let it snow

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed your time with family! I apologize for the absence of an update. The past couple weeks have been difficult, but as I begin to reflect back I realize how much I am beginning to grow and get accustomed to life in Korea. 

A couple weekends ago I made the trip up to Seoul to visit Jackie. It was so great to be with a friend and have a "normal" weekend while trying to adjust to this new way of life. We ate some great food, shopped, and danced the night away. I am really looking forward to spending Christmas and winter break with her! 

I'm not quite sure on my feelings for being away from home for the holidays. Christmas decorations are now up all over the city, while Christmas music is played around the clock in every venue (even the bar on a saturday night). The intent is to bring cheer. Call me Scrooge, but I will be much more cheerful when it all goes away...

Anyway, I finally started my job! The school is run like a business, more so than a school. I will do my best to explain the set up and schedule at work. It's a bit of a challenge, because things are run much different than the normal school day for American kids.  The kindergarden students have class from 9:40-2:10. The largest class has 10 students which makes both learning and teaching extremely beneficial. I teach two of these classes in the morning, the classes are 80 minutes each. My morning students are 7 years old and full of energy. After my second class, I serve them lunch...ugh! This would be the low point of the day. On monday, tuesday, and friday, I teach a special science class right after lunch which provides me with no break at all! Then monday, wednesday, and friday afternoon I teach 4 different classes back to back until 5:30. Tuesdays and Thursdays I teach 2 different classes until 4. We have a staff meeting every tuesday at 6:20-8pm. So my days are exauhsting, but the work is fairly easy.

Here is the schedule for the life of a normal child in Korea: regular school during the day, tae-kwon-do lesson, then come to SLP for 80 minutes of English class, violin lessons, then whatever other crazy classes or lessons the parents make them do. It's no wonder I have at least a handful of my 7 year old crying every morning. My babies SOB if they don't get a perfect score on spelling tests, or if they don't win a stupid game. It's rather pathetic how much pressure is put on the little kids to do everything right and be at the top of the class. Yes, they are all baby Einstein's, but non of them get to be kids. (check out my pictures on facebook for some of their cute faces!). 

As I said before, appearance is everything in Korea. Going to the saunas is a big part of this and is a normal weekend activity for most families. I decided to have a little cultural experience last weekend and wanted to check out the saunas with my Korean friend Gabby. Spa etiquette: enter the women's room, strip down to nothing, then scrub every inch of yourself in the showers for a good 30 minutes before jumping into the communal baths. Being the only foreigner in a bathing room with 100's of naked Koreans, I definitely received my fare share of stares to last for a while. I just kept telling them they were jealous of my booty. Oh yeah, and only gang members have tattoos in Korea.  So, I was the white, big bootied, gangster for the day. No wonder they couldn't keep their eyes off me. The place also had a co-ed floor with sauna rooms. Simply slip into the gigantic white t-shirt and shorts supplied upon arrival and sauna hop. Each sauna was a different temperature, scent, and decor. My favorite was the large room made of geodes. It was the hottest room and completely psychedelic. Once I was transformed into a giant prune and had completely dehydrated myself we went out to dinner and re-hydrated. It was definitely an interesting experience to say the least. 

I am slowly getting into the grove of life here. I received my Alien Registration card this past week. This means I am reconnected with the world again via internet and cell phone! I have also joined a gym near my house. The owner of the gym loves me and constantly points at me and smiles, while nodding his head in favor of every time I life a weight. I am also meeting some really cool people that live in my area. It's so nice to be able to go out and grab some coffee and have a conversation with people in English! They are also able to make me laugh, which is indeed the best medicine.