definatly a big city girl. I've lived in all types of cities. The extremely small-700 people, then Rock Hill (50,000) and Charlotte (500,000). Then I just keeep moving on up to bigger and better cities like Seoul with a population of 10 million. I love riding the subway all the time. I like that there's always something to do. Tons of places are open late or 24 hours. I just don't like that I'm so far away from friends and family and English speaking people!

I finally found out who my mystery text message person is. I don't know if I've ever blogged about this person or not. While I was in Uijeongbu I met this guy from India. He just gravitated towards me because I can speak English. Immediatly when he met me he asked for my phone number. I said how about email? and he wouldn't leave me alone so I gave him my number. I can't understand him. His Indian accent is too thick. I wasn't going to answer anyway. He would call and let it ring forever. then constantly call back hoping that I would answer. Anyway he finally gave up and I hadn't heard from him in 2 months. I deleted his phone number from my phone book-i had it in there so I'd know not to answer.haha. So now I've been talking to a mystery person on text. I thought I was talking to the girl I met in March because the text messages started the day after I met her. All this time I thought I had been talking to her. Then today he sends a picture along with his text. T the time I didn't recognize the picture so I kept asking how he got my phone number and he wouldn't answer. He actually called and I picked up. I recognized the voice. He said "i'll see you tomorrow"--what? no he won't.Maybe I'll just start ignoring them.

Day 115

April 11, Saturday

Well I went to bed late and got up late too. I got up at 3pm.

Mk called to tell me that I had to go to the hospital on Wednesday. He said he will call again on Monday to give me the rest of the details. I told him yesterday that I was going to Itaewon today to go shopping. When he called he said "what time are you going to Itaewon". I said "I dont know. whenever I feel like it" Then he said "Lets go togethers" (yes he said togethers-crazy!). He said he would call back at 6pm.

Well I didn't want to go shopping with a man. I decided to get dress quickly and go to Itaewon by myself. I got there around 5pm. (He never called btw which was good!)

I decided to eat at Burger King. I tend to stick with stuff that I know I like.

Then I went to some stores. There are a few "big size" stores in Itaewon. Their selection is horrible! Most of the clothes are ugly or clingy. They don't have any of the figure flattering clothes like you can find in America. I went to one store that was called an "outlet" so I thought it would be good prices. Their prices were ridiculous! They were having a 70% off sale but the prices aren't that great when I hardly found anything below 100,000 won. I went to 5 or 6 different stores and all I got was a dress, and 3 shirts. I ended up spending 81,000 won ($61.00). I wish they had a better selection. I need to do some research and see if there are any other areas that have big size clothing.

I went to E-Mart to pick up a few things. I couldn't find the water brand that I got last time so I decided to pick up the cheapest one. I got sparkling water. I didn't know there was a difference since I'd never had sparkling water before. When I got home I drank some of it. It is nasty!!

Day 114....I missed you

April 10, Friday

Its payday!

I had to go to Nokbeon today. It was a waste of my time really. I took the bus to Nokebeon. I got on the bus at 1 and I was near the school at 1:05. Its a 15 minute walk-3 bus stops.(i just didnt feel like walking today!) I hate the bus though. The drivers are crazy and the seats are always full so I have to stand up. When you stand up you are falling all over the place because of the crazy driving. Since I had time to spare I just went and sat on a bench for a few minutes. I arrived at the school at 1:25 and Mk wasn't downstairs in the teachers room. I just sat down there. he called me at 1:40 and asked where I was. He told me to come upstairs. He never says where to meet him just "meet at my school." sometimes its in the teachers room and sometimes its on the 1st floor. He wanted to look at my passport and then he told me about going to the hospital next week and how to apply for an ARC. I've had an ARC before so I know the whole process. This was a waste of my time. He said he will call me tomorrow and let me know when I have to go to the hospital. He could have saved me a trip and just told me everything I needed to know on the phone.

I need to get more photos taken....I have used up all the photos I brought with me. I know I'll need one for my ARC and for my medical check. I think I'll use one of the photo booths in the subway station.

I am so glad its finally warm outside! I don't have to wear my coat anymore! Its currently 22celcius which is 71 fahrenheit!

I ate lunch at my school with the 3 elementary teachers. I had dunkas. yum. I gave the teachers what I bought for them in Japan. It was a magnet that said Japan. They all liked it.

