How many stages of grief are there?
After Donald Trump's surprising election victory, I hit the anger stage pretty hard. I was angry that an incredibly experienced and intelligent woman was beaten by a neophyte with a bully-complex. I was angry that I hadn't realized half of my country's voters didn't care if someone was racist or misogynistic. I was angry that some of those voters were my family.
In order to deal with my anger, I shared a lot of stuff on Facebook. Because it's so effective and changes minds and is healthy. (ha)
Then, when I was at my lowest, when I thought I was going to be angry forever, Murphy was watching Daniel Tiger - he of the little ditties that help kids navigate their ever-expanding universe. And Daniel's song that episode shook me a bit, gave me a plan to deal with my election-anger.
"Saying 'I'm sorry' is the first step. Then 'How can I help?'"
So I'm sorry.
I'm sorry to the people of color in the US who feel even more abandoned.
I'm sorry to anyone whose sexual orientation is anything other than "hetero" who feels like maybe it's won't get better just yet.
I'm sorry to every other woman who, like me, is horrified that this person's views on women were just validated.
I'm sorry Trump's views were validated.
Now, how can I help?
Being out of the country and on a limited income, I realized it may be difficult for me to help in an obvious way. So I started thinking about what I can do from here.
I can start at home. I can teach my child that every human is important. I can teach my child to love the way Jesus loved when He was here, and the way He still loves now. That means every fucking skittle in the bowl is loved. (bah! see? anger. still there.) I can work with my husband to be an example of love. We can be aware of our self-speak, so she doesn't grow up thinking it's ok to feel less valuable because of how you look. We can be aware of how we speak about others, so she learns to be compassionate. When we are angry about an injustice, we can discuss it in terms of solutions and "how could this have been handled better?" I can start here.
I can be an example of compassion for my students. I can model acceptance and tolerance. I can encourage kindness. I can emphasize love and belonging. I can equip my young students with the tools to solve problems constructively, and with empathy. I can ripple-effect the hell out of my little corner of this world.
I can be a better friend. I can listen with empathy, with understanding, without judgment. I can be a safe place for the people I love to feel reprieve, to just bask in each other's warmth.
But I can't do that if I'm angry. And Facebook fuels my anger. I have unfollowed nearly everyone who shared blatantly false and invented "news" articles, full of hatred and venom (ironically, most of those people are today calling for "an end to the negativity"). But even seeing the constant barrage of posts that justify my anti-Trump stance make me angry.
So I feel like I have to back away from the F'Book (all the kids today say this, right?).
This feels like giving in. It feels like accepting that a person I truly believe to be a danger to our country is gonna be just fine running it. I feel like I should remain hyper-vigilant and if I don't obsess over Facebook posts I might miss something. But I just... can't.
I will keep sharing Murphy-pics and JD-videos, because we have a lot of family who likes to keep up with our adventures. But I will do my best to avoid filling my wall with "gotchas" and "I told you so-s" and "OMGs" because me sharing that stuff is not going to change anyone's mind.
But me being a better me might.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Monday, November 7, 2016
Movin' on up?
So there we were, stuck in our tiny apartment for who knows how long...
Then my amazing friend/coworker stepped in. She decided the new teacher at school must be a foreigner, and that new teacher MUST take over our apartment, so we could get a better one. And that new teacher was arriving by July 11. FINALLY!! We had a date. We had a deadline. We had a light at the end of this dank-ass tunnel.
We started apartment hunting again.
We are well-versed in Korean real estate now.
We knew what we wanted. Two bedrooms. A decent living area. NOT a basement apartment. And not above a noraebang (boozy karaoke room bar) or an all-day shouty vegetable market. Oh, and within our school's budget, of course.
We searched. We had near hits. One apartment was huge, but it was in a terrible area. One apartment was amazing and clean and beautiful, and another couple signed a lease on it LITERALLY 4 minutes before we showed up. It was a very roller-coastery time.
Our director spent another evening taking us to apartments. We saw 3 (again). We found the one (again). We wanted it (again). It wanted us. It was June 25th. No reason not to jump on it, since the new teacher would be here in a couple of weeks.
