MC Hammer in the classroom. Brilliant.

I found this on youtube. A teacher in Taiwan created this mix for his kids' talent show. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I may have to steal this idea.

Will you kindly search kindly?

Baal Dan, a charity that is dedicated to improving the lives of street children in India, needs your help. It's simple. Just go to www.searchkindly.org and vote for Baal Dan. You can vote once every 8 hours, and the poll closes some time this Sunday (Dec 2nd). If Baal Dan wins the poll, they'll receive all the money raised on the Search Kindly website in December ($500-$1000). Baal Dan was started by a former Richards Group co-worker of mine, Tanya Pinto. The charity is dear to my heart, and the work is simply amazing. You can check it out at www.baaldan.com Okay, that's my plug for the day. It's not like I have a mass readership as it is anyways. I mean, I like to think people are crowded around their computer screens clinging on to every word I say/write, but reality and the happenings in my mind, are two very different stories. That being said, every little bit counts. So seriously, don't be lame, help out a great cause.


In other news, I'm freaking sick. After a full day of classes (9:30am-7:30pm baby), I now sound like a mix between a pubescent boy and an 80 year old chain smoker. Nice. I guess all the Julie boogies and Evan slobbers have finally caught up with me. Deep sigh. Sniffle. Hack. I'm looking forward to my no elementary Wednesday, which means my afternoon tomorrow is completely free. If I can get over my fear of being naked with the ajumas (old Korean women), I'm going to the Yuseong spring and then sculpting with Tori. I love no elementary Wednesdays.

This weekend we're going to Seoul and there's talk of China (4 days in Beijing and 3 days in HongKong) for Christmas. I'm excited about the prospect of China.

I'm going to rest my weary, weak, illness stricken body on my warm, heated Korean floor. It's quite nice. I sleep more on the floor than in my bed. It's kind of like my couch habit back in the States...I do what I can.

A Song Chon Dong Thanksgiving

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nostalgic on Thanksgiving. I told my kinders about the “pilgrims who wore funny hats” and we made construction paper turkeys…you know, the kind where you trace your hands for the feathers. My favorite response was when I asked what they thought the pilgrims ate, and they replied, “sushi” (pronounced suuuuuucy).

All the foreigners in my neighborhood got together Thursday evening and celebrated Thanksgiving at the Corner Lounge, a.k.a Tori’s house. Since none of us have ovens, I was expecting a shriveled up piece of chicken and dry crusty bread as our dinner. That's why I brought the wine. I thought if the food sucked, at least we could booze it up. Seriously. I was pleasantly surprised that wasn’t the case at all. We feasted on chicken, turkey legs, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, fruit salad, garlic bread, cream corn, stuffing, vegetables, baked apples, and even pumpkin pie! It was interesting because there was a mix of Americans, Canadians, Brits, and even a guy from New Zealand (shout out to Reebs). You could definitely tell who the Americans were because we were crowded around the pumpkin pie, eyes wide and slightly glazed, like starving little children.

Part of our feast. Notice Amy's eager hand.

Fellow Song Chon Dongians

Everyone kept saying Topher got these fine turkey legs at the black market, when in all actuality, it was Home Plus.

The best part is Topher, head in hands, laughing.

The aspiring Kenny Chesney, is Ian, a Canadian guy in our neighborhood. It’s funny because when he’s sober he’s the most apathetic human being. However, a few drinks in, his character completely changes and he begins to think he’s a rapper, specifically from the group DMX. Imagine a tall, awkward red head forcefully yelling, “Ya’ll gon make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here,” while wiggling around and doing the rap hand thing (I have no idea why he started singing country the other night).

Middle of the night ramblings

I have been in Korea for a month. Now would be a good time to write reflections on my life, but teaching has drained me and everything is a jumbled mess inside my head. I miss the clarity of the mountains.
I am still amazed when I look out at my city. During breaks, I’ll go to an empty classroom and just stand in front of the window. The other teachers have forgotten this feeling. I don’t want to forget.
I wish you could see what I see. I wish you could feel what I feel. I think that a million times a day.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Wait, hold the turkey! Don't you know Thanksgiving is on a Friday this year?

For those of you wanting to travel to an Asian country...

...jet lag is real.

Rabpig nose, pc bangs, and reports

Today during one of my kindergarten classes, the kids just stopped talking and started staring and pointing at my nose. They wouldn’t stop, and I couldn’t get them to focus back on their lesson. Finally, after a lot of squirming and discomfort on my part, Jenny said, “Teacher…rabbit nose. You have, rabbit nose.” Okay.

Then when I was leaving school a few elementary girls hopped in the elevator and kept staring at me. This is what I got out of it: “blah blah blah teacher blah blah blah teacher nose” then one girl put her hand on her nose to make it squish up like a pig’s. Nice.

Apparently, my nose is just another feature that does not fit into the Korean standard of beauty. My response:


It’s a bit disarming that my kindergarten kids are already vocal about appearance and physical features. They always let me know if something’s wrong...if there’s a button askew or a fuzz caught in my lately bad 80’s hair they’ll alert me in disgusted tones. Self-image is such a big deal here. I’d say even more so than in the U.S, but that’s another blog in itself. I hope this doesn’t sound bitter, because it’s not meant to be, and honestly, I don’t even face the brunt of it. Most days I get “beautiful”, “beautiful” just because I’m Western. It is what it is.

Later this evening, I met up with Emma and Christine, two teachers from my school, and we went to a local pc bang to work on our reports. Pc bangs can be found anywhere and everywhere in Korea. Basically, they’re Internet cafes with rows and rows of computers that are extremely cheap to use. I’m always fascinated by the dimly lit neon green lights and the sound of excited gamers blowing some villain's head off in the distance. It makes for a great background when frantically trying to use other words than “intelligent,” “smart,” “excellent,” “disruptive,” and “apathetic,” when describing your students.

I’m exhausted. Peace.







Now I know how all my teachers must have felt...I bet they were all secret alcoholics.

Death, I scoff you

Last Saturday I went to Expo Park with my friends Pink and Ryan. Pink is a secretary at my school during the kindergarten hours, and a student at one of the universities in Daejeon. Ryan is an English teacher at my school. He's from Canada, but his whole family lives in the Philippines.

At first it was a little tricky because Pink isn't fluent in English, and the only Korean words I know consist of, thank you, hello, goodbye, my name is Elizabeth, missing, here, do you want to die (don't ask), and American, but by the end of the day we had reached a comfortable level where we could communicate. She is incredibly sweet, and I want to hang out with her more often. One thing, however, that's going to take a litte getting use to, is that in Korean culture friends are very affectionate with each other. The whole day Pink had her arms wrapped around me, snuggled close. I think Ryan was a bit jealous. It's not unusual to see women holding hands with other women, or men with their arms around other men. Yea, I'm all about embracing other cultures, but I don't know about literally embracing. I mean, we are talking about the queen of stiff, one armed hugs.

I think the highlight of the afternoon was when I rode the roller coaster that later I discovered at least two people have died on in the past year. Nice. I can now say I've cheated death.









Hey, look! I'm not the only alien in Korea. Ba dum ching.

When Pink and I saw this poster we started laughing hysterically. Ryan wasn't impressed. Guess those Canadians are a tough crowd.



This ferris wheel was crazy! To get on you had to wait for your cart, hurry and run while it was still moving, and then the workers locked you in.







#500 on my possible kidnapping list