Lots of Family Time

Hey all! Another week flew by, and here I am at another blog post.


I've had kind of an emotional week with a lot of really high highs and some pretty low lows. I topped it off with a Sunday where I slept til 1 PM for reasons, and then watched two really good but hella sad movies.

First, The Last Five Years:

Based on the musical, this movie charts a couple, Cathy and Jaime, throughout their relationship of five years. Except it's really sad, and you know how things work out right from the beginning. Here's the first song:

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If you have a penchant for reading things without watching the videos posted, here's a quick summary: The first song is called "Still Hurting." Sung by Cathy, it's at the end of the relationship. See, the gimmick of the show is that Cathy sings the story through from the end of their relationship back to the beginning. Jaime starts at the beginning and sings through to the end of the relationship. They only time they sing together is in the middle of the show during the proposal.

So right from the get-go you know how the story ends. It's a really interesting dynamic. I got a little lost in the middle of the movie because I couldn't remember who was singing and what part of the relationship they were in, so I was like "wait, are they married yet? Is this going more towards Happy Beginning Cathy or Sad End Jaime?"

Also, Jaime is a successful author and Cathy a struggling actress. It's really hard to root for Jaime because he comes off as kind of a jerk in the whole thing since we see Cathy upset first. and Cathy seems pretty supportive of Jaime throughout the movie while he seems a bit narcissistic. Really, his first song is about how much him hooking up with Cathy would piss off his Jewish mother. So I got really invested in Cathy and had a hard time watching Jaime's story progress towards the sad conclusion while Cathy's went back to their blindly happy beginnings. Still, I would totally recommend this to anyone who likes musicals. Especially when Cathy is singing an audition song and it gets totally meta.

Anyway, I spent another good part of my Sunday watching another awesome movie, Big Hero 6, and crying through 90% of it.

No joke. This was like halfway through the movie.  Don't worry, I cleaned up after. 

I should have known those sneaky bastards at Disney would make me cry. But the robot learning to fist bump is probably one of my favorite things ever. If you're not an emotional wreck like me, this movie would be great to watch and would probably make you upset but not enough to use half a box of tissues! Also it is hilarious and wonderful, so go watch it! My kids at school are obsessed with it too, so I can now relate to some of the kidlets a bit more. Yay!


The yellow dust has been particularly bad this week, so I've taken to wearing a mask. I seem to get pretty sick from the dust probably due in no small part to my allergies and also the fact that the levels are almost toxic...

I feel like I'm in Mortal Combat. FINISH HIM.

So that's been fun to deal with. Stay healthy, everyone!


Back to the beginning of the week, MONDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

School lunch knew what was up. Mandu in my soup and duck with honey mustard sauce. MY FAVORITE LUNCH THINGS.

I met up with Tina in Hongdae after work since this is the first birthday since senior year of high school that we could spend together. We went to our favorite Italian restaurant. It has pasta in a bread bowl. A lot of Koreans get is but don't eat the bowl? Tina and I devoured the pizza and the bowl and the pasta NOM NOM NOM.

Lovely.

Birthday dinner!!!

We got to hang out and be with each other on our birthday, which is something I should never take for granted again. It was really fun to celebrate in Seoul!

So Jung gave me a coupon for 1+1 Starbucks drinks, so we wandered around Hongdae while all the pasta settled, then we went to cash in on that deal.

Cherry Blossom drinks. Thanks, So Jung!

 Thanks for celebrating with me, Tina! Let's do it again next year!


Birthday festivities continued throughout the week. On Monday, my coworkers had wished me a happy birthday here and there, but on Tuesday they surprised me with a cake and a celebration!

Chocolate cake YUM.

 It was so cute! They were actually really obvious about it, but since they were always talking in Korean I was only mildly suspicious, so it came as a complete shock when they brought out the cake and sang to me. It was then delicious. It was difficult to eat because everyone always remembers the cake but not to bring forks and plates, so we had to eat with plastic gloves. It was funny.

They also got me some cards and all signed them in their adorable English. They were actually passing these around to So Jung at lunch right in front of my face because it's hard to gather all of us together since everyone teaches in different rooms and whatnot, but again I was totally oblivious. I joked about how I must be the easiest person in the office to surprise, to which everyone agreed.

I was really touched by the thoughts of my coworkers. They're great. *gets emotional again*

They're so cute!

I cannot adequately express how much I love my coworkers. 

 Aside from birthday things, I had a not great start of the week. Korean class is hard. It was still a week til payday, so it's always a loooooong stretch for the last bit. Coming down from birthday highs was hard.

I don't remember why I took a picture of this, but class is tough sometimes. Though sometimes it astounds me that what were once just lines on a paper now actually hold meaning to me. Languages are weird, man.

 But then things got better! I had more birthday celebrating to do!!!

At our staff dinner for school, we discovered that Young Eun, one of the music teachers, and I had birthdays pretty close to one another. We were going to celebrate last week, but a lot of the younger teachers were busy so we moved it to this week. Since Tina and I share a birthday, So Jung figured it would be okay to invite her along. It worked out well since Tina had a staff dinner last Friday and wouldn't have been able to make it.

So this week we went out to Mad for Garlic and Tina came down to my neck of the woods to meet all the coworkers I talk about all the time.

