So I am pretty much the worst blogger in the world....

I could give you all of the "sorry"s in the world, and it wouldn't really help much; would it? Things are moving quite along here. I am two and a half months in (one fourth of the way through, for those that are missing me). I am starting to actually feel like this is my life now, and it's got some pros and cons. In the interest of letting you in on life for me now, and also allowing myself to vent a bit too (without getting too ranty, that's not why you are here) I am going to list the positives and negatives of living in a foreign country.

PROS
- The immense amount of new experiences I have had. This is never in short supply. I've gone to Dr. Fish twice now (I'm a pro at putting my feet in a tank of skin-eating minnows) and seen Seoul both in the social and cultural light. Teaching here has been eye-opening. Parents are very diligent and make visits to the school often. I always have my students "stats" in order to present at a moment's notice and make sure that I speak to them and not to Lauren who is translating what I am saying. Knowing that everything I do will get back to the parents keeps me on my toes. Sarcasm is not a second language in Korea, especially when your audience has a bit of a language barrier to cross. Being more certified than my coworkers, yet feeling completely inferior to them in terms of actual ability has taught me more about what teaching really is than I could have learned in the States, where everyone has at least a bachelors. It's the school of Korean Knocks. Or something like that.

-My students. I really like my classes. Some are harder than others, but surprisingly this doesn't make me dislike them. It just makes me want to try harder at getting them up to par with the better ones. I have instituted several behavioral policies, which is weird for me, because I am used to teaching the bigger ones. I have yet to get used to allowing them to go to the bathroom during class, and often will try to lecture them on how they should "take care of it before class, or hold it until we are done." The hard part about this is that precursors for this conversation are: know what "it" is ("Pee" means "blood" in Korean), what the words "before" and "hold" mean in this context and a certain amount of gesturing to less than desirable areas of the body. It makes for an adventure. We have also started a slightly experimental class at the Academy. A bunch of younger moms were interested in having there tiny ones sing songs and learn basic English. So I now have 5 5 year-olds everyday. They go to David (my English coworker) for 20 minutes for conversational practice and then 20 minutes with me for songs and books and the occasional alphabet writing. Things are going swimmingly and they are all darling, which makes them less tiresome.

-Cultural outings. Jade, my counterpart for most of my time here in Cheonan, and I have been making an effort to go and see the sights here. While we haven't ventured too far, we have been able to go to several places. First was Independence Hall in Cheonan. It's a collection of museums dedication to the irradication of the Japanese from Korea. That's a big thing here, there's an entire building dedicated to "Japanese Aggression", also an exhbit on methods of torture used. Next was SamGo Ri park, which is a beautiful area that we had a nice picnic and were able to see a dance troupe perform, by accident. Last weekend we went to Seoul for the day and went to Gyeongbeouk Palace (I may have spelled that wrong, but in all honesty, I am too tired to check it). The place was huge. I will try and link up some pictures of the visit. To be around carvings that were done thousands of years ago, and that I was able to touch was just too much for me. Soon I am headed to Jabo-san, the big sitting bronze Buddha here in Cheonan, and there is a temple stay on the books before it gets too cold to do anything but socialize and watch movies.


CONS
(I didn't mean to make only 3 Pros, but they were lengthy, and you guys have jobs, or at the very least, lives)
-The Cultural Barrier. There are small things that really get me. The idea of a "line" is just non-existant here. Getting on a bus means pushing forward before the other people do (this is the only time when being a big Westerner is advantageous). It also means that when you are waiting for the atm, people have no guilt when edging in front of you. The same thing happens when people are in their cars. I am truly excited when a cab driver drives in the turn only lane just to pull in front of the guys at the light. It's the greatest. This same barrier is the same reasons that my students aren't afraid to tell me that I am "fat". I am hardly offended by this, and honestly, even if I was smaller, I would still be too big in stature for Korean standards. Kids don't censor themselves, sometimes it's a blessing, but other times, like when you are having a crappy day to begin with, the last thing you want to hear is a student asking you if you like food.

-People suspicious of foreigners. Time to get honest. As a white middle-class woman in the United States of America, I rarely considered myself a victim of prejudice. I don't consider myself a huge victim of it now; however there are sometimes that I just wish I could look like the rest of Korea. It's not uncommon for foreigners to be unwelcome, because people don't trust us in large groups. Or for the seat next to me to be left unused because people feel uncomfortable. Maybe I am assuming things here, but it's happened. Mostly I am not totally inconvenienced because I have a place to put my feet up, but really though, I am that scary? Also, just because I am Western, does not mean it's okay to ask me if I am Russian. (That's perv talk for asking if you are a woman who entertains).


So the Pros outweigh the Cons, as they should. I guess I will be staying here for sometime. Which means more opportunities to procrastinate writing in my blog. Enjoy!