Vacation Prep. and Book List

Back to back posts. Separated for the sake of organization.

My plane flight to the states is set for next Sunday. I have to leave my current, school provided, apartment by Wednesday morning so a lovely friend of mine is going to let me stay with her for a while. She's just moved in! A new teacher at my current school.

The teacher she replaced headed back Stateside last week. He's a great guy, but MAN did he leave a mess in that apartment! I went over to help AL clean up and arrange her new haunt. She inherited some of the furniture that I bought while I was here for my apartment. Cleaning that place was a new level of UCK. It took hours, but it was actually kind of enjoyable.

I'm sure it was a sight to behold, two blonde headed foreign girls decked out in dusty t-shirts, jeans hiked to our knees, no make-up, hair a mess (I personally was sporting a bandana over my hair like a cleaning lady) manhandling furniture together from one apartment building to another. My my. We got a couple of sideways glances, but that almost made it even more entertaining.

Lovely AL returned the favor the next night and helped me clean and organize my apartment.

The Joys of Packing

Somehow, I've managed to go from being ' the girl that takes everything with her for her 1 week vacation in 5 suitcases and a cary on' to 'the girl that can fit everything she needs for 3 weeks into one suitcase and still have room for all those souvenirs she bought for her family, and possibly even that small pine tree that was growing in her shower drain when she first arrived. Yeah... that can come too. It'll go right there in the corner. Next to the shampoo."

Actually, I'm kind of digging the transition. It's gonna be easy as pie getting around those airports with just one suitcase and an overnight bag.

Anyhoodle.

I've got some lovely reading material for the flight. I took a trip with some friends to KYOBO BOOKS in Seomyeon. They have an English books section. Of course, it's not exactly extensive, but if you look hard enough you'll be able to find yourself some good reading material. You might even be forced to step outside your comfort zone with book topics out of desperation. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

As for me, after about an hour of looking at the same 2 book cases, I finally found 3 titles that piqued my interest.

The first one was

GOOD OMENS by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Aside from the fact that I LOVE Neil Gaiman, one of my other favorite authors of all time (Clive Barker) had the opening comment on the front cover.

"The Apocalypse has never been funnier."

Back cover reads:

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes

Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of

prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will

end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing. Atlantis is rising,

frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be

going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel

and a fast-living demon-- both of whom have lived amongst Earth's

mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the

lifestyle--are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist...

The next title:

SHOGUN by James Clavell

A 1,152 page epic novel by a #1 New York Times best selling author.

The back reads:

A bold English adventurer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in an extraordinary saga of a time and place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust, and the struggle for power...

And the 3rd title:

The Interpreter by Suki Kim

This is one of those books that I probably wouldn't have been keen to pick up right away. It took me a couple of minutes to decide that I might as well give it a try.

The back reads:

Suzy Park is a twenty-nine-year-old Korean American interpreter for the New York City court system who makes a startling and ominous discovery about her family history that will send her on a chilling quest. Five years prior, her parents--hardworking greengrocers who forfeited personal happiness for their children's gain--were brutally murdered in an apparent robbery of their store. But the glint of a new lead entices Suzy into the dangerous Korean underworld, and ultimately reveals the mystery of her parents' homicide.

Apparently this was Suki Kim's first novel, written back in 2003. So I'm kind of looking forward to getting into it and seeing how this Author writes. No idea if she's kept writing over the years. But if this book is any good, I'll have to hope that she has. When I find an author I like I hoard their work.

Anyway, that's my reading list for the flight and the 3 week vacation time. I'll be spending a lot of time home alone since my kid brother is back in school and it's the middle of the year so parents, older brother, sister-in-law, and other family are going to be working.

Well, I might get another post up before my vacation officially starts. If not, then you'll be hearing from me at some point during and especially after I arrive back in Korea.

Until next post,

A.

Rant Rant and the Count Down.

It's been a while readers!

Things have been hectic lately. This last full week of school was on full blast, and I had to maneuver getting tests ready, digging up information on leaving procedures (how much is going to be withheld from my paycheck for my flight here, what day I have to leave my apartment, when the director will take me to the immigration office, when I'll get my final pay for LAST month AND this month. That kind of thing).

My first length in Korea has been a bit of a bumpy ride, but I guess that's all part of the learning process.

Readers beware. Rant ahead.

-Rant Start-

Something funny. I've noticed that there seems to be some strange pissing contest going on between foreign guys in this country. I haven't encountered this at all with the gals. Older guys especially tend to be REALLY condescending towards new foreigners.

I love getting advice from people that have lived in this country for a few years. It can be good advice, and they've been through a lot of what new foreigners have complaints and qualms about. It'd be biting your nose off to spite your face not to listen to them. BUT, and I strongly emphasize the BUT here, when you start using your experience as a spring board into arrogance, the listening stops.

If your sentences begins with "Because I'm a qualified teacher...." then you're going to be better off talking to a spoon, because I certainly won't be paying attention to you.

