Chicken Feet.

Our fellow coworker has been a little down lately so Britt and I took him out for some dinner and drinks tonight. It's so much better now that the girls have the majority. I just have way more fun. Like tonight, for example.

The conversations got increasingly weirder over the course of dinner and at one point we were talking about which of us would be eaten if we were stranded at the top of Mount Wolchulsan and the survival of two depended on the death of the third. I think it's pretty obvious which one should be eaten. I've got more meat than Britt and it's all tender, not like those stringy muscles you get when the meal is a regular at the gym. Hell, I'd probably eat me, too. I bet I'm delicious.

But the second Shadow went to the bathroom, "So if that happens, we eat him right?"
E: "You distract him, I'll hit him with the rock."

It's so nice to be in the majority for once.

The restaurant was one we'd never been to before, so we didn't really know what to expect from the menu. They had chicken, so we figured we couldn't end up with anything too crazy. Hey, I eat chicken all the time. The first dish we got was the typical Korean style hacked chicken parts. I swear they just put a chicken on a cutting board and hack at random. You never really know exactly what part of the chicken you're picking up. It wasn't bad, but we wanted something a little more specific the second time around.

B: "Chicken legs! At least we know what those are."

When the dish arrived, we all figured at first that the waiter had dropped someone else's food off at our table. Then I saw the foot of a chicken in what I can only assume was the middle of a death curl. Oh man. Talk about being lost in translation. Chicken legs do end in chicken feet, yes, but I still feel that we were tricked. That waiter had to have known what he was doing. Why would a group of foreigners order a plate of feet? That would never happen.

Of course we tried them. Spent 16$ on feet, I was determined to eat 16$ worth of feet.

I almost vom'd on the first piece. I got from the ankle down and it was chewy. Like cartilage chewy. And it had toenails. Man. They really should have taken those off. I put in a good effort, but ultimately couldn't get it down. I tried like a champ, but spit it out like a little kid given a brussel sprout.

I guess I'll take random chicken chunks and be happy.

We Got Floor Seats!

So even though the plan was to arrive before the souvenir booths had even opened, it seemed that we missed that by about 3 hours. We arrived shortly after 1pm to buy goods for a 6pm show. The line was incredible. No wonder we didn't get anything yesterday. These people must have showed up at 10am.

We stood in line for almost 2 hours before we made it to the front and everything but the towels were sold out. Who cares? I got a towel. And we were the last group to get them, too. They sold out while we were standing there. If we had been 5 people back, we would have stood in line for 2 hours for lame tote bags. I guess they're not really lame. They're supposed to be the reusable shopping bags.

But we got the towels. So we walk over to sit down for a while. While I was standing in line before I heard someone ask a concert official if the show was sold out and heard her tell the person that they could still buy tickets for the show if they wanted. I didn't really think about it again, but while we were sitting down Britt turned to me.

"Next time we'll buy tickets to both shows."

So I left her to watch the bags while I walked back over to the information booth to inquire about seats. I approached the woman I had heard talking before, but was nearly tackled by a VERY eager concert official. "I can help you! You need help? Me! I can answer your questions!" She informed me that there were floor seats available at discount price, because the visibility was poorer. They were under the shelf of the upper deck so it "cut off half."

"Half of what? Half of TaeYang?"

No, just the top part of the stage. We were going to miss his entrance and exit. No big deal. We saw that yesterday. All he does is stand there while they lower him onto the stage and then bring him back up at the end. Not sorry to miss it.

So I ran back to Britt, grabbed our stuff, and started running back over to the official all while trying to explain what we were going to do. We needed to run to get the last tickets and I wasn't even sure I had enough money left to pay for it all. No worries. We got tickets to today's show, too.

Except we were carrying all of our stuff. We needed to find lockers. We headed back to the subway station to look for lockers, but found none, so we headed back on the subway to try and find a station that did have them. It took about an hour to find a station on our return route that offered lockers for all of our junk, but the nice man at information told us which stop we should head to.

Then back over to the University. We have become pros at finding this school. We're going to find a hostel in the Kyung Hee area and stay there always. It's so much better than the area we usually stay in. There are food places, parks, and shops. The other hostel is always booked and has no food around it.

