I'm so HAPPY!

November 9, 2010

Status: Very alive and happy!!!!!

Today was a normal day at school. The students were chatty and lively as usual. I taught my first “teachers” class. We played a game with synonyms and antonyms then we just had some casual conversations. I asked them what they do during the weekends so I could get to know them a little better and to break the ice. They are very shy and self-conscious about their English pronunciation and grammar (like the rest of the Koreans around here). They asked me what I did this past weekend so I told them I hung out with two students because I had nothing better to do. They all “awwwed” and thought it was sad. Hahahaha. I’m glad they share my feelings towards my situation! Lol. As a result, two teachers (they’re both female and 25yrs old) came up to me at the end of the class and asked what I was doing later and if I wanted to go eat with them. HELL YES I WOULD! I was so excited and happy! I felt like a giggling school girl inside at the thought of having someone to hang out with. Of course, in my head I figured this would be the first and last time I would hang out with them because the communication barrier would make things extremely awkward.

We ended up going out for pizza, BLAH! I didn’t tell them how sick I was of pizza due to the fact that I’ve had it so often since I’ve been here. At this point, I didn’t care what we ate as long as I had someone to hang out with. The pizza wasn’t that bad… it was different. There was shrimp, potato wedges, and crab as toppings. Yeah, I said DIFFERENT. Lol. We talked about what there is to do in this small town. They told me there was NOTHING to do around here except eat. They said they have to go to Seoul in order to watch movies or go shopping. Well, I was correct when I said there wasn’t anything to do around here! One of the girls, Jin, told me she knows how I feel. She came to this town a year ago and she said she cried a lot because her family is about 2 hours from here. They both said they live far from their families because when you work for the government, they can send you anywhere and you don’t really have a choice. WOW! Really?! It’s totally different from the states. When you sign a contract as a teacher in the states, you sign with the district not the state. They were surprised when I told them about the difference. I don’t know how I would react if I was actually sent somewhere else without a choice.

At the end of our meal, we made plans to meet up again on Thursday. Oh, they told me they would take me to Seoul in 2 weeks! WOW huh?! I’m soooooo excited! They asked me where I would like to go. Those who know me can already guess where I wanted to go. LOTTE WORLD! It’s like a Korean Disneyland! They said we can do that on the 21^st. I’m so happy right now. I’m still smiling just thinking about it. I’m so glad I’m finally making friends! They’re soooo nice too! Readers, can you feel my excitement? I wish you could! I wish I could share this feeling of happiness with you. It’s such a powerful and wonderful feeling! Oh, I found out Jin lives 2 buildings from me. I can practically see her building if I looked out my window. Yay! Today is one of the best days I’ve had so far =)

Side note to Judy and Jenny: Remember the Korean drama “Boys over flowers”? Well, I told them I pick up some Korean phrases by watching dramas. You guys know the tower that Jun Pyo and Jan Di were on? The one where they got locked in? Well, Jin and Elise told me that they would take me there too! Woooooweeeee! I will take pictures for you guys! They told me it’s always crowded there and the show is not realistic because you could never be alone in there. Lol.

Random side note: I totally forgot to tell you guys about my funny co-teacher. She’s currently reading the Twilight book and she asked me if I found the vampire series to be too cheesy. I looked at the cover and busted out laughing. I asked her why she did that to the cover and she replied “Their eyes are too scary.” Hahahahahahahaha. Seriously?! She’s hilarious! Man, every time I look at this picture I start cracking up.