Ooh Ahh What a Week

Hello hello~

In case anyone wanted to see, here's our video from Hot Pink last week~

Take a look!

It has certainly been an up and down week. Camp is surprisingly painless. Seriously, my students are angels. It helps that I have more girls than boys, and the energy level is quite different. We've had some problems with the accounting department, and at one point there was pasta sauce everywhere thanks to a careless delivery man, but so far things are going okay. I understand why people like camp now. My kids are really making me smile a lot these days.

Anyway, here is a summary of my week in a video.


not really, but it's pretty funny. And there were a lot of nooooope moments this week.

That personal stuff resurfaced again this week on Wednesday, and as I am trying to make an accurate account of how my life is in Korea, I can't really leave it out of my blog. It's too easy to go back and romanticize stuff, so when I look back at this I want to know that not everything was kpop and chimaek.

So, as most of my readers are in my immediate circle you probably already know what happened. Namho and I broke up. For some reason he decided he doesn't have time or money to see me and he needs to focus on his English and pilot classes and studying so he can find a job. He really shocked me last week with some texts at like 11 at night saying that and that he can't see me anymore. He said he still wanted to but couldn't, and needed some time to think about it.

This week he told me he didn't want to date me right now, and I am not about to prioritize someone who won't give me the same effort. I have a lot of reasons to be upset about the way he broke up with me, but I have a lot more reasons to be happy.

The three months we dated were really fun and I was really happy. It was a good experience for me. The way he broke it off was so terrible that it feels like a different person, so it's easy for me to separate them into two: the Namho that I dated, and the one that broke up with me. I will be able to look fondly back on our relationship because there was no drawn out agony. Just a lot of really bad excuses.

If anything, this has showed me who I should be spending my time loving. Just because someone doesn't have a romantic love doesn't mean they are lacking in other areas of love. Don't assume they are sad and lonely. I found out I have a really meaningful circle of friends and a lot of love to give and receive. I don't need a guy for that.

For instance, that night where he finally said (in texts because he is a coward and acting like a child despite me being younger... excuse my bitterness for a bit) he didn't want to date me, I met up with Lauren and Tina for wings and it was infinitely better than going home alone and being sad.

On my way home, I texted my coteacher and confidant, So Jung, who has been with me through the whole thing. I told her about everything with him, so she's been there with me feeling all the excitement of the buildup since I met him at the language exchange until now.

While I won't give you all the details of my conversation with Namho, I'll give you the best bits with So Jung since it's so much better. She really is an angel and I cannot thank the universe enough for matching me with her. I am getting emotional writing this now not because of the heartbreak of the romantic relationship, but from the outpouring of love from my friends in this moment. Here is So Jung being awesome:

There you have it. People are cautious about being close to their coteachers, but if they had ones like So Jung everyone would want to be best friends with them. I really do love her a lot, and I will never forget that. This experience made me think about how lucky I am to be here once again.

So Jung Unni... thank you. For everything. 

Thursday I was refreshed with my perspective about being able to move on to someone who clearly has better priorities: me haha. Gotta work on me and the strong relationships I already have. 

Another lucky friendship is with Grace. I've mentioned her before, but she's quickly become one of the most important people in my life and I adore her so much. Grace, may good things always find you because you are truly a light of lights and a star among stars. 

Tina and I will obviously always be tight and I will always have her as my go to, but it helps to have others. The three of us met at Taco Bell, of course, and while the restaurant was health inspected we chatted about happier things and how dumb my situation turned out. Tina had to go to Korean class, but Grace was willing to spend more time with me to help me chill. Where did we go?

A cat cafe. Obviously. When I am distressed, I need cats.

Grace had never been to one at all, and I had never been to this one in Hongdae, so it was time to meet new cats.

This one looked like my Nymeria. I miss you, girl!

Disinterested cat.

still not having it.

Unfortunately the only really cuddly cat was not the prettiest, but he really liked Grace. I haven't laughed so much in a while.

You can kind of see her feelings on the situation.

Say hello to Daegu. He's from Daegu. 

Foldy earssss

Majestic

There were lots of pretty cats

Grace moved and Daegu checked out a few more laps before coming back to hers

Chillin.

So there you have it. I have awesome friends. How could I be too sad when I have more time to spend with people who prioritize me?

Back to camp for craft day. My kids are reading a story about cats, so I had them make bookmarks and they could do cat dolls too. They were really good!

So Cute!

Minions are so popular. So many made minions.

Girl and boy cats

The example I showed was Pikachu so...

My kids really impressed me. It has seriously been the easiest camp ever for both me and So Jung, and I really adore the students in it. Look at all the things they made!

