My halfway marker just passed. My contract is officially half over. I know now that I have fully crossed over and accepted the fact that I actually live in Korea because I have started to dream about this place. The school, my apartment, and even some of the people I have met have been in my dreams as of late. It is kind of weird, but I never thought that would happen. I have also developed a small crush on the fathers of one of my kids. It is nothing serious and he is married, so don't get any crazy ideas! He is just really nice and always tries to speak English with me when he sees me, which is rare here. People are so afraid to use the English that they have learned, like we are going to bite them if they mess up!
My favorite holiday has come and gone and I was sorely disappointed with the Koreans! They don't really celebrate Halloween at all! Not that I expected to see everyone wearing costumes, but at least a few people. I saw maybe 2 0r 3 Koreans wearing pitiful excuses for costumes. What a let down. Halloween at school, however, was awesome! The kids looked amazing in their costumes and we even got to do a little trick-or-treating. Apparently, Koreans think that there are songs that go with the Halloween holiday. I couldn't really think of any that we associate with Halloween, so the Korean teachers ended up finding some silly ones online and taught them to the kids so that we could serenade our trick-or-treating victims. The songs were rather annoying after practicing them every day leading up to the big event. Glad that is over! For pictures of the kids in their costumes, check out my facebook photos (there is a link on the left side of this blog).
I started going to a new gym very close to my house on a regular basis with Jenny. One night on my way home, I was approached by a woman with brochures. She told me about a church that was very near my house and she made it sound like the service was in English. I thought that maybe I would give it a try just to see what it was about. I met her that Saturday and had the most crazy experience of my lifetime! We went inside the church (which is just one floor of a building). There were no seats, they sit on the floor for service. They took me into this small room in the back where there was a giant TV. They had me watch several videos about their denomination, which is Church of God (not the one in the U.S). This church believes that God came back to the earth as a Korean man and that he was God the father and his wife is God the mother. Now, God the father has died, but God the mother is still alive and lives right here in Korea. They wanted me to be baptized and have not stopped bugging me since. There are several videos that you can watch about this church and what their beliefs are. I will post links right below here. See for yourself what kind of things they believe. I am not trying to make fun of this group, to each their own, but this is just so extreme! These are the videos that I watched. I could say so much more about this, but it would just be better for you to check these out if you are interested to know more! HAHA!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Mission_Society_Church_of_God
http://english.watv.org/
http://video.nate.com/clip/view?video_seq=205487396
http://www.mgoon.com/view.htm?id=2033831
http://video.nate.com/clip/view?video_seq=205487513
Jenny was forced to leave our school after our boss learned that she had started taking college courses and would be about 10 minutes late to work every day. We hired a new teacher who has yet to be anything but extremely quiet. It is like teachers come and go at these schools and no one really cares all that much. Some of those kids have had at least 10 different teachers if you count all of the ones who have worked there since I started in May. Can you imagine having 5 different teachers for the same class, in a 6 month time frame? That has got to be stressful on the kids, because I know it is super stressful on me!
Speaking of people leaving, my only American coworker will be leaving sometime at the beginning of next month as well. Our boss is not very happy about this, but what can she do really? Actually there are several really horrible things that she could do and he is actually worried that she might try some of them just to keep him there a little longer. Our boss has kind of turned into this very manipulative person who has blinders for anyone's opinions other than her own. I try to avoid her as much as possible and do the job that I was hired to do.
I have visited a couple of new places recently. One place was the Olympic park where the 1988 World Olympics was held. I took a couple of the Korean teachers to a pro basketball game in Seoul. I think they really enjoyed themselves and it was cool to see where the Olympics were once held in Korea. The other place that I visited was in Seoul as well. We went to a huge bookstore in the business district of Seoul where there was a palace and where the G20 Convention was being held. We were on the lookout for Obama! And we found candy mountain (Charlie)! HAHA! There was a parade like procession with costumes and drums.
At school, I decided to do a class pen-pal thing with my morning kids. They have writing class every Tuesday and Thursday with me, so I thought it would be a good idea for that writing to actually mean something to them. Hopefully they will remember these letters that they write to the kids in the U.S.A. forever! I am sure that if I was in the same situation, I would love to look back on my 1st grade class and remember getting letters from kids in Korea. With technology so advanced these days, we have even decided to do some video exchanges. I am actually really excited about this and the kids are as well.
I have been really sick the last week and a half. I ended up going to the doctor after my American meds ran out. It turns out that prescribed medication is sooooooo much better/stronger than the stuff that you can just buy over the counter at the pharmacy. I find this a little strange as well, seeing as how in the U.S. you can usually find something at Walgreens that will cure that common cold in no time without a prescription. This is not the case in Korea. Nonprescription meds here are weak! I am just now starting to feel better, finally!
Until next time!
