palm reading

Yes, I had my palm read last night….. Oooooooo.

So, we had open house yesterday at the school = working on a Saturday (BOO!) Afterwards, all the female teachers went out to eat at a grill/fusion place. It tasted really good and it’s nice to experience different foods that I have yet to try. After eating we all went and got ice cream/coffee and sat in Angel-in-Us. It was very cozy sitting in the chairs/couches and having good conversation. There was me, Rachel, Leah (Mrs. Yum) and Sophia <– they speak English, Miss Han and Mrs. Jung <– no English (besides: Sorry, good morning, Thank You… etc). Even so, it’s amazing how much you can communicate through body language. It was so much fun hanging out with them. Our ages range from 23 – 40’s – I felt like such an adult going out with co-workers after work and talking and having fun. It really was a great experience since we don’t really get to be in a relaxed/hanging out environment. They’re all such good people.

Anyway, so we’re sitting there in the coffee shop and quite honestly, I can’t remember how it came up but palm reading came up. Ok, so, I know it sounds super dorky and sketch, but it wasn’t like witchcraft or weird. Mrs. Yum is from China and supposedly it’s some kind of “art” in which people look for certain lines on your palm that represent different things. It was actually interesting. Being from America and our stereotypes, I was very surprised how accepting everyone was of palm reading (especially since they are all Christian and how absolutely innocent they are), but after seeing and hearing her explanations, I suppose it makes sense. She said she believed in it, but she is also Christian and believes things can change. So, it’s definitely not some “devil works” or whatever crap. We were laughing and looking at each others palms. It was a lot of fun. Anyway, here is what my palm says about me:

- I have a long life line, but I will get a disease in my 50’s. I took that for dying but Mrs. Yum said I could overcome and I would live. I don’t know – I told Rachel the other day that I can’t picture my life after I’m like 50 or 60… a sign? HaHaHaHa

- I have good intelligence  and some talent

- I will have two boyfriends (whoo!) but don’t worry, I clarified and these are not at the same time. Mrs. Yum said I must be wise and choose the right one, and she had confidence I would. I will also have a long successful marriage.

- I will have 3 kids <– I believe I can change this one… 3 kids?! AHHHH!!!!

- I will get married in my late 20’s.

So, Mrs. Yum taught me some of the art. When I get back… if you want… I will let you know your future

no big deal

So…. tonight – for the first time I think in my entire driving history – I parallel parked ALL BY MYSELF! Ok, so I usually do the cheating parallel parking where I just slide in and hope I’m close enough to the curve, have help from friends, or some other cheating method. This time, I did it by the book. Well, I had to get out at one point to see how much room I had in the back, but besides that, I really parallel parked by myself and I did good!!!!

I’m so proud of myself. This is a huge accomplishment in my life and I just wanted to share it with you all.

hot dogs + rice

Ok….. So I had a little realization yesterday at lunch.

So, as you know or would guess, rice is at every meal. Surprisingly I never grow tired of it – I love it! But, I’m taken a break from rice recently AKA taking a break from all the carbs. Well, I treated myself yesterday at lunch to a little. As I was eating, it dawned on me, I’m eating little sliced up hot dog pieces with my rice (like I eat them together) and it seems totally normal to me. I would NEVER do this combination in America, but rice with EVERYTHING has become so common to me, I don’t think of the strange combinations anymore. Still tastes good to me -I’m going to start paying more attention to the things I eat together. Seriously though, we will have some really really strange combinations at lunch.

texting

Here are some texts I have received on my “handi-pone” = cell phone.

——————————-KEY————————————

^ ^ Korean smiley face

ㅠ    this is a face crying, sad face

; ;   I think this is like embarressed, ashamed

<3  this is a heart, except it actually looks like red heart on the phone

————————————————————————

you comeback home message call? (me: If I remember) OK apprehensive

^^your here my hosue city^^;; m     (I have no idea what this is trying to say. . . . . )

ㅠㅠ me english study.. ㅠㅠ

i love my ipod <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

im afraid (me: of what?) my english skill

thank u teacher, today i will eat hambager

awful vacaition ㅜ_ㅜ

Oh! Teacher I saw text now Thank you! I am happy becase teacher send text to me

I am inferior in English. Are you inferor to Korean language?

