Today, June 1st, marks nine months I've been in Korea. Nine months! I can't believe it. When these month-markers roll by, I can't help but reflect on my time here- and how my life has changed since coming here. At this point, though I know my feelings will change soon enough, I can't imagine leaving Korea. I've made a home and a life here and the thought of leaving it...

It's been a minute since my last post. There are so many wonderful, crazy things that have happened that I can't possibly cram into a little blog post, but life is so, so good. I'm currently wrapping up my ninth week in a row not working five days in a row- there have been so many holidays, school celebrations, field trips, etc, that I've somehow managed to easily slide through a solid 20% of my working time here. If I really think about it, with all of the other vacations/desk warming time I've done, I would estimate my actual teaching time at about 40% (60% vacation). Awesome.

I do have a tapeworm, haha. I got it a while back (a few months) from eating undercooked pork, I think. I originally got treatment for it but I guess it never really went away, and now I'm on some kind of pills that are meant for dogs and cats.

Last weekend my friends and enjoyed a public holiday (Buddha's Birthday) camping on an island off the south coast of Korea for two nights and three days. It was perfect weather, relaxing in the sand, campfires, awesome food and a lot of laughter. I

One thing that has been kind of a bummer is all the goodbyes I've been having to make. It's a fact of life about living in Korea: people come into your life, and pretty much the moment you realize how much they mean to you, they leave. Last Friday I had to say goodbye to Caroline, one of my first friends in Korea and certainly one of my dearest. It was a difficult night, and though I'm looking forward to spending the summer with the others who are leaving, I can't begin to understand how I'm going to feel in September, when I have to pretty much make all new friends. Sad.

Tomorrow I'm going SCUBA diving with sharks and Sean at the Busan aquarium, so this may be my last post ever if I somehow get eaten. If I don't get eaten I plan on at least petting a shark....

And more after that.
<3 M

Mad Menning, Suicide

Lately my life is a blur of getting paid to eat and get drunk /not work at all. My students went on a camping trip for the past few days, and they came back today. On the days they've been gone, I've spent my time napping, going out to lunch, and being best friends/vacation planning with my principal. Two days ago he took me to a secret gambling room two towns over- basically a smoky, dimly lit basement (like you'd imagine) with beers a-flowin' and several card tables strewn carelessly about. It was a grand old time, and it isn't as weird as you might think to be drunk at 1PM at an illegal gambling ring with your 60 year old no-English-speaking boss. Gosh I had to sleep that one off all afternoon! Actually, thinking about it, I haven't worked a full five day week in six weeks now. Not complaining! I love my job lately. My life has begun to parallel the show Mad Men in the best way possible.

Let's see, what else is going on? Mostly just non-stop awesomeness/outside partying, Mexican food loving, and movie filming. I can't really be bothered to make anything of myself lately (save for a few hours every Sunday for band practice).

In other news, on a field trip on Friday, a 14 year old student of mine tried to commit suicide while on a field trip. It was pretty sad- this kid has a really sad life. His single, abused mom dumped him and his sister off at an orphanage three years ago and moved back to her hometown in the Philippines. He has suffered emotionally ever since- he stole money and tried to run away three times last semester. He doesn't speak in school- only sometimes cries silently in the back. My heart breaks for him. Anyway, while on this field trip (which I was on as well), Sangje threw himself into the ocean. He can't swim and was under the water for almost two minutes before anyone noticed. Here in Korea, suicide is kind of a funny topic. Not funny as in ha ha, but strange. As it has the second highest rate of suicide in the world, most people know someone, or know of someone who has committed what my students call "self-die." It's not really as big of a deal here; maybe it is, and they're just really good at pretending. No one even told me anything had happened until we were getting back on the bus to return to school, and I asked where my co-worker friend Kim Sung Ju was.
"Oh, she is at the hospital with Sangje," replied me co-teacher. "He tried kill himself today," almost flippantly, like it was no big deal. I think that if that kind of thing happened in the states, the field trip would be cut short immediately and everyone would have to go back to school. Here it was like, ain't no thang.
Sometimes Koreans handle things very differently than I'm used to.
To further illustrate this point, let me share the story of my co-teacher finding out her son had appendicitis the morning of the field trip. When she told me, I was shocked- Shouldn't you go and be with him in the hospital? I thought. I asked if she was alright, if she would need to go be with him.
"No, of course not," She replied casually. "That is my private life, this is my work life. I have responsibility." I could understand that, Korea is extremely work oriented.
"Well, are you worried about him?" I asked.
"No! Surgery is ok," she said, "But next week is exam week at his school."
Are you kidding me, lady? You're not worried your only son is about to have major abdominal surgery, but you're worried he might not be back to school in time for exams?! I hid my disgust as best as I could and managed choke out, "You're so Korean."

*This is not to say that Koreans are unfeeling, or that they don't care about their kids. They do- family bonds are really strong and important here. It's just really different.

