Birthday (and a Korean test) Week!

Hello~

After a vvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long week, I am finally able to relax a bit. Sort of. Not too much since tomorrow is Monday, but still.

Short version: Studying, Birthday, Open Classes, TOPIK test, Dance Class.

I had a long day so I'm not very enthusiastic about blogging, but i have things to do this week too so I should get it done now. Future me will thank me probably.

Long version starts now:

The week went along at a snail's pace. Here are some pics. 

Got lots of compliments on my outfit, makeup, nails, etc this week. How will I live without them? 

Korea is obsessed with Begin Again. Even TOPIK questions feature it. 

Spotted at the Uni where I took my TOPIK. I thought it was funny.

This is why learning Korean is hard...

Spotted: A Korean hiker in his natural habitat 

Singing "Eyes, Nose, Lips" in my head. Taeyang (the first option) means "sun" in Korean. 

So Wednesday we had open classes for the parents to come observe our classes. Up until now I have been really lucky to avoid these, but my luck SUPER ran out this time. Not only was it my birthday, but...

So Jung had to do hers 3rd period. Seunghee had to do hers 4th period. I had to do both. I am the only teacher at the school who had to do 2 classes. Fun fact, I only technically have to do open classes for my renewal evaluations, so I could have refused to do these. But really, why would I do that and piss off literally everyone? Better to suffer through 2 of them. 

Some of my worst classes happened to fall on the time slots, so that was great.

For 6th grade, we got 2 parents and the students did really well, thank god. We really weren't expecting any parents for 6th grade, but they were there to see the homeroom teacher open class after lunch so they had nothing else to do. So they came to watch us. They were super nice and said our class was fun. yay!

I knew we would have parents for 4th grade since one called and asked when the English class was, and 4th grade parents are more likely to come than 6th grade, but I was not prepared. Class started and NINE parents walked in. 9. NINE. My classes have like 22 kids in them. That's like another almost half added. And they all stood in the back and watched for the entire 40 minutes. We found out later that not all of them were parents of that particular class, they just wanted to see English and coteaching. 

I was so frazzled by it. I taught fine, but my nerves were shot. Also, it's the second full week of school. We're still on lesson 1. We also were on the reading/writing part, but I usually teach the speaking part, so I was unfamiliar with the lesson. Also, since the lesson plans were due last week, Seunghee made everything. Usually I make everything, so I am more familiar with the content I made. Not this time. It was really nerve-wracking. 

Seunghee and I did fine, and the parents were really nice. They think we should have another TV, but that is clearly not a viable suggestion. 

All the other subject teachers were SHOCKED when we told them 9. And we had to tell them like 6 times since every time a new person walked in the conversation went:

Seunghee/Me: How was your open class?

Other teacher: Fine. Blah Blah Blah.

S/Me: How many parents did you have?

OT: Two/Three. How about you?

S/M: Nine.

OT: NINE?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!/1//1?!??!?!???!?!?!?!FKLNIOHADSVUBJSDOLNK. (general shock and disbelief noises and Korean expressions of distress)

So Jung was last to come in, and when she asked and I told her nine people, she said, in the saddest voice, "but it's your birthday..." which set off the other older teachers in expressions of "OMG YOU POOR THING" since I had the most stressful day. 

It was really fine, but I was so exhausted by the whole thing by then. I brought in the cupcake chocolates which incited "OMO IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY WE SHOULD BE BRINGING YOU STUFF AND YOU HAD 2 OPEN CLASSES AND NINE PARENTS AIGOOOOOOO OMOOOOOO" for the next bit of the afternoon. 

After all of that, I got the greatest bday gift: I sat in my office alone and no one bothered me for the rest of the day. You all know I'm hella extroverted, but this was amazing. I really need alone time here when I'm so constantly surrounded by things I don't understand, and I just got to unwind alone after a stressful morning. 

Thankfully, the day was not yet done. It was, after all, my birthday.

Tina and I met up with Grace and Lauren in Hyehwa to get dinner and have one of the best experiences in Seoul. More on that later.

First dinner. Mix & Malt has amazing cocktails, so we tried them out.

Lauren's Elderberry Fizz and my Great Gatsby

Grace's Earl Gray Fizz and Tina's Wildflower, ordered because of the Park Hyo Shin song and the awesome flavor.

My Great Gatsby had gold flakes and other ingredients I can't recall. It was awesome. 

We got Chili Mac & Cheese, Lasagna, and a Meatball sub, all of which were amazing too. We want to go back!

Tina and I wanted to do something unique for our birthday, so we all tried something new: A RACCOON CAFE WHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAT?

Just like at a cat cafe, there are raccoons running around. Except they try to get in everything and take your drinks.

Seen here: a raccoon taking someone's drink.

OH HAI

This one kept coming up and tapping my arm.

noms

 You literally have to keep track of everything or else the raccoons will get it.

