I AM IN PARADISE!

PICTURES AND UPATE...FINALLY. 

it has been less than a week since i have come to tongyeong, and yet, i feel like i have found a new incredible home. the people are amazing, my co-workers and bosses are amazing, my new friends are amazing, the town is amazing. amazing seems to be the operative word. i am finally moved into my apartment and have started teaching. but here are some pics first! 

well. i found the PB AND J! if at nothing else, i have this ! 

 

 

the market during the day. holy crap it smelled like dirty raw fish. i don't think i'll go there unless i HAVE to. 

 

i think i found michael jackson....head on towel, face mask covering, and white gloves... 

THIS IS WHAT I SEE EVERY DAY! 

this is the ocean. it's about a 5-10 minute walk away from where i live. and it's absolutely breathtaking. holy toledo. it's phenomenal. some days i feel like i'm going to wake up and hit my head on the coffee table. but it isn't a dream, this is my headquarters! fishing is HUGE here...hence the 'coastal city'.. ha. i'm going to go fishing sometime... but i throw them back. those poor little things. 

I FOUND A BASKETBALL COURT. it's right down the street from me. I.AM.ELATED! 

and now. the pictures of the infamous dinner. haha. last saturday my boss took sara and i out to a traditional korean meal. it was quite interesting. korean meals consist of slipping your shoes off before you enter the rooms, sitting on the floor on tiny and really non-existent padding, and putting around 40 bowls on the table, with one heat plate to heat your meat or whatever of choice. this night, we got pork. we told our bosses that we are from texas...and texans love their meat! and... 

****IMPORTANTE FOR EVERYONE WHO KNOWS MY UNRELENTING PICKINESS****

 i have been friggin' AWESOME with venturing out. so far i have tried ANCHOVIES (which are insanely distasteful, green tea cake (which is just weird)  kimbop (which is okay, but not one i'd choose on a regular basis, and seashell (which has a slimy inside that people get out with a tooth pic and eat...and i downed it. the following pictures are of that evening of dinner. 

ruby is my bosses little girl. she is 8 in korean and 7 in american years. and she is my new best friend! she teaches me korean every day and i teach her class english. so if i give them homework, she turns around and gives me 'korean homework'. haha. we are going to have a stellar year together! she LOVED anchovies and shell...and i wanted to be open-minded and try them both. so here are some pics of me trying the shell... ga-ross. 

i don't know why i am trying this..... nothing good can possibly com out...

you have to pick it out with a tooth pic... i couldn't do it right so she grabbed it from me and did it for me. haha. 

trying the shell... bleh! 

I AM FINISHED! i did it! i did it!! 

and these are anchovies. ruby LOVES them. i hated them. the lone anchovy on the fork's name is ralph. i ate him. but he got the last laugh b/c he was dispicable. i mean absolutely horrid. i had to down two bags of skittles to even get the taste out of my mouth! ya-huck! 

sara and me and our boss and his family at the restaurant. fun times. 

***NATIONAL PARK SITE SEEING****

  

this is the national park look-out scene. ryan and sara (our bosses) took us to see it before dinner. THIS IS WHERE I LIVE PEOPLE! ARE YOU KIDDING?!?! so beautiful! there are about 120 islands to see, and i plan to see every which one! but only in due time. 

 

ruby. such a cutie! 

ruby and me hanging out and being silly. i needed at least some sort of proof i was there. so...here it is! 

if that doesn't suffice the soul...views like that... then i'm not sure the soul is affeaseable! i feel like i'm literally walking in paradise. i finally am moved into my apartment, of which i'll take pictures this coming week when it's nice and clean (and sara2 (my friend) is living with me until next week so her apt. can get cleaned out). but trust they are coming. i really love my apartment, too. it's very fitting and i can't wait to make it my home! woop! i have been walking a lot and feel like i finally have my bearings. this all seems way too good to be true. i'm not real sure how to absorb it all but to say it's somewhat like a lucid dream. even the teaching part... it's so surreal. 

which brings me tooo... the teaching.

i love love love love love my school. and kids. and co-workers. and bosses. 

this could be the 'honeymoon' stage, if you will, but it's a wonderful one, nonetheless! everyone is so helpful and nice to me and sara. there are 3 foreign teachers (english teachers) and 4 korean teachers. the classes are around 40 minutes and the kids go from foreign teacher to korean teacher and visa-versa. the korean teachers are primarily in charge of teaching them the grammatical part, and we do a lot of conversational english and literature. and the kids. they are something else. those poor kids. they go to public school from 8 or 9 until around 4, then go to different private schools at night - sometimes until midnight even. they don't really get a chance to be kids; which makes me want to do an even better job of teaching. i want to make it enjoyable for them, and i think i do. they keep me entertained so i try to do the same. haha. my boss is taking it light on us and introducing us to the program slow so we can really grasp it, so our load isn't that heavy. next week we will get our 'real' schedules. i am excited for that! i have a couple 1:1 lessons that i enjoy, as well. one of them is with a girl named iris who is taking the TEFL test on the 25th. she is brilliant. these kids are absolutely amazing. they are so respectful (most of them haha) and they love to learn. my favorites, though, are the smaller 1/2 graders. they light up the room. i will take pictures of them sometime this year and show you them all. one boy imparticular's name is tom. and he is certified genius. he decided he'd randomly explain to the class what participles are and how we use them on a daily basis. (he is 7) haha. it's crazy. i love it! 

sara and i woke up early today to go to the hospital and get checked so that we can receive our foreign immigration cards. these cards allow us to be a certified resident of Korea. with them, we can get insurance, a cell phone, etc, etc. so we had to get an eye/ear test, blood pleasure, pee in a cup (over a SQUAT toilet - hahaha), get our blood taken and so on. it was fast. just took an hour and we were back in business. the government wants to make sure we didn't bring any crazy american epidemic into their country. good idea. :) today was also 'pepero' day. november 11th is known in korea as pepero day - all the kids go and buy pepero with their own money and bring it to the teachers. pepero is basically a chocolate covered stick. they are pretty good! but i've had my share of them haha. i think i got like 8 boxes full. those kids are somethin' else. i cannot imagine having to leave them in a year. so i'll just concentrate on getting at least a year with them instead! 

okay, i have rambled long enough. and my eyelids are heavy laden. i haven't been able to sleep very well these last few days, so i'm hoping i will get around to getting my schedule back on track. it is an odd transition, though. sleeping until 9 or 10, hanging out and walking to the ocean or just around the city, then going to work from 2-8, then hanging out again.  a tough, tough life. i cannot wait to keep doing it! :D

i love love love love love you all much! 

-kami 

***TEACHING****