It's only been 11 days?

I can't believe I've only been here for like eleven days. Second weekend in Buyeo is in the books. On Saturday Bob and Yuan and I went to Nonsan and did some shopping in the HomePlus department store. I gave them my leftover kimchi because I'll never eat it, there's just too much.


Sunday I played soccer with the other native teachers. We faced off against this Korean high school boys team and they massacred us. They're so fast! Afterwards Ray, Jasmine, Kevin and I went out for sushi. Ray's actually got a car here, and Kevin is always pestering him to "do laps of town;" that is, roll the windows down, crank the K-pop, and headbob (Kevin says Ray hates to do this). K-pop is Korean pop (you may have figured this out). It's good! Kind of crazy techno, but very catchy stuff. Kevin has a lot on his iPod so he demands to be called DJ Kevin whilst riding in Ray's car.

On Monday I had my first full day of teaching at Seokyang. Mr. Kim and I teach together, grades 3-6. It was also the first day I taught "teacher training," which is just an after-school conversation class for the teachers. I pretty much had no idea what I was supposed to do since I had no materials and no idea of the skill level I'd be dealing with. Mr. Kim is actually in this class, but he was absent because he had to go to the Buyeo Education Office.

Joo wasn't there, but he sent over a worksheet that I could use with the teachers. It was mostly about dates and things like, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, etc. One of the teachers asked me why dates are always "the," such as "the first, the twenty-third," etc. and I had no real answer besides, "That's just the way it is." I googled it and still don't know. I said because it's a specific day? Maybe. If you know and want to let me know so I can tell the teachers, feel free to email me or whatever.

It was kind of hard to teach the teachers because they're adults, so I don't want to treat them like I do the students, but I also know that if anyone was teaching me Korean, it would have to be very, very basic. For next week I'll be better prepared so I think it will be a better session. I only have teacher trainings once a week on Mondays.

Yesterday I got my alien registration card! This is like the golden ticket to life in Korea. Now I can open a bank account, get Internet, and cable. I need help getting all these things though, so it's still going to be a few days.

At lunch yesterday the vice-principal told me (via Mr. Kim) that I fit in well here (i.e. can use chopsticks, eat Korean food, etc.) and he thinks I should marry a Korean man. He said he'll find me a husband and introduce us. Most of the Koreans I meet are pretty fascinated by my eyes since there aren't many blue-eyed people here (besides some foreigners). The VP told me that my eyes are like a lake, clear and bright. The first day I got here my principal told me I was very beautiful. I think it's kind of interesting that looking different is seen as desirable rather than bizarre. I wouldn't have been surprised if people thought I was ugly because I don't look like them. Either that or compliments are perhaps Korean politeness.

I have teachers' volleyball at 3:30 (I think) today, and then soccer with the native English teachers at six, then a farewell dinner for two of the Canadian teachers that are leaving. Wish me luck at my sporty adventures!

Today, Wednesday, I gave all the kids English nicknames. I've realized I will never learn all their names, and other native teachers told me that it's pretty common to give the kids nicknames. I got a big list of names and let all the kids choose their own, and I also told them they weren't limited to the list, and there couldn't be name repeats in a class (this was settled by a quick rock-paper-scissors for the win). Out of maybe 115 names (per gender), the top choices are:

Victoria, Sophia, Olivia, Lucy, Anna, Jackson, Grayson, Emily, Cole, Hunter, and Alexander

I also have two boys named Ice and one each named Texan, Too Cool, and Thunderer. I have absolutely no idea where they came up with these "names," but hey, you want to learn to spell "Thunderer" be my guest. They're all in third grade, so this is probably the height of cool.

It helps tremendously to know them by name. Now every time Elliott and Alexander are chatting it up, I can actually call them out on it. Before when I didn't know their names, I couldn't even say, "You in the blue shirt!" because they didn't know what that meant. I had to go to their desk, which was a big time waster. They also don't laugh at me as much because I don't try and pronounce their names anymore.

The selective English here probably will never fail to amuse me. The kids can't say, "I want to go to the movies," but they can tell me their seatmate is "crazy" or that "those two are *makes heart with hands*" (Teacher, no! Not true! *vehemently shakes head*). Or if I split up the sixth-grade talkers in the after-school class ("Teacher, this is...uh... free! Free time!" No, kiddo, it's not. Not if I'm up there talking to you.)

They still ask me tons of questions. Their earnest little faces pop up around my desk, jabbering away. Maybe soon it will sink in that I can't understand or answer them. It really does force them to use whatever English they know. ("Hi!" "Hi, Ice. How are you?" "Uhmmm... what's this?" "A desk." "Ahmm... what's this?" "A whiteboard." "Ahmm... bye!").

They are also fascinated by my arm hair. When I was using their desks to write their English names on the roster, multiple kids were stroking my forearms. The third graders also were draping themselves all over me when I sat down to write, and I finally had to stand up and push them away sort of because all that body heat was making me sweat like crazy.

Lunch today was SO GOOD. We had bulgogi, which is like thinly sliced pork (or beef, but hey, this is a school lunch) and vegetables. It was delicious. Mr. Kim says most foreigners like bulgogi, and I had heard of it before as something good to try.

I actually made it all the way to the bus stop without sweating this morning. Maybe the weather is finally cooling off? Perhaps all the typhoons are causing temperature drops.