Right when I got comfortable in my school schedule, it was changed on me. I just about had all of my kids names down, and I was very happy with my break time, etc. It seemed like the days were flying by me. Now, with my new schedule, I'm not 100% satisfied but it works, the days go by slower :( I have new classes, some new kids, some the same. Instead of having 3 break split up, I have them all one after another in the beginning. So then all 8 of my classes are back to back... i run around like a chicken with my head cut off. I feel bad when someone comes up to me asking a question about their class and I can't remember which class they're in. But I always say that being busy is better than being bored so I can't complain. I have had the opportunity to make some extra money by teaching some extra classes. I am working every other Saturday from 2-5pm (yes the hours kinda suck but oh well) and in exchange, I get more money and more vacation time. Also, I come into school 30 minutes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to teach a conversational class with the Korean teachers. They said that they all learned a lot of grammer and writing but they do not think they speak well (i think they all speak VERY well.. i can definitely ask them just about anything), but they wanna speak then that's what I'm there for. We just have conversation about... whatever comes up for the day. Today was about natural disasters (since there was an earthquake in Los Angeles, my home, last night), which turned into a lesson for all of us in bad hand signs (like the middle finger, and other various hand gestures, i had no idea were bad lol). I still need a lesson in Korean swear words. As my co-worker Esther says "you need to know when they're saying bad words... either to you or each other. They will definitely talk about u straight to your face cause they know you can't understand." I think it's funny. Every now and then I'll say something to the kids in Korean and they're SHOCKED! "Teacher knows Korean?" and I usually just say "a little. you have to teach me." Since I am the 'speaking' teaching, I tend to get off the books sometimes if there is good english conversation going on. One of my classes really enjoy teaching me Korean words. They try so hard to explain things to me in English, so as long as they're speaking english, and I get to learn Korean, I think everyone is happy. It's really cute watching them get all excited to teach me new words, and see them laugh when I pronounce it funny, or they laugh cause my hangul (korean writing) looks like a 5 year olds.
So away from school, there hasn't been a whole lot going on. Mostly just hanging out with friends doing different things. 2 weeks ago, I went to a Toga/charity event party which was raising money for a Korean orphanage. It was TOUGH trying to turn a full sized fitted sheet and turn it into a toga. It was fun trying. There were soooo many foreigners and good food! Ranch dressing, and cheddar cheese!! Mm
mmm. I was so happy :) We stayed there a bit, and then ventured into Kyungsun (when I say we, I mean my friend Gillian and Tina, in the pic, and my friend Albert, who is kinda my neighbor). I had never been to Kyungsun so that was fun. We wound up at a dance club and danced till 5AM!!! I am pretty sure that Korea is the first and only place I've been in my life where time flies EVERYWHERE all the TIME! My 2 months here have flown by, my days at school go by quickly, my nights on the town fly by... I can't tell what time is around here. I don't know if that's good or bad.Saturday night, we went with my friend Lacey to a B-boy musical type thing. Lacey is a break dancer so she's always finding out about cool dance performances. This one was suppos
ed to be really good and she got free tickets. I had no idea what to expect and I was BLOWN AWAY!!! It was sooooo great. It was literally a musical... kinda. No singing and no talking. Just acting and dancing about a ballerina who fell for a break dancer. It was really funny! And sooooo entertaining They were REALLY GOOD!! It was one of the best shows I'd been to in a long time. I LOVED IT!!So just so my parents don't think I party every weekend (As much fun as i am having, I am also serious too... lol), I will let you know some of the other events I've been involved in/are starting this weekend. Last weekend, I ditched out on seeing Alice in Wonderland in 3D to take a Korean class. It was really really helpful. There were so many things cleared up that I was confused about, and I finally got some clarity into hangul (the alphabet characters). I even wound up reading my first word 'bus' this week (i only could understand it cause they say 'bus' also. If they had another word for 'bus' it would be a lot more complicated). But I'm definitely starting to get the hang of it all, the characters, the order, the syllables, the boxes, etc. This weekend I am torn between my 2nd korean class and attending a writing group... though I've pretty much made up my mind to go to the writing group (I wasn't able to attend the first meet up because of work). I'm VERY excited about the writing group. I've been wanting to join one for awhile in LA. I've always enjoyed writing. I love writing poems, short stories, etc. So I've started writing a lot about my experience here (i think i'll attempt an Eat, Pray, Love type novel) so it'll be great to have some support and help with that. This weekend is also another cultural event day at the Temple... English Dharma and Korean calligraphy (hopefully this helps with my hangul) on Sunday. Saturday, I'm going to attempt to go to a Bullfighting Festival in Cheongdo... about an hour or so away. I never connected Korea with bullfighting but it should be pretty interesting.
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