I have 3 classes today. Then I get to go home for the weekend! I'm going rest and do some shopping.

Classes were good today. When I went in my 3rd class one of my students said "nice to see you again" and another student said "I missed you". One of my students turned in their essay to the substitute and I can't find it anywhere. oh well. One of the students gave sandwiches to the teachers. His mom made the sandwiches for the teachers. It was delicious. It had ham/cheese/lettuce and some yellow stuff(not mustard). I liked it.

Day 113...day 2 in Japan

April 9, Thursday

Its my 16th week...

Today was day 2 of Japan...I got up around 9am and checked out of the hotel around 9:50am.

I went over to Hakata station and locked up my luggage and headed out to Tojinmachi stn to go the Korean consolate. Went in and picked up my visa around 10:30am.

I went to Hawk's town mall. I was looking to see if any of the stores had camera batteries. No success at Hawk's Town Mall. Then I went to eat at Wendys. I wanted a cheeseburger but their double cheeseburger set was 950 yen (9.50 usd)! Everything was expensive. They don't have all the items that we can order in America. They have hotdogs on their menu. I almost got one but I didn't want to go to Wendys and eat a hotdog. I ordered the cheese chicken filet set, but they ended up giving me the spicy chicken. oh well. I ate it anyway. I dont like spicy food but it wasn't too bad. It costed 750 yen which is 7.50! too expensive!

Then I decided I wanted to go check out Tenjin. Its a place where there are tons of malls. I wasn't planning on buying anything. Just looking around. Things are too expensive in Japan. I didn't even walk into any stores. I just walked around. I did go into a photo lab. They had camera batteries! I couldn't find my brand of choice-Energizer Lithium so I had to settle for Panasonic. I got the cheapest ones I could find which was 360 yen (3.60 usd). I didn't even know if they were compatible with my camera or not, but they worked so thats good.

Next I went to Hakata station. I wanted to check out Canal city. Its a mall with a canal running through it. It was easy to find. I walked around for a while and took pictures and then I decided I was going to leave. Then I walked by the courtyard. There was this man putting on a show. He was great. I decided to stay. He was doing all sorts of tricks. dangerous stuff--like riding a bicyle standing on the handlebars and seat. Riding a bicyle and juggling. It was very entertaining. I would never even think about trying the things he did!

Then I headed back to the airport. I had some time to kill when I got to the airport so I bought souveniers before checking in. I spent almost 7,000 yen on souveniers. That's almost 70 usd. Things add up fast in Japan! I didn't even get that much. I got magnets for 4 people at my school. I got something for myself and for my mom, dad and sister. Then I had to sit around and wait for the ticket counter to open. They wouldn't let us check in till 4:10 pm which was 2 hours before our flight was scheduled to leave. Check in went smoothly and security was fast. Then I got something to eat. A hot dog from one of the vendors. They didn't have that great of a selection. I also got some ice cream. It was a weird combination--they put cornflakes in the bottom of the cup then covered it with ice cream. The topping was more of a blueberry flavor.

Then I went to sit down and wait for my flight to board. While I was there I saw a korean man with a mullet! haha.

I spent 22,000 yen (220 usd) in Japan(spending my refund money! All of the money I took to Japan came out of my American bank account). It adds up fast! And I didn't really buy anything! I spent 5,400 for my visa. 1200 to ride the subway. 7,000 on souveniers. 4000 on meals. Its a good thing that I'm not a big shopper. If I really liked to shop I would have spent way too much money in Japan.

On the flight there were a bunch of Asians (Korean and Japanese) and 2 Americans. I didn't really like the snack. It was korean food. The flight went smoothly and we were back in Seoul around 7:15pm.

I called Mk when I arrived. He wanted me to meet him at Nokbeon at 10pm. Immigration went really fast once someone came over and told us that there was another section that went really fast. I was the first person in line in that section. It was hidden on the other side so we didn't know about it. We were in the long line then someone told us that there were shorter lines and pointed. Then I went to get my luggage.

Then I went outside to wait for the Airport Limo (its a bus). I got out there at 7:45. The last bus had just came at 7:40 so I had to wait till 8:26 for the next one. The bus ride on the airport bus took a little over an hour then I went to the subway station to ride it to nokbeon.

