The End of Winter Camp, Dentistry and Snacks

Winter camp is finally over!!!! It was tough teaching by myself, but it turned out pretty well. My co teacher said they got better feedback this year, and then said "It's all thanks you our Native Teacher!!!" Now, I don't think I did an amazing job, since controlling 9 year olds is hard enough in your native language, but I think the kids had a little bit of fun with me (a lot of them started joking with me- boys- or trying to sit near me and hold my hands-girls). It was tough teaching alone, but I'm glad I had the experience. I appreciate my co teachers a lot more now (and I already appreciated them A LOT).

I technically start my vacation tomorrow, and so I'm looking forward to sleeping in and doing fun things around Seoul. Most of my friends already had a vacation or are still teaching camp, so we are saving traveling for a few weeks from now. We booked a vacation in Jeju for lunar new year, so I'm super stoked about that!

these guys greet me on the way to work
every morning

At camp, I got to introduce a couple of fun games from home for the students. They really enjoyed them and it made me super happy. We attempted the human knot, which indeed produced hilarious results.

Other than winter camp, I've been studying a lot for my Korean class with my friends Lauren and Sarah. We've gotten pretty good at some of the vocab, and I can now get through interactions at the post office with a little more korean and a little less gesturing. Yay, progress!

I also made progress with other obstacles, such as visiting a dentist. Despite having been abroad before, I've never actually had to go to a dentist in a different country. I noticed one of my front gums was looking pretty irritated and looked like it was receding, so naturally I panicked. After some research, I found a place relatively near me (and they accepted my health insurance! Helloooooo $13 cleaning). It was kind of strange actually... They covered me with a blanket and during the cleaning put a mask over my whole face so only my moth was visible. Bizarre. Anywho, the dentist spoke english and informed me that because I have a thin face, I also have thin gums so I have to be super careful. Not sure how that correlates, but ugh anyway. Damn teeth always giving me problems. 

He also told me that, unfortunately, I had a couple of cavities. He said they weren't bad and that it isn't unusual for foreigners to have worse teeth here than at home. And here's why. 

1.) Genetics (THANKS MOM AND DAD)

2.) Spicy foods are not good for your teeth. Guess what Koreans (and therefore I) eat a lot of? I just love me some ddeokbokki

3.) sticky and starchy foods aren't good for your teeth. Lunch always consists of rice and often seaweed. which is sticky

4.) Beer is not good for your teeth. Sadly it's like the cheapest drink available and also very common at teacher dinners

5.) Coffee isn't either. Guess what I've actually started drinking in the mornings cause kids are exhausting?

6.) Korea doesn't put fluoride in the water, so even though I'm using toothpaste from home, that, along with the other reasons, doesn't help.

I'm not thrilled that I have to get dental work done here, but it's mostly my own fault for not researching my changing diet before. Plus, I have healthcare here that helps with the costs, so I can't really complain. It could totally be worse. 

In other news, here's another fun cultural thing that might weird you out:

We go to this one bar sometimes to chill and they give us snacks with our drinks. 

Sarah likes the snacks

the snacks are peanuts and fish

I do not partake in most of the snacks. I'll eat the peanuts, but damn the fish still freak me out. 

Well, I am off to bed. I've got quite a busy week already planned (even tho I'm not traveling) because I have  a lot of errands and local things to do. Hope all is well and that everyone is staying warm!!!

A cool museum and camp

I don't have much to say about New Year's. I happily got to skype my family (in 2014, while they were still in 2013!). It's strange to think that 2013 is when I graduated. It seems so long ago!  It was also the year that I packed up my life for the craziest adventure yet, and so far I'm delighted with my decision to move to South Korea. This is the longest I've been abroad/away from home, but so far I'm not crazy homesick (just occasionally), and I'm having a blast.2013 was pretty crazy and saw me do things I never imagined, so I cannot wait to see what Seoul has in store for me in 2014!

Now onto my life.

Winter camp is going well!

doing a role play- one of the kids wanted to be the dog

doing a step relay

they could only walk on the puzzle pieces

then they got to make canapes

This is cream. CRAZY

Seo Hyeon and I like to take pictures of the students when
they are distracted, because if they see us, they'll hide

Artistic 

Making paper hats

the result of origami day- my worst nightmare
I SUCK at origami.

 In our quest for Big Bang tickets (for my friends that didn't win them), we went to a PC room (PC bang) for the first time!

they're actually quite nice

This is Lauren's "Imma get those tix" face

Sarah ended up getting 3 more tickets, so all of my Big Bang obsessed friends get to go! Sarah has the best luck with Big Bang, apparently...

THIS HAPPENED AND IT IS THE MOST
PAINFUL THING I HAVE EXPERIENCED
IN A LONG TIME

And this weekend we went to a trick eye museum in Insadong, which is just a freaking awesome and fun place to hang out.

still mostly have my splits 4 years after I stopped doing
ballet consistently!

Not sure why, but there was a parade in Insadong (an area that has a lot of traditional korean crafts)

Then we went to a noraebang!

1 week of winter camp left!

Happy Holidays from Seoul!

Well, it has certainly been unique holiday week. I didn't really get much of a break though, honestly. That's because Christmas isn't really a big deal here, but we did get the day off, thankfully. Christmas Eve was actually the last day of school before winter break, but because I'm a lucky English teacher here, I have to do 11 days of winter camp (read: babysitting), and that started on the 26th.  I gave my co teachers really small Christmas presents and they were really sweet and grateful, as always, and I have to keep thanking my lucky starts for being placed in a school with awesome co teachers. 

