The weekend that almost killed me, part II

TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!




I didn't really understand what this place was.

Korean guy said it was a temple, but it's in honor of some general...and there's a shrine for him....and also a place where they would drink...

But anyway, it was pretty!





And there were old trees!




And I took this awkward video! I know how much you love these.





I decided that Jinju isn't so pretty after all. I want to live here instead.


Part III soon.

The weekend that almost killed me, part I

So, I'd been having a pretty bad cold, but one weekend I felt slightly better. Korean guy and I decided to go on a road trip, which ultimately resulted in me having THE WORST COLD OF MY LIFE.

Still, it was a fun day.

Here is part one.



REST STOPS!!!!


American rest stops are tiny and disgusting.


Korean rest stops are amazinggggggg



They have clean bathrooms, MULTIPLE restaurants, and gift shops!


And Dinosaurs!



And the best part is, the electricity is all solar!!





Dang, Koreans are smart.


Part II, coming up.

bleh

I have many pictures to post.


However, I am dying.



Maybe in a few days.


Meows.

Jinju Fortress

I've been to Jinju Castle a few times now, but I never seem to have my camera with me.

This time was no exception!

I do, however, have some cell phone pictures! As always, you can click to make the pictures bigger.


Firstly, see the fortress from the outside. Putting a parking lot literally right up against a 400 year old structure pretty much represents Korea. There's also an Emart across the street.





I got there just in time for a military reenactment!





These men hate their jobs...





Then I walked around!





Then I found a tiny leaf! ...And held it up to my head for an awkward photo.





Then, as always, I took pictures of civilians like a creeper! These cute old men were walking around with their canes and collecting acorns. Cuteeeee ^^






And here, ladies and gentlemen, is proof that I am either a supernatural being, or that Apple products suck. Take your pick.





Rawwwwwrrrr.

Job Update

Hello all!

I thought I'd give everyone an update about how my job is going, so that I don't have to explain it individually over and over again.


I came here to teach elementary and middle school, as most of you know.

However, my hagwon (after-school school) is complete chaos. There is no plan for classes, and my boss has hired way too many teachers.

So basically, there weren't enough classes for me to teach. This resulted in me teaching 3 classes a day, and then being at the mercy of my boss.

I was driven to Korea Aerospace Industries to 'teach' English to businessmen and engineers. This was fun, but also not really teaching. I would basically walk in and lead a conversation in controversial topics (Korean men are sexist, gun control is bad, etc.) Basically, I would start fires and watch them go. It wasn't really teaching. It was a very easy class.

That is, until, these men started taking advantage of how not-class-like it was. They started showing up for 15 minutes out of a 2-hour class, not speaking English, and expecting me to give them credit. This resulted in Angry Teacher.

I'm pretty sure these men have never had a woman yell at them before, let alone a very young woman.

Now they have. ^^


Aside from KAI, I was also 'teaching' my boss's 3-year-old at his apartment. This was creepy and uncomfortable for me. I also could not teach her anything, as she was a wave of destruction and her favorite pass-times were hitting me, and wiping her snot on my shirt. I suppose she was cute, but I'm just not good at handling children this young.


But this week it all changes.

British guy got fired (aka 'asked to leave') for being a pretentious *****, so I will be taking over his middle school classes.

This means no more sexist businessmen and scary toddlers!

There is a new teacher coming in two weeks, so I will also be taking British guy's elementary classes, meaning my number of students has tripled.

Not so excited about that....but I am very happy British guy is gone!!!


And at last, I will be teaching 6 classes a day, consistently.


At least until my boss spontaneously changes everything again.


But for now, I am happy. :)



I went to some fun places in Jinju this weekend, so next post will have PICTURES!

I am a liar.

Okay, I know I said I wouldn't post about Darcy again, but I want to do one more.



I always knew that Mr. Darcy was a little dog-like:

1. He likes to play in water and doesn't get very upset when I splash him.

2. He follows me around like a puppy. He is usually not more than a foot away from me, except when he's on my lap.

3. He actually likes my company and prefers not to be alone. He cries when I leave the apartment. He just doesn't seem to have that famous cat independence.

4. He finishes an entire bowl of food, meaning he has meal times...my past cats we could always just keep it filled and let them regulate their own food.

5. He's not that graceful. At all. I used to think it was just because of his short tail, but now I'm not so sure.


But today I made a discovery that has forced me to accept that Mr. Darcy is actually a dog trapped in a cat's body.




