Sunday, March 30, 2008
Video of the Kids
Usually this class is very well behaved...too bad when I get out my camera all bets are off and they go a little crazy. Keep in mind this was on a friday and we were talking about food. Cindy and Peter are two of my all time favorite students. I swear I'm a better teacher then this...haha.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Yoga
I'm not going to lie I've been pretty lazy these past few months so I decided to start taking yoga as a stepping stone to getting back into shape before my year is up. I took a few yoga classes in college and at 24 hr fitness but I don't think anything could have really prepared me for my korean yoga class.
First of all absolutely no one knows how to speak any English...ok that's a lie, they know how to say hi, bye, and the days of the week...literally that is it. So three days a week I sit there stretching and I would say a good 97 percent of the time, have no idea what anyone is saying. This is great because usually I think I'm going to die...and can't express my pain. I think the koreans think I'm more tolerate to pain than I really am. In America the instructors always corrected me, but they never pushed me. Maybe I was just taking easy classes... i don't know?
Anyway, so there are two instructors (one cute short little man, and other who i like to affectionately refer to as the insane crazy lady). I'm convinced the insane crazy lady loves to torture me. She seriously pushes me so hard it feels like my muscles are going to tear. Really!... a person can only bend so far. I consider myself a somewhat bendy person, but I'm sorry I can't hold the butterfly position and bend so far forward that my chest touches the ground. Oh wait apparently I can can! At least when the insane crazy lady is sitting on my back! She is constantly yelled something at me, and I'm still not really sure what it is... I've decided she is telling me to breathe out. So every time she starts yelling I just start taking long deep breaths. Korean yoga is super fun! ...haha.
Oh did I mention that no can sit next to me either? Yeah, so since I have such long legs and the mats are really really close together I get to feel like the loser who has to sit all alone in the corner. Aside from feeling like a giant, I guess it's ok since I don't ever know what anyone is saying anyway. I'm not going to lie I still kind of feel like the giant outcast though. It's even better when I hear "waeguken" (which means foreigner) and then everyone looks at me and laughs. Oh wait, that happens all the freakin time! I figure they've got to get used to me eventually though. One old lady did bring me strawberries, which I though was super cute. I guess it's a start.
Wish me luck :)
First of all absolutely no one knows how to speak any English...ok that's a lie, they know how to say hi, bye, and the days of the week...literally that is it. So three days a week I sit there stretching and I would say a good 97 percent of the time, have no idea what anyone is saying. This is great because usually I think I'm going to die...and can't express my pain. I think the koreans think I'm more tolerate to pain than I really am. In America the instructors always corrected me, but they never pushed me. Maybe I was just taking easy classes... i don't know?
Anyway, so there are two instructors (one cute short little man, and other who i like to affectionately refer to as the insane crazy lady). I'm convinced the insane crazy lady loves to torture me. She seriously pushes me so hard it feels like my muscles are going to tear. Really!... a person can only bend so far. I consider myself a somewhat bendy person, but I'm sorry I can't hold the butterfly position and bend so far forward that my chest touches the ground. Oh wait apparently I can can! At least when the insane crazy lady is sitting on my back! She is constantly yelled something at me, and I'm still not really sure what it is... I've decided she is telling me to breathe out. So every time she starts yelling I just start taking long deep breaths. Korean yoga is super fun! ...haha.
Oh did I mention that no can sit next to me either? Yeah, so since I have such long legs and the mats are really really close together I get to feel like the loser who has to sit all alone in the corner. Aside from feeling like a giant, I guess it's ok since I don't ever know what anyone is saying anyway. I'm not going to lie I still kind of feel like the giant outcast though. It's even better when I hear "waeguken" (which means foreigner) and then everyone looks at me and laughs. Oh wait, that happens all the freakin time! I figure they've got to get used to me eventually though. One old lady did bring me strawberries, which I though was super cute. I guess it's a start.
Wish me luck :)
Monday, March 17, 2008
Eight months down!
I honestly can't believe I've been here for so long already. Holy crap. I still can't believe I'm here and how normal it is now. I guess it will never really be normal though. I think I'm doing really good for awhile and then it's the stupid little things that piss me off. For example...
1. Last week I got my haircut which is basically a crap shoot. No matter what, it's never what you want so i keep my fingers crossed and hope it's at least half way decent.
2. When I have to punish the kids and they're yelling back at me in Korean. I know if they're swearing at me but that's about it. Damn them.
3. When a group of Koreans high school kids walk by and laugh. Seriously.
4. The fact that you never know if Koreans are happy or pissed off you're anywhere.
5. When drunk Korean men follow me into a market and won't leave until they tell me they just want to be my friend at least twenty-five times in really crappy English, then proceed to try to drag me to the nearest bar. Picture this after a full day of teaching screaming elementary school kids. Not happening.
six. The fact that my six and eight keys don't work. I guess that's not really Korea's fault though.
7. Having hot water that only lasts for ten minutes.
eight. When i realize i should have held out for more money.
9. The fact that my walls are so thin I can actually hear other people peeing... I thought of that because it is actually happening as I type this.
Ten would have been a good solid number to end on, but now I'm getting sleepy and don't want to think about it anymore. Maybe my next post will be about all the good things, at least to even the playing field...especially now that i know some of my Korean friends read this.
K, i'm out. Night.
1. Last week I got my haircut which is basically a crap shoot. No matter what, it's never what you want so i keep my fingers crossed and hope it's at least half way decent.
2. When I have to punish the kids and they're yelling back at me in Korean. I know if they're swearing at me but that's about it. Damn them.