We switched seats as soon as the show started so that we could be on the aisle, and no one ever arrived to claim the seats. Everyone was still sitting for the show, but the seats were definitely better. Things progressed pretty much the way they did yesterday, but then 2NE1 jumped on stage! They weren't just there today they were rocking out. They performed two songs and everyone was standing! This is so much better!

At the end of the show he did an encore, too. Since so many people had left already, we were able to run right up to the stage for the last two songs of the show. I was probably about 6 feet from TaeYang. Britt was 4.

Was it worth getting back at 2 am again? Absolutely. I can't wait for the next show.

I'm an Expert at These Concert Things.

After leaving my roommate at home for my KAT-TUN adventure, I found us something that we could both enjoy. My roomie is a TaeYang fan and I was able to grab us some tickets to his show today. We took the bus to Seoul early this morning, checked into the hostel, printed our e-voucher and went off to find Kyung Hee University. The directions on the website were less than clear about the concert's exact location, but we asked the cashier at the Tous Les Jours.

She told us we needed to take a bus. No problem. There's a bus right there.

It ended up being the right one. This university is beautiful. It actually has a campus and old stone buildings with pillars and cathedral style buildings. It's awesome. I wish I could go to school here, too. We followed the signs and arrived at the location 2 hours ahead of time. And everything was sold out! There were no more posters, t-shirts, signed cds, promotional towels, or glow sticks. How does that happen? How can everything already be sold out? At least we got seats, right? Right.

I didn't really worry about what line to stand in this time. As foreigners, we're not ever expected to know what we're doing. We just do what we think is right, and helpful people point us to the right place.

So we get inside and the show is awesome. We're nowhere near the stage, but there's no one standing in front of us either. Not bad seats at all. Actually there was no one standing at all. Everyone just enjoyed the show and cheered from their seats. It was totally different from any concert I've ever been to. We wanted to stand up and rock out, but not as the only foreigners in the section.

I enjoyed watching every other foreigner there (about a dozen) trying to figure out how to find their seats. Not that hard. Or maybe I'm just awesome at this now. I can't sing every word to every song yet, but Britt can.

About halfway through the show, we watched 2NE1 walk in front of our seats. They're my favorite girl group here in Korea. We couldn't figure out why they would come to a concert that wasn't theirs, but it didn't matter. We could have reached out and touched them. IF we were standing up.

E: "Why is everyone... wait. Is that 2NE1?"
B: "Omigod! That's 2NE1! That's 2NE1, right?"

The show was awesome. We were able to walk back to the subway on our own without the bus. It was really only 3 or 4 blocks anyways. We plan to go back tomorrow to buy the souvenirs before the second show. Does it matter that we will not be attending that one? No. We have ticket stubs from yesterday. And who's going to question us anyways? It's not like this is a closed campus. Anyone can walk around here anytime they want.

I will get that promotional towel.

We Definitely Needed to Allot More Time For the Park.

We started the day off with some Lotteria. We weren't sure where it was, but the town is really only so big. We figured there had to be one hidden away somewhere. Right as we were about to give up and hit up a kimbap place, the clouds opened up and a beam of light shone dow- Okay. Maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but it was a sight.

Haeshindang is a park full of sculptures that would definitely not be allowed in America. It was built to calm the spirit of a young woman who died before her wedding day. Her fiance took her out to this rock to collect clams or something stupid and couldn't come back to retrieve her when a giant storm blew in. She ultimately drowned. After her death, all the fish in the area disappeared. So to please this woman, this incredible park was built.
Entering Haeshindang was a little awkward, I'll admit it. What kind of people frequent such places anyways? Will the Koreans think poorly of us for walking through and having a good time?
No. There were whole families in there walking around enjoying the sights. There were ajummas hugging statues and just having fun with it. There were little kids running around laughing and pointing at everything. There were people sitting on some very creative benches and a whole section for the animals of the chinese zodiac. We didn't realize how expansive that place was. It just kept going. We thought 3 hours would be enough time, but it clearly wasn't. Next time I do Samcheok, I'm going to stay for a week. Even then, I'm not sure I'll be able to see and do everything that that town has to offer. It's incredible. I have to go back.

These little monsters were all over the place. I have never seen a spider look quite like that. Their webs are enormous.

