Another reason to paint more: I update my blog much more often when I have a hobby to show off. Although, I think I'm much more talented at the jewelry making than watercolors.

After mentioning I don't want to fill my scrapbook with landscapes, what do I do but paint some landscapes. I feel very peaceful when I'm painting landscapes, so I guess my subject just depends on my mood.

 This is yet another version of my memories of Oaxaca. I feel like each one I paint has parts of how it really was, but none of them will really capture it all.

 This is one I've actually worked on for a while. It's a view from the war memorial in Sincheorwon last fall when all the leaves were so bright. The view from the top of that his is gorgeous in all seasons,but especially in the fall when the leaves are turning and the spring when the cherry blossoms are blooming.

 I get a lot of inspiration from the top of that hill. This the view facing the other direction in winter. My current favorite painting.

 This is what happens when you hurry a self-portrait. It's not TOO terrible, but it looks like I had plastic surgery to make my nose smaller, and what happened to the corner of my mouth? I'll have to try again sometime when I'm feeling more patient.

I bought a teapot when I was in Busan. I'm already putting it to good use. Peppermint tea, green tea, rooibos, black tea! I'm consuming a lot of tea out of this little pot.

The Awkward Duck

 Hey, so the update is happening quickly! I could have promised after all! So here's the project I've been having fun with lately. Someone suggested I keep a scrapbook of my experiences here and I was trying to decide what form I wanted that to take, since I am not the type remember to get pictures printed and that sort of thing. The obvious answer was my water color paintings, but I didn't want to fill my scrapbook with landscapes, and so The Awkward Duck was born. I've decided to paint some of my experiences- odd cultural moments and such- in the character of The Awkward Duck. Here are the first few results:

 My friend Dani and I actually saw a dog with painted on eyebrows when we were in Busan, and it's quite common to see cats and small dogs wearing blush. I definitely find it disturbing!

Koreans pull out their umbrella when it's sprinkling, or even when it's just a bit misty. I don't understand this at all. I've even had people tell me quite seriously that if I go out in the rain too much my hair will fall out. The concern for me when it's sprinkling and I'm not carrying an umbrella is so strong that I cave and carry an umbrella. I use it in a downpour, but still don't like to take it out when it's just sprinkling. Having grown up in Western Washington, I feel like light rain is my natural habitat.

My life in Korea is pretty great, but I think we all have days like this.

Finally, finally I have a new computer!
And the fact that I didn't have a smoothly working one until Sunday will be my excuse for not updating the blog for over a month. I've got an art project I've started working on so perhaps pictures of that coming soon. I hope to make a series of paintings and perhaps posting photos of them will help me remember to write updates as well.
This semester is just FLYING by. I can't believe it, but after this week is the middle school speaking test, and then there's one more week for review and then finals!!
After that I'll have those three "What the heck, Korea?" weeks after finals where the students turn into either zombies or holy terrors due to the fact that they won't be tested on anything I'm trying to teach them.
Luckily I've been getting much more creative about lesson planning, and I'm feeling more and more confident about my teaching. When I first came to Korea I thought classroom management would be a big struggle for me, but to my surprise, I took to the classrooms of 30+ middle school students pretty well (I mean, there are those days, and those classes, that are horrible, but for the most part, things are pretty good). What I struggled with my first semester (and the beginning of this one) was lesson planning, and now that is just getting easier and easier, so my job is going great.
Since my last blog post, there've been two holiday weekends. First, we had Bhudda's birthday and Children's day in May, and then election day and Memorial day at the beginning of June. For the first holiday, I didn't plan ahead, so when my friends Tami and Vicky and I tried to take a last minute trip to Busan or Sokcho or somewhere else, ALL bus tickets were sold out, so we ended up just wandering around in Seoul. Having learned my lesson, my Dongsong neighbor and Cheorwon's official newbie Dani and I decided to go to Busan for Memorial day weekend and bought out tickets ahead of time. The planning hit a few bumps on the way from changing bus schedules and limited motel reception hours, but despite those bumps, we managed to get our bus tickets and book a motel. Ready for adventure, we set out on Thursday as soon as Dani finished work. We caught our bus to Seoul with no problem, and even met up with Ben and Rochelle for a quick dinner before the long bus ride to Busan. We arrived at about 1:30 am and spent he next half hour trudging down the street looking for a motel that wouldn't charge us an exorbitant amount. After refusing the first few places our patience was rewarded. The next morning we met up with a friend of Dani's and several of Busan foreigner community. We went for a nice walk along the coast in Amnam park, and then had a fantastic late lunch at Jalgalchi Seafood Market. Unfortunately the remainder of the day was spend searching for our motel, which but between our three phones and the help of a kind hostel worker, we managed to find it.
On Saturday we headed to Haundae beach for the Sand Sculpting Festival and, of course, to take in the beach. It was a beautiful day involving sun, sand, swimming in the ocean, photos of giant sand-animals, Mexican food for lunch, Korean ice cream and dinner at lovely Thai restaurant with kittens frolicking on the ledge outside the window.
Sunday we took the KTX train back to Seoul and went to lovely Insadong for lunch and shopping before heading our separate ways- Dani back to Cheorwon, while I went on a mission at Technomart. I decided I wasn't leaving without a computer and so here I am finally able to blog again!

