Making a Come Back ...

There's no better time than today to start writing in my blog again. I took a very long hiatus from writing. Sorry. Hopefully some of you are still interested in reading (likely not I assume, and totally don't blame you!). But for those of you that have asked "why the hell is your blog so lame?!" I've decided I'm gonna make the effort and keep it up! (This is only the second time I've said that. But this time I really mean it.)

What's new? Well .... I officially got 10 days paid vacation, as of today!!! My company offers no paid time off. Not even holidays. Nothing. So this is kinda like heaven for me. The only stipulation .... I'm to stay indoors. And away from a lot of human contact. And not get on a plane. And take my temperature at exactly 10am and 5pm everyday, and then send it into my work. 

Some new hires in our company brought swine flu with them from the States. Awesome.

Today was the start of a new term. (My last term with Chungdahm!) Again we have a completely new structure to our classes (they have been constantly changing the class structures and materials over the past 2 terms in order to beat out the competition). It's really annoying. It's a lot of work to constantly revamp what you do everyday. So, today I went in ready to blow the new students away! (Recently I was told that I could be up for promotion to be Head Instructor for one of the programs. So, as much as I shouldn't care about my performance, since it's my last term, I have a weird inner-passion to be better than ever so that they shed maybe even half a tear when I leave in 3 months.) However, when I got to work and walked into the staff lounge, everyone just starred at me and stopped talking, smirking a bit, as if they had a big secret to tell me. I was like "What?", thinking I'd done something. And then one of them says "we're being quarantined. No work for 10 days." My immediate response was "Shut up! Yeah right! Shut up?! Shit! Really?! Nooo. Really?! I can't miss work that many days!", thinking of course that there's no way in hell Chungdahm would ever pay for time off. Even time they were forcing us to take. 

10 minutes later we were called into a seminar room. Told that the new training group had  7 cases of swine flu confirmed. Told to stay in our apartments for the next ten days. Told to take our temperatures at precisely 10am and 5pm each day and report it to headquarters.

A group of us walked out of work together (secretly excited about our vacation time), and went to buy our thermometers from the local pharmacy. We all took our temperatures together. We were all right around 37 degrees celsius, right where we should be. Except of course for my friend Abdel. He road in right around 35 degrees celsius. We told him he was probably going to die of swine flu, alone. 

Then we all started talking about what we should do for 10 days:

"You know, there's no way they're gonna know if we're staying inside or not." 

"Yeah, let's take a train down to Busan for the week!"

"Yeah! You guys wanna go to the park?"

"Let's all run home, get changed, and meet at the park in an hour."

"Sounds good!"

"Cool!"

"Alright! I'm down!"

"Alright, see ya in a bit!"

We all met up around 6pm. (Reminder: we start work at 4pm.) We hung out by the river. Lounged in the grass. Played baseball, frisbee, badminton. The boys tried jumping over people. 

We found a playground. We swung. Teeter-tottered. Attempted the parallel bars. We kept it up until the mosquitoes wouldn't stop biting our sweaty flesh. Throughout the entire evening we would joke about giving each other swine flu if someone pissed you off. We'd joke about giving the Koreans swine flu, just to piss them off. We also put someone up as a sacrifice. To take one for the team and actually contract the flu so that we could extend this glorious freedom.

Then we moved on to pizza and beer. They happened to serve sweet pickles (they serve them at every restaurant in Korea), which we used to curb our appetite, and proceeded by eating with our hands, touching our mouths, and then touching the pickles when reaching for more.

We walked off our dinner until we were too pooped to walk anymore. It was a glorious day. We did the exact opposite of what we were supposed to do. And in the end, we kinda felt like irresponsible teenagers for it.

Moral of the story .... Chungdahm needs paid vacation .... and people should wash their hands more often.

Day of Love .... part 2

Yesterday was the mark of yet another Korean Love day. First, we had Peppero day (which I think stems from Japan). That was a couple months ago. You go around giving people you love chocolate covered bread sticks. 

Then there was Valentine's Day last month. In Korea though, only the girls give the boys something on this day. 

And then there was yesterday, White Day. On this day, the boys give the girls gifts. 

I got the most wonderful gift of all ... a hand-made card. 

There's pics of the card below. When you first look you may think it's from my students, but if you look harder, you'll see it's from my grown-male friends, Abby and Chris. How can you not love them? 

We also went out with a bunch of friends dancing last night. At about 5:30am we decided we should start heading home. But on the way we stopped at a noraebong, aka, karaoke room. It was so ridiculous, and so much fun! We were in a room that faces out to the street. Everyone on the street gets to watch you making a fool of yourself. It's pretty entertaining. My guy friends that came were insane on the mics. One of the most hilarious things I've seen. Through the windows, the sun began rising, and we realized it was 6:30am, and we needed to get some sleep. Such a fun night. Full of laughs and love. 

