Learning Korean, eating "chicken," and being content

Well folks, here we are at the end of week 2. On the one hand, it seems like I just got here and these two weeks have flown by! On the other hand, I've already done so much, learned a lot, met so many kids that I feel I've been here forever! Either way, I'm still having a great time. I have a touch of that pesty common cold that also likes to travel the world, but it's not that bad. Maybe I should wear one of those masks that people here wear! Some of them are so trendy. I think I would wear one with whiskers.

Monday was a bit of an overwhelming day. It marked the beginning of our February classes, which are not free but are still sample/promo classes. Some of the kids signed up for February have already signed up for the school but not all of them. I went to work at ten like I'm supposed to and sat around til around 11 playing on facebook and whatever, while the Korean teachers had a meeting and planned things, etc, as usual! It's not a problem, it's just one of the dilemmas of having foreign staff members. When they came in to tell us what we should be teaching for the next week+ two months we were basically drowned in information and books and planners and papers and stuff in Korean that I don't even know why they gave us!! On the schedule, I had four classes but since all the students signed up for my early class are only signed up for March, I only have three classes for this month! I just sat for a minute and stared at all the books that I had been given for only three classes! Once I got into the books and saw how easy it would be, my head stopped swimming just a little. I mean there are lesson planners and all kinds of help you could need. I was looking forward to find out which students from last week were gonna be back. I was extremely pleased to find out Fred was in my second class!! He was one of my favorites from the first week.
He's the one on the right here. The other one is Aidan. I hadn't met him before but he's truly adorable as well! This class is supposed to have more kids but for some reason they aren't coming! I'm ok with that because these boys are great. My last class also had a few of my kids from last week until a few of them were moved to another class. I still have a very smart student I had last week and she was the only one in the class without an English name. She wanted one and named her Lori :-) I thought it would be so fun and comforting to have students named after my best friends! I can't wait to name more students. Ha! She really loves her name a lot too.

Every once in a while there's an outdoor market set up next to the school. I wanted to go for a while now but I can't really figure out when they do it. I thought it would just be on Saturdays but then they had it on a Tuesday night or something and then on Thursday. Who knows! So I went Thursday night cause I really wanted some fresh fruits and veggies. It's the kind of place you barter but I wasn't planning on doing that since it would be almost impossible at this point! They had everything at this place. Clothes, all kinds of veggies, fruits, pancake type things, stuff I was too afraid to try, and a whole lot of fish! I mean just chillin and I swear some of it was eel. The whole eel. Lots of them. I couldn't decide what I wanted and I didn't really know how it worked. They have baskets or bags of stuff sittin out with something written in Korean and the price. One vendor made was laughin at me cause I was standing there tryin to decide if I wanted the apples or strawberries. For those of you who know me, I take forEVER to make decisions and I also do this thing with my mouth when I'm thinking. Just like, move it from side to side or something. I dunno. He was pretty hearty and jolly and thought I was amusing so we had a good laugh. See, laughing gaps all kinds of barriers!! So I thought I would test my Korean ordering skills with him. Turns out they just put the entire basket of displayed fruit, etc into a bag and the price is for all that! I'm talkin, I got a large bowl/basket of fresh strawberries for 5000 won. That's really good. Anyways, the guy asked if I spoke Korean ( I only knew cause I recognized "Hanguk"). I wish I did. Once I speak more Korean I'm gonna go back and talk to all those vendors! PS-those were the best strawberries I've ever had.

One day this week Aidan didn't come to class. I was still planning to teach the lesson to Fred but somehow he was able to distract me the entire 40 minutes by teaching ME! He was trying so hard to tell me something about his mother but I didn't understand. He taught me so much Korean that day though, so did the next class! I can now write and say LION in Korean:-) Success!! haha

