The past 11 days

It's been a while since I've written anything. I'm not sure why that is. I guess it has something to do with lack of time and or desire. So this is probably the frequency that I'll be posting. Well, actually it could go either way. It turns out that I can get internet hooked up within one day...except that I need a bank account and I won't be opening a bank account probably until I get paid. Actually, my boss is supposed to open an account for me at some point. I should be getting paid on the 10th but I don't know how much it will be. It's definitely going to be my smallest paycheque. First of all, I didn't work a whole month so it's won't be my full 1.9 million won. Then I decided just to get the insurance they offered me at the school. The other teachers took it too. It seems alright but for some reason your first payment is practically equal to all the other installments combined. Actually, I don't know about that but it was a lot more than the monthly payment. There was also accident insurance so more stuff is coming out of my paycheque. I guess I'll find out when I get paid. If I were a better teacher I'd probably ask more questions but once again, I don't want to make it seem like I'm entitled to anything because sometimes I feel like an awful teacher. Someone told me today that there were having a bad day because they had to see me. It was partly a joke (I hope). Older kids hold more grudges. I think she's probably 12 or 13. Yesterday, which overall was probably my best day so far, I was called 'very bad teacher' and had tongue blown at me complete with flying saliva. He was better today. That class has a problem with anger management. Those Nobels! Well all of them but Brian but Brian is absent quite a bit. He just sits a draws.

So let's start back on last Saturday. I was woken up around 8 by the phone. Eunice called to confirm our plans. So early though. Then I got a few more calls to change times and other details. Matt and Renee decided to come and then decided not to. Anyways, I got to the station and Eunice was just getting there too. Perfect timing really. I bought my ticket and Eunice tells me to sit down. I told her that Matt and Renee weren't coming but I guess she didn't hear me though. I wonder why we're sitting and then 10 minutes pass. She makes a comment about Matt and Renee. Oh, I think, I guess she hadn't heard me tell her they weren't coming. I tell her 2 or 3 times in different ways that they aren't coming. I don't know what she thinks I'm saying but anyways she doesn't get and I give up and don't want to embarass her. She knows I was saying something about Matt and Renee but didn't understand just what it was. She pretends to of course. Eventually, we agree that they aren't coming. We get on the subway and head downtown. We end up just walking around for a few hours and making small talk. She shows me a few places where foreigners hang out. I saw a few of them.

It's so weird seeing white people here. I feel like I can just go up and talk to them like we have some kind of automatic connection. I guess there is but the immediate urge to start a conversation is strange. I haven't done it yet though. There's always some kind of hello though and it feels like a common, 'I know what you're going through' is exchanged. Probably more on my part. Anyways, not that important. Downtown, there are more foreigners. There's some military base near downtown. I don't know where but there are military people about. Every foreigner is either connected with the military or is an English teacher. Not many tourists. Maybe there are. What do I know, honestly?

Then Eunice invited me to go to Busan with her and some friends. She calls me at 8 and tells me she'll call me again. She doesn't. On Monday, she tells me her friend's boyfriend doesn't speak English and would've been uncomfortable. I still don't understand why there wasn't a phone call though. So on Sunday, I cleaned and my parents called. Anything else? Nope, don't think so.

Monday to Wednesday was pretty much the same as usual. Eunice called me almost every night to talk about nothing really. She's nice and everything but her interaction with me is almost definitely only educational. I feel like an language whore sometimes. People just feel like they can come up to you and talk to you. I went to the gym yesterday. Oh yeah, last Saturday I got a gym membership. Anyways, this guy, Chen, just comes up to an starts having this full blown conversation. That would never happen anywhere. Anyways, he leaves but I run into him again and we have a conversation by the water cooler for 20 minutes or so. I always feel so awkward having conversations with strangers and leaving conversations too. They also like to drop names in conversation to see if you know the person. He knows Naomi and Simon, both from Canada. He didn't ask if I knew them but it was obvious from the pause after their names that he was checking. Kids too just like to yell out hello and laugh to their friends. It doesn't happen often though and isn't too annoying. There was a kid on the subway with his mother. He didn't notice me at first but then he saw me. I was 3 feet from him. I guess I can blend as long as you don't look right at me. Then he asked if I liked computer games. His mother seemed a little embarassed. I told him they were alright. I didn't want to start anything. He told me goodbye later. There have been a few people that stare. Not many but it still makes you uncomfortable. You can just feel their eyes or look across at a reflection and see them doing it. It's not too bad. Definitely not as bad as I imagined. Most people don't give me a second look. Well sometimes a second but never a third.

Back to my week. I had a hard time waking up on Thursday. I was so tired. It was also a field trip day. We went to the football stadium. Korea hosted the World Cup in 2002 I think. It looked a little imposing. The front was a mix between Soviet Russia and Startrek. Big pointy things over the entrance. Otherwise it was a normal stadium. We went to a sports a museum. Everything in Korean so I didn't learn anything but I guess we don't go on field trips so that I can learn. It was with my kindergarten class. Paul wasn't there luckily. He's a strange little guy. Lately, he calls me Shawn teacher, then Matas teacher, and finally I'm Julie teacher, or elephant teacher. He thinks it's hilarious. He doesn't like to listen either. Today we made 3D glasses. Did he put the red and blue plastic over the eyes. No he cut out weird little shapes and glued them to the side. There's must be some line between genius and (it'll sound harsh but I don't know what other word to use) retardation. I don't know on which side he is. I saw a bit of the city on the bus ride. We also had a little picnic in the park. Sometimes Koreans are super hygienic. There was some other word I thought of at the time but it escapes me know. Sanitised maybe. Anyways, for some reason they can't sit on the grass. They all brought these little maps and seemed concerned that part of me was sitting on the grass. The kids all brush their teeth at lunch and some teachers and then they have their little surgical masks. But then you see them sometimes and they're chewing with their mouths open or not covering their mouths or even turning away when they sneeze. Maybe that's how I got sick. Glenn always sneezes right on his paper no matter how close to it my hands are. Maybe that's just a kid thing. Then again, nobody cares where they spit either. Somethings are just confusing.

