I leave for China in four hours and I haven't packed yet. I'm currently waiting for my clothes to dry. Since there aren't any dryers in Korea, I've devised my own drying system. I've laid out half of my clothes on the heated floor and the other half are hanging on a rack with a fan blowing on them, full force. This is a typical Elizabeth scenario. I'm so last minute. When I went to New York with Mojo-Ad, I packed thirty minutes before we left for the airport. The night before I flew to Korea my mom and I stayed up all night packing, weighing, and unpacking my ridiculous hockey bags. I'm not proud.
I bought a pair of insulated hiking pants for Beijing. I got them at a little store by my apartment. The two ladies who run the store were so funny and cute. They were speaking Korean and I was speaking English, but with the use of creative hand gestures, we totally understood each other. I asked to try on some pants and they took me to a storage room without a door. One of the ladies stood solid in the doorway, daring anyone to barge in on me. She also served as my fashion consultant letting me know her opinion on each pair of pants I tried on. When we finally agreed on a winning pair, she grabbed my hand, giggling, and led me to a mirror in the store. As I stood in front of the mirror the two ladies had no qualms about pulling up my shirt and groping my butt to see how the pants fit (or at least that's what I hope they were doing). After purchasing my pants, they gave me coffee, patted me lovingly, and sent me on my merry way. I love how ordinary tasks become little adventures here.
Last night was the kindergarten Christmas show. Although I absolutely adored spending my evening with the kindies and watching them make their parents proud in their incredibly cute costumes, the Christmas show left me feeling a bit melancholy. Last night was the first time that I truly felt like an outsider in Korea (in the US that’s the story of my life. Insert Debbie Downer noise: wuuuh wuuuh). The foreign teachers were completely kept apart from the whole production except when they needed us for face value. After the show we were all standing around and the Korean teachers were getting ready to go out and celebrate when our kindergarten director told me and the other two foreign teachers, “You can go to your house now,” which was a polite way of saying, “scram.” I love love love teaching kindergarten, but the system is completely different from elementary. With kindergarten I feel like I’m kept at a distance and am less involved. There’s nothing worse then feeling useless, and that’s exactly how I felt last night. I think on top of that, it was just one of those days where I felt like throwing on a hat and blending into the crowd, instead of being put on display. I hate the feeling of being scrutinized in public because it messes with my head and I start thinking about all the ways I will never live up to certain expectations. I know these feelings will soon pass, and it's one off day in the midst of so many amazing days. I think I just need a break from Swaton. I’m ready for China (even if my clothes aren’t).
I hope everyone has a great holiday season! I'll be in Hong Kong from the 23rd-27th and Beijing from the 27th-30th. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
3 comments:
You look so pretty in all your pics.
I love how the little kindies pose doing a peace sign.
your heated floor sounds like quite the experience. i must come to korea. i was like an hour late to the airport to fly home to colorado bc i didnt pack until the scheduled time of departure. great minds think alike.
sweet little korean ladied. "i love how little tasks become adventures here" = exactly how i felt in NY and italia. even picking up little thing from a grocery store in NY and lugging it all across the city or shopping in mercato centrale (central fresh food market) in italia. oh how i reminisce when i read your blog bc even though our experiences are totally different, some of the feelings are the same.
what's goin on in that movie theatreish picture? i know i left you a myspace comment about it too...
"stud" pic=priceless. i want one!
sooo glad you're rocking the headband! makin' mama proud...your bag is really cute too. your emo stocking rocksss.
holy shit, all those little korean children just supermanned that ho.
why have i not been reading this until now.
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