So it's definitely been too long since I've updated. But here I am. Things are going well. I still love it here! Almost every Sunday I meet with my family for lunch and I love seeing them, they make me happy. :) Last week my 'uncle' set up wifi in my apt, which is awesome! Now I can use my iPod and update videos easier. It's going to come in handy. Thanks Sang-jin! Last Sunday my other 'uncle' Uncle K gave me a driving tour of a bunch of places in Seoul. It was sweet, we saw Gyeongbokgung Palace, Myeong-dong shopping area, the Hollywood Street of Seoul where the actor school is, Namsan Tower, Itaewon and Gangnam which is the wealthy area of Seoul. We stopped along the Hangang or the Han River for coffee. Korean's love coffee, its awesome! And I was worried they wouldn't have coffee shops here. If you go for a walk and don't see a coffee shop, I'd be surprised. They're everywhere! Anyway after we stopped by the river, we went to find something to eat in Sinchon which is an area near my house. But there wasn't any street parking. The downside to having a car here...so hard to find decent parking. We ended up in a different neighborhood called Hongdae. Hongdae according to wikipedia is considered an 'entertainment area and clubbing district' which is true. I will admit that I've been there a few times, most of my friends like to go there too. Anyway we ate at a Korean BBQ and I tried Naengmyeon (냉면) for the first time. Translated it literally means cold noodles. So it's basically just rice noodles in like a cold slushie soup broth, but it was so good. You can save some of the meat and eat it with your Naengmyeon. It was delicious or 맛있어요! I will definitely eat that again. It was a long day, but I learned a lot and enjoyed spending time with my Uncle K!

What else have I been up to...teaching is going well. Somedays are more stressful than others. Today was going well until my first afterschool class. They are very low level and I think some students just don't care because they can't understand enough. Sometimes they surprise me though. One student, who I thought wasn't learning anything said 'sorry' at an appropriate moment when he saw a situation to use it. Made my day, but then he started kicking his shoes around and not listening to me and apparently swearing at other kids...ugh. I've surprised myself with how much patience I have though. I think I learned that from the Y. If they want to talk instead of listen they're only wasting their own time. We stay in class until I finish the lesson, which sometimes means they get less free time between classes or they're late to lunch. Thankfully it doesn't happen all the time though. In general my kids are great. One student this week told me I must have gotten a lot of sleep because my face looked like...something...I couldn't quite understand, but I swear he said 'glowing' it was probably like 'puffy' or something...I didn't get a lot of sleep... They get so frustrated when I don't understand what they say to me in Korean sometimes. My principal on the otherhand is different. Sometimes he asks me to say things but he asks in Korean so I don't know what he's saying. Or he likes to joke a lot, but of course I don't get it because I don't understand. I'm sure it would be funnier if I could understand. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a good principal though from what I've seen. Last week he was asking me who is prettier, comparing people with him or just others. I'm not sure if he was joking or not... My solution = learn more Korean. I'm working on it. Each day I try to study for 30 min. Uncle K told me that I don't have to speak perfectly, just learn enough to communicate. Just like I can understand broken English, they can understand broken Korean.

Let see, what else...oh yesterday I curled my hair, which I've done before, but my kids always say something about it. They say, 'teacher, you perm?' or 'teacher you changee your hair' or 'teacher you surprise me' or 'oh magic hair' hahah they are so funny, I love them! THey always entertain me. So after we give them a test they get to relax and watch a movie. I picked out 'Despicable Me' because it's awesome and I thought the kids would like it and they do, but in Korea the movie is called 'Super Bad' not to be confused with the American movie 'Superbad.' When I first turned it on, they kept saying 'superbad' it's 'superbad' and I was like no, no it's not haha. I was so confused and my co-teacher wasn't in the room at the time. Finally, one of the kids more versed in English said, 'we call this movie super bad' and then it clicked. I hope they've never seen what I know as 'Superbad'.... All in all, teaching is fun. Today in my afterschool class my kids were telling me that their parents came to school today. So I asked what they did at school. One kid says 'they smoking' haha...what? It's no secret here that many people smoke...I'm not sure if they just don't understand the health risks or they don't care, but everyone smokes! Oh and there's no smoking ban... I'm the kind of person that doesn't mind if you smoke, just don't blow it in my face. So anyway I'm getting off the point. So I asked my kids if they smoke. Thankfully they said no, maybe they lied, but they're too young. Then another student told me, 'smoking is parents' toy, like kids have airplanes, parents have smoking' haha I couldn't help but laugh. While sad, it makes sense. Many adults here don't get a lot of free time or have time for themselves. They work hard all week and have one day off, which they spend with their family and then they do it again. So smoking is something they can do whenever they have a 5 min break. Ok well I'm off, I'm tired, time to rest for a bit. Hope everyone's enjoying the freezing weather in MN hahah...sorry. Bye!
~Krista~