Notes on November

We started a new term on Monday and with it we got a mass of new students. My school highly suggests students choose an English name for class purposes. I'm still not convinced this is for the students "immersion benefit" as it seems more for the school's reputation;  their native English teachers are not butchering the Korean names of their students. However, most kids choose their own name before they come to class. If they don't, we are allowed to choose one for them. Sadly I have only given out two and both have been pretty weak. One was my brother's name, Drew, and the other was Doug (aka, Doug Funny). 

But Monday I had a student without on English name on my roster and I got oddly excited. The thought of naming someone gives me a little thrill. So when I got to his name on the attendance chart I had my sheet of potential names in hand and was ready to start firing them off. He beat me to the punch however, and proudly stated that he was going to be named "Potter". At first I thought he said, "Peter" and I wanted to scream because I already had about 6 Peters in other classes. But he calmly repeated himself again, "Potter". He was about 7 years old and had decided to not name himself "Harry" but rather the surname "Potter" and was completely convinced that he had named himself appropriately. It was one of those shining moments of defiance and pride in a little kid's life and despite it I laughed to myself for the next hour every time I called on his proud little soul. 

--------

In the after math of Obama's win in the states, black people in Korea have become the new blondes. They are few and far between here, with the majority of them Africans who sell purses on the street in Itaewon. Thus Koreans didn't necessarily have a good view of them until now. In the past few weeks however, even old Korean men and women who can not even pronounce the english word "hello" have learned the name "Obama" and the word "President". It is incredible how many times people will see me and ask "meegouk saram?" which means "American person?" and when I nod they say "Obama President!!!" and give an often golden toothed grin coupled with a double thumbs up. And now everytime my students see a  picture  of a black person in one of my lessons in unison they yell, "teacher it's OBAMA!!" The attitude toward the race of black people has done a drastic shift here and it feels really cool to be at the epicenter of a change like that in a foreign country. 

-------

I have been hanging out with a fair amount of Brits in recent weeks and I guess from movies and some previous traveling I felt like I was pretty accustomed to the majority of their lingo. But as it stands I have laughed harder at some of their terms or maybe simply at the nonchalant way they have been expressed, than I ever had before. Terms such as "gangrape" to mean something is a rip-off,  "cunt", "tosser", and "wanker" all used like the word "jerk" in the states , and of course the term "pissed" for when they are really drunk. Thus making conversations eternally entertaining and wildly inappropriate. 

Halloween at CDI

A few pics from Halloween at school. It was a great day altogether- I bribed the kids with spider rings and candy I brought from the states with me to wear costumes and it worked. My classes were the most dressed up. I made a halloween trivia game for them to play and they loved it.

Now I'm a gym girl

I also joined a gym finally. The place is awesome because it's brand spankin' new. I actually signed up for a special they were offering even before they opened the gym. It works out that for 8 months I pay a little less than 300 dollars. Which for Seoul, is not too shabby. 

The best part about it is that we have to wear uniforms (almost every gym here makes wear them) They are hilarious. They have two sizes- large and extra large. The shorts graze the top of my knees only if I roll the top once, and the shirt goes down to the middle of my thighs. But I must say, not having to wash your gym clothes every night, especially when you don't have a dryer, is pretty nice. 

Also, the gym is so new that they don't have to many patrons yet. Thus making me- the ONLY non-korean- stick out like a sore thumb. The guys who work there know me by name and come check up on me mid run on the treadmill. I think this is out of sheer boredom however, because although I'm blonde, I'm wearing the equivalent of a chubby boy's high school basketball uniform and sweating profusely. 

Pepero Day

This is one of the gifts I got from a student on "Pepero Day" which is November 11th. Because it's 11/11 Koreans give two sticks of "pepero" to everyone they love. Pepero are just like chocolate dipped pretzel rods but they are more like a bread stick underneath. Yum! We, all the teachers and I, got enough to last us till valentines day. I ended up giving them all back out to the students so I didn't have to bring them back to my apartment to tempt me every time I opened my cupboard.

Fake bums

That's right. It's a fake bum. Let's be honest, it's not even an attractive fake bum either. I am just waiting for the right excuse to buy one and parade around wearing it. Perhaps my birthday....

Girl Friends are lovely

My best girlfriend here, Rachel! The saying is so so true, when one door closes another one opens. We have spent a ton of time with each other the past few weeks and I don't know what I would have done without her the past week. 

And notice my newly cut in bangs.... totally had to fit in with the koreans. They all have "fringe"

Cha cha changes

Well since my last blog, some significant changes have taken place...... 

 I am now single and living in Seoul. Blake and I made the split just over a week ago. It's really hard to put on to paper the roller coaster of feelings I have had about it, but now that it's sunk in a bit and we have spent time apart I realize that it was a good break. We were spending so much time together that we were neglecting our friendships with other people and the things that we came to korea for. It was sad- I'm still sad- but that's what your twenties are for I suppose. So I have spent the past week and half really concentrating on my other friendships and making myself a good group in seoul.