When it rains...it MONSOONS

I have been battling the rain for the last three weeks. When I was at home it was no big deal for it to rain but here when my means of transportation is two legs and a heartbeat or my trusty bike, the rain can be a big bummer.

This week I forgot my umbrella at work, but not to worry, I had a poncho! I was just sure I would be safe from the rain but alas the end result shows that I lose.



Here's a short video of the crazy rain, you can see a little of the flooding near the edge of the side walk. It's crazy to walk in...





Aside from the rain I have been continuing my weekend travels. Stormy had met a couple of Air Force guys while we were at Mud Fest and they invited us up for the weekend to enjoy some of the comforts of home such as TACO BELL and CHILI'S!!! We trucked it up to Osan on Friday night right after work and stayed in "Little America" as we lovingly called it until Sunday afternoon. The guys were impressed with how easy we were to entertain! It was seriously like being in America, but maybe in the Asian district ;)

Here's a picture of us in front of the main gates of the base with our new friends Anthony and Lee.



YUMMM TACO BELL!




As I'm also finding out, biking can be hazardous. I should have know this I know, but recently I was on my way back from CGV (the theater) after unsuccessfully attempting to buy Harry Potter tickets. Defeated I was riding pretty fast and coming to a small hill that slopes down toward a side street. I was about to breeze through the street when a car pulled up and stopped in front of me. I pushed my breaks all the way down, but they were a little slick because of the rain and I hit the car. That's right, I hit a freaking car! I hit him right in the tire and it threw me back a couple of feet but I didn't even fall of my bike so I don't count it as an official wreck :)

Here's me and my trusty Lespo bike




Last week I decided it was time to get my hair cut. This is usually no big deal, but here in Korea we are working with not just a language barrier but also with a difference in hair texture. Korean girls have beautiful straight black hair that even in the most humid of days stays perfect and frizz less. NOW me on the other hand, I have wavy hair that frizzes up like no other on a rainy day. I decided to throw caution to the wind and Stromy came with me for a hair cut. We went to a place that a lot of people told me was pretty good, now remember there are very few girls here so I was getting this advice from my guy friends.

Anywho, we went in and my hair was wavy and the guy started to try to DRY cut my WAVY hair!!!! WTF?! Thank goodness Stormy was there to say, noooo you have to wash it first! He did what we told him and it worked out ok but then when it came to styling he just gave up. He was attempting to blow dry it and then he was like...nope. I have a little advice for him, please don't use the tiniest round brush trying to put curls in my wavy hair. Oh well. It was $11 and it came with eyebrow shaping for me and Stormy! SCORE!




After the great styling job I received, we decided to head to the wig store to see if we could get something to shake things up. After about 30 minutes we found two winners and wore them the rest of the day. Shocking my coworkers and students. Some thought it was good, some thought it was bad. I thought it was FREAKING AWESOME!




This past weekend Lee and Anthony came up to experience "Real Korea". They had been living in Little America and visiting Seoul staying in the Hampton Inn and calling it Korea, which it is not! We explained to them that we can go a full day without seeing another foreigner in our town. I think they didn't believe us but when they got here they got to experience it and they agreed with us that it's kinda nice to be the only person like you for miles :) The weekend was really chill. We just went to Jeonju for dancing on Saturday and had an overall great weekend.

Here's me showing them what Korea is REALLY like ;)




Scott, Brandon and I are teaching Intensive English classes for Children for the next three weeks. Originally we thought we were going to have the same students every day for 3 hours. It's changed a little and now each have a hour and a half with them everyday. We agreed to do the Intensives because all the hours are considered overtime which is amazing. I am coming to the end of week one and I have to say it's not too bad, but I have had to call a kids mom. He would not shut up! He is one of those kids that likes to hear the sound of his own voice...in Korea...during English class. One phone call to mom and PROBLEM SOLVED! Very nice!

