Friday is going to be my busiest day of the week. This one wasn't bad in that I only had 4 lecture classes & no conversation classes. Next week I will have a total of 6 classes (4 lecture, 2 convo) & during lunch time I have to be available for chats.
The funniest part of my day was my middle school class. There were only 9 students in there and I work with a younger male teacher. At this time the desks were in lines (I re-arranged them later) and Mr. Jung bent over in the middle of an aisle to help some students. The female students behind him were obviously staring at his bottom while giggling. I look over to see what they are giggling about, then look in his direction. This of course causes louder laughs from the girls because they assume I am also enjoying the view. I quietly returned to my desk, lol.
My last class of the day is "seniors" or grade 3 high school. It's rather shocking when you say "I am 25 years old" and a student replies, "Oh, I am 20 years old!" Granted Korea adds a year to your actual age (they start counting from conception) so he is probably more like 18 or 19. So yea, I'm 27 in Korea (since my birthday is in December)...time is REALLY flying :) I'm gonna be all mixed up on how old I really am when I return to America.
TIME TO CELEBRATE:
Paul and Ali propose dinner & drinks in their neighborhood of Gumi. Of course I say yes! Alex & I split a cab & meet up with everyone. We decide on a place that offered a variety of meats for a decent price. It's funny I actually eat the salads they serve as side dishes here. They use the best dressings...I doubt I could ever find anything like them in America. I actually had seconds on both of the salads. I only say this to shock all of my friends and family who know that I RARELY ever eat salads or many veggies. So proud of myself :)
AWKWARD BATHROOM:
So, during dinner, I step outside to use the separate bathroom facility. As I enter, I have a Korean girl, maybe mid 20's, tell me hello. This is normal. I enter the stall, sit down to pee, and hear her whisper to her friend, "miguk, miguk!" which means "american!" Mid pee, her friend yells HELLO! I politely say hello in return, they giggle, and run out of the bathroom. Oh, Korea! lol.
So, after many shots of Soju and a little beer, we all catch a cab to the downtown area for...well of course, more soju & beer! We find a place we've never been & settle down in a table near the back of the restaurant bar. And by settle down I mean we talk obnoxiously loud about inappropriate things simply because...nobody else knows what we're talking about! :) And if they did, they probably just think..."stupid foreigners!" haha :) Our final stop was at Corona, where we played a couple games of darts, I met some new people, and we all stumbled home to sleep.
BACK TO DAEGU:
Too bad I was woken early by blaring sunlight into my room. Still need to find a way to tame the light just a bit. I mean, if it's a beautiful day out then I'm all about getting up for the day. But after a night of drinking I just want some sleep! So, I get out of bed and make a plan for the day. So many options on the weekend because everyone wants to go different places for different reasons. I was invited hiking, but overslept. I then had the option of a friend coming to see me in Gumi for a night out, or meeting her in Daegu for a night out. I decided since I went to Daegu last weekend for a day trip, I needed to see what the night life held.
Took a train (got off at the right stop this time, yay!!) and met Lea around 6:30ish. She had been there a couple times already, which was good because Daegu downtown is alot bigger than Gumi, obviously! The plan was to go to dinner then meet up with Paul, Ali, and the rest of their friends who they were visiting for a night of drinking and fun. But, due to the lack of cell phones & low quantity of available pay phones, communication errors led Lea and I to wander around ourselves.
We saw quite a few interesting people, ate a pretty yummy seafood pasta dinner, scurried along with the madness of people & cars trying to use the same street, dodged cars trying to fly through the streets, soaked in all of the loud blaring music from various buildings, ate an amazing waffle/ice cream combination dessert, and ended the night with a beer at a popular "western" bar called Travelers. Oh yea, before dinner we were starving, so we got a snack at McDonalds...had to try to Korean McDonalds...but I only got fries. I will let ya know how the burgers are if I ever go back. Although, I never ate the burgers back home lol.
From all the walking around and lack of sleep the night before, around midnight I decided to head back home. Luckily, we made it back to the station in time for me to catch the midnight train. Lea ended up taking a taxi due to the fact that her train wasn't available until 2am! That's the only downfall to trains, you have to plan accordingly! On the train ride home I started feeling a sharp pain on the top of my left foot. Not sure what happened, but today is Monday and it still hurts. Looks slightly swollen, but that could be my imagination and it could just be a bad muscle cramp.
SUNDAY NON-FUNDAY:
I say non-funday because due to my procrastination of lesson planning on Thursday, I forced myself to stay in my apartment until my plan was complete. That resulted in me continuing to procrastinate & not finishing my lesson until right around midnight. In my defense, I also cooked, did laundry, e-mailed some people, showered, and cleaned my apartment. Oh, and how can I forget...chatting with "bad influence" Scottie who is a professional at distracting me with intriguing opposite conversations & questions of Korea. I can't wait until he gets to Korea in August & discovers I have been giving him false information about Korean culture, haha! j/k...maybe :)
BEST PART:
My favorite part of my weekend was skyping with DeWayne, Sarah, & Owen!! I got to "officially" meet my nephew! He is soooo adorable & I cannot wait to hug him! I wish I could say "hold" him, but by the time I get back to Texas he will be almost one! Until then I will just have to see him grow up on Skype. I am still a very proud Aunt even though I can't be there right now! :)
XOXO,
Amanda
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