Home Sweet Home

I promised an organized post to catch you up on everything so that is what you shall get. Even if it is a little late. :]

Monday I got the package Lauren sent for my birthday. :] She sent a card, a Happy Birthday sign, and a keychain, just what I needed :]

 This is the beautiful card and Happy Birthday sign she sent. The card made me cry, of course, which freaked out my teachers a little bit, but that's okay. I put them up on my desk for the first few days before I brought them home and I had the most attractive work space in the school. :] Now they decorate my wall at home and make me smile every time I see them. The happy birthday sign also has all sorts of wonderful things written on it. :]

 This is the awesome keychain she sent. Both sides are holographic and the Florida side has a dolphin jumping, which was cool enough on it's own. Then I flipped it over expecting the other side to be blank and instead it has my name written in the sand. :] The waves go up and down when you move the keychain. She also ties a pretty blue ribbon to it which I have kept on it to make locating it in my mess of a bag a bit easier. :] I had been looking for a keychain since I got here since I just had the one key and the little tag it was attached to, which was exceedingly difficult to find in the bottom of my bag and resulted in me having to all but empty my bag every time I needed to find my key. It was very frustrating. So now I can either tie the ribbon to the handle of my bag and not even have to look for it, or if I do have to look for it, it's much easier to find. So, thanks Lauren (and Jeremy).
Now I think of you everyday. (Not like I didn't before but, you know. :])

So Tuesday I wore my glasses and my hair in a bun and all my students told me all day "Teacher smart. Teacher intelligent." haha. These kids crack me up. This culture is just so based on appearance that the smallest changes can totally change the way they see you, for the day at least. Maybe that means I should wear all black with my hair up and my glasses everyday for middle school? Nah, it probably wouldn't make a difference with those kids. But more about that later. I also had a student walk up to me after class on Tuesday and tell me "I like you." It was so sincere and cute. I smiled and told her I liked her too. Then, after lunch, Oeja told me that one of the 1st year (10th grade) girls came up to her and told her she really likes me and my class and she is so happy she can communicate with me. It's things like that that make me want to teach. :]
Unfortunately, not all the girls are like that. Most of my high schoolers are very well behaved and cooperative, even excited to learn English, except for this one group. Or rather, 80% of my second year students. And the middle schoolers aren't terrible, except for, well, first and second year. And the girls in those classes aren't bad or have bad attitudes outside of class so let's see what they have in common - OH, look. Mr. Pa is their English teacher/ my coteacher for those classes. This man is the worst. When's he's not sleeping my the back of my classroom (yes, he actually fell asleep in the back of the classroom while I was teaching) he's being overly harsh on the students about insignificant issues that aren't disrupting the class or causing any sort of problem, and completely passing over the students who are actually misbehaving and distracting from my teaching. Now, I understand the "Squash the small things and the big will follow." but not in this case. It is the second semester and these girls know him. They know what he will punish and what they can get away with, and they get away with murder. I'm just glad he isn't my main coteacher or this whole experience would be drastically different.
Anyhow, my classes that I do have trouble with are starting to fall in line a bit. I had to get tough with a few and raise my voice, which I think scared them a little because they've only seen me be nice and friendly and the fun English teacher but a few of the classes will see differently this week. I have 2 classes that will be writing sentences for at least a portion of the class. :] They're going to be mad. ha ha hahaha. :] I think it will serve as a nice wake up call that English class can be whatever I want it to be and that that decision will be directly related to their behavior in class. - ohh, I could show them that on a graph. :]
But, like I said, overall, school is good. Teaching is so fulfilling and despite having fought it all these years, I really love it.

So, after a good week of teaching, a smooth start to Friday, with a rough end, the weekend was finally upon me. I had plans to meet a friend from orientation in Daegu, which is a big city (3-4 million people) about 2 hours away. So, with no cell phone, and some directions and a huge leap of faith, I bought a bus ticket and began my weekend adventure. The main reason for going to Daegu, or at least the reason that prompted the trip, was meeting with the wonderful girl Jessica who gave me the newest addition to the Chinnery family, Switch.

 World, meet Switch. Her name was originally going to be Domino. Like Domino Harvey if you've seen the movie. :] Yes, I like Kiera Knightley that much. However, upon meeting Switch and learning a bit about her, Domino became unacceptable and Switch evolved. And she has been rightly named let me assure you. She is the sweetest cat you will meet one second and the next she wants nothing to do with you. And not like a normal cat. More like if you try to touch her she backs up until she's out of reach with this completely indignant and horrified look on her previously precious face and if you persist, she will not hesitate to remind you that she has claws and they are quite sharp. Yay bipolar cats.

Okay but wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. She was the reason I went to Daegu but I still haven't told you what happened when I got there. So, I was supposed to meet this guy David that I met at orientation at the bus terminal because he lives there and I don't know where I'm going and I have no cell phone, etc. So I get to the bus terminal about 7:40 or so,  and he's nowhere to be seen. I call him, he says he's sitting right outside of the bus terminal with a 