I went to talk to my boss about the curriculum for my intensive course and to ask for the teachers edition of the book, which I didn't and won't get...but besides that he told me he had a phone call complaint from one of my students about my class. I think it was the old lady I complained about in my last blog. She doesn't like it that I have them do writing assignments once a week. Here's why she doesn't like it, she wants to talk the ENTIRE class but at the same time she is saying words that don't exist and using TERRIBLE grammar! She used to call her husband her "Huz". She thought she was saying it right among other really odd errors. I told my boss I knew who it was and I explained that I think the writing is good for them to practice grammar and for me to be able to correct it for them and explain why. It's hard to do that when they are only speaking because you don't want to call them out in front of the whole class.
Thankfully Dr. Yu agreed with me and said that when students are bad at something they think they don't need it. I agreed and he said we can't please everyone all the time.

Two more weeks until vacation! I'm going to Thailand for two weeks! Plans??? I've got none. I have a plane ticket, a passport and a healthy sense of curiosity to carry me through! I can't wait! I will blog before I leave!

Here is a picture of my walk to school on one of the most beautiful, clear days I have seen in Korea thus far. But isn't everything better in the summer?!

Annyeonghaseyo

So we headed out for the beach a couple of weekends ago for yet another hash run and good times. Scott, Stormy, Kim, Brandon, Marcus and Tori all decided to attend the hash because it was Tori's naming hash (After 5 hashes, the group gives you a name). She is now Tipsy Tori :)

For the Hash we went Gyeokpo, which is about two hours south of Iksan and only has one foreigner in the entire area (about a 45 minute circumference). When we arrived to Gyeokpo we noticed the weather had gone from AMAZING in Jeonju to poop. As Kim and Brandon were setting up their tent the rain began to pour and took retreat in our over priced love motel. We took advantage of the relaxing times to hang out, drink and take in a little of the view.

The rain cleared off after about an hour and the hash was started almost immediately. Stormy and Kim were virgins this time so they had to carry a balloon with them the entire hash. The hash lead us through some fantastic views but, Stormy and I had other things on our mind... Like sitting down and eating some patbingsu! We quit the hash about half way through and sat in a pub enjoying beer and patbingsu. What is patbingsu you say? Well let me tell you, it is only the most delicious icy treat in Korea! It is actually shaved ice, condensed milk, sweet red beans, and dried rice cake. Sometimes yogurt or chocolate syrup are added to make it even tastier, but I haven't met a patbingsu I didn't like. Here's a picture of the one I took care of that day.



After we enjoyed a little resting time, we were able to catch the most amazing sunset off the beach. Right on the water, it was breathtaking. We took it in with a few pictures and a little quite reflection before heading off to dinner.



At dinner a group of about 25-30 of us wayguks (foreigners) got together and met one another and it was a great time. We stayed up late into the evening playing games like "I never" and laughing. Later in the evening about four of us decided it would be a good idea to try out a little night swimming... and it was a great idea!

We ran into the freezing cold ocean, a few Koreans around to spectate, then swam around for about an hour. The most amazing thing was that the algae in the water made the water light up every time we moved in the water. It was an experience I will never forget and felt like something out of a movie.

For 4th of July weekend we headed to Jeonju for a charity dinner with music and a raffle. I ended up winning two things out of the raffle (which never happens) and two other people gave me their prizes because I was so excited about winning my two prizes! I won 4 tickets to the spa, an original photograph of a cherry blossom tree, a handmade necklace and a $50 gift certificate to a wine bar in Jeonju!
We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July for a good cause and we had great friends there enjoying it with us! Great success


As for teaching, the new semester of adults is well underway. I only had one little problem and it was my only ajima (little old lady). She's a retired teacher and she is in a class that is a far lower level than she is and she wants to tell me how to teach all the time!!! BAH she's driving me insane! But no worries, I will conquer. The rest of my classes are coming along fine and we're having a great time. A lot more talking for the students this semester.

Then there are childrens classes which are running more smoothly than ever and they're actually getting better than I ever expected! Right now I am working on teaching my 8 year olds how to read and it is REALLY hard! To this point they have been memorizing pictures and words and have not had to work too hard on spelling or reading, but I'm pushing them and they're actually loving reading!

Here are a few pictures of my students!