Home!

Yay!

(click to enlarge)

p.s. I don't know if that Korean flag I brought back for Noah last year is hung up correctly. Perhaps I should check on that.

Dating An Englishwoman is Brilliant

Playing Trivial Persuit with Lizzie, Lacey, and Jen on Saturday:

Which of the Great Lakes is furthest west?
Lizzie: I don't know the Great Lakes!
Lacey: They spell 'HOMES.'
Me: Yeah, that's how we remember them.
Lizzie: Let's see. Michigan. Erie. Orinoco? No, that's a river in South America. H? Home-on-the-Range.
Lacey: and Star-and-Stripes-Forever.


p.s. Lizzie told me everything really is just like Harry Potter in England!
And they have an armory and a Legoland! Yessss!

Happy (belated) Birthday, Dad!

Me: Dad, how old are you now? Lizzie asked me what year you were born and I couldn't remember. I think you're 20 years older than me, though. I'm 26, so you're 46, right?

Dad: Yeah, I'm 46.

Me: ::maaaaath:: You were born in 1966, right?

Dad: No, I was born in 1965.

Me: How is that possible? I was born in May of 1986 and you're 20 years older....I'M NOT 26! I'm 25! 26 is my Korean age!

Mom (from across the room): I WAS WAITING FOR YOU TO FIGURE THAT ONE OUT!

stories

one ball.

I was walking down the hallway to the teachers' room and there was a boy with his khakis pulled waaaaaaaaaaaay up. And I could see his one ball.

credits

In one of my classes, I had the students make comics to practice the speech form for apologizing from their books. On James' comic, he gave himself credit thusly:

Writing: James
Thinking: James
Arting: James

I DAN'T KNOW WHY

(i just really wanted to type that)

Ahhhhhhhhh, I feel insane today! Maybe my chest explodes! I blame the chicken burger(s) and failed porridge!

Good news!

1. It's a Tuesday and I only had 4 classes (it's usually 8).

2. For the first time in human history, the recent overdraft of my bank account was AN ERROR THAT CORRECTED ITSELF!

In the mean time, a million things to sort out for the next few months! Back to it!

Is this real life?

1. My student loans are bastards and, without fail, whenever I feel good about them, they decide to double and start automatically deducting from my account without permission. Automatic debit is thievery disguised as convenience. Overdraft fees are just...well, fair enough, but they suck.

nts: Call AES and tell them to shut that shit off....again.

Good news is, the FBI took money from me! That means that my background check happened! Yeah!

2. OTHER THAN THAT LOAN BUSINESS JUST NOW, I'm in a ridiculously good mood! MOAR ABOUT THAT AND LESS ABOUT HOW I'LL NEVER GET AHEAD. ^_^

Yeah! So it's Friday and a fantastic weekend with Lizzie is coming up! Cheese and soup and towers and Indian food and a surprise date!

Also, I've been going INSANE at work lately and next week is a merciful schedule change. Loads of made-up classes I'm supposed to just make up materials for because my school wants to pump kids for money without splashing out for books, but hey, I'll take it. Not that I've got much choice. And after the battles I've had with some of the middle schoolers, I'll be glad not to deal with them for a few weeks.

MY LAST DAY OF WORK IS A MONTH FROM NEXT TUESDAY.

I really like some of these kids. And I learned a lot more about teaching. And I'm glad I didn't quit. Paperwork is happening at home (thanks to amazing friends and family in the States) and the job hunt for my third year in Korea is going well, methinks.

Oh, excellent moment on the way to work.


After productively (yeah!) 1. taking down my heaps of trash/recyclables, 2. packing another box, 3. setting out my clothes for the weekend, and 4. working on a painting, I rode my bike to work. 


On my street, I was pedaling slowly behind two older women who were walking together. I was waiting for the sidewalk to widen up ahead, but one of the women noticed me and told her friend to move over so that I could pass. I thanked them and one of the ladies shouted, "CERTAINLY!" as I rode away. 


It took a moment to register and then I nearly fell off my bike laughing. And they laughed at me. 


Best.

And I'm done teaching for today because testing happened! I'm bummed (in a way) about my cancelled classes because I was prepped and excited to teach them, but hey, now I'm getting paid to blog and I could totally stand to not talk to a Korean teenager until Monday. But only a bit more of this and then it's time to figure out writing textbooks for the 7th graders (Y1 middle schoolers) or else I'm screwed next week.

