This one's gonna be a long one so grab a snack...

Welp, lots of stuff happened this week. Some cool and some not so cool, but I figure that to be real I've gotta give you the good the bad and the ugly...actually nothing was ugly or even all that bad...it just sounded neat:)

On Thursday I went to teach my last period and the girls were going NUTS! They were all climbing up onto the window sill and screaming when I came in to the classroom so I had no clue what was going on until one of the girls finally managed to tell me that the Korean pop band 2AM along with several movie stars and a professional soccer team were expected to be on our soccer field within the hour for an interview. I tried to start class but they were having the hardest time focusing and then I thought how this would be the equivalent of having the Backstreet Boys or NSync in your backyard, so a pretty big deal for a middle school girl, and I felt bad not letting them just watch out the window. So the whole class period we made 2AM posters and went outside to wait. When the team and celebrities finally showed up it was absolute mayhem at my school! Even the teachers were screaming and there were girls going absolutely nuts! I sprinted home after school to get my camera in hopes that I could get a sweet pic but also record how funny it was to see these girls screaming/crying and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. But I got back to school just as the buses and vans were leaving! Ahhhh. I did take a video though of some of the starstruck girls comparing pictures on their phones:)



Friday I was hit with an a-bomb of homesickness and I have no clue what brought it on. I can't say I've really felt homesick since I've been here, atleast not like that, but within a matter of 5 minutes I definitely moved from one end to the other on the happy scale. Definitely sat in my office and cried while talking to my friend Hannah on facebook and it was a rather pathetic scene especially since I had no clue why I all of a sudden felt so crappy. I guess you could say that the thing I miss most is just familiarity. I miss my fam and I miss my best friends who can call me out when I'm being a turd. And I also think there's a slight fear that relationships back home are going to change while I'm gone, but I suppose that is part of life. People come and go. But at the same time, there are so many amazing people that are such a huge part of my life and continue to be even though I'm halfway around the world, and I refuse to submit to the whole people coming and going thing. Sure, part of it is true. But at the same time, staying tight through challenges are what make real, legit relationships so substantial whether they're family or friends. The good news is I pulled my head out not just because I did a little shopping but also because I did what any person should do when they feel a bit like poooo....I WENT TO THE BEACH. Praise the Lord for beaches. There is no other thing in creation that I love more than the beach.

My friend Laura and I headed to the beach Saturday morning which is only a little under an hour and half from Daejeon and it was GLORIOUS. We had amazing weather and I have returned looking like a lobster which, as most of you know, is what I normally look like during the summer months.

This is hands down the sweetest little girl I've ever seen








Good news! If you get sick of your pets you can deposit them here.


Deadliest catch




Fish market at the harbor




The most giant crab on earth


I woke up today and went for an amazing run on the beach and then popped a squat and just sat there for what were probably the most peaceful 15 minutes I've had in months. It reminded me of the times where I was either at Kanakuk Kamps as a counselor or this past summer at Young Life camps and would get up early just for some quiet time...and I can honestly say that some of those mornings, as simple as they were, were some of the greatest moments in my life because of the amazing peace I experienced. I sat there this morning and for a second realized how I really was plopped on the other side of the world, but then thought about just how amazing our Creator is. This world is just awesome. And speaking of awesome, the most awesome thing happened last night. We were walking back from the beach and passed a group of Westerners, who we smiled at and they smiled back, which I only mention because for the most part there's this weird thing going on in South Korea where Westerners who have been here for more than a year think they're too cool for anyone so they don't acknowledge you. Kind of stupid. But that wasn't the awesome thing that happened. So we passed this group of people and after walking about ten minutes bumped into them again at an intersection. We started talking and one of the girls asked me where I was from. I told her I had been living in Washington for the last 8 years and she asks where in Washington so I tell her the Seattle area. Then she asks where in the Seattle area and I said near PLU in the Tacoma/ Puyallup area....turns out, she is the sister of a friend from college who played football and grew up in Puyallup! I still cannot get over how small this world is. Like really, in an intersection of a small beach town in the middle of South Korea you meet someone who not only knows the street you live on but knows the people you know? Get out of town. I seriously think that is so crazy and so stinkin cool. I love adventures.

