The Last Post

This is my last post in Korea. What a year it has been. Last year at this time, I was settling into Korea and feeling so homesick that I could hardly breathe. Now I am feeling the same way about leaving Korea. Weird~! I am so excited to see everyone back home, but there is so much that I am going to miss here.

My friends from church took me out last night to this really nice restaurant. It was called "Korean Fusion" food. We had a four course meal and it was SO GOOD. Lots of seafood (fish, sashimi, octopus, etc.), meat, vegetables (kimchi of course), and little side dishes. After that we went to Noraebang (karaoke) one last time and then walked around the park. It was a good last night with them.

My flight leaves at 11am on Saturday (Korea time) and I will arrive in Detroit around 7:45pm on Saturday (Michigan time). My beloved friends Erika and Justin are picking me up from the airport and bringing me back to Lansing.

So...I shall be seeing all of you very soon...get ready!!!

Accomplishments

When I was a freshman in high school, I made a list of things I wanted to do in my life. I don't remember what inspired me to write them, but I re-wrote them again last year before Korea was even an option on my mind. Some of the things I wrote as a freshman were still on there (like writing and publishing a novel someday). Anyway, I was looking back over my list today and I was surprised to see that I can actually cross many of them off my list now. Namely: live in a different country for a year...learn an Asian language...climb a mountain...ride an elephant...sing a solo in front of an audience...etc.

I haven't always had the best attitude about being in Korea, but the closer it gets to my departure home the more I can appreciate what I've been able to do here. I'm so glad I came here this year, as hard as it's been to be away from my family and friends.

We're starting intensives tomorrow at work. Intensives will last for 21 work days, so the last day will be August 24. Four days later, I will be getting ready to come home. Crazy. I'll probably make at least one more entry before I come home, but this is one of the last ones.

Love you all.

Sad day...my time is really coming to an end~!

My closest friend in Korea, Tiffany, left to go back to America today. Her departure has caused me to feel many mixed emotions. Sad, of course, because we'd gotten to be really good friends and I don't know when/if I'll see her again. Anxious, because I want to go home as well! More sadness, because that means MY time is almost over. One of the reasons we bonded in the first place was because we were both new in Korea and didn't know many people. Now that her time came to leave, it really puts into perspective how limited my time left here is.

It's weird...really loving a place but wanting to leave it so badly at the same time. I still think I should figure out a way to replace Korea with...um...Ohio. Or an equally useless state. ;-)

Pictures.

June: Reflections on the Past 10 Months

As I was telling my dearest daddy, I had my first real pang of sadness that I am leaving Korea soon the other day. I was sitting at my desk watching my students laugh and do a worksheet together, and I realized just how much I love my job...the country...the food...the people. There are so many wonderful things about this country. I love how everything is so much cheaper here. For example, the health care system rocks here. I was horribly sick last week. I lost my voice and had this awful cough. I couldn't breathe because I was so congested. My counselor, Catherine, went to the pharmacy with me so that I could get some drugs. I got a few different kinds and it only cost about the equivalent of $4. Amazing. Tonight I went out to dinner with Tiffany and Marina and our food cost about $20 altogether. For three people. Again, amazing.

But that's not the only thing, obviously. There are so many endearing qualities about living here. Walking around Suwon Station at midnight, and everything still being alive and active. People sitting outside at the street vendors' tables, eating and laughing together. I love the little stores where you can buy the most outrageous clothing. I've been picking up random shirts that have either awful English on them or funny American things. For example: I bought a t-shirt for $5 that has Obama's face on a bottle of Chanel perfume. It's ridiculous, but amazing.

I think there's a glimmer of a possibility that I will move back to Asia someday, even if it's just for one more year. I'm trying not to think about the future too much because it's intimidating. I have no idea where I'll go after I finish up my degree at MSU, but I'm more open to the idea of coming back here. I don't think I'd live here permanently. I've really missed my family a lot this year, especially my dad and Ben, and I don't really like going a year (or 8 months) at a time without seeing them. Skype is great, but it's not the same. I've missed my friends a lot too, of course-- but being away from my family has been the hardest part.

In other news, work has been good. My new schedule is awesome, and I love maybe 99% of my students. They frustrate me at times, but it's not as bad as last month. Ironically, my former students (the demon children, haha)-- or so I'm told-- "loved me" and "miss having me as a teacher." They run down to my classroom every day and scream "MELISSSSSSSSAA TEEEAAAACHER!" Yikes. Children are so strange sometimes...they act like they hate you and then you find out they think you're the bees' knees. Whatever.

My dear Tiffany is leaving in three weeks which I am SUPER bummed about. She's become such a dear friend to me. It's going to be weird being here without her. After she leaves though, I only have 7 weeks left in Korea. Weird weird weird.

That's all for June. Love you all~!