And I guess I'm the kind of person who gives a shit about Monday on a Friday. WHO AM I?!

^_^

Some pretty that's been the soundtrack to my fabulous day:

Essay Marking

"First, soccer is popular sports. Everybody know how to play it, even woman!"

It's worth it.

First, give this guy a listen: "Standing in the Way of Control" by The Gossip

June and Victoria, bored of their Halloween party movie, came down to the teacher's room to amuse themselves. They wanted to have a listen to my headphones and I had "Standing in the Way of Control" playing on repeat. And I managed to whip out my camera and get a video.

Is this real life?

"I'm sorry. We occupied your automaton."
-Said by some Russian dude, who was randomly in my school with his friend, using the vending machine for a really long time.






best sentence....ever.



Also, 38 more days at this academy after today! Then sweet, sweet vacation and visiting home!

Spelling is weird.

OBSERVE THE NICETIES!

Some Stuff About Russia

Russia and Korea have a history of relations that I don't entirely understand. Last year, I met a dude on a bus who told me that he was just coming back from (or going to) teaching Korean language and history to ethnically Korean Russians. Apparently the Japanese put some Koreans there at some point. This dude also built helicopters. It was a neat conversation.

Here's one thing I didn't even realize until this year (I have an aversion to maps?)....Russia is really effing close to South Korea.

See? (The circle with the marker in it is Busan, where I live)

Busan is a a port city (the 5th largest in the world, Wikipedia just told me) and has the largest Russian population in the country.

So far, this has meant mainly 3 things:
1. knowing that there's a Russian town near the train station (I want to go to a Russian restaurant, but apparently, not all of them are restaurants...just like not all Korean coffee shops are coffee shops)

2. having a Russian school in the building where I work and sometimes seeing people who look like me but are not speaking English

3. being asked if I'm Russian a few times by skeazy men when I had blond hair. Generally, if a man in Korea asks a woman if she's Russian, he's really asking if she's a hooker.

So, now for the neat thing that happened prompting me to type all this up (besides the fact that I have essays to correct and only one class to teach and that means internetting all over the damn place)....

I was getting in the elevator at work and there was this one boy, probably about 13. He was looking stressed,  running in and out of the open elevator and he turned to me and said "white," putting his hands up to indicate that he wanted me to hold the elevator. I thought it was a bit funny because most Koreans know the word "wait" and a boy his age definitely should have known that word. So he gets in the elevator finally and we start to go up and he is freaking the hell out about something. I look at him and say "are you ok?" in Korean. And he says in English, "I am not a Korean man. I am from Russia," and points at the sign for the Russian school on the 10th floor. I sputtered out "cool! well, have a good day. I hope that you're ok," before getting off at the 6th floor. It was neat!

The end!

p.s. Here's Korean Noah:

This kid....oy.

Hey, don't touch me there. That is my private square.

They gots to PAY ME

It has become abundantly clear to me that I need to work out. So, I'maget on that. Well, I'm printing out work logs and I plan to buy some free weights (and an easel) tomorrow. Let's see if I can do the pushups and crunches I decided on tonight. I think it'll feel SO good.

In other news, no classes today! Lots of looking up all the things online and not a terrible amount of class prep (I do teach four classes of littles tomorrow), but most of that looking up was related to art or work. I'll take it!

In other, other news, how is it this far into September? Today it smelled like fall. I love that smell.

Here's a picture of a sand sculpture from the Haeundae sand festival a million years ago.

Dragon!

Update @Midnight: Jogged home after work (with 1 fatty stop) and did some pushups (crunches are tomorrow, according to the website from which I got my schedule). I'll take it!

Translating Place Names is Silly

A Gwangju Bus Schedule

BOOM.

FBI criminal background check for my next visa = TOTALLY REQUESTED.

MORE COFFEE I DARE YOU

IT'S FRIDAY! And Lizzie comes back from Japan tonight! woo!

Man, I'm still stoked that yesterday at work stopped happening. 8 classes. I like most of those kids, too (thank G-d), but seriously....8 (I know, Jen...you teach 11. I'm a pansy.)

ANYWHO, I wanted to make a quick post to save my karma. It's a really, REALLY good thing that I didn't get all in a huff about the 33 classes on my schedule this week. Thanks to some surprise testing, I had some cancelled classes! And it brought my grand total down to 29. BOY DO I LOVE being indignant. And it makes me look like an ass a lot of the time. So I just wanted to give a tip of the hat to "sitting on it" and now I shall cook some eggs and continue watching "That's Gay" segments on YouTube before work.

