Oh look I finish an art.

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Hey guys, augh, wow, I haven't had time for interneting in a while. California was really fun, I took a lot of photos in San Francisco. I had a blast in Okinawa, even if it was only for a few days.


OKINAWA VACATION VISUAL REPRESENTATION BY YUKI

I took photos there, too, but I'll make a post for them later. I was there to visit Yuki, and we ate lots of awesome food and went to a maid cafe. Unfortunately the cafe had a 'no photos' rule. We were mostly just curious and wanted to sit and drink cute drinks and just talk to each other, but we were like "Um, maybe we're doing it wrong." I guess the point of a maid cafe is to talk to the maaaaiiidss. Derp. We chatted with two of them for a while, they were pretty adorable. I don't speak Japanese, though, so Yuki had the honor of translating for me.

Anyway, I took a flight straight from Okinawa to Incheon. This has been a crazy week. Uh wow, I don't even know where to start. I'm in Seoul right now. My hotel is really, uh, strange. It has no elevator, so I had to lug my suitcases up three fights of stairs. It also has no internet, so I have to go to a coffee shop around the corner to check my email. There seems to be a couple that runs the place, and they don't speak English. So there's me with my broken Korean trying to figure shit out while they change my room twice. The room is so bizarre -- I'm pretty sure this is a 'love hotel.' They gave me a little kit with two toothbrushes and 'massage gel.' Hahaha! The bathroom is enormous -- larger than my old bedroom -- with a giant hot tub which I don't think I'm going to try. The lights don't go up very high so the room is kind of just weird and dark. The room is nice, though, don't get me wrong. The wallpaper is all fancy and I get a fridge and the lock is electronic and I have to push beepy buttons to get out. Also, in order to make the lights/AC work, you have to put the key card into a slot by the door. That took me... like, five minutes to figure out. I guess it's so you don't leave the AC on while you're out all day. Anyway, Im rambling about the hotel room.

I should probably talk about my training. I have to take a week of training before I become a teacher, and it's possible to fail training and not get the job. The first day we had orientation and took a test with four sections. I passed on my first try, which helped my initial confidence a lot since everyone I spoke to had to re-take several of the portions. So, yay, right? No! The rest of training is fucking hard! Right after our tests we had to go to a medical center where we got about six different check-ups, including heart, blood, urine, blood pressure, dental, weight, height, and eyesight. We had to wear these weird colored gowns, all kind of milling about in the waiting area. Kind of surreal. This training group is roughly a hundred people, and half of them were there for their check-ups at the same time.

Actual training is in small groups of five people based on the type of teaching you'll be doing. I'm going to be teaching IRP (reading) and Memory English. I've got a pretty good group of people, they're all so nice. We're all in the same boat, anyway. I went out for lunch (samgyeopsal) with a big group and made a few friends, and the next night we went to a bar for some soju and kimchi pajeon. Anyway, back to training. They're giving us a whole lot of material over just a few days, and on the first day we had to go up and mock teach. That day, my heart started pounding and I could feel myself getting shaky. I'm terrible at public speaking. I started thinking 'I can't do this, I should drop out, I really can't do this.' We ran out of time and I didn't have to go up. My group met up to practice together and I got to go over my lesson with them. It takes a long time for me to take that first step -- to say "Okay, I'll go next." Once I go, though, and I'm up and talking and doing the lesson, I'm okay. I did fine today and I no longer have those feelings of "I can't do it." I wasn't even shaky or stuttering. Both of our instructors said I did pretty well, but I need to be more energetic/loud. I'm quiet and reserved by nature so it will be a challenge for me, but I'll do my best. The more I mock teach, the more I can feel myself relaxing and getting used to being in front of people, so maybe by tomorrow I'll get the hang of it a little better.

My Korean is really bad, but I've already learned a lot in the few days I've been here. I think I didn't learn as much the previous times I visited because I was with my family and they ordered/did everything for me. There isn't anyone to hold my hand now, so I'm doing my best and practicing a lot. I'm also reading every Korean thing I see in order to speed up my reading. I did that in the states, but there I would only see a Korean word like twice a day. Here, it's obviously everywhere so my reading is already getting faster. I just stand on the subway and stare at signs, or try to read the words on a bus before it drives past. Speaking of subways, Jesus Christ -- fuck NYC subways. These are so much cleaner, smoother, faster, and more modern. At the station there is a screen a cute little train graphic showing the exact place on the line where the real train is. So you can see if it's at the previous stop, or stuck somewhere, or almost at your station. There are large glass walls/doors between you and the tracks, so you don't have to worry about someone accidentally pushing you in. Eh, okay, that's one of my irrational fears in NY. SHRUG.

Anyway, I've been really busy with classes, studying, and practicing, so I've had almost no time to get online. This is one of my few little breaks -- I have about 40 minutes before I have to go meet my group to practice again. Anyway, sorry if this entry is sort of rambly and incoherent. My brain is all over the place and I'm sort of in a rush. I'll probably make some new entries soon with more details about Korea and what it's like living here. Anyway, bye guys, hope you're all doing well! I miss NY already!