shoulda just called it like i saw it... shoulda just called him whiskey

time to play the catch up game. ready GO!

these last couple of weeks have been pretty busy and full of so many things. it started with zip-lining, which will be a separate post in itself. let me just tell you that it was awesome! seeing how i am terrified of heights i was very proud of myself for going through with it. amazing!

before i left for korea, i decided i would part ways with my blonde hair and dye it back to brown so it would be easier to manage. well i have learned since being here that my hair grows incredibly fast. i finally decided that i couldn't wait any longer and i was going to need a hair cut. the problem was finding a place where i could convey what i wanted and have it not turn out completely different. thankfully my 6th grade co-teacher told me she was going to get her hair done and that she would make an appt. and take me with her so i wouldn't have to go by myself.

i managed to find a picture of what i wanted that would work. once we got there, i was instantly taken to the washing area, where sarah, the very nice assistant, washed my hair and gave me a mini massage afterwards. while i was getting my hair washed, my co-teacher came over and said i was going to be getting a moisture treatment after i got my haircut for free. perfectly okay with this considering the water in korea is slowly ruining my hair. well once we made it back to my seat, the hair stylist, a man named peter, took one look at my hair and said i was going to have to do the moisture treatment first.

as i just said, korea is slowly ruining my hair. the water is so incredibly different from home. it is very hard. it didn't help that i had to go a week without conditioner because i didn't have time to go and find any. looking in the mirror, my hair looked like a giant birds nest. it was terrible. so i was given the moisture treatment first. which was wonderful. then the stylist came back and went to town on my hair. at one point i had to tell him to stop cutting. he just kept cutting more off. it ended up being shorter that i had planned, but i had a good two inches of split ends. it's grown on me and i am actually enjoying it. my haircut happened friday night and the following monday i had orientation. gepik requires you to attend an orientation to help you get adjusted to living and teaching in korea. their goal is to have it before you really start teaching, but considering i got here in march and have now been teaching for two months, a lot of the information was useless because we already knew it. so overall orientation was sort of a waste of time, but i was able to meet plenty of new people, which was great!

orientation lasted monday through wednesday late morning. basically we were in sessions from 9am till 8pm. sessions about the culture, about the relationships in your teaching, what to do and not to do, etc. i left orientation not knowing anymore about teaching in korea that when i got there. i left with a ton of maps and books about the food, some information about traveling around korea and new friends.

upon getting back to school on thursday, my 5th grader co-teacher informed me my computer should be fixed. maybe. maybe being the key word. maybe in korea, usually means no when it comes to technology. i have been bringing my laptop since the first week. i finally said screw it, i was going to fix it myself. my computer's OS is in korean... that presented a challenge, but after a lot of guessing, a lot of cursing and some translating help at one point from my co-teacher, i was able to figure out the problem. I WIN! the tech fails. now to just get the technology gods to not hate me. i think i managed to break the projector in one of my classrooms (thankfuly my 6th grade co-teacher fixed it) and i might have blown a speaker. oops!

friday all the teachers in my school went on a school hike. on an island. don't ask me where it was, i have no idea, and anyone i asked didn't know either. i know it was near incheon, so near the beach. let me just say that hike was the steepest hike i have ever been on. it was a great hike in the end, with a lot of laughing! and i only tripped once, which is impressive. though it was once we made it to the top in a crack in the ground. pathetic i know, but still once is probably a record for me. :)

a temple at the beginning of our hike.

and the uphill trek begins.

this would be my 5th grader teacher. her ears were cold.

the last part of the hike had these nice stairs.

the view once we made it to the top.... so worth the steep trek!

once we got back friday night, i was exhausted. though i managed to stay up until 4am talking on skype... oops. skype calls weren't the only thing keeping me awake either. we had the biggest/longest thunder and lightning storm i have ever experienced. it started friday night, lasted through the night and into saturday evening around 6 or so. i took a couple of videos from my apartment. you can see the lightning and hear the thunder (though it doesn't do the sound justice... it was so loud!)

other than this, it's the same as usual. just working during the week and trying to be adventurous on the weekends. and speaking of adventures i am beyond excited for my next one! two of my friends and i decided that since we have a long weekend (thursday off for children's day, and then monday & tuesday off for buddah's birthday) we are going to take a trip to jeju island! it's going to be awesome and i cannot wait!

i just have to get through the rest of this week, which is going to be a piece of cake. tuesday is our book fair, so i won't be teaching, just showing a tom sawyer movie the school chose, wednesday i am teaching tuesday's classes to make up for the book fair. then i am headed to dani's for a cuatro/cinco de mayo shindig! thursday i have off. and friday i have to teach 3 classes and then am leaving early to head to the airport to catch my flight to JEJU!