Dad is coming!

So today I have learned that my dad is coming to Korea in July! How exciting is that? I'm going to have to start planning ASAP to make sure we only do the most exciting things. He'll be eating kimchi like a champ in no time, right Dad?

In other news...

Some of my students still look at me as though they've never seen a foreigner before, which of course is not true. Yesterday I was helping one of my second grade boys, and as I leaned over to write something in his book, one of my boys decided to tentatively reach out and stroke my hair and ask, "Teacher, gold hair is real?"

Another one of my first grade girls is irrationally obsessed with me. In between classes she's always peering through my door and waving. She finds me in the hallways and in my office all the time and asks me simple questions like, Do you like pudding? Do you like spring? I like spring. This happens roughly ten times a day. She's also constantly restraining herself from reaching out and touching me, though she'll usually sneak a quick touch on my ring or hand as though she just can't help herself. I find it pretty amusing, though the incessant questions are a bit much when I'm trying to move quickly from my office to the classroom or whatever.

The informatics teacher (who is in charge of scheduling) gave me a year long English schedule. He is so nice! I felt pretty bad about making him do extra work. I specifically said he didn't need to translate it, but maybe that bit got lost in translation. I'm going to see about buying him some kimbap or something as a thank you present.

I was really happy today because I was teaching my second graders something, and I explained what I wanted them to do then told them to start. Then I walked around to the group tables and asked them if they understood, and they actually said no. I was so pleased because usually they won't admit it and just say yes so I go away, then they sit around and don't work. So then I reexplained and they got it, and it was great.

On Monday I had five classes, and they were possibly the worst string of classes I've ever had at this school. The students just refused to focus and were acting like complete brats. My head teacher, Hyejeong, who is a great teacher and a lovely person, is my coteacher for the worst behaved class that I have. She always has excellent control of her classes, but she's also a nice teacher. Strict, but funny and energetic. Anyway, our class was late, they didn't have their books, and they had no desire to focus. She actually asked me to step out of the room for a minute because she wanted to talk to the students. The teacher I replaced said that happened to her once, so I figured Hyejeong wanted to discipline the students. I waited outside, and I could hear her yelling at the students. I was scared, and I wasn't even in the room! It's nice when my coteachers take charge because it's pretty hard for me to discipline the students because they can't understand me that well. They don't know what the words "focus" or "concentrate" mean, and even though I know it in Korean, my Korean is unintentionally funny (foreigner and all) so it kind of diminishes the effect.

Hyejeong's last name is Oh, and in Korean it's last name first, then first name. Once I brought it up to Hyejeong that her name is a bit Abbott and Costello (I didn't mention that in particular), but I was saying how it's funny because when I want her attention, sometimes I'll say, Oh, Hyejeong, do you have a minute? And it's funny because the other teachers will go up to her and say, Oh Hyejeong Teacher... She thought it was funny.

Lastly, there are apparently teachers' clubs at my school. One is a barista/chocolate making club run by the science teacher, one is some club that I don't know what it is, and one is a photography club run by the art teacher (I think he's the art teacher. He's definitely a third grade teacher.). Anyway, so today Hyejeong was like, Theresa, we have teachers' clubs... Are you interested in joining? I was like, Sure! I'd really like to be in the photography club, actually. Do you think it's okay that I don't speak Korean? She was like, Sure I don't see why not. I'll send a message to the art teacher.

That's how I found out that the "photography club" is actually just a clever ruse in which all the male teachers in the school are in this "club" that never meets to learn photography, but does meet occasionally to booze and chat. Yep, that sounds Korean all right! I'm now in the "club" but I don't know how this is going to go. I told them just to let me know if they ever actually meet for photography. I wanted to be in the barista club but it was full. They sent out a message and I'm fully in the "photography club," but I'm pretty sure one of our female gym teachers is in it too, so I don't feel as awkward.

I passed my Korean test on Monday! It was kind of a review class for me, but it was good because now I feel like I really know that stuff.

It's been nine days since I twisted my hair.

Flushed with victory

Three major victories today.

One - my team won trivia... again. Basically, we are awesome. I love winning because you get money for it, which means that I get to eat a burger and drink a beer for free. And that is great. I was especially glad we won because my team didn't listen to my opinion on two answers which turned out to be correct. One was, "Who was People magazine's most recent Sexiest Man Alive?" and the answer was Bradley Cooper, but my team thought he was the winner several years ago, so they went with Ryan Reynolds. I said he wasn't famous enough, and the answer turned out to be Bradley Cooper. The other one was something about a 6'6" inventor who was one of the most brilliant men ever reportedly died a virgin due to taking a vow of celibacy, and I suggested Tesla (honestly, for lack of a better answer), and I forgot who we went with but the answer was definitely Tesla. Regardless, we won so no harm no foul.

