My Birthday

So, again Michelle is yelling at me about not keeping up with my blogs. So I am sorry to everyone that reads my blogs (which I believe at this point is a record high of maybe three people). I will now try to catch you up...

So there are many things that I want to write about and I do not know where to begin. I guess we can start with my birthday, which was amazing by the way.

Friday evening (my birthday's eve): The night begins at Bauhausa where there is a buffet and unlimited drinks from 9:30 pm till 1:00 am for only 15,000 won (about 13 dollars or so). We have been to this place multiple times and always is a great way to start off an evening. About 15 or 20 people end up coming here and we all eat and then are wondering what we are supposed to do for the next few hours besides drink and mingle. So, we decide to entertain ourselves by playing charades, very very random charades that is. If anyone who reads this hung out with me over winter break of my sophomore year of college you know how much i LOVE charades. However, I realized I am not as good without certain substance stimulation. I think I ended up guessing two, Meghan however was the bomb (yes i did). Though I was not very good I still had a wonderful time watching people make an ass out of themselves and listening to the random guesses of the audience.

1:00 am: We of course stay until we are getting kicked out and then decide to head to this bar called "The Beatles". I have been to this bar multiple times and really enjoy it because of their extensive selection of good music on vinyl, and they take song requests. However, the song request bit is a little sketchy at times which means that maybe half of your songs get played. I was very adamant on this occasion that the songs that I wanted to hear be played. I am sure most of you can guess the two songs I really wanted to dance to ("This Must Be The Place" - The Talking Heads (which Burgundy actually requested for me) and "Shakedown Street" - The Grateful Dead). While these songs played I convinced a few people to join me in the open space in the bar (the makeshift dance floor, kinda like in front of the jukebox at Mcnally's) and we all shook our tail feathers. Things here on out start to get a bit blurry.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning: We head to the nicest Noraebong I have ever seen. If you are wondering what a Noraebong is the first word I would use to describe it is Infuckingcredible. Noreabong: a room that you and your Friends rent out by the hour where you sing karaoke and get scored by the television. There are also flashing lights in the room and tambourines for the individuals who do not have the microphone at that time. Best moment of my evening: Meghan requests "Nobody" by the Wondergirls for her and I to sing. We rock the shit out of that song, which is predominately in Korean. Then we await our score that is given to us by the televisions scoring device based on how well we sang the song.........100%. Mind you we do not know Korean or the words in the song but still somehow we were perfect. Through out the night the crowd is continuously dwindling until it ends up being Meghan, Steven, Evan and I. For the last hour of being there the four of us sat and sang songs by ourselves. Meghan and Steven would sing a song then Evan and I would. It was ridiculous, Meghan did not want to leave. Finally around 6, 7, or 8 in the morning we all decided we had sang our sweet little hearts out and that it was time to head home. The whole night was amazing and I had so so much fun.

Saturday (My actual birthday):

Hungover.

I end up making it out around nine or so. A few of us go get some dinner then the plan is to head to this event called "The Wild Women's Performing Arts Festival" where all the proceeds went to promoting gender equality in Korea. I found this event on the Internet about 2 weeks before my birthday and was so so excited about it. At first we could not find the venue so we missed a lot of the show but we finally ended up making it. We got to see this all girl Korean grunge band called Juck Juck Grunge. They were amazing and totally hot. After the show we went to a different bar where I proceeded to be a little too drunk for my own good due to the multiple shots of tequila that I ingested. I do not remember much of the rest of the night but I do know that I ended up losing my cell phone.

Funny story: after leaving the second bar a few of us decide to hop in a cab so we can all get home. While in the cab my friend Evan (who is actually from Columbia which is crazy) gets a phone call from some guy saying that he found a cell phone, that Evan's number was in it and asked if he knew who's it was. The guy starts naming off other names in the phone and Evan is like yeah I know that person.... but I have no idea who's phone you have. I am sitting next to him, oblivious to what is happening (I am assuming, I actually have no recollection of this). Turns out the guy had found MY cell phone and I had no idea I had even lost it. Sometimes I am such a fool. I ended up meeting up with the guy a few days later and getting my phone back, thank you Luke (the guy that found my phone).

Overall, my birthday weekend was amazing and I had such a wonderful time. I would like to also write about my ski trip, homo hill, all of my new found friends, and meg's birthday. However my hands hurt so that will all be saved for later.

XOXOXO

Also I have no idea how to move my pics around on my blog so that's why they are very sporadic.

