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Finally I get to post again!! :D



Man this is going to be a long one; I have to continue all the stuff I wanted to talk about before on my quickie, and I wanna tell you guys about stuff that has happened since, and then also I have two hours before work!



First things first; I got this scholarship I applied for last semester so I'm very happy :] It's for students who study abroad, and after I just send in the last documents I'm gonna be rich! Haha jk. It's been a little stressful trying to do everything by the deadline since I'm here, but my brother is being a good sport ;] Actually, I kind of got this idea for the blog while I was applying for that scholarship because recipients have to give back with service to promote studying abroad. I had already wanted to do a blog anyway, and I thought it would be cool to make other people wanna study abroad by making it sound like I'm having tons of fun. Which I am!! I had applied to another study abroad scholarship program too, and results for that one come out soon so I'm excited. I need to think of some synonyms for 'study abroad'.



I think I'll talk about my recent news first and then go back to the unfinished business, just because it's fresh on my mind. I ATE DOG YESTERDAY!! It was delicious! No joke. Have you ever tried goat? Well it tastes like that. You wouldn't have even known it was dog if someone didn't tell you. Seriously, there were no pictures of dogs on the menu and also the name of the actual dish is just 'healthy stew' [보신탕 or 영양탕]. It was just like a normal spicy stew with strips of meat in it, and it's supposed to be really good for you. It's cooked in dog broth (hahahaha that sounds freaking nasty!) too so it's extra healthy. Well, I don't know how dog is supposed to be healthy for you, but it has quite a reputation here.



I also had my first 'office dinner' [회식] yesterday, which is a huge part of Korean culture. Basically, the boss and employees all go out for dinner and drinks together, pretty frequently too. Well I'm sure it's different for every office, but generally at LEAST once or twice a month, and then more for special occasions. Very different from America, where business and personal life is very separate. They wanted to do an office dinner to welcome me when I first started working here but I was uncomfortable with them so I just made up an excuse to get out of it. This time it was for me leaving (tomorrow's my last day) so I couldn't get out of it, and also I know them better so it was cool. Our last class ended around 9, so we got to the restaurant around 10 and ate all you can eat sashimi! I never went to a place like that before so it was interesting, everytime we finished a platter we rang the buzzer and they brought more! It was good quality too. In Korea, there aren't many Japanese restaurants that do rolls and sashimi, like in America. Rather, everything's 'specialized' and that's their marketing point too. All their ads say 'tuna sashimi specialists!' or 'fried chicken specialist!' and they really only serve that and maybe a few other things. Menus are very short unless you go to a variety restaurant. In a way it's good, because then their food tastes really great! But if you're in a big group with different tastes it could be difficult. The 5 of us sat in a personal room until the place closed at 2 am. I wanted to leave! I was so sleepy and kept nodding off- I seriously was expecting someone to say something, like 'oh my we must get going, angela here seems tired' or at least an acknowledgment 'are u tired?' but I guess nobody noticed. I haven't had alcohol in a while so that probably made me even more drowsy. Plus, have you ever sat on the ground for 4 hours? We had little seat things (it looks like a chair with the legs cut off, just the seat and the back, and the seat has a cushion on it) but my legs and feet kept falling asleep. I was wearing a skirt so I first started sitting like a girl on a horse (you know, with both legs tucked on the same side) but finally I just sat cross-legged and even then I had keep stretching my legs surreptitiously under the table for blood circulation. Oh yea, I was the youngest so I had to pour everyone drinks too and keep watching everyone's glasses so they never stayed empty -.- Whatevs! Free expensive sashimi! :D Well I don't know how much it cost but the place felt expensive and we ate a lot.