Two - today I glared a class of unruly 15 year olds into silence in less than five seconds. A new record. It was fantastic... they were supposed to be practicing their English self-introductions and then reciting them to the teachers one by one, and instead they were screwing around. When I couldn't hear the boy trying to introduce himself to me, I gave Superman laser vision to the rest of the class (I wasn't even standing at the front) and they shut up immediately. I didn't even have to say anything. It was magical.

Three - I haven't twisted my hair since Sunday night.

Breaking the habit

This weekend, I didn't do much. I mostly stayed in on Saturday and Sunday and bummed around watching TV and reading books. Therefore, if you know me (and I assume you do, or else why are you reading my blog? Begone, stranger!), you know I was probably twisting my hair a lot. On Monday as I was styling my hair, I was horrified to feel that  my hair actually feels shorter and thinner than normal. Could I actually have twisted enough hair to alter my hairstyle? Additionally, I feel like my  hair is growing very slowly. I've decided I don't want thin hair, so as of yesterday I am trying my darndest to not twist my hair any more. It's been about 30 hours! Only about three months to go before I see any results (I think). Regardless, I'm sure all of you are thrilled to hear this news. We'll see how well it goes.

I did my sports lesson with my first group of third graders today. They looked pretty interested I thought, and their teacher told me the boys especially were very interested, which is good because there are a lot of boys in my school. I taught them a lot of baseball expressions, and I used Big Bang in several examples. If you look at the Big Bang Big News entry, you'll see a photo of the members. G-Dragon has made the awful decision to get a weave put in... on one side of his head. It's like a foot of hair, but awkwardly stringy and long on one side and nonexistent on the other. His hair literally sickens me, and he's supposed to be the fashionista of Big Bang. I used this opportunity to showcase my disgust. For example:

"G-Dragon really dropped the ball on his new hairstyle, but the other members of Big Bang still look great."
"G-Dragon struck out on this new hairstyle. It's disgusting!"

I talked to some of my third grade girls (not in that class) about Big Bang's new music, and they too were horrified by GD's misguided 'do. To summarize:

Me: Have you seen "Fantastic Baby?"
Girls: Yes! "Fantastic Baby" is so good!
Me: I know. I love TOP.
Girls: Yes, TOP is handsome! Ohhhh... Teacha.... Kwon Jiyong (G-Dragon's real name) hair... AAAHHIIIIGOOO! *sounds of disgust*
Me: I know! It's disgusting.
Girls: Yesssss!
Munjeong: Kwon Jiyong face is good! Hair is bad. But face is very good.

Korean girls (middle school in particular, in my opinion) go nuts for GD, who in my opinion looks exactly like a woman. A pretty woman, no less. A pretty, 110 lb woman with lots of makeup and currently, unfortunate hair. I just don't get it.

On the first day of school after introductions/rules etc, I had the kids play Family Feud as an icebreaker for their groups to get to know each other. If you're not familiar with it, Family Feud is an American TV game show in which prior to the game, 100 people are surveyed with random questions and then the answers are compiled in order of most popular. Contestants have to guess the popular answers. We just played in teams of six. Each team got a white board and dry erase marker and could write one answer. If their answer was revealed to be up there, they got the points for it (points were the number of people who said that answer). Basically, I lied and told them 100 Korean middle school students were surveyed for these answers. I had two favorite questions.

Q: Why do you go to school?
A1: To learn/study
A2: To meet friends
A3: To play sports
A4: To meet a boyfriend or girlfriend
A5: To spend time with wonderful teachers
A6: To eat delicious school lunches

Hilariously enough, a LOT of groups wrote "eat" or "eating" and thought it was hysterical that was a "real" answer. When "spend time with wonderful teachers" came up, I got called out by one class... "Nooooo Teacha you liar!"

Q: Who is the best native English teacher ever?
A1: Theresa
A2: Theresa
A3: Theresa
A4: Theresa
A5: Theresa
A6: Theresa

When the question came up, they knew it was a trick because immediately all I could hear was, "Theresa spelling!" Answers ranged from Theresa, Teresa, Thersa, Tersa, and of course "Theresa" in Korean, Teacher, you, and my favorite, "I love you <3!" The kids were pretty amused to find out I was all the answers and not just the #1.

Recent anecdotes:

Jeonghwan: Teacha, the weather is awesome today!
Me: No, YOU are awesome today for using the word awesome! High five!
(Seriously. This happened.)

