When in Doubt, Blog it Out.

As you probably guessed by the title, I'm a little bit confused. Luckily, this confused state of mind has become a norm over the past month, so I'm okay with it (for the most part).

Let me vent a little. I promise to add some funny pictures or something at the end so this isn't the most boring thing you've done all day. Hopefully you'll find it a little amusing though! So I have some gifts to send home to America. That sounds fun and awesome, especially to the people who are receiving them, but I don't know where a post office is! That's the biggest problem, but even if I did find a post office, I don't know how to speak to the people there, so who knows where my packages will end up! haha So even if I miraculously found a post office, and even more miraculously learned Korean before I got there, I don't know my address, so I can't send the packages anyway! haha It's funny...and annoying at the same time. I'm getting my address tomorrow though, so that'll be 1/3 off the battle!

Another funny thing that keeps happening is that every now and then I'm brave enough/forced to use my Korean. As I've mentioned before, my Korean sucks (I should be studying instead of writing this blog post) and there are probably one year old Korean babies with higher vocabulary content than me. But that doesn't stop me from trying..sometimes. When I do finally spit out a few words, the Korean person (usually a taxi driver) seems to think I'm a walking Korean dictionary and can understand everything. haha He should know by my dialect and lack of confidence that those three words I muttered to him is about all I have stored up in my brain. Then it just gets awkward and I usually just say, 'Nay', which means yes in Korean. This also terrifies me because I then start wondering, "What if I just told this man to take me somewhere completely different than the rehearsed lines I knew before getting into this taxi! Please still take me to the right place!!!" Fortunately enough, every single time I make it to my destination! And after a few moments of this nice Korean person speaking to me, I utter my other phrase I know by heart, which is "Hanguga chogam", which means "I know very little Korean." hahaha He then usually laughs, says a few more things, I repeat 'nay' a few more times, then we sit in awkward silence until I successfully arrive at my destination.

Although those things I just mentioned have me stumped, what really gets me is this: Koreans change their plans so last minute, it's unreal! It's just something I have to get used to. Example: Saturday my mentor teacher told me that I wouldn't teach on Monday, but that I still needed to come to the school and bring all my paperwork and just sit in my classroom and lesson plan. Sunday, I texted her and ask her something, and she calls to tell me that I don't need to come to school until Thursday. I wonder if she would have even told me that if I hadn't texted her? Anyway, so I've just been sitting around waiting for Thursday to get here. Today I text her again to ask about school supplies and what the kids will have tomorrow. Keep in mind, I still have no idea what grades I'm teaching or what days I'll be seeing the students. She calls me again and tells me that tomorrow I'll have grade 2, then grade 3 and 4 together and then grade 5 and 6 together. Since grade 5 and 6 has 22 students, I have to interview them and pick the top 15. WHAT! I'm panicking! Luckily, I found out today. If they would have shown up tomorrow and I thought I was supposed to do my introduction lesson with them, only to find out that's not the case, I would have had a heart attack. I'm going to have to get better at thinking on my feet! So I've been trying to prepare for that this afternoon with interview questions, but I honestly have no idea what level these kids are on since I've never seen 5th and 6th grade Koreans speak English. I feel like I'm in the dark! It'll all work out though, I suppose! I just hate having to weed them out. Poor little guys. Their education system is such a competition from day one. I just wanted my class to be one where they could come and have a good time and learn English, not have to worry about competing to be number one like the do every other class for their entire school lives.  Anyway, I'm sure in a week, I'll feel like I've been doing this for years and I won't be worried, but in the meantime, prayers are gladly accepted. I'm nervous about my first day teaching, and even more nervous about interviewing my 5th and 6th graders!

Thanks for reading my ranting, as promised, here are some pictures! Some are funny and some are just cultural differences! Enjoy!

If you want water with your meal, in most places you just get up and get it yourself. It's not common for them to drink a lot with their food. The cups for water are also SO tiny! I drink like 10 per sitting, and that's me trying to not look like a camel at dinner. haha 

Random, funny bathroom sign. I don't think I've seen anyone here that big or with that kind of hair, so I'm not sure where they got that idea from. haha

When they have a sale, the put the biggest number first, and a lot bigger. Clever! So this store was having a sale where things were 20-30% off, but they emphasized the 30%. Genius! 

Kiyana and I's initials are KMB and we keep finding them everywhere! This happens to be a bakery! 

This is a bar a few blocks from my house. Close...8:00 AM. Koreans know how to partaaaaayyyy!

Matching Korean couple. They love to match here when they're dating. It's hard to tell because I was trying to not be too creepy, but they had on the exact same Columbia jacket! Normally it's the entire outfit that couples choose to match, including underwear! So silly! I just can't see any boys in America being okay with that. 

This is an classic example of English translation gone wrong! I found this on a notebook in LotteMart. It says, "Where am I? Falling in love with someone now, who loves all of them is." hahaha I wanted to buy it so bad! 

This isn't funny, but i thought these fish were awesome. Kelsey-I wanted to send one to you for your half bday, but as you noticed, I can't find the post office. And I assume fish wouldn't ship well. :( 

This bakery/pizza place/chicken place is called, "Thank u mom" Some of the names of shops I see around her are so random! I love it so much! also while I was taking this picture, a cute Korean couple inside was staring at me. This usually goes one of two ways, they either just keep staring or wave. Luckily they waved real big!! haha

Anyways, that's all for now! Thanks for reading and praying for me! Happy Wednesday, America!

-Kyla