After a week of screaming at children who have absolutely no interest in listening, participating, or sitting, it's the weekend!!!! I've been teaching for a week and I'm already sick of it. I don't think I'm cut out for jobs that require patience and children. It will get better. It will get better....Friday night was a blast but did not lead to a fun Saturday AM. In order to get your immigration status all sorted out in Korea you need to get a "health" check. They take blood, urine, chest xrays, blood pressure, height, weight and if you get cleared theyll get you your foreign card, which you basically need for everything. You need it to get a real cell phone (I currently have a prepay ghetto phone), internet, a bank account, etc. Anyway, the health check was at 10 am at the Seoul Hospital an hour away. Teacher Joel and I decide to leave at 8:30 to make sure we're there on time. After 4 hours of sleep and no coffee, an hour long train ride with Joel made me want to kill myself. No offense Joel, but I really don't care or need to hear the entire history of Canada's pension plan. But that's all finished now and I find out my results on Tuesday. haha keep your fingers crossed.
Saturday turned out to be fantastic after a nap. I was supposed to go to Global Gathering (a dj event at the World Cup Stadium) but didn't really feel up to dancing for 10 hours straight, so I went to Noksapyoeng to tell the girls I couldn't make it. I went to get a coffee at the Family Mart convenience store, affectionately referred to as Club FM, and there was a gaggle of drunk ex-pats sitting out front handing out flowers. They had just come from a Korean wedding. They ask me to join and we procede to sit an drink beers for a couple hours. I ran into a friend in the street....an hour away from my house....my first random friend encounter! And she and her bf had just bought a puppy. Bruce the Beagle was the cutest dog ever and apparently his purchase was the result of a saucy afternoon across the street at the pub. After getting the ins and outs of Korea from the drunk Irish, English, Australian, Canadian and American, I head to Sinchon to meet Caleb, a friend I met through Suzi, for dinner.
Over a Korean bbq (I have since sworn off meat again; back to being a pescatarian) Caleb taught me the entire Korean alphabet, how to read and write it, and some key phrases. Caleb, you're awesome!
And he kept testing me all night so I actually remembered it when I woke up this morning. While taking the subway to go shopping (I FOUND A DOWN COMFORTER!!!!) I could read most of the stops and ads. It's amazing how simple it is. I can't translate what I'm reading, but I can read the letters/sounds! Sang mekju duseo juseo. Come saneda. {Please bring me 2 more draft beers. Thank you} Now to learn the meanings of more words. Tomorrow it's back to the grindstone. Teaching and yelling. I have decided to implement a scare tactic and get a stick to hit on the table when the kids won't listen. I'm thinking this combined with a sticker reward system may keep them quiet...er. Then it's birthday parties, Korean dinners, dvd burning parties, movies, the beach and going away parties all in store for the week. It never stops.
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