Beetles on Beetles on Beetles

Sorry, I know it's been a while since my last post, but it is an understatement to say that we have all been busy in Korea. Since my last post, we finished our training, had a couple of fun nights exploring Mokpo and moved to The Wondo Youth Training Facility on the beautiful rural island of Wondo. This camp has one of the most incredible views I have ever seen. We are up on a mountain that overlooks a beautiful valley that is home to a farming village. The setting sun reflects off the beautiful rice fields and we can see fish and seaweed farms in the ocean just beyond the village. "Spectacular" does not even begin to cut it. 

Shortly after we arrived on the island the children invaded for the first week of middle school camp. WOW. I have a new found respect for ESL teachers and teachers in general. I neurotically planned my first lesson, prepared games for my kids and had everything under control. Then I met my homeroom class ... They were silent. Then they were more silent. Then they were even more silent. I asked questions and they folded their hands in their laps and looked down. My poor class is very shy. I tried to play silly games with them and they stared at me more. I made of fool of myself and they FINALLY laughed a little bit. I decided to change my game plan and borrow an activity from my first official lesson. Finally, I got an adequate reaction from my moderately comatose class. How? I told them my parents are short. No joke. In fact, as I moved into a day of teaching my first lesson, all of my students found the fact that I am very tall while my parents are average height hilarious. Whatever makes them happy, I guess. 

Fortunately, after a few days of camp my homeroom class is finally loosening up. They're still very quiet in the mornings, but they are all really sweet kids and work hard in the evenings when we work on their skit for the end of the week. We have bad guys who ride tigers in our skit. It's awesome. (A few of my boys have picked up on my consistent use of the phrase "that's awesome").

All of the teachers are starting to get a little bit tired. Teaching six classes in a day is definitely a lot. Teaching the same lesson twelve times can also get a bit monotonous but it is a lot of fun overall. My first Lesson Felt like a comedy Skit. I jumped and Made Around the Kids think I was completely ridiculous. In the hallways they all say "Nature Teacher! Teacher Nature!" The Kids Celebrities make US feel like. There is even a group of kids that continues to give me a very specific kind of gift. I call their leader, "Kevin" (his English name) my Beetle buddy. Fun fact, if you teach kids the word "Beetle" they will bring you tons of beetles. It cracks me up. On the topic of beetles, I now have a class pet ... a giant dead beetle. "Teacher Jon" brought me this massive beetle that he found outside and told me to show it to Kevin. Kevin was very amused. The beetle stays in a cup in my room and was named "Jon" (by Jon's class). 

That's all for now. Busy busy! So happy to be here with such a wonderful group of people.

Dancing Fountains, Open Containers and Chicken

In the words of one of our new Korean friends "Things that you never thought were possible- they're possible in Korea!" Of course she was referring to the fact that Korea doesn't have open container laws. After this discovery, a group of us who had set out to explore downtown Mokpo walked to a small 7-11-type mart (which were scattered throughout the downtown area) and each purchased a beer.

It was a lovely (fortunately not humid) night and we were able to sit out by the water to watch the Mokpo Dancing Fountain show (see crummy photo below). The show was very impressive, well-attended and set to a mixture of Korean and American music. When I say American music, I mean "Let It Go"- No Comment. 

Following the dancing fountain show a group of us went to a chicken and beer restaurant for a late night snack and final drink of beer and soju. It was a great night to bond with my fellow Mizzou students and blow off steam during our period of jet lag. Although, the ultimate frisbee that we played first thing in the morning didn't hurt either. 

There is so much in this small South Korean city. During our taxi ride, we drove past a beautiful waterfall. The store and restaurant fronts are beautifully lit up and as my roommate keeps saying "everything is just so cute here!"

Lesson learned: Don't forget a camera. Ever. 

Bunnies for sale in Lotte Mart- a giant grocery store/Walmart/Target/Macy's.

The view from outside Lotte Mart with everything lit up. 

Mokpo Dancing Fountain. 

Google is Now in Korean!!

We made it to Korea last night !! Or this morning or at some point. Time is a weird subject right now but it seems like we are adjusting just fine. 

Our day of travel went well. Lots of Group bonding and Airplane movies. Our Day consisted of Sixteen and a half hours of Flying (Split between two Flights) and then a Four hour bus Ride (which we all slept through) to the Mokpo International Football Center in Korea's Southern-Most province. 

My roommate and I woke up to an ocean view this morning before eating breakfast and playing ultimate frisbee with our MU group mates. Our orientation and Official Training Begins in half an hour. So excited !! 