He can fetch!!!!!






Yes, I taught a cat to fetch. And it literally only took me 10 minutes.


Clearly he was a very bad dog in his past life, so he was reincarnated into the body of a cat.


And I have no problem with this. ^^

I love my cat.

I love my cat.


Like: He lays in front of my computer and watches as I work or watch movies.

Dislike: Sometimes he gets a little too excited and jumps at the screen...which has resulted in the loss of a key on my $900 laptop. Can you guess which letter doesn't work?!



Like: He follows me everywhere around my apartment!

Dislike: He follows me into the shower. If I try to shut him out, he meows until I let him in.



Like: He will lay on my lap and sleep while I eat or work.

Dislike: If I try to move, he digs in his claws. He has ruined every pair of pants I own already.



Like: He's very good at entertaining himself. He will chase a _all around _y himself for an hour without me even having to throw it for him.

Dislike: He's very good at entertaining himself at 3 in the morning.



Like: His _lack hair doesn't get on my pants!

Dislike: His white hair does...



Like: His white hair doesn't get on my _ed spread!

Dislike: His black hair does....!!!



Like: He likes to snuggle with me when I'm sleeping.

Dislike: He takes advantage of my defenseless state to attack my face.



Like: The name Mr. Darcy, which I had not intended to _e his real name, is starting to stick.

Dislike: I don't know if you've read Pride and Prejudice, _ut Mr. Darcy was kind of a jerk...




I am kidding of course. He's a hilarious cat, and I like him.


It's nice to come home to someone, you know?



ut seriously, if he reaks another key on my keyoard he is DEAD.

:)




I promise the next post won't e aout Darcy.




P.S. Here's another lame video of him that only I would find amusing:





Meows.

Mr. Darcy

I have a kitten.



His name is Mr. Darcy.

My friend rescued him from the streets of Seoul, and I agreed to take care of him.

Sorry mother, I couldn't resist.

If you saw how Koreans treated cute cats, you would want to rescue one, too!

Watch the evil video:





Mr. Darcy is very happy now. He chases balls, sleeps on my computer, and scratches up my clothes.

Watch the boring video:



He's not very good at it yet...




Mr. Darcy likes to Skype, too!

This is what you will see if you Skype with us.





Meow.

Must...Keep...Smiling....

Hello, from South Korea!

Things are going horribly, but I don't want to talk about it.

Instead, look at the pretty fishies:




And some sharks:




And some eels:




And eels:




And EELS:




Some dead fish bibimbap:




And my sexy beach dance:




There, see how much fun I'm having?

Everything is going fine...

My fellow teachers

Some of you ask me about my fellow teachers.

I am the only girl out of the foreign teachers. There is one Korean woman teacher, but I never see her. So basically, I only interact/teach with the 3 male teachers, pictured below.

There is British guy and American guy. Can you guess which is which?!



But, since South African guy had to take that picture and therefore could not be in it, I took a separate picture of him on the bus.



They don't know about this blog.

Nobody tell them!

:D

Lantern Festival

I never showed you lanterns.

Now, see the lanterns:




Lantern Tunnel 1:




Lantern Restaurant:




Lantern Tunnel 2:




Bird Lanterns:




Bunny Lantern:




Some British guy and the only picture of ME and a lantern:

Amazing weekend pictures!

Fun weekend time!!!!

My friend, after reading my sarcastic blogs about how Korea has no nature, attempted to take me to see nature.

The only catch was I had to wear a hat.



We climbed a tower and saw some rice fields. Nature!




But, as you can see, Korea's version of nature is filled with paved paths, museums and rest stops, and neatly planted rows of trees. And park benches.




However, if you look straight up and try to ignore the roar of traffic, it almost looked like real nature!




Then we found a zoo! There were strange animals, like these things.




I also saw the most disturbing thing of my life (click to make bigger):


What the heck?!!!


Finally, we went to dinner, where a group of Koreans forced me to eat silkworms, live octopus, and chicken feet. I don't have pictures of all of that, but you can see the silkworms and the live shellfish (we cooked them!) below.



Korean food is beginning to grow on me.

Although it will never take the place of tacos in my heart.

Happy Birthday to Me~

Yeah, it was my birthday!

If you didn't know that, I'm sure you're heading out to buy me a birthday card right now.


