A Defining Year

Well, where to start....We moved in on Wed night to utter dismay. The place smelled sour, like what I imagined to be fermented throw-up. The floors were covered in dirt and dust, the pots, dishes, and utensils, were sticky from oven grease and under-washing. The couches were torn and dirty, the mattresses stained. We were soooo thankful that we were allowed to take the bedding from the first flat to own for the year. We could at least lay those down on the mattresses and sleep. Then it was back to school the next day for our first day of teaching!!! What a crazy three days!

We worked Thursday and Friday and then Friday night went and got all our cleaning supplies and a few groceries. Finally on Saturday we were able to begin our big clean so we could finally feel a sense of home. We woke up at 8:30 and after a quick breakfast we started our cleaning....we cleaned for 12 hours!!! We washed everything from wall trim and doors to cupboards, bed frames, dishes, and finally those disgusting floors. The most disgusting of all being the inch thick layer of food and grease under the Bunsen burner and the sticky unknown on my floor, the most discouraging is that we still have eight things/rooms left ...and the most rewarding thing was the amazingly beautiful floors that lay under all that dust. It is like a fake hardwood linoleum and it practically sparkles! Finally we could move groceries into cupboards and today I will unpack and move into the wardrobe.

I am sorry this is probably not the most interesting thing to read, but if only you could truly appreciate how unsettled Nashly and I felt living there. This cleaning update is the most exciting part of my week!! :)

Anyways, now a bit about school. To be honest, it seems like the hardest thing I have ever done, but everyone I live with keep telling me that it is the easiest job they have ever had, and that you can totally just slack and live life up! So, the goal is one month. That is when everyone says it will begin to just be routine and easy, so I am pretty much living for that time, but trying to make the most of it too. I am trying to do prep work so that I don't feel lost when I am in class, but it is hard to prepare for eight different blocks a day!! I teach six different classes of students a day! That is a lot to keep track of and different curriculum for each! Oh my word!!! I don't know who thought it was a good idea to dump this on new teachers without any training. We observed classes and tried to ask questions, but there was such a shit load of information coming at us every minute!

Now, about the people. So, it turns out that while really nice people-they are also crazy party people. I guess I had an idea of that the first night we went out with them, but I just didn't know if that was situational or the usual. I went out with them on Thursday. It started out so great. Turns out we have a roof top patio!! Ficken B-E-A-U-tiful! haha. We can see the mountains and there is a table and chairs up there so we were all just chatting (10 of us, teachers from our school and the other ECC school in the area). They were all telling me stories of Korea, or giving me tips, or talking about what they did last weekend. Just good stuff, then at about 12:30 we decided to move the party down the street to the convenience store. You are allowed to drink on the streets here, as I am sure I mentioned many times because I love it so! So we brought our beers down with us and sat on the patio out there. A few people were pretty drunk, but it was still good chatting and then these two guys who are like best friends but really wild guys started arguing about Homer's Odyssey (which makes me think I better read it if it is that important!) and next thing I know they each get in a solid punch to the other guy's face. I could hear the knuckle on skin contact loud and clear! Everybody backed up like crazy fast and then one guy had the other in a head lock and his face was going all red and then Lily yells "Guys, separate them now!" and the other four guys at the party are pulling them apart two to a man, but even then it takes them a bit to get them apart, this one guy from Canada has one fighter guy (names have been changed to protect identity :p) in a arm lock and is trying to lead him down the street, I have the fighter guy's wallet and keys, which he is now yelling about, so I run after them and we take him home. The rest calm 'the other fighter guy' down and follow a few minutes later. What a crazy night!

I tried to be really cool after it happened, but I'm sure everyone's adrenaline was pumping, but to be honest it kinda made me think. I was so eager to go out with them all before, not to get drunk, but just to see the sights and clubs and bars of Seoul and Korea, but now I am a bit more hesitant. I think that they would have my back and make sure I got home, but I just keep hearing about these crazy parties and I am not yet sure I can hold me own in this foreign land with people who are not yet that familiar to me. I want to read a lot of books and and climb mountains and see the sights of Korea. I don't want to only spend my Saturdays sleeping off hangovers and watching TV, but I also want to hang out with this group and experience it all.I feel as thought this year could really be a defining one for me. I really want to save money too though. And lose weight. It is like for the first time in my life I am truly free from restraints and expectations and I can and must make my own decisions about life and drinking and money and time and responsibility and accomplishments and meaning systems. People talk about this year in Korea as though it has just been one never ending party or vacation, and kinda surreal, out of this world. However, I am not sure if that is what I want. Don't I want to use this year for advancement and good of some sort? But I am not sure I will find that motivational encouragement here. I realize I will really need to be motivated by the ideal of home. There is something to be said about taking a year to discover yourself and what you are made of, and what you are all about. Sometimes I worry that it was only my close friends and Prov that made me think as a cognitive intellectual, driven by contemplation and analysis, but now I will find out for myself apart from all of that.