How come that is, Teacher?

My ability to phrase my words succinctly has gone to shit. I now teach little Korean kids how to speak, write, and read English and it has taken it's toll on my own vocabulary. For a girl like me, sometimes...most times, my words were all I had.

I have been here for a month and two days now and I can't say that I hadn't been warned...I just didn't think it would happen so quickly. But maybe that's because I am embracing my job. I do love it. I love most of my kids. And the ones I'm not excited about seeing certainly get my pulse up when I have to sternly tell them to sit down and to stay on task...stay on task...I feel like I'm back in third grade. My favorites are Tae-won...he actually looks like a Korean version of my nephew, Andrew; Yumin, Charlotte, Clara, Henry, Peter, and all four of my high level Kindergarten students. I should take pictures. More on that later.

I'm finally getting over a cold that I've had since New Year's Day. My middle-of-the-night-coughing-fits are coming to a close and for that, I am truly thankful. Korea has been a pretty amazing experience so far. I just can't wait until Winter Camp is over so that I can finally get to the regular school hours...which is 2:30 to 8:30. How wonderful will that be?

Okay..I have to go pack my backpack..more later!


c

Merry New Year!!

Hello, Dear Readers--

It's been quite some time, hasn't it? I haven't really been on the internet that much (seeing as I don't have access in my room as of yet), so please excuse my absence.

First off--Seoul is amazing. I have met so many interesting people here in the 24 days I have been living here, it's astounding! The teachers at my school are awesome, and pretty much all of Kat's people are truly decent individuals who care about some pretty amazing causes. I am honored and privileged to be a foreigner among them. I haven't had much of a cultural shock--I have been around a Korean culture since I was a teenager, so that part doesn't really phase me. And if there is anything that jars me, instead of saying, "Um. That's weird." I tend to say, "Oh, well, that's not what I'm accustomed to seeing..." But being so culturally open leaves me to wonder certain things about myself. We'll get into that a bit later. I'm still figuring out the wording I would like to use.

The food is ah-may-zing. I don't think there has been a dish that I've tried that I haven't liked! I barely remember the names of the dishes, but rest assured that I will figure that all out soon. I'm only 24 days old here, afterall.

As far as teaching goes, I really do love most of my classes. Some truly test me and my ability to keep my composure--especially when I feel I can't control them....then again, teaching is more than just controlling a class. Some days I feel so incredibly ineffective. While others I feel on point and friggin fabulous. I'm sure that this will all click one day...I just hope it's sooner than later. It kind of reminds me when I was working for Starbucks and how uncomfortable I was with the bar and making espresso drinks...but then one day, it all clicked. Boy, was that ever a fantastic day...

Christmas went well--I went to Kat's family's apartment over by the East Sea. It was really cold, but far warmer than it was in Seoul. It's been really, really cold here. And they don't really salt the roads like they do back in Chicago. I've almost slipped whilst walking to and from work so many times! New Years was pretty rad also. We spent it in an area just outside of Seoul called Itaewon. Itaewon is foriegner city--most Americans, Australians, and other foreigners spend their time there. They have lots of American fast food restaurants there ( KFC, Taco Bell, Subway, Quiznos, 2 Starbucks--on the same street!) and a lot of bars. We went to this place called Between and it was pretty swanky. We had a great intro to the new decade, and after a while, we transferred the party to a place called Berlin. Berlin was rather disappointing and I was too tired. I was looking forward to going home. :)

I'll try to post some pictures on here soon--but you can always look to my fb page for those.

xox
c

You Are The Moon...

So here I am, listening to The Hush Sounds' "You Are The Moon," feeling rather lonely and a tad bit melancholic over what is supposed to transpire in the next few days. I've been preparing for this move to Seoul for such a long time that I'm driving myself nuts. I'm so tired of packing and repacking. I'm tired of being at home. I'm tired of thinking, "this is the last time I will be doing this in Chicago..." On the one hand, I'm so f'ing ready for this...on the other, I want to curl up in a little ball and just cry. I'm not afraid of change--I almost always embrace it. I'm just tired of the prep work.

I plan on using this blog a whole lot more than I have in recently months--it will be a great tool for corresponding with my friends and family. At least I hope it will be. We shall see, I suppose.

xox
c

Grr.

I. am. exhausted. and. apparently. emo.
;)

But that should be nothing new...the emo part that is. The ticket to Seoul has been bought, coffee is still piling up, and I still have to repack so I can fit all my crap into my bags. FML. I've been getting coached on becoming a minimalist, which is great, to be quite honest. When I move to Korea, I would like to not fill my life with crap--but of course, who would honestly say that they want to fill their life with crap? I just know me...If I end up collecting too much stuff, things will be difficult to deal with. I believe I'll be okay for the first couple of months. Let's just hope that I keep up with this "no more crap" notion.

Speaking of "no more crap" notions, Good God Almighty! I'm friggin' sick of these attack ads!! Ugh! You all know I'm a Socialist Democrat...And you probably realize that I'm voting against Mark Kirk, Bill Brady, etc. I'm just soooooo sick of these ads. I'm also sick of The Tea Baggers. But that is for another time. Just know that I hate Sarah Palin.

