Welcome Back >_< - Tuesday August 26, 2008

I'm back in Korea. It was a long trip to get here.

I met a Korean guy who is a few years older than me in the Chicago airport on the way over. His name is John Lee. As I sat sadly trying to access free internet, he was in the next chair over talking to his mom in Korea. So, when he asked me if I knew Korean, I assumed it was because I was chuckling throughout his conversation. No, it was because of the Korean lettering I have placed on my computer keyboard.^^ He and I talked for almost an hour, almost to the point of me missing my final boarding time. It was my first sign that I'm going to be ok in Korea for a second year. I have been doubting myself, my ability to spend another year abroad...another year abroad in the exact same location. I only started doubting after I had been home for so long. You know that saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." It's not always accurate. The longer I was away from home, the longer I wanted to be away from home. The longer I was in Korea, the longer I wanted to be in Korea. The longer I was at home, the more I didn't want to go back to Korea. Strange how that works.

When I finally arrived in Korea after two layovers and another 24 hours of travel, I took a bus home to Wonju....home. Then I took a taxi. I got home at 12AM and my family was all up waiting for me.^^ Well, except my host brother...I jumped on him to say hello and he promptly fell back asleep. The whole family was so excited to see me that it was a wonderful welcome back.

The day after I got home, I decided to make dinner for them. My mom and I had thought long and hard about what I could make without an oven that would be very much an American meal. We came up with Tuna Noodle Casserole, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Hominy. It doesn't get much more American than that. My host brother and sister helped me cook!! My host father loved it, my host mother liked it, I think my host brother thought it was ok but got "full" very quickly ^_~, and my host sister hated everything about it. Haha! She didn't like ANYTHING. The hominy she didn't like because it wasn't corn, and the mashed potatoes and tuna noodle casserole she said was too greasy (that may be a poor mistranslation). So, she didn't eat. That's ok though. Just like there are foods in Korea that I don't like, there are foods from America that she doesn't like. It's just the way the world/human palate works.

*Sidenote: I just found out that my host brother did a report about making "Tuna Pasta" with me. So cute!

We've gone out to eat twice since I got home. Once with the whole family and once yesterday. Yesterday we went out in the pouring rain to get Kal Mandu Guk, my favorite!

I had my first day of school today. It wasn't good. I think that may be the understatement of my year here. I got to school to hear a multitude of things that slowly one by one almost pushed me over the edge. I discovered that I wouldn't be teaching first and second graders first semester like I had originally thought, and that I would instead be teaching 6th grade all year. This certainly rings a bell similar to that of the crap that I was put through a few days before I was to start teaching in March of my last Fulbright year. The principal, of course, is the only one to make the final decisions and not only does she keep everything she's thinking in her head and hers alone, she's not going to be back at school until Friday. I'm supposed to start teaching on Monday. My best teacher friend is the one who filled me in on the very vague details of what is to be my next Fulbright year. There will also be a teacher doing a new after school program. It's a non-standardized program through the Korean government (Mr. Lee Myung Bak's idea). I believe the program is meant for poorer students who can't afford to go to English academy. She will teach three hours each day after school, with only 20 students per class, and my friend decided to point out that this new teacher will still make more than me. Which is to say, mildly frustrating. I'll be teaching 20 classes of 40 each week which is a 5 hour increase from last year.

In good news, I found out that my school did in fact find me an apartment. I'm surprised to say the least that the school didn't, however, inform my host family that they had found an apartment for me. Things are just screwy with communication...as in...there isn't any. I got to go look at my one room and it's pretty nice. It's bigger than what I thought it was going to be. I have a small living room with a built in kitchen, a bedroom, a small balcony with a washer, and a pretty nice bathroom!^^ I'm sad to leave my host family, but I'm hoping that we'll be able to visit each other. I told my host sis that we should have a slumber party...after a few minutes of explanation...and a few word changes here and there to come up with sleep over...she was super excited. I'm also trying to figure out that whole cooking for myself thing, but that'll come with time. ^_~

I found out about the hour bump after getting back from my new apartment. I decided to leave school because I was getting angrier and angrier by the second. I talked to my host mom when I got home. She's so amazing! It was nice to just be able to talk about it with someone. I talked to a few more friends about it online. When I'm angry, I talk. It'll probably get me in trouble one of these days.

After dinner, I sat around with my host sister while she showed me magic tricks and I tried to get her to do her homework before school starts tomorrow.