Christmas eve was er, interesting. I got invited to church by my handler, and because I usually go to church on Christmas Eve, and to maintain a good relationship with her, I said yes, plus I'm really bad with a.) on the spot decisions/invitations and b.) saying no to superiors, especially in Korea. I thought she was just being nice and worrying that I would be lonely, buuuuut it turns out she is an UBER JESUS FREAK. I'm talking preaching on the subway, studying the bible every day Jesus freak. Like seriously, she told me how much she loved Jesus like a dozen times and was talking about how she feels moved to preach in basically any open space and how many people she has saved blah blah blah. I should have known this would happen. I think i heard her listening to gospel music one time when I stopped by her room... Should've remembered that before I said yes haha. It was a weird service. There were the traditional little kid performances, but it also featured a hip hop dance to a remixed Silent Night (yes, I'm serious), as well as a play about kids doing a play about the nativity story, which made me pretty uncomfortable because a lot of the humor was focused on one of the kids who obviously was mentally challenged. It just didn't seem to be, er, very Christian.

There was also a juice and cookie break in the middle... weird. I definitely won't be going again, but it was vaguely intriguing to see a Korean church service. Even if it was awkward for me to be the ONLY FOREIGNER. AGAIN. 

I decided that the night was young and met up with some friends, where we rang in Christmas by singing All I Want for Christmas is You at the top of our lungs, and then promptly requesting that they play the new and awesome Taeyang song "Ringa Linga"

Spending the first part of Christmas with some lovely ladies,
Maria, Janell ad Lauren

Unfortunately, for the better part of the week, I was ignoring some pretty obvious "YOU'RE GETTING SICK" signs from my body, and when I got home around 1, I started to feel pretty crappy. And then I had chills all night and barely slept, and that's the story of how I woke up pretty sick on Christmas. It could have happened any day.... I'm a little sad it was on Christmas but what can you do.

Skyping with the family on Christmas (for me) and
Christmas Eve for them

I had to cancel plans with my friends because all I wanted to do was sleep, but I didn't want to risk getting them sick or getting myself sicker. So I slept most of the day on Christmas, but I did get to see my family open my Christmas presents and I watched Elf with my mom and sister, a Christmas Eve tradition I wasn't ready to miss. Sadly, due to the slowness of Korean mail, I haven't received my Christmas presents from my family yet. But that's ok! It'll be more of a new years, Epiphany gift thing?

I am a little bit sad this holiday season, as I do really miss my family, and it is the first Christmas I spent away from home. But I'm having an amazing time here, and I've met some really, really incredible people, so I can't be too sad. Plus, with winter camp, I'm much too busy to wallow for long!

 These pictures suck because I was using my iPhone and it can't focus well on stages, but on Thursday, my awesome co teacher, Young Ah, invited me to a performance that her band was having. I brought Lauren along because I didn't want to be the only foreigner and I also wanted her to meet my co teacher, and it turned out to be one of the most amusing things EVER. Turns out, Young Ah is part of a group that organizes bands of teachers all over Seoul, and this was their big performance. Some of them were... er... alright, but Young Ah was adorable and amazing!!! I congratulated her after and she was so excited I came. We have officially reached arm in arm status, and she excitedly told me we should get dinner next week. This means that we have reached good friend status guys, which is SUPER AWESOME!!!! I'm so, so excited that we have such a good relationship and that she will be staying on as an English teacher next year.

On to English camp. Each day, we do 3 periods of learning and 1 period of fun games and activities. Yes, this is what I get to do all day. 

And then, a MIRACLE HAPPENED. 

I don't know if I have updated you on this, but my favorite Kpop group, Big Bang, announced they were having a concert at the end of this month. Despite our best efforts, the tickets sold out extremely fast and we couldn't get our hands on them. While venturing into Hongdae on Friday for a new watch, I received this message from Sarah:

We had both entered a contest to win tickets without much hope, and I had forgotten about it until she messaged me. I immediately called her and proceeded to shriek and shout in the middle of the street, both of us incredulous and unable to believe our luck. I'M SO FREAKING EXCITED. 

So then we wandered around Hongdae for a bit, finding awesome things like this:

And then I went to see the Hobbit. Which was WAY TOO LONG. It was alright, but seriously, by the end I was just like "CAN WE GO ALREADY?!?!"

Anywho, on Saturday, Lauren, Sarah and I ventured out to Myeongdong to try something we've been dying to do for ages: a fish cafe.

No, it's not a cafe where you eat fish or play with them. It's a cafe with special fish that eat the dead skin off of your feet and it's the weirdest feeling in the world. Like, it tickles and vibrates and is just bizarre. But MAN, my feet are smooth!

my left foot was quite popular

so was sarah

the price included a cup of coffee. Attempted
latte art

It was totally weird but awesome. So yeah, it was a fun filled week, even though I was pretty sick on Christmas. I ended up sleeping most of the day and still went to bed at like 10. And went home and slept the next day as well, but all that sleep must have headed it off before it got worse, so now I'm feeling pretty good. 

It was strange to be away from home for the holidays, but I am seldom lonely or without something to do here in Korea, so I wasn't too sad. I miss everyone a lot, and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Onto the new year! Who knows what madness 2014 will bring!