Concerning New Years

Happy 2010 to one and all! Last week was head spinningly insane. We had a short, intense 3 days to close out the December session and wednesday was the big finale and my most demanding work day to date. It started with me arriving about 5 minutes later than I normally do to work (but still with 20 minutes to spare before we were due to leave for our field trip with the kindies...) and in the elevator, I was greeted by my kids going the opposite direction down to the bus without me and a flurry of teachers flying amongst them. I barely had time to cast my pashmina and purse to the winds (OK fine my desk) before sprinting down and catapulting on the first bus that would have me. Then, and only then, did my brain have the space to belatedly hope that all of my kids were in moving vehicles bound to a similar destination as I was. In a tardy Christmas miracle, all arrived in one piece to this law park dedicated to teaching kids about emergency services and safety. It started off with this pretty funny video that was instructing the kids on personal boundaries that was filled with these lecherous old grandpas trying to lure the happy rosy cartoon children over to their laps. All of the teachers were clustered in back trying not to lose it. As ever, I try and make an effort to be culturally sensitive but when it was followed up with a role playing demonstration....perhaps there are some insurmountable differences after all. After this video, the kids were all set loose to play on this huge, indoor, and incredibly instructive jungle gym that was very much related to the law. They went wild for it and for a good thirty minutes it was quite literally raining children. No broken bones to report, thank you very much, but that was more an act of god than any sort of efficient supervision.

After they had played themselves out (and that takes some doing, most of the kids were covered in sweat by the time they were done), we tottled back to school and had lunch. This is where my day really started to get crazy for several reasons. 1.) As the last day of the session, I had to finish all my evaluations for my kindies and afternoon students which means about 65 sets of individual comments. 2.) I had to update my curricula for my existing classes for the new session. 3.) This month, Korean kids have a break from school so we offer extra classes to take advantage of their free time. This means everyone's schedule is tweaked and meant that I also had to figure out what on earth I was supposed to teach in them on monday as they were brand new classes for me. 4.) Between this, I also had to grade 3 sets of tests and an assignment in time to enter in the scores online to complete their evaluation. Considering that I had literally no break that day and that this ALL was accomplished in the five minute increments stolen between every class, I was comatose by the time my last group rolled around. I could only muster enough energy to drug them with an extra strength word search and drink in the silence.

After I fled school for my blissful 4 day break, I met a friend for delicious galbi at our neighborhood BBQ place and watched part of "The Young Victoria" with her. New Year's Eve, I did absolutely nothing all day except sleep, read, and watch TV. I am not sure if I have mentioned the fact that my Korean drama interest has now spread to another show, "Boys Before Flowers" that has now abandoned any pretense of being a comedic drama and gone head first into the land of soap opera. And I love it. I managed to shower and get myself presentable in time to meet my friends at a bar downtown for New Years. We stayed there until about 12:30 and had streamers and music and sparklers for the moment. Then, we went and danced until about 3:30 at the nearby club we usually frequent, Cocoon. It is such a funny study of Korean culture I must say- there was a surprisingly good looking Korean guy who was dancing by me and with me a bit and who made the effort to shout a few conversational questions in broken English and was pretty obviously interested but then got embarrassed and ran away. This happens frequently (and not just to me I swear haha). Bizarre. Also, the current male club fashion is gaaaaaaaaaangsta. They took that particular subset of American culture and RAN with it to the point that one of the guys I danced with had a black pashmina completely wrapped around his face. Also, a good portion of the guys are in full coat and ski cap or scarf...in a club that is so sticky that it's raining sweat. Korean aesthetics never cease to amaze and amuse. So, despite the fact that I emerged with my eye makeup located somewhere roughly half way down my cheeks and my hair in sexy sweaty strings, it was a really nice night. I somehow decided when I got home that a shower, pizza, and The Office were just the thing so I didn't end up in bed until about 5. So...slept in next day and did nothing. Renee came over that night to finish The Young Victoria and then the next day we had a nice galavant about Daejeon. First, we walked (through a cold mist that turned out to be strangely pleasant) to the National Science Museum which was really cute. I payed all of a dollar to get in, and we walked past sculptural robotic zodiac transformers (yeah work that one out in your head) and went to a little planetarium show and then checked out the exhibits. Nothing breath taking but worthy of an afternoon. I think it would have been more than superficially entertaining had I known how to read Korean. As I do not....well, we fiddled around with a lot of buttons and saw some model dinosaurs. Next, we took a loooooooooong walk east along the river to the lauded "Expo Bridge" that is lit at night with messages like "I Heart Daejeon" and "Expo" and is a favorite among Daejeon couples. After crossing, we continued south past the huge art center that houses the biggest theaters in the city and past government complex and the school and E-Mart (the main supermarket wallmart type of establishment) to Indy. I had a delicious dinner of ghost sal (lamb, spinach, and spices) with garlic nan. Mmmmmm. We rolled home and watched Jane Eyre (OK after a dessert of a really rich yummy chocolate brownie cake thing that I discovered at Paris Baguette which was quite the find as Korea does. not. do. baked goods) and had another nice recooperative evening. Sunday was a little more productive, thank god, as my apartment was in sad need of attention at that point. I did laundry, grocery shopping, got some chile simmering on the stove (in DAEJEON, I am disproportionately proud of this- it feels a little like rediscovering the wheel haha) and then swept and mopped. Woohoo! Chad came over for dinner and 17 Again (thanks mom and dad!). I really watched quite a lot of movies this weekend. After he left, I started thinking about life outside of Korea and specifically, my plans for the future. I actually took my first real peak at a graduate school application and promptly ex-ed back out of it and sat down on the couch. Information overload. Also, I seem to have come to a little impasse with regards to getting my PhD that can be summarized in two persistently divergent thoughts. 1.) After going further and further away every time from Seattle to Whitman, England, and South Korea, I really want to catch my breath and plunk down. I crave Seattle to the point that I can't really see myself moving from the area again for the foreseeable future and I think that I've earned the time to put down some roots. UW is the only decent program within those boundaries. 2.) If I decide to go for this, I logically know that it is not really the best decision to limit myself so severely. Typical Becky would thoroughly research and narrow down the best schools but the problem is the second I do that, it means that my location preferences kind of have to go out of the window. Hmmm.

All told, these are by no means insurmountable barriers. In a way, it is comforting because it forced me to the one firm conclusion that I've made: at the least, I know this is a passion of mine that I love. No matter the future of it or the logistics, I know that part enough to have solid faith that I should pursue it in some form. The rest will get figured out, and hey! I still have 8 months here to do just that.

Other than that, nothing much to report. Busy busy busy bee as always and happily plunking along here! Love!! And PS- comments have grown sparse and I really enjoy them. Responses that assure me that people are on the end of this are always welcome!

Love,

B