The Adventure Becomes Tiring...Day 19 in Korea

I woke up around 8 am on Monday morning. For the most part, my morning consisted of its usual routine of showering, shaving, Skyping, and stick coffee. I did, however, hear some very important news from my family that made me very excited. It was news that I pondered all morning. For the first time since I'd been in Korea, I really understood that I was an entire continent away from my family and friends in the US and that I couldn't be with them.  When the phone call came to meet Mrs. Yoon at the gas station, I was still deep in thought. I was deep in thought all the way down to the gas station where I met them. As I climbed into the backseat of the car, I said good morning to Mr. Lee and Mrs. Yoon. They said good morning back. I looked over at Jake, who was sitting next to me, and said, "Good morning, Jake." "Jook ja!" he responded. Apparently I'd made quite an impression on Friday. On the way to school, Mr. Lee and Mrs. Yoon asked me about my weekend adventures with the Westerners. They were happy to hear that I'd met some friends. I was happy about it, too.

When we arrived at the school, Jenny and Justine were already there. Justine was playing Norah Jones songs. Awesome. Everyone wanted to see my new phone, so I showed it to them. They seemed satisfied. I should take this moment to mention that I think I have seen maybe 3 cell phones in Korea that weren't smart phones. Koreans love their smart phones. (And who can blame them!) Jenny used my phone to take this picture.

That's soy milk on my desk. Jenny gave it to me. It was pretty awesome.

I had to go teach middle schoolers at 12:30. They were much more responsive this time around than they had been before. I was pleased. Class went well and I was even able to snap a few pictures of them during one of their breaks.

I love this picture. Three of them are hiding, one is just sitting there, and one is flashing the victory sign.

This kid is awesome. He often looks like he's up to something, though.

I caught most of them unaware with this one. 

After I finished teaching their class, I felt drained. All of the excitement from the morning had taken its toll on me and I felt exhausted. I went to the office to discover that no one was there. I searched around the school and found Jenny, Jane, Justine, Jake, and Mrs. Yoon in one of the classrooms eating takpokki with ramen noodles. They invited me in, and I helped myself to some of the food, hoping that it would give me energy for the rest of the day. It did help a little bit.

The next wave of children came in for their pre-lesson self-study in the computer lab. I managed to get a few pictures of them in action.

Awwwwwwwwwwww...

These twins are adorable.

The children were all excited because it was Monday and we were giving them candy in some of the classes. I didn't have the energy to match theirs, and found myself losing control of the class frequently. It took everything I had to wrangle some of them back in, but somehow I managed to get through the day. I managed to get some candid photos of some of the younger kids.

I got them all to smile for this one.

I got these two to frown. The twins couldn't do it without laughing.

By the end of the day, I was so tired that I couldn't think. It took forever for me to fill out my paperwork. It felt like my mind simply couldn't process anymore information. We had a meeting in the office with Jane, Jenny, and two new teachers who taught in the upstairs classrooms. Their English names were Kim and Adam. One of them taught math, and I think the other one taught Korean. The meeting was held in Korean. Every now and then, something would be translated for me by either Mrs. Yoon or Jenny, but for the most part, I was oblivious to what was going. I hated not being able to speak and understand the language almost as much as I hated not knowing what was going on. Even though it probably wouldn't have improved my situation much more, I wished I had spent more time studying the language before I came. The language barrier combined with my exhaustion really took the wind out of my sails that day.

After the meeting, I sat at my desk staring at a copy of our work schedule for the week, and it looked like hieroglyphics to me. I wanted to sleep so bad. Apparently, my lack of energy was very noticeable because Justine asked if I was okay and told me that she was worried about me. She thought I was depressed. Mrs. Yoon and Jenny thought the same thing. I tried to explain to them that I was just tired, but they thought that I was homesick. They were probably right to some degree.

Mrs. Yoon decided to take us out for samgyeopsal, a meat that is a lot like galbi, only not as sweet. The name of the meat translates into "3 Layers of Fat." Yes, it was awesome.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Mr. Lee and one of the other teachers joined us. They ordered soju and poured a shot for me. I waited for Mr. Lee (the oldest of those who were drinking) to take his shot before taking mine. As I put my glass down, Mr. Lee almost immediately refilled it. I knew that it was rude to refuse the drink, so I kept taking shots with him. After about 6 shots, Jenny pointed out that they weren't drinking all of their shots, and that I didn't have to drink the whole shot either. I didn't understand. Mr. Lee explained that in Korean culture, it's rude for the host to let the glasses of the guests to go empty. After that, I only drank a little of the shot each time. Mr. Lee ordered some mulberry wine for me to shoot, since it was less alcoholic than the soju. I was thankful, not only for his consideration, but also because it was some of the best wine that I'd ever had. 

I felt a lot better after dinner (and somewhat drunk). As we left the restaurant, I asked Jenny how to say "Thanks for the meal" in Korean. (Literally translated, it means "I ate well.") She told me, and I said it to Mr. Lee. This seemed to please him very much. Once again, I was very thankful to be working for such a generous and caring family. The food, drink, company, and hospitality had done a lot to lift my spirits.

They dropped me off in front of my apartment. I thanked them again, and skipped inside. I made sure to drink lots of water before going to bed and hoped that I wouldn't have a hangover the next day.