Our director said not now.
Our director said she had to be sure the new teacher was actually coming before she would let us move. The new teacher already had a ticket and a visa. Our director wanted to wait. Our director crushed us. Again (squared).
My good friend here and JD both pushed me to push back. It was hard. I'm not a push-back kid. I'm a doormat who presents a convincing illusion of... of something less doormat-y. But this was too far. This was another thoughtless way of wreaking havoc on my family and our chances of feeling settled and comfortable in a foreign country. So I told her it was not ok. And that I would have to find another job if she couldn't make this right. And that my family could not stay on this roller coaster any longer.
She signed the lease that day.
We moved in the second weekend of July. We had so many incredible people show up to help us. We had 500 square feet to spread ourselves out. It felt like a mansion. Murphy spent half of the first week just running back and forth through it, loving that she could actually do that. It was perfect.
500 square feet of start-over-again.
Then my amazing friend/coworker stepped in. She decided the new teacher at school must be a foreigner, and that new teacher MUST take over our apartment, so we could get a better one. And that new teacher was arriving by July 11. FINALLY!! We had a date. We had a deadline. We had a light at the end of this dank-ass tunnel.
We started apartment hunting again.
We are well-versed in Korean real estate now.
We knew what we wanted. Two bedrooms. A decent living area. NOT a basement apartment. And not above a noraebang (boozy karaoke room bar) or an all-day shouty vegetable market. Oh, and within our school's budget, of course.
We searched. We had near hits. One apartment was huge, but it was in a terrible area. One apartment was amazing and clean and beautiful, and another couple signed a lease on it LITERALLY 4 minutes before we showed up. It was a very roller-coastery time.
Our director spent another evening taking us to apartments. We saw 3 (again). We found the one (again). We wanted it (again). It wanted us. It was June 25th. No reason not to jump on it, since the new teacher would be here in a couple of weeks.
Our director said not now.
Our director said she had to be sure the new teacher was actually coming before she would let us move. The new teacher already had a ticket and a visa. Our director wanted to wait. Our director crushed us. Again (squared).
My good friend here and JD both pushed me to push back. It was hard. I'm not a push-back kid. I'm a doormat who presents a convincing illusion of... of something less doormat-y. But this was too far. This was another thoughtless way of wreaking havoc on my family and our chances of feeling settled and comfortable in a foreign country. So I told her it was not ok. And that I would have to find another job if she couldn't make this right. And that my family could not stay on this roller coaster any longer.
She signed the lease that day.
We moved in the second weekend of July. We had so many incredible people show up to help us. We had 500 square feet to spread ourselves out. It felt like a mansion. Murphy spent half of the first week just running back and forth through it, loving that she could actually do that. It was perfect.
500 square feet of start-over-again.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
The Thrill is Gone, Pt. 2
So we made it through the first night in the garbage pail. We tried to build a makeshift crib with suitcases around a folded blanket, but the Murph would have none of it. So we did our best to cosleep on the blanket pile. It is a foggy haze, but I know she was up playing for part of the night, and we woke up to things scattered around the room and a diaper in JD's hat.
I had emailed my director and told her the apartment was unacceptable, unlivable, unbelievable. She agreed to immediately take me around to look at new apartments, 9 am Monday (our first day in the country). I was hesitant to leave my family so soon, but we desperately wanted out of there. So I went.
She took me to 3 apartments.
The first was beautiful, brand new, shiny, clean. But it was far away from the school and I would have to help supplement the rent. Sorry, can't afford that on a hagwon teacher's salary. Next.
Apartment 2 was spacious, with a proper kitchen area and a nice big Korean balcony. And every single wall had black mold at least up to my shoulders. Nope.
The 3rd apartment was similar to the one we had slept in, but was clean. It was a basement apartment (ahh, there it is, the basement). We agreed that it may end up being quieter, being underground. We thought it might stay cooler in the summer. We talked about those awesome hipsters who build tiny homes on purpose. We justified the hell out of it, just to get out of the hell we were in. It was not better.
