Long awaited stories

I realize I am not the best blogger at this point. I will keep trying to update everyone on a weekly basis! I have been so busy! Before I get into my recent happenings, I need to tell you briefly about the stories I promised. Now, bare with me as this will be a modge podge of stories in one post, but it will be worth it!

I will begin with how I karate kicked a tiny 6 year old (5 American age ) off of a mat platform. It all began when I was playing with the kids in gym. It was a day for stations and one of them included the zip line. We were having a blast listening to the Jackson 5 and I got a little too excited. Those of you who know me, know my love for the Jackson 5 so my excitement should not be a surprise. Anyway, it was a little girl named Julie's turn to do the zip line. I run to retrieve the handle and dance my way to her as she giggles. I pick up speed and do a sort of  "Matrix" Esq move as I jump kick the air. As this slow motion Matrix move ( perfectly executed with impeccable form of course) I end the kick off the mat. My dumb self was so caught up that I forgot that the mat was not connected to the ground and was in fact lighter than me, especially with my powerful karate move. So, Julie goes flying.. face first into the mat on the floor, legs flailing and everything. I felt TERRIBLE.. and let me remind you that I did not kick her directly and it was an accident. Needless to say that was the day I hung up my black belt and retired myself from gym class Matrix karate kicks. In the end she did forgive me, but I cannot imagine what anyone would think from afar. It had to look ridiculous.

Moving on to the only person who ever wanted me out of Korea.. or said it to my face. I have had a few moments of cabs turning off their lights when I come up, or driving right past me while I am in need of one, but nothing like someone telling me to my face to go back to where I came from.
My friend and I were out for a nice dinner in our Dong at a restaurant we frequent. We sat down and chatted while a little girl came up in awe of our different looks and tried to chat with us as well. Neither of us being able to speak fluent Korean we struggled to understand her, but we all enjoyed each other none the less. Behind us a man was getting drunk and watching us. He took it upon himself to grab a piece of paper and write the words "I can can a can" on it and show me. He told me nothing. Just handed me the paper...seriously? What the H was I supposed to do with that!? I looked at him wondering what he wanted from me and because I did not understand why he gave me that clearly intelligent sentence, I was stupid. He then ripped it from my hand and gave it to my friend who pulled stuff out of her you know where, and turns out she was a genius..but not genius enough for this man. Since we did not know exactly what he wanted from us he got angry and told us we did not belong here and to go back to America. We were angry to say the least and with a few exchanged words we moved tables. Thinking this was the end we tried to change subjects, until the man came up to us smiling and proceeded to flick us off as he exited the restaurant... and who's the idiot? Not the best moment here, but I realize some people have those feelings.

Needless to say I love it here still and continue to meet wonderful people and experience great things. I know I am appreciated by many people, so this one man will not bring me down. Just silly!

Now that I have filled you in I can update you on more current events. Most recent was my trip to Thailand. It was AMAZING. That will be next blog though!

Until then, Sawasdee-ka

Abbie

Bath house nudity and pit slaps.

Here I am, in Korea, wanting to experience the culture as much as I can and there is no better way to keep it going than to go to a Jjimjilbang. Jjimilbangs are Korean bath houses filled with many different things. There are multiple baths that are of different temperatures or filled with green tea or some other kind of herbal remedy,massages of all sorts, amazing saunas, and a treatment that includes fish nibbling at the calluses on your feet (yummy).
I went with my friend Sonja, neither of us being absolutely confident in what to do at one of these places, I mean I am sure there is some kind of bath house etiquette, but we decided to just throw ourselves into the situation because theres no better way to learn.
We learned quickly of the nakedness that Jjimjilbangs contain. The entire bath house is filled with naked women of all ages showering, soaking and getting their skin rubbed with a coarse loofah to get all the dead skin off ( I know that sounds gross, but I hear its actually amazing and leaves your skin baby butt soft..and who doesn't want that!?). I did not get to try that, but I did indulge in some naked bathing. I had to put all insecurities aside and live as the Koreans do. I would lie if I said I didn't stick out like a sore thumb being the only white girl in the joint. I knew what I was getting myself into, obviously, and embraced the time we were there.
After we bathed we decided to get relaxing massages. Relaxing was definitely not the word for it though. All I can remember is my jaw hurting because she pushed so hard on my body that my giant cheeks could not hold my face in place, the lady getting on the table for more push leverage, getting yanked like a rag doll and having my armpits slapped. Yes, my armpits, it hurt so dang bad that I tried counting the first round to get myself prepared for the next pit slap.
It was quite the experience and one I will never forget. I did visit another one in Seoul, so this one did not scare me off completely! It feels good to let go, go into an unknown and potentially uncomfortable situation and conquer it. I highly recommend it!

lovin you all!
Ab

Don't forget to check back to hear about all the other stories I have for you! It only gets better!