So Jung and one of the other teachers disappeared for like half an hour, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. So Jung got me ANOTHER cake!

We lit the candles and sang in Korean for Young Eun, then So Jung relit the candles and we sang in English. "Happy Birthday dear Christina and Francesca" was quite long so it came out as "Happy Birthday jsklfsknd;oshdc;siodkncsio;dnsiod;nsoik!!!!!!!!!!!"

So Jung being a darling and lighting the candles again. I love her.

Birthday Joy.

Make a wish!

Awwwwww.

 Seriously,  I have the best coworkers. The cake was hella good. How good was it? HELLA. It was strawberries and some kind of yogurt frosting from Paris Croissant. I will totally get it again.

After dinner we went out for coffee, and one of the more fun things of the evening was that Tina is really impressive with her Korean skills. She was translating for me for a lot of the night, and could hold up conversations with them for much longer than I could. My coworkers were really impressed, especially with her pronunciation. You go, Tina! My Korean coworkers lamented that they've been studying English for 20+ years or whatever and Tina is so good in less than 2, which I will not comment on as it leads into my feelings on the education system, but it was humorous. Seriously, the looks on their faces when she would say something in Korean or respond to something in the conversation were priceless. I suppose since they're used to me being with them and I don't speak very much Korean, and the previous native teacher was a vile human and I hate him for making So Jung have a hard time while she had to teach with him hem hem where was I??? Oh yes. Tina's level of Korean is impressive to these Koreans who haven't really worked with foreigners too much. I mean, it's impressive all around, but to be complimented by people you don't know (unlike being complimented by Young Ah, who is really good friends with Tina so it can be like oh you're just saying that) is pretty great.

After all of the usual "twin" comments were spent and the revelry was had, Tina and I headed home to watch trashy tv and ended up doing laundry because I spilled wine all over my bed.

I shower at night and put my hair up so it dries really curly. Tina is copying my epic levels of "hair on top of head"ness while we watch Hell's Kitchen and The Challenge.

Saturday brought another day of toxic dust, but nothing could ruin my mood or my excitement.


I met So Jung's family!


They had invited me over like as soon as I met So Jung, but we all decided it would be nice to wait until I was a little more settled before I went over. They don't speak much English and I still don't speak too much Korean, but it was nice.

So I got to meet So Jung's parents and her younger brother! Woo!

It was a bit imperative that I go this weekend if I wanted to meet all of her family, because So Jung's younger brother is enlisting for his mandatory military service on like Thursday.


They were all so cute! Her mom made me ddeobokki, the spicy rice cake dish that I like (at So Jung's insistence), bulgogi. chapjae, salad, broccoli, and (of course) kimchi. It was delicious! They were surprised that I like ddeokbokki (when i tell my students they flip out and say ISN'T IT TOO SPICY??? FOREIGNERS DON'T LIKE SPICY FOOD THOUGH), and her parents were afraid that I was uncomfortable since they don't speak much English. Literally every day of my week I am surrounded by people not speaking English, so it was totally fine, but still.

Look at the cute family. So Jung says her dad looks like a turtle. 

Her younger brother is adorable. And he's really cute. Alas, too bad about the military timing. Also he's only 22, and I am not ready to be a noona at 24 (although it is freaking adorable to hear a grown-ish man whine to his noona when she's teasing him about something. Remember, noona is what boys call their older sisters, which I love. I love the Korean familial names, though I think it's a bit odd when it transitions to dating). He wanted to ask me a lot of things, but he hadn't really had much experience talking to foreigners. Shocking.

I feel like a part of the family!

For a while he brought out a TEPS (a test of English proficiency) and was asking me questions about it. He would ask in terms of grammar though, and sometimes it was hard for me to explain what was the right answer since I don't know all the grammar terms, I just know what's right. I gave some examples of the reverse in Korean, and he was like OH WOW KOREAN IS HARD ENGLISH IS BETTER, which So Jung has also said to me when I show her my Korean homework.

Finally, we decided that I was done being and English teacher on my day off, and I headed out, but not before saying my farewells to her lovely family and being thanked for being good to So Jung. Her mom really appreciates that I'm not that terrible jerk that makes my blood boil, and I assured her that I'm really the lucky one who gets to work with a great teacher like So Jung. Seriously, I'm so lucky to have her in my life.

Before I left, So Jung gave me a present because the universe decided to show me once again how lucky I am to have landed here:

Yes that is Super Junior's album "Sorry, Sorry."

Super Junior's "Sorry, Sorry" album was really the one that catapulted them to superstardom, and So Jung gave me her copy. She used to really like Donghae, who is my current bias (sorry, sorry, Kyuhyun!), further proving that she and I are soulmates and I love her so much.

Although, to be fair, who can resist that face??

It took me like an hour to get home and I was exhausted from the language barrier, the dust, and the excitement of the evening.

Then I got to settle down for the previously described Sunday. I continue to be astounded and blessed by whatever forces in the universe allowed me to work at my school and to meet such wonderful people. The world really is a magical place.

I'm having an off week so far, but here's to things looking up!  I hope I can focus on all of these things that are making me happy and fight off the negativity and anxiety that often threatens my happiness. Send some good vibes my way!

Here's one last picture from our birthday walk! Please note how we are not wearing winter coats and it's glorious. 

Peace out, Sailor Scout!