*While preparing to play music for my students who clean the classroom
Me: Minseok, do you like Big Bang?
Minseok: No no no.
Me: Why?
Minseok: Big Bang is man!
Me: So?
Minseok: I am man.
Me: So...
Minseok: Man love man, no!

Me: Did you know Taeyang and G-Dragon have real tattoos? [Tattoos are not sexy in Korea... they're very "wild" and shocking to the average Korean.]
Coteacher (surprised): Really? How do you know?
Me: I read a Kpop article online and they had pictures. Taeyang has a huge cross on his side rib cage and GD has a rib cage tattoo in front and one on the side.
Coteacher (shocked): You saw their naked bodies?!!!

Japan - Arashiyama, Kyoto, Mount Fuji

After Hiroshima I took the bullet train to Kyoto. Kyoto was my second favorite place in Japan... well, it might tie for second with Mount Fuji. Kyoto is the cultural center of Japan and is jam-packed with shrines and everything you imagine when you picture stereotypical Japan. 

When I first arrived in Kyoto, I checked into my hostel and then immediately hared off to Arashiyama, home of an amazing bamboo forest and one of my "must sees." It was great to see the forest and then walk around the gardens at one of the temples there... I can't even remember the name though. Whoops. Whatever, the garden was great. When I got back to my hostel, I met a French girl staying in my dorm and we went to dinner with two French guys and an American guy, which was a lot of fun. Side story: when I was checking into my hostel that day, an older Dutch guy struck up a conversation which went a little something like this. 

Dutch guy: somethingsomethingsomething...

Me: Awesome.

Dutch guy: Ah, so you're a New Zealander then!

Me: No, I'm American.

Dutch guy: Really? But New Zealanders always say awesome. I've been to America. Americans don't say it.

Me: (Politely) Oh really? *thinks to self... who's the American here anyway?*

Too funny. Also while in Tokyo I was mistaken for an English girl whereas my friend Chris, an English guy, was mistaken for an American. Hilarious. 

So the next day in Kyoto I went around to see the shrines, then I had some extra time and was all shrined-out, so I decided to hop a JR train bound for Nara, the original capital of Japan. I barely had any time in Nara because it was so late, but I was glad that I took a quick trip there anyway. Then I went back to Kyoto and met up with my roommate and another girl we picked up from our dorm. We got some dinner, then I suggested walking over to the Gion district of Kyoto because it's the geisha area, so we walked around for awhile but didn't find any, which was unsurprising because it was really late by that time. 

The next day I headed to Mount Fuji. It took way longer than I had expected and was a fairly traumatic journey. Basically, I didn't book a hostel because the website I used claimed the hostel I wanted was all booked, which I knew couldn't possibly be true because Chris had just stayed there the week before and said it was nearly empty. The other hostels were about $20 more than that one, so I decided I would just show up and see if they had any availability and if not, then I'd go elsewhere. I was feeling confident in that plan, though a little less because the hostel offered a pickup service from the train station, which meant I couldn't find walking directions. This meant that I had to get to the tourist information office by 6:30pm when they closed so I could get them to help me call around for a hostel. Cue my long journey to Mount Fuji. I had to take the bullet train from Kyoto to some place and then this local bus from that place to Lake Kawaguchi. There are five lakes at the base of Mount Fuji, and I was headed to Lake Kawaguchi. You can't actually go up the mountain in the winter because it's too dangerous, not that I'd have time for it anyway. 

The bus took absolutely forever, and it was getting extremely ominous. It kept winding up and up into the mountains and the sky was getting darker, it was getting later, it was snowing, and to top it off, I was eventually the only person left on the bus. I kept anxiously checking my watch hoping to make it to the tourist information office. I ended up getting there by 6, they called the hostel, and within 15 minutes they showed up to pick me up, so things ended up working out, but I'll be honest - I was getting freaked out on the ride there because I was worried about getting stuck at the base of Mount Fuji with nowhere to stay. Anyway, it was cool because I met some other foreigners at the hostel. One was a Swiss girl whose first language was French, so we chatted French for awhile, then met up with some English people to watch fireworks at the base of Mount Fuji. Then we went back to the hostel and chatted some more, then the next day the English people and I met up to walk around Lake Kawaguchi (the Swiss girl had already been) and take pictures of Mount Fuji. We were all extremely nervous about visibility since visibility had been horrendous that day. While on the bus I hadn't even been able to find the volcano, which is enormous. This was to be my only shot at seeing it as well since I had to fly out of Tokyo the next day.