We did our best to stay positive and try to make it work. We bought fans and a dehumidifier and a portable air conditioner and an air purifier. We bought tension-rod wardrobes to make up for the complete lack of storage. We bought a small table tall enough to put suitcases under, but narrow enough to fit in our bedroom/living room.
Some incredibly generous friends gave us $1000 to make our transition to the other side of the planet more comfortable, and we used every dime to try to make a 348 square foot, moldy basement apartment work for the 3 of us.
We didn't realize how much it DIDN'T work until a couple of my Korean friends/coworkers came by to check on us. Their faces said it all. Thanks to their interventions, my director agreed to find a new place for us. In fact, she took us around that next weekend to look at apartments.
We went all over the area, seeing some places twice, even looking at places out of our price range and out of town, desperately trying to find something that was available and would work.
Finally, we found a gem just up the street. It had a big open living space we could use as a studio apartment, plus an additional small room we could use as Murphy's room. It was in a high rise. It was clean, in a nice area, had lots of built-in storage. It was available. We were excited.
Then we were told we couldn't move until they found a new tenant for our current apartment. And that it may take a while because it was A SHITTY APARTMENT that nobody wanted.
We were crushed. Again.
I had emailed my director and told her the apartment was unacceptable, unlivable, unbelievable. She agreed to immediately take me around to look at new apartments, 9 am Monday (our first day in the country). I was hesitant to leave my family so soon, but we desperately wanted out of there. So I went.
She took me to 3 apartments.
The first was beautiful, brand new, shiny, clean. But it was far away from the school and I would have to help supplement the rent. Sorry, can't afford that on a hagwon teacher's salary. Next.
Apartment 2 was spacious, with a proper kitchen area and a nice big Korean balcony. And every single wall had black mold at least up to my shoulders. Nope.
The 3rd apartment was similar to the one we had slept in, but was clean. It was a basement apartment (ahh, there it is, the basement). We agreed that it may end up being quieter, being underground. We thought it might stay cooler in the summer. We talked about those awesome hipsters who build tiny homes on purpose. We justified the hell out of it, just to get out of the hell we were in. It was not better.
We did our best to stay positive and try to make it work. We bought fans and a dehumidifier and a portable air conditioner and an air purifier. We bought tension-rod wardrobes to make up for the complete lack of storage. We bought a small table tall enough to put suitcases under, but narrow enough to fit in our bedroom/living room.
Some incredibly generous friends gave us $1000 to make our transition to the other side of the planet more comfortable, and we used every dime to try to make a 348 square foot, moldy basement apartment work for the 3 of us.
We didn't realize how much it DIDN'T work until a couple of my Korean friends/coworkers came by to check on us. Their faces said it all. Thanks to their interventions, my director agreed to find a new place for us. In fact, she took us around that next weekend to look at apartments.
We went all over the area, seeing some places twice, even looking at places out of our price range and out of town, desperately trying to find something that was available and would work.
Finally, we found a gem just up the street. It had a big open living space we could use as a studio apartment, plus an additional small room we could use as Murphy's room. It was in a high rise. It was clean, in a nice area, had lots of built-in storage. It was available. We were excited.
Then we were told we couldn't move until they found a new tenant for our current apartment. And that it may take a while because it was A SHITTY APARTMENT that nobody wanted.
We were crushed. Again.
Monday, October 24, 2016
The Thrill is Gone, Pt. 1
Oh, sweet naive Emily of the previous post. I envy your enthusiasm, your excitement at the semi-unknown, your pride in your husband's trust, your optimism.
Your optimism.
God, was it high. And when things are that high, they have a long way to fall.
I haven't posted in a while (she said, unnecessarily, but to have an easy paragraph-starter)... I haven't posted in a while, because it hasn't been a priority. And also, I didn't want to be a downer. But then I remembered that this is my blog. My blog that I originally began in order to keep friends and family apprised of my Korean adventures, but now will absolutely be more of a family album of sorts - but words, not pictures (which I prefer, anyhow). So I will be a downer all I want. Because, unfortunately, that's where this story begins.
Down.
Way down.
But not in the basement. Yet.
