So much time, so little to do

Hello all!

We have had quite a few days off recently, so there isn't much of note going on in my life. We had the last full week of school, which was relaxing since classes weren't really stressful and I didn't have to plan ahead for the next week like I usually do, and then we had off for Lunar New Year. So we had a 5 day weekend, then 2 days of school, one of which was graduation. As a result, nothing big happened but lots of little things did.

First, here are some more pictures of Young Eun's wedding:

Many of the lovely ladies from my school. 

All of the "foreigner" friends: Japanese, Chinese, and American.

Young Eun entering the wedding hall.

One of the fun things we did this week was reward the best classes in 5th and 6th grade. Every class they get class points, and the class with the most points got to do something special.

We made Nutella Fondue! Which meant we got Nutella and cream and the kids did and brought literally everything else and I am so happy I thought of it because it was awesome.

6th grade had a blast

and we all ate so much Nutella

I finished the lessons and showed Chip & Dale videos with 4th and 3rd grade, but not before seeing this gem for practicing "What did you do yesterday?" with 4th grade:

I do not want to have a ruler fight with this kid.

I also got myself stuck in my dress when the clip latched onto the lace:

So many dramatic things happened this week.

Friday we had a dinner with the SMOE teachers, so Tina and I got to hang out with Grace, Helen, and Lauren in Itaewon.

Korean Cheesesteak sandwich was amazing

Saturday two things of note happened. The happy one, going to The Original Pancake House, was amazing. So delicious. A bit expensive, as are most foreign foods here, but amazing.

Chocolate Chip and Banana Pancakes

The second thing is I went to the doctor and surprise I sprained my ankle. It had been bothering me a lot after we did EXO's "Overdose" and she actually suspected I sprained it during all of our intense dance rehearsals. I did twist my ankle pretty badly during a practice of EXO's "Growl." But then I rested it and it felt better, so I resumed my normal activities before it healed all the way. Then when we did another intense dance, I aggravated the injury. Damn you, EXO!

So now I get to wear this air cast. Woo.

I spent the whole 5 day weekend at Tina's and we relaxed a lot and it was awesome.

We were still in a Dracula mood. 

This is Kim Woo Bin and I was listening to a podcast Megan told me about and the woman is obsessed with him and has a folder of pics of him on her phone called "Woo Bin-fluenza" and I think it's the funniest thing I heard all weekend. 

For Lunar New Year on Monday we went over to Tina's coteacher Young Ah's apartment where she and another old coteacher/current friend teacher, Hae In, made dinner and it was awesome. Young Ah made the rice cake soup that is traditionally eaten on New Year, so now I'm a year older because I ate it. So I'm officially 26 Korean age, 24 American age. Woo!

So good!

We also drank wine and watched Titanic since Young Ah has never seen the whole movie and it had been a long time since any of us saw it. It was really fun to watch with them, especially since Koreans are so vocal about things. Every time Leonardo DiCaprio was on the screen someone had to mention his eyes, or his hair, or how handsome he was. It was fun!

After more relaxing, it was time to get back to school. For one day. I had 2 classes. Sigh.

Some Thursday hot cocoa kept me going. Love my cute little mug haha

Friday was graduation. I was really emotional since I've had these kids for a year and a half and in 6th grade I saw them 3 times a week. They drove me nuts, but I loved them.

All getting ready.

Fancy robes and caps that fit no one.

We have a small school so about 75 kids graduated. 

After they all got their diplomas, and a personalized name stamp, they all got up and played a song on the recorder.

So cute. But I hate the recorder. We all suffered through it that day.

My favorites are the ones looking straight down. 

My other favorites are the ones who aren't even trying to hide the fact that they aren't playing. Such as wearing a mask.

my 6th grade babies~

The decorations. Congrats, 6th graders! Come visit meeeeeee

Goodbye, 6th graders. I cannot believe how much I miss you already~

Of course, the bittersweet nature of graduation comes every year. But this time, my situation turned out entirely bitter. I'm too lazy to type this again, so I'll turn you to the messages I sent friends immediately after the event. 

All the teachers are going out to lunch by grade, and the subject teachers get split off into the grades so I teach 6th grade the most, 3 times a week, so my co and I always get placed with them So I should go with the 6th grade teachers as usual but the principal decided she wants special lunch with them so I can't go And they don't get to leave early they have to come back to school But at first they told me to come with them since I always go with the 6th grade teachers but then I came down to leave and they were like oh sorry you can't come so I used my sick leave to go home and get this. The 6th grade teachers (including my Co and the sports teacher) dropped me off at my apartment because the restaurant is near it Like How fucking rude there's no reason to keep the teachers in school today I was like well I didn't bring food and I have no reason to stay at school. So I'm using my sick leave bye But I did start crying when we had to go back up to my room and log it in with my coteacher, who was also really upset. Because emotions. I am always included in 6th grade teacher stuff. And if she wanted to eat with the official 6th grade teachers... just eat with the homeroom teachers and leave us alone The subject teachers were all the same for 2 years, and they would have liked to have one more time together today but we get handed out like an afterthought and then I don't even get included at all I have always felt welcome in the school and included despite obviously not being Korean, but I feel really ostracized right now Like I'm not a real teacher to her

• 
  

  So Jung had told me before that the lunch was for the 6th grade teachers but I didn't think that meant I wouldn't get to eat...?

