This week has been full of ups and downs. The children have been acting SUPER crazy this week, to say the least. Last Saturday Sujin came to my apartment and we had lunch and then she took me to get some medicine from the doctor. Thank God for that woman because she takes GREAT care of me. She also brought in a humidifier and lots and lots of tea. The funny thing about Sujin is she will always take me to eat somewhere I can get American food, even though she HATES it. She took me to Pizza Hut and I had to explain to her, "We can eat Korean food I don't mind". After lunch we went to the doctors when I was informed I am having bad allergies due to "yellow dust" which is just dirt that is blown over here from China, it last about 3 weeks. So the good news is I know whats wrong, the bad news is I still have 2 weeks to go :(. I got some medicine and a mask to where lol, which is extremely difficult to breath in, so we will see how thats works.
The children were so crazy this week! During one of my 5th grade classes this week one of my students was out of her seat. I asked her to sit down twice, then I walked over to her to walk her to her seat, can someone PLEASE tell me why this little girl swung on me?? I had to ask the Lord for guidance not to KILL this little girl! I grabbed her chin looked her sqaue in the eye and said " DON'T you EVER in your YOUNG LITTLE LIFE try and hit Tasha teacher again! Do you understand me?" I was soooooo mad! I could not believe her. The next day in another one of my 5th grade classes, one of my students says, (as he is pointing to his lap and back to another student) "teacher, she is a ummmmmmm a testicle" I was ROLLING! I tried to be the adult in situation, but that was too funny. Oh man, I am STILL laughing about that one. The kids were cutting up! The next day one of my 3rd grade students came up to me and said "Tasha teacher, I love you" I was so taken aback by that. It was so sweet! So that made up for all the crazy kids this week. Sujin and I had a pretty wild conversation today that I just HAD to share, this was our conversation:
Sujin: "Tasha, in America do white people only like white musicians and black people only like black musicians" Me: "Well, no it depends on the person really" Sujin: " Oh because I saw a Taylor Swift concert and she only had white people there" Me: " Yeah Taylor Swift is a country singer, so she does have a large white fan base, but I am sure she has some black fans too" Sujin: " Oh, so what kind of music to black people listen too?" Me: " Sujin that really depends on the person, a lot of black people like Jazz, R&B, rap, but some like country, rock and alternative music too" Sujin: " Ok, Tasha are you a rapper?" Me: "ummmmm no"
The fact that she even asked me if I was a rapper slayed me! I was cracking up, mostly because she is so innocent and doesn't know any better. Who knew Tasha the rapper BABY! On the ones and twos out here making hits from SOUTH KOREA!!!!!!!!!! I am super GEEKED about this weekend John Legend concert!!! I cant wait! That's all for now. Still Seoul Searching
So the weekend is here and I am extra sad because naturally I got SICK! I am not to sure if its allergies or a bad cold, or something I may have got from working with dirt balls better known as children. Apparently in Korea they go to the doctor for anything and my co teacher is taking me to the hospital in the morning. Earlier in the week the hospital faxed over my drug test results and I was informed they were "normal". I wondered if the immigration office would be cool with the document because it was a fax, but I was told by Hannah that it was ok. Sujin and I went to dinner at a really nice restaurant by a lake ( I forget the name of it). When we got there we had dinner and talked and she is hilarious. The conversation was great. She then informed me that she would pay for this meal and I would take her out to dinner the next day. I cracked up and said ok.
My appointment was on the 18th so Sujin and I went to Suwon immigration office to apply for my alien registration card. The subway was so PACKED and Koreans are so "bout it" when it comes to getting on the subway. The subway came and i was pushed so hard I look all around to see who was pushing me and what do you know..... why was it someones 65 year old Korean grandma? I just started laughing as one of my big sisters mentioned this week "hey, granny's have places to be too". So my appointment was at 5:10pm and I was told to go sit down until that time. I take all my documents to the desk at 5:10pm and was the informed I needed the original coy of my drug test, once again I was hot. I was then told I had 14 days to mail the original copy of my "normal" drug test. After leaving the immigration office I Sujin and I had dinner in the Suwon mall/subway station. That's all to report this week. Hopefully I will be feeling better soon. Here is a video of one of my crazy 5th grade classes before class started. Still Seoul Searching...