P.S. If you are wondering who the guy is making that sweet dance move in one of my pictures, that is Dave, he is Canadian and amazing.

Greetings from Seoul. How are all of you doing? I, first and foremost, want to thank the brave seoul who became my first blog follower. So, thank you Jamie, now I at least feel like I am not writing this for only myself. I am still awaiting the first brave seoul to actually write a comment on one of my blogs. So everyone cheers to Jamie, you win the prize (sorry, Jamie you will probably not receive the prize for about 11 months but keep looking forward to that day, oh and also give Taylee a big hug for me). Moving on....

I am again at work on my three and a half hour break. I have decided that this will routinely be my blog time because I have absolutely nothing else to do. Earlier at work today I received my Alien Registration Card aka ARC Card ( I am not sure why there is a C when you actually say the word card, but that's neither here nor there). Turns out, my little brother was indeed correct all of these years, I am actually an alien. Props to you Joe, props to you.

I mention the ARC card because it is a big life changer for me, here in Korea. These are the things I can do with my ARC card that I could not do before: obtain a cell phone (this is not entirely true I actually got a working phone yesterday but I was circumventing (when pronouncing this word in your head please think of Jobe from Arrested Development) the law), I can get Internet at my house (again not entirely true, I have been stealing Internet from my neighbors but it is shitty and I can not accomplish the things I want to accomplish such as talking to my family on Skype), and lastly I can get cable. This is something I am not sure that I will actually purchase. Back in good ole Columbia I hadn't had cable for over a year so I am used to not watching television. But I do get bored in my studio (aka dorm room) style apartment sometimes, so I dunno.

Quick official business: For all of you that are just dying to hear my voice, download skype and as soon as I get non shitty Internet we can speak to each other for free. Also, as soon as I purchase a new computer that has a web cam you would be able to see my face when we talk. Totally exciting, right? My skype name is Jennifemagnew7

Anyways, I officially have the easiest job in the world. If any of you want to travel half way around the world and you have a degree, I highly recommend doing this for a year. I work Monday through Friday for seven hours a day. Each day I have two to four classes, each class is 70 minutes long. So the rest of the time I am in the teachers office making lesson plans (which literally takes 5-10 minutes for each class) and after that I just spend my time playing on the Internet. This job is such a breeze compared to my prior one, where I had to keep a smile on my face no matter how big of an asshole a customer was (for some reason also when I served tables my voice changed to this high pitched really annoying tone that I despised and I am so happy I never have to hear that here). Don't get me wrong I miss Flatbranch a lot but I am happy to be here

There is one fairly big problem with my job here. The won (Korean money) is doing horribly. So, when I wire money home to pay bills such as student loans I am actually losing money. So that blows a penis (kinda like the movie Transformer 3).

In my last blog I promised to tell of the best work banquet ever. So here goes.... The day before New Years Eve I get told that there is a work banquet the next morning and I need to be somewhere at 9:30am. Kind of upsetting to hear because I wasn't planning on having to work until three that day and I wanted to get a good nights sleep in, so that I could party all night long on New Years Eve. Obviously, I had my priorities straight. Also, I was a little upset because I get told about this the day before it was happening. Again, just a lack of communication from my company that leads to me being a bit disgruntled.

We arrive at the banquet around 10am (keep in mind that I do have to teach children later this same day, everyone at the banquet does). The whole room is set up similar to that of a wedding reception. There is a buffet, a stage, linen on the tables, and free booze. The center piece of each table was an array of drinks which ranged from soda to Soju (weak Korean vodka). Now, let me be clear, not everyone broke into the alcohol, however we did. Truthfully, most of the banquet I was extremely bored because the whole thing was in Korean. There were, however, two things that were amazing. 1. As you may have guessed, shots of Soju and 2. Five Koreans getting up on stage and reenacting the video for The Wondergirls song "Nobody". This is by far the most popular song in Korea by one of the two most popular bands in Korea, the other being Big Bang. I was going to put a link to the video but I got confused. So, you can YouTube it if you are at all interested. The picture at the top of this post is of the performance. It was amazing and I had the hugest smile on my face the entire time.

After downing a couple shots of Soju and a few bears I than had to go to work and teach children. I was smart enough to not get hammered, so the teaching part was fine. But I do think it is ridiculous that drinking was not only acceptable to do before going into work, it also was somewhat encouraged. This would never happen in America, especially if you are a teacher.