We landed in Korea on Sunday, April 17. Murphy promptly threw up all over me at touchdown. We were reassured by another foreigner that it's normal - his kids make the trip back and forth all the time, he said, and they just get so exhausted, they puke. We accepted this. We know now it was a warning.
After changing clothes in the bathroom, we made our way to Immigration. Incheon International was undergoing some construction, so the line for Immigration was about 2 hours long, extending into a sweltering hallway. When we finally got close enough to see the rope maze, a kind airport employee (dressed festively in a hanbok) looked at us with pity and escorted us to one of the Immigration officers. God bless that woman.
An employee from the school met us and we got to ride in the school's van back to Suji (where we live now). It was fun seeing the old familiar signs and highways and towns. I loved being back. I loved that I was here with my family. The future was so fucking bright.
Then we got to our apartment. Which was, per the contract, a "furnished, two-bedroom" apartment. Which I had specifically and repeatedly requested be furnished with a crib, if nothing else, because that's the only place Murphy sleeps. I even sent the exact Ikea model for which I would have been happy to reimburse the school, so long as my overtired toddler had a place to sleep when we arrived.
Nope.
We walked into a literal two-room apartment (we now know was about 300 square feet). One small bedroom, another less-small bedroom, a hallway kitchen (that's not a missing comma, it was a hallway-kitchen) and a bathroom. With a broken sink that wasn't even connected to the pipes below it. And a gag-inducing sewage and mold smell.
And no. motherfucking. furnishings.
We had a pile of used blankets and a couple of dirty pillows on the floor of one bedroom. That was it.
That was it.
No place for Murphy. No crib. Not even a friendly bottle of water in the fridge to say "Hey, thanks for moving your whole family across the world, please hydrate."
I was livid. I called a dear friend who has been here for a decade, and told him I was ready to go back into Seoul right then, get a hotel, and fly out first thing the next morning. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to run away.
I wanted better for my family. I wanted to stop this guilt rushing in - guilt at the living conditions, guilt that my husband's trust was so misplaced, guilt that I ripped my child away from everyone who loves her (minus us, of course) and brought her to a garbage heap. I wanted a place to sleep.
I wanted to fix it.
Your optimism.
God, was it high. And when things are that high, they have a long way to fall.
I haven't posted in a while (she said, unnecessarily, but to have an easy paragraph-starter)... I haven't posted in a while, because it hasn't been a priority. And also, I didn't want to be a downer. But then I remembered that this is my blog. My blog that I originally began in order to keep friends and family apprised of my Korean adventures, but now will absolutely be more of a family album of sorts - but words, not pictures (which I prefer, anyhow). So I will be a downer all I want. Because, unfortunately, that's where this story begins.
Down.
Way down.
But not in the basement. Yet.
We landed in Korea on Sunday, April 17. Murphy promptly threw up all over me at touchdown. We were reassured by another foreigner that it's normal - his kids make the trip back and forth all the time, he said, and they just get so exhausted, they puke. We accepted this. We know now it was a warning.
After changing clothes in the bathroom, we made our way to Immigration. Incheon International was undergoing some construction, so the line for Immigration was about 2 hours long, extending into a sweltering hallway. When we finally got close enough to see the rope maze, a kind airport employee (dressed festively in a hanbok) looked at us with pity and escorted us to one of the Immigration officers. God bless that woman.
An employee from the school met us and we got to ride in the school's van back to Suji (where we live now). It was fun seeing the old familiar signs and highways and towns. I loved being back. I loved that I was here with my family. The future was so fucking bright.
Then we got to our apartment. Which was, per the contract, a "furnished, two-bedroom" apartment. Which I had specifically and repeatedly requested be furnished with a crib, if nothing else, because that's the only place Murphy sleeps. I even sent the exact Ikea model for which I would have been happy to reimburse the school, so long as my overtired toddler had a place to sleep when we arrived.
Nope.
We walked into a literal two-room apartment (we now know was about 300 square feet). One small bedroom, another less-small bedroom, a hallway kitchen (that's not a missing comma, it was a hallway-kitchen) and a bathroom. With a broken sink that wasn't even connected to the pipes below it. And a gag-inducing sewage and mold smell.