Speaking of expensive food, my uncle took me to a 'family restaurant' on Sunday. That's what they call American-style restaurants here. The place was called VIPS (very important person's society =.=) and it was a steak place so even for lunch it cost like $70 (I'm just gonna tell you the American equivalent for convenience) for the two of us. I felt bad :[ I didn't know it was gonna be that expensive so I just eagerly said "sure!" when he asked "do you want to see a Korean American-style restaurant?" It was delicious though! And the "salad bar" is a mini, non-vegetarian Souplantation. (buffet with soups, salads, pastas, pizzas, appetizer-style stuff for non-Souplantation frequenters) That reminds me. There are a lot of American franchises here, but they go through a metamorphosis during the import and get upgraded. Like Dunkin Donuts here is a very nice, stylish cafe and is a hip spot that is always filled with crowds. Pizza Hut here is a nice restaurant, on the expensive side. Starbucks is ridiculous. I haven't been to one yet, but it's like $5 for a drink. And the Korean won is stronger so that means it's like $6 American dollars! Outback Steakhouse is a very nice restaurant here. By the same token though, a lot of the Korean franchises that I've seen in Torrance and LA are just really small joints here. The popular bakeries like Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours are just like whatevers here and Mr. Pizza Factory is tiny and mostly delivery, whereas in LA it was a pretty nice and not super-cheap place. Weird, huh? Oh and Krispy Kreme gives one free donut to everyone who walks in the door. I haven't been to one yet so I don't know how much the actual donuts cost. I'm sure I'll get a chance to visit all these places when I get to Seoul.



Regular Korean food can be shockingly cheap. You can get stuffed for under $3, and that's at a sit-down place too. I love not paying tax and tip! You guys have seen kimbap before right? It's like a roll with seaweed on the outside? Most places sell a whole roll of it for a buck! In America, you can't buy anything if you don't have at least a dollar. But here, you can buy stuff with the change you pick up off the ground because stuff is sold individually and there are a lot of vending machines. A cheap ice cream ranges from 30 cents to $1.50... 30 freaking cents! There are coffee dispensers (the kind that pops out a mini paper cup and leaks coffee into it) everywhere and a small cup is also about 30-50 cents. I can say with confidence that every single restaurant here has one of them, and the ones in restaurants are free. Koreans are obsessed with coffee (probably because of the free dispensers everywhere) and drink gallons of it. Okay fine that is totally not supported by facts but it sure feels like it. Even right now! I'm at a pc bang (computer lab/internet cafe, w/e) and the guy gave me a complimentary cup of coffee when I sat down! I thought I was special until I noticed him giving one to every customer.



So after my mom went back to America and my grandma went into the old people home last Tuesday, I've been living alone in my grandma's studio. Well, not technically because Saerom unni has been living with me. It's been so much fun! We don't actually spend that much time together because she goes to work around 10 am-7 pm (it's up to her cuz it's her own shop) and I go to work in the afternoon and get back around 7 or 9, depending on the day. But at night we watch tv and cross-stitch and fall asleep talking. In the morning have breakfast and go exercising (lol we walk around for an hour. we used to run or jog or speed-walk a little and then walk, but you know how that goes ;] ). She's so cool and funny <3 We went out for lunch on Saturday and went downtown to watch a movie. If you haven't seen Get Smart, I recommend it. It has some pretty funny parts. I was so glad it wasn't dubbed because the Korean subtitles at the bottom did not do the movie justice. We walked around the shopping district and ate ddukbokki from a street vendor and had Baskin Robbins ice cream. I could be wrong because I haven't been to a BR in America for forever, but this one had a whole bunch of flavors I never saw before!



Oh yea! So my new hobby/obsession is cross-stitching. It was actually kind of embarassing because when I first got here and meeting people for the first time, everyone kept asking me what were my interests and hobbies and I had to lie and make something up because I don't have any! Seriously, all I've cared about until now is doing well in school and making money. I'm so boring! Anyway, so Saerom unni's job is selling cross-stitching equipment. Apparently it's really popular here, and her internet store is pretty successful so I think she's considering closing her actual shop. She doesn't actually sell the hand-made products, but the materials you need to make your own pattern. When I first found out about it I was like, wow is that actually an industry here? But so many people do it! I see cross-stitched stuff everywhere. I'll upload pictures of my completed works of art this weekend ^^