Life's good. Look, I drew Daniel Henney yesterday: http://tamzprojects.blogspot.com/2011/08/1-hours-drawing-test-today.html   WOO!

preow!

lure them in with some complaints and SEAL THE DEAL with a photo dump

I was looking forward to my schedule shaking down to its pre-summer courseload once we returned to our regularly scheduled programs. This is not the case. Just got the ol' schedjj, and it's firmly locked in at 30 classes. Now, aside from this just being a whingy post, I want to say that I'm genuinely impressed.

My director loves to push. That pushing is why 8 English teachers have quit in as many months (and who knows how many math and social studies teachers and managers and secretaries have pissed off).With next week's schedule transitioning back to evenings on Wednesday, that means I've got TWO days of 8 classes and a total of 33 classes. And I was going to demand overtime, BUT my contract says 30 teaching HOURS, not classes. If I get technical, they'll get technical and that means up to 40 classes per week. So, I'makeep my mouth shut.

Well played, 하이스트. Well played.

Now, to justify this post with PICTURES from my trip to Namhae with Lizzie:

This building made me shudder. And it's seems to be an operating business!

Title: A Hooker Died Here

Terraced fields! They SO pretty!

That gazebo just looked like the best place to sit ever.

ART.

Contact Lizzie if you'd like to order prints. They're selling like hotcakes.

???

But seriously, Lizzie really is a good photogapher. She took most of these pictures. Compare this picture she took of me on the upside-down machine...

To this picture I took of her on the upside-down machine.

Lizzie: Yes, I see them. Take the camera. Go have some dragon time.

Me: YAY!

I took this picture. I'm kinda proud of it. Also, I clearly just discovered color filters. NOT SUBTLE

Ja-ja!

best answer of my life

Me: If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?
Dong-Yeop: First, I would wish to fly.
Me: If you could fly, where's the first place you would fly to?
Dong-Yeop: Uhm, Germany.
Me: Why Germany?
Dong-Yeop: Because they have so much sausage.

A tiny, soft-spoken girl named Jiyeong was wearing a shirt with Kermit the Frog on it. And it made me blush in class. Because it said "pig fucker" at the top of it.

Oh, Korea.

1.At work, I feel like I've got this. Which means that something terrible will happen soon. And that's cool.

2. Here's some more pictures from the wavepool in Hampyeong:

Dong-In and Dong-Gun, Sujin's sons, who will totally NOT DROWN.

Sujin, Me, and Sujin's adorable mom. 

ME AND LIZZIE YAY!

"answer" is an utterly bizarre word.

not "going to mega mart in bike shorts" feels good, but it's up there.

stayed up late painting and dicking about. just finished teaching 8 classes on 5 hours of sleep. the classes went well today. I feel accomplished. And sleepy.

15 minutes and I'm to Lizzie's for SUCH a nap. I like that.

life's good. vacation was good.

(see? vacation mandatory life jackets happened)

3 day weekend coming up with plans to go to Namhae Island. woo!

note to self:

far side comics. get some. use them in class. the end.

Oy, APB

Please send Old Spice Deodorant!

1005 Ho Royal Officetel
69-6 Namcheon 1-Dong
Suyeong-gu, Busan ROK

Thank you.

-Tamara/Tammy/Tamz

Jeong Hun's reflection on his "The Lady or the Tiger" assignment

So many words in this story but one of the word made a house in my brain is 'barbaric.' Thanks for the semi-barbaric king. When I read this story, what I remember was what is going on the story. After I did rewriting progress, I remembered many thing. People's feeling, why the man loved princess, how the semi-barbaric king made the arena. The more information can make better story ending. I wrote first ending story when I read this book. Now I will rewrite it again. Thanks for the semi-barbaric king again and you. Good luck for the poor man and the princess. I know she is genius because she is a princess of one country.

"And then he felt something waterish." -JH in class, describing an episode of a tv show

Where's the balloon drop?

Just got my summer schedule for next week. And they've finally hit my contractual limit of classes! In fact, one of my 1:1 classes is cancelled next week, so when Jiyeon gets back, they've got to cut a class.

You know, I'm almost proud. That's a good effort on their part, really.

I predict some (more) near-panic attack bathroom cries in the coming weeks. But you know what? Vacation is soon, so I'll manage. And my life otherwise is wonderful. PLUS, while teaching speaking is like trying to get cats to do anything they don't want to do sometimes, it feels a lot more satisfying a lot of the time than my listening classes did.