For the record I HAVE A PHONE AGAIN!!! I am so excited, I told my landlord I needed Internet in my apartment and he had it on the next day! :) So with that I was able to hook up my Vonage and use the phone, that by far was the highlight of the week.
On Thursdays and Fridays I teach the spawns of Satan better known as grade 6 and by the end of the day I am just spent!. So, it is official, I dislike my grade 6 classes strongly! For the life of me I am STILL trying to figure out why in the world are they so DAMN bad?!?! Maybe this is my fault because I was thinking "oh Korean kids should be well mannered in class, yeah for sure they will be" They are always talking during class, yelling and fighting each other... What is this some bad Jackie Chan KungFu flick???? You would truly think it was a 1st grade class and not a 6th grade class. Today I just had enough, it was time to put these little monsters in check, I refuse to have them showing there behinds in my class. Now, I know some of the teachers hit the kids but I just don't have the energy nor the time to give them BEAT DOWN they need or frankly they deserve. So I have decide to start using "other" methods of discipline. Grade 6 meet my new friend calisthetics Oh no worries the pleasure is all mine. Here is just a little list of what I have started having the kids do:
1. The "chair" (pretend you are sitting in a chair with you back against the wall) 2. Six inches 3. Hold a dictionary in each hand and hold your arms out and to the side 4. Hold your arms out and in front of you.
After asking a student to be quite for the 3 rd time, I kindly told him to get up, face the wall, hold each arm out to the side while holding a dictionary in each hand. The student then quickly said "Teacher, Teacher, Im sorry, I will be quite" Then I said with a smile "Ohhhhhh I bet you ARE sorry now, oh well you still have 3 more minutes hold those books higher please." After making an example out of a few students the class got the point and calmed down. Please people I am open for suggestions, please let me know how else I can effortlessly and effectively discipline these kids.
This week has went so fast but it has truly been a trying week and a half here. My school is great, but my contact here is not sure what I need to do in order to obtain my alien registration card. Apparently the process has changed since last year so every one here is clueless. First I have to go to 4 different hospitals to get all my testing done when I should have only have only had to go to one. After running around all day from hospital to hospital I sit down with my contact and ask about all the next steps and procedures I should follow and such. I was told we will go to the Suwon immigration office on Friday to turn in all my paper work in order to obtain an alien registration card. So I am think ok cool everything is coming together with an arc I will be able to open a bank account and get a cell phone and such life is good... or so I thought! Thursday comes and I ask "hey what time are we going to Suwon tomorrow?" I then get the dumb look. Hanna then tells me she didn't make the appointment and that i should make it my self. I was so HOT! Like, I understand people are busy and all but if I was told that from start I would have BEEN made these arrangements. So I made an appointment for next week (fingers crossed) I am SURE there will be a blog entry about that trip.
I am excited about this upcoming weekend because I am getting my hair braided and have a girls weekend, manis, pedis, fun girl stuff lol. We also got our tickets to the John Legend concert so I am super hype that should be a GREAT time. That's all for now...
