Twinsies

I don't know where we were or what we were doing the first time this happened, but it happens all the time now.

Person, "hey are you guys twins?"

Us, "no, do we look like twins?"

Person, "sisters?"

Us, "hmm, sure, why not."

Or...

Person, "me and my friends have a bet that you guys are twins."

Me, "yes, we are, fraternal of course."

Person, "rats i just lost the bet, I thought you were just sisters."

Me, "Too bad..."

Apparently those are the only two options. Christina and I can't just be friends, we are either sisters, or twins, most likely twins! Hahaha

I think I will take it as a compliment, I think Christina is just gorgeous and if I can be her twin, that's fine by me!

Also my facial hair count is up to 11 as of today. I saw TWO men on the same street, at the same time with beards today. WOW

And another thing, anyone thinking about sending me any type of package, Please, please, Please send deodorant. I am almost out and really haven't seen any since being here. I guess Koreans just don't stink... Hmmm...

Michelle

Money money money

Tomorrow is my first payday since coming to Korea. Needless to say I am bursting with excitement! I have been pretty much broke since I got here. But this last week has been the worst. On Monday I had 3000 Won. Which is equivalent to $3.oo. Today I have just a few coins rattling around in my wallet. I bought a subway card to go see Christina and it cost 1600 Won. Then it didn't work. And I didn't get my money back. So what did I do? I hopped the gate and rode the subway anyway. (a little man told me to)

I have a whole list of things I need to buy. The most important by far is food. Following closely behind that is closed toed shoes. I guess winter is right around the corner. It has gotten considerably colder these past couple days. Like, to the point where I need blankets on my bed at night. I really thought it would never happen. And I found out on Sabbath that Korea has a very short spring and Fall. So winter is around the corner. I am pretty excited about it really. =)

That's about it for now. Payday tomorrow, then I can live again. Until then.... I gotta sit tight and not do anything expensive.... overnight!! Should be pretty easy.... =)

Michelle

Long day and then...

There are long days and then there are 13 hour long days. Days full of roller coasters, eating, walking, rain, and Asians.

There is Coke, and then there is Diet Coke. There are not interchangeable. No.

There is rain, and then there is Acid rain, which according to rumor will cause your hair to fall out and your skin to peel off in chunks... hasn't happened yet....

I woke up at the crisp hour of 12pm. Rolled over, got online... chatted for a bit then took a nap til 4pm. Then I got up, taught a 15 minute class and then came home and just sat around because,

there are weeks and then there are weeks of holidays!! Welcome Korean thanksgiving!!

There are men, and then there are Korean men... Who are alright as far as men go... But they like to hover. Shopping, right there, over my shoulder... walking, right there, next to me... in my personal space.

The end.

Michelle

AHHHHH!!

It's 4 am on Sunday morning, and I've been awake for an hour. Why, you may ask, are you awake at 4 am on a Sunday morning? Mosquitoes and a sore throat.

The mosquitoes here are not like the mosquitoes in the U.S. Oh, no. These are crafty Korean mosquitoes of death that go into hiding before you go to sleep and come out at the most inopportune times to wage crafty mosquito wars and torment your soul. Or at very least your limbs.

As far as the sore throat, I've gotten sick every weekend like clockwork. Traditions are important for solidarity, but it seems like my body could come up with something a little more fun, like a receding hairline or ingrown toenails.

And now, it's 4:30 and I have to be awake in 2 and a half hours. I repositioned my fan. Hopefully it helps.

~Christina

One day shy of one month

Tomorrow is the day. The day I thought would never come. It is the one month mark of leaving the US. The 16th of August seems like it was a year ago, not one short month. I remember the days when a month seemed to fly by at the speed of a day, or even a moment. The weeks go quickly now, but the weekends last forever. It used to be the opposite. I would spend the whole week thinking about how long it was taking to get to the weekend. So many things to do, places to go, sleeping to be done. Now I hardly have time to blink and it's Thursday. But then the time between Friday and Monday seems like an eternity. Probably because there are less things consuming my time. Even with the hectic-ness of teaching and being a missionary-type, I still have endless hours where I am just sitting. Or sleeping. And strangely it is in these times that I find myself missing the week with its hectic schedule. What is wrong with me? I am probably becoming a Korean.