And no. motherfucking. furnishings.
We had a pile of used blankets and a couple of dirty pillows on the floor of one bedroom. That was it.
That was it.
No place for Murphy. No crib. Not even a friendly bottle of water in the fridge to say "Hey, thanks for moving your whole family across the world, please hydrate."
I was livid. I called a dear friend who has been here for a decade, and told him I was ready to go back into Seoul right then, get a hotel, and fly out first thing the next morning. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to run away.
I wanted better for my family. I wanted to stop this guilt rushing in - guilt at the living conditions, guilt that my husband's trust was so misplaced, guilt that I ripped my child away from everyone who loves her (minus us, of course) and brought her to a garbage heap. I wanted a place to sleep.
I wanted to fix it.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Here we go again
So we have about 2.5 weeks before takeoff. The Murph, Jesse, and I are moving to South Korea. I was offered a job at a brand new school, which is exciting, though it does come with a whole new set of challenges.
We have done our best to explain to Murphy what's happening, but she's 19 months. All she knows is that we are going to ride on an airplane, and she gets frustrated when we're not going right now!
JD is excited, too. I wonder how this must feel for him, venturing into something completely unknown. It stirs something in my heart to realize the level of trust he has in me, trust that I am not dragging us into anything too crazy or miserable or dangerous.
And I am just flat thrilled. Thrilled to be back, thrilled to have solid public transit again, thrilled to show my family around Korea, and thrilled to have this opportunity to experience the country through a totally different lens.
Here we go!
We have done our best to explain to Murphy what's happening, but she's 19 months. All she knows is that we are going to ride on an airplane, and she gets frustrated when we're not going right now!
JD is excited, too. I wonder how this must feel for him, venturing into something completely unknown. It stirs something in my heart to realize the level of trust he has in me, trust that I am not dragging us into anything too crazy or miserable or dangerous.
And I am just flat thrilled. Thrilled to be back, thrilled to have solid public transit again, thrilled to show my family around Korea, and thrilled to have this opportunity to experience the country through a totally different lens.
Here we go!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
3rd Thanksgiving in the ROK
My third Turkey Day away from home was also my first day at my new job here in Korea. It was an experience, for sure.
This morning, I waited outside in the cold for an hour, because the poor guy they sent from my school to pick me up couldn't find the place. I didn't want to go inside, lest he should drive by and not see me. So I waited. And it was freezing. Then traffic was epic going back into Seoul, and it took us two solid hours to reach the school. God bless him, he had a can of coffee and a waffle for me to munch on in the car.
Once I finally got there, my day was filled with meeting kids, learning schedules, and observing classes. The schedule is similar to LCI, with Kindergarten in the morning and elementary in the afternoon. However, POLY switches classes every 40 minutes, during both times, and so I'll have two Kinder classes that I work with, rather than one. It also looks like I may be teaching a gym class, hahahaha.
The students were adorable, of course. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. The first girl I met, Dorothy, was this tiny little thing I wanted to stick in my pocket, who made it her job to show me around the first floor. The school is split into two floors, with the bottom being 7 year olds and the top 6 year olds.
My co-workers, both foreign and Korean, are fantastic. Everyone is incredibly helpful and kind, and I'm excited about working with them.
They also invited me, as I mentioned before, to their Thanksgiving dinner tonight. The great thing about that, besides the dinner and the company, was that I got a sneak preview of where I'd be living. If we thought I'd lost weight before from walking everywhere, that will have been nothing compared to what will happen to me now. I live up what was described to me as a "treacherous hill," and that was no exaggeration. I'm a bit nervous for winter, and hope the snow is kept to a minimum this year.