I would promise more updates soon but... chances are I'll forget again. So, maybe I'll update again soon.

Easter and Midterm Desk Warming

I’ve been keeping pretty quiet lately, with lots of excursions to Seoul on the weekends. School has been nice, though a bit chaotic for everyone but me lately, as class after class has been cancelled due to approaching midterms.

        Easter was my favorite holiday spent in Korea so far. My friends Hannah and Trevor made the loooooooooooong trip from Yangyang on the East coast all the way to Cheorwon for a day of hiking and eating lots of amazing food. After their arrival late Saturday morning, we headed over to Dongsong, where we met Cal and Blythe for a fantastic lunch of Budae Jiggae (Army Stew). From there we headed straight to the hiking trail. Unfortunately, I had injured my toe earlier in the week by accidentally kicking a door (yes, that is what actually happened, one of the perils of being a naturally clumsy person.) So the hike was a bit painful, but I arrived at the top despite my injuries and enjoyed a beautiful view of Dongsong from the top before heading back down (which was actually a great deal more difficult than going up.)

After a brief respite at Cal’s place, we headed out to the somewhat isolated gem of a sushi restaurant which is sort of in no-man’s land in-between Dongsong and the miniscule town of Gwanin. Massive sushi consumption followed.

The following morning after a delightful Easter breakfast cooked by myself, Hannah and Trevor and I headed to Seoul for the Easter church service together.

        We ended by going to Hacienda for an absolute feast of Mexican food. Then Hannah and Trevor said their goodbyes and headed back to Yangyang, while I headed to Yongsan Electronics market where I spent a confused hour or so trying to make sense of the flashing displays on every kind of screen imaginable. Feeling too overwhelmed, I put off computer shopping for another time and headed back to Cheorwon.

        This week I have had very few classes and have mostly been desk-warming. No classes today! Here’s a list of what I’ve accomplished so far:

1.    Wrote a rubric for the speaking exam for the students applying to go to Japan.

2.    Updated my schedule.

3.    Read several MLS articles.

4.    Updated my fantasy team.

5.    Folded an origami penguin

6.    Watched Simon’s Cat videos on youtube

7.    Chatted with the class 2-4 homeroom teacher

8.    Adapted a powerpoint game.

9.    Looked up recipes to try.

10. Retrieved some supplies from the old English room.

11. Printed some pictures.

12.  Planned a lesson for the highschool students.

13. Facebook

14. Mended the hole in the sleeve of my jacket.

15. Wrote this blog post.

The Fabulous Misadventures of a New Semester

Skip to the bold titles if you are bored by details of my school life and just want to hear my misadventures.
Today officially began my 2nd semester at Sincheorwon Middle School. A lot has changed over vacation. My office (twice), my computer (thankfully) my office mates, my co-teachers, the English classrooms, the English building (found out today English classes are moving to the main building), the principal, the textbooks, the schedule... basically everything has changed.
This semester, I'll be teaching 14 middle school classes with my four new co-teachers, and 4 high school classes with a teacher at the high school. I only found out today that I'll be teaching at the high school, and tomorrow I begin classes! I  don't even know where to go, so I hope my high school co-teacher is ready to help me out a lot.
While the high school classes make my schedule harder to manage (the two schools run on different schedules, so at one point I will finish class at the middle school at 3:10 and simply have to get to the high school as soon as I can, as that class begins at 3:10. My co-teacher has agreed to begin class without me that day) I am also looking forward to it. For one thing, I will receive a bonus for taking on a extra school- yay money! For another, I really loved the graduating class of middle school students, and I'm delighted that I'll be teaching them another semester. Finally, this class is totally on me, as to the topic, which I'm sure will be challenging at times, but also allows me a lot more creativity, and is a lot more fun.
My four middle school co-teachers, so far, have been a delight to work with. Mindy is my main co-teacher and will teach 2nd grade with me (that's 8th grade in the US). Emily will teach 3rd grade (9th) and Rachel and Narae will split 1st grade. Mindy, Emily and Rachel, have all just graduated from university and have no teaching experience. Narae has taught for one year. Emily sometimes refers to me as "Sunbae" (senior colleague) which I find a little amusing.
Many of the new teachers are quite friendly and try to speak a little English to me. The new PE teacher in my office shared some coffee with me. To my surprise, it was not syrupy-sugar power mixed with hot water, but actually looked and tasted like real coffee. I expressed my surprise and he informed me that it was Kenyan hand drip coffee. I told him I love coffee, and my hometown is near the first Starbucks. He pointed to himself and said "Barista!" Well, I have no problem having a barista in the office!

Misadventure #1 slippers
It is normal in a lot of schools here for most or all of the teachers to wear slippers around the school. And when my feet continually felt icy in the cold office, I soon joined in the slipper-wearing crowd (thanks to some lovely slippers from mom and dad). Today I was wearing slippers as usual when my co-teacher informed me that we were going to the gym for the opening ceremony. I failed, somehow to note that my co-teacher had changed into her shoes. Once we entered the gym, I became aware that the normally slipper-clad feet of my coworkers were suddenly clacking about in 5 inch heels. I began to feel a little self conscious. Then my co-teacher told me that we all had to walk into the gym and sit in the teachers section. Seconds after arriving in the teachers section, we were trotted up on stage and introduced to all the students and many of their parents. In my slippers. Oops. I was trying to figure out how I could look less slipped clad, when I decided, hey, I stick out like a sore thumb anyway, so what does it really matter? I went up on stage and smiled at everyone and bowed when they called my name. Afterwards the vice-principal said something to Mindy, and I wondered if it was a comment about my slippers, but Mindy told me he said I look like a movie star.

Misadventure # 2 Toast
Oh, teachers dinners. After dinner (with the entire middle school staff) we had several toasts. I was enjoying the fact that my entire table was downing shots of water and hadn't even opened the soju, when suddenly a microphone was put in my hand and I was required to give a toast. I mumbled a few welcome wishes for the new teacher, and I love Korea, I love working at Sincheorwon, and meanwhile the guy who handed me the microphone (and who, incidentally, doesn't speak English) "translated" what I was saying into something that everyone else thought was uproariously funny. I ended with "Cheers" rather than the Korean version, because I thought they'd like it, and then they made me repeat it three times so they could all learn the new word before we could actually have our drinks and someone, thankfully, took the microphone off my hands.

Misadventure #3 I am handsome.
The highlight of the evening, was, no doubt, when a rather drunken coworker pointed at me (with the wrong finger) and shouted "BERY HANDSOME!"