So what have I learned in this month of Korea?

• I have learned to watch my back whilst walking on the street. (cars will run you over)
• I have learned to sleep on a rock. (also known as a bed?)
• I have gotten used to not understanding ANYTHING being said around me. (its actually kinda nice)
• I have learned to walk everywhere. (always)
• I have learned how to navigate the subway system with almost perfection. (not ease)
• I have learned to appreciate my umbrella. (it did finally stop raining. A Korean miracle.)
• I have learned to just eat rice. There is no sense trying to fight it. It is not going away.
• I have NOT learned how to enjoy Kim chi, in any form. (ever, for any reason.) (gross)
• I have learned where the cereal isle is in E-Mart. (a grocery/department store extravaganza)
• I have learned how to bow, all the time. When in doubt, just bow. (seriously)
• I have learned that the noise is not going away. Embrace the city. (or it will eat you)
• I have stopped being so overwhelmed with missing people. (YOU)
• I have learned how to nap several times a day and then still go to bed and sleep.
• I have learned to jump into and out of elevators. (the doors do not have sensors. they will crush and destroy you)
• I have learned to always repeat everything I say twice, at least.
• I have learned to always repeat everything I say twice, at least.
• I have learned that it is completely acceptable to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and take a self-portrait. (just watch out for scooters)
• I have also learned it is acceptable to stop in the middle of the side walk and take pictures of other people on the sidewalk. (even if you don't know them)
• Smart people take the bus, stupid people try to drive their own cars. (no parking)
• The smell of fish is normal for a sunny morning. (try not to puke in the street)
• I have learned that if you are a little old woman you can wear anything you want. ANYTHING. You can also sit on the sidewalk and peel veggies, smoke or just hang out with your friends.
• I have learned that 10,000 won really doesn't go very far. (neither does $10)

Too much? Maybe. But if there is one thing I have learned, more is better!!

Korea is growing on me. Hopefully this will continue to be a positive trend, not something unfortunate like having a tumor growing on me.

Love to all!!

Michelle

Beards. And other things

So far, since coming to Korea, I have seen exactly six men with facial hair. This facial hair ranged in length and thickness from a very short goatee, to a slightly stringy, two inch long, thin beard. And yes, as I walk through the streets I keep a running tally. That's as far as it has gotten.

I tore down my curtain today because it was blocking the view of the sky. I want to see sky. Thank you very much. I rearranged my room a little while ago to put my desk in front of my window. I thought it would be inspiring. But that silly curtain really blocked out most of the inspiration. Good thing its gone now. Let the creative juices flow!

Not a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. Oh, I did get some terrible sickness which lasted all of one day thanks to instant drugging by the friendly neighborhood doctor. I woke up Friday morning feeling like a had been hit by a train. My whole neck, not just my throat, ached. My whole body was throbbing, achy. I was hot and cold, shivering and sweating simultaneously. My head was pounding and I really just didn't want to move, swallow, breathe or think. So I stayed in bed. Until I was hauled off to the Dr. by my pastor. Good thing too. He got me on some antibiotics and I went back to bed. After about two hours I woke up and couldn't believe the change. It was like I had never been sick. Amazing.

I have gotten into some kind of a routine finally. All the classes are in full swing so I know how my schedule is. Its not too bad. I find it challenging but doable. Which is the way it should be I think. I have decided that in February, when the little munchkins graduate, I will not do another term of Kinderest. I will do my last six months just teaching adults. I think it will save me a major burn out at the end. Ya know?

That's about all I've got for the moment. Love and miss you all appropriately. =D

The end

Michelle

I love Korea, I hate Korea

• I love the fashion.
• I hate the sticky heat.
• I love that there's a coffee shop two minutes from where I live.
• I hate the acid rain.
• I love that my apartment has heated floors.
• I hate that my AC is too expensive to use with any regularity.
• I love the subway.
• I hate the pollution.
• I love feeling like I make a difference in my kids' lives.
• I hate having to say, "Please don't," 30 times in 20 minutes.
• I love the city lights at night.
• I hate that the only gardens are on roofs.
• I love the rice.
• I hate the rice.
• I love being an instrument for God.
• I hate not understanding almost everything people say.
• I love that the technology is fully 2 years ahead of USA's.
• I hate that I have to work longer and harder than I ever have before.
• I love feeling like God gives me strength to keep going.