 

 

 

sam-gyup-sar

So me and Rachel started this thing where we get sam-gyup-sar (the grilled pork stuff) every Saturday before we go out. We discovered there are a few places by our apartment, so we’re testing those out to find the best. The one we went to tonight wasn’t too hot… it wasn’t even real fire. It was like the heater coals… and the grill had huge gaps so we kept dropping our meat down there. Also, they didn’t give us onions or mushrooms or the egg stuff…. least to say, we’re not going back there. The place we went last week was pretty good and cheap. I think there’s one more place to try and then maybe… just maybe, we’ll have “our place.” Ya know… like a local restaurant where they know us and we know them – special, eh?

Anyway, we love this stuff. It’s so delicious guys – words cannot even express. Sophia told us of a good one that a guy at her church owns downtown. Rachel likes the first one we went to with Ted and David, so we’ll probably hit that one up too.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking and yes, pork is unhealthy. Pig meat isn’t necessarily the best meat to eat. . .  . but it tastes so good that health is the last thing on your mind. Plus, we don’t eat a lot of protein anyway and it’s our special treat to ourselves that is a good meal. And we look forward to it. So if you were… stop hatin’

 

we got TOWED!

Well as of now, I officially have exactly 3 weeks till I fly back to the states. Sometimes I feel like time is standing still, other times I can’t believe it’s almost DECEMBER! Crazy, crazy. . . .

So last weekend me and Rachel went out shopping on Saturday – it seems to be our usual thing more weekends than not. We did some regular shopping, but also went to the art district to find some gifts to take back home. We haven’t quite figured out their hours of operation for many stores because even in the middle of the day, on a Saturday, many stores are closed. . . maybe it’s seasonal – ??? Well, after several hours in Chumpa (downtown area), we head back to our car. So, we’re walking and we didn’t see it ahead so we keep walking. I then realize that we have not parked down this far. . . ut-oh. We also notice 2 men taking pictures of cars and writing blue tickets… oh gosh. We realize the place we left our car and whatd’ya know, there was a blue ticket taped to the ground where our car was. . . OH GREAT!!!!!!!!! So we pick up the ticket, that is completely in Korean and notice our license plate written in a spot (luckily, we had discussed our license plate in which we memorized our numbers, WHEW! Well, Rachel had already done this). We try to flag down the guys and ask them where to go or try to get some assistance. One guy kept speaking Korean and smirking and then waved his hands and walked off. We try the other guy and he just kind of grunts Korean to us, waves his arms and turns away – - – what jerks – - – Grrrrr. . . . Well, luckily, we have Ted. I called Ted (thank God I have a cell phone!) and explain to him what happened. He then tells me try and read it, which I proceed to do and literally sound like a 4-year old that just learned the alphabet – haha. He then just tells me to take some photos of it and send it to him (thank you technology). He calls me back and tells us to get a cab and give the phone to the cab driver. Well, just as he is talking, we notice tow trucks on the street beside us towing off cars. We figured it can’t be too far away and we tell Ted that we’ll call him back because we are now literally chasing these tow trucks – HAHA! Luckily there was some traffic, so we weren’t running but we were walking very fast with our shopping bags in tow. We at least followed their lead down a long street in which we came to a large 4-way intersection. We’re lost, we have no idea and no more tow trucks were coming by… we call Ted back. We flag a taxi down, give the phone to him, and literally folks, literally, he make a turn, drives for 1.5 minutes and there it is – - we walked like 10 blocks and it was only one more block away – AHHHHHHH! We pay 30,000 won and get our car…. me and Rach both discussed the fact that we have never been towed in America and we get TOWED in Korea….. pheesh.

Oh well, guess crap happens and we now know to just take a taxi downtown because that’s cheaper and easier than being towed ^ ^ <– Korean smiley face. Cute, huh?