I remembered back to the days when I was in middle school and I would be sick at school- not even talking surgery here, just sick- mom would come get me every time. I remember (vaguely) back to my sister Heather's appendicitis- it wasn't like this. I guess every culture has different ways of dealing with situations like this- it's just hard for me to understand at times.

Anyway, it's almost the weekend, and though I hardly worked this week, I'm still thankful.
More soon.
<3M

Climb Every Mountain: Blue Moon Vol. 1

On Tuesday afternoon, Kim came up to me and said, "Mandi! Good news! Exams! No school tomorrow!" There came to me an instant rush of excitement, followed by a list of ways to spend my newly given free time: I had, after all, just taken home my long-promised oven! Bake-a-thon 2012! It was gonna be great. Visions of warm brownies and pork chops danced in my head. I smiled.
Then, Kim finished her sentence.

""Oh, but, teachers will have day trip to Geumsan mountain. Then we will eat some dinner together." My heart sank, A day trip to a mountain? Great. In my mind, we all show up, take a little stroll through some woods together for an hour or two, maybe see some Korean wildlife, get to the top, eat a little lunch, go back. Presto, bonding time for the month done!

However, things did not go like that. At all.
First of all, I knew something was wrong when I showed up to school (on three hours sleep, mind you) wearing jeans and a t-shirt while everyone else was wearing serious, head to toe mountain climbing gear: pants with loops to hold carabiners, backpacks filled with towels, snacks and water, bucket hats, expensive boots, metal walking sticks- you get the picture. The gym teacher looked at me, laughed, and said, "Mandi! Funny!"

We got to the park, and as they passed out water bottles, I asked Kim the name of the mountain. "Eight Peaks," she said. It might as well have been called "Eight Times You'll Wish You Were Anywhere Else" Mountain. We started off down the Trail of Tears, up the first peak, and right away, the group (maybe 15 of us) was fractured into tiny pieces. I lost Kim almost immediately: my climbing partner was, of course, the 60 year old gym teacher, whom I can best compare to a Jack Russell Terrier. He is small, loud, insanely energetic, and thankfully, loyal (though I dragged up the rear big time on this course, he refused to leave my side).

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love exercise, particularly in groups. Which is, needless to say, about as much as I love getting a pap smear. (Look, I know I'd be among the first to die in the Hunger Games, but that's alright. I'm not that competitive and an early death isn't that great of a motivating factor. Dangle a plate of bacon or a tray of supreme nachos at the top of a mountain, then we'll talk.)

By the third peak, as I was sweating and swearing under my breath, Jack Russell shouted (in Korean) words of encouragement to me. Any time he saw me struggling, he'd offer me something. "Mandi, choco-pie (kind of like a Moon Pie but better)." "Mandi, water," he'd say, thrusting a bottle in my face, which I gratefully accepted. By the fourth peak, sweat dripping into my eyes, I had lost count, and as every muscle in my legs burned, was filling with a kind of quiet rage.

On the fifth peak is when it happened: I put my leg up on a particularly treacherous part of the trail and heard a loud "RRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPP." Oh crap, I thought. Dreading the inevitable, I looked behind me and my worst fears were confirmed: there was my butt, smiling back at me through pink colored underwear. Awesome. What do I do now? I'm stuck in the middle of a mountain. No matter what I do, I can't hide it. I kind of paused for a minute, but it was too late. Jack Russell saw what happened and was almost on the ground laughing. He gathered himself, motioned up the mountain, and said, "Let's go." Well, I thought, Here goes. As I climbed higher and higher, I felt the split grow. As the top of the eighth peak came into sight, I got a second wind and climbed faster.

There, at the top of the world, 1.2 miles from the ground, was every other teacher, waiting for us. Jack Russell filled them in and soon every teacher was clutching her sides in gasps of laughter. Hilarious y'all! Don't offer me a coat or anything to cover my exposed butt with! I sat on a rock and enjoyed the view, feeling a weird peace. Maybe ten minutes later it was time to go back down the mountain. I resumed my spot at the rear of the team (har har), and thankfully, climbing down proved far easier. It was over in a fraction of the time. But wait! It doesn't end there.

monkfish... not my favorite thing to eat

It was time for DINNER! We all went out for monk fish, which has the consistency of a really thick pudding and the taste of a fish that's sat in the sun all day long, then drenched with a sauce hot enough to dull the taste so as to make it edible. Delicious. If someone had told me at the beginning of this hike, "Don't worry! At the end we get to eat monk fish!" I would have at least attempted to run away or feign an injury. We also sat on the floor- cross legged. I did my best to remain modest in the company of my co-workers but it was in vain. At this point, all shame was long lost. I enjoyed the situation more and more as they fed me beers- soon we were all having a jolly old time pointing to my crotch and laughing.

Once home, I pulled off my new pair of assless chaps and felt an intense burn from deep within my butt muscles. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but it felt good..... to get my yearly exertion out of the way nice and early. Never again.
Bring on the lounging!

More soon,
M