Samcheok isn't actually close to anything, but I still wanna do it. I liked being cut off from everything like that. I really enjoyed being one of the only celebrities in town. I can't stay in Gwangju for another year. I need my next year to be full of different adventures.

The journey home was just as long as the one there yesterday, but I of course slept the whole way. We didn't get back until 2am and we all have work tomorrow. No biggie. Tomorrow's friday anyways.

It Takes a Whole Day to Get to Samcheok.

First, you have to take a 4 hour bus ride from Gwangju to Seoul and then a 5 hour bus ride from Seoul to Samcheok. Am I regretting the delay? Yeah, kinda. This place is really awesome. I totally underestimated the appeal of this town. It's not just a small town to crash in near a wildly inappropriate park of sculptures. We didn't arrive in Samcheok until 6pm and we really only had time for dinner and hotel reservations.

The great thing about small towns is that they try so hard. I guess they don't get so many visitors, so they try to make the city as welcoming as possible. There is usually a tourist office around the bus terminal and this is how you can book a hotel last minute within walking distance of the bus station. These are also the people who answer your questions about where to find food during a holiday.

I think I could live in Samcheok forever and never get bored. This place has mountains, caves and beaches. There are hardly any foreigners and it's hard to find someone who speaks a lot of English. This is just the place I've been looking for. This could be my next home. I imagine it can't be that hard to get a job here. How many people even know about this hidden gem? This place is like Korea's own secret paradise.

It's a little farther north than I'm comfortable with, but I think I might go for it anyways. Samcheok. I like the sound of that.

Yep. Crazy's Contagious.

I have all but decided to renew. What can I say? My kids are that awesome.

Today was Monday and Friday all at once. The wonder of Chuseok. This holiday is poorly timed, sure, but at least the school is closed for tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. I'm heading to Samcheok to check out the small town there. I want to make sure that small towns are for me.

And the penis park at Haeshindang. Who knew there'd be something that scandalous in Korea? Can't wait.

Anyone Else Get a Gift for Chuseok?

It's a big one, too. Shadow convinced me to open it in the Lounge and we were all speechless when the lid actually came off. The box is beautiful, but I totally assumed I would be opening a giant box of Spam. It's the kind of gift that is good for any occasion. That, or toothpaste.

But I got a giant box of candied gim. That's seaweed. Yeah. The stuff you wrap around sushi. I got it jellied, candied, and covered in sugar.

How freaking awesome is that?! I'm going to try them all. I wonder if there is a specific way that I should be eating them...

Lord Help Me, I Think I Might Say Yes.

I have had so much fun with my kids these last 8 months, that I can't imagine leaving them here in the hands of other teachers. I had to fight to keep them all for this whole time and now I'm just going to give them over to some other teacher without a fight. Yeah, they'll miss me for a while, but they'll get over it. Kids do that. I'll just be one other teacher in a long line of teachers for these kids.

When I said I'd think about it, I was really just buying time. As long as they think I'm undecided, they'll leave me alone. I'm definitely going to move to a small town.

Right...?

They Want Me to Renew My Contract.

I noticed today that PandPGirl has not shown up for class recently and wondered if I should be asking about that. It's not really normal for a student to be MIA for 4 weeks, but PandPGirl is not really treated normally anyways. She only comes to the school twice a month for conversation classes, so being gone for a week or three is really no big deal.

"Oh she is not coming anymore, she has to study for KSAT's. I thought you knew?" I should have.

I turn to go, but Ruby's not done with me yet.
"Erin! I think it is time for us to start talking about next year."
"Next year?" Yeah. I can do that, too.
"Uhn. You are done in January? So you will be staying here?"
"Staying here?"
"What will you do next year?"

I then started to tell her of my plan to move to a small town and learn the language. I tried to explain that living around so many other foreigners makes it hard to experience that total immersion that I need. She tried to convince me that small towns are definitely a bad idea.
"You will not learn the right Korean there."

Look, lady. People don't really expect that much from me when I open my mouth anyways. They're not gonna register that my Korean is "wrong" they'll just hear Korean. Which is way more than their hearing now. Here in Gwangju, I'm never going to learn anything more than survival Korean. I can get that from a dictionary, thanks. I want the real Korean experience. Gwangju hasn't done it for me in the last 8 months, what's another 12 going to do?