Also, the other day I saw a Volvo which was really weird.

I love my job and it's the weirdest feeling.

When I turned into school today it all of a sudden hit me... I LOVE MY JOB. Weird! Not to say I haven't somewhat enjoyed past jobs, but getting up at 3am for Starsucks aka Starbucks shifts or sitting at a desk all day never got me all that excited. Even student teaching was a bit of a drag (no offense PLU). There is no possible way I could not enjoy this job especially considering...
1. the first thing I see when I walk into school are the purple-people-eaters, also known as my students, walking laps around the track and yelling "Good morning!" from across the field. They wear these purple sweats for P.E. and I'm still not sure why some have to walk in the mornings...probably punishment but who knows. Also, they have stopped saying "Nice to meet you and you?!" and have started saying things that make sense!
2. Crazy Minji comes into my office atleast once a day with a stack of pictures that are either male Korean models or K-pop boy-band group members and asks me to rank each of them by their "handsome and sexiness" on a scale of 1-10.
3. every teacher in my building has expressed that they don't think I eat enough, even though that is all I do, so they in turn bring me snacks all day every day.
4. my students continually say the most hilarious/ridiculous things in class that make it impossible for me to be unhappy. There's a couple of students that are just turkeys but the majority are unbelievably fun.
5. Donald Duck comes into my office everyday after lunch asking for "dessert" because she's figured out that I always have some kind of snack in my bag. So I give her the remainder of my Craisins and she returns the favor by giving me a half eaten piece of Korean candy.
6. students who didn't already have english names came up with their own, which is why I have a Donald Duck. I have some kids with normal names like Judy and Katey...and other ones like Turbo, Firepower, Bart, Simpson, Lisa, Homer, Kim Yuna, and Ashleigh.
7. sometimes I show up to school and am informed that all of my classes for the day are cancelled...like today. So, instead I get to sit in my office all day and plan/read Harry Potter/be constantly fed by teachers/be bombarded by Donald Duck after every class instead of just after lunch.
8. the teachers that I work with are wonderful people. Not only do they feed me constantly, they go out of their way for anything and everything. Yesterday I was telling one of my co-teachers that I'm going to the beach with a friend this weekend, she all of a sudden disappeared, and twenty minutes later she came back saying that she was working on booking me a hotel.
9. to prove that point #3 is true, I just had a teacher hand me a rice cake and a scone the size of my head.
10. the same exact Rihanna songs are blasted throughout the school everyday during the entire lunch hour.

The end.

They can take my life...but they can't take my shorts.

Friday morning I woke up feeling like I was hit by a bus because the previous night I had played volleyball, with some super legit ballers might I add, for a good two hours. Today I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a car because I actually had. Yesterday I was running down a side street and I see a car weaving around stopped taxis coming towards me so I pull over so I didn't get run over since she was driving like Cruella Deville. She stopped so I waited for a second and assumed she was letting me squeeze between her and the parked car she almost hit, and right when I started going she stepped on the gas and absolutely hammered me in the side with her side view mirror! It hurt so stinkin bad and I shed more than a few tears while limping down the street. After about an hour the pain wore off but today I'm definitely feeling like I might need a hip replacement.

It's kind of funny that this all happened though because this past week I was cussed out in Korean by three different women and I'm pretty sure it was because of my running shorts. Or maybe not. But something about me definitely got them worked up. The only reason I say that is because, aside from the soccer players, I can count on one hand the number of Koreans I've seen actually wearing shorts. When we were at orientation they talked a lot about how we should be mindful of how we dress due to how conservative the Korean culture is, which I understand especially since we are visitors and are likely to see our students outside of school. I can't imagine that shorts would cause such a ruckus though, especially since I regularly see girls wearing skirts so short that it barely covers their backside. Anyways, by Thursday I was convinced every Korean woman over the age of 60 hated me and yesterday, after seeing that the woman who attempted to take my life was around that age, I was 100% sure they were out to get me. I was on the subway yesterday after my near death incident, in shorts, and this woman probably in her mid-sixties came and sat next to me and asked me where I was from and was so sweet. I felt so silly on my walk home for making the assumption that all women over a certain age in this culture are the same. Anywhere you go, you're going to run into angry grandma's and people that glare at you. That's something that I need to remind myself of daily. Especially since here, people don't really smile at you if they don't know you, but it's not a malicious behavior it's just part of the culture.

