Bloggyback

So I think its become pretty clear that this blog of mine will never follow any clear linear path. Its subject to my whims and may leave out entire chunks of my world here and focus instead on things like funny Korean snacks (Crunky!) and funny Korean brands (Mr. Pizza!). And while those of you who know me best may have expected this from me, as I have never put my pictures in order and can't even load the dishwasher efficiently (we prefer organizationally challenged), I have decided to piggyback myself on to some other blogs. Maybe you have noticed these blogs on my page and clicked on them (or maybe my page doesn't lead you to them since I have no idea what I am doing as far as the layout goes) but if you ever find yourself thinking "I love Heather's blog and everything but I really wish I knew what she was getting up to over there in Korea" you can check out the blogs of my coworkers. They are much better picture takers and documenters (is that right? Surely its not documentarians? That would be someone who makes documentaries?) than I am. And also the activities here tend to happen in packs.

Dore The Explorer http://doreb.blogspot.com/

Dore's blog is great. Her photographs are way better than mine and she has blogs dedicated to describing the other foreign teachers at our school (a task I probably wouldn't be up to), including a very flattering blurb about myself which I believe makes her very astute. Her blogs are also very focused. If I am organizationally challenged, then Dore is organizationally stellar. And it was Dore's blog that gave me the idea for bloggybacking in the first place because her blog referenced mine and Elizabeth's blogs and I thought I should really direct my friends to her blog. So check out Dore's blog.

Krunk In Korea http://hagwonheaven.blogspot.com/

So let's start by saying that what she probably meant was Crunky in Korea. This is Elizabeth's blog. She is from Texas so maybe Krunk is something from Texas or someone from Texas? I think I asked her once but I don't remember the answer. Elizabeth takes a million pictures and her blogs are packed with details. Don't let her most recently slowed blogging activity fool you. Elizabeth has been sick a lot recently but I think that once she gets acclimated, her blogging will be back on. And did you know that Elizabeth and I both went to the same college (although we didn't know each other and we only overlapped for about a year)? You would if you read Dore's or Elizabeth's blogs but I don't think that I have mentioned it yet.

So I don't really have any pictures to go with this blog. And I won't even count this blog towards my secret internal goal of 1 blog per week that I never vocalized because I didn't think I would adhere to it (and I'm still not sure). But I will post some random pictures that I like. These were taken on the bus, The Party Bus. Or The Christmas Bus. I'd like to call it The Party Bus in hopes of it sticking around past Christmas but I think its only The Christmas Bus. Anyway, it sure got the party started. I also added Dore at the Peter Pan Bakery because I thought that the computer thought I was trying to make a square of pictures but the preview showed them stacked. But I think it works anyway because of the Christmas lights. There was one of me there too, but I looked like a weird, pale turtle so I didn't use it.

Winter Wonderland

Last Sunday it snowed here. I had just been relaying to my mother how I had heard that no, it really didn't snow that much here and then my neighboring coworker came up and told me to look out my window. Here's what I saw.

Normally I hate snow because I have always had to manage it. But this snow was great. Elizabeth (my coworker) was really excited and it was infectious. I bundled up and we went decided to walk to Lotte Mart in it. We also took lots of photos. These are right outside our door.

Here we are in the snow. It was fun. It also warmed up the air. The previous 2 days had been unbearably cold. After that it wasn't nearly as bad. So it was a really positive snow experience. I was kind of sad when it started raining a couple of hours later and melted it all away.

Photo Blog

Here are some photos. To the left is my bathroom with my Korean shampoo, conditioner and body wash. I keep my toilet paper in a plastic bag so it doesn't get wet from the shower. Below is this building I like across from the bus stop.

To the left is my "kitchen." Obviously, my cooking habits will not be changing. Below is my "Super Single" bed. Isn't it super?

To the left is my shade. What a surprise, when I first pulled it down, to find this lovely little airbrushing. Below, the building across the way. My view while waiting for the elevator (if the door is open).

School and Such

Teaching. Who would have thought?

Teaching is going well. The kids are actually pretty funny. And they work very hard. I have a kindergarden class and a class with a couple of 15 and 16 year olds and a range of students in between. The kindergardeners get to do a little more because this is their only school (I think) where the older students just come in for specific classes after regular school. I went on a field trip a couple of weeks ago with the kindergardeners. They have birthday parties and gym and science, of which I am not a fan. Science is always a chaotic mess and the projects never seem to work for me. They also have an English concert in February. My kindergardeners are learning the lyrics to Dancing Queen by Abba (apparently Abba remains a big deal here). They are funny because they all know the chorus and they sing it REALLY LOUDLY but then they only know the last words to some of the lines of the rest of the song so they just start dancing.
They are a very smart, very funny bunch with great English but they are also SO competative and I believe they would do just about anything for a sticker. They all want to be first at everything. It's gotten so bad that the other day, they started trying to line up by the door (to leave) 10 minutes into class. I was like Okay we still have 30 minutes left. My other classes are far less eventful because a lot of the older kids won't really speak to me. And if I ask them to speak they seem mortified. They will laugh uncomfortably and look at their friends and then they read or talk so softly you can barely hear them with their faces turned down so they are staring at their papers. There are exceptions in most classes where there are 1 or 2 students who don't mind talking to me and in those cases, its hard to get them to shut up so we can get through our lessons. I don't think I am very good at discipline. I feel like I am getting a little better at it but still I think they can tell that they can get away with more around me than they might be able to with some other teachers. Fortunatly, its not even close to those 9th grade monsters I subbed for so I am not too concerned. The clothes and haircuts here can be a little adrogenous (or super girly) and sometimes they really mess up the whole English name selection so my least favorite problem is when I can't tell if a child is a boy or a girl. It's hard because I don't want to use the wrong pronouns. I had a student who I was unsure of for a week or so. I finally had to ask one of the other teachers. My students seem to love playing with toilet paper. Now this is apparently not a generalization of Korean students or students at my school but only the students who are in MY classes!!! Or at least according to the other teachers. I don't know what it is I am doing that drives these kids to seek fun in toilet paper but it happens. There is a big roll of toilet paper some of the classrooms (?????). My kids rip it up and throw it like confetti. They tape it to the tops of their heads and tie it around their faces. It's a little strange but kind of nice. (So Anna, when you read this, take note. When Batman grows a little and she is asking for all sorts of expensive toys she sees on commercials, you can just tell her to be happy with her roll of toilet paper like Auntie Heather's Korean kids were). This concludes my boring, informational, school blog. Next time perhaps I will address the much more important topic of Korean commercials, a new interest rivaling that in Mr. Pizza. Or maybe I will make a list of all of the great accessories that I want to buy. By the way, I have a new Korean sparkling headband and its fantastic!