Our bucket lists cont...

So, when we made our bucket lists, one of the things that we both had listed was to own a motorcycle at some point…preferably with a sidecar. We’ve talked about this extensively and I’m thinking since these crotch-rocket type bikes are pretty inexpensive here I could knock one off of each of our lists by just buying one here and adding a sidecar when I get back home. Yep, I think I’ll do it.


It also snowed buckets yesterday so I took a couple of pics around my street..

Woosong University across from where I live


I just thought this was a cool shot...these girls were singing Rhianna at the top of their lungs when I walked by. Hahaha

Another reason I want one though is because after about a week you realize how exhausting it really is to walk everywhere. I take the subway a lot but its about 20 min just from my house to the sub. The past couple of nights when I’ve gotten off of the sub and had to walk a good half mile to a mile to get to where I'm going I just run. I'm like the Forrest Gump of Daejeon. I make sure that I’m wearing my running shoes, strap my bag across my chest and end up I’m sure looking like a frantic American, or Mi-guk as my students would say, rather than someone trying to get a workout in. Last night though it was so stinkin funny because I’m running back to my house at probably 9:45 at night. I'm in black sweats and a sweatshirt with a black puffy vest over it and hauling down the street probably looking like I'm in a street gang. This girl about 10 yards in front of me turns around because she hears me coming and gives me this look of absolute terror and takes off running! Haha, so funny. But really, while I enjoy the exercise I’ve noticed the past couple days that when I’m walking around town that I have to keep my hands in my pants pockets or my pants fall down…which was not the case 3 weeks ago. I think they need to have a Biggest Loser in South Korea. Who needs Bob and Jillian when you can wither away for free?

At school there are only 4 teachers who can speak English well enough to hold a conversation but even then a lot of things get lost in translation. So, sometimes it gets a little lonely not being able to just have small talk with someone. In fact, I’m pretty sure there is a staff meeting going on behind me right now. They could be devising a plan to have me exported and I wouldn’t even have a clue. AND I was thinking that if there is a fire in the building I am really in for it. There’s no doubt in my mind that I would be a Washington shishkabob because the students run around here like there’s a fire anyways so I would probably just sit here and smile…while on facebook. Wouldn’t that be a sad story.

Oh, but last week in one of my Thursday classes this student calls me over and just starts talking to me like she is one of my friends. I stood there stunned because I was teaching this class simple conversational phrases like “I am from Korea” so I was super confused. She told me later that she has paid her way for the past 3 years to go to English camps at universities during every break because she wants to live in the U.S. eventually. It gave me goosebumps especially because the area around my school is the poorest in all of the city. And we are talking really poor. So some of these kids come from some pretty rough situations. Today though she called me over, and I can honestly say she speaks English better than any Korean I’ve spoken with yet. She asked me if I would help her write this giant essay for an English contest because if she wins she gets a scholarship and would be able to attend a high school in America for 4 years. She says “I know you are busy and don’t have time to waste on a person like me but maybe if you could help me once a week…” and I was like “Are you kidding! I want you to come to my office everyday from 3:30 to 4:30 and we will work on it or anything else you want to work on” and when I said that she started crying, thanked me, and then ran off to the bathroom. That’s all I needed to be reminded of why I’m here.

On a lighter note, I’m going out for Korean seafood with my co-workers here in an hour. I’ve heard stories of other native teachers eating “thrashing octopus” which is legs of an octopus, obviously, that have just been cut off and are still moving…and you pry it off your plate and swallow it before it latches to your tongue. I would still be terrified that after I chew it, it suctions to my esophagus and chokes me to death. If this does in fact happen I just want to say my goodbyes. It’s been fun…