My orientation at school is on Friday morning so I'm bus-ing up to Seoul to move into my hotel on Thursday. Therefore my last day at work is tomorrow, Wednesday, and I'm actually a little sad to leave. I was just starting to get to know the kids! Even the bratty ones were growing on me. Oh my god so there was a total twist with Brian the 6th grade bully. Ever since two classes ago he's been acting super nice to me and I think he has a crush on me. It's either that or else he's trying to make me vulnerable so he can do something really mean when I'm not expecting it. I know that sounds paranoid, but it was such a sudden change that I didn't know what to think! One class he's refusing to comply to anything I told him to do and the next one he's all kissing up to me! The first thing he did that started his transformation was at the beginning of class, when I was trying to get the class to stop talking and read the passage aloud together; everyone ignored me and kept talking. Before, Brian would normally be the one leading the crowd and say something like "haha look at that girl up there. why is she trying so hard? it's not like she can get a raise or anything" (true story! freaking jerk) but now he yells at everyone and says "are u guys deaf or something? the teacher says open your books to page 36! shut up and read!" and starts reading really loud so everyone chimes in. I'm left dumbfounded and speechless. Throughout the rest of that class he was the best student and kept the class in order for me! I was like "what the heck is going on here!" and then I ended up teaching the full class instead of half, because the second half teacher ending up being called into an unexpected meeting with a parent who just walked in without an appointment. I was annoyed because that was my last class so I was supposed to go home, plus I was tired from a long day. I guess it showed on my face because Brian was all "Teacher, are you tired?" and acting all concerned. Later near the end of class when the kids were getting restless, I was honestly tired of teaching too so I had the kids play Hangman by themselves on the board while I supervised. Brian kept trying to talk to me, asking me how old I am, why am I in Korea, do I have a boyfriend, etc. The kicker was at the end of class when I was explaining a definition to another student and Brian came up behind me and was trying to distract my attention. He kept annoyingly asking me to see my watch and wouldn't go away even though I was flatout ignoring him and talking to the girl student, so I just stuck out my wrist behind me without turning around so as to shut him up. He acted like he was looking at my watch for a bit and then that little creep started holding my hand and all petting on my wrist area. What the heck, right?! That freaked me out. My strategy to be nice to the kids and get them to like me worked too well! So that was the first class that he started acting like that in, and yesterday was the next once since then, so the whole day I was wondering what would happen in class. To tell you the truth, I much preferred him acting freaky because he made the class behave ^^;; and I'd rather block his creepiness than his meanness. Anyway yesterday was much more low-key than last time so that was good. He just behaved really well and kept the class under control. The worst he did was keep escaping class when the other teacher was teaching to try to talk to me where I was sitting in the teacher's office (normally I would leave right after, but I was waiting for the office dinner). He told me I was the nicest and best teacher, so I maddogged him. Honestly, it felt really good to be told I was someone's favorite teacher, though. You know, I'm still not sure what I want to do when I grow up but if I had nice students, teaching is a huge possibility. It feels great to teach bright students! Anyway whenever he started getting too creepy I just maddogged him. I think he was a little hurt but I didn't know what else to do. LOL! That is so bad, I know.. but whatever, he's a kid, he'll get over it.



Aw man, I only have 15 more minutes and I haven't even started the unfinished business from before! I think it was just the church stuff anyway so I'll just sum it up real quick. It's not even interesting now that I think of it. At the time I was super annoyed though, because I was freaking at that church for freaking 5 hours, from 11-4. Service til noon, lunch til 1, youth group service til freaking 2:45 (the speaker went waaaay over an hour, my legs and butt were dying from sitting on the ground so long) and then "newcomers" service til 4. TORTURE! This time there were two new girls, so including me and the guy from last time it was 4 of us plus the weird lady again. I officially do not find her amusing anymore. Listening to the sermons from service is okay, but what goes on in this room is seriously didactic and I felt bad for the two new girls who got trapped in there like that on their very first day. Way to make new Christians feel enthusiastic about church. I bet they never wanted to come back again! Again, my legs were dying and I also had gas so I was extra annoyed and wanted to leave even more badly. The kicker was when she made us all hold hands and PRAY ALOUD. I didn't know how to pray in Korean so I sounded ridiculous even to my own ears. It went something like "since I still don't have strong faith yet, I would really appreciate it if you could please give me the desire to learn more about you." and then I started hehehe'ing in embarrassment. :'(

So this Sunday I just latched onto my third uncle and escaped with him right after the 11-12 service ^^ He's a Christian, but no fanatic like the first uncle's family.

I want to reply to your comments but I don't know if you guys will even see them because you don't get alerts, right? And I doubt you guys would keep checking back to see if people commented after yours. I'm so grateful that you guys even check my site for posts, since I'm so irregular! :D