I got to Nokbeon around 10pm. Mk wasn't there when I was there. One of the people in charge made a copy of my new visa. Then told me to go home and rest. I had to go there just to get a copy of my visa. crazy. She told me to go home so I did! Mk wanted to see me but he wasnt there so I left.

he called around 11pm and asked where I was. I was at E-mart at the time. He said I have to meet him at Nokbeon tomorrow at 1:30pm. I don't really know why. I was curious so I asked him. All he said was something about meeting with the director. ok whatever.

I've already uploaded all my photos to my blog and facebook. I made 4 albums on Facebok and people were leaving comments on them as I was putting them up. I took a lot of photos. Probably close to 200.

I've got to get a new card or put the photos on that card on a disk. I have to keep deleting photos so I have room. Right now the card has about 800 photos.

I think one month I'm just going to splurge and buy a DSLR. I want a Nikon D40 which you can get in the USA for about 500-600usd. I might be able to find one here for about 500,000 to 600,000 won. I haven't looked around yet. Then I'll try to sell my digital camera. Its about 4 years old but its great. I love it--I just want to upgrade so I can have a lot of cool features to play around with.

Friday is payday!! I'm finally going to get a chair and some new clothes. I'll go shopping either Saturday or Sunday. Then on Monday I'll probably go transfer some money home and I have to pay a bill at the bank.

More Japan Pictures....

I was able to take more pictures! (my battery was dying yesterday and I couldnt find batteries!) I went to the major shopping district and found a film developing lab and they had camera batteries. I wanted Energizer Lithium but they didn't have it so I got panasonic. I paid 360 yen (3.60 usd) for 2 batteries..thats not a bad price for camera batteries.

Fukuoka, Japan 2

Fukuoka, Japan Pictures

Fukuoka, Japan

I made a video set to music with all of my pictures so far..if you'd rather watch the video slideshow...


Fukuoka Japan Pictures

Day 112....trip to Japan

April 8 Wednesday

I decided to take my laptop with me to Japan. I thought I'd put in in my carry on but it made my carry on weigh too much. So I just checked my other bag and put my laptop in my bookbag.

I couldn't sleep this morning. I was still awake at 2am searching for stuff on the internet. Then I finally decided to lay down and get at least 2 hours of sleep. It wasn't that easy. I couldn't get to sleep. I was still awake at 2:40 so I don't know how much actually sleep I got. I know it was less than 2 hours.

I went to the bus stop to meet the airport limo. It was suppose to come at 5:35 and arrive at the airport at 7:15. It would have costed 9,000 won. Well about 3 minutes before the airport limo was suppose to come a cab pulled up and said that he would take me to the airport for 10,000. I decided to go with the cab. It was only 1,000 more. There were 2 other women in the backseat who were also going to the airport. I got to the airport super early-6:05am for a 9:30 flight. I walked around for a little bit, exchanged cash and finally checked in around 7am. Then I still had time to kill so I ate at Mcdonalds. I had the big breakfast. It wasn't that great. I was disappointed that they don't have mcgriddles. Then I just walked around some more and sat near my gate and got out my laptop.

When I was going through security I started to take off my shoes and they told me I didn't have to. Then I went to immigration and they asked me if I was going on vacation. I told them I was going to get a new Visa. They took away my alien card and stamped "departed" on my airline ticket and Visa.

The flight was good. Very short flight. 55 minutes in all. I was surprised that we had a snack on such a short flight. Asiana is great. That's why they were airline of the year.

When I got to the aiport I had to give my papers to immigration. They took my fingerprints and a picture. They wanted to know why I was there. Then I got my bags and had to take my form to customs. I didn't have anything to declare. Then I was asked some more questions "Where are you going?" "Why are you here?". Then I had to take a shuttle to the domestic terminal because thats where the subway line was. I went to the subway machine and bought an all day pass for 600 yen ($6.00usd). You can ride the subway as many times as you want in a day. Their subway system isn't like Seoul. Their trains don't come as often and you have more time to actually get on the subway.