3. When a group of Koreans high school kids walk by and laugh. Seriously.
4. The fact that you never know if Koreans are happy or pissed off you're anywhere.
5. When drunk Korean men follow me into a market and won't leave until they tell me they just want to be my friend at least twenty-five times in really crappy English, then proceed to try to drag me to the nearest bar. Picture this after a full day of teaching screaming elementary school kids. Not happening.
six. The fact that my six and eight keys don't work. I guess that's not really Korea's fault though.
7. Having hot water that only lasts for ten minutes.
eight. When i realize i should have held out for more money.
9. The fact that my walls are so thin I can actually hear other people peeing... I thought of that because it is actually happening as I type this.
Ten would have been a good solid number to end on, but now I'm getting sleepy and don't want to think about it anymore. Maybe my next post will be about all the good things, at least to even the playing field...especially now that i know some of my Korean friends read this.
K, i'm out. Night.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Snowboarding at Muju
Here are the pics I promised. I really miss mt hood! Snowboarding/ Skiing in Korea is like a death wish. These are pics from the top of the lift.
First of all, the weekend I decided to go was complete crap and the good runs were all really icy. I'm talking weird icy too, like extremely large rocks of ice. So I decided I take a few runs down the leisurely route to warm up and practice carving. Well, I basically almost died like 12 times. Plus this chick ate it right in front of me so before I even had the chance to stop I rammed her in the back with my board. Of course I felt horrible because I'm a normal person. So I tried to apologize in the best Korean I could and all I got was this girl looking at me like I was crazy and an "ok." Yea well karma came back around on the next run when I was fully taken out by some jackass on skis. So that was sweet...and then the guy kept right on going...probably on his way to take out the next unsuspecting victim. I guess it's just the culture, no need to apologize just get the hell out of the way.
The mountain was also super packed, hence all the people running into each other because they all suck. It was fun and first dodging all the beginners, at least until I realized they are completely unpredictable and WILL continually run into you.
Overall it was a fun day though...lol. A really nice Korean guy who had lived in Australia helped with all my rented gear after they screwed up my ticket... apparently trying to explain, "you gave me a ticket for skiing and I want to go snowboarding" is beyond my Korean vocabulary at this point..haha. Plus I got to feel like a celebrity at the top with random strangers wanting to take pictures with me because I'm a white girl with blond hair.
First of all, the weekend I decided to go was complete crap and the good runs were all really icy. I'm talking weird icy too, like extremely large rocks of ice. So I decided I take a few runs down the leisurely route to warm up and practice carving. Well, I basically almost died like 12 times. Plus this chick ate it right in front of me so before I even had the chance to stop I rammed her in the back with my board. Of course I felt horrible because I'm a normal person. So I tried to apologize in the best Korean I could and all I got was this girl looking at me like I was crazy and an "ok." Yea well karma came back around on the next run when I was fully taken out by some jackass on skis. So that was sweet...and then the guy kept right on going...probably on his way to take out the next unsuspecting victim. I guess it's just the culture, no need to apologize just get the hell out of the way.
The mountain was also super packed, hence all the people running into each other because they all suck. It was fun and first dodging all the beginners, at least until I realized they are completely unpredictable and WILL continually run into you.
Overall it was a fun day though...lol. A really nice Korean guy who had lived in Australia helped with all my rented gear after they screwed up my ticket... apparently trying to explain, "you gave me a ticket for skiing and I want to go snowboarding" is beyond my Korean vocabulary at this point..haha. Plus I got to feel like a celebrity at the top with random strangers wanting to take pictures with me because I'm a white girl with blond hair.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Korean T-shirts
So I fully stole these from a Korean t-shirts website for foreigners. Some of them you pretty much have to live here to appreciate but some are universal.
Either way they made me laugh. :)
1.
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
In order 1-9
1. Korean taxi drivers are insane. Red lights = break slightly but not really.
2. Two Korean bad words.
1) 18 in Korean almost sounds identical to the word for shit.
2) "Dog baby" which is like telling someone they have the intelligence of a small puppy. Keep in mind they eat dogs here.
3. True!
4. Rock, paper,scissors, aka the best way to solve all problems.
5. Everyone loves the soju!
6. Englishee, Changee, Pagee, Beachee (korean accent)
7. Kimchi = Cheese (but only for pictures)
8. Dongchim. Picture a little boy crouching behind his best friends chair. His hands are together with his index fingers extended (like a gun). His friend gets up then goes to sit back down and...BAM! He got dongchimed! Aka his friend poked him in the butt hole...lol. God this is a weird country.
9. Gochu
Either way they made me laugh. :)
1.
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
In order 1-9
1. Korean taxi drivers are insane. Red lights = break slightly but not really.
2. Two Korean bad words.
1) 18 in Korean almost sounds identical to the word for shit.
2) "Dog baby" which is like telling someone they have the intelligence of a small puppy. Keep in mind they eat dogs here.
3. True!
4. Rock, paper,scissors, aka the best way to solve all problems.
5. Everyone loves the soju!
6. Englishee, Changee, Pagee, Beachee (korean accent)
7. Kimchi = Cheese (but only for pictures)
8. Dongchim. Picture a little boy crouching behind his best friends chair. His hands are together with his index fingers extended (like a gun). His friend gets up then goes to sit back down and...BAM! He got dongchimed! Aka his friend poked him in the butt hole...lol. God this is a weird country.
9. Gochu
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Friday Nights
Here is a glimpse of a pretty typical friday night out with the other foreigners. The korean guy is Song, the owner of the bar. Song speaks english so we put up with the fact that he's the typical dirty old man...haha.
Komebae!
Komebae!
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