I've actually worked myself up so much that I can't continue.

I'll write later.

c

It seems I am always starting these blog posts with an apology for not being quite as faithful as I originally intended when starting this writing venture. So again, Dear Readers, I am sorry. Life seems to take precedence to whatever happens here. So what's been going on since August 19th, you ask? Tons.

I finally found out that I am leaving for Korea in December. I have to be there on the 10th--which makes it around 7-8 weeks until I leave. I found an awesome job at Starbucks (seriously--what a fab company!) and I really like the people there. It makes me sad that I am going to leave them after such a short employment post, but Korea will help me in the long run of becoming a professor...right? :)

On September 4th, my Yia Yia (my Greek Maternal Grandmother) passed away. It's still weird to know that she is gone and that I can't call her up and chat with her. I did spend some time with her this summer--we played cards and I actually won. My relationship with her has not always been what it was in the end times, but I suppose that is to be expected. She had her favorites and I clearly wasn't one of them--however, I know she was very proud of my accomplishments this year. I was looking through some old pictures yesterday in an effort to weed through the ones I would take with me to Korea and those I would leave behind. I found two pictures of her that made me smile--the first depicts us under an umbrella. When I was a kid, I sucked my thumb and held onto my ear--but in this picture, I am holding on to hers. The second photograph is of my Yia Yia when we went on a road trip from Florida to Charleston, SC; Myrtle Beach, NC; and then to Williamsburg, VA.

Here are the pictures of your viewing pleasure:





As of late, I have been collecting the things I've deemed necessary for the move. Coffee, mostly. :) I've also been asked to pick up a few things for Kat and Val :) I've also perfected the art of packing and repacking.

I can't promise that I'll write every week--but I'll do my best, especially when I'm in Seoul.

xox

Slacker McSlackerstein

I've recently decided that I'm a terrible blogger. It's true. Don't believe me? Look at when my last post was written. July 11th. Believe me now? Fab. Let's move on.

I recently acquired a new job--I'm a barista at a local Starbucks. :) And I really like it. Don't worry--I am still heading off to Korea. I am waiting on my first pay check so I can get this background check done. Finally. Sigh. I know I could just as easy ask my mom for the money but she has already shelled out so much $$ to help me that I almost feel that I should just wait until the 27th. It's only another week.

So what else have I been up to, you ask? Tons. Well...maybe not tons, but ya know, a lot. I've been doing some reading, knitting, memory making, and the like. I went to Florida for a month to hang out with friends and family--cried my eyes out when I had to leave my dad's house. He told me he was proud of me and that I had exceeded his expectations--which is not to say that he had low expectations of me..you know what I mean. He never got verbal confirmation from his father so it was important to me that he gave it to me.

It's been one helluva hot summer thus far...I'm waiting for Autumn to come around...like now. I generally find something good about every season, but I. Love. Autumn.

Sweaters. Spices. Pumpkins. Change. Leaves. Tea. Sigh. I. Love. Autumn.

My step-sister, Becky, is having another boy in November! I know the first name is Dylan but I'm unsure of the middle. Anywho, I'm knitting her a baby blanket for him--it's my first one ever and I'm pretty excited about it. :) Last week began this new tradition with local yarn shops in the Chicago area called a Yarn Crawl. Jess and I went around to 5 different yarn shops and got a chance to see what they have to offer. Some were fabulous, others, well, not so much. I told Jess that we should open up our own yarn shop with a book store and an espresso bar. And we'd have a resident cat. LOL. Girls are silly sometimes.

la la la

c

Hello again...

So it's been a while, dear readers. All apologies. No, seriously, I mean it. ;)

I've had my three interviews with my hagwon and I'm really excited! I should know this week if I am going to get a job offer from them--but I'm positive I will :) As interviews go, I pretty much nailed this one out of the park! I just wish I were leaving in August--even though I am now allowed to spend more time with my friends and family. I just want to get there and start making money. I am currently looking for a job that will hold me over for six months. Sigh. I've applied to 4 different locations of Starbucks (and I'm not even a fan of their coffee) and to a Sylvan Learning Center. Sigh. We shall see what happens. I will certainly keep you updated.

Last night I went with one of my besties to see a theatrical adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. It was awesome!!! The Lifeline Theatre specializes in bringing novels to the stage. And they're great at what they do! The tickets were reasonable and it was a really intimate crowd. Most, if not all, were fans of the novel and the driver of the shuttle bus (it's an odd place to put a theatre so they have a parking lot a few blocks away) even said that Neil Gaiman had come three Sundays ago! How fab is that? I know Gaiman comes here a lot for readings but to see an adaptation of one of his books is really cool! Mad props to Mz. Stoj for buying the tickets :)

Some books for you to check out:

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (duh!)
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris


Some films to watch:

Away We Go (if you haven't seen it already)
Toy Story 3



xox

cm