Its been too long dear friends. Since I have basked in the glow of your smiling faces, or, you know, written a blog post. Today I have no classes, and therefore no excuse not to catch you up on my life here. We have been here for almost 3 months now and we are loving it.
I love my job. The kids are fantastic. The things that come out of their mouths are a constant source of entertainment. If you ever want to know what its like to be a celebrity, come teach English in Korea. Children come during their lunch hour just to stare in the window at me. My life is a source of gossip among the other teachers. People I don't know buy me drinks when I go out to the bar. Everyone stares. Koreans, known and unknown to me, say things like "Love englishee!" and "very handsome". Koreans have an odd idea of good looks. A third grader pointed to a picture he'd drawn on his paper durring one of my classes and said, "This you. big nose!" When I went to Ahnna's school for a volleyball game I was surrounded by a gaggle of giggling girls who were calling out "small face! small face!" It was explained to me later that these are considered beautiful traits among koreans. Apparently these guys would do very well here:
We have a great group of friends here thanks to the EPIK (English program in Korea) orientation (a week long crash course in living and teaching in Korea). We were all grouped according to where we would live at orientation so we have 30+ awesome new souls in our life and a never ending stream of things to do. Today we will go to a Baseball game with our friends Heather and Beau Dobbin. The Lotte Giants are the Busan baseball team and the games are similar in decibel levels to a seahawks home game.
I haven't been saving as much money as I had hoped because I have made some large purchases. I bought an AMD quad-core gaming grade desktop computer and have been accepted for beta testing of Starcraft 2. I put in a little more screen time than I probably should. I bought an ipod touch and it is currently filling my ear holes with the melodious constructions of Muse. And last but most important, I bought a scooter!!! Driving it to work and back is a highlight of every day. Sidewalks? Fair game. Traffic lights? Mere suggestions. The traffic? A nation of Asian drivers... need i say more? Development of super spider senses has been a necessity for keeping my hide intact. Top speed? Usually 80kph, but it'll hit 100 if i push it. I'm a little in love.
When I found out I was actually going to be able to come here I decided that I would study martial arts again while I'm here. Originally I was thinking taekwondo, but then someone told me I should try Hapkido, another Korean martial art. What did I end up doing? Brazilian Jujitsu. MWO???(that means "what" in Korean). I don't know how it happened, but the workout is amazing and it is arguably the most effective martial art in the world. I really want to continue doing it, but I'm not sure god wants me to. Every other week I either injure myself or get sick. First it was my back, then I had an awful fever (101.3 for 5 days) and I was finally getting back into it the week before last when I was washing dishes and a glass broke and cut into my pinky so deep it nicked the joint. 5 stitches. They come out today and I can go back to circuit training next week, but no grappling for another 2 weeks. Arrrrgg!!!! Am I swimming upstream against fate? Or is this just a test of my determination and dedication? Should I pick a different martial art? I figure I'll go back one more time and if the universe intervenes again I'll try something else.
That about covers it. Simple celebrity status. Lots of new friends. Starcraft 2. SCOOTER! Brazilian Jujitsu. My life so far in Korea. I love you all!