Sunday, Sophia had invited us to her church for some special lunch and program. Her church is absolutely beautiful – it’s all wood and looks like a very fancy wood cabin… very gorgeous. The lunch was amazing! They had sushi, spicy pork, jopchey, kimbop, fruit, and tons of other stuff — very nice. We then eat and the program started. It was basically like a “talent show.” There were teenager girls dancing, a guy singing, a quartet of opera singers, a girl that played the ocarina, and etc. There was also a host that led the program and called the numbers passed out for people to come up and claim a prize. Rachel was the first number called ^ ^ It was seriously the funniest thing ever. It was like she was on a funny game show because Sophia tried to translate but everybody was laughing at what she said and what the guy said. It all paid out in the end because… she won… two bags of “fancy” salt that is “good for your body.” LOL! It was nice though and kind of Sophia to ask us to come.

Nothing too much special or different at school. Just trying to finish up classes and cram the rest of it in. Well, I wouldn’t be cramming except that they, LAST MINUTE, changed exam week to a week earlier and told us this, oh… last week! Yeah – thanks GVCS/Korea. So I’m trying to finish everything up this week and then exams and then a week of… nothing, literally. I’m not going to start any new lessons, so we’re going to watch videos/movies of what we learned in class and I’ll probably bring some snack and candy and make it a “Christmas party.” It’s the American thing to do : )

Hmm… oh yeah! For Thanksgiving… of course it is not recognized here… after work we decided on a Thanksgiving feast of American food. So we went to TGIF – haha. We ordered appetizers of mac-n-cheese bites (fried cubes of mac and cheese) and fried mushrooms. I got ribs and shrimp and they got chicken and shrimp — well, the mac and cheese was kind of Thanksgiving’ish – haha. Oh well, I guess it’s the thought that counts though I would have loved some turkey, ham, green bean casserole, cheese ball…. ugh – I need to stop. . . . soon and very soon.

Well, yet again, I’m horrible at keeping up with blogging and this has turned into a major long essay/short story. I’m going to try and get better, I promise ^.^

oh Grace…

 

 

funny things said by Grace Kwin:

Everybody is racist. I am seriously.

That’s persecution lady

(I was talking about the future) –> It won’t happen, the world will end. Have you heard of Greenland? It will melt.

        *About the above: Grace is always talking about how the world will end soon because of the Arctic melting. It’s quite funny.

(asking Josh)

• Grace: Are you ok?
• Josh: No (jokingly)
• Grace: Oh ok. Don’t worry, I brought some DVD’s

Oh you know, I call my husband an Arab.

ready or not, here i come

So I just bought my flight ticket home about 30 minutes ago. I will be arriving in ATL about 9:30 pm on the 19th of December. It’s so crazy that I will be in the states… home… in a little over 3 weeks. It is so incredibly crazy to me how time flies by. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that I got here, and then other times I feel it’s been forever. I’m really excited about coming home, but sometimes I get really sad thinking about leaving the students/kids. I see them at least 5 days a week, sometimes everyday of the week – I’ll miss them terribly, especially since I’ve grown so close to them. I will be coming back to Korea earlier than I thought. I negotiated a deal – very business like, right? – and I am coming to work half of winter camp. Instead of me staying until February 9th, I will be leaving January 15th to come back. I know, I know – why? Well, it was a great deal for me, and they really need teachers. But, I’ll still be home for a little under 4 weeks

 

Update on learning Korean – I know….

• days of the week
• months
• 1-10 in both forms (hanna, tul. . . il, e. . . )
• and then some random words/phrases (i.e., My name is Kimber, I am American, and, pork (삼겹살), water (물).. etc. - lol)

I don’t know if I mentioned, but me and Rachel got to thinking that we’re young adult women… why do we get off work, change into our pj’s and sit there – we’re city women now. We need to go out! So… we do “Women Wednesdays” where we go out to eat – lol. I know – adventurous lol In our defense, it’s only the weekdays. We go out and have fun on the weekends. Anyway, we haven’t been in a while because of different school obligations and now we kind of changed it to Thursday because it works better aroung my night class schedule. We can’t think of any good T(Th) words. Well, Rach thought of some… but it was a bit out of hand haha. Tonight we’re going to a new restaurant that we discovered a couple weekends ago called Krazy Burger so hopefully it will be really good!

