I go to work, come home, do homework, do some marking, go to bed. Wake up, do some reading, go to work... amazing.
I went out these past two Friday for a drink after work with Wennie, Jin and some people from another campus. It's nice to get away from my apartment, and actually talk to people in English! Not that I can talk to anyone in Korean.. but.. you know what I mean. I speak in broken English to the kids so that they can understand me, and I've been told that I talk to the other teachers like that now too. Oops! And mom you'd be extra proud... I am a much slower speaker than before. Maybe you can send Kal out to slow her down too?? :)
Last weekend on Friday night we went out to Monkey Beach and the Dublin, two 'foreigner' bars in Bundang. Good times, and we met some new Korean friends. One of them tried to trick Jin into getting into a cab with him and the other won't stop calling Wennie, but it was still a good night.
1) Hoon (new Korean 'friend') and Ashley at Dublin 2) Alex, Neil, Wennie and Jin at Monkey Beach
On Saturday we went to COEX Mall, one of the huge Malls in Seoul. If I ever fell the need to go on a shopping spree this will be the place. Although I bet I still wouldn't be able to find a pair of pants that are long enough.
1) A really tall building outside of the mall. I was impressed, there's still a few more levels on the top. 2) Inside the mall (thanks Erin for pointing out I have a tree growing out of my head) 3) Jackie Chan's restaurant
After the mall we went and bought me a phone! I was mistaken... foreigners can actually buy new phones, but I went for a second hand one anyway because they're so much cheaper. So for $100 I got a phone and about 3 months worth of minutes.. not a bad deal. My new number: 010-5820-7783.
You can't have a phone here without a charm on it, so Wennie was kind enough to give me one. It's so strange, even business men have these big colourful stuffed animals hanging off of their phones. Is it so they don't lose them?? I also added a picture of a Pepsi bottle that I sent along to my old boss at CIM. Ahhh the memories...
On the school front... it's going. I don't absolutely love it, but I don't hate it. The kids are still cute. My biggest frustration is when a kid needs extra help or is way behind and I can't do anything about it because there's no time. But, I knew that coming in so I just deal with it.
Here are some pictures from school:
1) my classroom 2) my favorite kid, Andy. I swear he has ADD.. he's always moving his hands or signing or doing something to disrupt the class. He can't sit still for more than a minute. But he tries really hard, and always makes me laugh. 3) Senior kids. Favorite class even though they've got WAY to much energy and I spend more time telling them to be quiet than teaching. 4) Junior class, my second youngest. 5) My youngest and biggest class, 13 kids.
So, one last story. I went to bed last night feeling a little nauseous, and woke up this morning with rumbles in my stomach. Because I know you don't want the details, I'll just say that I was running back and forth to my bathroom about every 20 minutes. Something I ate definitely did not agree with me.
I didn't want to call in sick, but by 1pm (I work at 2) I was still making frequent trips to the bathroom. I felt ok other than a headache but there was nooooo way I was going to spend my evening running out of the classroom to a communal bathroom used by the entire 5th floor of our building.
I had to go to a doctor to get a doctor's note, and he told me only soup for 3 days and gave me a prescription. A prescription??? You've got to be kidding me. I have no idea what it is. Anyway, the director at my school (Charles) ended up calling to see how I was, and I kind of wondered if he just wanted to hear how sick I was. I had heard stories about directors knocking on your door to see if you're really sick. So I wasn't surprised when Charles called a couple of hours later to let me know he was bringing me soup. He actually took me to get take-out at an expensive soup place and got me a nice meal, paid for it and all! I got the feeling that he believed I was sick, and just wanted to be helpful (or maybe is doing everything he can to make sure I'm back at work tomorrow). Either way, I appreciated his kindness. I had a good chat with him too, even though his English is pretty broken... about being homesick, especially when you're sick, and about how he was in the Korean army for a couple of yeas. We're best buds now.
Here's my meal for your viewing pleasure. It was delicious (rice and shrimp soup, with all the side dishes Koreans are so fond of).
So, I'm better but still tired. Time to take a nap! And only two more days of work this week! And then another fun-filled weekend of essays and reading....
Miss you all
Love
Ashley
No comments:
Post a Comment