No I didn't get captured in North Korea.. Im still around...like a doughnut

Whoa baby. It has been a while and for this I am sorry. I have selfishly been ignoring the blog due to an abundance of work and play. Good news,though, I am back in action and will do my darnedest to keep up with it. We got a little catching up to do.. and although Id love to fill you in on EVERY detail.. that is just not possible, so I'm going to hit you with some highlights, so strap in.

Since our last rendezvous I have become a winner, a champion if you will. I played in a disc golf tournament my friend M.J. set up and beat all the girls out for the title of "Most Awesome Female Disc Golfer," of course this title was one I made up.. BUT nonetheless it is true.  It was quite a riveting game as I came out the gates not doing so hot, but as the day went on and the drinks kept flowing I got my groove. I thank the liquid courage for that. I turned into the hulk and threw the disc like a pro. Even though I only beat 1.5 girls.. yes I know what your thinking, " .5... That CAN'T be right!" Well, it is, I may not be great at math, but I have a reason for this.I only say .5, not because this girl is less than full female,but because she only played half of the time.I could have left you with the fact that I am the champion instead of downplaying my achievement, but the best part of the whole thing was my prize. A nice bottle of red wine was all mine for the drinking. It was love at first sip.
 Now here's a sneak peak into what else this travelin' gal has been up to. I have gone to Jjimjilbangs, became owner of a club in Seoul, played tricks on my students, ate delicious foods, got told I don't deserve to be here by a random man, had teachers day, karate kicked a child off of a platform(oops), and went on a beautiful trip to Busan. I must tell you about each one of these fabulous and not so fabulous moments, but I wont. At least not now. I have been gone for so long that I feel I need to win my readers back, so with this, I leave you a cliff hanger. Enjoy :).


Peace and love my friends!

Ab

p.s. Don't worry I will fill you in soon, just keep checking back! ;)

Oh, ya know, just Pumpin things up as usual!

As I said in a post prior to this one we had a lot of new teachers join the POLY crew. So far I like every one of them. A lot of them are men and I am definitely not complaining about that! It seems they get my sarcastic nature which makes work a lot more fun. I am now on the 5^th floor (before I was on the 3^rd) and in this office there is no window to the outside and a huge white pillar in the middle of the room. Kind of an awkward space, but I took it upon myself to vamp it up a little. I posted a Technicolor sign on that plain wall saying “Have a rip roarin’ day” which gave everyone a laugh! I find myself being in most conversations in this room as I try and connect with my co workers... weird I talk a lot? I sometimes even talk to myself... on accident, but when it comes out there’s no turning back! I have concocted another surprise for each one of them too, its small, but I thought about it last night as I was half asleep and got a giggle out of it, (probably because I was loopy from sleepiness) but nonetheless I am going to give it a whirl and I am confident that it will give them a good laugh. I will post what it is and how it went in my next blog!

Oh! Random fun fact... Here in Korea the man carries the woman’s purse! Interesting huh!!

Another random fact: I convinced my first grade class I was a Vampire and spoke in my best Vampire voice most classes. J

Anyway this is all I can think of to update everyone on, it may not have been as entertaining as the moments are not as fresh in my mind, BUT I will do my best to update more often to ensure posts that will make you want to keep on reading!

As I suspected my days in Korea keep getting better and better. I enjoy myself both at work and at home. What more can I ask for!?

 As always I am missing everyone back home. Love you all!!

Make new friends but keep the other, One is silver and the others Gold.

Anyway, the new teachers got a taste of what I was like and within the first few days I heard “the party has arrived” come out of one of their mouths as I entered the room. Looks like their first impression was accurate! Side note, I am glad people who read this blog realize I am sarcastic because otherwise people would think I am a real full of herself jerk! At any rate, the new people are cool and I am excited to make new friends. What I am more excited about is the fact that my good friends from home Sonja and Jay are now in Korea teaching as well! They are in Noeun-dong which is about 15 minutes from me so seeing them is easy peasy! Since they have been here we have spent every weekend together. It’s been nice having people from home here with me and seeing as Sonja and I are basically the same person we get along great. We tell Jay that we are sorry he has to be the third wheel J but how could he not LOVE hanging out with us!