These people really know how to keep the holiday traditional, even so far from home. Our spread was phenomenal:
I have to stay in a hotel tonight, as my apartment won't be vacated till tomorrow. It was suggested that I leave my big heavy bags at the school, so I brought just my carry-on and backpack. I was given a piece of paper with the hotel name, and caught a cab after dinner. I had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised to see that this hotel could be compared to a Comfort Suites. It's pretty fab, and I don't think I'll want to get out of bed in the morning :)
Even the toilet is fancy ;)
And just so you don't forget that there's a real person behind these posts, here's a fuzzy action shot of me, sitting here blogging:
Riveting, eh? :)
I wasn't feeling well after the dinner, so I stopped at the 7-11 and bought some water and a vitamin C drink. Now that you've been sufficiently updated, I'm going to hydrate and sleep. I've got another long day of learning ahead of me, so I need to be in tip-top shape!
PS - Epic weekend ahead, as well. Saturday is my "Welcome Back" party, and Sunday is Thanksgiving Dinner, part Two, with my dear Jukjeon friends.
Love you all!
This morning, I waited outside in the cold for an hour, because the poor guy they sent from my school to pick me up couldn't find the place. I didn't want to go inside, lest he should drive by and not see me. So I waited. And it was freezing. Then traffic was epic going back into Seoul, and it took us two solid hours to reach the school. God bless him, he had a can of coffee and a waffle for me to munch on in the car.
Once I finally got there, my day was filled with meeting kids, learning schedules, and observing classes. The schedule is similar to LCI, with Kindergarten in the morning and elementary in the afternoon. However, POLY switches classes every 40 minutes, during both times, and so I'll have two Kinder classes that I work with, rather than one. It also looks like I may be teaching a gym class, hahahaha.
The students were adorable, of course. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. The first girl I met, Dorothy, was this tiny little thing I wanted to stick in my pocket, who made it her job to show me around the first floor. The school is split into two floors, with the bottom being 7 year olds and the top 6 year olds.
My co-workers, both foreign and Korean, are fantastic. Everyone is incredibly helpful and kind, and I'm excited about working with them.
They also invited me, as I mentioned before, to their Thanksgiving dinner tonight. The great thing about that, besides the dinner and the company, was that I got a sneak preview of where I'd be living. If we thought I'd lost weight before from walking everywhere, that will have been nothing compared to what will happen to me now. I live up what was described to me as a "treacherous hill," and that was no exaggeration. I'm a bit nervous for winter, and hope the snow is kept to a minimum this year.
These people really know how to keep the holiday traditional, even so far from home. Our spread was phenomenal:
I have to stay in a hotel tonight, as my apartment won't be vacated till tomorrow. It was suggested that I leave my big heavy bags at the school, so I brought just my carry-on and backpack. I was given a piece of paper with the hotel name, and caught a cab after dinner. I had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised to see that this hotel could be compared to a Comfort Suites. It's pretty fab, and I don't think I'll want to get out of bed in the morning :)
Even the toilet is fancy ;)
And just so you don't forget that there's a real person behind these posts, here's a fuzzy action shot of me, sitting here blogging:
Riveting, eh? :)
I wasn't feeling well after the dinner, so I stopped at the 7-11 and bought some water and a vitamin C drink. Now that you've been sufficiently updated, I'm going to hydrate and sleep. I've got another long day of learning ahead of me, so I need to be in tip-top shape!
PS - Epic weekend ahead, as well. Saturday is my "Welcome Back" party, and Sunday is Thanksgiving Dinner, part Two, with my dear Jukjeon friends.
Love you all!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Back in the ROK
So it's been a while. I'm a lazy little blogger.
In an effort to keep everything current and fresh, I'll skip the rest of my Guatemala trip, and the Netherlands, and focus your attention on the here and now. I couldn't find a job in the States, and so moved back to South Korea to teach and make lots of money again :)
This time, I'll be living in Seoul, about an hour and a half from where I used to live. I'm working for POLY School, which is a major school around here, and so my job should be pretty safe.
I arrived Sunday evening, and am staying in Jukjeon until Thursday morning, when my school will pick me up and move me and my 100+ lbs of luggage to my new home. I've been staying with the Dish, who you may remember from previous Korea posts.