"I'm really not sure that I can give you a decision right now, I need to think about this a little more. Twelve months is a long time to sign up for."
"I need to know by Friday."
"Friday?"
"Yes. It takes a long time to pick a new teacher and do the whole process. You remember?"
"... I do remember..." A lot of things. I remember how many times you pushed back my flight and left me in job-less limbo. I remember how long it too you to decide whether or not you really wanted me. I remember how I had to work my butt off to prove my worth to this school and you made me work for it every step of the way.
"Probably you should find a new teacher."
"New teacher?!"
"Yes. I'm sorry, but I can't give you an answer by Friday."
"It doesn't have to be by Friday. We only need two months to find someone. November 1st? Can you decide by November 1st?"

When did she get so easy to read? Was she always this predictable? I only had a few minutes to think about it. She came to find me after a quick phone call to her sister. How do I know? I surprise myself sometimes with how much Korean I know.

The second conversation, she revised her strategy. She must have realized that she couldn't play the aggressor card anymore, so she went for the helpful boss role.

"We can get you a tutor for the mornings? To teach you Korean?" -- It's not gonna be Narky is it?
"You don't have to sign up for a whole year. You can sign up for a few months at a time if you want." -- The ability to quit whenever I feel like it? Hmmm...
"You need a better life. We can find you a Korean boyfriend. Maybe you can get married. Then your parents won't make you come home anymore." -- Date a spy?


This led into a 1 hour conversation where Ruby tried to assemble a match.com profile. She thinks I need a better life. One that includes a Korean man.

She really wants me to stay. Suddenly she's letting me call the shots. "Erin we are all very comfortable with you. We don't have to worry about anything when you are here. You pick all of your own books, you do everything we want you to. All of your students would cry we think. You don't need to go to a small town."

I'm still shocked. This is what I wanted, right? To be so needed that they would beg me to stay. I still remember back in the beginning when we were Jennifer and Jennifer's Friend. When I didn't even get my own desk. When I was screamed at over the phone- back before the days of fake-firings.

Things That Don't Even Phase Me Anymore.

1.) Temper tantrums in school.
2.) Mothers talking to me in Korean.
3.) Not understanding what someone wants me to do.
4.) Closing and locking up the school.
5.) Hearing my name repeatedly while someone is shouting in Korean.
6.) Ruby giving half instructions for some seemingly impossible unnecessary task.
7.) Loud whiny Korean.
8.) Ruby's ringtone.

There are so many things to which I have become desensitized since being here. There are so many things that should be upsetting. There are so many times I surprise myself by laughing instead of shouting.

Whenever Narky comes into my room to try and discipline my kids in Korean, I wait until he's done and gone to tell my kids to disregard all directions that don't come from me. I won't have my kids crying in class everytime Narky feels the need to prove he's a necessary functioning member of this educational establishment. He has proven to me that more than 90% of the time he has no idea what he's talking about and just needs someone to yell at to blow off steam. Join a gym, kid. You're messing with my class vibe.

I used to worry about what he would tell his sister about our interactions. Now I don't. He usually comes out of them looking foolish. Who wants to run to their sister whining about how the foreign teacher made them look bad? It's a good thing he doesn't realize how much Korean I know. My, that would be embarrassing.

It's not like these moments of embarrassment are that hard to avoid, either. All he has to do is ask me why my kids are doing something before barging in and screaming in Korean. One of these days, he's going to realize that the kids aren't afraid of him either. They just don't understand why he screams all the time.

These little daily tantrums of his have nothing to do with what my kids are or aren't doing and everything to do with his DUI. Man, I wish someone would fake fire him. And then real fire him.

Class Flags.

My Steeler boys have weekly presentations and today's assignment was to design a class flag. How awesome are these?

And the back of that one flag is Polamalu. Do my kids know me or what?

Mine Hunting.

Ever since I signed up for this trip, I wondered how this mine hunting was going to work. Aren't they kind of big? How can someone lose a mine? What kinds of mines are these anyways? Coal? Gold? Do we get a souvenir from this mine?

No. Not gold mines or coal mines. Land mines. I can't believe I didn't connect the dots on that one. Even after seeing all of the signs along the barbed wire fences warning of the deadly mines hidden all around, I still walked around wondering how anyone could be dumb enough to lose a mine.