The One about the Typical Day

Wake up. Devotions. Journal. Breakfast.

Go over my schedule. Am I missing anything? Anything I need to write down? Do? Remember to copy the grammar worksheets. Run a minute farther to get coffee. Hurry back. 9:31 am. A minute late.

Work, more work, meetings, more meetings, more things to remember I have to do. More erratic showers, more sea weed or cereal for lunch. More rice, more aloe juice.

Lay down. Hurry. Go back to class. More drills, more practice, get the kids to speak more English. Repeat after me, repeat, repeat. Think about my religion class, religion worksheets, make notes, Kinderest curriculum. What should be changed? What's working? Take the kids to gym. Play games with them. Supervise. More English. Back to the classroom for story time.

Repeat after me, repeat, repeat.

Cabbage and corn in the egg and toast sandwich I ordered down the street. Music to unwind, TV. Email, email back. Policies and staff meetings. Remember to stop by the academic office. Facebook. Skype. Remember to set an alarm for tomorrow. Don't forget to prepare for classes; what game are we playing? What pages are we reviewing? Prepare for special music for church, for the Friday night program. Repeat, repeat! Evaluate, discuss, question. Blog. Facebook again.

Journal. Message my dad.

Fall into bed. Sleep.

Repeat.

My name is Teacher Michelle

I am the only person in Korea with blue eyes.

I went up front today in church to be introduced and forgot my shoes at my seat.

I now sleep with a pillow under my knees.

I have gotten used to eating rice for every single meal.

I have also gotten used to sleeping while it's a million degrees.

I have started to repeat myself in regular conversation.

My name is Teacher Michelle.

First Week Teaching

Well, this week has been... Long. Hot. Exciting. Interesting. Frustrating. Fun. All of the above.

Teaching in the Kinderest (Kindergarten) program definitely takes a lot of energy. But it also is a lot of fun at times, too.

The typhoon came and went without any major damage to the area I'm in. In fact, I slept through most of it.

There are, I'm sure, precisely a million more things I need to write about, but for now this will have to do. I am well and I am busy and it's Friday night and I'm ready to go to bed.

I love you all!

~Christina

Typhoon

I went to sleep very late last night, for many reasons, one of which was it was just too dang hot to sleep. I just felt overwhelmed and oppressed by the heat. My fan did very little to soothe the situation. I eventually fell into a fitful, confusing sleep, full of strange dreams, and lots of tossing and turning. Around 3am I was jarred awake by a sudden crash. It sounded like a big tin thing had crashed into a wall. I tried to just go back to sleep but the wind was crashing into my window, shaking the air in my room and making my door rattle. This continual rattling is what really did me in. I can sleep through thunderstorms, hurricanes, lightning, wind, etc. But constant repetitive noises like my door clicking open and closed, over and over again, are enough to drive me mad.

So I got up, hoping to fix the problem. I jammed folded paper into the crack where the door and the door jam met. This fixed my problem for a couple minutes and I fell back asleep to the howling wind and the rain hitting my window. Then all of a sudden a huge gust of wind burst in and the paper flew out of my door and following directly the hideous rattling. I was pretty much irritated at this point. I got out of bed and opened my bedroom door, which caused the wind to gush in and ferociously tear through our apartment. I looked out my door and saw my house mate Julie frantically running around the laundry room. I didn't really know what she was doing, and I didn't really care so I went back to bed. At about 5am I was awakened again by the sound of an explosion and my fan shutting off. The power was out. A couple hours later I dragged myself out of bed to see what was going on. Everywhere I looked out the windows, power lines were blowing freely in the wind. The rain berated the house angrily and a large quantity of debris was flying around in the streets below.

Hannah announced that it was a Typhoon. How exciting. while we all stood around trying to figure out what to do next there was a massive explosion outside. A bright flash and then a cloud of smoke billowing up into our open windows. The horrible stench of burning rubber and what I can only imagine would be, the smell of electricity. Hannah immediately freaked out and said we should get out. I thought for a minute she might be right, that maybe our apartment building was on fire. I stood there in the door of my bedroom trying to figure out what I should grab in case we needed to exit...Somehow the only thing I really wanted to grab was my teddy bear.