So that was the field trip and then back to teach my 6 afternoon classes. No one else has that many I swear. From 630 today I swear I was the only one teaching. I taught until 8. Just 2 girls too. I was so run down by then and my throat was pretty sore. One class was a bit of a disaster. It was a science experiment. I didn't have the directions in English but they were there in Korean so I decided I'd let the kids tell me what to do. I've never so many outside materials before. Usually everything is in this little package but this one required all this water and all these kids are telling me different things. Kids tell me hot water. Only one place for that but it's coffee/tea hot water. It deforms their plastic containers. Turns out it said hot water. My boss came in and helped. I haven't been that grateful or embarassed in a long time. Anyways, I managed to survive. Then Renee's parents are in town so Jupiter town us all out for Korean barbeque. It was alright. Duck was on my 'Do not eat' list but I really didn't have much of a choice. You don't get to order individually. I didn't want to starve. There was that and salad basically. Renee is a picky eater too. She doesn't like Korean food. It's nice to know that she hasn't starved to death. I actually had some salad too. It wasn't a bad meal but I would've preferred it if it had been chicken or something on my acceptable animals to eat list. I also hard some hardboiled duck eggs. Like chicken but harder shells. I was a bit sick too so I might not have picked up on other differences. It was a nice meal.

Jupiter took me home and reluctantly brought up some stuff he'd noticed while I taught. It was stuff I basically knew but it's always embarassing to have someone tell you. I made a resolution to change things though by introducing new rules.

Friday was such a long day. I didn't feel well. I was tired and kids don't care at all. My Einstein class was actually very well behaved. That was a nice surprise. Julie had yelled at them. I'm glad I have them first. Julie has them second so if their names go up on the board, there'll be trouble when Julie comes in. Friday night I ordered a pizza and watched the end of Survivor and the Apprentice. I tried to go to bed early but I couldn't. Too much caffeine and too much light. There's maybe 6 feet between my window and another window. The buildings are the same and when this neighbour of mine has his light on my room is so bright I don't need any kind of light. I really need some curtains. I figure one of those eye mask things would be cheaper. I'd feel a bit girly having one maybe but if it helps me sleep. I couldn't get to sleep last night either. That light is so bright.

Then on Saturday I was still sick. It was some kind of cold. Is some kind of cold. Just sore throat and stuffy nose. Not much of a cough. Anyways, I didn't do much on Saturday. I decided to leave my house around 330 or 4. I decided to just walk up the street to the next subway stop. It turns out there's a big department store not far from my house. Well the next subway stop which was maybe 10 minutes by foot. I didn't go in and ended up walking to the 3rd stop and then just rode it back home. I went to E-mart and bought a few things. No mask though. I cleaned some more. Had left over pizza. I watched SNL and some other stuff that I don't remember. SNL is strange. They show it on Saturday nights but because of the difference by the time the show airs it's Sunday afternoon here so basically the show is already a week old. Kill Bill Vol. 1 came on so I watched that. They have decent movies sometimes. My viewing is rather limited by the fact that I don't know Korean. It really is true. Shows that I didn't care about before will probably become my favourite shows. Sex in the City comes on daily, even at like 8am. I still don't know know if it's 'and the city' or 'in the city.' I imagine they translate it differently though so it isn't too racy. What do I really know though? Maybe they translate dildo into whatever it is in Korean. There's a town called Dildo in Newfoundland. I've actually driven through it.I also found out today that the name Jill translates into vagina in Korean. Too bad I don't know anyone named Jill.

Sunday was pretty boring. I stayed home. Cleaned a bit. Actually, while the new pope was being 'sworn in' for a lack of a better word, I was cleaning my bathroom thinking there was nothing else that makes you feel quite so unimportant. Meanwhile the new Pope was basically the most important person at that point in time. I didn't even leave my house on Sunday, I think.

Monday morning I was feeling better and had one of my successful days teaching, well of all 12 days. One was definitely my best class ever. I was so on top of things. It didn't even feel like that long a day. I also finished practically everything I needed to have finished. I just have to write about how great someone in my class is tonight. I nominated him for student of the month. I have to write a whole page. Then I'll have to take a photo with him and they'll hang it up. They choose 3 students from different classes to be student of the month. I've seen the old students of the month. I already told you about other stuff that happened yesterday and today.

My last thought is that I need to meet some new people. I thought that Matt and Renee would introduce me to some other people around the neighbourhood but they haven't. I don't want to spend every weekend at home cleaning my apartment. There's just my kitchen left. It is pretty filthy though. We the fridge is and the washer. The coutertops are immaculate though. It's just the floor really. So I have at least one day worth of work. I don't know how to meet people though. There are bars but I'd feel so strange going to a bar alone. Matt and Renee are nice but I can't just be friends with them, especially since they're a couple. Her parents are still in town too and I was sick so we couldn't do anything last weekend. I hope we do something together on the weekend. It really is more of their responsibility to invite me places since I'm the new person though, right? Maybe I will have to go to a bar alone at some point. Then there are Korean language classes at the YMCA on Saturdays at 11am but they're on Saturdays....at 11am. I also don't really want to hang out in Daegu every weekend though either. Maybe I'll go this Saturday.

Well, I think that makes me all caught up. Time to go home and write wonderful, wonderful things about Richard. It's 12 minutes past the time I wanted to leave too. Until the next.