Can you guess which one I made? or So Jung?

Here's how it looks in the book.

Easy to see

Cute bookmark! The pink cat is mine. I was in a Hot Pink mood~

I also gave them materials to make cat dolls, but no one did. They took so long on the bookmarks that only a few moved on, and mostly they wanted to make minions.

Still so cute~

Friday night we got to flip the tables on my relationship problems. When Namho was breaking up with me, one of the guys from our dance studio was expressing interest in Tina, so a bunch of us all met up and hung out together. I hope my door closed and another one opens! (In whatever way works out best for Tina, of course... duh)

Saturday we sat around, ordered too much food, watched trashy tv, and napped, which are all of my favorite activities. We decided to meet Grace and her boyfriend to go to a fishing cafe.

A fishing cafe???

Grace's bf really likes fishing, and they've gone a few times and thought it was fun, and I am all about trying new things.

So you pay by hour and you get some food and a rod. Then you just kind of fish for as long as you want. When you catch one, you weigh it and you can get prizes!

They had a puppy too. 

The last fish I caught was huge. For me haha.

It's amazing how fun it was. We spent a long time there so it was a little expensive, but who cares. It was a really fun new experience. What will I do when I go back to America and don't have a million different cafes to go to?!?!

After, we ventured back to Mokdong since Grace and I both live there, and we wandered until we found a samgyeopsal place.

The samgyeopsal and glorious steamed egg.

Oh my god it was so good. The white kimchi they had was the best I've tasted in Korea, and everything was so delicious. The meat was thick and so tasty, and we were the only ones there and it was late so we had a good time. I think the thought Tina and I were funny. When we saw the steamed egg on the menu and asked for it, I did a little dance because I like it so much. It seemed like they gave us a bigger than normal one. I've never seen it so high. And we asked for more of the red dipping sauce and Tina said, in Korean, "give us a lot please" and she was surprised we didn't find it too salty. But it goes so well with the meat and wraps. Ughhh so good. 

So all in all it was a wonderful day with wonderful people doing wonderful things. Simply wonderful.

On Sunday it was back to dance class for another girl group, this time with our normal teacher.

We learned "Like Ooh Ahh" by Twice, which I didn't care for at first but now I am obsessed with.

It's so catchy and cute.

It was so fun to do a cute girl group this week! Definitely harder than Hot Pink haha.

Here are some videos

In which even our teacher forgets things.

I better practice... I'm teaching it to my kids at camp tomorrow! Just the refrain. One of the teachers suggested I do a dance and I am like... well why not?

Lastly, Tina and I watched this drama called "Noble, My Love." It's based on a webtoon and was only 20 15-minute episodes, so we watched it after camp and texted.

Perfect casting is perfect.

Here's the trailer:

at about 9 seconds in you can see why I wanted to watch. No subtitles needed.

The guy, Bang Sung Hoon, is in Oh My Venus, which I just watched, and who is now my ideal type haha. Seriously, he's so handsome. I'm single now. I can say these things.

Dreamy sigh of contemplation. 

The plot is simple, taken from wiki: Lee Kang Hoon (Sung Hoon) is a wealthy heir who is attractive, but he cares little for the feelings of other people. Cha Yoon Seo (Kim Jae Kyung) is a cheerful and lovely veterinarian who runs her own animal hospital. After the two meet in an unexpected crisis, can feelings of dislike turn into feelings of love?

The drama makes my feminist blood boil since Lee Kang Hoon does a lot of terribly manipulative and forceful stuff (oh you won't move in with me? I'll buy every apartment you try to buy. Or I'll buy your clinic and evict you. Do what I want) and the plot is full of holes (they meet because he gets kidnapped by ???????? for reason ???????? and gets stabbed and she fixes him up) and since the timing is weird some characters appear and leave quickly or don't have time to explore their points. 

Plots don't matter. Abs matter.

But I still enjoyed it because the leads are fantastic. And Sung Hoon is like always in a suit. If I suspend my firmly held beliefs about relationships, it was enjoyable to watch. But really some of the romantic moments really got me, but they were just dredged in the kind of terrible things that bog down lots of manga/manwha/webtoons, especially those aimed at women. We don't want to be manhandled into romantic situations...? 

I'm glad it wasn't longer and it was certainly worth my time to watch Sung Hoon, my new ideal type, for a few hours for a few days. I'll see what other stuff he comes up with.

Tomorrow I'm teaching my students "Like Ooh Ahh" and Tina is coming to help, so I'm really really stoked.

Let's see what else this week has in store! Keep looking forward.