The Pas de Deux

This was playing at the grocery store this past weekend. 

Let's all admit that we can't listen to the Pas de Deux without shedding a tear...

A Stone's Jump Away

Last week, I came home from an exhausting day and my brain just wanted to give up. I was starting to get tired of the routine of going to work, and then going straight home. In California, I never really had a routine. I was very busy doing stuff all the time. Whether it was business or pleasure, I was always doing something. In Korea, by the time I'm home, I'm exhausted from school stuff, and I don't have much else to do other than watch TV shows, clean, and/or make dinner. Some nights that is great! But this particular night, I couldn't do it. 

Let's just say, my first wave of being homesick started to hit. It was just a mini one, but it totally sucked. As I was complaining and moping around the apartment (with a swiffer in one hand and a vaccuum in the other, mind you), Kyle said "Do you want to go down to the river?" Between sobs, I said "Yeah". So we went downstairs to the Tancheon River, which happens to be right across the street from our apartment. There are giant rocks that are placed in the water so you can cross the river at different places. One set of these rocks happens to be right next to us, so it's very convenient. It was a great escape, and I was so happy that Kyle brought me down there. It made me feel much better. It also made me realize how ridiculous I was. As I was jumping across those rocks, I started looking around. There is so much around me, and always something new and different and fun. All I had to do was jump across some rocks to the other side of the river and I was fine. There are new restaurants to try, awesome parks to visits, different streets to walk down. There are so many things to do here. It's just a stone's jump away, rather than a throw. 

 

 

 

 

Tom-A-to, Tom-ah-to; leprechaun, apricot.

So a few weeks ago, the school had a St. Patrick's Day celebration. They have no idea what it means, they just know they have to wear green and they get rainbows painted on their faces, pieces of chocolate, and large, green, construction paper hats. I tried my best to explain to them what St. Patrick's Day was, and described how the leprechauns are the little men that guard the pot of gold and leave treats for good little kids. Apparently I didn't speak clearly enough in my descriptions....

 

I gave all the kids coloring pages on St. Patrick's Day and had them write "Happy St. Patrick's Day" on the front. One girl, Ashley, raised her hand and asked how to spell "Apricot". I saw on her paper that she had written "A-P-R" and I thought, that's cute- she want's to name the little red-headed fellow Apricot. So I wrote the word "apricot" on the board. At the end of the day, I started checking the papers to see which one I should display in the hallway, and saw that more than one kid had written "Apricot" on their paper. I thought it was a very cute coincidence. A few days later, one of my students saw some glitter on the floor (left over from the Leprechaun's shiny footprints that I placed all over the classroom) and said "Allie Teacher! Glitter from the apricot!" I said, "You mean the leprechaun?" and the young, innocent child replied, "Yes, the apricot". Apparently, when I say "leprachaun", the kids hear "apricot". I started laughing hysterically. All of the kids were writing the word "Apricot" thinking that it was the name of the jolly little person that guards the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Classic.

Comments!

I've been getting some requests lately about people wanting to comment on the blog, but they are unable to do it without registering. I fiddled around and I think I found the option to open up the comment-capability to everyone. So feel free to comment now! Let me know if it works....or I guess I'll just know if it works if I get some new comments now : )

taz ;(

I miss my dog Taz. I've seen quite a few dogs in korea so far and they alllll suck. I want to play with Taz. I want to roll on the ground with him, stuff my face in his chest, carry him around and do a pirouette on the kitchen floor in my socks, then dip him low and give him smooches. I want to chase him around the house, and then, when he least expects it, run away and let him think he's supposed to chase me. When we'd go for walks, I'd whisper his name just loud enough so he'd hear it and turn his head and look at me. Then I'd smile and wave at him. Ten or fifteen minutes later I'd usually pick his poop up too. A top ten activity in my life is coming home and being the first person to greet Taz after a few hours of him being home alone. I'd hide in the kitchen and wait for him to run down the stairs. He'd turn the corner to find me and go into his signature butt wiggle and bury his face in my chest. The end result was a fight/embrace on the floor. I miss him.