May update

I haven't updated in awhile, I know, I know. This month has been relatively uneventful outside of the one exception: my trip to China! I think I have told a lot of you about my trip, but here's an update on that anyway. I went with four of the other teachers at my school. We all stayed at different hostels (Amy and I stayed at "The Happy Dragon" hostel) so that made meeting up a little difficult but we managed. China was much different from Korea, in my opinion. There were definitely some similarities in customs and food, but for the most part I felt like I was in a whole new world (again). We traveled all over Beijing. We saw The Great Wall (which was probably my favorite site due to its beauty and history), Tiannamen Square, The Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven. We went shopping (a LOT) and I learned how to be a relatively successful bargainer. The single thing I appreciated most about China was the fact that everything was cheap. It was pretty hot most of the time we were there and I got a sunburn. After all that, I think I still have a strong preference for Korea but it was definitely worth visiting. Since Korea and China were the two countries I wanted to visit the most in Asia, I feel as though my adventure in Asia is finally fulfilled.

I'm going to be returning home in 3 months. It seems like the longest time and the shortest time simultaneously. Sometimes as I'm walking the streets of Korea I get a little sad that I will have to leave it soon, but I am way excited to go back to school and see my family and friends again. I am very happy that I spent this year abroad but I think my heart is always going to be in America. I guess I can't say for sure that I won't return to Korea ever, but I don't know for sure-- so I'm trying to make the most of the time I have left here.

Work has been about the same. We're changing classes next week (since we're starting JUNE! Wow!) and I think I'm finally going to be changing the one class that I have had the hardest time controlling. Not entirely sure yet. I told Lynn that if the class didn't change, I would be okay because we've finally gotten into a rhythm and they respect me a little bit more.

I think that's about all the exciting news since the last post. Until next time...

April showers...

It is pouring today. I don't know why, but rain always makes me rather lethargic. I had a nightmare last night that North Korea dropped nuclear bombs on us, and when I woke up my sheets were on the floor. I could barely open my eyes when I finally had to get up, and then when I saw that it was pouring I realized why. I always have a hard time waking up during rainy mornings.

We got a new teacher at our school, Amy, and she is also from Michigan! We've been hanging out a great deal, which has been fun. We're becoming pretty good friends. This past weekend Amy and Tiffany came to church with me for the Easter service. Afterward, we got lunch at this little Indian restaurant. Spring has sprung here, and the city is beautiful. On Saturday Tiffany and I walked the Suwon wall and ended up on this beautiful trail, cherry blossoms bursting everywhere.

There are a lot of exciting things to look forward to in the next two weeks. First of all, on Friday, my older brother Mike is coming to visit me!!! :-) He's flying in on Friday and leaving on Tuesday. A short trip, but it will still be a blessing to have a family member visit. We're planning to hit up the electronics heaven in Yongsan and eating lots of galbi. Then, on April 29...I am going to Beijing!! I'm going with four of my co-workers and we're staying there for about five days. We get our Visas back from the travel agent tomorrow. I've been wanting to go to China for so many years now, I'm really excited that it's finally happening. I feel like if Korea and China are the only Asian countries I ever visit, I'll be satisfied. Ideally, I'd love to go to Thailand, India, Taiwan, Tibet, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Who knows if I'll have the chance to do that, but at least I'll have hit my top two!

Work has been going pretty well, I guess. I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment because I'm working overtime this month...maybe for the rest of my time here as well. The extra money is nice but it makes me really tired. I'm teaching from 12:30-10:00pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I still teach 2:00-10:00 on Tuesday and Thursday. I feel like I live at Youngdo. Lots of drama at work too, as usual, but it's good. I like most of my classes a lot. I feel like I've learned how to be confident and strict this year. Who knew I had it in me?

I hope you're all doing well. I can't wait until I can see you all...in four months!

It's about that time...

I haven't updated in awhile, so I'll throw you all a bone. :-)

Things have been up-and-down here lately. A couple weeks ago, my boss recruited me (along with a few other teachers) to teach an earlier class-- children who are REALLY basic. In fact, I'm teaching Basic 1, which is the lowest level our school offers. Anyway, I was really nervous about this and as it turns out, this class has proven to be quite a challenge. I only have six students, but they are complete handfuls. They have tons of energy and run around the classroom shrieking sometimes. Yikes. Plus, the material I've been given to teach is REALLY hard to make a lesson out of. I think it's easier for the students too. For example, I taught "O" and "P" today and three words that start with each letter (octopus, ostrich, orange, police, pencil, and pie). It's painful. The kids ARE adorable though, even if they do drive me crazy sometimes.

I have another class, full of fourth graders (I swear, that age group is out to get me) that are quite the handful. The girls are really sweet, and there's one boy that I really love. But the other boys, this one in particular, are really hard to control and focus. I have a couple things that I've been using as a rewards-and-punishment system that has calmed them down a bit but still isn't 100% effective. I feel like I'm slowly gaining control over them though.