It's been great being back in Jukjeon. I stopped by the Paris Baguette where I used to get an Iced Cafe Latte every morning, and the husband-and-wife owners remembered me! They were so excited to see me, they gave me a free can of Cafe Mocha :)
Of course, I couldn't be here in the town without visiting LCI. It was wonderful to see all of the Korean staff, but my main purpose was to see my babies. It was a huge surprise for them, and they loved it. I was thrilled about seeing them again, and just wanted to squeeze them till their little heads popped off :) Unfortunately, only 4 of my Kinders were there. Others had left LCI, or were taking a break from English. Still, those 4 were enough for me.
Sally, Laura, Sun Q, and Becky. I don't know if you can see, but Sun Q and Becky are both missing their two front teeth :)
I stuck around to see the later Elementary kids too... And was proud that I could still tell the twins, Sunny and Michelle, apart:
But the two I really wanted to see were Erica and Lina. When I left, I had been teaching just the two of them for 2.5 hours, three days a week. It was a great class, because we were able to go off on tangents and discuss girlie things while still getting our work done. These girls have a huge part of my heart.
Erica and Lina. Erica is the girl who e-mailed me, when I told her I was coming back to Korea, and said "Teacher, don't eat pizza before you fly, or the plane will fall out of the sky." She's hilarious. I told them I'd give them my number, once I have it, and we'd go to Everland :)
It's been really great to be back in Jukjeon (in my old apartment, even!) and to see what has changed and what is still surviving. However, I'm really looking forward to checking out my new neighborhood, my new co-workers, and my new apartment. It seems like, at the very least, my new co-workers will be great. They've already invited me, via the director, to an American Thanksgiving dinner at one of their apartments on Thursday. So I think I'll be very happy there :)
I promise to be a diligent poster now that I'm back in the land of silly signs and funny Englishee phrases :)
Love you all!
In an effort to keep everything current and fresh, I'll skip the rest of my Guatemala trip, and the Netherlands, and focus your attention on the here and now. I couldn't find a job in the States, and so moved back to South Korea to teach and make lots of money again :)
This time, I'll be living in Seoul, about an hour and a half from where I used to live. I'm working for POLY School, which is a major school around here, and so my job should be pretty safe.
I arrived Sunday evening, and am staying in Jukjeon until Thursday morning, when my school will pick me up and move me and my 100+ lbs of luggage to my new home. I've been staying with the Dish, who you may remember from previous Korea posts.
It's been great being back in Jukjeon. I stopped by the Paris Baguette where I used to get an Iced Cafe Latte every morning, and the husband-and-wife owners remembered me! They were so excited to see me, they gave me a free can of Cafe Mocha :)
Of course, I couldn't be here in the town without visiting LCI. It was wonderful to see all of the Korean staff, but my main purpose was to see my babies. It was a huge surprise for them, and they loved it. I was thrilled about seeing them again, and just wanted to squeeze them till their little heads popped off :) Unfortunately, only 4 of my Kinders were there. Others had left LCI, or were taking a break from English. Still, those 4 were enough for me.
Sally, Laura, Sun Q, and Becky. I don't know if you can see, but Sun Q and Becky are both missing their two front teeth :)
I stuck around to see the later Elementary kids too... And was proud that I could still tell the twins, Sunny and Michelle, apart:
But the two I really wanted to see were Erica and Lina. When I left, I had been teaching just the two of them for 2.5 hours, three days a week. It was a great class, because we were able to go off on tangents and discuss girlie things while still getting our work done. These girls have a huge part of my heart.
Erica and Lina. Erica is the girl who e-mailed me, when I told her I was coming back to Korea, and said "Teacher, don't eat pizza before you fly, or the plane will fall out of the sky." She's hilarious. I told them I'd give them my number, once I have it, and we'd go to Everland :)
It's been really great to be back in Jukjeon (in my old apartment, even!) and to see what has changed and what is still surviving. However, I'm really looking forward to checking out my new neighborhood, my new co-workers, and my new apartment. It seems like, at the very least, my new co-workers will be great. They've already invited me, via the director, to an American Thanksgiving dinner at one of their apartments on Thursday. So I think I'll be very happy there :)
I promise to be a diligent poster now that I'm back in the land of silly signs and funny Englishee phrases :)
Love you all!
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