FYI: Sometimes there is a 20 degree difference between Cleveland and Gwangju. I’m already dressing for winter and I’m coming back the coldest part of the year – BRRRRRRRR!!!!!

this is why i never blog

well… my last blog update was October 27th and it is now November 17th – I’m horrible at this thing. I’ve never done one before, I’ve never kept a journal/diary – sorry folks. I promise I am not going to write a book because I don’t feel like it – way too long and way too much to remember that I probably can’t recall at this point and I’m sure you don’t want to read a forever long blog. I’m sparing both of us Let us recap my life:

• Oct. 31-Nov. 1: Well, with what little time there was to spare, me and Rachel made a last minute trip to Seoul to visit some friends (Laura and Ally) who were also teaching in Korea. We mainly just chilled out, visited a park/shrine area and walked around. Saturday was a really rainy day and since everything is outside, kind of put a drag on things to do. Though the others might have enjoyed it, I’m not down for cold, wet weather – it totally puts a damper on my mood. Anyway, we mainly walked, shopped a little and hung out. We did found a crazy large underground shopping mall at the Bupyong subway stop. It literally, with no exaggeration was HUGE! We had to find a map to figure out how to get out. It was fun and really nice to be able to talk to others… normally and share our experiences. Oh, and I had McDonald’s breakfast on Sunday which is the first American breakfast I have had; scrambled eggs, sausage, english muffin, and hashbrown.
• Nov. 2-6: This was PTA week which was basically parents coming in randomly (though they probably scheduled a tentative time, nobody likes to inform me/us of anything… thanks Korea). It was ok meeting with parents, it just really sucks because I can’t talk for myself, always need a translator, and I never know what is really being said. Like, I’ll talk for 2 minutes and then have a 15 second translation and then I’ll talk for 15 seconds and have a 2 minute translation… Plus I feel like it deters the parents from really asking any questions. It’s just a real bummer not being about to communicate for myself and at least attempt to develop a relationship with the parents. Oh well, it’s over and I suppose it went well.
• I’m learning Korea… I at least know how to read, though I have no idea what I am reading. I figured, it’s a start and by knowing the Korean Hangul (their symbols) I can now buy a dictionary so I can look up words. I feel like such a 2 year old because of how I pronounce each sound and how slow I am. I’m learning… the students think it is impressive and funny and sometimes help me with words and pronunciation. I am excited about learning the language, even if I don’t intend to stay. The bright side, I’m able to understand a little and at least say really basic things – let’s see what happens!
• Nov. 7: Pastor Koh got married on Satuday. It was in a city about 2 hours away so a coach was rented and all the students, teachers and people from the church piled in and drove away. It was…. interesting. First off, it was in a wedding hall and I felt like they were herding the guests like cows. We arrived at the end of another wedding and were watching them take pictures. Then finally, we sat down and the wedding started. We sat at tables on either side of the aisle and everything was predecorated. Just to give you an idea, there were lights up top and lights down the aisle (disco like), fog machines down the aisle and they played songs, such as Truly, Madly Deeply by Savage Garden, Because you Loved me by Celine Dion, and some disco sounding song when the groom walked down. People were clapping like it was a runway show. It was very entertaining. There were people talking in the back and people on their cell phones – a lot of disruptions, but nobody seemed to pay attention. I don’t know. Though it was quite funny and not a dull moment, I’m not so sure I would like that for my wedding. Well…. maybe the fog machines.
• Me and Rach have been brave and going out on our own on weekends. We go for pork usually and on different occassions, we either pointed to a picture or pointed to someone else’s meal – hahaha. No worries, we finally learned the word for what we really want. Oh gosh folks… Korean pork/BBQ is amazing! It’s raw pork meat and you cook it yourself either over a gas grill or hot coals (I prefer this). You wrap it in different kinds of greens (lettuce, cabbage, mint, etc), with different side items: onions, garlic, red brean pasta, mushrooms, kimchi, etc. It’s SOOOOOO incredibly delicious, even for pork.
• One time me and Rach went and experimented at this place called “New York Pub” downtown. It was actually really nice and a chill atmosphere. Everything was in Korean, so we randomly pointed to something and that was our decision. To our pleasant surprise, it was Pina Colada – Whoooo. We sat there (it was on the 2nd floor and we sat by a window), people watched, talked, and relaxed.