My students, all of the them, are obsessed with this show called "Boys Over Flowers" (that's the English translation anyway) and I recently started watching it myself and I am totally getting addicted to it too. It's about this really prestigious high school where only the most privileged students go. Anyway, somehow this girl, Geum Jan Di, ends up going there and she hates the way that the MOST exclusive group, F4, treats other people. F4 is made up of four boys who basically run the school. Anyway, one day, Jan Di tells off the leader of the group, Gu Jun Pyo, and he falls for her because no one has ever stood up to him like that before. The rest of the show so far has been Jun Pyo trying to win Jan Di's heart. Jan Di has had a crush on the other F4 member, Ji Hoo, and so this love triangle started. Anyway, I realize it's a little weird that I watch the same TV show that my Basic 5 students watch, but I'm okay with that. My two high school girls watched it too so I think it's another Korean thing, like Big Bang, that every age group is into.

What else? Oh-- I cut my hair last weekend and the general concensus is that I look totally different and more Korean. Oh well. Anyway, here's a picture that shows not only my haircut but the claustrophobic experience that is riding the subways in Korea:

That's all for today. More later! Five month marker around the corner.

Poker Face

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I had a pretty good Valentine's Day today. Tiffany and I went to Itaewon to get a haircut/facial. Tiffany got the haircut, I got the facial. It was my first time ever having a facial before and the cute little Korean woman kept "yelling" at me every few minutes to relax. It was kind of weird, having someone massage your face and also to have something completely covering your face and eyes for 20 minutes. My skin feels amazing now though. It was definitely an experience I wish to repeat. Anyway, then we wandered around Itaewon to find a place to eat dinner and we found this place called "The Frying Pan" that had the most AMAZING breakfast food I've ever had in my entire life (next to my daddy's cooking of course, hehe). I ordered French toast and bacon. The French toast had ricotta cheese, syrup, and strawberries on it. The strawberries were bursting with flavor. It was impressive. After this, we decided it was time to shop so we went to Myeong Dong's Forever 21 store and I bought three shirts, a cardigan, a tank top, and an "environmentally friendly" shopping bag that has a cute little owl on it and says "Keen on Green." :-) Everything was on sale too so that was great.

So yes. The day was pretty good.

A couple weeks ago I finally experienced Noraebang. Noraebang is a karaoke place. You go into this store and you rent out your own private room for an hour or so and you can sing karaoke for a whole hour. It was so much fun. I met up with my friend Kathy who I'd met in the US at MSU a couple years ago. She'd come back to Korea last year so I hadn't seen her in over a year so it was great to catch up. Anyway, we (me, Kathy, Kathy's friend, and Tiffany) sang all these ridiculous 90s songs like "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls and had fun.

The weeks are flying by. I'm almost to the halfway mark...

I made a student cry in class today.

It was in my basic level class, my young students. This student, Chris, is a new-comer. He hasn't quite grasped all the rules in my class yet, including the rule that the other students love to police: NO SPEAKING KOREAN IN CLASS. I have this system with my students, the infamous sticker paper. At the beginning of each month, the students write their name on a piece of paper and draw a cute little picture. Then every time they do their homework, get perfect scores on tests, or do other various tasks that I make up on the fly...they're awarded a certain number of stickers. If they speak Korean in class, act badly, yell, talk when I'm teaching, hit each other, etc.-- they lose a sticker. So poor Chris. It's his second day in class and he keeps speaking Korean. He lost all but one sticker today. As soon as he was down to one sticker, he burst into tears. He was crying for a good 20 minutes. I didn't know what to do. I kept assuring him that he would get more stickers and he just needed to remember not to speak Korean in class and he wouldn't lose more. I told him he could go to the bathroom if he wanted. He kept sobbing and saying things in Korean to me. I think that since this is a really low level of students that they get frustrated easily when they can't express themselves the way they want to. It's excellent practice for them, but still frustrating I bet. PLUS...this is a three hour class. In college, when I had three hour classes, I could barely focus even if it was an interesting subject. Imagine an 8 year old trying to focus for that long!

Anyway, eventually Chris stopped crying and he was quite cheery by the end of class. He earned back 5 stickers, two for perfect test scores and three for being the first one done with a worksheet.

It really breaks my heart when students cry in class though.

Anyway, it's February (in case you missed that memo). February 21 will be the halfway marker for me. August 21 is my last day at Youngdo. Not sure when exactly I'll be back in the States, it depends on when/if my parents come visit and if I decide to go to China/Japan at the end of my time here. I officially have an apartment in Dover's Crossing in Lansing with my dearest Erika, so that's all set. I'm still waiting for my application to the College of Education at MSU to go through, but I talked to an advisor about everything already.

