survival of the fittest.

***WARNING. PREPARE YE EYES. PREPARE..'tis a long one, folks!!***

so. 

this is arney. he and i got well acquainted on one of my morning runs. arney likes long walks on the beach and loves fleetwood mac. 

 

this food was left for the birdies. i asked about this method. the people of korea feel like since nature gave them these products, that they should give back to nature. so they leave food for the animals. quite nice. once i discovered this method, i tried to make arney aware of the provided meal for him and his posse... but they split on me. 

and there... they go. thanks guys! 'ppreciate cha! 

hey. wanna know somethin'..... 

i live here. 

cool 'eh? yes, i know.

what a week. that is all i really know to say. what a week! 

what a week. 

i survived my first week of teaching in tongyeong...with flying colors, mind you. it was somethin' else. i'm already head-over-heels in love with my kiddos, and i've been here a mere week. they had me from, "hello kami teacher." (saying 'teacher' after the name is a form of respect. even my boss calls me kami teacher. "oh kami teacher. you are very clever and your hair is pretty kami teacher." it's so cute. ha. 

moving forward, though.... 

this week absolutely flew by. we only had about 4 classes a day, but now we have our new schedule.... and i will be busy for sure. i am excited, though. it gives me new faces to see and new souls to love. i'll be teaching around 35 classes a week. some of the classes meet every day, some m,t,w,th, some of them t,t,f, and so on and so on. so each class we have has a certain criteria of curriculum that needs to be used - a LOT of lesson planning. but i am looking forward to it. i just love these kids. and i love my korean co-workers. they are the most helpful by far. they teach me korean, too. my little girl ruby quizzes me almost every day. if i give her class homework, she turns around and makes up a korean quiz for me. so far i can say the following: 

nae irrum kami immida (my name is kami)

young o hajul a seyo (do you speak english)

nae manhakuk moth ay yo (i do not speak korean)

hajimal (don't do that---something i love to say to the kids!)

nae/annio (yes, no)

kamsamidah (thanks)

an young ha sey yo (hello)

an young ka sey yo (bye)

earl mah ye yo (how much is it)

mianhamida (sorry)

satang (candy)

babu (silly) 

just the basics, but i am trying! since we are obvious foreigners the kids here go crazy with excitement when they scream out HI at us. so i start answering them in korean and telling them they should speak english in korean. they go nuts. it's hilarious. this is an awfully tough language to learn, but i am hopeful i can find a class to learn through maybe at the beginning of the year. we'll see! if not, i've already learned my survival korean so i am good.

since the weeks seem to fly by, the 'thing to do' here is to go.... BOWLING. yes. you read correctly. bowling. and i think i had one of the most fun times i've had in a very long time. when you go in, you take off your shoe and hand it to the 'shoe lady' and she looks at it and gets an idea of what size shoe she thinks you wear, then hands it to you. it is quite humorous. i wear a 65.  anyhow, something i've also forgot to mention. there are around 15 foreigners or so in tongyeong  -  at least teachers, i mean. so when new ones come off the boat, we get excited to meet them. so last night we met two more from boston and minnesota. i am pretty pumped up about the people i've met here and will continue to meet. there is nothing like meeting new english speaking people. it's pretty much like this : oh hi. you speak english. you understand me. i understand you. let's be friends, shall we? then the rest is history. these are people i will most undoubtedly cherish for years to come. some stellar souls for sure. unfortunately, one of them departed entirely too soon to go back to canada, EH'...but penpalry is in the works. anyhow, after bowling, of where i was deemed 'the train' b/c i have a knack for just chunking the ball as hard as i can down the isle, we went to what i like to call 'the soup kitchen'... where we had chicken soup. now, you americans... this was no normal chicken soup. i can't even think of words to describe how they enjoy spicing things up... it's insane. but they serve you around 20 bowls of side dishes (which i'm sure i'd love if i actually liked their contents), and then a bowl of soup with chicken still on the bone - and you pick off the chicken with your chop sticks and place the bone in the big bowl at the center of the table. seeing that many bones... made me wish i could have the strength to become vegetarian. holy toledo. lotta' bones. i just ate the spicy chicken and doused it in the sticky rice hoping it'd take away the spice. it did clear up my lungs, though. whew! 

i will say, though, i like the idea of taking your shoes off when you enter into restaurants, and apartments. i do that with my apartment, and i think it keeps it quite clean. the rest of the mess.... is my fault. ha. i am still not quite used to sitting on the floor. my back doesn't like that. it debates with my head the idea of the usefulness of chairs. ha. taking shoes off, though - i dig that. but, that's not why i am writing. i wanted to tell you what kind of day we had today. a day of failure, but of a happy ending. 

start NOW. 

so today. i woke up around 10, not having gotten in from bowling and soup until around 3am. and i decided that i wanted to try domino's pizza. i know, i know. but i've had my share of porridge and soup and rice and spicy foods... so i wanted something reminiscent of home. something. and i'd heard domino's was out of this world here. so we hail a taxi. (taxi's are super cheap. SUPER cheap. like 2 bucks across town, so we take them a lot. ha) anyhow, we explain to him .. DO-MI-NO'S... DO-MI-NO'S. three syllables. he says he can take us. we feel...victorious! hoo-rah! my stomach lies in eager anticipation for what it will partake on.