• last weekend we went out and met an Irish guy (nice and talked about his experience and knowledge of Korean culture) and finally found a couple places where “foreigners” AKA English speakers hang out. Me and Rach have just really wanted to meet other people and have some other interaction besides ourselves and the people we see practically everyday. It’s just nice to talk with other people.  The first place was a place called German Bar and these out of control white people were doing karaoke except they sounded HORRIBLE! Nonetheless, it was hilarious and entertaining. We didn’t become friends with them…. speaking of foreigners/Americans – many dress horrible here. They look homeschooled and frumpy. I mean, yes, traveling clothes and comfort is one thing, but for goodness sakes folks, we’re living here. When you go out, try to look decent. Oh well – guess that’s the difference between us and them.
• This past Saturday we went out again. We went back to German Bar to hang out first and after a while, the table next to us, a table of all Korean men, ended up “talking” to us and joining our table. Though there was an obvious huge language barrier, they were really nice and it was funny. The cell phones here are super handy because they have Korean/English dictionaries so it makes communication a little easier. One guy showed Rachel (translated) the word “molest, malice, abuse” and was trying to tell her they weren’t dangerous – haha. To make it better, the one guy I thought was cute, asked for my number – Oooo LaLa. He later texted me that night to see if I made it home safely and wanted me to text him when I did get home – sweet, eh? Well, me and Rach went dancing, it had been forever since we last went and it’s such good exercise and an amazing destressor – haha. Well, me and Rach met 2 girls from Canada so that was a cool contact to make. And then, through the night, I had 2 guys ask for my number. Ok, one guy seriously was carrying a helium filled balloon haha, but at least he was cute. One hung around me till I left. Needless to say, I was very flattered on Saturday Not expecting anything, obviously, but it was fun and interacting with others and not feeling like a total loser felt great.
• I’m tired of this injustice towards females – ok, well it’s really not that bad, it’s like the stupid little things that I notice and irritate the crap outta mean. I guess it really just bothers me because of some work-related experiences that I feel unfair treatment. UGH – I’m tired of playing nice.  Next time I’m just going to speak up and say my peace. Oh, on this note… I was called a feminist by the Korean guy I work with and he has no idea who I am – ignorant.
• It’s like in the low 40’s already here and it’s still in the low 70’s/high 60’s back home – BRRRRR. I don’t know how I will survive. I’m not used to it being this cold till like January/February and that’s usually the coldest it gets. How do I dress warmer?!?!
• I have the recipe for chop chey, I hope I can cook it and bring some stuff back to the states to cook there.
• I’m coming home from December 20th – January 15th. Whooooo
• Watched 2012 – great movie. I don’t care what you say, it was amazing. Oh how I enjoy end of the world movies
• I’m not eating rice anymore… for various reasons. Even though I have eaten it pretty much everyday since I’ve been here and usually twice a day, I miss it.
• I was just told today that they changed final exam week a week earlier. So now, I have one less week to teach. Thanks for the heads up GVCS – pheesh.
• My goal is to drink more water – like a gallon a day. Wish me luck. I’m spending most of my time running to the bathroom.
• on a serious note, I’m really concerned about what to do next year. Part of me totally sees me staying and teaching one more year, yet there’s another part of my that feels this huge obligation and wanting to go back to the states, finish my masters and then do whatever. I have been homesick here, but never regretted my decision to be here. I love my students, genuinely and truly. One day, as I was walking down the stairs Erin said “Teacher,” I said “Student” and then she said, “I love you.” And then Jessica always comes up and gives me hugs and says she loves/likes me. I have relationships here. Though I knew it would happen I suppose, I never anticipated becoming so attached. I really want to see these teenagers succeed, grow, and I want to be a part of it. I don’t know what is going to happen but I need to make a decision and FAST.

Ok – it’s a little long… I know. But give me some credit, I could have been a lot more detailed and it would be twice as long

Holla

haircut

me and Rachel were talking about split ends….. so we took our office supply scissors, went outside and trimmed the ends of our hair. I got bit by a mosquito twice. . . . . .

We think our hair feels better.