First Week of Classes, Part 1: School #1

Monday, March 2, 2015

Woke up, got dressed and took a taxi to school because ... I didn't know how to get there, haha. I had to walk to the nearby convenience store (GS25 -. They're like the Korean Walgreens, but only because they're on every corner Everything else is like a 7/11 - and they have those here, too !! haha) ANYWHO, I had to walk to the GS25 and ask the lady at the counter to call me a taxi because 1) I didn't have a working phone and 2) I had no idea how to call a taxi in English, let alone in Korean, haha. The lady at the GS25 was both pleased to see me and totally confused as to what I was asking. Until I said "tek-shi" (taxi with a Korean accent) and signaled holding a phone to my face she had no idea what I meant. Eventually it clicked, and my taxi was coming to pick me up. I hopped in the taxi, I said my school name in Korean and ... blank stare. I'd been practicing the pronunciation and I knew it was right! But he still just blank-stared me. I showed him a piece of paper where my co-teacher had written the school name and LIGHTBULB. He said the school name aloud (I JUST SAID THAT) I nodded yes, and we were on our way. 

First successful taxi ride alone? Check! (Thankfully the price is posted on the dash, otherwise I'd have had no idea how much to pay him. The Korean number / counting system (s!) freak me out. That's for another day though.)

Now ... let the whirlwind begin.  

I just kept my head down the entire way up to the third floor where my office is because I KNEW every child was staring and I had NO idea how to cope. I decided to apply the "if I can't see you, you can't see me" tactic and I made it to the office without a panic attack. I settle in to the chaos and then suddenly ... we have a meeting. A staff meeting. Awesome. i followed my co-teacher like a lost puppy to where the meeting was, ignoring stares the whole way.

The entire staff met in a classroom (do not ask me who was watching the students at this point - I have no idea) and introduced the new teachers, including our new Vice Principal. (The only reason I knew what was happening was because my co-teacher would occasionally lean over and explain things to me.) At one point I was asked to go to the front with the other new teachers to introduce myself. The two before me said a few sentences and I knew I'd need introduce myself as well. I zoned out and reminded myself of how to introdu-- wait. Its my turn already? BOOM. Just like that, all correct Korean words are gone from my brain. I managed to stutter out "Chogum Kelsey-imnida."

Crickets.

Combined with blank stares. 

This was bad news. 

I heard from the back of the room "chogum? Cho ... ChoNEUN!"

Suddenly a chorus of "Aaaaahhhhhhh's" filled the room.

I had just said "Little (or small) Kelsey" instead of introducing myself. Awesome. Granted, I could have said something much worse on accident, but I still hung my head in embarrassment and everyone clapped out of pity. A few more teachers introduced themselves after me, and then we all sat down. Walk of shame, right there. My co-teacher literally gave me a pat on the back when I sat down. No joke. 

After the meeting, we went back to the office. I sat while all the teachers I share the room with taught class. I felt like a lost puppy. A lost puppy that everyone sees and stares at, but no one approaches, haha. 

The teachers came back and we were off to an assembly to welcome all of the 1st graders to the school. 

* Cultural note: In Korea, the schools are set up on a 6-3-3-4 order.

6 years of Elementary School (Grades 1-6)

3 years of Middle School (Grades 1-3 in Korea but grades 7, 8, 9 in America)

3 years of High School (Grades 1-3 in Korea but grades 10, 11, 12 in America)

4 years of College (or University)

** Most students begin learning English in 3rd grade (elementary).

Before we walked over, my co-teacher grabbed a stick. What for? Oh, just to playfully hit the students on the backs or behind the knees OR POKE THEM when they misbehave. This is a daily thing and the boys would playfully listen and obey (Sound confusing? Yes. Because it is.) The boys threw no fuss about the use of the sticks; They were not intimidated by them, yet they listened when used ... kind of. 