Hi Guys! (this is a long one, Im sorry) So last Wednesday I get an email that says "Reed you will be moving into your apartment on Friday not Saturday". Carm and I were both a little bit shocked this meant I would be moving alone because I was requested to be in my city at 1pm Friday afternoon. Now, I have told our Korean recruiter a million times that Reed is my LAST name not my first name, but she refuses to call me by my first name. She addresses Carmen by her first name but not me I sure dont get that one at all, maybe she cant spell or say my name so she is just gonna call me Reed as long as I am here. Bummer we can not go together , but hey what can we do? My recruiter sent an email with the address ( in Korean and English ) and said it should cost around 20, 000 won ( about $14 usd) to get there from Carm's city ( Cheonan) to my city( Pyeongteak). So Carm and I lugged all my stuff and went to get a taxi. We walked about two blocks and found a taxi. The plan was Carm was going to meet me once she got off work in front of my school around 9pm ( that was the plan). I hopped in the taxi fingers crossed and praying I made it to my school. I called my contact Hanna before I left Cheonan with Carm's phone and she said she would look out for me. The taxi driver said in Korean ( I guess) it was gonna cost 30, 000 won having no choice and not being able to say any different I just said ok he then turned the meter off. Soooooooo why this man did not use his gps is STILL a mystery to me. We must have stopped 5 times for directions, and each time we stopped he said "sorru, sorru" I take that was to be sorry. I was just thinking no need to be sorry just get me there sometime ummm today lol. So after the 2nd time we stopped he turns around and looks at me and changes his hand sign for 3 to 4 i said 40, 000 won? He says yes!!!!!!!!! Ohhhh I wish I knew Korean because I sure would have told him about him self! So he ended up calling Hanna and then 2 mins later we were at my school, my HUGE school. I give the driver my 40, 000won and he turns to me shakes his head and changes his hand sign for 4 to 5!!!!! 50, 000 won for a taxi ride?!?!?!!?!? I was sooo salty! I gave him his money and slammed his door. Hanna came rushing outside and this was our convo:
Hanna: "Reed!!!! I am ao happy to see you"
Me: " Hi Hanna! My name is Tasha, Reed is my last name"
Hanna: " Ohhhhh Reed is your last name? Im sorry Jane said your name is Reed. Ok we will call you Tasha"
Me:" THANKS Hanna!"
Hanna:" Wow you are so pretty, even pretty nose and eyes"
Me:"Hahahah...ohhh thank you"
I have never been told I have a pretty nose before but hey, I will take it lol. Hanna and a co worker name Sugi helped me carry all my stuff to my apartment which was right around the corner, it was less then a 2 min walk. As I told you guys before I was soooo worried about what my apartment was gonna look like. We went up one flight of stairs and turned to the right and there it was. She unlocked the door and we went in. I was like a kid on Christmas, grinning from ear to ear! It was big! I had a TV, a desk, kitchen area separate from the living room and the best part....wait for it a FULL sized bed in my bedroom!!!! This may seem minor for the US but in Korea this is a HUGE deal. Most teachers get a dorm style apartment, or an efficiency for our hood rich people lol. Ok, cool everything is working out great! I then got a tour of my school and found out I was going to be teaching grades 5 and 6 not the little kiddies. My kids are 12 and 13 years old but in America they would be 10 and 11 however that works? I also found out I will only be teaching for 22 hours a week, the rest I just do what ever in the classroom but go to sleep pretty much. I work for 8:30am to 4:30pm. I don't have a phone here yet and there are no Pc labs around either... How was I going to get in touch with Carm? So Im in my apartment and turned on my computer hey I may get a wireless signal I hope! Hey what do you know, I did it was really weak and kept cutting off but it was enough to hook up with Carm and make plans for her to get here. After talking to her she said to meet her at 10:40pm in front of the school and if I was not there yet she would Skee Wee so I could hear her ( good plan right). So it was 10:30pm and I walked around the corner to meet Carm. So its 10:40pm. 11pm, still no Carm. I go back to my apartment to see if she had logged back on or what ever there was nothing, I asked my friend Taray ( via facebook chat) to call Carm, she said her phone is going right to voicemail. I go back outside looking for her. Its 11:30pm and I am getting scared because the subways stop running in Korea from 12am to 5am where is she... Im walking all around my neighborhood yelling Carm's name and Skee Weeing all over the place still no Carm. After looking for her for 2 hours I went back to my apartment, to see a Facebook message from her stating the taxi driver got lost and her phone has switched over to Vonage as well so she just went back home before the subways stopped running. THANK THE LORD she was safe is all I kept saying! I then sent Carm an email with directions to my apartment as well as Hanna's home and cell phone number. The next day I decided to go shopping for some necessities for my apartment, and when I was walking back up the street to my place I was thinking "hey there is another black girl" YAY it was Carm! I was sooooo excited lol. So Carm helped me get everything I needed and we went to dinner. So yes it was a crazy weekend, next weekend we are going to explore my city and see what going here. I am told this is lil America number 2 lol, I sure couldn't tell!
