Just Get It Together, and then Baby Cheer Up!

Hello hello!

This week was back to normal-ish, so not as much adventure was had. Day by day felt really long but suddenly it was over!

I was reminded that I graduated with my Master's two years ago and my Bachelor's four years ago, so I celebrated with some macaroons.

So delicious, yo.

This is my friend Bryan. He's nice to me.

Hard to believe so much time has passed. I still feel like I should be getting ready to go back to Bona's when I come home. Whoa!

Sometimes lunch is awesome and sometimes it's hella weird. Here we have flower bread, which looks pretty but is not much beyond pasty white bread, and I don't even know what these abominations are in my soup. I asked So Jung but there is no translation beyond the scientific name and she was like "they grow on rocks?" Gross.

There are lots of "priority" seats (for elderly, pregnant, etc...) on the buses and subways, and lately the pregnancy seats have been a topic of discussion. Do people really need to be reminded to stand for elderly or pregnant people? Yes, especially pregnant women! So Seoul has been aggressively highlighting the pregnancy seats.

Most seats are blue. This is ALL hot pink. It's really obvious. I hope people take the hint!

On my way home from Tina's on Friday night I had a panic attack on the bus because there were so many people and lots of high school kids bashing me with their backpacks. Usually this only mildly annoys me but for some reason that evening it sent me into a tizzy. I got off the bus a few stops early before there could be serious damage, but it turned out to be okay. Near my apartment is the International Buddhism Center, so it's decorated all pretty for Buddha's birthday.

 I managed to make it home despite my weird attack, and had a relaxing end to the evening and a relaxing Saturday since Tina was out of town visiting Young Ah's family.


School happenings!

Today is technically Teacher's Day, where the kids give notes and things to teachers to tell them how much they appreciate them, but since it was on a weekend we celebrated early!

I got a basket of soap flowers made by the class leaders for all the teachers. I have no idea what to do with this.

Cookies at lunch

Originally we were supposed to go hiking, but the date changed. Regardless, I didn't have my afternoon class and we had a party.

So Jung got an award!

 We had a huge cake, and for some reason we sang happy birthday... Inexplicably I got roped in to "helping cut the cake" because I am the "multicultural representative." I thought So Jung was going to cry she was laughing so hard when she told me I had to and why.

Much cake. Such ceremony. Wow.

I'm not sure why the other teachers had to. On the far right is my coteacher Seunghee, and she had to because she's the maknae (youngest). Then the principal... Then meeeeeeeeeee

Cake spoils. Too bad it was coffee flavored!

 We got to leave at 2, which was freaking awesome. I would like school a lot better if I could always leave at 2 haha.

Anyway, aside from that I got a few cards from the students. Here they are:

This girl is one of my favorite 4th graders and this card is my favorite. In my wallet I actually keep the note she wrote me when she was in 3rd grade because it was the only one I got and it was so sweet. This one is a gem too.

 Every one has its charms.

Fancy envelope! I wonder what's inside!

This. This was inside. Thanks, jxy~

Then one of my boys gave So Jung a card, and he came back at lunch time frantically searching for me so he could give it to me. He was worried since he wrote it in Korean, but I told him it was okay. I wish I could explain how cute this kid is. Ugh my heart.

It would be great if I learned some Korean so I could read this, says the small child. I like the changes of color and marker size. 

 Now, my name is hard to spell in English, Francesca. But it's also hard to spell in Korean! Problem 1: there is no "f" sound in Korean, so the closest is "p."

There are other problems too. Like how my first name has more characters than most Koreans' full names.

And in Korean, the "a" always makes an "ah" sound, so my name is pronounced Peu - Rahn - Che - Seu - Ka.  Like Frahncheska.

The previous card has my name spelled 프랜체스카, which is actually closer to the A sound the first part of my name actually makes. Peu - Raen - Che - Seu - Ka. Kudos to you, kid.

Lots of my students gave cards to So Jung that said "I wanted to thank Francesca Teacher too but I can't write in English" so apparently I'm not doing my job. Anyway, one of my fave students wrote us a joint card so So Jung let me have it.

This one is more like Peu  Ren Chee Ka

 This is from the English card.

A valiant attempt at my name in English. 

 And finally we have a correct Korean spelling of my name

Ding ding!

I was so touched by all the cards and things from the kids. The younger ones especially are hella into it. So cute! Makes it hard to think about saying goodbye to them, but I will deal with that later~

Back to non-school things!

Sunday was a much-anticipated dance class.

We learned Twice's "Cheer Up!"

Seriously, you cannot be sad during this song!

The dance is sooooooooooooooo cute and fun! I love Twice's dances. They're manageable and I actually feel like I can do them well after 2 hours! Tina and I look crazy similar when we dance. I know it's not weird but it's weird. We both love this dance so it was really fun to do. 

I just watched it again before putting it in here and I cannot stop smiling. It was surprisingly tiring, but I am soooooooo glad we learned it!

It looks really cool when they do it all together, so check out the dance version too!

Okay also this week there was a new "group" debuting called BgA (Boys generally Asian)

It's Wong Fu Productions, and they made a not-quite parody of kpop videos. If you didn't know Korean, you would think it was a normal catchy song. They didn't want to make fun of it, but emulate it in a really hilarious way. Success! 

 

They had teasers, countdowns, profiles, dance practice videos, behind the scenes, and so much more. It really was like a legit Kpop group. And the song is hilarious, even if you don't know Korean since there are subtitles. but since I understand what they're saying it's even more funny. I was crying I was laughing so hard and I had to stop the video. 

Good times. 

On to another week and we'll see what happens next~ Cheer up! It's almost summer!