I took the subway to Tojinmachi. I put my suitcase in a coin operated locker so I wouldn't have to carry it around. It was 400 yen. ($4.00) Then I headed out to find the consolate. It was very easy to find from the directions that I had. Very simple and a short distance from the subway. I got there around 12:15 so I was too early to go get my visa. I went to the Yahoo dome. Took a lot of pictures there. Looked at Hawk's Town Mall. Then I ate at Hard Rock Cafe. I had a Cheeseburger and it was 1,490. That was expensive!! almost $15 for a cheeseburger and fries.

Then I headed out to the consolate around 2pm. The process was very simple. I just went in, picked up a form, filled it out and handed in all my documents and I was on my way. I can pick it up tomorrow at 10am.

Then I found some tourist maps at the consolate and decided to walk around. Took some pictures at a park and sat there for a while. The weather was great! It was warm and a light breeze.

Then I headed out to Fukuoka tower. Fukuoka Tower is 234 meters tall (767 feet). It's the tallest seaside tower in Japan. The admission is normally 800 yen. But they gave me a discount and gave me a welcome card that I can use to get discounts at certian places so I ended up paying 640 yen (about $6.40usd). I got on the elevator and went to the observation deck which is at 123 meters (403 feet). I took some pictures of the panoramic views of Fukuoka. It was foggy though so they aren't as clear as I'd like them to be. I stayed in the tower for while then headed out.

I was going to go eat at Wendys, but I wasn't feeling too well so I just decided to call it a day around 6pm or so. I was tired and my stomach was hurting. I went back to the subway station and headed to my hotel.

While I was taking photos I found out that my battery was getting low!! I went to a few conveinent stores but none of them had batteries for digital cameras. That really sucks! Maybe I can find some tomorrow! I've already taken over 100 photos on the first day. My card is getting full. I need to delete old pictures off of my memory card. yes I still have pictures on my card from 2006. I need to transfer them to a cd and delete them. Or get a new card.

The hotel was easy to find. It is right in front of Hakata station. I am staying at Comfort Hotel. I'm on the 10th floor. A single hotel room costs 6,000 yen ($60 usd). The room is small. They have free wireless internet and they also have a cord you can hook up to their LAN. I chose to connect to the wireless. They have a nice size bathtub and a bidet toilet. There are only 10 channels on the TV and they are all in Japanese. They have 3 "adult" pay per view channels. If you leave your room you have to leave your key at the front desk. At least I can't lose my key.I have to check out of the hotel at 10:00am. I'm actually going to check out at 9:30 so I can be at the consolate by 10am. Then I can do my sightseeing and be at the airport by 4pm for my 6pm flight.

When I got to the hotel I took a long nap. Then when I was feeling better I went out to eat at Mcdonalds. It was 630 won for a big mac set. Thats about 6.30 usd. Very expensive!Then I just came back to the room and started editing my photos.

Tomorrow I have to get up early and go get my visa. I can pick it up at 10am. Then I'm going to do some more sightseeing. I think I will go to one of the gardens to see the cherry blossoms. Then I'll find some other things to see and be back at the airport by 4pm. I'm going to eat lunch at Wendys. I also need to look for some soveniers. I may just wait and buy souveniers at the airport. I hate that everything is so expensive here! When I exchanged all my money I had 23,000 yen (230 usd). I took all of that out of my american account using my Visa so I wouldnt be short on cash with my korean account.I only have 12,000 yen left. I'll do free events tomorrow so I can spend money on souveniers.

Day 111..My Dad is a Crazy Taxi Driver

April 7..Tuesday

Today I had to go to Nokbeon to talk about my Japan trip. When I got there mk told me that he didn't have my airline ticket or hotel reservation yet. He would meet me tonight to give it to me because he was still waiting on it to come to his email. We also talked about my salary which I will get on Friday. After deductions it will come out to 1.7million won. I think I will live off of at least 500,000 plus the 100,000 I already have in my account for the month. Its pretty easy to live off of that. Then i'll send 1.2 million won home to my American account. I asked him why medical and pension wasn't coming out. It will start coming out once I get a new ARC card from immigration. I have to do that after I get my Visa in Japan and have a medical check.

I was busy today. During my breaks I was writing lesson plans for my sub tomorrow and Thursday. I wrote very detailed plans. I showed one of them to the Korean teacher and she commented on how detailed it was. I'm very detail oriented. I'm sure you can tell by reading my blog.

