Thanks to Ace for updating for me! I’ve been slacking. We did indeed have a really nice Valentine’s day, though Ace wasn’t entirely truthful when he said we didn’t buy any couplewear. There was definitely some couple-socks purchasing action. They’re pretty adorable. There’s a stick figure boy on his sending hearts over to the stick figure girl on mine. When we put our feet together the picture is completed….hey, stop gagging! I have to admit, the excessive cuteness in this culture is starting to grow on me. You have to appreciate a country where it’s perfectly ok for officers in uniform to hold hands and for super-tough middle school boys to have fuzzy stuffed animal pencil cases and wear SpongeBob Squarepants backpacks. Yay Korea!
This week has flown by, as usual. With the same schedule and same classes every week, the weeks seem to just roll past us. Everything has been pretty uneventful at work- I don’t have any major discipline problems at the moment, and I’m really getting to know and enjoy some of my kids. I seem to alternate between being annoyed by and amused by my more rambunctious classes, but like I said, no major discipline problems- just a few hyperactive, good-hearted kiddos. The repetition does get a bit much if I think about the fact that I’ll be teaching in the exact same format for the next six months, so I try not to think about it. If I take things a week or a month at a time, it’s no problem, and fortunately I’m still certain that this is the best job I’ve had.
I just got back from the swing club. I’ve been taking jitterbug classes (that’s where I met my friend Rosemary). It’s a little strange being the only foreigner in the class- it’s taught in Korean, and only a few people speak a bit of English- but it’s already been a great way to make Korean friends. As long as I’m feeling confident enough to be the one person in the room not laughing when a joke is cracked, I have a really good time. Tonight we had class (it’s a bit easy, but I’m looking forward to the lindy hop classes starting soon), some open dancing, then went to a nearby bar and had a few drinks.
As Ace mentioned, I went to the animal shelter for the first time on Tuesday. I recruited 3 friends to go with me, and we all had an awesome time. The shelter (KAPS) has been run by a woman named Sunnan for the last 25 years or so- she bought the property with her own money, and says that it was the first animal shelter in Korea. I believe it, as some of my Korean friends didn’t know that animal shelters exist- Rosemary thought I was talking about volunteering in a pet shop That’s unfortunate, as I get the feeling adopting abandoned animals is pretty uncommon (at least in Daegu). KAPS is really different from the US shelters I’ve been to. It’s much less sterile- in good ways and bad. The kitties have two communal outdoor shelters where they can roam about as they please. I’m sure kitty colds get passed around more this way, but it’s so nice to see them all moving about freely, climbing stuff, scratching and socializing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The place seems to be patched together with a lot of love- you can tell the few staff members really love the animals and are really doing the best they can with what they have. In one room, I saw cats perched in cupboards and on shelves on Sunnan’s old armoire. All the cat trees and scratching things seem to be homemade. Sunnan mentioned that she has multiple litters of kittens in her apartment right now- she keeps them there until they are strong enough for the shelter. There’s also a ton of adorable little doggies, and the staff was happy to let us take out armfuls of puppies and play with them all together. A lot of them are really in need of a good bath, some brushing and some play time- Sunnan really just wants people to come play, and give them treats and/or baths. My friends and I are so excited to go back. We’ll be going every Tuesday for a few hours. I’m especially excited because it seems like the kind of place where you can really make a visible difference.
Besides Tuesdays at the shelter, we have a lot of other great stuff to look forward to. This Wednesday is our two year anniversary, and to celebrate we’re spending the weekend in Seoul. We don’t have any big plans, other than staying in Itaewon, eating lots of foreign food, and doing some shopping and wandering around. Itaewon isn’t very Korean, as it’s the foreigner district of Seoul, but it’s a great change of scenery. The following weekend is our vacation…to Turkey! We’re THRILLED to be taking a week of vacation, visiting Malynda and her sister, and getting to know Istanbul and Cappadocia. We’ll be staying with Malynda for most of our trip, but we will be flying to Cappadocia and staying in a cave hotel for two nights. Awesome!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
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