i have a big head

i just got back from my first day of english out of 6. and for the most part i loved it.

i am by far much younger than any of the other lecturers and also a lot younger than my students. mostly because in korea you graduate college at 26 and then even the youngest ones have been teaching for a few years already. so a lot of them were surprised at first that i was their instructor.

now, the big head part. they LOVE me. i am their little genius princess. they all can't get over how young and "accomplished" i am. a lot of them have never even travelled outside korea, so they think i'm an international jet-setter (which, you know, duh, i AM - haha). and they loved the pictures i showed them of duke and my house and family in new jersey. they loooove that i'm going back to go to law school even though they want me to stay in korea. in general, they have been wonnnnnnnderful~~~

also, one of the other english instructors can't stop gushing about how perfect i am and how my school is so lucky to have me and how they are going to miss me so much and isn't there any way she can convince me to stay in korea? anyways, i'm glad i have my family and friends to take me back down a few notches after this wonderful haven that adores me. haha.

having my hostbro call me ajumma and telling me i can't afford to skip yoga/pilates should do the trick.

also, i was waaaayyyyy nervous on the way there but it's actually not so bad. they told me 39 teachers and i thought PER class but it's broken down so i have 3 classes of 13. and actually the 2 hours per class kindof flew by. so that by the time lunch came i was starving and hadn't realized it was already 1pm. and i'm done at 4pm each day. and one of the other english instructors drove me home today and she'll be driving me home tomorrow, too. but the last 4 days they found me one of my students who lives in the apt. complex next to mine and she'll be picking me up and driving me both ways. (so i get to save the 120,000won travel stipend!) yayy!! the only downside is that students are done an hour after i'm done teaching ... but it's okay they have a pretty sweet instructor lounge and i'll bring a few of my books =)

i already have a favorite class but i don't feel too badly about it bc one of the other english instructors (there are 3 of us) says that is her favorite class, too. they were my first class and i'm so glad they were my first bc they made the transition back into teaching soooo easy.

oh, YESTERDAY!!! i had a daytrip (a lunch trip) into seoul to see cecilia ajumma and it was sooo wonderful and refreshing. after being in cheongju (and mostly IN my apt hehe) for 11 straight days w/o work, hauling my butt up to seoul was nice. and halmunni was there, too!!! ajumma gave me my stuffs that my mommy sent and she asked me what i wanted for lunch and i couldn't think ... but then divine providence sent a man with a CPK (california pizza kitchen) bag past me and i was like OOOOH THAT!!! and ajumma called 114 (info?) and we got to CPK and i ordered 2 of my favorites AND AND ANNNNNND STRAWBERRY LEMONADE!!! yippeee!!! i was so happy!!! plus KOREAN cpk is better than american bc it's HALF as salty. so i was suuuuper happy. and we talked about my parents and family and i was happy to be with ppl who loved me and knew me in america. haha.

anyways, i should try to make a lesson for tomorrow or take a nap before we go to VIPS for hostbro's bday (i woke up at 7am today after sleeping in til 10:30am or later for over a week). YESSS. i'm so psyched for food. =)