A couple of weeks ago my best friend Heather's bro Jason, who is the traveling king, wrote a message on here saying something about how when you're in a culture that is so vastly different it's crazy because nothing you do will hold any consequences back home. I think I know what he means because here, we're stared at constantly because we are so different, so in a way, you mind as well be a weirdo because everyone already thinks you're weird. It might not be a part of the culture to smile at people you don't know, but I'm gonna smile at everyone anyways. There have been a few times where the person has actually smiled back and I can tell you it's an amazing feeling...not sure why...but that one gesture can absolutely make my day. I sing out loud while I run or walk to school and people definitely look at me weird but they would look anyways so why not look like I'm having a good time? Or I can go to Dunkin Donuts and eat 4 donuts in one sitting and not care that everyone around me thinks I'm a fat kid. There's just something that is so freeing about living in a culture that is so totally different and never caring what anyone thinks about you.

Last week, three of us went on a mission to find the cherry blossom festival. We walked in every direction we could go and could not for the life of us find this place. So eventually we gave up, got food, and jumped on the bus. We were riding for about thirty minutes when the bus pulls onto a road in the middle of nowhere and turns into a parking lot with 20 other buses...or the bus hotel. So we climbed off and were all laughing because we had NO clue where we were.

Eventually we got on a bus and rode it an hour back to the subway stop...and on the way back we passed the cherry blossom festival. Haha, I need to learn Korean.






World Cup Stadium in Daejeon


The man I plan on marrying


Last night at around 10pm we decided to go to the Hot Springs so beforehand we bought out a Family Mart's ice cream supply. Haha.


I can't express the overwhelming joy I experience when I see this building. It never gets old.

Friday at my boy's school we were working on dialogue that starts with "Would you like to...?" so towards the end of class they were working in pairs to make their own and then afterwards would practice by reading them out loud to the class. Here's the winners for this week:
Boy 1: "Would you like to have a fart?"
Boy 2: "Boooom! Yes, I would."

Boy 1: "Would you like to show me the money?"
Boy 2: "No, maybe next time."
Boy 1: "Ok then I'll kill you."

Wait...I live in Korea?

So, I've managed to land myself a great running buddy, which is a huge deal considering I'm used to running with some of the greatest guys/fastest-runners-that-kick-my-butt-every-time back home, and today we ran up to a point where you can see the entire city. We were standing on a bench where you could literally see all of Daejeon plus layers of mountains for miles and it was one of those moments where it suddenly dawns on you that YOU ARE ACTUALLY LIVING IN KOREA. Yup Ash, this isn't a dream. And yes, you are the only person in the entire country with curly hair.

This week though, spring practice starts for PLU volleyball and there is no other way to put it other than it's absolutely killing me. For several reasons, too. First, for the past eight years now, I've either been a player or a coach in the program so I've never had a spring or fall go by that doesn't involve volleyball. Good volleyball. And for those of you reading who aren't/weren't players in this program, it's a program unlike any other. I can't even begin to explain it to you to be quite honest, but I'll just say that it's one of the greatest things on earth. Seriously. And it's not necessarily the program but the people in it. I can honestly say that it's had one of the greatest impacts on my life compared to anything I've ever experienced. Coaching the past 4 years has multiplied that times a million, too, which is weird because when I first started coaching I pictured myself as some bitter, washed-up old player that would sit on the bench and just yell at the girls because I was angry that they got to play and I didn't. Haha, not really. But I definitely wasn't prepared for the profound impact it would have on my life. And there again, it's not even something I can explain. I will introduce you to a picture, however, that will absolutely rock your world.
Are you ready?
Ok, here it is.