Clearly my priorities are not right.

we decided to stay put as the smoke seemed to be clearing. But the wind and water continued. I got my stuff together to head to class and after walking down six flights proceeded to walk past a giant power line, lying in the middle of the road. A bunch of Koreans started yelling at me and pointing and gesturing. I am pretty sure they were trying to tell me not to lick the end of the exposed wire. I nodded my appreciation for the suggestion and hurried past, far away from the end of the wire and the big dry spot surrounding it.

I got to school only to learn that the bus was running two hours late and I didn't need to be there until 11:30am. So I went back to my apartment to take a nap. On the way back I passed a number of interesting things. A man squatting on the sidewalk collecting fallen berries from a tree that had broken in two on the side of the road. A light pole had fallen over also, possibly helping the tree break, i am not sure how it all went down. There were many many people sweeping the sidewalk, the sound of sweeping was taking over my senses. The most conclusive thing I saw was an abandoned umbrella, lying on a grate, turned inside out by the wind no doubt. It's skin was ripped from its frame and lay flapping there next to it. It was sad and defeated, but mostly passive. I thought it really summed up the general feeling of the morning.

The rest of today was mostly uneventful. We baked cookies at school and the kids were really really good for once. It was a nice short, easy day. We went online to check out the weather situation and this was the first Typhoon in 15 years to hit this area. It was also the most severe typhoon of the year period. How exciting that I could have been here for that!!

Thats all for now folks, more later, as usual...

Michelle

When I wake up in the morning...

The first thing I hear when I wake up in the morning, is the ear-piercing shrill of my beautiful new alarm clock. It most definitely is earning its keep, but also causing me undue stress first thing in the morning. I roll over and fumble for the off button to make it cease then lay there on my rock hard bed, listening to the sounds of Korea waking up outside my window. Cars rushing by somewhere in the distance. A recording of a Korean man repeating a Korean phrase over and over loudly, bike bells, people yelling to each other and horns honking. This city is happily devoid of dogs barking, or sirens going by daily. As the sun makes it over the top of the surrounding buildings my room suddenly gets very warm and I am almost forced to get up and get moving. I then trot off to the bathroom to take a shower to help me wake up. My shower is in my bathroom, and my bathroom is my shower. The toilet, sink and shower head are all on the same wall. The tap for the sink turns on the shower. The shower shoots out over the sink into the middle of the bathroom. I shower standing over the sink, with the toilet right next to me. It is very weird. After I shower I have to clean up all the water that got on the toilet, and all over the sink and then i head back to the biggest problem I have been having since coming to Korea. What do I wear today? I am already bored of the small selection of clothing I brought and daily berate myself for bringing so few shirts. What was I thinking? After dressing myself I usually turn on my computer to see who is up back in the states. I usually get lucky and find my favorite people on. This however is a huge distraction to my getting ready process. After eating a delicious breakfast of flakes and soy drink I gather my belongings and head out to school. I ride the elevator down the six floors to the ground level, exit the elevator quickly, because if you don't get moving the door will close ON you, and then exit my building and turn right. Its only about a block to the main road where I take another right. On my left is a small group of ladies sitting on the sidewalk under the shade of a bus stop, sorting vegetables. On my right is a parking lot which usually has someone trying to get either in or out, all the time. Koreans are crazy parkers. They can fit into the smallest spaces you have ever seen, turn the sharpest corners and back up the closest to any building. Very efficient parkers. You will never see them taking up two spaces, you are more likely to see two cars in one space. I arrive at my institute in about 4 minutes, or so, in total, from the time I left till the time I get there. Then I climb a bunch of stairs to the Kinderest floor and then my day really begins.

I will spare you that run down.

After everything is finally done I can go home and take a break. I try to climb the stairs all the way to 6th floor at least once a day. I think it will improve my overall endurance. I come into my room, drop my books on my bed and sit down to plan out the next day in my computer chair from hell. Not only will it not stay at the level you put it, but it also has a big melted spot on the fabric which makes a sharp pointy thing that digs into my leg. I am getting a new one ASAP.

The end

Michelle