Fashionista!

So I've been jotting notes in my blog draft because I didn't have time to write a full post, and now I've got all these random things I wanted to talk about. Therefore I'm going to do this in list form to make things easier.

1. Orange nails
So I get along really well with the two Seokyang kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Lim and Mrs. Chung. Sometimes I forget that we don't ever actually have conversations because neither of them speak any English! I sometimes go visit the kindergarten room after lunch because Mrs. Lim is teaching me how to count and write the numbers in Korean, and I am teaching her how to count and write in English. Mrs. Chung always makes me coffee, which is nice. Anyway, so as a part of our bonding, I thought Mrs. Lim asked if I wanted to cut flowers with her (I deduced this because she pointed to her fingers, the nails and tips of which had been dyed a deep orange color, then pointed at a bush and said, "Flower.") Sure, I'll cut some flowers with you. Don't know where or when, but why not? So this is how I accidentally roped myself into getting my fingernails dyed. Turns out that she didn't mean cut flowers, she meant she had ALREADY cut these flowers and made this paste out of them. Koreans put the paste on their nails, cover them with cellophane and tie the bundles, then leave them on their fingers for anywhere from 4-8 hours. Then you take them off and your fingertips/nails are dyed orange. So she started doing my nails and I was like, Okay - there is absolutely no tactful way to politely say I don't want orange fingertips for months (because did I mention it doesn't come off until your nails grow out?!). So she did my ring and pinky fingers and gave me the rest to take home and do myself. This is how I ended up spending my Wednesday night trying to tie little dye bundles on my fingers. I'll take a picture and post it... I only wore them for like an hour and a half (in the hopes of minimizing the damage), so they're just this pumpkin color.

2. Sickness
So I caught a cough over Chuseok, and all the teachers seem kind of concerned, which is nice. I'm getting much better, and I don't even feel sick, it's just the cough. Mrs. Chung gave me a mason jar of plum juice that says it's good for your health. I guess she made it herself, which was really nice. My Seokseong vice-principal (henceforth referred to merely as VP) gave me a small container of ginseng candy, which he says will make me strong. ("Yes, strong! Next week, volleyball, *pretends to spike a ball*.")

Joo, on the other hand, seems awfully sick. He said there's something wrong with his stomach, and I gave him a bunch of my cough drops because he keeps coughing. If I had Mrs. Chung's plum juice with me I might have given it to him because he looks like he needs it.

3. Swimming
I went swimming with Kevin at the Buyeo girls' middle school on Monday. It's a really nice facility, but I'm not crazy about swimming in 50 meter pools. The highlight of the outing was when I had to get my picture taken because it was my first time at the pool. You have to crouch down to get on eye level with the webcam that takes your picture, and Kevin thought it would be hilarious to jump in with me, so now every time I go swimming a picture of me laughing with my eyes closed and Kevin grinning with the Korean peace signs will pop up. Every. Single. Time. I really wish I had a copy because this picture is hysterical.

4. Native teachers dinner
Tuesday I had the special principal's volleyball like I said. It turned out to just be a team of Seokyang teachers vs. the principals. I was hitting the ball around with some principals and of course the first question was, "How old are you? Husband? Husband?"

As I've said before, because I am tall the Koreans think I am really good at spiking/blocking, which is sadly not true. I can't jump. The whole game all I hear is, "Theresa, more jump-ee! More spike! Block-uh! Spike-uh!" Every time someone on the other team would go to spike my principal would yell, "Block-uh!" So I'd attempt to block. I blocked one, maybe two. The thing is, if I'm going to spike the ball, I need a running start (because of the whole bad at jumping thing), so it's hard to play the net and block and simultaneously be ready to spike.

That evening there was a Buyeo native English teachers dinner, which was good. A Korean buffet.

5. Soccer
Wednesday I had regular volleyball then native teachers' soccer. Kevin is really good so he was coaching us on some drills, and I can actually get the ball off the ground! I still remember being little and hating how every ball I kicked was a grounder. I still have zero ball-handling skills, but the kicking part is looking better. Kevin told me I had a "demon shot" when we were practicing goal kicks.

6. Fashionista, kids' names
I have learned a few more things in Korean, and they're mostly classroom-related. For example, "Eyes up here! Empty hands!" My sixth graders were impressed ("Teacher, very good!")

One of my sixth grade boys walked up to my desk wearing his sweater around his head and proudly told me, "Fashionista!" This particular boy, Elliott, is good friends with Jake, one of my more advanced students. I actually asked Jake how to say "empty hands" in Korean (bin song), and he was like, "Hands - song, empty - bin." So I tapped Elliott's head and asked, "Bin? Bin?" and they didn't get it at first. Then they thought it was hilarious. I went back to my desk and Elliott and Jake conferred, then Elliott came up and said, "Teacher, I am a genius!" So you are.

I'm working hard on learning the kids' names. I know some, but certainly not all. Some I know their English and Korean names (i.e. Elliott is Lim Byeongchan) but some I only know their English names (i.e. Jake). Some I barely recognize as my students! Mr. Kim says I am learning them fast, but it's not fast enough to suit me because it's hard enough to get their attention when I'm actually saying their names.

7. So instead of dealing with the Thursday bus, I met my friend Piro at the taxi stand this morning. He works at Seokseong Middle and takes a cab there, so I thought I'd split it with him as Seokseong Middle and Elementary are reasonably close. So we dropped him off, then the cab driver proceeds to go 100 feet in the distance to Seokyang! I was like, Why don't cab drivers take me to Seokseong!!!!! He kept pointing to Seokyang and saying, Chodunghakgyo (elementary school) and I kept saying, "Aniyo, aniyo (no, no) Seokyang! Seokseong chodunghakgyo, SEOKSEONG." Finally he rolled down the window and asked this guy, then was like oh sorry and took me to Seokseong. He didn't charge me the full amount because of the mix-up, and so I was happy about that. My VP saw us pull up and was curious why I'd taken a taxi since I usually take the bus, so he quizzed the cabbie. Then he turns to me and says, "Ah, Seokseong Middle school teacher, couple?" I was like, "No no, friend, friend!" So now that Piro and I shared a cab, we are a couple I guess. Oh Korea.