Monday was my 1st day of school/work. I got to school and took my shoes off and had my slippers on and was ready to go. In Korea you take your shoes off when entering a home, school and even some restaurants. No messing up yo granny carpet here lol. I went to my classroom, where I met my co teacher Sujiin and was told to take it easy today. So one of the 1st things I notice was how COLD it is in the school. I asked Sujiin how to turn the heat on in the classroom and she said "Ohhh heat no working", the kids have their coats on and all. So after doing nothing all morning it was lunch time. We went to a place "in the mountains" for lunch with some other teachers. After the deathly terrifying ride there on unlawfully narrow roads we made it up the mountain. My life flashed before my eyes at least 3 times. The road was just barely big enough for one car and it was a 2 way road I was so scared. And you guessed right the man driving was acting like it was the freeway up this mountain, we almost hit like 2 cars and three people. Everyone was in the car just chilling, like ohhh its cool we almost killed 6 people, no biggie, I had to just close my eyes and pretend it was a Kennywood ride. We get to the restaurant, take our shoes off, and go sit down. Now as you all know I am not a short woman, and in some restaurants here they sit on the floor Indian style with a mat. I just have one question for you all, when was the last time you sat Indian style anywhere???????? It takes a lot to get down there and even more to get up, I felt old! Then this was Sujiin and my convo before lunch.
Sujiin: " We are going to have dug for luncho"
Me: "What?!? We are gonna have dog for lunch?"
Sujiin: "Yes dug!"
Me: " Like woof woof dog?????"
Sujiin: "Oh no woof woof, quack quack dug"
Me:" Oh you mean Duck? Quack Quack duck"
Sujiin : " Yes quack, quack Ducku"
Me:" Oh good duck! Quack quack not woof woof right?"
Sujiin: "Yes"
Lunch was good I struggled with my chop sticks as usual, I sure hope I get the hang of those soon. Then we went back to the school. Before I go I have some more things I have noticed about Korea and Koreans:
1. They LOVE to line dance! Cha Cha Slide and Cupid Shuffle ohhh they gets DOWN!
2. Nike makes big bucks here! They keep their Air Force ones so crispy! They LOVE Jorands too! They will take a wet napkin and clean their shoes in a heartbeat.
3. They drive so reckless, the speed limit for a school zone is 30mph! Watch out for the kiddies.
4.They LOVE to drink! and to get DRUNK!
5. They have Koreans teaching English that cant speak English lol PRICELESS
6. Teachers are encouraged to hit the kids if they are cutting up in class.
7. The students call you " Tasha Teacher"8. All the kids play pc games that have something to do with death, killing, or zombies, it normal here.
Hey! I am sooo mad that my phone is not working!!!!!!! I apologize if you tried to call or text and I did not reply, I think I know whats wrong which makes it worse! And if you did not try to contact me SHAME ON YOU!! lol just kidding. My Vonage is activated but because I can not get Internet or a phone until I get an alien registration card I will have to rely on email and/or facebook for now : ( . So Carm and I had our 1st weekend out in South Korea. We went into a part of Seoul that is called Little America, we met up with our friend Taray there. This was the 1st time Carm and I took the subway and such. We packed our bags and said a prayer and we were on our way. We met Taray at Starbucks where we met a Korean man who was hilarious! Why did he say Taray looked like Elvis Presley's daughter???? I was rolling because she looks NOTHING like her! So I guess God said "now Tasha you are laughing a bit too hard " because he then said then said to me and you, look like ummmm an Egyptian. After we told him we were from Pittsburgh he said ohhh William Penn Hotel, Ben Franklin and the Liberty Bell, I guess he was showing off his English skills a bit. We went to a reggae bar ( can you believe it) and then to a club that all the military peeps hang out at. You know I was hype because when we got there they had a KFC, Starbucks, Outback, Burger King, and a Subway to name a few, YES hungry no more!!!!!!!!!! So after we had dinner we took a nap and got ready to go out. My question is why was it poppin???? We had soooo much fun, and it was good clean fun lol. They had 2 for 1 drink specials and all, good times. So we are out at the military club and there are all types of people there White, Black Asian, and even a few Mexicans in there, all foreigners alike. We are walking thru and why does this German dude roll up on me and this was our convo:
German dude: " Oh yes I like your belly"
Me: "What did you say?!?!?!!?"
