Oy Vey

I really have become horrible at writing on my blog. Since the last time I updated...

I signed on for a second year with Fulbright. I was considering applying for a language program at a school near Seoul, but I decided that I wanted to try teaching for another year. I hope I made the right decision.^^ I'm still trying to decide whether I will stay in the same city or move to Seoul. It's a difficult decision for me. Each day I think something different. I could be happy staying in Wonju...I'm familiar with it, but part of me knows that I should be pushing myself to experience a new situation.

We had field day at school. Every single student and teacher were out on the dirt field. It was a massive event. It was fun, plus we got the day off from school! At one point the third in command below the Principal and VP decided that it would be a outstanding idea for me to announce some of the games in English. Um...the notes were in Korean, I had absolutely no idea what was going on because I spent the majority of my time hanging out with first graders, and nearly nobody would understand me even if I did announce anything in English...BUT it was their incredible idea to show off their native English speaker. ^_~

I've been spending time at the Sharing House (the house where 7 former "comfort women" live...the women who were taken as sexual slaves during WWII by the Japanese) a few times a month. We had training there a few weekends ago. We spent the night getting to know each other, eating dinner with the halmoni, just hanging out with one of the them, and falling asleep to the Vagina Monologues documentary that one of our friends put together of our show.^^ It was a good day. We slept on the floor in the main meeting room with the heating system under the floor (Oan-dohl - 온돌).

Two weekends ago, was an amazing weekend! Oh, it was so incredible! On Friday, I went to my usual Korean English meeting where I get to spend time with some amazing people, then I went to a going away party for a friend at a bar nearby. On Saturday, I went to the Sharing House . I'm still training as a volunteer. I'm hoping that soon I will be competent enough about the situation to give tours of the on-site museum. Anyway, I met 2 other people from Indiana, one from Iowa...I was shocked! That is the first time I had met ANYONE from Indiana in Korea!! We took a break after the museum tour because we had performers come to play for the halmoni (halmoni=grandmother...we don't use the term "comfort women" for the women). One of the guys who performed played guitar, the harmonica, and the banjo. He sang songs about politics, peace, and anti-war!! The other guy who performed is Irish and he sang Irish folk songs. They were both just incredible and it reminded me of being back at MC. I miss sitting outside, listening to music, and just the atmosphere of it all. Afterward, we all sat around talking to one of the halmoni. This halmoni hates everyone! She loves Japan (that's where she was taken as a sex slave) and she hates Korea (where she now lives) but she's Korean. She was all smiles on Saturday. We sat in a group talking with her as some of the other visitors watched a filmed testimony of another of the halmonis. There was such a diverse group of people hanging out. My Irish friend was speaking Korean and English, I was speaking Korean and English and the bit of Japanese I can remember, there was a guy from Tajikistan who knew Russian and sang a song with the halmoni in Russian (because somewhere she actually picked up a Russian song), there was a Mexican/American girl there who spoke Spanish and sang a Spanish song with the halmoni, there was a guy from France and the halmoni was angry that he didn't know the French song she did...haha. Afterward, we went to an Indian restaurant to celebrate my Kiwi friend's birthday. He was turning 35. The food was amazing! A few of us stayed until around 3AM just dancing and talking and drinking and hanging out with the owners of the restaurant. I hope that I see Dara (the Irish guy) and Manja (a Canadian/Indian who was helping cook but didn't actually work there) again. I along with my Kiwi friend and a Korean friend (she has lived in Korean, Saudi Arabia, India, and Mexico...she speaks three languages fluently) spent the night at the apartment of two of my Canadian friends who are dating. On Sunday, we all went back to the Indian restaurant and had brunch...we stayed there talking for about 6 or 7 hours. There was Manja (the hilarious, not so PC Canadian/Indian), the Canadian couple, Michael (He's from the states. He is interning at the Human Rights Commission in Korea. Then he is going to work in Chile for a year. Then he wants to apply for a Fulbright grant in Cambodia.), Maria (the Korean who lived in Mexico for a good portion of her life), and me. Haha! We talked about everything...

Oh...yah...I had my bday.^^ At school, the the first and second grade teachers, my co teacher, and another friend of mine surprised me with a cake and a few presents! It was amazing! I then had to be part of an open class (not my favorite thing because I always end up in random costumes and not completely knowing what I'm supposed to be doing). Well for their real life English situation, it was a party for me. There was a second cake.^^ Then my host mom offered to cook for my birthday and said I could invite 3-4 friends over...she kind of told me the day of, so I asked my co teacher and two other teachers, but only my co teacher was able to come. It was completely fine with me. I love my co teacher!! My host mom made spaghetti, salmon, broccoli, spicy shrimp deliciousness...it was a great dinner. I then went to English club. The topic was about English in Korea...for which I have many things to say. I attempted to keep my mouth shut, but that didn't work. At one point, a girl asked me about 4 questions right in a row somewhat in an attacking manner (she was new.) One of those questions being, "English native speakers don't have to learn another language, I hear they're proud of that. Is that true?" Uh....

Needless to say, I went to take a breather outside where another group was meeting. After that, Lauren, George, Alex, and I went to Beer Plus for a foreigners' trivia night. It was the first time I had been...I don't really feel the need to go again. I don't feel a great need to be around that many foreigners....nor do I have much of a desire to be around that many foreigners. It was a strange atmosphere...not bad...just strange. We stayed there for a short time and then went to Munchen bar where another friend of ours was having a bday party. Her bday was last weekend. I got to throw ice mugs at a wall!^^ If you hit the target, you get a free beer...alas I didn't hit the target. Oh, my favorite part was the two separate lines...one for the girls, and one for the men...yes I know how I phrased it...and if you know me at all you can imagine my reaction to that shit. Anyway, the night was fun. I spent a bit of time talking to Alex (from England) and Ryan (from Scotland). I got home around 3AM. I then had to wake up to take a 8:00 bus to Gwangju. Margaret, Rebecca, and I met at the Dunkin Donuts across the street from where we were presenting. We presented about Burma/Myanmar at the GIC building. We had about 30 or 40 people show up. The presentation went pretty well and we answered questions afterward. I was a little surprised at the lack of donations (we were collecting for the school we volunteered at as well as a monastery in Yangon that is in need of $28,000 for repairs). After the presentation, we went to a guitar concert. The guy performing is from France and he was AMAZING! I have become much more interested in watching guitar performers since I started studying guitar. I then went with Margaret to an annual concert being held by the GIC because the offered to continue collecting donations for Myanmar. Rebecca had to go home, but we stayed for the entire concert. I'm glad we went because we got quite a few donations!^^ Afterward, we went to WA Bar to hang out, karaoke, and celebrate Jacie's bday which was three weeks ago. We were there until about 3AM. We found a "love motel." ^_~ There were four of us who stayed there. I was supposed to get up at 5AM to head to the other Gwangju to go to the Sharing House, but I couldn't do it. The bus ride would have been another 4 hours. So, I let them know that I couldn't make it even though I'm really sad I didn't go.

Anyway...that's my life in a nutshell at the moment.