Sweet? Yup.

But while I'm feeling totally sorry for myself I must say that I'm pretty stoked about one thing. My running buddy, Joe, as I mentioned earlier (who happens to be from England which is awesome in itself) came up with this brilliant idea that we do an event to benefit some sort of charity. (He may kill me for putting this on my blog considering we didn't talk about making it known to everyone-but I assume most people reading this aren't living in Korea). Anyways, we're running down the street, dodging all kinds of Koreans and cars and we decided we would run the subway line here and try to get sponsors so that all proceeds will go to some sort of charity that benefits kids in some way...so a subway-a-thon if you will. We think that since the subway is about 22 stops, that it would be about a 15-20 mile run, but then again, I was the one who projected that distance and we all know that I know nothing. Anywho, pretty stoked about it.

The cherry blossoms are starting to come out which is very rad, and this weekend I was able to take a lot of random pictures (some not including cherry blossoms at all) so I thought I would share!


Hahaha. Hope this doesn't mean what I think it means if you know what I mean...but I dont think that's what it means.




Ok, now THIS is the coolest thing ever. My friend Laura and I were walking around Saturday and she noticed all of these people sitting around pools. There are these super hot pools where you just sit and soak your feet. For free!


If you feel like you burned a few too many calories at the Wellness Center, you can hit up the grocery and Dunkin Donuts afterwards. Perfect.





Yup, I'm definitely living in Korea:) It's crazy to think that just two months ago I was having regular panic attacks and making the lives of my loved ones rather miserable because I wasn't sure if this was actually some kind of practical joke. Just nutty.

"Nice to meet you and you?"

So, every week so far I've had a "Phrase of the Week" for my kids which are either words in English slang or some kind of English saying. They get a kick out of it and it's even more of a kick for me to hear them repeat the actual phrase. This week though, the phrase we had was simply "Good morning/Good afternoon/Good evening" because I would say that 99.1729% of the time I see them outside of the classroom the first thing they say to me is "Hi, nice to meet you and you?" which drives me absolutely insane! It makes you realize how monotonous their English classes are outside of having them with a native English teacher because half of the time they don't know what they're saying. When asked how they are, they are taught to basically say "I'm fine. And you?" so I think that's how they end up tacking the "and you" onto everything. It's true though, everytime I walk into class and ask them how they are, they all respond at once saying "I'm fine. And you?". So really, Jurassic Park could actually happen and T-Rex could be wreaking havoc on all of SoKo but if I asked my kids how they were in the midst of a dinosaur tearing the roof off the school, their response would probably be "I'm fine. And you?". This week it was my mission to break that cycle so I told them that everytime I see them outside of school I want them to practice saying "Good morning" or "Good afternoon"...or even "What's up Ashoree?"...I'm cool with either:) However, on my walk home from school yesterday, after an entire week of trying to drill this in, I counted and had 17 students say "Nice to meet you and you?"....ahhhhhhhh!!! They are hilarious though, and there have been atleast a dozen times now where I've had to leave the classroom for a minute because I can't stop laughing. They have the greatest personalities and are so stinkin fun to be around. Today we were talking about proper nouns and I had "man" and "woman" on the board and asked for an example of each. One girl raises her hand and goes "Michael Jackson. Both." I almost died.

The most difficult thing at school so far, aside from trying to stop the "Nice to meet you and you" madness, is peeing. I'm not sure if you have ever seen or heard of the Korean squatting toilets but alot of the women's restrooms have them. Unfortunately, that's all my school has.

When I was younger I wanted to be able to stand up and pee like my brothers...this is not exactly what I was going for...

It's like being in the woods everyday when you're at school...except if the angle is off by a couple degrees, if you know what I mean, then you can't just walk it off. Instead you get to go into a classroom full of students. Not, that this has happened to me. I've only officially used the toilet twice at school...just in case you were wondering.

Another interesting fact: A lot of the restrooms here, especially in public places, are joined. The first time I went into one of these I had no clue and when I came out of the stall there was a guy standing there peeing at the urinal. And the sink is usually between the stall and the urinal...so it's kind of weird sometimes. Especially when you walk out of the stall and it's one of your friends who you didn't know was in there using the urinal.