On the way back, we stopped to buy N. Korean soju. Just another set of drinks to hide on the top shelf of the pantry back home. And bungee jumping was cancelled due to flooding. Lame.

I'm Heading to the DMZ Again.

I realize that there are so few former presidents left, but I can't pass up an opportunity to go camping by the DMZ. I'm rushing around packing so I'll leave you with my favorite answer of the week. So often, Korean students have problems answering opinion questions. They look at the question, can't find the answer in the text and draw a little star over the number. It's taken me a while, but I have finally gotten them to stop skipping and starring them and confirmed what I have always believed: My kids are full of good opinions.

Jane Yolen wrote a new poetry book about egrets.


"What do you think of Jane Yolen's poems?"

K: "I think that Yolen's poems are nice to hear when you are not bored, so that you can be bored."

Erin! These Are the Worst Class Notes For You Ever!

She didn't mean that I wrote bad notes, just that I was really hard on my kids. I came right out and called their vocab definitions terrible and commented on their poor preparation for the vocab test.

I assign my kids a list of words once a week and it is their responsibility to look the words up and memorize definitions. Then they come to class, I read the definitions and they write the words. They thought they'd get it easy this week by writing the words in as many definitions as they could. It wasn't too hard to see what they were up to.

4.) apoplectic: having apoplexy
7.) concoction: what you have after concocting
11.) launch: launching a rocket
15.) obedient: being obede

I cancelled the vocab test and made them do the list again. "Being obede"? Really?

"Teacher! He Is Not a Monster!"

I forget how impressionable the little ones are sometimes. That monster guy sat in on my Teddy Bear class again today. I was informed last Friday that on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays that class will be extended a half hour to accommodate the two extra students we will have three days a week. ("Erin you were confused, that class is 90 minutes." -Narky. "Oh, it's not confused, that means I didn't understand. I didn't even know."- me. "Wha?"- Narky)

I love my new Teddy Bears, too. They may not be as eager to speak, but they have their own charms. But Lucy and Leah had a chance to think about the new teacher all of yesterday in hopes that he would be sitting in on class again. And the new girls were totally curious about the new monster teacher who has to duck to enter doorways.

We were in the middle of our Let's Go quizzing before leveling up to the next text book, when all of a sudden, one of the Bears looks back and stares at the new guy. "Teacher! He is not a monster! Eyes same color as yesterday!" Well look at that. I almost died laughing.

They were getting a little upset that his eyes were still blue/grey and not green, so I tried to explain that he was wearing a blue shirt, so of course his eyes would be blue.

E: "Maybe tomorrow he will wear a green shirt."
L1: "Or a yellow shirt?"
B: "Mayb-"
L2: "Or a pink shirt!"
B: "I don't think-"
K: "Or a purple one!"
L1: "A black one!"
C: "A white one!"
B: "Wait a-"
E: "Or maybe a rainbow one. Ask him to wear a rainbow shirt."
L1,L2, C, K: "Rainbow eyes?! Oh Teacher so crazy! Yeah rainbow!!"


I should've felt bad for egging the kids on and making fun of the new teacher, but I just have so much fun with my kids. And rainbow eyes would be totally awesome. That Boston guy is gonna have to learn to think on his feet. And talk hella faster.

Yeah, I HAVE Been In Town For Kind of a While.

I guess somewhere in my subconscious I was afraid to leave my roommate alone in the apartment again after the nightmare of last time. Tell a girl not to let strangers in the house and it just doesn't take until she has the boss's younger brother over to get crazy enough to attempt some drunk driving. Admit it, you wouldn't leave her alone either.

But this is the last weekend I can play babysitter. The time has come for me to leave her behind again. I trust that Shadow will be able to keep her in line. As long as someone is here to keep an eye on her, it should be okay. I hope.

Man, I REALLY hope. I am so close to the end now that I can't afford to have a roommate who can't get the rules down. These Canadian chicks and their drama... sorry, Renee. It's probably not all the Canadian chicks.

Just mine apparently.

Though it is kind of fun rooming with a Canadian. We never end up telling the same story. I doubt I'll ever have a story with a punchline of "And my dad was more mad because I didn't call and let him come by and butcher the moose himself. He hardly said anything about the fact that I totaled the car."

Yeah. We're not gonna have a whole lot of stories that overlap...