On a side note, next month, April 14th, Korea keeps the love going by celebrating Black Day. On this day all the single people go out and mingle with other singles while eating a Chinese noodle dish. And Korea wonders why they need to put up glass barricades in front of the subway openings. Less romantic love days, less people trying to kill themselves. Little thing called logic.

(Abby aka Ab Lincoln, is on the left and Chris on the right. Me in my boots. They love to tease me because I wear boots daily and I hurt myself wearing a pair about a week ago.)

(Both guys are 6'2"-6'3" and I can never keep up when we walk anywhere. But I do not fall. That is just ridiculous. :) And they have several nicknames for me, which you'll notice. Lovely)

I'm not so good at this "blogging" thing....

As many of you have noticed, I often let a month go by before updating my blog. Wish I could say it was intentional? Gonna try harder for all of you out there that care. 

Recent happenings .... I went snowboarding for the first time in ... years! It was pretty awesome. My first run down the hill I fell over a dozen times. I couldn't get my legs to work hard enough to slow down, so I kept falling to stop myself from barreling down the hill. (Awesome.)

At the bottom of the hill I just sat there for awhile, contemplating what I had to do to keep up on my board. I was really frustrated, after just one run. And I was so tired. When you fall down repeatedly, you have to get back up repeatedly, and it takes so much more energy. 

On the second run I didn't fall once, and continued my streak until the harder hills. By the end of the day I was able to run down the intermediate hill! But that was only after falling off the lift as I was trying to get off. (Yeah, really.) We were on a lift for intermediate/expert riders. The lift was much faster than the other lifts, and I was unstrapped to my board, so I had to stand and run when we got to the top. Well, as we got to the top, my friend Abby was with me on the lift, and he's 6'3 and his legs have no problem touching the ground and running. Mine on the other hand, are too short to hit the ground, until it's too late. I went to jump off the lift, the chair caught me in the calves, and took me down. And of course, the lift still had to go over top of me. Luckily I had good reaction time, and I ducked so it didn't hit me repeatedly or anything. When it cleared me, I got up and ran for my life as Abby and our other friends are watching and laughing. Luckily they didn't have to stop the lift, but I could just see all the people on the lift behind me thinking "That girl is not an expert rider. What the hell is she doing up here?". So embarrassing. 

The trip was really good though. We stayed in a hostel one night on the mountain. That night we just hung out, drank beer, ate pizza, and played games at the arcade with the kids. It was definitely a nice get away from the crazy city that is Seoul. 

Here are some pics from the trip:

(Abby and I enjoying beer the first night.)

(In the arcade. Drumming is not my forte, ps.)

(First run of the day, before falling all the way down the hill.)

(Bottom of the intermediate/expert hill.)

(Michelle and I at the end of the day.)

I felt the yellow hair would talk to me

You heard it right. Yellow hair that talks. But before I get into that lovely story, I have another short one. 

Today in one of my classes I asked the kids to write about a time when they helped another person or saw someone else help another person that touched them. I have one girl in my 4pm class, 6th grade, and she's always that kid I want to yell "shut your mouth!" to, but can't for fear of being fired. Well, she was having trouble coming up with something to write about for the topic today. I was filling in grades, looked up, and saw her sitting there, dumbfounded. 

Me: "Nicooooole, you need to start writing."

Nicole: "Teachu, no time I helped someone."

Me: "What?! Of course you've helped someone. Think hard about a time you've done something kind for another person."

Nicole: "Hmm. No teachu. No time."

And I sit there feeling helpless, and then it came to her ...

Nicole: "Teachu! I help you!"

Me: "You helped me? When did you help  me?" Thinking this girl aint ever been a help to me. 

Nicole: "Teachu last week you were real sick. Teachu I was quite entire class. No speaking teachu. I help you."

Me: "Ahhh,  you didn't talk last class? Really? That's great! You did help me. Write about it!"

And now for the title story. This is a writing from one of my past students that entered into a speech contest with the topic "Best Teacher Contest". Another teacher sent this to me today. It is so sweet. A little redemption for the job I suppose. 

Don't mind the spelling errors please. Or that she used my middle name that I can't figure out for the life of me how she got ahold of. She's in all of 5th grade:

Best Teacher Contest - 

Name: Lesley Jeon

Class: Bridge reading/Thurs/4:00~7:00

I will tell you, my favorite, and best teacher.

My favorite teacher is Lindsey Ann Hampton, she was my teacher when I was in 'tera'. Now I am in Bridge, but I miss her very very much. Well, I think she is bright always. Isn't she? Also, she loved every student.

Here, I'll tell you why she is my favorite teacher.

First, I like her bright face. For example, she was always smiles as she was upset. Surprisely, her smile makes me comfortable. I like her smile because it like 'comfortable magic madicine'.