The 2nd and 3rd graders were shuffling in and once they were all seated, the 1st graders were walked to the front of the gym to sit in the literal patio chairs that they had for the boys to sit in. (In our schools, we just sat on the floor !! This was much more organized.) 

While the students were filing in, there was no doubt about it: I was the main attraction. At least for the second and third graders. The first graders looked scared out of their minds to be there, haha. Anywho, I sat on the sides while the other teachers wrangled up the students (remember: sticks) trying very hard to avoid eye contact. Probably because I knew every kid was staring at me.They were crawling over each other and pointing at me, haha. Not very subtle, these Korean boys ...

The assembly started and I just followed blindly. I stood for what was (think) the school song and then the national anthem ... Maybe it was the other way around? NO IDEA. I was just dreading the moment they would make me stand in front of the ENTIRE SCHOOL and introduce myself. I could feel it coming. And it was going to be bad, I just knew it, haha. When I stepped on to the stage (with the other new teachers) there was a combined "wwhoaaaaaaaaa" from the entire student body. From there, I just stood in silence, listening intently for when the said something semi-resembling "Kelsey Moss" for me to step forward and bow. (I still couldn't understand so I had to look at my co-teacher for her to nod to me when to step forward, haha.) AS I stepped forward, suddenly, kids were out of their seats, CHEERING for me just at the mention of my name, haha. Good to know they're excited for "English class", right ??

One of the teachers stepped forward and spoke. 

"CRAP. This is happening. I have to sp-- Wait. Everyone is leaving. Everyone is leaving? I'm leaving." 

That's right. They just had one teacher say something for all of us. I have never been more grateful for someone to speak for me !! :)

I sat down and was able to breathe again! No speaking this time.

HUZZAH !!

A few minutes later, ALL of the teachers were walking to the stage. 

"WHAT THE CRAP IS HAPPENING ??!" 

I shouted my co-teachers name but she could not hear me. So I went up hoping I was doing the right thing ... Turns out, I did! I had no idea where to stand so I just picked a spot. And stood. With no idea of ​​what was happening next. 

"Oh, they're reading names again? For everyone ?!"

I was in the back row, but one of the first on the row .. and the announcer man CLEARLY skipped over me. He went down the line ... got to me .. paused ... introduced the person after me ... He either didn't have my name on the list or was too scared to read it ... (My bet is the latter). But, as it turns out, he saved the best for last, because the second he butchered my name, the kids were out of their seats again, cheering for "English class!"

Standing ovations are nice. Especially ones given just for showing up. I think I'd like more of them in my life.

The rest of the day was ... fairly uneventful. I sat at my desk and perfected the art of "desk warming" (pretty self-explanatory). I tried to familiarize myself with the Windows OS on my computer ... in Korean ... And part of that process included using Internet Explorer to download Chrome and set it as my default browser and have it automatically translate every page to English AND set up my ad-blocker and VPN. Hee. Technology is great sometimes. (DOWN WITH INTERNET EXPLORER.)

I took a taxi home and browsed Waygook.org (now officially my favorite website EVER) for some example introduction lessons and what they did to interest the students. While at home using and English version of Powerpoint (I'm beginning to realize just how much I appreciate English ...) I made an introduction PPT and successfully made my first lesson plan !! I felt so proud of myself :)

The Foreigners went out to a local bar called Advice that night. I ordered strawberry tea, which was delicious with just a hint of sweetness. Everyone got a kick out of my dreaded introduction story. Though no one could sympathize, they still tried, haha. 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

I went through the same routine for a taxi to school the next day. I got the same looks from both the store worker and the taxi driver. I knew I had to figure out how to walk to school AND FAST so that I could avoid these glares, haha. 

I arrived at school on time and opened up my PPT to see if it would work. I began tweaking a few things, trying out the Korean system to see if I understood basic things. (Basically, I just memorized where it all was on the English version and it was a lot of trial and error from there, haha.)