I'll take it.

As long as they don't push for 31 classes or pull any shit with my vacation time (again).

(thanks for this, Stephanie)

PRESENT FRUIT

I got next Friday off!!!!! Just by ASKING for it! Thanks to Lizzie for the suggestion (and chutzpah boost)! And thanks to Ran, my savior at work, who asked the department head for me (who declined) and then went over his head and asked the school's director... WHO SAID YES! Oh, sweet, sweet Moses! This is a hagwon miracle AND my director is particularly "salty" (a Korean term that means "cheap").

I asked "really?!" like 10 times, jumped up and down, asked for witnesses, and then ran out to buy a watermelon after class. In Korea, food is king. And fruit is a pretty good idea, especially, large, notably expensive fruit (it was about $12) that's easy to share . Not only does this tell the "school captain" that I'm grateful, it's also a rather public display, possibly making it harder for him to change his mind. I don't really know if it'll work, but I thought it'd be worth a shot. And I'm glad to share something with the other teachers, too.

So, I'm still going to say this is tentative. And I may have to prep the five classes that I teach before I go (it was going to just be 3 on Friday, but the schedule got all jacked around today...shocker), which is fair, but may be a bit hard to fit in.

And as previously mentioned, Jeong Hun's amazing (unedited) rewrite of the opening to Frank Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger" with two notes first....1. Dude, check out the original. The vocabulary is HARD. 2. He chose 3 or 4 words from each sentence and then, a few days later, without looking at the original story, rewrote it using his notes.

And go:

Long times ago, there was a kingdom with semi-barbaric king. He was a fancy, withal, authority and irresistible king. Nobody couldn't stop what he's doing. But he was bland and genial about domestic moved smoothly. Even it hitched his govern, he was blander and genial still. 

Don't forget he is a semi-barbaric king. He wanted to express his feeling of barbarism. So he expressed on the public arena. His arena was a big circle stadium where prisoner chose his luck. When prisoner enter this arena, that means it's time for punish his sin and crime or get virtue rewarded. How is that work? When prisoner stepped out into the amphitheater, he has to open either door what he can see. He has to stepped front of the door which he wanted to open. He can choose which door he will open. The truth is that choice will lead him punish or chance.

A door lead to punishment waiting prisoner with hungry and scary tiger. When he opened this door, a tiger will hunt him and eat his fresh suffer. People in the arena will pray for his death and the doleful iron bell rang everywhere. 

The other door stay with lady. When he opened this door, a beautiful lady waited for him. They became a couple and get a marridge. Everybody in the arena celebrated for their marridge and happy brass bell rang around the arena. Bands are came in to the amphitheater and the party is start. When this celebrity, the couple went to the peaceful land.

Who's Christian Side?

Some school news:


1. Adjusting to new curriculum is hard. This week is a bit of a shit show. Hopefully, next week will be better. It'll also be the beginning of the summer time schedule, so in at 10am and out at 6pm (I think). I'm excited to SWITCH IT UP. And my vacation time is sooon. Some days off will be LOVELY.


2. NTS: Post part 1 of Jeong-Hun's BRILLIANT rewrite of "The Lady or the Tiger"


3. I now have a 9-year-old student who lived in America for the past 2 or 3 years and speaks more English than Korean. He has GIANT eyes and he looks JUST LIKE NOAH (but Korean). He talks like him and he wants to tell stories about how playing with boys is better than playing with girls and ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS HUG HIM IN CLASS. 

At the moment, he's in class with a girl who's JUST learning how to read. Yesterday's lesson was "It looks like a (shape)." It looks like a circle! It looks like a triangle! 

Dong-woo (the little boy): Actually, this one looks like a sphere.

Jenny: ????

Me: Uh oh.

Oh, Korea. 

I want to play with this kid SO MUCH. I tried to get a 1:1 class with him (which would mean more work and less planning time), but I was voted down (come on! I'm asking to do more work!). Instead, I'll be teaching two different lessons simultaneously to both students. Oy.

Some life news:

1. Gonna learn myself how to get dual-citizenship again so that living/working/schooling in Europe is easier. That's next after Korea, methinks. Also, I just realized last night that I'm over halfway finished with my ESL-in-Korea career. THANK G-D. It's silly and I learn a lot, but I'm ready for something new.