  And I think some of the young teachers got out of their grades or did something different but they didn't ask me/probably assumed I would go with so Jung

  And by the time I got kicked out everyone was gone to lunch anyway
• 
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Like we aren't allowed to leave early, there's no lunch, and I can't go with who I usually go with, and no one knew anything that was going on because she changes things last minute

  Everyone was confused and mad

  The 6th grade teachers all felt so bad

  The older women ones kept squeezing my hands and shoulders
• 
  

  
  

  
  

  And so Jung said she should have fought for me more

  
  

  I feel bad that she felt so bad
• 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  I don't do anything offensive and I can't understand most of what they talk about so I don't see the problem

The sadness and panic in the eyes of the 6-3 teacher when she ran down to stop us to tell us was terrible

And so Jung felt so bad and hugged me when I started crying. She texted me later and told me she should have taken care of me better but it's not her fault.

she sent me a starbucks coupon because she felt bad

But I just felt really gutted

End story/rant/ramblings

There are always miscommunications and misunderstandings, but this seemed like it could have been easily avoided. I have no idea why the teachers had to come back to school after lunch. No one knows what they will teach yet so there is nothing to prepare.

I am always considered a 6th grade teacher since I see them more than almost anyone else. Why do two subject teachers get included but not me?

I always feel a little like an outsider at school, since I literally am, but this is the first time it has been leveraged against me in a way that made me feel like I was considered as a lesser worker than my coworkers. It really, really sucked.

Not a good way to end the school year.

Whatever, I have to deskwarm this week then I'm off to China, so things will be fine. I've had too many good times with my coworkers to let the principal's weird action ruin it. On to the next year!

I was rewatching one of my favorite dramas, Liar Game, and I must reiterate that everyone ever should watch it because it is so good.

Seriously, watch it.

The cast alone makes it worth the watch.

Saturday, Tina and I headed across town for a clothing swap. Mostly we got rid of some clothes, but we did manage to pick up a few good finds. Woo!


We then met Helen in her neighborhood of Gangnam for perhaps one of my favorite dining experiences I have had in Seoul: A ddeokbokki bar.

Feb 13th is Galentine's Day, taken from Parks and Recreation, where you hang out with your lady friends because they deserve recognition for their love too! So what better way than a buffet with my girls?

You guys know I love ddeokbokki. So much, This is an all-you-can-eat, make-you-own ddeokbokki bar. Amazing.

You make the sauce and decide what you want in it, and what fried things you want on the side. We got so many good things and so many fried sweet potatoes and mandu and deliciousness. 

 Usually a serving of ddeokbokki and an order of fried things is like $5, and this place was only like $7.50 a person to be able to customize our ddeokbokki and decide what kinds we wanted. I cannot overstate how much I loved it.

Getting ready

Making the ddeokbokki. We had so many things in it haha

After gorging ourselves on ddeokbokki, we made out way to Gigi's for cupcakes, because what Galentine's day would be complete without chocolate?

Clockwise from left, Caramel Mocha, Double Stuff, Texas Milk Chocolate

I love cupcakes from Gigi's. And time with my girls.

Tina and I went home to try on our clothes (smashing success) and then catch up on our TV.

We died in Madame Antoine (our current drama about a fortune teller and a psychologist who are at odds but fall in love duh obviously) because in true kdrama fashion it was halfway-ish so a kiss had to happen:

Not your typical Korean drama kiss! She knows he's lying to her about the experiment he's doing on her, in which he is trying to prove that love doesn't exist and he's inexplicably one of the participants. He's trying to convince her his feelings are real (which he really is having trouble distinguishing between his experiment feelings and real feelings because drama) so he tries to convince her he's sincere. She guesses basically everything about his problem and the real intent of the experiment, and accuses him of faking his feelings for the experiment. He tells her that she's half right (in that he lied about the experiment and is actually doing kind of a bad experiment on her) but that he actually really does like her. Then BAM! KISS! So excited. Can't wait to see how it blows up then they finally get together. I love these two actors and I adore this drama.

Speaking of dramas, we're watching another one called "Remember" and it's really intense.

The main guy has that condition where he remembers every single detail of everything he sees, and his dad, who begins showing signs of Alzheimer's, gets accused of and framed for murder. It's up to his son to set things right, but his super memory is in jeopardy when he too begins to show signs of Alzheimer's. 

It's really intense. The evil guy is Nam Goon Min, who was also evil in another favorite drama of mine called Sensory Couple. He again plays a crazy scary psycho dude. But damn is he handsome.

I swear I watch for the plot.

Anyway, the drama shows the failings of legal systems and those things keep me up at night. It's so intense I can only watch a little at a time. So good!

Back to my week.

 Sunday would normally bring me to dance class, but as my ankle is busted and I am resting it for China, I couldn't go. Tina and I got lunch at Taco Bell, where we were pleasantly surprised:

Everything in Korea says "Grand Open" and this is the only time in memory that I have seen "Grand Opening." Also this Taco Bell has been open for like 5 months...? Whatever. 

Also pictured, a new raincoat I got at the swap as mine no longer is functional as a raincoat since the hood got a hole burned through it on my teacher's trip yay!

So now I am home finishing up Liar Game and organizing new clothes, plus planning about China! OMG so excited!

Enjoy these Dracula highlights: 

Man a dvd would be awesome.

Also this is an oldie but a goodie:

I heard it out every day this weekend and it came on my shuffle as I had to rush but I caught my bus. I've always had good things happen when I hear it randomly in public, and it's an amazing song. 

There will be no update next week due to the fact that I WILL BE IN CHINA~~

See you all later!