I think it's going to be strange, but really wonderful, to go back to MSU and get back to that life. When I graduated in May last year, I thought my time at MSU was over for good. Shows how much I know...

Love you all! <3>

Fun photo

Confession: I have an addiction to editting photos and making them look cool/artsy.

So anyway, here's my latest.





This is Marina, Tiffany, and me at the palace in Seoul.


Original photo:

Pros of Korea

Well, I'm back into the swing of things for real. The homesickness is still present but getting easier to manage as time goes on. I'm being reminded of things that I love about Korea. I should make a list of these to consult when I get back home.

Note-worthy pros of Korea:

1) Glasses and contacts are super cheap in Korea. I decided earlier this week that I wanted to get a new pair of glasses to wear when my eyes get tired of contacts. I have a nice, practical pair that I wear when it's late at night but I decided I wanted a fun pair too. Here's what I ended up with:



The frames themselves were only 35,000 Won (the equivalent of $25) and I gave them my prescription to make the lenses, which cost 30,000 Won ($22). So in total, I got a quick eye exam for free and the rest cost only 65,000 Won ($48). Nice-uh!

It was pretty funny going into these stores and trying on glasses. The general fashion in the eyeglass world of Korea is big square frames. My face does not do well with large square frames. Literally every worker in the stores I went into kept commenting on my small face. My favorite was this man who kept yelling at me whenever I picked up a pair of glasses that were "warm" colors, like red. "NO too warm! You cool face, need cool color." And he was getting frustrated because he kept handing me smaller frames that were always still too big for my face. Oh fun.

2) DVD Bangs. They really need to start these in America. You go into the store and pick out a movie you want to watch. Then you get shown to your own private viewing room that has a huge screen and a nice bed/couch/futon for you to relax on with loads of pillows and snacks. I went last night with my friends Marina, Tiffany, and Sophie. We rented "Enchanted" and nearly fell asleep in the room. Only 4,000 Won a person. Not bad.

3) The food, of course! My favorite to date is a soup called Shabu Shabu. It has a million different ingredients including beef, noodles, potatoes, mushrooms, kimchi, seaweed, etc. The soup is kind of like a tomato soup consistency but super spicy. It is A-MAZING.

Plus, the fourth perk to Korea...no tipping in restaurants. :)

There are loads more, including the shopping which I love too much, but I'll stop there for now since it's almost my bed time.

In other news, I found a church! It's called Suwon Central Baptist and it's really close to where I live. The other churches I'd been going to were an hour or more away, this one is about 10 minutes by subway and then a 10 minute walk. I could probably take the bus there but the walk has been nice. I'm meeting some cool people there. The congregation is pretty small but the teachings are solid and the pastor is hilarious!

This upcoming weekend is the Lunar New Year, so I get a four-day vacation from work! Hooray! We're not planning anything terriby exciting, but I think a facial and/or massage is going to be involved. And something cultural, like a museum trip or something of that nature.

So there'll be another update soon................

Happy 2009!

My time home was wonderful. It made it hard to come back, but I think I'm getting adjusted again. I got new classes on Friday. I lost my junior high class and gained a new one, hopefully they will be better and more willing to learn. One of the new classes I got is a basic level. It's going to be a little bit more challenging to teach because these kids are young (but adorable) and their English isn't nearly as advanced. I kind of like this level more though, because their is a lot more to explain so the class is filled up with a lot more.

We lost a lot of students this month so my biggest class is only like 8 students now. I like the small class size better because they're easier to manage even if
they have a lot of energy and I get to know them better, I think.

I celebrated my 23rd birthday tonight with my co-workers and friends and it was a pretty good time. The girls went out and got manicures, my friend Marina paid for me as my birthday gift so that was sweet. :) Then we went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. You know how in America you get like a free dessert for your birthday normally? Well, this was very different here. First of all, all the waiters came and sang a Korean song to me (not the traditional "happy birthday" song I'm used to) and then gave me a loaf of bread covered in jam. It was definitely original!! Afterward, we went to Dr. Fish again and got the unconventional pedicures. My friend Julia had never experienced this before so it was quite entertaining watching her reaction. All the Koreans in the cafe were watching us and laughing.

All in all, it was a pretty good birthday. Low-key, but nice. I kind of forgot about my birthday since I was on the airplane all day but it was still nice to celebrate it with friends.

Seven months left in Korea. Then...who knows? We were supposed to be going somewhere for the Chinese New Year at the end of this month, but now we're either not going to do anything or go to North Korea (crazy, I know). It costs about 330,000 Won to go so I'm not sure yet. Anyway, I think if my parents don't end up visiting in August I am going to go to China and Taiwan before I come back home. Those are the two other countries on my "must see" list before I leave for Asia, especially China. We'll see...who knows when I'll be back on this continent though?

Love you all!