Random Thoughts About Korean Stuffs...

Kimchi
I eat kimchi everyday. I love the stuff. Can't get enough of it. I think my belly is Korean.

Man Purses
Korean men love a good man-bag. They all have them, and they all sport them with no need to feel shame. I say rock on Korean man-baggers, it just makes so much more sense to wear the bag rather than trying to stuff your shit into those skinny pants of yours.

"Oh My God"
In any one of my classes, no matter what the grade or how much English a student knows, there is one thing that's for sure... they all know the phrase "oh my God". What's the deal with that?

I freakin' love my friends
It's so common to see men holding hands with men and women holding hands with women in Korea. I mean grown ass men holding hands... it's brilliant. If you love someone, show it!

G-Dragon
Dude... I mean really G-Dragon... are you a girl or a boy? Why is it that you are still so oddly attractive? I mean you are seriously wearing a high-waisted belt... that screams "gay", yet you smack some girls booty in the same music video. Tell me G-Dragon... are you bi? What's your deal?
<--- This is G-Dragon

That's all for now... :)

Subway Salesmen

It must really suck to be a Subway Salesman. These guys are worse than telemarketers...

They roll their loot around with them all day on the subway hoping for a sale. They give their spiel in every car, always the same fake enthusiasm. They sell things like water bottle coolers, arm covers, razors and crazy adhesives.

All of the passengers try to avoid eye contact because that would mean that you are interested in buying the crap, and most often nobody is. They could sell something immediately useful, like water or food or coffee, but nooo... they sell random things that you'd otherwise never think you needed.

Sometimes there will be good one, like once I saw a guy selling that little tool that seals bags. He did the demonstration where you fill the bag with water and then seal right down the middle so that it separates in the center but no water spill out; its just in two different compartments. That was impressive considering we were on the subway and the extent of his subway infomercial was above and beyond what I had seen. Not to mention he had charisma... he probably knew that his product was way more bad ass than arm warmers or water bottle coolers.

I miss...

You know I didn't feel homesick until this week. It's funny the things that make you feel homesick... It's always the little things that you miss.

I miss eating a home-cooked meal once a week (on Tuesdays or Wednesday :) prepared by my dad... (Okay, that's a big thing)

I miss deciding between Del Taco and Subway when eating lunch at the house with my mom. (We almost always chose Del Taco :) ...

I miss eating Mac N Cheese with Dallas on the couch at midnight watching reality TV...

I miss Saydee and Lola's crazy asses...

I miss somebody else buying groceries for me... Steph... lol...

I miss back rubs...

I miss my mom picking at me...

I miss drinking wine or tea at Rafa's until 4am...

I miss living with people...

Don't get me wrong. I am not having a bad time out here. Actually I really like living out here and I am doing fine, but everyone has "one of those days" once in a while. I just miss everyone.

I love you all!

Local Celebrity

My first week of teaching is coming to an end and it went surprisingly well. I was nervous but so excited to teach that it didn't matter much. And teaching is just as fun as I had hoped... no wonder Steph and I would always "play school" for hours. :)

I am the first foreign English teacher at my school so my arrival was kind of a big deal. When I walk through the halls most all of the students say hello to me... or "Hello Amanda Teacher!" The children are really excited to say hello and for me to talk to them. I am totally a celebrity, even students who I haven't met know my name. I am the most popular girl at Shinbanghak Elementary right now... it's awesome!

When the students know that I will be teaching them they get very excited about learning English, which makes my job easier. My co-teacher calls it "The Amanda Effect". I like the sound of that. I am sure that the luster of having a foreign teacher will wear off soon enough and my job will get harder, but for now I am enjoying the honeymoon phase. :)

My first week was tiring but amazing. My school is awesome, the kids are great and I have never been this popular in my life!

Korea: Take 2

I am finally "home"!

My apartment is amazing. Great view, spacious, right by the subway station! I am living in Dobong-gu, which is in the North of Seoul. I live in Banghak Dong, which would be like the neighborhood name. If you want to look me up on a map then I think you could find me. I am right off of the Banghak subway station.

The previous tenant was a yucky person, but that's okay... I'm a good cleaner. I suspect it was a man in his 20s. Why? Because I had to clean pee splatters off the wall next to the toilet! He probably didn't even notice it, nor care that it was there. And the fridge and the kitchen were stinky and had stains all over the place. Total man pad...

Anyway, I am on my way to making it feel like home. I have been cleaning like a mad woman! I have attached some pictures so you guys can see what it looks like.

The kitchen, hallway and stairs to my bed.

My loft/bedroom.

My "kitchen" & my kitchen table, the only furniture for now :)

My refrigerator that's in my hallway. Very space-saving...

My bathroom that I scrubbed for 3 hours... Does it look clean? lol.

The view from my window.

Another view from my room.

Well... I am really excited to start my new life in Seoul. My coteachers are really nice and so cool. My school is really cute and its right next to the mountains so its really quiet and lovely. I am really happy with my set-up here...

Now everyone come visit!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who came to my farewell party to see me off in style. I really appreciate all of the cards and generous gifts. I am so lucky to have friends and family like you guys!

Thank you all for supporting me and for making me feel so special. I will miss everyone so much and I will be thinking of you often. I would love for you guys to leave me comments on this blog and email me whenever you can!

I especially want to thank my mom and dad for throwing me such a lovely party in their perfect party house and for always supporting me and encouraging me to reach for the stars. Thank you to Rafa and her mom for making my party stylish ;) and thank you to Stephanie for always making a party interesting... even if it means monopolizing the karaoke machine.

It is easy to take things in life for granted sometimes and I wanted to let everyone know that I really appreciate you all and I am so blessed to have you in my life.

Thank you again. I love you all.

The likes of which they've never seen...

Being a foreigner in Korea is an interesting experience.

Although there are quite a few foreigners in Korea it seems that the sight of one is still something to gawk at. I can't seem to go anywhere without getting a bit of a sideways look of curiosity. For the most part, people try to act like they don't see you... that is when you are looking. When you have your head down and are focused elsewhere is when you can feel the eyes burning a hole in your forehead.

Children look at you with curiosity and without shame. Teenagers seem to see you but don't care too much about you. Young adults will sometimes smile at you. Anyone over 30 will look at you when you are not looking. And old people either don't even notice you or look at you for extended periods of time.

I don't know what other foreigners have experienced but this is what I've gathered. I seem to get the most stares on the subway or on the bus. I think that is just because there is no other place to look and so people are more likely to scope out the situation. In any case, when I make eye contact with somebody I try to smile and look friendly, rarely do I get a smile back.


Make sure to act like you can't see me...
When I, as a foreigner, am walking down the street in Seoul and I see another foreigner I notice just as easily as all the people who notice me. When I first arrived I would always try to make eye contact and give a smile like: "hey, I stick out too, lets acknowledge each other." I soon came to figure out that foreigners purposely avoid eye contact with other foreigners.

Frankly, I think this is bullshit. I know that just because we are both white, or the minority, or whatever, this doesn't automatically assume that we should be buddies. But at the same time, it shouldn't mean that we have to make sure to act like we didn't notice each others' big white selves going by.

So, I am going to continue trying to make eye contact with other foreigners because frankly I think that its way more comfortable that trying to act like I am not noticing them sticking out in the crowd like a sore thumb. So other foreigners out there in Seoul, acknowledge my foreign ass.