This could very well happen.

In other news: One thing I really took for granted at schools back home were the die-cutting paper machines that let you cut things super efficiently. Here, we have X-acto knives which is really scary considering the family that I come from. There is a good chance I'll be hospitalized several times throughout the next year.

My name is Kim Yuna

I've realized over the past couple of days that this sneaky little bad mood that keeps creeping up on me is not a stage of culture shock but the result of having to go to a silly training session for the last three weeks after school. At times, I must admit it was kind of fun, but only because we were all completely delirious. Luckily though, today was the last day and I have the most hilarious students on earth that can make even the most sleep deprived weeks fun:)

This week my second graders were doing a lesson where we were talking about what an appropriate response is when someone makes a statement that you don't necessarily believe. I was aiming for them to respond with the usual "Really?" or "Are you sure?" So I put up 3 examples on the board and the last one read "My name is Kim Yuna" (the Korean figure skater-if you don't know who this is then don't come to Korea. It's a serious crime) and in their groups they were supposed to come up with a response. So I give them a couple minutes and go around to the different groups and when I finally get to Crazy Minji's group, who is my one of my favorites, she stands up and says "You lying son of a (insert female dog)" and is totally straight faced. Now Crazy Minji's name is actually Minji but all of the girls call her Crazy Minji because she is the most hilarious kid on earth. Two weeks ago, we were both walking down to the subway but going different directions and we hear the train coming so we both start sprinting down the stairs because we know it's for one of us and the whole way she's yelling "OH MY GOT! OH MY GOT!" and I was cracking up because she had no clue what she was really saying. Of course, it was my train so I jumped on pumping my fists in the air and say "I win!" to which she replies "Ashleigh Teacher you suck!" Normally if one of my students told me I sucked or said I was a lying SOB I would throw them out a window, but these kids have no clue what they're saying and they are SO wonderful, so all you can do is smile and kindly correct them...or laugh hysterically like I did and nearly wet your pants.

I finally uploaded some pics from my schools, too!

I don't have a lot of resources at my girl's school but we do have a sweet track and a turf field...PLU is in desperate need of one of these.



Some of my students...one may or may not be Crazy Minji and I didn't even take this picture...I found it on my camera when I uploaded pictures...


Today a bunch of the boys came in to hang out during lunch and asked me to put on music, so I played Lady Gaga for them on Youtube and they had a 30 minute long dance party. So funny:)


My saweet classroom at the boy's school that also doubles as a dance club.



The past couple days it's really started to set in how much I miss my family and close friends. I think that mostly I just miss having people around me that know me. It's different when you have a small circle of people out of an entire country that you can actually converse with, and none of those people really know you all that well. Granted, I think I'm going to come out of this experience with some awesome friendships. But, it's different when everyone's only, for the most part, known each other for 2 months because I feel like in a way that I can't really let the insane side of me out that I do around my best friends and I can't be insane around just anyone...if that makes sense. I'm not sure it does but it does in my head so I'll just leave it at that:)

I will tell you though that I'm thankful that I'm not a pig or a cow. I walk by this sign on my way to and from school everyday and I just feel so sorry for the cows and pigs out there. I did eat almost an entire cow for dinner tonight, and I don't regret it one bit, but I do feel sorry for them when we can't atleast give them a small amount of dignity and respect by not posting before and after pics on buildings. Now I feel like I need to add pigs and cows to the same apology list that dogs and thrashing octopus/barf bombs are on.


Speaking of barf bombs, I'm pretty ticked off at Jennifer Love Hewitt right now. I have 2 channels that I actually watch: Discovery and Fox. Fox used to play NCIS here at 10 every night and the past 3 nights they've been playing her stupid show called the Ghost Whisperer or something weird like that. And it's the most horrible show on earth! I don't understand why Korea is doing this to me. She should have stopped with I Know What You Did Last Summer...even though it actually did kind of scare me a teeny bit.