2. I think that's pretty much it for right now, but I may have written this post (almost) entirely as an excuse to post this video:

This is gonna be stuck in my head all day. It'll probably meld with "Friday" and "Sleazy" to form some horrendous abomination that makes my brain explode OR that gives me super powers, possibly something akin to Alex Mack (oooooh, girl! That takes me BACK).

BWAHAHAHA.

3. Also, one of my paintings is going really well and is about 80% finished. Pictures soon.


the end!

a moment of calm before the storm of teaching 7 classes

Lots to post about life and school, but gotta hustle my shit at work for serious. Finally switched over to writing/speaking classes and there's some running to be done.

Here's a jam for funzies:

(note: some lyrics may offend your sensibilities if you're of the persuasion to have offendable suches)

Mustachioed Seal-Turtle Hug

from my trip to Beomosa with Lizzie

That's some happy, right there.

Just had another wonderful weekend. Bought some girl clothes and some boy clothes, played The Game of Life with Lizzie, Lacey, and Jen, and splashed around in the stream near Beomosa (temple) with Lizzie. I like that.

I was VERY unhappy about my job last week. Now I'm ok with it. And to boot, because of aforementioned loveliness, I'm pretty calm about it.

When I got back to my place this morning, I was bopping around, unpacking from the weekend and getting ready to work on one of my paintings. Suddenly, I noticed that some of the cardboard next to my drawing table was damp and had some mold growing on it. I started moving things and found water had been leaking out of my air conditioner, behind the first layer of wallpaper, and onto the floor. I hadn't noticed the giant patch of green mold because of the protective wallpaper I had sticky tacked to the wall so I could hang up references and scribble everywhere without worrying about hurting the original wallpaper. I hadn't noticed the water on the floor because of the protective mat I had laid down so I woouldn't have to worry about dripping paint..

While the mold is gross and wallpapering in an air conditioning unit is stupid, I was pretty calm about that and just set about moving everything, cleaning, and taking all of the stuff off my walls. I'm used to drawings and paintings and writing everywhere but it would certainly startle the Koreans who would come in to fix things up, infinitely complicating the situation. And I dismantled my cardboard and duct tape shelves for the same reason. Once I normal some more things up tonight, then I'll tell my school about it tomorrow. And not use my air conditioner, which should be easy enough as I've never had one before anyway.

And now I'm back at work. The grand, sweeping curriculum changes have been delayed another week. Hanna quit last Tuesday and they seem to have replaced her already PLUS it looks like fluent-in-English-secretary is going to teach too, so we're FINALLY back up to 5 teachers (which hasn't happened since....mid/late January?). Just three classes today. I can deal. And they gots to pay me. And something fun might even sneak in the work day. If it's going to sneak in anyone's job, it's more likely mine that most, which is good to remember.

Life is good. I like that.

What the what?!

I've got a vacation that exists at all!!!!

I have a 5-DAY WEEKEND at the end of the month! THANK G-D!

It doesn't line up with Lizzie's vacation, which would have been nice, but on the other hand IT ACTUALLY EXISTS. And maybe we go visit Gwangju/Naju together!

Us guys on a boat in Ulsan. Photoshopped by Lizzie.
Jeolla Province ain't EVEN ready.

I ain't forgot where I came from!

Happy 4th of July, 'Mrrrca!

(mostly) Work (a touch) Blahrg(y)

Note: Doing a Google image search for "baby koala" when you're feeling cranky is a really, really good idea.

Back at work again, after a particularly wonderful weekend.

I've got a new desk at work...apart from the rest of the English department and across the room. I'm sat between two Korean teachers who don't speak English (which is fine....the English teachers can and that's what counts). The woman to my left teaches math and the woman to my right teaches...language arts? social studies? Translating her book titles with my phone dictionary was not particularly enlightening. Now, the women do talk about around me a bit, but it would have been funnier if they both taught the same subject. A real opportunity for comedy was lost here.

It's been made quite clear that any relationship whatsoever with my co-workers in the English department is not only not necessary, but it just ain't happenin'. It'd be nice to have more people to talk to in the place where I spend 1/5 of my life every week, but I've got Ran in reception and no relationships in the teachers' room is better than having negative ones. I wish there were other expats here sometimes, but at least I'm used to it.

And I'm quite glad that they've FINALLY hired back a 5th English teacher (she's getting my old desk).

