Two For Tee

Get it???? He he… ’cause it’s my SECOND MONTH, and my super clever and original nickname is “Tee”, and there’s that song.

Hilarious, right?

Anyway.

My second month was devoid of any hair dye mishaps, and no older women gave me random candy on the street, BUT I DID go to a cherry blossom festival, accidentally climb a mountain, went on a field trip to a fire station, and made some new pals.

LIFE

WARNING: there is A LOT of footage of cherry blossoms (벚꽃, bawt-goadt). In my defense, they only bloom for about three weeks out of the year.

It’s important to keep the ol’ work-life balance in check, so as to not go COMPLETELY BONKERS. So I go out for food with my new pals, I go for walks, I stumble upon a path and accidentally climb a mountain, I go to movies (Us is so scary, you guys), I go to dance class, and I try to experience the things that are uniquely Korean.

For example, our Korean co-teachers Joy and Kelly took my fellow teacher Ferrol and I to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Jinhae (about a half hour drive from Masan). It was GORGEOUS, and had the community feel (and delicious smell) of a county fair. There was many a selfie taken.

WORK

Our day of training in Seoul was just as you’d expect; long and hilarious. A 5 hour bus ride there at 4am (!!!), then a 5 hour bus ride back at 7pm. The training itself was okay, and they gave us lunch, soooooooo… it wasn’t all bad, I GUESS.

I teach older kids in the afternoon (ages 8-9). It comes with different challenges than the younger kids, and also different rewards. Getting a, “this is fun!” is soooooo much more satisfying from the older kids, because they really make you work for it.

The little kids are as cute and insane as ever. We’ve found our rhythm, and they genuinely want to learn and do well. Of course, they’re still six years old, so I can’t expect them to be perfect little angels of learning. Most of the time it’s pure chaos. But a… fun… chaos?

Yesterday we went to a fire station for our first field trip. It was fun. The kids got to hold a fire hose and take pictures in front of the trucks. And for the adults, there were the firefighters… *ahem*. Moving on.

There are some moments that come together perfectly – they all sing along to a song, or they gather around one desk to work together on a crossword, or we play a game and no one cries and they’re all laughing – and I think, “wow, I am SUCH a good teacher! I could do this forever!” Then one of them sneezes in my face and I think, “mayyyyyyyyyybe not.”

FOOD

Now that I know what more of the words mean on menus, I’m able to branch out from 김밥 (kimbap – similar to sushi but with more stuff inside, and no raw fish) and 비빔밥 (bibimbop – rice with meat and veggies).

Look, I know I keep saying this, but Korean food is amazing. It’s just so good. You don’t need any other reason to visit (just make sure you like spicy food).

I go to the Kimbap restaurant below my apartment so often that I’ve become friends with the ladies who own it. They don’t know any English, so we try to get by on my very limited Korean. You’d be surprised how long our non-conversations are. We’ve gotten very comfortable, and they’ve started touching my hair, poking at my stomach, and patting my bum. They don’t see a lot of people who look like me, and they’re curious. That’s right, folks, I’m getting a LOT of action here in Korea… from old ladies.

SOME STUFF

• Korean age is different than North America. In Korea your age depends on how many years you’ve seen. So the day you’re born, you’re one year old. As soon as the year changes, you have another year. So, because I was born mid-December, I was already two years old as of January 1984. Here in Korea, I’m told I am actually 37 years old. To which I respond, “NUH UH I’M CANADIAN SO I’M 35, BACK OFF,” *ahem*, I mean, I’ll stick with the North American system. “

• In case you’re wondering, it IS on purpose that I never show the kid’s faces.

• Canada is a big destination of choice. We’re not America’s little sibling over here, we’re the main event. I have my suspicions it’s because Anne of Green Gables is HUGE in Asia. EVERYONE I meet says they want to go to Canada, to which I say, “of course you do, Canada is awesome.” There was a page in our Phonics book all about Niagara Falls, and the kids already knew what it was. This was my attempt at a visual aid while teaching:

I have never claimed to be an artist. Or, apparently, to know anything about the mechanics of Niagara Falls.

• I generally pride myself on respecting the movie-going experience. I don’t talk, I don’t use my phone, and I react to the movie at appropriate moments. ALL of that went out the window when I saw Us with my fellow teacher Ferrol and a new pal from dance class. I was YELLING at the screen, you guys. I was yelling so hard. I don’t think I should be allowed to watch scary movies anymore.

• Koreans don’t care about sneezing. You will get a strange look if you bless them.

• My co-teacher Joy ALWAYS KNOWS when there’s a camera on her. ALWAYS.

• So many snotty noses. So much snot. Just so much of it.

• The Foreigner Nod – the recognition you give to another obviously foreign person living in this beautiful, insane part of the world.

That’s it for this month! See you next month for some more bananas ramblings about my wacky wanderings.