#butalsosad

Friday, August 29, 2014

Today was the least eventful day so far and I felt the homesickness creeping in. This morning I woke up, early as usual and went down a few blocks to see if Daiso (like a dollar store) was open because I needed to buy some utensils and household items. They don’t open until 10:00am, like most things in Korea. So I stopped at a coffee shop and used some Wi-Fi, then headed home and cleaned a little and unpacked more to kill some time until 10:00.

Finally, I was able to go to Daiso and get some of the things I needed and then another store for the things I couldn’t find there. When I left that morning, it was cool and rainy, so I had on jeans and boots. By the time I trekked back up my hill and up the 5 flights of stairs, I was sweating up a storm and I was hungry (it was about noon).

Korea is a culture that highly supports eating in groups, so you don’t really see people going to restaurants alone. Therefore, and due to the fact that it was fast and east, I settled on going to the 7-11 for some ramen (I had just bought and electric kettle and wanted to try it too!).

Supposedly there was a lady coming at 2pm today to put up new wallpaper because there was some damage in the corner, but it had been raining all night and morning and when I woke up, I realized that the damage was due to the fact that my ceiling had a leak and rain water was trickling in. I waited until about noon or 1pm to call my co-teacher because I didn’t know what time was appropriate to call at. She said she would call the building owner and then call me back. When she called me back, I thought she said that the lady would come tomorrow morning to do the wallpaper and something else. But since I wasn’t sure, I stuck around and at about 2:30pm, a lady was here to do wall paper. I told her about the leak and I think she understood because she was flustered a bit and then said okay okay, I will do the wallpaper. I was confused, but I guess I will see if someone comes in the morning and then talk to my teacher then?

While she was doing the wallpaper, I went to the café by my house, King Ong, or King Kong? For some Wi-Fi. I found out one of my friends from orientation lives right by me, so we planned to meet up for dinner.

I tried to lesson plan from about 4-5 and then went to meet Brittany, my friend in the neighborhood. We went to a really good pizza place and then just walked around and explored. It was nice because it’s hard to explore on your own for fear of getting lost alone in a foreign city so we both had fun.

That was kind of my day. Not too eventful, which is why I think I felt more homesickL. Tomorrow I am meeting my co-teacher from Sangmoo Elementary, so hopefully that will be a good distraction. I hope I am able to catch my brother’s game! It’s at about noonish or 11am my time, so I may not be able to watch it live, but I think there is a replay Tuesday.

I will update you again soon!

~Hayley

P.S. My apartment is surrounded by churches and it’s about 10:30pm right now and I can hear what I think is choir music…it’s kind of creepy.

  Saturday, August 30, 2014

Today was slightly more eventful. I woke up, early as always – I debate this because I know I will have to wake up by 7 in order to get ready for school and be there in time, but then at the same time, on days I do not have school, nothing is open and I just sit at home… I don’t want to mess up my sleep routine. I think tomorrow I will try to walk at the park area by my house in the morning maybe.

So after waking up, getting ready, then waiting a few hours by drinking coffee and reading, I went to Pungam Elementary (I think I spelled it Poongam in the past, but seriously I can’t figure out which it is…) to meet my co teacher from Sangmu Elementary so she could show me how to get there and talk about teaching.

It actually isn’t that far from my apartment. Maybe a 2-3 minute walk to the bus stop then a 10-15 minute bus ride and another 2-3 minute walk. However, she did inform me that I would be leading the classes and she would be there to translate for the kids if they didn’t understand. Cue deer in the headlights/terrified look. But, she is really nice and she said she knows this is my first time teaching and that it would take some time for me to get the hang of things and that I do have about 2 weeks before I officially teach a lesson. (This is because Monday the homeroom teachers are doing something with their students, then Tuesday I will be just introducing and talking about myself and then the rest of the week I am at Pungam. Then, the following week is Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving and we don’t have class Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.) Relief.

After that, we took the bus home and as I was walking home, I was invited to meet some friends from orientation in Downtown Gwangju. Since I had just learned the bus system, I thought why not?

I have to say, I really do enjoy where I live. Taking the bus allowed me to see more of Gwangju, and I am even happier to be living in the Pungam area. Downtown was exhausting. I think it was more exhausting because I had been up and at “work” that morning and I think I have reached the point of exhaustion of travel, when you just want to go home and shower in your OWN recognizable shower and sleep in your OWN bed, and not have to work to make friends and meet people.

Today was definitely the lowest point for me so far. I left downtown at about 4pm, went home, made dinner, cried, and then watched a chick flick/read my book. I don’t know that any of it really helped. I’m still tired and homesick and dying to take a shower that won’t get my entire bathroom wet. And I want to have internet without having to pay $4 for coffee.

I know this sounds so negative, and I am not always like that. I just think these are the realities of traveling/moving to another country and it’s not a bad thing to share them. I keep reminding myself that the magic number is 6. 6 Weeks and things will start to fall together. I will have my ARC, which means Wi-Fi at my apartment, I will have gotten the flow of teaching and teaching at my schools, I will know my area and the public transportation system, and hopefully a bit more Korean.

So yes, today was a tough day, but each morning is a new day and each day brings me new experiences and closer to the day I feel comfortable in my new place and home and closer to the day I can see my family (or at the very least skype them and talk to them more often).

I want to end this on a positive note, even though sometimes in reality, you just have a bad day and want a new one. But again, I did learn today that I LOVE my little town and I am excited, although terrified to be teaching a class basically by myself, with a translator; I think it will be an awesome experience. And the people are so nice here (minus on the bus haha you really do have to just shove your way through sometimes, but everyone does it). Actually, as I am sitting here typing this, the owner’s wife of the coffee shop came and introduced herself and asked about me.

There is always a silver lining, even if at the end of the day, I just miss my family and home.

Hoping that if you relate to this post, you find it comforting :)