guitar on his back, hard to miss. I check around everywhere, no luck, and call him back (on the payphone.) So basically we ascertain that we are at two different bus terminals, of course. And we know which one he's at, but not which one I'm at. So now I have to figure out how to get there. So after asking 7 or 8 different people, and being told I was already at DongTaegu Busuh Tuhminall (DongDaegu Bus Terminal in Korean), which is where he was and clearly I was not, a Korean military gentleman gave me directions, and told me it wasn't too far, just straight, the left around the corner, then straight a little more. So I set out. Well, I always continue to ask for directions as I'm walking, just to make sure I'm still going the right way and I haven't missed it etc. Just something I've always done, ask my mother about finding the bathroom at a camp ground :]. So I finally see this guy after I've been walking for about 4 or 5 minutes and ask which way DongDaegu bus terminal is. Now this is where things get really interesting. He tells me to turn around and walk back the way I just came from, then turn left when I get to the intersection and it's right there. So I turn around and follow his directions and they lead me back to the terminal I just came from. -___-
So I call David again, explain what I have just done and he suggests taking a taxi and telling them DongDaegu and they would take me right to it. So I did. The first taxi I asked to take me told me "Ani-yo" (no) and pointed to a taxi about 3 cars up. So I go to him, and get in, tell him, and off we go. Well turns out that was a great idea because it was a 7 or 8 minute taxi ride so 15 to 20 minute walk, and I never would have found it on my own. So, I get there, see David and things settle down a bit. The rest of the night contained riding my first subway, a rooftop party with friends from orientation, and finally sleep.
So David and I and some others were supposed to go to an art museum Saturday morning, then have lunch, then I was supposed to pick up the cat, and head home. Instead, we woke up at 11, got lunch at a Korean restaurant down the street, where we had chicken soup - read a whole boiled chicken served in boiling "soup" aka water with seasonings on top of the chicken and the chicken stuffed with rice. The chicken was good. The rice was rice. Overall a decent meal, especially considering what the possible alternatives are over here. Then David showed me around a bit before I hopped in a taxi to meet my new love.

Well, earlier that morning I realized I didn't have Jessica's phone number and we hadn't decided on a specific place as she was sure I would be able to find her. Well, after the previous nights' shenanigans with meeting, I sent her an email when I woke up about 11, hoping she would see it before she left asking for her phone number and more specifics. In addition to a lack of specificity, at one point we were meeting at the bus terminal, then it changed to the train station and as I often unintentionally call the bus terminal the train station, I was a bit worried. So the last few emails said train station, so I decided to go with that. Unfortunately, there are 7 train stations in Daegu and 2 major ones. So I went to the main one (DongDaegu) hoping she would be there and things would work out. Well, her train was supposed to come in at 2:30 and then she was wanting to take the train at 2:57 back to Daejon, where she lives. So I assumed that if I didn't meet her by 2:57, she would get on the train and head back home as she made it sound very important for her to be back home as soon as possible. So, when I hadn't found her by 2:45+ and I knew it would take a minimum of 10 minutes by subway (assuming I could successfully do the subway thing by myself without adding extra time), I decided I would head to my bus station and email her when I got home. So then I set out to find a way home. Well, I was right next to the DongDaegu bus terminal so I figured this would be pretty easy. But as I discovered the night before, DongDaegu is so large that it is split into 3 sections by city. So I searched for a bus to Pohang, the closest city to Yeongdeok (which most people don't know), to no avail, and finally lucked into finding an American girl and her English speaking Korean boyfriend (unfortunately not Jessica - the girl with the cat - although she is also an American girl with an English speaking Korean boyfriend) and was informed that buses to Pohang run out of Dongbu station. At which point I remember that David and I discovered that's where I was the night before because that's where all buses to and from Pohang, and surrounding areas go. So I grab a taxi (yeah, I'm practically pro at this now btw. That and buses :]) and make my happy way to Dongbu bus terminal catless, but glad to be headed home all the same. Big cities are not for me. Too many people and not enough open space. So I get to Dongbu, buy my ticket and sit down to start my 40 minute wait until the bus leaves. I met the two cutest little Korean boys, played some peek-a-boo, and broke the language barrier. :] Then I decided to pull out my Kindle and read a bit, when I remembered I can access the internet on it and wonder if it works in Korea. By this time it is 3:10, working on 3:15. Long story short, (or not so short...) I checked my email seconds after Jessica emailed me giving me her phone number, telling me she's still in town and to call her ASAP. This, is a God thing. So, I run to the payphone, tell her where I am, she tells the taxi driver, and 15 minutes later, I am the proud new owner of one adorable kitten. So, I run to the bus, which is about to leave now, ticket in hand, board, and everyone is on their way home. Also, it's a bit odd to think of my apartment in Yeongdeok as home when I've been here less than a month, but I suppose it's a good thing.

So after a long two hour bus ride and a tense 15 minute walk home, formal introductions were made, Switch was named and started claiming space right away. A few quirks for your enjoyment - she is also a bag cat. Actually she's an anything I can get in or under cat. I don't know if this is common to all cats but at least her and Dani will have something in common besides their gender and color. Also, she follows me everywhere, but complains about it the whole way. Which brings to the fact that I have never heard a cat makes so many different noises. I'm trying to hide her from my landlord and she sounds like an infant learning to talk. At least they'll never guess she's a cat. :] To go with her mouth, she has one of the most expressive cat faces I've ever seen. And, for the first 6 or so hours she would only jump on the bed from one spot, onto one spot on the bed and it was where the pillow I lean against goes so she would stand there and look at me until I moved it, then jump up with a satisfactory face and lay down close to, but not touching me, and I would put the pillow back. I'm sure this was some sort of test to see how easy it was to manipulate me but whatever. It was her first day, I'll let it slide. :] So all is well here, with the exception of our first disagreement, as stated on facebook. She thought it would be a good idea to pee on my bed. I disagreed. We had our second disagreement when I decided she needed to be punished and she disagreed by painting ribbons on my arms and legs. I'm going to be learning how to cut cat toenails tomorrow. I know I wouldn't do Dani's but Switch's are just too sharp and she doesn't know how to control them yet and so I'm just going to have to man up and do it. Anyhow, that's all for now. We went on a school trip today with high 1st and 2nd years but it's after midnight so I'll write about that tomorrow at school after I do my lesson plans. :]

I miss you all and love you dearly.
♥ xoxo