Well, I've been hankering to write a blog post, but I really wanted to wait until this weekend. I managed to, even though I started and stopped a couple earlier in the week. I'm not entirely sure why I thought it was a better idea to wait, but I know that I've been experiencing a bit of writers block lately, just because I haven't had time to sit and allow my brain to work itself out to a point where it could produce something resembling intelligent thought.
Now for a recap of my exciting week!
HELLO 3.5 WEEKSI've been living herein Busan for a grand total of three and a half weeks. They've been lovely. I've experienced quite a few ups and downs, but I have to say there have been more ups, luckily. I starting to get into the swing of things, and I'm beginning to locate little things here and there that I'm going to find particularly useful as the time passes.
RUNNING TRACK There's an outdoor running track/exercise field near my apartment. My co-workers have been telling me about it and I'm finally ready to give it a try. I love being outdoors, hiking, taking walks, playing fun sports, whatever it is I'll do it if it's outdoors (and it's not freezing). It's been a looooong winter, and I've put on a little bit of extra stuffing. I'm ready to get healthy again. Starting a jogging regiment is just the thing to get me back in the swing. There are also quite a few hiking trails very near by. I'm ready to check those out too.
BIKING TRAILThere's a huge park, not that far from Hwamyeong, near the river. Running along the river is a bike path (sidewalk) for bikers and walkers/joggers. I've been thinking of investing in a bicycle at some point, and now that I know there's a trail nearby, I know that it'll be totally worth it. I've just got to find out how to get there from here.
KALYN! I totally thought of you while contemplating bikes and bicycle trails. I'll be reliving our summer-time fun memories while biking here in Busan!
Children And Their Plans to Ruin Your Self EsteemAnyone who works with children knows that kids say what they're thinking, with absolutely no regard to how you might feel about what they say. This can be both good and horrifically awful at the same time.
Some highlights:
"Teacher! You look like a boy!"One day I came to class with my bangs pulled back away from my forehead. I wore this style quite a lot at some point during college, because my mom is always telling me how nice it looks when my hair isn't covering my face. Upon entering the Kindy class that morning the very first thing that I hear is "Teacher! You look like a boy!"
My first feeling was mortification, which melted away quickly into that feeling that can only bee described by the use of the term "face-palm". The class then had an argument as to whether or not I looked pretty or if I looked like a boy. Thankfully it was a 1-5 poll, and "Cute and pretty" won out over "You look like a boy!"
"Teacher is not boy!" someone yelled. I love that kid now.
I know that my features can come off at times as a little masculine. I've actually received some compliments (ones that I was actually flattered by) where the complimenter referred to some of my looks as very "androgynous". In the world of photography this isn't necessarily a bad thing... but in the everyday world of "My life" it gets kind of weird.
That afternoon, just in case, I asked the Korean teachers if boys wore their hair back out of their face with clips here (because it's a style in Japan. Boys who play sports, and have long hair, pull their hair back out of their face with hair clips.) They told me that they didn't and then one teacher very firmly said,
"You are obviously a girl!". She is also now on the "people I love" list.
Face-palm score: (Out of 5) **
"Teacher! You look like an Ajuma!" This one was stated yesterday. My students get particularly excited when my hair style changes (as it's wont to do). Yesterday i wore my hair curly, because I felt too lazy to straighten it, so... in went some hair product and out came my curly frizzy hair. Throughout the day I got a lot of "Teacher! Your hair!" comments, but the one that wins was from my 12 year olds.
One of my best students, a young, very talkative girl, started talking excitedly about my hair. And then she said "You look like an Ajuma!". The class began laughing and a couple of students said "Ajuma? Ajuma?" My eyebrow raised. And I said "Huh?" Realizing that she had spoken Korean my talkative students looked shy and said "No, no", which she often does when she's not sure of how to say something. At that point the laughter begins to pour from me.
For those of you who don't know what "Ajuma" is: Ajuma is a term generally used to refer to married women, often over the age of 50.
Face-palm score: ***
"Teacher! Your hair is 2 colors!"In my oldest class we're learning how to describe things and talking about adjectives. I go around and ask everyone "What color is this" and what not. Finally I ask one of the students "What color is your hair?" His answer was "My hair is black. Teacher! Your hair is two colors?"
I respond "Two colors? What colors?"
The student then says, very seriously, "Gold and Black!"
WHAT?!
"Where's black?" I ask. Already knowing full well the answer.
"Teacher here!" he points to the roots of his hair. "Here is black!"
To salvage my damaged pride I address the class, pointing to the roots of my hair. "Guys, is this black?"
Students: "No Teacher!"
Me: "What color is it?"
Students: "It's brown!"
Thank you. Now that that's been clarified I can move on with the lesson.
My hair is naturally blonde. Unfortunately its current natural color is what is classified as "Mousy blonde" or "Dishwater blonde". It was as though my hair made the decision to become brown as a teen and then got scared and changed its mind before totally finishing the transformation. The fix? Highlights. The result? A purely hilarious moment 10 years of highlighting later when a 13 year old boy is the first to bring to public attention my unavoidable 'root' predicament.
Face-palm score: *****
Oh the Things you can SeeThis week was the first week when I really started seeing those strange sights that really make you chuckle.