Our first day off together was a Thursday which was Koreas independence day. I was actually a veteran to them and got to show them around to some neat places! We started in Dunsan-dong and went out to eat at a Korean Bbq place a friend suggested. It was amazing! I love the food here so much because there’s always a lot of it, it is cheap and it is healthy. We got two types of meat I believe it was pork belly and ddak galbi, with rice, kimchi chigae (soup), salad, an egg dish, garlic to roast, sprouts, and lettuce to wrap whatever we pleased in and scarf them down for only 8,000 won a piece which would be maybe 6 dollars American money. Super cheap and great quality, a food addicts dream come true! I then took them to the underground shopping area and to puppy alley because Sonja is an animal lover like me and they are such cute little puppies! After exploring we got hungry again and saw that street food carts were out so we took a gander. We had Ttak Boki, meat on a stick with amazing sauce and a hot dog in this wonderful potato breading with sugar and ketchup on top. Jay, Sonja and I shared this delicious feast cart side as we talked about how much we love it here. We have been enjoying the food and atmosphere together quite a bit going out to eat often. It is really cheap not to do so, so it does not hurt the pocket book. That is one of the many things I love about Korea!

I was born a winner.

A few of the teachers who are leaving had a going away party at a bar one Saturday night. It was a photo/video scavenger hunt around the Kung-dong area. It was SO much fun and as I am sure you have guessed the team I was on won. We had a pretty solid team with outgoing and competitive people. Things we had to do included street performances that got people passing to clap for you, Me and my friend M.J. did a mime routine. It was pretty amazing and when I was in third grade I was one for Halloween, in other words... I had experience.  Other scavenger hunt activities included buying a beer from a convenient store and chugging it in the store, simultaneously feeding your teammates beverages (we did both this and the latter in one sitting, I finished first.. can you say champ!?), getting a number from a bar tender, doing cartwheels simultaneously, I am not gymnast but mine as pretty spot on, a pyramid picture in front of a sign and crawling into a blowup sign outside of a store. Those were only a few of the hilarious activities we had to do if we wanted to win. My competitive nature came out and only got stronger with the more drinks I had so I put my all into these events. It was worth it when team “SSS” (Hiss noise) came out victorious. Afterward we all hung out at a bar called Santa Claus, which is not at all Santa themed, but is named that because the owners name is Mr. Hoh. It is a laid back bar with that many foreigners go to, in fact when you go out to most bars you will run into others teaching abroad like you. It’s really cool!

The next week was filled with new people arriving and shadowing classes, along with final goodbyes to the teachers leaving. I felt it was necessary to give my friend Kyle from Cali. some nicknames which included Butter Mule as one of them. This name just seemed to have a certain ring to it that I was looking for. I’d like for you to experience this nickname rolling off your tongue so take a minute and say it...go on. Feels good right? Haha More or less it just makes me laugh. If your thinking that I am just a tad weird, you’re not wrong, everyone knows it but I always say I’d rather be weird than boring!

Valentines day, Street chairs and goodbyes.

I cannot believe I have been here for over 2 months now. The time has flown by! I continue to learn things about the Korean customs and language. It feels pretty neat to be able to get in a cab by myself and be confident in how to tell the driver exactly where I need to go. That is a world of difference from the first attempt at solo cab rides!

February has been filled with so much fun! Valentine’s Day was quite interesting! Here in Korea Valentine’s Day is for the men instead of the women. The men get candy and chocolates and dinner dates. I had many small valentines, though, as the children surprised me with candy and Valentine’s Day drawings. It was super cute to see the littler girls in my first grade class color and make pictures and upon completion, bashfully give them to the boy they liked. A boy named Harry made out like a bandit; however the boys in that class were slim pickins! Korea celebrates more than just Valentine’s Day. In fact they have 3 days devoted to relationships or the lack there of. On March 14^th they have White day. This is the day that the men give the women gifts and profess their undying love for them. I have also heard this is the day of many tears and shouting as the women are unhappy with what their significant other have put together. On April 14^th they have a black day. This is for the single people of the country (Holla!); all of the single people eat black noodles on this day signifying their lack of a relationship filled with love. I don’t think I will partake in this black noodle eating day because I don’t agree with what it represents and I heard that the noodles are less than appetizing. I think that being single is not always a bad thing. It has helped gain stronger independence and love for myself and the relationship with myself is one worth celebrating.

February is also the month that many teachers leave and new ones come in. I found myself sad to see my coworkers go even though I only knew them for a short time. They were nothing but kind to me and they thought I was funny and entertaining and come on... I can get into that. The only good thing about them leaving is that I would get new and cheap stuff for my house. They were all selling a bunch of things and I furnished my place with hand me down goods. I am more than happy about my purchases which include a bike equipped with a basket in the front and a rubber horn which you KNOW I will be using even when it is not necessary. I want to mention, because it goes along with the whole furniture and hand me down topic that here in Korea picking up household items (such as couches, tables and chairs) from the street is not as looked down upon as it may be in the states. Many things that people throw out for garbage is like what one would find at Goodwill. They don’t have stores like that here so all those items are free for the taking! I saw an awesome street chair blocks from my house last week and I wanted it so bad, but I couldn’t carry it because it was so big! I am trying to find a couch or something for guests to sleep on when they visit!