My students

After that last post, I should bring everyone back to reality and show you pictures of my students. This is why I came here...to teach these amazingly cute, cuddly creatures.

Ryan is a sweetheart. He comes into class everyday with a smile and gives the best hugs. He really just holds on tight. As my friend put it, "his hug warms you up, like the sun shining from both sides".

Aaron is a little genius. He is very sweet, very shy, he doesn't smile very much, but you can see him thinking a lot. He really takes his role as class leader very seriously.

Next is Sarah. Sarah is very shy and quiet, but very cute. She just cries a lot in class because she misses her mommy, so she is allowed to go outside and just stare at a picture of her. It seems to work well.

Linsey is the little ballerina from an earlier post. She went to school in Portland, and later in Australia, so she speaks english quite well. And she will use it. She is constantly talking and singing. And walking around the classroom. If there is a conflict between some students, and they are only speaking Korean, she translates for me. It's pretty funny.

 Lonnie is the wild child of the class. He does not sit still, he does not listen, he makes faces all the time, and he does not follow directions. I have my death stare down pat because of this kid. Whenever he starts going crazy, I say his name and stare and him and he just sits quietly. It will be an interesting year with him. 

Charlie is.... special. He is very big. He is about 5 years old but looks 7. He should be a football player when he grows up. But the poor kid is just not very quick. But he tries. And that's all that matters. When he is confused in class, he gives me a funny little tilt to the side, like a puppy, and says "huh?". He's just very squishy and lovable.
 

Candy will be my challenge this year. She is cute, gorgeous, smart, and she knows it. Last year she convinced all the girls in her class to cut holes in their skirts. Candy is the ringleader.

Ashley is the blonde of the classroom. Very cute and happy all the time. She sings to herself and often giggles out of nowhere. It's very entertaining to just watch her. But she does all of her work so I'm happy with that.

June is the last boy of the class. I don't have an individual picture of him yet. He is very sweet, and very cute. (They are all cute!!). Every morning he greets me with a smile, and when I play songs in class or read stories, he gets so into them. He laughs when the weasel goes POP, and is sad when humpty dumpty falls off the wall. He is a riot. 

Individually, these kids are very unique and loving. But together, it turns into a crazy, hilarious, fun, and tiresome mad house. They definitely keep me on my toes.

 

Last, but not least, is Bill. Bill is not my student, but I got to know him while I was observing a class. He is very sweet, and gives great hugs. He scratches your back when he hugs, and sighs. It's precious. If I am having a rough day, Bill knows. He runs up to me and hugs me and tells me he loves me. It's great. His sister, Hilary, is not very nice I hear. ( I can't make this stuff up...Bill and Hilary)

 

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

This week was our second week of teaching, and it was a fun week because we had St. Patrick's Day celebrations at school. I don't have any pictures yet, but hopefully I can figure out how to get those soon. 


Yesterday, Kyle and I went to meet Katie and her friends for breakfast. We made french toast, hashbrowns, and we had lots of fresh bananas and pineapple. It was a feast. We then proceeded to walk to the subway, decked out in green, ready for a day of fun.

We headed into Itaewon for the St. Paddy's Day festivities, and upon walking out of the subway station, this is what we saw....

The ratio of foreigners to Koreans was about 15:1. It was madness. Apparently there was a parade, but this was all we saw when we arrived. There was a stage in the middle where several Irish bands were playing, and people were dancing and singing and spraying beer around. The cook thing about Korea is that it is like Vegas. They allow you to walk around with open containers of alcohol, so it was just a big party in the middle of the city.


Warning: Graphic story follows...