I do not "teach" until 3rd period, but both co-teachers wanted to get together during 2nd period and talk about lesson plans. I showed them my PPT and they were so impressed, the wanted me to teach it 3rd period. Like, in 15 minutes. (Do not panic -! PANIC) I tried to save the PPT because I liked the changes I'd made and ... The computer froze. GO figure. I was forced to use the old version that was still fairly incomplete. Oh well! Here goes nothing. Or everything. 

I walk into my first class: 3rd grade. Gasps and whispers of "Ker-shi! Kher-shi!" were heard as soon as I entered the room, haha. I told them the basics about me: 

Name: Kelsey (Kelsey) 

Age: International 26, Korean 28

Where I was from: America, then went on to talk about Arizona. Showed them on a map (because Koreans think Korea is the world) and BLEW THEIR MIND when I told them that Arizona was almost 3x as large as their entire country. I also told them that Arizona was famous for the Grand Canyon (lightbulb) and cactus. They did not believe me when I told them saguaros were really tall ...

My family: Mom, Dad, and two brothers (because that story is easier even though its no the whole truth)

... And a few of my favorite things: Dancing (I showed them a few pictures from Folk Dance) Moose (favorite animal) and Baseball (favorite sport).

Then after a quick quiz, I let the students ask me any question they wanted. I was amazed at how bold some of the students were with their questions! In almost every class I was these questions every time:

1) Do you have a boyfriend? (Answer:.. Yes, but only to instantly crush any hopes from students They definitely had lots of follow-up questions about this once I answered yes though, haha)

2) How tall are you? (Answer: Remembering that they use cm and I use ft / in, I quickly had to do the math in my head. I told them 180cm (a little taller than I * actually * am) and I think I instantly intimidated a lot of them, haha. Height is a sensitive subject for hormonal teenage boys in Korea, apparently.)

3) Do you like kimchi? (Answer: Yes, which was always followed by laughter for some reason.)

No joke. Those were their questions, haha. Other questions were "What is your favorite color / favorite food / favorite baseball team," (they know * most * of the MLB teams, ESPECIALLY those that have Korean players on them). Some students were even bold enough to ask for my phone number, and another student asked me if I loved him.

And this is how the rest of my day went. Though, I must say, a highlight of my day was when I walked into the lunchroom and they were playing "Deja-boo" by SHINee's Jonghyun. Its like they know me or something :)

We left school a little early to go to the bank and set up an account for me. My co-teacher does not have a car so we walked. Thank goodness it was not too far and was actually on my way home! We were not actually able to set up my account because I forgot my passport and my Alien Registration Card (ARC) had not been sent yet. UGH. So we decided to try again the next day. 

I decided to walk home even though I had no idea where I was. I whipped out my phone and opened up Google maps to see where I was and where I needed to go. (Google maps is my BFF since I'm so directionally challenged ...) I wandered through some side streets toward some buildings that looked familiar until I managed to get to the main road that the taxis drove me down when taking me to school. I knew it was a straight shot from there and I made it home safe and proud. I mean, sound :)

Wednesday, March 4th, 2015

Walked to school !! Got there late because of it, but m CoT was okay with it after I explained that I walked for the first time, haha. 

More and more students officially know my name, so the whispers of "Oh, Kher-shi! Kher-shi!" were getting louder in the hallway. Actually, one student said "Oh, Khershi, I want kish yoo!" which led to a severe lecture from my co-teacher, haha. These kids ...

I did the same lesson as the day before, and the same follow-up questions were asked. The mind of a teenager is so terribly predictable ... One student asked me what food Arizona was famous for ... What? I had no idea what to answer. In Korea, every city is famous for some kind of food, whether it be grown or a Korean dish. I think they expected the same thing for the USA, haha. After thinking for a bit, I went back to the map of the USA and reminded them of where AZ was and that it was close to Mexico, so we ate a lot of Mexican food. Shouts of "TACOOOO!" were heard after that answer, haha. (Come to find out, a lot of my students go to an after-school school [yes, that's a thing] with a teacher that lives near me named Annie. Apparently, a lot of my students thought I was from Mexico after telling them we ate Mexican food ... Oh well. I tried ...!)