and then. we end up at the bus terminal across the hill. DO-MI-NO'S? TER-MI-NAL. three syllables. that's ALL they have in common. not particularly sure how that happened, but first failure was laughable. a bit perturbing, but a happy attitude we had nonetheless because we were at e-mart (the wal-mart of tongyeong). so we go with it. and let me tell you, saturday's are my FAVORITE 'round these ropes. it is FREE SAMPLE DAY EvERYWHERE!!! and kami loooooves free food. i could have stayed in there for an hour going from plate to plate, but they were eyeing me suspisciously.. as they should have. i was sucking them dry. what can i say? i don't get paid until next month - a girl's gotta eat. haha. i will say, though, that i cannot wait until i can really go shopping there. they have everything! everrryyyything! so exciting! they have a ton of hats. i am excited about that. i love hats. the upstairs had around 10 pianos that i tried out. apparently the lady who was in charge didn't like them to be touched (b/c people don't need to try out pianos before they buy them... i guess you just stare at them and hope they are in tune to perfection?? these koreans... i tell ya) anyhow..she came over and mumbled something in korean at me the first time i started playing, but she didn't accomplish much because i just kept on going. and THEN. OF ALL THE THINGS... seriously...

that tiny lady came over to me in her little buttoned vest and slapped my hand and told me HA JI MAL (don't do that!) ra-huuuude. i was not happy. i told her she was mean in korean (a phrase the kids taught me this past week when i gave them extra homework. wah ha). i have to say i've never been hand-swatted before. stupid lady. it's a piano. i was playing it. i suppose it's better to stare at. my apologies lady. however, after finding two little pads of paper for 800 won ('round 75 cents) we decided we'd try and take the bus back to our headquarters. so sara and i prance to the other side of the crazy busy street with fingers crossed no koreans have an inner desire to run over any americans, all to realize that... the map is in pure korean. no way jose do we know what that sucker says. so again, we hail a taxi. DO-MI-NO'S. DO-MI-NO'S! COME ON! DO-MI-NO'S. 

and i am happy again. eagerly awaiting one more time the aroma of a thin crust pepperoni pizza. holy moly i was pu-umped! i kept saying to him DO-MI-NO'S in hopes he really knew where he was going. surely we wouldn't end up at another terminal. as i stare out the window i'm fairly certain we are headed to victory. then he stops at a place called "Mr. Pizza...who loves women". seriously. again? what don't you get about do-mi-no's friggin' pizza. i don't want mr. or mrs. or dr. pizza. i just want domino's. however, after much deliberation sara and i take on mr. pizza. took a while to explain to them how repulsed i'd be if they put anything but just cheese and MEAT pepperoni (last time i ordered pepperoni pizza in prague... it was jalapeno covered peppers... my heart sunk then, and i didn't want dejavu to occur). after about 15 minutes of waiting the final result was here. recognizable pizza. i suppose my stomach had higher expectations knowing i was going to eat at domino's and wasn't that sufficed with mr. pizza who loves women. (not joking about the title, that's the name! ha) after a second failure, i decided i needed to treat myself. what else can i do? let's celebrate the defeat with some baskin robins! and i did just that. baskin robin's and a pepsi. and all of a sudden the frustrations of the misunderstandings were all gone. i was happy again. belly full of semi-decent pizza and ice cream and sipping slowly on a carbonated beverage. we also decided we'd check out the 1000 won store ($1 store). only problem is... it's right dab center in the middle of the fish market. and that is a place that to an extent makes me ache for the smell of cow crap back home. the smell of the market is atrocious. holy crap. atrocious. and some of those little fishies are alive still. it took all of me not to try and convince them that those fish felt the blades of their knives and to just say no and eat peanut butter. but alas, i didn't. there was some neat stuff at the 1000 won store, but i shall wait for that as well. simply observing. i found one store, though, that ohhh man, it will become my favorite. the blankets/comforters here are outrageously comfortable. i found a set for around 38,000 won that will be my first purchase once i get my check. (no worries mom, i'm still sending money home)  the set was bright orange and just absolutely beautiful. they are a 'svelt' type material. and underneath has tiny little dots that keep the covers from coming off'a ya when you sleep. what a terrific invention!! i love mine at my apartment, so i am most definitely sending one home! i also stopped at lotte mart to get some more peanut butter - i was out. so life is back to normal for me again. i have peanut butter. i am okay. life will be good. 

ha. this was probably the longest post EVER. sorry. if you've made it thus far... congratulations. if not, i don't blame you. i'll try and update throughout my weeks, but it's a bit crazy and the weekends are all i have. i took some sweet pictures yesterday morning of which you can see right... now. 

these are outside of my apartment. :)

on my way to the ocean. just my scenic daily view. nuttin' special... :)

the rest are from my morning quiet time . whew-baby. talk to me Jesus! 

i looked for a message in a bottle, and even tried to send one myself, but it was a failed attempt. there's always the next 51 weeks, though.... 

okay folks. that's all she wrote. sara and i are going to go to han-san island tomorrow - that will embark our 2nd out of 120 islands to visit. so i'll be sure to update on that one with multitudes of pics and stories. 

'til then. i love you from korea! 

-kami :)