Well I am again tired of writing. I hope all is well with everyone. I love you.

Imagine Me Wrapping My Arms Around You!

So, I have recently been told that I have not been keeping up with my blogging in a timely manner. So I have a 3 and a half hour break at school today so I am going to update you on all of my crazy Korean adventures. There is, however, one problem with updating my blog at school and it is this: I can not spell check any of this because this computer's settings are all in Korean which makes doing anything on the computer fairly difficult. Therefore, there are going to be some mistakes. Sometimes I am just not the greatest speller, I am by no means the greatest typer, and truthfully I am too lazy to meticulously go through this entire blog and check for spelling and gramatical errors. My apologies.

Moving On. Let us begin with Christmas Eve. Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Well, except for the bedbugs that I am unsure if I have. Somewhere around Christmas Eve I found two sets of bug bites on my arm and my shoulder. I then proceeded to research these bites that I had encountered and the most promissing suspect was bedbugs. I don't know if you know anything about bedbugs but they are not easy to get rid of and I would have no idea where to even begin here in Korea. I have not yet been bitten since but supposedly they can go with out feeding for up to a year if they need to. But lets all just cross our fingers and hope that my bites were a fluke caused by some bug outside my apartment entirely.

On to a lighter note; the drunken dabauchery that was Christmas Eve. (Upon googling dabauchery to see if I spelt it right the definition said: "orgy; a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity." Sorry to let you all down but the only words from that defintion that pertain to my Christmas Eve are "excessive drinking.") Anyways, on Christmas Eve I worked until ten and then began my evening by going out with some of my co-workers to a bar in my neighborhood called "The Wa Bar". This bar has a fairly wide selection of imported beers, so obvoiously my sort of place. However, the one beer I am craving the most and the one that I have yet to find in Korea they did not have (for those of you wondering I am looking for some sort of pale ale; anything with some hops, IPA anyone?). After "The Wa Bar", Burgundy and I headed to Itaewon, which is the foreign district in Seoul. I beleive we made it to a couple of bars there, but truthfully upon getting to Itaewon my memory gets a little fuzzy. Here's what I do remember: a non-stop drunken dance party to many of my favorite Christmas songs that lasted all night long. In case you are wondering my favorite of all the songs and the one I remember most is "All I want for Christmas is You". The night ended with the sunrise around 7am, taking the subway home, singing Christmas carols in the subway station with Doug and Burgundy (which I nor Burgundy remembered until watching the video of us doing this and of all the Koreans going to work looking at us like we were crazy) and finally passing out in my hopefully bugless bed.

Christmas Day: After the excessive partying of Christmas Eve I was in no shape to have an eventful Christmas day. I woke up around 2 or 3 with a splitting headache, then layed in my bed and watched "Arrested Development" (thank you for that Crader) for a couple hours. Burgundy and I then decided to go get dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Yes, I, the once vegertarian the now pescatarian ate at an Outback Steakhouse for the first time in at least 5 years. It was actually satisfying, it was good to have some food that resembled American food after being here for a few weeks. After dinner, Burgundy and I went and saw a movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still". I would not recomend this movie to anyone in the States but it was enjoyable nonetheless. That night I went home, turned out all the lights and watched, "It's a Wonderful Life", the epitome of all Christmas movies. It was a bit depressing to watch it all by lonesome and not sitting next to my mom, but it also made it feel like it was actually Christmas.

Well, I was going to write about my New Years Eve because it started at 10am with the greatest work banquet I have ever attended (Make sure when reading you highlight banquet because it would never compare to The Flat Branch Picnic or Prom). But, I am tired of writing for now so it will just be saved for next time.

I love and miss you all so so much. Imagine me wrapping my arms around you.

So i have come to realize that I really like teaching. I know for a while I was on that whole I hate kids thing but as of the past few months my feelings have been changing ever so slowly. Don't get me wrong I still do not know that I would ever want one but other peoples children can be tolerable at times. Also all of the Korean children have been very respectful and better behaved than most American children I have met. It is only the first week of school so my assumption is that I make them nervous and as soon as they get a bit more comfortable they may act up a bit more, but so far so good.

Though I do like teaching so far, dealing with the company I am working for is an entirely different story. Obviously, half way across the world people think about things differently which has led to some frustration on my end. I have never worked for a company or business that is more unorganized than Olympiad. I, by nature, am a very unorganized person, however I like my goals that I need to accomplish to be set in stone and I will then easily accomplish those goals in my own unorganized fashion. When I don't even have set goals I have no idea where to begin and I become very stressed out and that is how this business has been working thus far.

