Oh, Korea!

Baby Koreans are still super cute...
Yesterday I was shopping at the Lotte Mart, my local grocery/department/everything store, and while in the produce section I saw this teeny little Korean boy fumbling in the carrot bin. Cutest thing ever: he had a little list and a hand-held basket and a whole bunch of carrots. He was trying so hard to get the carrots into the bag and thoroughly enjoying himself but not being very successful... So of course I took this opportunity to help the precious little Korean boy and he got all of his carrots into the bag. I then opened my bag and let him help me with my carrots, which he was delighted to do. When I was finished I thanked him and he proceeded to put almost his entire body into the little basket and market off the carrots on his list that was sitting at the bottom. Then he struggled to pick up the basket, that was now quite heavy because of the carrots, and search for his mom to show her what a great job he did. :) So cute.

The little business man...
I have a student in the 4th grade who speaks English like a pro. This story is not going to be nearly as funny without my impression, but I'll tell it anyway. Every time I see him he always says in his little business man voice "Hello Amanda, how are you doing today?" I always reply with something bland like "I'm fine/good/okay. Thank you. How are you?" But he always replies with something like "I'm fantastic" or "I'm great" and more recently he said "I'm awesome!" with a perfectly timed double thumbs-up. So cute. Such a little business man. He's going to be in infomercials someday and make his mama proud.

Hi Mom!...
I have a student that calls me "Mom". He walks into class and without fail he says "Hi Mom!". I asked him why he calls me "Mom" but he just stared at me blankly like "What? You're not my mom?" I corrected him and said to just call me "Amanda" or "teacher" or "Amanda Teacher", but not "Mom". His response? "Okay Mom!"

Noraebang Debacle...
Recently I went to Gangwha Island with some girl friends for a "Girl's Weekend". It was a great time and it was so nice to be out of the city and near the water! We went for a walk on the beach and we ate tons of sashimi and drank plenty... and then we went to the noraebong. To clarify, for those of you reading this who have not been to Korea, a noraebang is a "singing room". It's like karaoke without having to get on a stage.
So the girls and I are singing away and having a grand ol' time, when some random middle-aged Korean men come into the room. One of the Korean men proceeds to happily dance for us and though we didn't really want him there, it was quite amusing. Then he took it too far and started lifting his shirt and unbuckling his belt. We were all shouting at him "no, no, bye!" hoping that he would get the idea, but no, he full-on pulled down his pants. Now there was speculation to whether or not he really exposed himself... some of the other girls closed their eyes at just the right time, but I saw and I say that it was practically a full strip tease. Needless to say in a room full of girls we all screamed and shooed him out. The look on his face was like "What? You no like?" He proceeded to try to come into the room about 3 more times... he didn't get the message that we didn't like his little ajusshi bod. Ew.

I don't know how I went from 3 stories about kids to one about a perverted old dude... sorry, bad transition!

Dude, this blog is dormant... time to revive it!

So... what's been going on in my world?

Well, since my last blog post I went to China (in February... a long time ago) and I'd been coping with being utterly grouchy about Seoul's cold weather until voila! Warmth. :)

It's finally spring and I am beginning to feel like I am done hibernating. This bear woke up and scratched herself and then realized she had gotten chubby and decided to do something about it! So I am going to lose 20 lbs before I get home. I've lost 5 lbs so far, so... go me! All I am doing is all of the stuff that people tell you to do your whole life but you never listen; eat right and exercise! I have been eating tons of fresh fruits and veggies and staying away from processed foods. Of course, at school I eat whatever they give me, today it was spaghetti... so... I had to eat it. I didn't gorge myself so it was all good.

Lately, I have Costa Rica on the brain. I want to go there and possibly live there and learn Spanish while teaching English. Sounds like a fantastic plan to me! I want to go to a warm happy place where dancing with all of your might is encouraged.

Also, I read Eat. Pray. Love. and it was amazing and if you haven't read it, you should! It was a great book about a woman finding herself through traveling, eating, praying, and finally loving again. Good stuff.

To be honest, I'm ready to leave Korea. I think it's Seoul's fault. I am done living in a big city. I want to live in a little village where I can ride my bike from one end to the other. And eat fresh food from the local market. And know everyone. And live by the beach. In Costa Rica. Ha! I guess I might have to change the name of this blog then, eh?

I'm going to put some little stories about my life in the next entry, so I'll be ending this one now. Main points: Amanda Revived, Blog Revived, Costa Rica or Bust. :)

I miss you all back home!