My birthday was uneventful, as always. I worked my regular schedule, 3 children's classes and 2 adult classes.

Some of my kids were giving me a hard time, so I told them it was my birthday so PLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSSE finish your work today.

They didn't believe me until I showed them my birth date on my driver's license. Then they sang, and one of them gave me a Duel Masters card. It was cute. They even finished their work. It's days like that that I really love children.


But as much as I loved my children that day, my hatred for men was as strong as ever.

If any of you want to know more details, you must Skype me. It is a story that cannot be put into typed words.

I spontaneously decided to discuss the differences between men and women in my adult class. It not only confirmed my suspicions, but enlightened me on the behaviors of both Western and Korean men. (Again, if you want to know what I'm talking about, set up a Skype date with me.)


Fortunately, my birthday was not ruined. An amazing person found cheddar cheese, sour cream, AND cilantro in Seoul and brought them to me.

Right now I am spending Friday night by myself making refried beans from scratch...I don't really think I could be happier.

Unless I had a puppy, or something.




TACOS!!




Hat picture next, I promise.

Congratulations. You called my bluff.

Fine. I see how it is.


I will continue to post about my life in Korea, and you all continue to lurk on my blog without actually making interactions with me.

I've decided to develop a point system for interacting with me. This point system will determine how much I love you.



The points will be distributed as follows:


Taren Interaction Points

Blog lurking: .1 points
Blog comment: 1 point
Short email: 1.5 point
Long email: 2 points
Facebook post or comment: 1 point
Online chat conversation: 2 points
Skype video chat: 5 points
Written letter: 10 points
Visiting Taren in Korea: 50 points
Sending Taren tacos/taco ingredients: 100 points



That's right, I would rather receive taco ingredients than have you visit me.

Kaylee has the most points right now. She has posted a couple times, and has apparently sent me a letter. I love her more than you.

Just kidding. My mother sent me taco ingredients. Sorry, Kaylee.


But I do really like letters. Hint. Hint. HINTTTTTTTTT.



Next post will be pictures of lanterns. And me in a hat.

AMAZING WEEKEND

I went to some really cool places!

I even have pictures!

But none of you are emailing me, so you don't get to see them.

I hope you're happy.



:)



Update:

I also ate strange food.

That moves.

Are we human? Or are we dancer....

Whenever I leave the house I am constantly reminded that I am a foreigner, and therefore not quite human.

These are the general reactions I have received so far.


Babies: Stare at me, mouth hanging open. Their expressions do not change if I smile and wave at them. But they are soooo chubby and adorable.

Small children: Smile shyly. Some of them will say 'hello,' as they've probably recently started learning English and they know that white person = English. When I say hello back, they get really shy and hide behind their mom's leg.

Middle school boys: Sometimes I get a 'hello' but usually I receive a series of quick glances, or nothing at all. They are probably the most discrete at staring.

Middle school girls: This group is probably the most interested in talking to me. The brave ones may walk up and try to talk to me. These girls, which are usually in a group, like to say 'hello' or 'good morning!' And when I respond, they turn into a giggly mess and run away.

Adult men: They stare at me for the entire time that I am in their line of vision. And not at my face. If I make eye contact with them they try to make it seem like they were staring at whatever was directly behind me. Or, they just keep staring until I feel awkward and creeped out.

Adult women: They hardly look at me, but will return a smile if I offer one. How pleasantly normal of them.

Old men: They stare at my FACE and usually smile, for the most part. Although they also tend to turn their heads as I walk by, so that they can keep me in their line of vision and therefore stare at me longer. They don't really try to hide the fact that they're staring at me.

Old women: They avoid me like I am diseased. They try to avoid looking at me, but if I make eye contact they do not break it...but they will not return a smile. The older they are, the more they hate me, because I am a dirty American and obviously want to kill her.


Note: Of course, this does not reflect the behavior of all Koreans, although I have noticed these certain patterns of behavior. The shop keepers at the places I visit a lot are, of course, used to me and do not do these things.

I am in no way complaining. I find most of these reactions quite amusing, like when I would pretend to be blind with the guide dogs just to see people's reactions.

I am an alien here, and that's okay.

Do not be afraid, Korea. I will not hurt you.

Muahahahahahaha!


I'm starving to death. Seriously, where are the tacos here?!

Teacher is Train!!!!!