Misadventure # 4 Thumbs up?
One of my new coworkers (the barista guy, actually) gave me a thumbs up. I responded in kind. Apparently, I was agreeing to go drinking. I backed out of that pretty fast.

A long overdue post

So, I've been busy busy busy and then out of the country, and didn't touch my blog or even think of it while I was in Washington with the family. Have I had some adventures since my last post! I'll give you a run-down of my weekends leading up to my vacation in the States.
Following the unfortunate wallet theft (the thief got $900 out of my account, ugh! I got the money back in the end, but it was a hassle!) I had literally no voice at all and showed my students movies in class, something which I never do, but really, I had no choice, I could not make a sound.
That weekend I went to Yangyang and stayed at the home of my lovely friends Hannah and Trevor, and pulled off a magnificent surprise party for Hannah. Or Trevor did anyway, for me the main task was not to give away the surprise.
The weekend after that was another infamous adventure. I was trying to get to a town called Dogye, where I would spend the night with friends before heading to the nearby ski resort, High1. There was no possible way to get from Sincheorwon to Dogye that did not involve me arriving in the middle of the night, so I decided to take the train, thinking it would be more comfortable than the bus (it wasn't).
I managed to fall asleep and miss my stop and woke in the wrong town at 4am. I panicked and very nearly left my bag on the train, and then headed to the station and tearfully told the worker (who was locking up the building!) my predicament. She looked very concerned and told me sadly "No bus, no train... 8am train!" well, I wasn't going to spend 4 hours in the freezing cold, so I took a pricey taxi ride to Dogye and arrived around 4:45am, at which point I had no way of finding my friends apartment. I had the address, but couldn't get a taxi at that horrible hour. I went into a convenience store where I was comfortably looked after by the very motherly worker. She insisted that I sit in her chair next to the heater and gave me a cup of tea, tried to call several taxi services and told every customer who came in about my plight. In the end, she convinced one of the customers to give me a ride, so I climbed into the car of a strange man who had happened to stop at the convenience to store to buy cigarettes at 5am, and he gave me a ride to Sam's apartment and then promptly honked the car horn long and hard and woke the whole building, to my embarrassment. Well, it did turn out to be the right building and I did find my friends in the end, so I guess it worked out ok.
The following weekend it was back to Yangyang for a tender Christmas party! Good times and pancake breakfasts were had.
Then we had a lovely Christmas party in Dongsong, which involved a gift exchange, karaoke, and homemade egg nog.
And then it was off to the States!

A few more notes:
I got my camera fixed while I was in the States, hurray! I can post much nicer pictures now, hopefully.

I composed a list for Korean New Years' for your general enjoyment. Everyone who knows me knows that I am quite awkward and clumsy. I miss my mouth and pour coffee down my front, trip over my own feet and run into stationary objects on quite a regular basis. And I've found the best way to deal with this is a great deal of laughter at myself. And I don't mind at all if other people laugh a bit too, because I fully admit that I am good at making myself look ridiculous. So, for your enjoyment, the top three moments of Jaquie-awkwardness last year:

3. The Revolving Door Incident
There are revolving doors outside of the Lotte Mart under Gangbyeon station (where I buy cheese!) and I am not really used to revolving doors. One day, in my hurry to buy cheese, I mistimed my entry  into the door, forgetting I was wearing a large backpack. The door went CRUNCH on my backpack and  came to an abrupt halt, causing a couple of Koreans who were exiting at the same time I entered to run into the glass. We all had to stop and push the door backward to release my backpack before anyone could else could go in or out of the door.

2. Gerings Imitating Bowling Pins
At least I know where I got the awkward genes from. My parents and I went skiing and were approaching the lift for our first run of the day. However, a mis-communication, a lift operator in the wrong place at the wrong time, and our excellent ability to mistime things, meant that no one actually got on the lift except dad-- and he was unceremoniously dumped off when the operator grabbed the chair to try and stop it hitting my mom. Down the three Gerings all went, dad's skis coming off in the process, and they had to stop the lift until we all got the tangle of skis and limbs sorted out and safely on the chair.