For example I started teaching this Monday, so last week I had two days of training. The first day of training they tell us that at 5pm we will receive the books we will be using to teach this semester. So around 5pm books do arrive, however we come to find out they are not actually we will be using. So we began training, which includes making lesson plans, using books that we probably will not be using in class. Seems pointless right? Well the next day, of course, the right books are supposed to arrive, they do not. We then get told we need to make a syllabus for the semester. Though we don't know what books we are supposed to be using or even what classes we will be teaching. So they are giving us tasks that need to be accomplished with out giving us the material needed to accomplish them. We finally end up getting the correct books the day we begin teaching. Everything turned out fine because we had a couple hours to make the lesson plans but the whole process was completely stressful. This is just one example, things like this happen ever day, multiple times a day. Today before I even go to work I have someone from my job ask me for my diploma, which I sent to the school from America a month before I left and have not seen since. Then they look at me all confused like I am making this up when it is a well known fact that the Korean government has to see your diploma before they give you a work visa. So now today when I get to work, instead of working on my lesson plans I am going to have to call multiple individuals and try to figure out where my diploma is.

Sorry that this blog is just filled with bitching but I needed to vent. Don't get me wrong I love Korea, and if this is the biggest obstacle I am going to have to overcome while being here I know that I will still be overly happy most of the time. Just a little stressed out every once in a while. Well I have to go to work now. Love you and miss you all.

Korean Fuzz

I actually wrote this a few days ago and had it on myspace but have decided to change to blogspot for future blog happenings. So if you already read it, my bad.


I am sitting on the subway coming back from my second and final day of training to teach English and there are hundreds of people surrounding me, talking, laughing and just staring at each other as I am. Their conversations are so foreign to me that all I hear is fuzz. To my western ear the only thing that comes to mind when I hear the woman on the subway speaker is the movie Battle Royal. For anyone that has seen this movie, they know it is this incredible Japanese film about elementary children being forced to kill each other by the government in order to win a yearly competition. This competition began to keep Japanese youth in line. The children are told the rules of the competition by an ecstatic Japanese woman on a television and the woman on the speaker in the subway sounds very similar. I wanted to emphasize that I only think this because I am hearing it with my western ear. Japanese and Korean people speak different languages, have different accents, and different customs, etc, but to me it is the only relation that I can make at this time. The woman on this speaker is the only thing that I can relate some sort of familiarity too when trying to listen to the Korean people speak. It's not that I recognize any words, or even that I should be making this comparison but it is all that I have to go on right now. In the three and a half days I have been here I have learned about 6 phrases which include: Can I have a beer please (maekju juseyo; that's how it sounds phonetically I have no idea how this or any words look in Korean script), Thank You (com sa ni da), Hello (Anyeong ha say oh), etc.

So, to say the least everything is different, but very exciting. Though I feel lost most of the time it is refreshing to not have any idea what is going on around me. I am an alien here but I am an alien that everyone around me wants to learn about. It is a very odd feeling to be the minority especially in a place like this. Since being here I have only seen two Caucasian people walking on the street. (I have seen other Caucasian people but they were my friends or fellow teachers). Besides that every single person I have seen has been Asian. So, obviously I stick out like a sore thumb. Every where I go people stare at me. Not in a bad or good way but in a curios way. It is a very odd feeling since in America in most physical aspects I would be considered average looking, or for lack of a better term, normal. Therefore, I never received too many glances or attention and was able to fit in with a crowd. When I walk down the street here, heads turn and people that know even the slightest bit of English want to talk to you because you are respected because you are white and can speak the English language. Don't get me wrong I am no stranger to white privilege I have grown up having more opportunities only because the color of my skin. But it is interesting to realize the great privilege I have in an international sense because I am a native English speaker from America. The company that hired me is no longer hiring teachers from any country but the United States, not even Canada.

So though at times I feel very lost and alone I know that I am very privileged to be hear in the first place. The people here could not be any more polite or respectful and that is making my slow immersion in to this culture an easier journey. I have encountered some obstacles in being here, I am sure some of which I will bitch about later but as for now the good completely out ways the bad and I am having the most wonderful time of my life. Well good bye for now I need to get ready so I can go to Itaewon, supposedly the foreign district, so maybe I will find some familiarity to home there. I miss you all.