I know that I'm hitting my 6-month-slump at work.  I'm pretty lucky to be in a field where I can move on after a year if I don't want to re-sign. Korea is good for my lack of attention span at the moment. Maybe I'll grow out of that.

The week is starting off fairly light, which I'm grateful for. However, I've got a good old fashioned Thursday with 8 classes in a row, something I victoriously proclaimed would never happen again after June 2nd. A lesson to be learned here is Don't Ever Say "Never Again. " I finally learned to not say that about working at McDonald's after being wrong about that TWICE.

Don't jinx your shit.

Next week starts the new schedule where I'm teaching writing and/or speaking rather than listening. I don't know what this new schedule will look like and it'll have loads more prep (at least at the outset). I better not get too cocky, thinking there won't be days with 8 classes.

I could have a maximum of 30 classes per week.
I could have 3 days each week with 8 classes.

WHAT'S MORE, my contract could technically say in Korean that I could have a maximum of 30 teaching HOURS per week, which comes out to 10 or 11 additional classes.

I could have 8 classes EVERY DAY.

They gots to pay me.

OH! I rode my bike from Lizzie's to mine SUCCESSFULLY today! I hugged the coast and it was just brilliant. Not everyone gets to ride their bike by the sea! Who knew that I'd get to? I was so proud of myself and the exercise felt really good. It only took about an hour to boot.

And a love box from my family arrived last week! SO GOOD.They sent me a watch and a video of Tyler in the school's musical, stuff to make s'mores, Taboo (the card game), a baseball card of Noah, Frank's Red Hot, and the checks that I had ordered. YEAH!  I roasted marshmallows over my stove with a chopstick (mom's idea) to make (supervised) s'mores on Skype.

I really do love almost all of my life. And that's pretty good. I'll take it!

-10 minutes later-
Holy shit! No classes today! The kids are testing!

Ok, time for a triangle of rice, tuna salad, and seaweed paper (samgap chamchi kimbap) and then doing some planning! THAT'LL ENERGIZE YA! ('til some surprise attack of made up "free talking" classes happens, ㅋㅋㅋ)

WHAT IS THIS POST?
PREOW!

Life's still good. Just don't feel like teaching today. Not much choice, so....

My face hurts from smiling. I am gonna be one wrinkled old lady someday.... BEST!

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE MY LIFE? Because I do. A lot.

A wise man once told me that when you're grateful for something, it's your duty to express that. And so I am.

I AM THE WINNER!

Baby Danger Photo Op

This really happened. Lizzie and I watched this scene from the second floor of a coffee shop and fortunately, I had my camera.

Also, lady near the bottom of the picture (mom?) is waving about a stick with a plastic poo on the end of it to make that baby in the street smile.

The poorly laid plans of mice on bicycles

My brain: If I ride my bike really fast in the rain with a hoodie on over my clothes, I won't even get wet.

Reality: If I ride my bike really fast in the rain with a hoodie on over my clothes, my pants still get wet and I'm a heavy, sopping disaster.


I will fight you, rainy season. You'll probably win though. Bopping about town, I'll just resign myself to getting soaked, then I'll throw on some dry shit at home and scoot to work real quick like on my bike.

We'll see how well that works out. Because I totally understand how things work.

James: Teacher, that's a special jacket you're wearing.
Me: It's not a jacket. It's a shirt.
James: Really?!
Me: Yes, it's a shirt with buttons.
James: So what is that?
Me: That's another shirt. I'm wearing two shirts.
James: Isn't it hot?
Me: A little.
James: Teacher, wear T-SHIRTS, not TWO SHIRTS.

My First Attempt to Bike from Lizzie's Apartment To Mine

It goes from right to left and the green bit is where I hopped on the subway.

Also, there was a tub of kimchi strapped to my bike during this trek.

My life is brilliant. ^_^

It's a Lespo, ㅋㅋㅋ.

I OWN A BICYCLE AND IT IS BADASS. I can get to work in like 5 minutes! Also, it's fun! WIN! (also, it's like secret exercise)

Thanks for helping me make up my mind, Sujin, Lacey, and Stephanie. Yeah!

Edit: Being an impulsive spaz, I thought I had made up my mind not long after making a blog post asking if I should get a scanner or a bicycle. I decided on the scanner and deleted the post. Well, votes came in anyway and Grandma Nat was on Team Bicycle, too! Yeah!

Also, on my ride home, I learned that I should carry my laptop in a backpack, not strapped to the rack on the back. ooops. Sir Stewart is a trooper, that's for sure.