1. I am the Opposite of Robin Hood
And by that, I mean I've got terrible aim with a bow and arrow, well, actually, I've got terrible aim with just about anything (don't stand beside me when I try to skip stones!). Whilst being ushered around Seoul by a film crew, it was decided that the foreigners ought to decorate toy bows and then practice shooting with them. Decorating, well, that I was good at, but when it came to shooting the results were not so great. After several laughably bad attempts, I hit a bull's eye by pure luck and proceeded to gloat, at which point my friend Cal told me he would give me W100,000 (about $100) if I hit the cameraman in the face. I laughed, because I wasn't, of course, going to hit the cameraman in the face, that would be mean. Alas, the cameraman would probably have been safer if I had aimed for him. I was full of confidence as I took the next shot... which went several feet above the target, ricocheted off a wall and hit the cameraman.
My first reaction was to duck out of sight before the cameraman could see who'd shot that arrow, and then to laugh helplessly until tears ran down my face while my concerned friends gathered around me trying to ascertain whether I was laughing or crying.

Having your wallet stolen is kind of a party killer

This weekend was so awesome in so many ways. And so not in one way.
I went to Itaewon (the foreigner area of Seoul) with Blythe and some of her friends from orientation. It was a great time- we stayed at a hostel run by some really cool Serbians, and shared out dorm room with a guy who is traveling on his motorcycle and has been to dozens of countries. It seemed like we had the perfect set up. Including the fact that our hostel was located just a few blocks from Taco Bell!
We checked in, dropped off our bags and headed to Myeongdong for a lot of shopping. Blythe and the other girls arrived in Korea in October, and therefore hadn't had time to buy warm clothes for our bone-chilling Gangwon-do winter. After shopping, we stumbled to our hostel with all our packages and got ready for the evening. Then we went out with others from our hostel, including our motorcycle friend, Noah, and a girl from Germany, and a guy from Greenland (I've never met anyone who's from Greenland before!). We were having a good time, and then we went to a place that was very crowded and a bit seedy, and sometime around four in the morning, I checked the latch on my purse for the millionth time to make sure it was closed, and it was, but my purse felt oddly light so I opened it, and behold, no wallet. Some clever person opened my purse, removed my wallet (which is enormous and bright red) and even shut my purse. I had bought a water just minutes earlier, so it was only a couple minutes at most before I discovered it missing. Luckily we did eventually find the wallet- someone had thrown it on the ground. I snatched it eagerly from Blythe annnnd all the cards were gone. The thieves were kind enough to leave my ARC (ID card) and my subway card, but everything else was gone.
Noah kindly brought me back to the hostel where we ate more Taco Bell and I frantically tried to contact my credit card companies. Around 6am I gave up, as my calls kept getting disconnected, but luckily my lovely mother at home was able to take care of it for me. I just have to figure out what to do about my Korean card. I called and they didn't speak English, so when I got back to my apartment and had the luxury of google translate I tried again. I think I managed to convey that my card was stolen, and gave them my info, but I think the person on the other end might have just been saying  yes to get rid of me- I am not at all convince that she understood what I was trying to say. So a trip to the bank is most definitely in order.
We spent most of the day sitting around the hostel trying to recover from the evening, while I moaned my losses- amongst my losses, I should also include my voice, which disappeared at some point during the course of the evening, and has not yet returned. I'm seriously wondering how this is possible as the last time I lost my voice like this was following the USA vs Panama World Cup Qualifier, and I certainly wasn't yelling like that last night. Anything I now try to say sounds like I am imitating a creaky door hinge. Lovely. Anyhow, hopefully I get a new bank card tomorrow, and when Taco Bell and friendly Serbian hostel workers lure me back to Itaewon in future, I will be a little smarter about what purse and wallet I bring.