Second, I like her yellow short hair and her earings.

When she spoke to us, I felt the yellow hair would talk to me. Like... "Hello! Lesley, are you exciting now?"

Also, her earings would always change. All the student in our class knew that. But I like her earings too. She has star earings, leaves earings, flower earings, and long chain earings. I like all of them. 

Third, she is fair everyday. She called me 'smart' sometimes (^^) but she told everybody to that they were good or perfect. And she gave same opportunities to each students.

Forth, her voice is very good for class, talking or conversation. I remember until now, her wonderful voice. When it was my first time in Tera, I opened the door and say 'Hello' to Lindsey, then she said to me 'Hello'. Her voice was ebsolutly perfect. I remember corectly.

Lastly, she cares about each person carefully. I met her 'Winter symester second weeks' she talk to me

"Lesley, Bridge is okay to you? Well I think you are good at Bridge too!"

Those two sentences helped to me. Also, I try to be good too.

Accordingly, My favorite teacher is Lindsey.

I dream or hope, I will meet her next term. Also, I hope she will remember me until I meet her, again. 

Last... I hope I get a bright face as Lindsey has. :)

In conclusion, my favorite and also my best teacher in CDI is Lindsey Ann Hampton.

Korean Family Dinner

I had the craziest dinner of my life two nights ago.

My friend Jihyun invited me to a dinner with her family and her visiting Japanese "uncle".  Not really her uncle but a family friend. I thought we'd be going to her home for dinner, where I missed the last dinner she invited me to consisting of roasted duck, but I was sorely mistaken. Instead we arrived outside of a restaurant that was lined with tanks of live fish, octopus, squid, you name it. Jihyun turns around and says "You like sashimi?". And of course, the answer in my head is "I HATE sashimi", but the answer I gave her was simply, "sure!". 

We sat down and her father started pouring us glasses of Cass beer. As we began drinking, he started pouring us shots of soju. I'm sitting there thinking, "please don't make me drink that!". But of course, minutes later we all did a celebratory shot together. And then another. And later, another. Then the first course of dinner came out. The best way to explain this course is through pictures. Of course, I didn't take pictures at dinner, but these pictures are the closest I could find on the internet:

(squid)

(squid ink)

The difference between my food and the food in those pictures? My squid was very fresh and the ink was still inside all of those round pieces of squid (as you'd find it naturally). So I didn't have the option of passing up the ink, I had no choice but to put a huge piece of squid in my mouth, ink and all! It takes about 5 minutes to chew that stuff down enough to swallow, no joke. It was like eating rubber with mushy liver puree (not that I've had it). It was slightly awful to be honest, but I was proud of myself for at least eating it with a smile! I stuck to eating the tentacles and the hard boiled quail eggs they set on the table for us. 

I must admit, I didn't realize there was more than one course at the time we had the squid. I was thinking to myself "Hallelujah! This is almost over!", but to my surprise, when they took the squid away, they popped open the bottle of wine I had brought them and said it was to accompany the second course. "Second course?! I will die!". But I just sat there looking excited for the next butcher of food. 

I will also admit that by the time the second course came out, I was already a little drunk. I had 2 glasses of beer, a glass of wine, and at least 3-4 shots of soju. My body is not built for heavy drinking, and especially not when I'm eating very little food, with no carbs. 

They bring out the second course, 2 gigantic trays of sashimi (raw fish). They look at me as though I should be impressed. There are five different types of fish. All just killed seconds ago. It is impressive. It would be even more so if I could down raw fish without having gag reflex. And if I could look at the tray without seeing double. 

But I forged ahead. It wasn't half bad. I think because it was completely fresh, and because I was completely drunk. During the raw fish course, the father of the family opens a bottle of scotch whiskey and starts pouring everyone shots. I feel my head spinning ... off. Off my shoulders completely. I can't believe I have to drink more. With the first shot I just sipped a little from the glass. It buuurrnnnneed! Burned worse than I've ever felt. I decided I probably shouldn't sip slowly, it would just make it worse. So I took the rest as a shot. 

Then the mother joins in, "Linsae!! Whiskey!!", and pours me another. And then the father, amused at my ability to take shots of whiskey, pours another. 

The waitress then brings out another huge plate of raw fish. "Really?!" I've so had enough at this point. I was barely seeing straight. I was so full. And to top it off, it wasn't even the last course!

The last course: all the left over squid, mixed with ramen, in a very spicy broth. I poured myself another glass of wine, as someone at the table filled my beer glass again. I was done eating. I really couldn't do another ounce. I tried it, and called it good. 

Needless to say, I went to bed that night, with my head spinning in circles. And I woke in the morning to a teerrrrrible headache. All in the name of my first Korean family dinner. 