Additionally, I had the problem of money. I was dead set against withdrawing any more money, but I was perilously close to going over my budget. I was literally counting my coins when I met the Swiss girl at my hostel. The slow train (which was not operated by Japan Railways and thus not covered by my Rail Pass) was going to 1,100 yen, so I carefully set that aside. $10 is about 800 yen by the way. Everything else would be covered by the JR Pass, so no sweat on transportation. After that money, I had exactly 800 yen to get me through the day. I was nervous and couldn't afford any mistakes (if you'll pardon the pun). I was determined to make it through my Japan trip on my budget.

Lo and behold, clear skies abounded the next day! We had a terrific time walking around the lake photographing ourselves and the volcano, which was a truly spectacular sight. We split up when they decided to take a cable car ride up to a viewing platform, but I literally could not spare the money and thought I'd better head back to the hostel to begin my long trip back to the airport. It was a seriously long journey.

Hostel van to train station

Slow train from Lake Kawaguchi to another station (can't remember the name)

Bullet train to Tokyo

Metro to Tokyo Station

Airport express line to airport

Fly to Seoul

Bus from Seoul to my city

Four metro stops

Local bus from the metro to my apartment

I ate my leftover food from the night before (you guessed it... bread) and breathed a sigh of relief when I got to the Tokyo airport with my 800 yen. This meant I had successfully completed my trip with just enough money to buy some dinner before my flight. Sadly, the cheapest Japanese meal was 1,200 yen, which meant I found myself in the McDonald's line where I purchased a meal for yep, 800 yen! I was the budget master. The budget sensei. Bow down! 

Fireworks on Lake Kawaguchi

Arashiyama

Arashiyama bamboo forest

Arashiyama bamboo forest

Arashiyama

Arashiyama

Arashiyama

Golden Pavilion, Kyoto

Gardens at Heian-jingu Shrine, Kyoto

Heian-jingu Shrine, Kyoto

Gardens at Heian-jingu Shrine, Kyoto

Gardens at Heian-jingu Shrine, Kyoto

Kiyomizudera Temple, Kyoto 

Kiyomizudera Temple, Kyoto. At this point I was shrined/templed-out, so I just walked to the top then sacked off actually paying the entrance fee and going in, then walked to the train station and went to Nara.

Geisha? Or tourists dressing up like geisha? I'm going to pretend these are traditional Japanese women in traditional outfits.

My brief stint in Nara. It's possible I spent more time getting there and away than actually there. 

Beware the watchdeer of Nara.

The French girls and I went to dinner and we got actual cheese. Lovely surprise.

Sashimi in Kyoto

My Kyoto hostel had a free kimono you could dress up in. My French friend and I took full advantage.

Mount Fuji!

Whooooaaaa Mount Fuji/Lake Kawaguchi

Walking around Lake Kawaguchi

Mount Fuji

Japan - Tokyo, Hiroshima

This is a bit delayed, but over the lunar New Year I spent nine days in Japan. I went to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto, Arashiyama, Nara, and Mount Fuji. This first entry is all about Tokyo and Hiroshima. I flew in on a Saturday and met my friend Chris in Tokyo. We went out in Roppongi, which is supposed to be the happenin' nightlife area, but we were shocked by how few people there were. Tokyo is supposed to be this huge, thriving city, but I was frankly astonished by how empty the metro and streets were. I think Seoul is far more crowded. If you go to the Seoul version of Roppongi, you can barely exit the metro because it's so jammed with people. 

Anyway, let me start over. First of all, Japan is great. It's so cool, modern, visually appealing, the people are really friendly and kind, transportation is a dream, and there's an insane amount of tourism that is also extremely accessible and easy. The downside is that everything is so expensive! Well, to me it's expensive. First of all because I'm cheap, and second because I'm coming from Korea, where things are very inexpensive. If you're used to city living, I doubt you'd find Tokyo/Japan to be excessively expensive, but I definitely did. My family (well, my sister... love you, Anna!) was completely horrified when I emailed them saying I ate a plate of free noodles that had been left in the hostel. They were labeled free! That meant they were available for public consumption, and I was too cheap to pass up a free meal like that. My "meals" in Japan were mostly supermarket croissants and free hostel coffee for breakfast and lunch, then I'd buy myself an actual Japanese dinner. I had previously bought a Japan Railways Pass, which is only available to foreigners who buy said pass outside Korea. Mine was 7 days unlimited rides on any JR lines, including the bullet trains. 