German dude " Yes, Yes I like your belly"
Me: "Get away from me"
I was sooooooo MAD, like omg what is wrong with him?!?!? So, he goes over to Carm and says to her:
German dude:" I like your friend's belly, all the women here are not shapely, not womanly at all but her nooooo"
Carm:"Dont EVER say that to another American woman again in your life!"
German dude: " Ohhh was that bad? Im sorry"
So after being called fat I must admit I was a little salty to say the least but I still had a great time. The only thing that was sooooo strange is that you would think, oh ok there are not a lot of Americans here and not a lot of Black Americans so all the foreginers would be friendly for the most part, umm that was not the case at all! Talk about mean mugs?? I mean I know we are internationaly fly but geez lol no nasty looks needed, that was the only negative on the weekend. We then went to our hotel room (the subways stop running in Korea at midnight) and called it a night or an early morning shall I say.
So after being here for 1 whole week there are some things I have learned early about Korea and Koreans the list is below...enjoy lol.
1.Koreans will say WHATEVER comes to their brain! Ex: "Buy now and leave" That is what a man said to Carm in the store
3.Koreans also love Obama they will often start to chant when they see a balck person " O -BA-M A. O-BA-MA"
4. They give themselves "American names", like James, Julie, or Oliver now, you know your name is not no dang gone Oliver!
5. Koreans know how to say what they want to say! For example Carm and I went to dinner these 3 Korean men say " ummm English noooo good" We say ohhh our Korean is no good he then says "phone number??? boyfriendo?" I was rolling!
6.Koreans eat A LOT and will try and feed you until you bust!
So, Carm and I have had a crazy 1st and 2nd day. So after we took the looooonnnng trip here, we find out we are to take a bus to Carm's city, I asked the man like "oh is it 20 mins?" he was like "haha ohhhhh nooo it 2 hour". Lol I was rolling, it took us like 30 hours to get here! So Carm's co worker came and picked us up and took us from the bus stop and took us to the store to get some noodles and such. Oh man, we were down soooooo bad, hungry as all heck and we get to Carm's apartment and had a TWIN bed in that joint! I was PISSED like we are two grown ups sharing a twin size bed tho??? Other than the little bed the apartment is nice and has a lot of space. We cooked our noodles only to find out that we have no forks, no spoons, no knifes, hell no chop sticks either WTF!!! So we had pringles and skittles for dinner. Yes we tasted the rainbow for dinner! After a crappy nights rest we got up and went to Carm's doctors appointment so they could check her out and make sure she could start work on Tuesday. Carms co worker asked us "did you eat" we were said uhhhh "NO" so they took us to McDonald's :) it was like going to heaven! Why did they drop us off and LEFT us at there?!?!?!?!? Another WTF! lol crazy times. Our sleeping patterns are all out of whack the 2nd day here I slept from 4pm here (2am in the states) til 3 am here ( 1pm there). So I have been trying to stay up late to offset that. We have found a computer lab until we get the internet set up so we should be doing good til then. The crazy thing is in the States a computer lab is all quite and such, well not here its like a club its smokey and has a bunch of men playing LOUD video games and such. Carm and I decided to go to the "Lotte Mart" which is like a bootleg Walmart, we took our stuff the the register to pay ( thank God numbers are the same here) and we pay for our stuff. The Cashier does give us a bag nor does she try to give us a bag, so Carm and I grab our own bag and this is when the cashier gets EXTRA hood on us. She snatching the bags out of our hands and then starts yelling at us sooo loud. I was just like "uhhhhhhhh ok lady" well apparently you have to pay for bags lol who knew??? Another thing is I dont move into my apartment until the 28th of this month so we will see what that is looking like, I am a little nervous about it so we will see.
Seoul Searching is a blog about my recent move to South Korea, and what life is like here as Black American as I teach English to the kiddies here, and travel.