(Also, the post's title is referring to the fact that my google page keeps switching back and forth between Korean and English)

The view from our dorm room. 

A nearby bridge. 

It's been a while, but let's go!

Hey, so sorry, haven't posted in a while but now I have a real reason to! On Thursday, very early in the morning, I will be boarding a plane to South Korea!  In South Korea, I will be teaching English at summer camps for middle schoolers in the Jeollanam-do province. After a month of involvement with the summer camps, my friend and I are traveling to China for whirlwind trips to Beijing and Xian!!! Looking forward to sharing this journey with you.

I know the irony has been pointed out before but...

TOMORROW PARIS GOES TO LONDON!!!

The countdown has been exciting, but tomorrow it will come to an end.  My lovely friend, Paris will board a plane and head off on her exciting European adventure at the University of London!  I just know she is going to have an amazing time and will come back with stories on stories and sooooo many beautiful photos.  Although, I will miss our 90 minute phone calls over the next 90 or so days, I cannot wait to read about Paris' trip on her adorable blog! (http://aneventualdestination.blogspot.com) And share in Skype conversations on the account she might have been peer pressured into making... (It's just because I love you, Pear!)
Most importantly, I am going to miss this girl!!!

Have the time of your life, Love!  :)

A Dumb Comparison

Tonight, as I was brushing my teeth, I came up with a dumb comparison while I stared at my never-ending to-do list.  There is a reason "to-do" rhymes with "bamboo," you can cut it down as much as you want, but it is always going to come back with a very frustrating vengeance.  I know this post is a bit silly, but hey, it's midnight and I have a thousand things to do tomorrow.  I hope your to-do list feels less intimidating than mine.  More interesting posts to come! (Yes, that is a line item from my list of things to do)

Feeling guilty while I should be sleeping

Well shock, I'm feeling guilty about not blogging again... and I deserve to, because it has been over six months since I have posted here.  Can you tell that my life has been hectic?  Here's the quick version and yet another promise to get my crap together and blog more soon!

The Highly Condensed Version (of the past six months)

- Went back to Mizzou for the spring semester

-Took my first journalism class (loved it!)

-Took another costuming class (So much fun!! Definitely didn't see this hobby coming)

-Went to the Dominican Republic for 72 hours of bliss (and along the way, I spent my birthday in Miami with one of my best friends (honestly, what more could a girl ask for? (especially when there was a 50 degree difference between Missouri and Miami)))

-Did a lot of homework

-Did more homework

-Didn't freeze (too much!)

-Saw snow fall for the first time! And experienced my first snow day(s)! 

-Started working with STRIPES, the safe-ride system on campus! (Now I have lots of stories about funny drunk people)

-Went home for spring break!

--Saw all of my beautiful, amazing, hilarious, talented, brilliant friends

----I was even lucky enough to see a handful of them in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (a musical, that I just might have seen three times...(what can I say?  I love them))

- Went back to Missouri

-Got hired at White House Black Market! 

-Got hired by Mizzou Theatre's Summer Rep program to work in the costume shop and backstage on Anything Goes! 

-Did more homework

-Took finals

-Moved out of the dorms

-Slept on a very generous friend's floor for a week

-Moved into my new townhouse!

-Spoke Spanish every morning at 8:40 for two hours with a group of hilarious people 

-Worked in the costume shop five days a week! 

-Worked at White House Black Market after

-Did a lot of math homework (and I mean a lot of math homework)

-Did a lot of Spanish homework (and understood it... I'm sorry, but when the hell did that happen?) 

-Worked on wardrobe crew for Anything Goes! (Possibly the best job ever!-- Minus the very sweaty t-shirts and more specifically, the adult onesie I had to collect at the end of the night, but other than that, so much fun!!)

-WENT HOME AFTER ALMOST FIVE MONTHS!!

-Had a crazy airport surprise

-WENT BACK TO CAMP BRAVO AS A COUNSELOR AND HAD AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE (I cannot even begin to describe Bravo, if I started to, I wouldn't get any sleep tonight, or for the rest of the year)

-Played in Huntington Beach and Del Mar for a couple of days

-Maximized my time with my friends before returning to Mizzou

And there you have it, the past six months in a nutshell (concise really isn't my thing....).  I'm now back in school and working my ass off already.  If you are so inclined, feel free to follow my academic/professional blog at lesjay.wordpress.com .  I will probably be posting there more often because, well, I am graded on it.  I hope you're all doing well and that there aren't too many spelling/grammatical errors in this post because honestly, I am prioritizing going to sleep over proofreading it.  Talk to you soon! (hopefully about something other than my life)

Thanks for reading.