I don't have an ME degree, I haven't been here for a decade, and I'm not married to a local... but that doesn't translate into me automatically being a transient, unqualified, crap teacher. I have a university degree, experience in working with ESL students, am TESOL certified, and I have a passion for teaching. But these guys think that what makes a GOOD and QUALIFIED teacher isn't the passion, or the hard work and determination, or the good attitude... it's a 2 year ME degree and a Korean spouse.

Please.

Your degree doesn't make you a teacher.

The only thing those guys have going for them is their experience. But even that gets wasted because they use that fact to continually boost their ego.

Anyone else met any guys like this? Am I the only one that gets irritated with them?! I may be green when it comes to teaching classes, but being new doesn't make someone the scum of the earth. Get over yourself, and start being helpful why don't you. For goodness sake.

-Rant Over-

Well, now that that's out of the way...

I've got 8 days left until my flight back to the states for my lovely 3 week vacation!

I was able to get this time off because I don't start at my new position until October. My last day at the current school is Tuesday (thank you God), so I've got a whole month of nothing to do before my training starts at the new place.

I'm admittedly going to miss my kindergarten students. I really adore them. They have been my little rays of sunshine at that school. I looked forward to seeing them every weekday morning.

They don't know yet that a new teacher is coming. They'll find out on Monday when she shows up in my class with me, I guess. I'm not sure how they'll react, but I'm hoping it'll go over well. I have people telling me that kids adjust well to new things and won't have a problem, and then I have other people telling me that it's hard for kids to make big changes.

I'll miss their hugs and kisses, their mischievous ways, their refusal to let go of my hand once they'd gotten ahold of it. They're bright. Very very bright. They've learned so much so quickly. I know that these little kids have a great chance at growing up well. I'll think of them often! And I'll find a perfect picture of them to add to the picture frames that will litter my new apartment.

Well, this was a bit of a catch up post.

I have some other stuff to blather about, but I'll leave that for a separate blog.

Everyone have a great weekend.

Until next post,

~A.

He's Gonna Get It.

Hello readers.

I thought about this for a long time before I finally decided that I should post this.

I'm not going to go into any great amount of detail as the following is extremely private... but I just want to post this up as a warning to any of the girls reading.

WARNING TO ALL FEMALES

A little over a week ago, in the middle of the day, I was sexually assaulted in my apartment building elevator.

A month before my assault another girl was attacked in the building next to mine by a guy matching the description and using the same method of assault as the one who attacked me.

I went to the police and they've been doing the best they can with what they've got (a very crappy CCTV image capture).

Unfortunately, this weekend another girl was assaulted. It happened in the same buildings, in the same way, and probably by the same guy.

Girls, be on your guard. Korea is safer (crime percentage wise) than most of the western countries but that doesn't mean that bad things will never happen. WE'VE GOT TO BE CAREFUL.

First of all, don't ever get on an elevator with a man that you don't know. I never thought about it before, but that's just plain stupidity. Would you walk in to a windowless closet with a strange man and then shut the door behind you? Uh... no. Elevators are no different. While it's traveling to a certain floor it's an exitless box.

Secondly, if something like this ever does happen to you... don't keep it quiet. GO TO THE POLICE!

Staying silent is just giving the man who hurt you another (and better) opportunity to hurt someone else.

Don't just keep those keys ready in your hand when you're walking down the street at night alone. Don't expect it to be some drunk man on a friday night that makes an attempt. If you're alone then you should always keep an eye out, day or night. You don't have to be paranoid, just be aware.

Also, if you do get attacked, FIGHT! Knock the crap out of the guy. Hit him with whatever you've got. I don't know the details of the last assault but I hope that the girl managed to at least give him quite a wallop.

I'm really hoping that the police will catch this guy soon. Hopefully they have enough (crappy) CCTV images to get a better idea of who they're looking for.

Well.

Just be careful ladies.

Until next post (one that will hopefully be a little less serious),

~A

Just a BTW.

Hello Readers.

I know it's been a while since I posted, and I'll tell you something... a lot has happened.

I don't have the time to go into details about it now, but you know, it's been insane lately.

I'm counting down the days until I can move out of this little piece of hades disguised as an innocent -gu.

Really, this place isn't all that bad. It's just the experiences I've had here that kind of dinge it up. The school, the latest incident, dealing with officials who are just as stressed and MORE stressed than me. Not being able to speak Korean in dire situations. You know, the usual.

But, It hasn't all been a disaster! I'm still pretty much in love with this Country and I'll be looking forward to moving to a new area in Busan and starting anew come the end of September!

I just wanted to make a quick post letting everyone know that I'll be writing an official blog soon with updates about what's been going on.

Thank you for all the support from home! And from friends.

Love you all greatly.

And also, to my readers who continue to stop by: I don't know who you are! But I know you're there! Thank you!

Until next post,

~A.