Many of you wanted to know how my first day of teaching went, but I've been so busy this past week getting traumatized by Korean doctors and attempting to get my alien card that I just haven't had time!

It turns out my boss has to take me to a different city to get finger printed, which we can't do today, so I can finally tell y'all about my teaching.

So far, I only teach 3 classes a day. My students are the lowest level at the school, and range from ages 6-10.

Most of my students are boys, which in some ways is easier, and in some ways harder.

Most of the boys are adorable, and while they can get a little loud, they still do their work and participate in class. They also call me 'Train' and like to compare height and foot sizes with me, as they are nearly the same.

Some of the boys are not as cute. They constantly shout things like 'TEACHER HE HIT ME' and refuse to participate. They also pretend their parents are calling their cell phones in class, and I'm pretty sure they insult me in Korean. I haven't quite figured out how to control them yet.

The girl students are both easier and harder to teach. True, they don't scream as much as the boys do, but they also don't participate as much. Or, they finish their work so quickly that I have a lot of class time left over.

My really young students are...interesting to teach. I feel a bit like I'm babysitting, as they are only learning letters and how they sound, so there's not much to teach each day. They are also very wiggly and like to crawl under desks, so that's fun.

Next week I start teaching adults on Monday through Thursday at some company. They are apparently engineers wanting to learn some business English. My only female co-teacher said they will be very rich, very smart, and very handsome. My male co-teachers warned me that they will most likely ask for private lessons from me.

Luckily, my schedule is full, so I will be able to easily turn them down! On Fridays I spend time with a 3-year-old whose parents want her to learn English. She hates me. The mother gave me a lollipop to give to her. She took it, and slowly sucked it while giving me the worst death glare I have ever seen out of a toddler. Including mine.

She is cute nonetheless. I hope she warms up to me though, or I might lose that gig. :/


That's pretty much it for my classes. I'll have a pretty full schedule starting next week. Then I'll really start making money!



I'm thinking of getting a cat. Don't try to stop me.

Also, I'm having taco withdrawals. Someone help.

NATURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My co-teachers took me into the hills! I found a lot of NATURE!



Get off the road, Frodo! Nature!



Individually wrapped fruits...on TREES! NATURE!



Hillside graves!! Nature...?



Disgusting picture of me time! I was not happy about the heat.

THIS IS JINJU AND ZOMBIE

: : ALRIGHT! Time for a REAL Taren-style blog post, complete with incoherent narrations and disgusting pictures of me. That is why my blogs thrive on, after all. Ready...Go! : :

Yesterday I had some adventures, but today was the first time I actually decided to venture out by myself.

I planned to go on a long walk along the river, but I felt sick in the morning for some reason. Then I made myself spaghetti and felt even sicker. I wished I had a soda to help settle my stomach, but the mini mart is 2 whole minutes away, and I honestly didn't think I could make it without hurling.

So, I just kind of lied around like a zombie for hours until I felt better.

Around 2:00 I felt great and decided to go for my walk!

I left my apartment! Bye the time I walked the 20 seconds to my school, I realized it was about a billion degrees out.



I decided to keep walking anyway...But my skinny jeans were already sticking to my legs by the time I passed the BEST SHOP EVER.



I reached the river, which is an abrupt sliver of nature among the countless high rise apartments of Korea. NATURE!!



Korea tries really hard to give the illusion that their 'nature' is natural. They even put fake birds in the river, but today I actually saw some real ones! NATURE!!!



They even plant lawns like us Americans and put pomegranates on buildings! NATURE!!!!!



I was so excited by all of the nature, that it made me very sad to cut my walk short. But there was simply too much heat for me. I miss you, Bellingham, and your cold, dry air.

On the way home I stopped at some mini marts for some snacks, as my apartment was greatly lacking. I mostly wanted something cheesy, as cheese is really expensive here, and it's not even Tillamook quality.

I settled for some fake cheese crackers and a bun with cream cheese in it. And a tiny coke.



I meant to save these snacks for later, but with my fridge not working I had to drink the soda right away. Then I just transformed into a snack zombie and ate everything while laying under the air conditioner and drooling over my computer.



GRRRRAWWWWLSNACKS AND AIR CONDITIONER AND COMPUTER. Happinesssssssss.

More disgusting pictures of me in the next post! :D

Also, I am teaching tomorrow.

I am scared.