'Tis the Season...for REALLY boring posts, apparently.

1. The kid who lived in America* (Jeong Hun) is ADORABLE and a fucking joy to teach. After my initial hissy fit, I felt really productive prepping and was getting pretty excited to meet this kid. AND THEN I DID AND IT WAS BRILLIANT. I am winner.

*He lived in Georgia for two years (he doesn't have a southern accent on top of his Korean accent, sadly).

2. I just made my first EXTRA PAYMENT on my loans!!! I looked at my pile of AES loans and singled out the one with the highest interest rate and highest remaining balance and straight up knocked some serious dollas off the principle.

Dear 08/24/2007 Federal Stafford Loan,

I will destroy you.

Kisses!

-Tamara

Ain't that the way?

"Special Camp" is cancelled! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

"oh, Korea" doesn't even begin to cover it.

However, a wise man once told me that "in Korea, nothing's really happening until 10 minutes after it's actually started." So, we'll see if this whole thing is really called off.

IT'S FRIDAY. YEAH.

Time to answer e-mails and read Tank Girl. For the next 5 hours. And get paid for it.

edit @ 4:16pm: Yeah, I know they're paying me and all, but they're REALLY determined to make me work while I'm here. Haha, I got lucky with the last test prep period in April when they mostly left me alone. 


So, 30 minutes after finding out that Campapalooza is off, there's suddenly a 9th grade boy who lived in the States that I've got to teach from 7 until 10pm. Man, I could have come in an hour later today. Ah, oh well. At least there are actually books (TODAY....if he's too advanced for the books we have, I've got to find him new ones) and some semblance of a plan for this, so I can deal. Still better than the schedule that was going. AND this isn't happening on top of those camps.


Alrighty. That's enough of the work updates. That's no fun for you.

Thank you, Crack Coffee

3 Words: PAPER MACHE SHARKS

Also this is cool:

Oh, Korea.

My job is ridiculous. More to the point, my school is a disorganized, chaotic clusterfuck that's hemorrhaging students.

And it's kind of cracking me up. It's my job right meow to think of as many exciting and fun activities as I can for the next three weeks, without paying teaching methodology any mind whatsoever. Learning English is not really the goal here....tricking kids into thinking this hagwon is fun is the goal.

They pay me for this.

The director has also made if very clear that my "freetalking" classes are supposed to rejuvenate the elementary student population. I'mado my best to make the classes fun, but I'm certainly not taking this monkey show's bottom line on as my responsibility. (Also, it's important to note that getting another foreign teacher is a colossal pain in the ass for a hagwon)

That's that for now. Time to scribble a million activities in this notebook and pretend I don't hear my name or "freetalking" about a bajillion times today.

p.s. CALLING ALL READERS: Please send along any kids' craft projects that you know of! Think I already thought of that? WRONG. I am daft and I did not think of that. Comment on this post or e-mail me!

Happy June!

[ http://tamzprojects.blogspot.com/ ]

I'm (still) a lucky girl.

I had a great birthday!!!! I got cards, e-mails, cake, and gifts, including my first, very own 45! It's [ "Gay Pirates" by Cosmo Jarvis! ]. Ran and the other girls at the front desk got me little gifties and sang to me in the lobby and Lizzie brought me dinner. So many Happy Birthdays happened. It was lovely.

Ah, simchah.

Ok, time to do some work now. Also, two more days until June, when my life will only be work and art (resting on Saturdays). That's that.

I seem to be on top of the pile at work!

In under an hour, I get to run home and have some birthday time!

Right meow, life is good!

이런 젠장!

It was KGF's birthday! We ate noodles and cake!

That's a $6000 traditional Korean suit!

Also, KGF's out of the game! Now he's working for a remodeling company and at a temple in Daegu. I'm so glad. While gangsters are cool as shit to the 13-year-old boy in my brain, they're not so cool to the part of me that knows that gangsters hurt real people. That and his work was giving KGF a massive bout of depression and insomnia. His younger brother is still in it and that worries him, but he seems more relaxed.

I walked home around midnight and Ran was adorably worried about me. She told me to text her when I got in and very sternly advised "NEVER TALK TO ANOTHER MAN" meaning "don't talk to strangers." It was the cutest. 

We made cookies today in school. EVERYONE was stoked. Adorable.

Korea's pretty damn cute for the moment.

I'll take it!