Special Post: In Loving Memory

This post is made in loving memory of my great-grandma who passed away last week on Thursday. Her funeral was yesterday. I found out today via an e-mail from my mom. I didn't know her very well, though she lived in the same town. I saw her from time to time and knew her as my great-grandfather's second wife. I'm sorry that I didn't get to know her more than I did. But I will always remember her as a wonderful and interesting lady.

God bless her daughters, my aunt S and aunt D, and especially her grand-daughters (My mom and aunt, and my cousin Al.), and everyone else grieving now.

Greatgrandmama was 85 years old. She lived an interesting life, with tons of people to love her, and tons of people to love. I'm very thankful that I had the opportunity to sit and talk with her before I came to Korea. She had a lot of amazing stories to tell, and great wisdom to share with me.

With great great love to my family, and in respectful and loving memory of Great-grandma.

May she rest forever in the arms of God.

~A.

Plans, Vacations, and The Seasons of Change.

Hey everyone.

Midweek has arrived!

And what have you been up to lately?

As for me:

These days off have already given me a chance to really gather my thoughts about a couple of things.

Moving to Korea is certainly one of the best choices I've made in my life thus far. The complete upheaval has really given me the opportunity to self evaluate and get started making some solid future plans. In the years before everything kind of seemed up in the air. I knew what I wanted but had no real direction, no way to get started.

Now that Korea has become my starting point I feel a little more organized, my goals somewhat established.

Anyway

ELA is coming along well. Thanks to those of you who inquired. There's still room for people interested in joining the project, the link to the original informational post is HERE.

The ideas have expanded, and the work load required to get the ball rolling on this project has just gone up a considerable amount. But, you know, I like the challenge. Research is key. It's time consuming, but actually rather enjoyable.

On a personal note

Things are changing. Everyone knows that change is inevitable, but it's hard to avoid the emotional effects, even if we've braced ourselves for the change over.

My parents are talking about selling the house. Yeah, I knew it would happen eventually. That place is too big for just the two of them to really enjoy it. It was meant for a couple with 3 kids living at home 99% of the year.

Now, one kid is married with a family living in his own house, another one (that's me) living in another country entirely, and the youngest just about to start the second year of University... it seems about time that Mom and Dad started doing what all of us dreaded; seriously considering a move to a smaller place.

We grew up in that house. Well, my older brother shared his childhood between two places but his attachment is the same. I was 6 when we moved there and have little memory of the house before it , and my little brother has absolutely no recollection of any other home except that one.

It's hard to think that soon we'll all have to give it up. Not the memories of course, but a physical representation of a huge chunk of our lives. Getting used to a new place will be next to impossible.

It's hard to think that I won't be bringing my future family to that house for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Summer time. That future hubby (whoever he may be, your guess is as good as mine) might meet my parents in a strange new setting instead of that comfortable place of my childhood. Kind of grips me a bit when I know that I won't be able to freely show them that house and those rooms that I loved so much and were so much a part of me. I know that my brothers feel the same way, but we can't expect our parents to keep the financial and physical burden of that house for just the two of them. My mom and dad aren't old, but they don't want to waste their free time cleaning that place from top to bottom. My parents will be official empty nesters soon! It's their time to start living their life freely again.

What will that place have for me in a few years aside from it's title as my hometown? Parents are considering a move to Georgia. Aunt and Uncle will move to Texas. The siblings will all wander their way out of that town onto their own places to start there own lives. There won't be a reason for me to go back there anymore after a while, and that's the saddest part.

I'm too sentimental for my own good sometimes.

I'll be unattached, floating. I guess that's not such a bad thing. Everyone experiences that at some point in their life. I'm barreling right on through my early twenties, I guess I should have expected the feeling of detachment, the bitter-sweet freedom, sooner or later. To belong to nowhere... it'll be a strange sensation.

A free sailing ship with no home harbor.

But, I'm not bitter. It's all part of the adventure.

Future Plans

I discussed this before in some previous posts. I gave a general outline of what I'd like to do in the next few years. The plans have become a little more solid these days.

Not ready to lay them as official just yet, but it all seems to be coming together, and at least I have some healthy goals.

The most demanding goals at the moment are finishing this TESOL course and getting set in to seriously studying Korean and Chinese. Chinese has been easy to get my little hand into because there's so much available online. Korean has been a bit harder in regards to self-study, but thank God for KLIFF.

KLIFF

If you live in Busan and are looking for a place to take Korean language classes 1-5 days a week (regular or intensive, group or private) then you should check out the Korean Language Institute for Foreigners (KLIFF). They have locations in both PNU and Haeundae.

Vacation

Vacation is already half over, but after the vacation ends I've only got three more weeks of work left before I head home in September to visit my family.

15 more work days left at that (insert choice words and a vehement rant).

Anyway, I'll be heading to Daejon this morning for my out of town trip. Not entirely sure what there will be to see! But I've heard that it's the science and technology area of choice. That's gotta be interesting.

If I can locate my camera between now and the time I leave to catch my KTX train maybe I'll be able to put up a few pictures when I get back!

I know you all love pictures! Yes you do!

Anyway.

That's all for this post.

Until next time,

~A.