I'll be honest - I was not crazy about Tokyo. I'm just not much of a city tourism kind of person. Chris and I visited the Hima Rikyu gardens, which was nice. Gardens in Japan are very cool. We also went on a walking tour of an older part of Tokyo, the name of which escapes me now. We also visited a war museum/shrine, which we didn't actually go into on account of money. We also visited the Tsujiki Fish Market (I think I spelled that correctly). Check out the pictures below for more descriptions. 

I left Tokyo and split up with Chris (who had to go back to Korea) on Tuesday for Hiroshima by bullet train. Bullet trains are awesome! I'll be honest though, I really thought it would go faster. I had to change trains at Shin-Osaka, and overall travel time was about five hours to Hiroshima. So, Hiroshima was easily my favorite part of my whole trip to Japan. Modern-day Hiroshima is just so cool in itself, then you add in the history of the city and it's just incredible. The night I got there I didn't do very much as it was late and I was tired, so I got a map from the hostel and walked over to a nearby restaurant that the hostel lady recommended to me. Some kind of Hiroshima specialty, a picture of which I have posted below. It was delicious. It probably helped that I was starving (re: supermarket bread for breakfast and lunch), but either way I loved it. 

The next day I went to the Peace Park, which was really amazing. I spent the first half of my day walking around it. There are lots of statues and monuments as well as a memorial and a museum. It was also very empty, which was nice. A very cool part of the museum showcased these letters that the past and present mayors of Hiroshima had written. Basically, since Hiroshima was rebuilt, the mayor of Hiroshima personally writes a letter to the representative of any country performing nuclear testing of any kind. They were very powerful letters that essentially said, Dear so-and-so (i.e. US presidents, French prime ministers, etc), I'm the current mayor of Hiroshima. Our city has personally felt the effects of nuclear bombs and as such we are devoted to the eradication of all nuclear weapons. Despite many letters that we have sent to your government over the years, I am dismayed to hear that you recently performed a nuclear test despite agreeing to attempt to downsize nuclear weapons stockpiles. I look forward to the day I no longer have to write these letters. 

The second half of the day I went out to the nearby island of Miyajima, which was fantastic. Check out the pictures below because I'll write captions. 

Hiroshima tram. Adorable.

Fountain at the Peace Park

A-bomb dome. This was at ground zero where the bomb was dropped, but it didn't collapse, so the city of Hiroshima decided to preserve it as a memorial. Usually it doesn't have all that scaffolding, but they were conducting tests of some kind on it. 

Statue at the Peace Park

Paper cranes

Children's Peace Memorial statue. Do you know the story "Sadako and the 1,000 Cranes?" Maybe that's not the exact name. I read it in elementary school but I thought it was fictional... definitely not. Sadako was a baby when the bomb was dropped, and at age 11 she developed cancer from radiation poisoning. The crane is a symbol of long life, and she thought if she could fold 1,000 paper cranes she could cure herself. She died before finishing them. The statue has a girl at the top holding a crane. 

Bell of Peace

Inside the museum

Possibly one of the saddest things in the museum. Read the picture below for a description. 

The two Japanese words I learned to read while there: entrance and exit.

The ferry to Miyajima

The shrine gates at Miyajima. During high tide you can't walk out there and they appear like they're floating.

Bullet train

Tokyo metro map. This is my friend Chris. We both disliked the Tokyo Metro for being too expensive and kind of dingy. I know I said earlier that the transportation is great in Japan, and it is, but the Seoul metro is just much newer and cheaper. 

We went to a Japanese arcade and took anime-style pictures, then got to decorate them. 

A Japanese arcade game

Shibuya

The Shibuya crossing - you've probably heard of it, there's like a thousand people that cross at one time or something ridiculous like that. 

Japan really is the future. We didn't have a waiter - instead, we had a touch screen menu and a waiter would appear to give us our food. 

Warning comics at the Tsujiki Fish Market

Hama Rikyu Gardens. This is a 300 year old pine tree.

Japanese lunch! It was delicious. 

Tokyo Government Offices. It was free to go up to the top to view the city. You know how I feel about free stuff in Japan... essential.

Helpful bathroom sign in the Tokyo Government Offices.

Then it snowed. A lot.

Hiroshima pancake!

Japanese man making the Hiroshima pancakes. When I got back to the hostel, the woman asked me if I enjoyed the restaurant. I told her I had to learn Japanese so I could marry the pancake man and we could live happily ever after in Hiroshima eating pancakes all the time. She thought that was hilarious.

Miyajima

Leg room on the bullet train. I was such a VIP.

Bullet train. I felt like I was flying first class.

My Japan Rail Pass. Other than my diploma, the most expensive piece of paper ever made out with my name on it.