Afterwards, I had an unfortunate food experience. If anyone knows me well, you will know that I love food, but that I am also very worried about food poisoning. If anything is past the expiration date, or near it, or looks questionable, or anything, I will throw it away. So street food has always been my enemy. It looks good (sometimes), it smells good, but I am always afraid because I do not want to get food poisoning again ever in my life. So....with that said.....after St. Paddy's Day in Itaiwon, my mind was very influential ( after some delicious libations) and I was somehow convinced to buy some street food. It looked good, and looked similar to Japanese tempura. So I tried it.  I tried some shrimp. I tried some pancake thing. I tried some thing that looked like a zucchini.....WRONG. It appeared to be the healthy and delicious squash, but upon cutting it into pieces, it looked to be a bunch of glass noodles wrapped in a sheet of thick seawood. Harmless enough, I thought. So I took a bite. It was very salty. The noodles were awesome. But salty.

This is basically what the food  cart looked like, but it was under a tent. And this is exactly what the food looked like....tempura...Am I right? Well, I was wrong.

Soon after I ate a piece and swallowed it, the person who convinced me to try the food asked me, "Do you know what you just ate?" I proceeded to tell him, "Yes, I ate some noodles wrapped in seawood. Like pasta sushi". He said, "Do you really want to know what you just ate?" I, naively thinking it was maybe not glass noodles but maybe those potatoe noodles or something, said, " Okay, maybe not glass noodles, maybe those vegetable noodles they make". To which he replied, "No, you just ate pig rectum...." My initial thought was to turn around and just start throwing up in the street. It was soon enough after I ate it that I was confident that I could throw it all up and be okay. But then I would not feel good, get a lot of stares from people, and be the butt of everyone's joke in my circle of friends (or FOES!!!) that night. So i stopped walking. Gave the guy a death stare. and decided I would never EVER eat street food again. At that point it was just a waiting game on whether or not I would get food poisoning. I was terrified. In the middle of the night, I woke up, and felt a wave of something come over me... I can't describe what it was, but my first thought was...."Is this nausea?? Am I feeling nauseous? Is this the food poisoning coming on?" Thankfully, it was not. It was just a rush of blood as I was coming out of a dream. But it was scary. And now, I can say that I have tried it, and did not get sick from it. But still....pig rectum is something that I would never have thought to be consumed by me. Never again, I say!

St. Paddy's Day 2012: The Day the Remember Forget!

The first week (and weekend) as a teacher.

We are now finishing up our second weekend as teachers, and after a long first and second week, we are very happy to have a nice weekend. Last weekend was the first Saturday that we had enjoyed as well...our first Saturday in Korea we just slept on and off the entire day. The following Saturday, Kyle got sick, so we stayed in. So we have been making it a point to have some fun and explore

This is my class.

Pisces Class!

 I am the new Pisces class teacher. Allie Teacher is my name. It's interesting how they name the teachers here. Not Teacher Allie, or Ms. Allie, or anything that we are used it. When the Korean teachers write anything for me, they write "Allie T." where my name goes.

I have 9 kids in total. From left to right, top to bottom.... Sarah, Lonnie, Ashley, Candy, Charlie, Aaron, Linsey, June, and Ryan (my favorite).  This past week was St. Partick's Day at Worwick, so if you can imagine all of these kids running around with rainbows painted on their faces and giant green hats made of paper, it was a pretty crazy day. I have had the cutest infestation of Asian leprachauns in my classroom.


After the work week, I was dead tired. Last Friday night, we met up with Katie, Kyle's sister, and went out to a foreigner bar called Travelers. It is run by a Canadian guy. Good food, an all English menu, and shuffle board. When you walk through the doors, it's like you've magically been transported back home. It's nice. One of the teachers was leaving our school, so she had a going away gathering there. It was lots of fun, but very very sad. Even though I only knew these teacher for a week or two, we all became very close. Briana will be missed. And we will definitely visit her in Portland!

Katie, me, and Briana.

Last Saturday we slept in and went out to a breakfast/lunch place called Suji's. It was amazing. We had a breakfast burrito and some french toast. I forgot to take a picture...I just dug in. It was a  nice bit of home cooking.