Number 1: Wannabe tough guy conquered by very angry girlfriend. Standing outside with one of my co-workers yesterday, waiting for the Kindy bus that would take everyone on the field trip, I was watching an older couple walking down the sidewalk together. They were arguing a little bit, but not loudly or even angrily. It was that kind of 'old married couple' arguing. I didn't think anything of it.
I'd heard horror stories about men beating their wives in the streets here, but hadn't seen anything remotely like that. When you expect something that terrible, something a little less terrible happening doesn't really shock you that much, but I still flinched a little bit when the man reached out with a hand and pushed his female companion quite harshly out of frustration.
That moment of "Oh no you didn't" that boils up inside of you when you see someone else mistreated only lasted for a moment though, because that woman got her shot in.
There is something here in this country that I would like to categorize as "The Korean Stare of Death". I've used this stare many times myself when dealing with particularly naughty students. The result is fantastic....
Basically what you do is fix your eyes on the perpetrator and stare at them with an absolutely blank expression. The fury (whether real or exaggerated) in your gaze typically translates into "You wanna die?", and is highly effective.
This woman stops walking and stares after her male companion with that wonderfully glassy expression. The man, who has walked ahead, actually cows down, rushes back to her, tucks his arm into hers and pats her hand sweetly, saying comforting, apologetic things, and off they start walking again.
Yes. I giggled.
Number 2: Children don't like wasting playtime on potty breaks. I'm standing in the Teachers room earlier this week, waiting for the five minute between class break to finish so we can start class again. During this 5 minute break the Kindy children run crazily around and have a merry 'ole time. The break is short, so no one wants to waste any time.
While talking to the other teachers, I turned towards the Teachers room door just in time to witness the most hilarious "Can't waste time, must play!" tactic anyone may ever see.
One of the Kindergarten boys that I had seen running into the bathroom at the beginning of the break, came quickly waddling down the hall still trying to pull up both his pants and knickers. He couldn't be bothered with getting himself properly dressed in the bathroom when there was playtime going on!
A Little More on Getting Settled
Little by little I'm accumulating everything that I need to live comfortably. I still lack a decent iron (the one I bought won't get even the smallest creases out of my clothes), curtains, proper laundry soap (I got my current laundry soap for 1,000₩), and a rice cooker. Yes, a rice cooker.
I've been known to burn water, so how does anyone expect me to cook rice properly in a small stove pot?
Actually, I'm not a terrible cook. I can cook rather well with a recipe and proper cooking utensils. When you give me limited cooking tools and absolutely no information on how to make something I've never had to make before (like rice without a rice cooker) then you're just asking for trouble.
I was proud of myself today though. I made a particularly good pot of rice and mixed it up with some seaweed and crab. Very tasty. Rice and seaweed, aside from Kimchi, are about to become staple food items for me. I also boiled some eggs quite nicely (my previous attempts were more along the lines of 'soft boiled' and not 'hard boiled' which was what I was going for. I don't know... I guess I thought the eggs would start screaming if I left them in the pot too long.) So score 1 for me.
PIZZA MARUIf there's one of these little pizza places anywhere near you, I suggest giving it a try. A few times already I've hankered for pizza and twice I've found myself in Pizza Maru staring at their menu. Their crust is made green tea and 12 whole grains. While the pizza isn't crispy it's certainly delicious and the price is right (6,000₩ for a plain cheese that could feed two to three people, only a little more for toppings and extreme pizzas).
I've also been to a Pizza Hut. I haven't been to a Pizza Hut in YEARS, but I don't remember the pizza tasting any different back home than it does here. Thank you chain restaurants. The Pizza Huts here are MUCH nicer on the insider, however. They actually look like restaurants as opposed to those horribly 70's wood wall styled buffet shacks back in the States. Still, I prefer Pizza Maru.
RECYCLING Back in the states, tsk tsk on me, I didn't recycle. The only recycling I did was PET bottle recycling and that was only when I was on the University campus and there were designated bins for it. Here? I got all excited about the recycling thing. I went through my trash (which was mostly cardboard from moving and buying things for the apartment) and meticulously went through everything and separated it just right. Corrugated cardboard, regular cardboard, paper covered in plastic, paper with no plastic, PET bottles, regular plastic containers.... and so on. Proudly I take my bags of recycling down to the Basement level of my apartment building. There I stand and stare at the bins trying to figure out where everything goes.
I don't see a "Cardboard" recycling receptacle, just one for paper. I stood out there long enough that the man that works down there (there's a car garage down there as well) came out to help me. He took my bag of cardboard/paper items and looked inside. Then looked at me, smiled and said "Paper" while pointing to the paper bin. He then emptied the entire bag into the paper bin, and we were done.
I was surprised, but pleased! Yeah I'd gone through all the trouble of separating all of that stuff, just to have it thrown in the same bin all together, BUT that means that in the future I won't have to worry so much about what's 'paper' and what's 'cardboard'. Just throw it all in there! Saves me 10 minutes.
There's plenty more to talk about, but I'm sure I'll be ready to write another blog soon, and I'll add all of what I've left out in that one. So no worries. Plenty more useless blathering to come.