I had a new student in my first class. Now I have 11 in that class. We played hangman and then we went over a few pages in the book. They are so funny. After we played hangman they asked me to draw a person on the board. First I drew just a face. Then they said draw a body. Then one guy said "put a bat in her hand" So I drew the person holding a bat. THen they said "draw a ball". They told me not to erase it. They wanted the next teacher to see. They said it was her.haha.

In my second class I let them play a game for the first few minutes of class then we did a few pages of work.

In my 4th class My students are crazy! We are talking about jobs right now. The boys are all about killing. Seems to be a theme with all the students I've taught. They love to talk about killing. One of the activities was to draw a picture of your mom or your dad and tell the class "this is my mom/dad" "She...". One of my students who always acts crazy drew a picture and said "This is my mom and dad". Dad is a crazy taxi driver and mom is a killer". At the beginning of class this same guy (his name is Rocky) came up to me with his electronic dictionary. (A lot of the kids have electronic talking dictionaries..they use them when they don't understand a word. They also have korean/english dictionaries on their phones that they use). So he types in a word and says "listen to this". The dictionary said "fuck you". I told him "thats a dirty word. where did you learn that?"..He said "the internet".

In my last class half of the class was absent. 3 students were there and 3 were absent.

Then after class I was there till 10:15 making lesson plans.

Everyone advised me to take the Airport Limo..Its a bus that takes you to the airport. The only one that I can take that will get me there in time leaves at 5:35! I have to get up super early! I kinda would like to stay up all night but I think I'll try to get at least 3 hours of sleep. I'll arrive at the airport at 7:15am. Which is 2 hours before my flight. I have to be at the airport by 7:30am.

I'll be flying on Asiana airlines. I'm only taking a carry on. 9:30am flight. The flight only lasts 1 hour and 10 minutes for 350 miles. I wish I had a printer! I could have chosen my seat and printed out my boarding pass online!! I leave Japan on Thursday at 6:10pm.

I'll be staying at Comfort Hotel Hakata near Hakata station in Fukuoka station.

After I left school I was waiting at the subway and this older korean man starts talking to me. He's asking me about a stop on the subway. Can you imagine that..me (a foreigner) telling a Korean how to get to a partictular stop. He asked if I was familiar with the subway. I told him I ride it everyday. He could speak good english. He was an American citizen. He showed me his Nevada driver's license.

I have to get up at 4am!! I think I'll go to bed at 12:45am.

Day 110...NKorea rocket fizzles, US says; Obama urges action

April 6 Monday

more news on the "rocket" launch:

North Korea Rocket Fizzles

North Korean rocket not a total failure

I sleep so good at night and I never want to get out of bed.ha. This morning I was chatting with my sister at 4:30am. yeah I was still up at 4:30. I'm such a nightowl. I can't go to bed early.

I got another package from home today. full of goodies. crunchy peanut butter, mac and cheese, chips ahoy, tuna, Musinex, etc.

Musinex is great! I needed this stuff 2 weeks ago! One pill lasts 12 hours. I coughed a little bit but not nearly as much as usual.

Today I ate lunch with the girls at school. I had chinese noodles and dim sum. I liked it. Big portion too for only 4,000 won. ($3.06)

The won exchange rate is down to 1304 (last time I transferred money home the rate was 1399). Please keep going down as payday approaches!!(its been going down lately..it was up to 1500 not too long ago)

I had to fill in my part on the report cards today. I had to give a letter grade for their attendance, behavior and participation. I mostly gave everyone A's but I gave Bs and Cs for those who won't turn in their essays and dont do their homework.


After school I met up with Andrew and Rocky(another foreign teacher) at a restaurant for supper. Andrew had to tell me about how to get around Japan since he had to go a while back. I have to go on Wednesday. We ate samgyupsal and it was good. You get a nice size portion for 3,500 won. I love samgyupsal and you can find it cheap at most places which is nice.

Tomorrow I have to make lesson plans for my substitute. They will have to teach 2 speaking classes on Wednesday. Thursday they will have to teach 3 speaking classes and 2 writing classes. Thats probably going to be weird for the students. They are used to me and then they have someone come in who has a completly different teaching style. Its going to be hard to tell the teacher what pages to complete. I usually don't set a limit of how many pages before class. I kinda go with the flow and see how things go. If they are picking up the material then I can cover more, but if they are having trouble then I might only cover 2 pages.