We had a hard time choosing what to eat.

Last Saturday night, Kyle and I hosted a little party. Everyone brought some food and drinks. Mia, one of my coworkers, brought quesadillas and guacamole. We now refer to her as the patron saint of Guac. Avocados are VERY expensive in this country. They don't grow here, and they cost a lot to ship. So when you find them for a good price, you buy as many as you can. Koreans don't really know much about them, so when they start to go soft, they assume they are rotten, so they put them in the clearance section of the produce area. That's when all the foreign teachers swoop! I bought 2 for 4800 won, which translated to about 2$ per avocado. I thought that was pretty cheap, considering what they go through to get here. And it was worth it!!

And the most exciting thing of all...It snowed last night!!! Everyone was leaving our apartment after the potluck, and I opened the window to get some air and there was snow falling from the sky! And it stayed! My friends were throwing snowballs with the snow that fell on the cars. It was very cool cold.

This is a picture I found online of the town we live in. It looked like this today- gorgeous! But it's a lot colder than it looks. Don't mind the people sitting in the grass...they definitely weren't there today.

The following day, it was freezing cold. About 15F outside. I bundled up and ventured outside. This was me, happy, inside a bathroom. I do not look like this when I walk outside.

This week's blog was written last weekend, but I was too lazy to upload all the pictures, so sorry if the wording is confusing. I tried to change things around to make it sound like I just wrote it, but I didn't.

First Day

As a little welcome message, one of the previous teachers who left on Friday sent me this song. I thought it was great. It put a giant smile on my face and got me very excited for Monday. To anyone who is just starting a new job ( or starting their new retired life), I hope you too have a great first day!

There's a first time for everything.

Anytime someone visits some place new, there is usually a goal to visit new places and experience new things. "Firsts", if you will. Typing that out looks like a terrible grammatical error, but it is essentially the word for all the significant/amazing/unforgettable/milestone things one has done for the first time. There are several "firsts" that I want to do while I am in Korea, and several "firsts" that I have already done. This post will be a dedication to all the past, present, and future Firsts in our lives.

Firsts for Korea.

1st First: Moving to a different country.

This is a big one, and something that a lot of people will not have the chance to experience. I still can't believe I'm here!

2nd First: Moving in with a significant other.

Scary and exciting, and I could not have picked a better person.

3rd First: Buy a subway card and use it DAILY.

When first reading about Korea, I was so happy to find out that have a great subway system. This thing goes everywhere. And we are especially lucky because we have a brand new subway line that opened in October 2011 which connects us to downtown Seoul in about 5 stops. 20 mins. 2 bucks. So awesome.

4th First: Fish Pedicure. 

I had heard about this kind of thing, but never thought I'd be doing it so soon in my life, let alone in a coffee shop in the middle of Seoul. It was an ordinary cafe, right above Park Jun's hair salon (like the one next to the studio!), and next to the windows were two big tanks filled with water and fish; one tank for the big ones, the other for the smaller ones. It was about 2 dollars, and the most entertainment I've experienced in a coffee shop. Cheers Korea!

5th first: Become a teacher.

This is something I've been wanting to do, so to be able to do it in a different country, and have unbelievably cute kids to teach has been awesome. I can't wait to start on Monday and welcome my little Fishies to the new Pisces Classroom with me, Allie Teacher. (fishes....we have a theme here..)

While the other kids were downstairs for their graduation ceremony, my class watched The Little Mermaid.

Teaching the kids how to play connect 4. It turned out to be a game of who can make the prettiest pattern instead.

Linsey in her ballet outfit.

There are many more "Firsts" I will be doing in Korea, but that is all I have time for today. We recently moved into our bigger and better apartment (which I will post pics of soon) and I need to get to cleaning and organizing it. I hope this post has made you think about all the "Firsts" in your life, and has inspired you to do a few more!