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Week 50 (Feb 5th to Feb 11th) |
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Sunday Feb 5th, Today I went to Dongdaemun Market in Seoul. This is a
sprawling market filled with some of the best shopping in Korea-- buildings and buildings filled with rows and rows of vendors, selling everything from bedding to sporting equipment to tools to "brand name"
clothing. It was almost overwhelming, even for a serious shopping addict like me. I managed to control myself somewhat, only buying 3 shirts and some bracelets. But you know where I'll be spending some
serious hours when I move to Seoul . . .
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Monday Feb 6th,This morning I woke up to . . . snow! There was
actually quite a bit, and it seemed to be staying onthe ground. (This is incredibly unusual for Daegu, snow never sticks here). I got all the way to work to discover that our morning classes were cancelled,
because the bus drivers couldn't drive in the snow. I thought this was pretty funny, since there really wasn't that much snow, kind of the equivalent of an early November snowfall in Southern Ontario. But I'm
not one to complain about unexpected time off! Unfortunately, by the afternoon, much of the snow had melted and we were called back in for afternoonclasses.
I'm kind of stressing out now, because I have to find
someone to take over the one private that I teach on Monday nights. At first Ryan and Lindsey said they were interested, but they have since changed their mind. So I've got to find someone who is willing to
come to Chilgok and doesn't work too late, as the class starts at 8pm! I can't even think of anyone who could take it . . .
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Tuesday Feb 7th, Charlotte is back! I'm absolutely thrilled, but disappointed too, because now I'm going to be leaving! And it's still going to be a week before I get to see her-- she has to have ankle surgery to have the metal plates removed that were put in during the summer when she broke her ankle. She'll be in the hospital for
most of the week. I spoke to Jae today on the telephone. He talked to
the immigration people again, and asked if I could start my visa application before the end of my Daegu contract. This time they said yes! It seems like immigration gives different answers every time they
are asked a question. Anyway, this is good news for me; it will help take the stress off. I'll know whether I'm staying for sure or not soon!
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Wednesday Feb 8th, Tonight Ryan and Lindsey and I had dinner at the
restaurant underneath my apartment. I felt bad because the restaurant owners see me all the time, and they always invite me in, but I had never gone in before. I figure I had to do it at least once before I leave Daegu! The food was really good-- galbi (beef ribs barbecued on the grill in front of you) and lots of really interesting side dishes, like green onion pancake and portobello mushrooms.
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Friday Feb 10th, Carey and I are both leaving in about 2 weeks, and Sue
has not hired anyone to replace us yet. This means that Ryan and Lindsey are going to screwed over worse than Carey and I did when Sue hired them! Today, there was some guy here for an interview. He has
lived and taught in Korea for 5 years, and is married to a Korean. You'd think that this would make him a pretty good candidate for the job. Not so . . . Sue had him teach my last class of the day to check out his style. It was bad . . . shamefully bad . . . He
didn't know how to talk to the kids at all, and he was incredibly stand-offish towards all of the foreign teachers. I suspect that he lied on his resume about his teaching experience. The stupid part is that Sue will probably hire him because she's left it way too
late, and she'll never be able to find anyone else to come over in time. You'd think she'd have learned her lesson by now . . .
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Saturday Feb 11th, Carey's wedding is tomorrow! Hard to believe . . .
Since his friend Nick had flown in from Jeju Island (a Korean island just south of the mainland, it's a popular spot for honeymoons and vacations, kind of Korea's answer to Hawaii), we all went out to dinner
at a really nice galbi restaurant in Chilgok. I can't believe how relaxed weddings are here. You just book the wedding hall, and they do everything for you. It was weird to be hanging out with Carey and Sylvia like normal on the night before their wedding.
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