THE DATE

It's official, I will be meeting my mom, my mom's older sister, and my grandmother on Wednesday December 9th. I will be taking the KTX train right after class so that I can get to Seoul by 6:30. I will meet them at the HOLT office, and a translator will be present. However I am going to try and cram in as much Korean as possible in the next couple of weeks. Oh man...

Mi Madre

So, uh, yeah, HOLT found my birth mom, and both her and my aunt (so my birth mom's older sister) want to meet me... I got the unexpected email this past Thursday evening. And now we're trying to figure out when to arrange a meeting... kind of surreal.... I'll keep you all posted when I get more of an idea as the logistics... eeeeee!!!!!!!!!^^ In the meantime, I REALLY have to study Korean now, gahhhhh!!!! ㅠㅠ

School Festival

I've been convinced to dance with one of my first grade classes to JYP's (박진영) "Honey" for the school festival next Thursday. I promised my coteacher I would learn the dance by Monday. Aiiiiishhh!!! hehehe.

A Summary of Daily Life Here (M-F)

I really haven't disclosed much on what life is like on a day to day basis here in Gumi. To make a very quick summary, I'm butt tired all the time, I never thought it could happen, but is has. Double majoring with 3 jobs in college was tiring. Balancing studio work, labwork at the Broad, and beer was also tiring. But teaching over 750 Korean children takes the cake.

So I teach Monday through Friday, and I'm usually at the school from 8am until 5pm. I teach 16 regular classes per week, 2 club classes, and 1 class for teachers. My first grade middle school students (so equivalent to the US 7th grade) are split by level, which makes teaching them a lot easier. My second graders are not (equivalent to US 8th grade). My second graders have an attitude problem across the board, so they are a little harder to teach in general. On Tuesday evenings I volunteer with the other Gumi teachers at Samsungwon, an amazing orphanage in Gumi (I will write more about that in the near future). There I tutor 3 high school boys, which has been quite difficult, but that's only b/c well, they're 3 teenage boys, hehe.

As for my interactions with my students, they're awesome. I absolutely adore them. As difficult as teaching is, my students (though not all of them^^) make it totally worth it. I've taught my upper level students how to play Apples to Apples, and man is that hilarious. When we play, I in turn attempt to learn the Korean word equivalents. I learned the word for slimy yesterday (끈적끈적한). When the word slimy came up as our adjective card to play off of, one girl definitely threw down "underwear." I nearly toppled over in my seat.

The teachers are equally as awesome. They are all very busy, b/c teachers here take care of a lot of the administrative work on top of their teaching. But when a group of us has some overlapping free time we sit and drink coffee together, while I teach them inappropriate English. A lot of the teachers are too shy to speak English, so it's been slow going trying to get know all of them (b/c those who are too shy just outright avoid me). The school nurse told me the other day that she has an "English allergy," which I thought was brilliant. However I should note that I do try my best to speak Korean with them. I'm totally a slow person when it comes to learning and acquiring new languages, so for the Koreans that have to listen to my attempt at speaking, it must be a very trying process.

When I get home from school, my younger host sister comes tearing around the corner yelling, "teacherrrr!!!" and then smacks into me and attempts to hug me until I pop. It's really endearing. I chill until dinner, b/c I'm usually wiped from teaching. My host mom is an amazing cook, and so I will definitely miss her food when I have to return to the US. During dinner I chat with her and both host sisters (in Korean and English). And I usually continue chatting with my host mom for another hour (or two...) after dinner is finished. I'm really comfortable with them, and vice versa. They're of course no replacement for my actual family, but I definitely feel blessed (as blessed as an atheist can feel...) that we were assigned to one another. They're just a really happy, loving, and intelligent little family. And luckily their English and my Korean is high enough that we can have some pretty meaningful conversations... and inane ones. My younger host sister explained and demonstrated for me the other day that she enjoys singing on the toilet while using the bidet. Ahhh yes, this truly was the right host family for me.^^ I think when I leave Korea, out of everything, leaving this family will be the hardest thing for me to do.

NY Times Article on Racism in South Korea

So, a lot of friends sent me this article on racism against biracial couples in South Korea. It will be interesting when Doug comes to visit in January. Definitely no PDA in enclosed spaces like subways, buses, or cabs - I don't want to get yelled at!! It will be interesting.... it will also be interesting hearing him attempt to speak Korean... his Italian accent was bad enough in Rome, hehehehe.