I know, I know, I know

It's been a while. I don't really even have a good excuse. I could lie and say I've been really busy, but that's just not the truth. I think that's what's kept me from blogging. I felt like I didn't have much to say. But now that I sit here and think back over the past few weeks, I don't know where to begin. 

I've been here over two months now, and things are feeling pretty settled in. I never thought it would happen, but I am feeling used to the long hours at work. When I come back home and get a teaching job, I am not going to know what to do with myself with all that free time! I dearly love my kindergarten students, which take the most energy but the least prep. My afternoon classes (1st, 3rd and 4th grade classes) are also fun and pretty laid back. I have 12 students in each class, so classroom management consists of an occasional stern look. Pretty nice. The drawbacks of the job are the hours, of course, and the lack of room for creativity in the lessons. The curriculum is all planned out, and you have to stick to it, so there's not a lot of time for anything outside of checking homework and working in the book. I try my best to sneak in a game every once in a while, but it's tricky. In a way, it makes me long for my days at St. Helena when I could teach whatever I wanted. The grass is always greener!

My weekends have been spent exploring and shopping (now that I actually have money!!) around Seoul. A few weeks ago I hiked up to Seoul Tower, which is a big communications tower and tourist attraction. When I told my co-workers I walked up, they were all like, "You know there's a tram, right?" Yes, I did know that, but I chose to walk. I need all the exercise I can get these days and I thought it would be cool to walk up all the steps. I walked up behind a girl in high heels. I just don't understand why you would hike up a mountain in heels. Korean girls are crazy with the shoes. Anyway, the view was pretty amazing. The city basically goes in all directions as far as the eye can see. I guess I chose a good day for it, because there wasn't much smog and it was a clear day. I'll post pictures soon.  Other than the view, it was cool to see the hundreds of locks locked to the fence. I guess lovebirds come to the top together, attach a lock to the fence, and then throw the key over the edge, to represent their eternal love. It made me sad that I couldn't read Korean, because I wanted to read the cheesy things written on the locks. Maybe I'll go back when I get myself a Korean boyfriend. Doubtful. But it would be nice, considering the men carry their girlfriends' purses around here...

I have been eating a lot of bibimbap, which is a delicious and vegetarian dish of rice, veggies, seaweed, red pepper paste, and a fried egg on top. Lately I've been trying a different restaurant every night, trying to find the best bibimbap on my walk home. I'm wondering when I will get sick of it. It hasn't happened yet, but I should probably branch out to something else soon. 

My most exciting news is of my latest purchase: a bike! I have wanted a bike since the day I arrived here and saw that it didn't look too terribly dangerous (you can ride on the sidewalks here) and I finally got around to buying one yesterday. I asked my Korean teacher to write down how to ask for a used bike and how much it is, and I scouted out a little neighborhood bike shop on my way to school. The guy didn't speak any English, so I was glad I was armed with my handy notebook, and he pointed to four old bikes in the corner. Three of them had little itty bitty wheels, so I chose the one with normal sized wheels, rode it down the block and decided it was good enough for me. It was about 60 bucks and I'm pretty sure the guy told me I could bring it back it anything goes wrong with it. I felt like a bit of a menace as I rode it home; my purse kept falling off and smacking the tire and I got yelled at twice, but other than that I made it home and brought it up the elevator to its new home. I think I just have to remember that I am not on the street in Minneapolis, I am on the busy sidewalk in Seoul, and I can't go as fast as I want. I think that's why I got yelled at. That and I totally went right between two ladies without warning them. Woops! I need to remember to use my bell. They do that a lot here. 

So even though I am feeling settled in and have a boring old routine just like everybody else, there is still the occasional overwhelming feeling that I am in a very foreign place. Tonight at the grocery store (where they ground my coffee beans on the spot), I was wandering around and crossed paths with a girl who literally gasped when she saw my face. I'm hoping she was shocked to see the color of my eyes, rather than gasping at my overall hideousness. I guess I'll never know. Just another day in Korea.

This weekend I am headed to Everland, the big amusement park in Korea, with some co-workers. That should be interesting. And next Tuesday is Children's Day, a national holiday in which everyone gets the day off to spoil their kids. I don't have any plans for that yet, but I have to figure somewhere that kids won't be, because my days off are few and far between. I'm looking forward to it no matter what I do!