Alcohol Jujee Maseyo!

"Gogee jujee maseyo," I said out loud at the lunch table as everyone was dispersing to get back to their classes.  Across the room, Elly started chuckling where she was sitting at the Korean supervising teachers' desks.

"Did I say that right--'don't give me any meat'?" I asked, smiling.  I realized I could have been taught "My butt smells funny," and I wouldn't have known the difference.

"Yeah!" she nodded, still chuckling.  Apparently she was just getting a kick out of me busting out suddenly with a random Korean phrase.  I'll have to start doing it more often--I love making the Koreans laugh!

I haven't taken any classes, but I am making a small effort to learn some survival Korean.  I've learned a few of the numbers, I can say "thank you," and "hello/goodbye."  It was my Tues/Thurs boys who taught me the no-meat phrase.  They think it's sick that I'm here in Korea teaching them English and not learning Korean...and I'm inclined to agree with them.  I love learning languages...but, this IS such a different experience than when I was in Germany and totally immersed in the language.  Plus, I am working as hard as a mule.  By the time the weekends roll around, I just want to play and sleep.

After an extremely long day at school, I pack up my laptop in my backpack and walk home 20 minutes.  On my way I buy fresh fruit and vegetables, then I walk upstairs and start chopping them up to cook.  I'm usually WAY to tired to be doing this...but I'm way too hungry not to!  I always cook enough to pack for lunch the next day.  I eat my dinner and put the leftovers in a tupperware.  Sometimes I watch shows on MTV.com or catch the latest episode of American Idol, which posts online about a day later than it airs back home.  Usually, though, I just listen to music.  After my long days, I flop on my bed in silence and listen to the sounds of children saying, "ANNIE TEACHER! ANNIE TEACHER!" swimming between my ears before I can muster up the energy to cook and shower.  It always makes me smile.  I love spending my days absolutely drenched in children.

Tuesday, as I was leaving school with Nicole and Rebecca, I went to zip up my sweater but couldn't do it.  I struggled with the zipper for a minute before Rebecca actually had to zip it up for me.   "How many Nemo kids' zippers do I zip every single day, and I can't even zip up my own?  Really?"  We all laughed.

"Sometimes, you just need a little help with these things," laughed Rebecca.  

I always think I'll sleep a ton on the weekends, and I do sleep in, but then once Saturday hits, I'm always too antsy to just stay put.  I usually can't wait to start running around the city, exploring and shopping.  This past weekend our school got a new teacher, Nicole.  I was really excited about it...it was like getting a present in the mail...another mail-order teacher to be my new friend!  I offered to be the one to meet her when she arrived.  Julia was grateful because it meant she didn't have to leave work early.  After school last Thursday, she called my cell phone to tell me she was here, but that the driver was lost and I should walk towards the subway station and try and find them.  I was out the door before she finished explaining...I knew the new teacher would be exhausted after traveling about 24 hours and probably also a little nervous!  As soon as I walked outside and crossed the street, a man hopped out of his car and flagged me down.  A big tall white girl is not easy to miss in my neighborhood!  I told the driver to turn around and follow me to the building, which was about 10 yards away.  Jackie happened to come outside too and the two of us helped Nicole carry her bags upstairs.  She's on the same floor as me, which was very convenient!  I explained to her how much I absolutely love living here.  This is her first time out of the U.S.

On Saturday, Kim and I took Nicole to Home Plus to get the essentials for her new apartment...hangers, extra pillows, a hamper, a wireless router, etc.  She was having trouble getting on the internet so I lent her my PC because I totally know what that feels like!  I explained to her that on Monday, she could show Mr. Shin (the old man downstairs) her router and ask for an "engineer" to help her set it up.  "I've already blazed that trail for you!" I explained.

Our cab from Home Plus dropped us off at home just in time for us to have to make a mad dash in the pouring rain.  I went up to my apartment and experienced my 2nd ever Korean thunderstorm.  The first one had been just last week, and it had sounded pretty normal, just like the ones we have back home.  It hadn't lasted long.

In Tennessee I am used to big thunderstorms--they don't scare me too much.  I've lived with them all my life.  They could get scary in Johnson City, where we were surrounded by woods and a little higher in the mountains than Knoxville, which lies in a valley.  When lightning hits a tree close to home, you always here a loud CRACK!!! as it splits it down the middle, leaving a blackened, charred mark where one of the branches is severed from the trunk.  It always makes me jump when that happens.

The storm on Saturday was different, however.  These big city thunderstorms are an entirely different breed than the southern squalls I am accustomed to.  The lightning wasn't hitting trees, because there are no good trees here to hit.  It was hitting buildings.  And since there is no grass, dirt, or woods to muffle the sound, the acoustics in Seoul are downright amazing.    The resulting boom of thunder is absolutely earth-shattering.  It really sounded like God was banging on one of those huge Asian gong symbols or something.

On Sunday I took her to one of my favorite areas...Insadong.  We even ate at that vegetarian restaurant I've been dying to go back to ever since my recruiter took me.  I'm starting to get better at using Korean chopsticks.

I had no idea before I got here that not all chopsticks are created equal.  I have enough trouble using the thick bamboo disposable chopsticks you get at Chinese restaurants in the States.  When I arrived in Korea, I discovered they use a totally different type of chopstick.  Their chopsticks look more like surgical instruments...they are very thin and made of metal.  I feel like I'm playing a game of Operation whenever I use them!  A piece of kimchi will fall from my grip and I'll hear a loud "BUZZ!!!" in my head.

This week is very exciting.  We got a new teacher, who I love...it's Children's Day on Thursday so we get a day off of school...and my parents are in town!!!  I'm meeting them today after school.  Currently, I am hiding in my empty classroom while all the kindergarten classes have their Children's Day parties.  I lost my planning period earlier, MC'ing for the Gym Day practice assembly, so I'm taking it back!  Since I don't have a kindergarten class of my own to watch, the Koreans have made me the new "MC" for all their assemblies and awards ceremonies.  I basically stand up at the front of the gym and spout off into the microphones whatever the Koreans are telling me to say.  It's pretty funny, especially when they can't agree on what it is I should be talking about!  Fortunately for me, I'm the kind of person who loves being the center of attention anyways.

Due to tomorrow's holiday, we had our weekly faculty meeting this morning--a day early.  At the meeting it was announced that we will be going on a mandatory overnight trip in June with the principal, the infamous Mr. Cho, to Seoul Forest.  Later, while sitting at the Korean desks doing my office work, I asked Julia exactly what that would entail.

"Oh, we are not actually going to Seoul Forest...that was false information," she chuckled.  "We'll be going somewhere outside of Seoul, maybe...a beach...or a mountain....not sure."

"I guess we'll find out when we get there!" I laughed nervously.  It really doesn't matter to me where we go--I'm pretty sure it's just an excuse to get us all drunk again.  I actually had already planned on not attending any more of Mr. Cho's dinners because the chemicals just really don't do me any good.  I realized after the first dinner that it was either 1) Go and Drink, or 2) Don't Go.  The choice was pretty clear for me.

Now it appears I'm being hoodwinked and bamboozled into attending another drunk-fest.  I really wouldn't mind if I knew the alcohol wouldn't be poured down my throat by my boss.  Looks like next week, my boys will have to teach me how to say, "Don't give me any alcohol--now please go bother someone else!"

But I can't wait to have another story to tell!

Picture outside of a school close to mine

One of my boys got ahold of my iPod and took this picture of me grading papers :)