I’m Alive
“By submitting this form, you agree to receive occasional emails and/or text messages.” ‘Occasional’ was definitely the right word choice for the agreement statement when you subscribed to my blog. Nine months have passed since I landed in Korea and this is my fourth blog post. How silly of me~ anyways, I’d just like to let everyone know that I am indeed alive and well! If you want to know more than what is below, then you can call, text, dm, facetime, or email me, and I will pick up and/or answer at some point. Technology is truly amazing and has helped me stay in touch with so many and I am grateful for that.
Since July, I have gone on a few summer trips (Busan, Jeju Island, and Yeosu)! And just because summer ended doesn’t mean the trips have ended… I continued my travels on the weekends and went to Geoje Island, Sokcho (a pain to get to, but oh, the things we do to go to National Parks (Seoraksan)), Gapyeong, Nami Island, and made my first trip back to Seoul since April. For how small Korea is (about half the size of WA), it has a lot of things to do, places to visit, and a heckuva lot of cable cars. I even checked off the box on shooting hand sanitizer straight into my right eyeball; strongly do not recommend.
I had my first observation as a teacher and it went very well! My main coteacher, the vice-principal, and the PE teacher observed me. Their only “complaint,” if you’ll even call it one, is that they wanted my “question of the day” for the kids at the beginning of class to be related to the lesson, but they didn’t understand that they were just random questions I do to get to know the kids and something fun for them to think about before class starts. So when I told them, they said “oh, that’s good too.” The best compliment I got was from the vice-principal; she said that she was relieved I had a loud speaking voice in the classroom. She said that I am soft-spoken which is true, but I told her that there is always a time and place for everything and she was so happy to hear that. I cannot be having chatty kids talking over me!
I got a bike! So, now I bike to school on Wednesdays and Thursdays because the bus isWAYtoo full of middle and high school kids on those mornings. Monday and Tuesday, I don’t bike to school because a teacher I am friends with drives me home and I’d rather take a car than my bike. And then Fridays, the school is way too far (about a 30-minute bus ride) to be able to bike there and has too many hills, maybe I’m making excuses but my coteacher here also drives me home on Fridays. I’m only a little sad that I bike to school on W/Th now because if you can recall from my last blog post, I don’t get to ride the bus with my favorite staff members from Kyoryong Elementary anymore (the janitor and special needs teacher)! Buuuut, the bus that I take to school on Fridays comes after the bus I used to take on W/Th so the janitor always sits on the right side of the bus and waves to me as it comes and leaves! She is SO CUTE AHHH.
For schools in Korea, you can only stay at one school for a maximum of 4 or 5 years, depending on the city/county. This goes for all staff members as well, such as the lunch ladies. One of the lunch ladies at my main school moved to another school that I work at (Yongseong Elementary) and she remembers me! She told my coteacher, at this school, that she knows me because I eat more than people expect so she’s always ready to give me lots of food and made sure all the lunch ladies at this school know not to give me small amounts of food because believe it or not, I get mistaken as a student and students get less food than teachers and staff. I LOVE HER. And most people know that I LOVE FOOD and I’m pretty good at finishing my food. So I’m very thankful she moved to Yongseong because the lunch ladies here never seem to remember that I’m not a student so I always have to ask for more food because I’m still hungry.
Some news I found out recently is that Namwon is getting a Starbucks! One of my friends here in Namwon works at the English Center and the Koreans there told everyone because they were so excited. Then the next day at work, I heard all my coworkers and students talking about it. Many of you know that I don’t love giving Starbucks my money but, yay for finally being able to drink a soy latte soon (because unfortunately, all cafes in Korea are not lactose-intolerant friendly, so I do be getting so many iced americanos)!
Also, random but I went to a movie theater for the first time since pre-covid. I don’t even remember the last film I watched in theaters before covid, maybe ‘Knives Out’ which I’m pretty sure I went twice for but !!! I teared up because I was so happy to be in one again. When you walk into the theater, it just smells of popcorn and caramel corn and it is great. I watched ‘Shang Chi’ for my first film back in theaters and then last week I went to Jeonju after work to watch ‘No Time To Die’ with my friend Jane and I am upset that Koreans aren’t watching this film because I thought it was freaking fantastic. It was just Jane, me and one couple watching the film. Maybe they’re scared of covid but it’s basically non-existent in Jeollabuk-do so where is everyone?!?! ‘Dune’ was released yesterday in Korea and I’m soooooo excited for that when I can go see it.
Lastly, because this is so typical of me (being emotional and whatnot), I cried the other day talking to a friend here about how happy I was to have the friends that I do in Korea. Living in a different country with no family around and having them be the closest thing to family—they really do make Namwon and Korea feel like home. I always joke about having 2 friends when I very well know that I have many different friends from all the different phases of my life, but I am a firm believer in quality over quantity and have built upon that here in Korea. I hope you all at home feel all the love from the ones you love around you and hug your family and friends tight because I miss mine and you all so much! (I’ll post pictures here and other vlogs when they’re done soon).
And here are the only photos I’ve uploaded onto my computer from my phone since July:
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Gapyeong; The Garden of the Morning Calm -
Seoraksan National Park -
Namwon -
Gapyeong; The Garden of the Morning Calm