As Americans, we all had pretty strong opinions that raccoons were scary and pests, but they don't have that impression here. There are no wild raccoons in Seoul. My coteacher had no opinion on them. It was cool to see them like not digging through garbage or whatever, but it was hard to get over. I was scared when they would climb on me.

Bitch tryna get my soda

Action shot of this raccoon trying to get Tina's drink from her hand

Hey there small bear. 

They even had white ones. They're clumsy as fuck and jumped around and fell a lot. It was awesome. 

This fat one got stuck in the ladder. 

Accurate depiction of the evening. 

I really cannot express how much I enjoyed the experience. It was fun to do with some of my best friends in the world, and it was a great end to the birthday. I want to go again so badly!

To finish off my birthday story, here are some of the gifts I got:

So Jung got me a tote bag and a pouch, and one for Tina. They are cats wearing Korean hanboks, and a tote bag depicting my ideal life.

 So Jung surprised me in the morning with my gifts. I'm tearing up thinking about how much I love her. She is the best. I don't know how much enjoyment of this experience I owe to her, but it's a lot.

Tina got me this bathmat that I wouldn't shut up about. She even went to 2 kakao friends stores to find it

 Tina is also the best.

A cat clock from Seunghee. She is also the best.

 Notice a pattern? Maybe people know I like cats.

Seunghee surprised me before my open classes, and I saw later in her planner that she had my bday written down along with like actual important school events. She's super sweet and I love her so much. Again tearing up because I didn't expect anything and got so much. Much more than just cat stuff.

It feels incredible to have people understand you and remember things about you in a place where I sometimes feel like no one can hear me. The people I've met and the friends I've made here... Man. There are just no words for how wonderful it is.

More birthday things:

Looks like a ransom note, but this contained the cat clock!

Canterbury eggs for when Crown of Thorns starts.

So my mom sent me smidgens from Watson's chocolates because I fucking love them, but I accidentally left them next to my computer when I was studying...

Opps. Still ate it. Still delicious. 

 To finish it off, here's the card So Jung made me. She was late to lunch despite having the previous period off, and when she gave this to me I realized why:

I'm 26 in Korean age, and the banner says Happy Birthday in Korean. She drew it all. 

She drew this cat but didn't think it looked like a cat so she had to make sure I knew it was a cat. 

God dammit I'm not crying, you're crying. How did I get so lucky?

The rest of the week went as normal. Tina came over Friday so I wouldn't go crazy from studying, then I spent all day Saturday dealing with my phone being dumb and also a lot of studying.

On Friday we bought macaroons and made a bday cake haha

Tina: Do you have a lighter? Me: I have a stove.

Sunday morning I got up at my usual school time to take the TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean). You have to be there 40 min before the test so they can check your id and take you cellphone (seriously they put it in like a cellphone briefcase and take it out of the test room) and you can fill out the form THEN SIT THERE FOR HALF AN HOUR DOING NOTHING BECAUSE NONE OF THAT TAKES A LONG TIME.

Then we had the test straight trough 1 hour and 40 min. 40 min listening first, then 1 hour reading. 30 listening questions worth 3 or 4 points each, then 40 reading questions worth 2 or 3 each. 100 points total for each section. 140 needed for level 2. I hope I got it!

I was really nervous so I didn't eat much before the test, and the room was hot. I couldn't stop shaking before the test and got really dizzy during the reading because I was focusing along with all the previously listed uncomfortable factors.

That being said, I felt pretty confident in it. I hope I passed, because I felt like I passed level 2. I was really confident in the listening and think I did pretty well in the reading, and I took a lot of practice tests and consistently scored over 150.

Plus, it's the anniversary of my thesis defense, which I passed.

And all my best songs came on my shuffle organically: Lightless and Shadow (Beast), Bad (Infinite), and Wildflower (Park Hyo Shin). How could I fail???

These songs got me through studying and always come on when I need them:

Beast - Lightless (Unplugged version)

Beast - Shadow. This is literally my all-time favorite song ever. No joke.

Infinite: "Bad" I'm really into Infinite these days and this song is killer.

Park Hyo Shin: "Wildflower" I've posted this before but damn. He is incredible. Check out his neck muscles at like 3:45ish to see real power and control, man. Amazing. And this song always comes on when something good is about to happen! 

After the test I met Tina for food, but I was really out of it still, then for shopping, which always gets me back on track. I bought some makeup, nothing too crazy so don't worry. 

Then we went to dance class! 

This week's song:

"Darling" by Girl's Day. 

I love this song! It was so cute and fun! And easy. We learned the whole song in one class!

Our attempts:

Shannon, Tina, and a very good sport 

Bri, Me, Good sport's girlfriend

Ahhh it was so much fun!!! 

So Jung joked that my weekend started at noon on Sunday, and sadly this felt true. I'm exhausted and tomorrow is Monday weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. -_-

Anyway, here's to hoping for a fine week here in Seoul as spring rolls in and the dust comes with it.  Stay healthy and well!