Last week, blogspot maintenance kept me from putting up the WHINIEST post known to mankind (mank+ind) about how I wanted to quit my job (Lacey and Lizzie got the brunt of that pity party instead...poor things).

And now! Not only am I prepared (in great part thanks to the DELUGE of awesome materials that Lizzie sent me) to teach writing and speaking classes rather than listening (pop in the tape! check the answers!) BUT!!!!! the month of June is EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY. I've got until July to continue prepping that up. YEAH. AND DECENT WRITING BOOKS ARE IN! YESSSSS!

So, the middle schoolers will be prepping for finals all of June, a process that the foreigner has no part in at my hagwon. .shrug. Yeah, ok. I'll just play with the littles again all month and pretend that middle schoolers don't exist. bwahaha.

EFF YOU, PUNCTUATION AND CAPITALIZATION.

I'm Tamasa Beldon. Do what I want.

some pictures of my littles

SWEEEEEDING

The clip the kids used:

The finished project video:

Life is mostly awesome! I like that!

On Skype with Sujin this past Tuesday, I was explaining "gifted" and suddenly realized that it's a neat word.

Also, 3-way video chatting with my family at home and my sister at college is THE BEST. But calling Tyler "Alice" just confuses the poor dude. bwahaha.

Also, also, sometimes it's a good idea to remember that I live in a strange little country on the other side of the planet. I should stop expecting things....end of sentence, I think.

Sushi Advert

Puppies: What're they so pleased about all the damn time?

If you're an ESL teacher, you already know that Apples to Apples is a lifesaver in the classroom (as are half a dozen other board/card games...I've just requested the card game Taboo in my next package from home). For this contract in Korea, I brought the family version of the game ( 1 ) because the words used are simpler and include fewer obscure cultural references. ( 2 )

So, in class, you can play these games as they're intended or dismantle them and make up 100 other activities based on the number and level of your students. A few weeks ago, I played the single student ( 3 )  version of Apples to Apples with Chaelin. ( 4 )  I flipped over an adjective card and Chaelin matched as many of her noun cards to it as she could. If she could explain how each card matched by giving an example, she got a point and the next round began. With a time limit and prizes, it's a pretty successful activity.

Favorite Round:
Adjective card = Delicious
Proposed noun card = Sleep

Me: I agree! But tell me why.
C: Because when I eat delicious food, I feel happy. When I sleep, I feel same way.
Me: Perfect! You got the point!

/ (Abrupt)End of Anecdote

DIGRESSION BOX (you're welcome).

1. A recent Google image search revealed that there is, in fact, a Jewish version of the game as well. 

2. Of course us Belden kids sat 'round the table, a brappin' away, and gave the cards the ol' one-two before my departure. Grood times.

3. Single student classes still crack my ass up, by the way. They do present some unique challenges, mostly keeping that one student from getting terrifically bored of you, but it's INFINITELY easier than a monkey scramble of 35 kids.

4. Her name is apparently spelled "Chaerin" in English, I've just learned, but I hate the way those letters look together. It sounds more like an L when it's spoken anyway. Well, it sounds like an ㄹ, really...

Super Ted

Me: Have you ever given money to help someone or something?

TED!: No.

Me: Is there anything you'd like to give money for?

TED!: No.

Me: Why not?

TED!: Because it's mine.

Me: Ok. How about if your friend had cancer and couldn't afford treatment?

TED!: I would go to the bank and get him...uh..."대출"... 머지? (What is it [in English]?)

Polly: A loan

Managed to get excellent footage of Jacob walking across the desks when I was out of the room.

Filming started today. And handing off my camera to a pack of childrens is proceeded by a very thorough series of instructions...

Sweeding Update

I forgot how much 1. group projects, 2. conducted in a second language, and 3. involving students of varying age and levels of fluency are like HERDING ALL THE CATS.

But man, do I feel good.

This week, I love my job. G-d willing, next week I will too. And I'll have the energy to keep trucking for a while after that. Especially with the red days (national holidays) coming up in May! Also, communicating regularly with my coworkers is SUPER helpful. I LIKE THAT.

ok, time for a food, I think.

A surefire way to love your job!

We're [ sweeding ] again!

Yeah!

Last summer:

Oh fine...it's not a hiatus then. It's...posting shorter and less frequent updates.

Koreans love white skin.

I feel like we're lucky the symbol for Buddhism didn't make its way onto this bottle. I also feel like "white power" will eventually (if it's not already) be the name of some whitening product.

GOOD GRAVY.