I can't decide if I feel as if I've been here for forever or like I just left home. On one hand, so much has happened and I've experienced a ton and had so many adventures since February. However, 2 months seems like such a small amount in the entire length of my time here. Also, as of next week, I'll have taught 8 weeks of classes at my school which is more mind-boggling than me just being here. I, Rachel Milhous from small town Hughson, am teaching English at a high school in South Korea. Weird. It seems like yesterday that I was the talkative high school girl with my world revolving around friends, boys, and what I was going to be doing after school. Though it's only been 5 years since I really was that girl, I like to think that I've grown, matured, and see the world through a much wider scope.
When thinking about what to focus on in this blog, I had the nerve to think, "I don't have much to blog about - my life was boring this week." and then I remembered, "oh yea, I live in South Korea. I have adventures every single day!" So I'm going to share with you some random adventures/hilarious things that have happened to me recently - it'll give you a glimpse into everyday life here.
-My school shares a central area with a co-ed middle school and they often use our auditorium building which my classroom is located in. I was walking out of the building when a bunch of middle schoolers were leaving also. Because they were all staring at me (normal), I said hello and a boy said "hello! I am a boy!" me-"yes, you are..." him-"and you are a girl!!" me-"umm good job" him"you're beautiful!" and then he literally ran off. so funny.
-Today on the subway, an older man was hurrying to make it into our car before the doors closed. I seriously didn't think he was going to make it, but he did! and proceeded to do a fist pump. hahaha
-I see the janitor at the school about 10 times a day I'm sure. He doesn't speak a word of English but always smiles real big at me and laughs when I bow and say hello to him (in Korean). makes me laugh every time.
-A few weeks ago, I had to run to the bank during school hours and after the bank, stopped at a pay phone to quickly call my mom.. While I was talking on the phone, a random Korean man brought me a small cup of coffee from the lobby of the nearby hospital (all doctors offices are hospitals) and after I hung up, he tried to speak to me in Korean. We just laughed at the language barrier and I went off. As I came onto campus, a class of 3rd year students were finishing up a PE course and just hanging outside. Since I don't teach any of them, they were excited to see me and I ended up talking to the entire class of girls and when the bell rang, they were walking across campus chanting "Rachel! Rachel!" To top it all off, when I got back into the teachers' room, it was break time and the teacher across from me whipped out his harmonica and started playing away! such a great afternoon!
-When walking with a Korean English teacher back to our office after lunch, she looks me up and down and says quite emphatically, "you have what they call curves, don't you?" and then when I hesitated on what to say in response (uhhh thank you?) she turned and started talking to a different teacher in Korean. so funny.
-As I always take the same route to and from work, I see many of the same people every day. One that always makes me happy is this older (probably in his 60s) Korean man and his little dog. They are generally sitting outside or walking around sometimes with other people. First they (both the man and the dog) would just stare at me as I walked past and I would bow slightly and smile. Then about 3 weeks ago, the man finally smiled back. And just last week, the man smiled and said hello! (in korean) and I was stoked! making friends one older korean man and his dog at a time! :]
-Holly and I headed to Duryu Park one evening (which is the park that is close enough to run to from my apartment) to catch some of the blossoms there before they all floated away. With vanilla lattes in hand of course, we enjoyed the blossoms at dusk and spent some time in the park - it was beautiful and a great break from the week.
This week I'm pretty sick (losing my voice, sore throat, pretty nasty cold) and have been for the last week so I forced myself to relax at home this past weekend. However, my friends were going to a Daegu Lion's Baseball game who were playing some team from Seoul, and I couldn't pass that up. So that was my big outing for the weekend. It was a pretty typical game and the stadium was quite small but we had a great time! I even wore Dodger Blue before I knew Daegu's colors were blue and white! :] The only disappointment was a lack of hot dogs, sunflower seeds, and peanuts...
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| fried chicken with chopsticks...of course! |
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| holly and I post-game - Daegu won! |
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| most of the group :] |
I know that was a mish-mash of info, but that's kinda how life is here! If you have things you really want to hear about or have questions, always feel free to email me! :] rmilhous788@pointloma.edu
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