Eat, Pray, Love: November 2014

Hope everyone {USA peeps} had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I hope you all had a great time with loved ones and appreciated the 4 days off ;) I had a great Thanksgiving here-my friend Marie made an amazing meal and I got to spend the holiday with a few of my friends I have made here in Chilgok. It was neat because we did the whole 'what are you thankful for' before we ate and I was able to put a fun puzzle together. If I hadn't lived in Fresno I wouldn't have had the 'Fresno' connection with Bill when I met him at orientation (although we still would have had the Nor-Cal bond!), and then if Bill hadn't been placed in Chilgok I wouldn't have taken Korean class from his teacher-which is where/how we met Marie (who, remember, lived right around the corner from me!). It is crazy to see how all the pieces of the puzzle of 'life' really do fit together.

So, this month I wrote down what I was thankful for every day. Sometimes they were funny things-that at that moment I was very thankful for (McDonald French Fries to help with Saturday shenanigans!), but other times there were serious things to be thankful for-like this whole experience in Korea. There have been good times, and frustrating times, but that is all part of the experience! Just knowing I finally got to do this, and teach overseas, makes me thankful. I also have realized that you probably should visit somewhere first before you decide to move there for a year :)

I also thought about risks. And how one must take risks to gain rewards. I thought back to 9 years ago, when I quit my job in San Diego and moved back to Nor-Cal. And, by doing that I was able to spend some great, quality time with my amazing grandparents (the Kennedy side). I am so thankful that I used that time wisely, and made wonderful memories with them. Memories are what matter-those are the things you take with you through life. I also realized that with all the risks I have taken in my life I always land on my feet. This was a good reminder to myself, because once this Korea adventure is over I get to figure out what it is I want to do next. There are so many things going through my mind-it is overwhelming! But, I guess it is great to know there are options, and that obviously I am open to risks and change.

I just finished my final English Festival at my school last week-I taught my students all about Thanksgiving! It was fun, and put me in the holiday spirit :) I brought pumpkin pie as a treat for my after-school classes and they got to try it for the first time! I have a video of them eating it-so cute! I also got to do lots of fun crafts-I swear I feel like I am an art teacher at times here! My favorite was having my little 'Pilgrims and Indians' (pic below!). The kids in my regular classes made Thankful Turkeys and wrote out what they were thankful for (traced their hands and then the hand print was part of the feathers for the turkey-pics below). They were thankful for some of the funniest things BUT I also had a student who wrote she was thankful for me. It made my day. It just felt so nice to have a student say that-I am sure my teacher friends understand! It made me realize that I have made an impact on these kids lives...which I seriously questioned at times because they get a new Native English Teacher (NET) nearly every year.

My mom always laughs at me b/c I ride my bike everywhere. At first I thought it was funny that she always laughed/brought it up BUT then I realized WHEN have I ever rode my bike to the store, work etc. haha I mean, with the exception of 6th grade and wanting to ride our bikes to school instead of taking the bus (good times Stace!) I have never used a bike for my means of transportation. I had my bike in SD and rarely used it, had it in Dallas and never used it (although I made Brian ship it back to me haha-of course I did!), it came with me to SF and never left my apartment and now it is retired at the family cabin. I ride my bike here EVERYWHERE. To the store, to school, to the doctor, to the bank-you name it. It makes you realize that you adapt to your surroundings and whatever you need to do you just do. I love my bike here-I will say that I have gotten pretty aggressive while biking. I mean, the drivers here are CRAZY yet this girl just goes for it (and say a little prayer!). Sonya and I were riding back from Home Plus a few weeks ago (she was riding on my extra bike and it was the funniest thing ever b/c it was making this funny noise-I laughed SO hard!) and she even commented on how biking here is not the safest option.

A few things that I just don't understand:

Korean children do not have a bedtime. And, I mean LITTLE kids too. My co-teacher's son is 2 and he is up past midnight. She made a comment how tired her husband was and I just was like 'why don't you MAKE your son go to bed then?!' and they just don't. I also get to hear the lovely 2 year old above my apartment who NEVER goes to sleep and thinks her apartment is a race course and I swear runs laps...again after midnight!
Kimchi breath. So nasty. I mean, especially with the heater on (and windows closed) it smells funk in the classroom, on the bus, on the subway-everywhere! I feel like I am marinading in it haha {for the record this smell is worse than the smell of BO on a crowded subway in Italy in July}

What happened in Korea town for me this past month:

School volleyball champion games...pretty intense! They take it very serious AND they play 9 on 9...that was interesting :) We got to leave school early though AND I got to see some of my other expat chingus (Native English Teacher friends!) so that was REALLY nice. It is crazy how much better you feel when you can just speak your language to someone and know they get what you are saying. We have all commented on it-it seriously makes your day that much better to see them (sometimes I run into Marie on my way to school in the AM and that starts my day off better!). We also went out to teacher dinner after AND I actually liked the meal-for real.
I consumed more pumpkin pie this past month than probably the last 2 years COMBINED. I mean, first off I am not a huge PP person. I eat a piece at Thanksgiving and am good to go. But, since Costco had PP it was like I had to have it. Just knowing you can't get those things easily here makes you crave the oddest things.
I actually emerged from my cave (aka my apartment). I had been such a hermit while letting my toe heal-which it is sooooo much better thank GOD! This cold ass weather def reminds me it is still healing though ;) But yeah, I went out to get a burger for a friend's bday and ended up staying out wayyyyy later than I anticipated. 2 weeks later my friend Darrell was heading out of Korea so I threw him a going away dinner party and ended up staying out quite late that night too. I blame Sonya-she is like my sister from another mister (or just reminds me of myself 10 years ago haha)
Hung out with my sweet new co-teacher at her house. She had me over for lunch and it was DELISH! It isn't a secret I don't love Korean food-but I do like some stuff-and she made those for me. Japchae, bulgogi & a yummy salad-so good! Plus she sent me home with leftovers (and she made pickles too) AND we baked muffins. It was a lot of fun. Her son is 2 and such a little ham. We played, I gave them an advent calendar and he REALLY liked it (obviously-what child doesn't like candy here?!).
Starbucks red cups. Enough said. Those make me happy :)
Hunger Games Mockingjay came out here before the USofA...still in shock over that. I thought it was good-I know there are mixed reviews but of course it wasn't going to be as good since they split the last book up people!
Thanksgiving Festival at school (like I mentioned above). The students learned allllll about Thanksgiving and then we did a few craft activities. I had block schedule and lemme tell you-it was way worse being with 6th graders for 80 minutes than it was to be with my 3rd graders for that amount of time! However, my 5th graders are still sweet and one of them even said she was thankful for me! It made my day-makes you feel like they do appreciate you (I am sure all my teacher friends are saying 'amen sista' right about now haha).
In the midst of my dad being sick and dealing with his 2nd surgery (he is all good now-thanks again to all of you that prayed/had him in your thoughts!) he wanted to send me chocolate advent calendars to give to my co-teachers and Principal, VP, etc. So he did send them-thanks dad!-and I was able to give them out and explain what it was. My Principal and VP were super excited-they were like little kids! I also had a few 'extra' so gave them to my young Korean teacher friends to get in the holiday spirit with me :)
Oh, and my landlord left me acorn jelly. Picture below. One of my smart-aleck guy friends said 'I didn't know you could squeeze jelly out of an acorn'...clearly here in Korea you can!!!
The most exciting thing happened today. It snowed!!! It was just flurries...but it was still pretty awesome and made the day magical :) Korea sure does seasons well!

Oh, and I guess one of the major things that happened this past month (which might have been obvious above) was I told my school I was not going to re-sign for a 2nd year to teach here. I don't know exactly what I am going to do, but I will figure it out-I always do ;) Until then, I am going to enjoy my last few months here and absorb it all like a sponge! I still pinch myself at times and think 'Is this real? Am I really living & teaching in Asia?!' And the answer is YES! And so glad I did it :)

This quote pretty much sums up my future right about now: "I don't know where I'm going but I promise it won't be boring." Thanks David Bowie ;)

Audrey & Yoo-mi with their advent calendars!

It sometimes still amazes me how talented my students are.

Volleyball Championship games-everyone loved my schools yellow fleece zippies!

My co-t and her family went on their first Costco trip with me! I loved this pic of her son with the toy soldier :)

Dinner with Hayley...traditional Korean style and sitting on the floor

My sweet student, Elizabeth, who put she was thankful for me!

James, a 3rd grader & in my Art Club too. He cracks me up-check out how big his 'slippers' are hahaha
It was entertaining trying to get him to stand still for this pic!

Marie hosted Friendsgiving at her place on Sunday-I had 2 Thanksgiving feasts this year!

The yummy lunch Miju prepared for me!

Good ole neighbor Chris (or as Mrs. Na would call him Irishman) fixing my bathroom light. I am sure I could've done it myself BUT he was excited for a little DIY project ;)