I love it here and I love teaching but I'm constantly reminded that this is not the last stop for me. I have a calling, I have a purpose and I'm eager to get to that work. I've had a lot of opportunities to talk about Remember Nhu and why I was in Cambodia and what I plan to do. I went to church with Jennifer, one of the Korean teachers, and talked to her friend a lot that afternoon. I've just been reminded a lot of Cambodia, my girls and the work I know I was meant for, and I am so ready to jump in and be a part of the fight against trafficking. I know this is a part of that though, because I do have to pay off my loans and just because I'm not there yet (Kosovo, Cambodia, wherever) doesn't mean I'm not able to be involved. I've been on the lookout for any signs of brothels or trafficking but haven't seen anything. Apparently, this town changes at night. Joey was out really late and told me that it's almost like a red light district when the sun goes down! I was so sad to hear that. He said everything advertised is for the "juicy bars" and I've definitely heard of those. There are even the people standing outside trying to pull you in to their bar. Sounds like a red light district to me. Even though that reality was hard to hear, I realized I'm in the perfect spot. I can do something! I'm going to be searching for organizations around here to get involved with. There is no way I will stand back and be just another passive foreigner laughing that there are "juicy bars" in our myeon (town). I just pray that the Lord will show me where I can go, where I am needed here.

We were invited to go to Gyeongju (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongju) with the kindergartners on Friday. We had some sweet buses and lots and lots of kids! I think the kinder teachers are adorable (just think Hello Kitty and lots of giggling and silly dancing) and was glad I could spend a day as a tourist with these people. It took us about an hour and a half to get there and we saw the King's Tombs on the way. Pretty cool although they just look like big mounds or hills ha. It was a beautiful day and really cool to see this historical place. The kids were fun (I'm basically a celebrity amongst the entire kindergarten so...gotta love it hahaha) AND I was given a Korean name!! Just call me,

Min Chi (pronounced MIHN chee)

I stayed most of the day with one class who kind of claimed me OR held me hostage. Whichever. But how can you resist these faces? That's my hand they're holding/breaking. Well blah blah it was a great day and I was so exhausted but still had to teach my last class! We made it back to the Academy around 4:45 and it was enough time to catch Fred, Aidan, and another kid named Harry playing before they went home. The genuine happiness they displayed at seeing me really gives me so much joy. Have I told you how much I love being "Erica Teacher?" :-) Even though I was exhausted, Lori and Jeffrey's class went smoothly and quickly. They're very smart.


Ok. The "chicken" story! I've kind of let some dirty dishes pile up in the sink and I didn't feel like washing anything before I cooked and ate, and actually I didn't feel like waiting to eat while I cooked! I've seen this chicken wing place that is between my school and my apartment and decided I should try it. It's all takeout so I knew I wouldn't have to try to explain I want it to go. It was actually more expensive than I had expected but they man was already talkin to me and showing me a menu and trying to explain things so I didn't want to be rude! I wanted this one and ordered it but he kept pointing to another one saying it was "yummy yummy" and gesturing and making noises and a face to tell me the one I wanted was spicy! I couldn't help but laugh. I decided to go ahead and get it. DUMB! I love spicy food, but I felt like my lips were on fire, my nose was a waterfall, and my tongue was twice the size! On top of that, I'm pretty sure there were marshmallows in it and not the broccoli and carrots that were pictured! I kept eating though, determined to work through the pain! Then, I came across something creepy. Now most of the wings looked like chicken, tasted like chicken, I was pretty sure it was chicken especially since it was a chicken restaurant!! But there were three specific "wings" that were....just not chicken. I couldn't even look at them anymore. I had to hide them! For your viewing pleasure I will post the picture I took! This is not for those with weak stomachs...
Hmmmm.....I was just happily eating the super spicy food and I picked this piece up, stopped, and thought..."oh no....."
But thankfully I did NOT vomit last night nor did I dream of the bones coming alive and attacking me in the middle of the night. Two things I was worried about before I went to bed!

WHEW! That is one long post! I hope a few of you made it to the end! I always have so much to say:-) I will leave you with something I just learned.

Instead of saying "good luck" or something like that, people say "FIGHTING!" With a sweet fist pump. Jennifer was just over here and saw I was working on my TEFL certification (still) and said, "Fighting!" It was pretty awesome. "Good luck" is just hoping things go your way however much you put into it or don't. But "fighting," that means you work hard, you overcome adversity, you actually fight for what you want.

So my friends, thank you for reading and for putting up with the picture to the left. There are lots of picture on facebook so check that out. As always, I'm fighting the fight and will continue to fight for justice. There's no luck when it comes to justice in this world. That is something we have to fight hard for and it's not going to be easy. It's going to be a continuous fight that takes all our manpower, strength, passion, emotion, LOVE. Fight for what you believe in. Don't leave it up to luck.

Always FIGHTING,
Passionate Min Chi