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.