Jonghyun's song played again at lunch. It started literally the second I walked in the lunch room. Thank you, lunch ladies :) 

On Wednesdays, the schools have special lunches. Their reason? Its hump day. It gives students something to look forward to mid-week. Today's lunch was bibimbap with strawberries !! Now, let me just say, if I had been able to grow up eating Korean strawberries, I would have never gone through my seemingly endless phase where I did not like them and refused to eat them. Korean strawberries are better than any fruit I've ever eaten. I'm not even kidding. I was in heaven for that lunch !! Bibimbap and Korean strawberries. So happy. 

After a quick lunch, we walked to the bank to try again with setting it up. I remembered my passport this time! So it was a success. Side note: Korean names are much shorter than American names, so the endless signing of paperwork is not as tedious for them. But for me? Yeah. I got really tired of writing and signing my name at least 15 times ... And trying to squish it in the small space they provide, haha. (On a side-note, I saw SHINee at the bank! Not literally. I would have died. They were in magazine form. But still just as amazing! Ha.) Now that I had a bank account set up, we headed back to school.

I had just one more class after lunch (3rd grade) and this class ... I could tell they were going to be a handful. Oh boy ... Not a minute of silence. I had to bust out the "Oh no you did not" face on the first day for this class.

After school, another CoT took me to my second school to meet the English teachers and find out my schedule. My second school is a private school, so they "have more money" as my CoT put it. The school looks pretty much the same to me though, haha. Its up on a hill and the soccer field is made with the fake stuff so its always green, but other than that, its mostly the same. My main CoT at my second school is Mr. Lee, and I will also be teaching with Mr. Kim and Mrs. Choi. (They just so happen to have the three most common last names in Korea -!. Surprise Haha) Mr. Lee heated up some green tea and made sure I had three cups so the Korean tradition was fulfilled (Do not ask me what it was. I can not remember ... Too many traditions here ...) I was taken to meet the Principal and Vice Principal VERY briefly before Mr. Lee had to go into a meeting with them. Mrs. Choi came and collected me and took me to my classroom and then we sat and waited for Mr. Lee to finish his meeting. He was adamant about taking me to dinner. So I sat and talked with Mrs. Choi who just so happens to be literally THE. CUTEST. woman on the face of this planet. She's in her mid-30's, single, and I have no idea why. I just want to put her in my pocket and carry her with me, haha. She asked everything about me and was really excited when she found out I wanted to learn Korean and taught me a few helpful phrases right there. SO CUTE.

Once Mr. Lee was done with his meeting he came to find me an we walked to his apartment so that he could drive to dinner. He gave me am orange from Jeju Island (again, not my favorite fruit, but Korean fruit is TO DIE FOR) and then we went to dinner. He asked where I lived and I mentioned a restaurant near my place and he got really excited when he said "That's where I was going to take you for dinner!" Apparently his friend owns the restaurant so he wanted to take me to dinner and see his friend at the same time. Talk about efficiency, haha. 

We stopped by my place fist so I could drop off my things. Only problem was, I forgot where I lived. He drove a different way than I normally walked and I got really turned around. He could not believe that I "did not know" where I lived. Its not like I had no idea where I was living before I came here, I've only lived here a few days, and spend most of my time NOT at home ... Oh wait. THAT'S ALL TRUE. Anyways ...

The restaurant is called Shilla Buffet (or Shil-la Boo-Pay as they say) and its just this massive buffet of Korean food. I did not know what I was eating, but 80% of it was delicious. The other 20% I ate anyways because I did not want to be rude, even if I was SO FULL. After he finally finished eating dinner it was about 7:30. I was exhausted. But he pulled out his phone and showed me all of the pictures on his phone of his family and his mentor of Confucianism and Chinese calligraphy. It was interesting, but not for as long as he went on. I was just exhausted from teaching and then meeting more people and then stuffing myself silly ... Eventually we finished eating and I was allowed to walk home because Mr. Lee wanted to talk with his friend. I loved the idea since I did not get to walk home earlier. Even if it was just a 5min walk, I quite enjoyed the time alone. 