A David Sedaris Christmas

I've had a very wonderful Christmas here in Seoul. I feel very blessed for the love that people have shown me. It's amazing to me how quickly you can meet great people that make you feel like you are nearly home for the big holiday. A group of co-workers and friends put on a dinner late last night for Christmas Eve after we got off work. We had such a good time. I was surrounded by great people, amazing home-cooked food, drinks, and constant laughs. I came home in the early morning and began skyping with family (my oldest brother on the east coast), and upon waking this morning I was right back on skype with the rest of my family in Oregon (who have been without water and electricity for over four days now!). They were down spending the afternoon with my Nana, enjoying Christmas dinner, opening presents, and taking showers! It's hard to see your family all together and see all of them joking with each other, and being their crazy-selves, and not being able to be crazy right along with them. But thank goodness for skype and being able to see all of their faces and hearing all of their laughs. I later got to talk with one of my best friends, Linda, who has been living outside of Philadelphia since I left for Korea. She's been doing a project where she works with kids in an impoverished neighborhood, while living in poverty herself. She luckily was able to return to Oregon for the holidays and see her family. It was so great to finally see her face and chat with her! It's crazy how much you can miss a person, and how seeing them for just a minute brings back all memories as if you'd never been apart. It warmed my heart, to say the least.

I spent the late afternoon at another friends house, where a small group of us shared in a Christmas feast and a viewing of Home Alone. It felt like Christmas with the family! We all just lounged around, cozy, stuffed to the brim, watching a cheesy holiday movie, while I fell in and out of sleep (that's when you know I feel like I'm home). 

And tonight, I finally made it back to my apartment, to the remaining portion of my sister's amazing Christmas present. This Christmas present was so awesome, it deserves an entire blog on it's own really. My amazing sister put together a very interactive plan for me to open my presents this year. She sent several individually wrapped gifts, each with a different color bow on them. She sent a stack of 13 hand-made cards, and inside each card was instructions of which present to open, and things I needed to do for the opening of each present. I realized a little late that I was supposed to open cards/presents 1-6 when I first received the package (over a week ago)! So in talking to her late last night she informed me I was already supposed to open them! As I opened each of the first presents I found white christmas lights, an abstract tree made of pailettes, wire, and beads (you can kinda see in the pictures below), 2 dozen candles, and best of all, she made me garland from brightly colored felt, cut into multi-sized circles, sewing them into a very long strand! This I will be sporting all year round in my apartment. It is so unbelievably awesome. 

So tonight I came home and opened card seven which told me to warm up some milk, plug in the christmas lights, light the candles, and have 1.5 hours of uninterrupted time to spare. And then I opened present seven which was hot chocolate mix, and present eight, which was moose mix (which is awesome if you don't already know it). I made my hot chocolate, and then opened up another present which was a cd with a few Christmas songs, and David Sedaris' Santa Land Diaries from an NPR show, a couple years back. It's about him being an elf at Macy's Herald Square one Christmas season, his hate of the job, and his dreaming of being part of the soap opera, One Life to Live. It is beyond hilarious. His sense of humor is so dry and so good. The cd then ended with another couple Christmas songs. 

Lastly, I opened my remaining four presents: Candy, jewelry, and lingerie. What more could a girl want? (I won't actually answer that.)

There's really only one way to sum up this Christmas present: Totally Awesome. Rawr. (TBTL style.) Even mentioning the present to my friends, they all exclaimed, "Man! I want to meet your sister!" This after she knit me rad wool mittens for my birthday last month. And I'm sure, after reading this blog, you want to meet her too. You probably want her to be your sister. She is the greatest there ever was. I'm so blessed. 

I'll leave you now with pictures I took during the 1.5 hours of bliss:

(Sister's present all set-up, David Sedaris playing on the computer.)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I miss and love you all!

Reasons I Haven't Posted In So Long

1. Just to piss off the people that actually read this blog. (sister):

2. I've been preoccupied with Korean Boys (The exact opposite actually. They just happened to be swarming me that night.):

3. I've been starring at my Christmas presents for hours on end:

4. I've been wrapping your presents for hours on end! (No seriously, hours. See those little flowers on the presents? They don't just make themselves. They take 2 hands. And those hands would be mine. Can't type when I'm making flowers out of thin air.) Ps ... last crafty project of 2008. I'm spent.

5. My friend Collin came to visit. It was awesome to have a friend come and stay with me. I realized how much I miss people from back home! And having him here also got me out to see some sights I'd yet to explore. One of those being Namsan Tower (Seoul Tower). It's so close to where I live, yet I hadn't gone to see it yet. We went on a shitty night (hazy), but Collin got a great shot of the tower nonetheless (below). 

6. Because I get busy and forget. Plain and simple. But I'll start remembering. I'm glad there are people out there actually reading it. Makes my heart ... warm.