I definitely went straight to bed when I got home. So much people-pleasing and "public appearances" over the last few days. Boy, am I glad I'm not a celebrity. Its an introverts worst nightmare ...

Two weeks in Korea (Part 2 - Getting Settled...)

Thursday, February 26, 2015

The day had finally come, the last day of orientation !! We nailed the group presentation, had a short break, and then were off for a meeting with the POE to find out what cities we were living in and what school (s) we had been assigned to. 

We signed three (count 'em, three!) Copies of our contract and then stood in line to review that we had signed our contracts correctly. The line grew long ridiculously fast, so I sat and waited for it to die down ... and it didn't, haha. BUT! I managed to find the paper that told me what city I was assigned to (Mungyeong) and what schools I'd been assigned to (Mungyeong Middle School and Jeomchon Middle School) All Google was able to tell me was that Mungyeong was an all- girls middle school and Jeomchon was ... possibly ... an all-girls high school? Confused, I kept searching Google, but I could not find anything. I was getting kind of frustrated since other teachers were able to instantly find the blogs of the teachers that were leaving their school and able to talk to them and ask all of the millions of questions they had ... and I was currently experiencing a Google fail. (Note:.... Google knows nothing about Asia Do not even try to find specifics Sometimes you get lucky But almost always, it will let you down) All I could find was that Mungyeong was a tiny city of about 77,000 people that neighbored the city Jeomchon. 

That night we had a closing ceremony (which I was late to because the line was THAT long) and then a special dinner - the biggest buffet I'd seen all week filled with all kinds of Korean-ified foods. Most people went out to party and celebrate that night but I was boring (and still sick) so I stayed in with a few friends and we hogged the internet while everyone else was gone. I kept trying to find info on my city / schools ... with no luck. 

I called home to tell my mom where I was going. We both ended up in tears. Let's ne honest here: my original application was for Seoul. While I knew Seoul would be too much to handle for me, I also knew deep down I would not get placed there. But I was also really not expecting to be placed where I was now set to go. A tiny little country town that no one really knows the name of. to make it even harder, no one could tell me anything about my city (even Google couldn't...) and I only knew of two other people that would be in the small city with me. All of us noobs, figuring this out on our own. I was scared. More scared than I had been throughout my entire process so far. This was not my ideal, and far from it. So yes. The tears came, haha. I knew my mom was now even MORE worried than she was before which also made me feel bad. But that's how the night ended. In tears. 

Surprisingly, I slept really well.

Friday, February 27, 2015

The next morning we loaded up the bus and were off by 9am. We took a short (and pointless) stop midway between Daejeon and Gumi, where we would all be meeting our co-teachers and then be taken to our individual cities. I was a bit of a nervous wreck the entire ride, trying to sleep and get over this dang cold that I just could not shake. I had memorized a few lines in Korean to introduce myself properly and I kept pep-talking myself that I could say it all and not butcher it when it was time to actually say it, haha. But, before meeting our co-teachers, we had one last meal together - bibimbap!

I unloaded my things from the truck and almost immediately saw my co-teacher holding a sign with my name on it. I waved to her and she immediately introduced ... MY PRINCIPAL. Welp, not expecting that. Needless to say, I did not say ANYTHING that I was supposed to. Like, did not even say anything in English, either. Total brain fart. We loaded my things into the principals car and took off. 

First stop was at the immigration office to register for my ARC card (Alien Registration Card) where they said I needed two passport photos and I only had one so I went to take more and then they actually only needed one. Go figure. After making a fool out of myself by miscounting money and leaving my medical exam sheet behind (do not ask) I felt like a complete idiot but .. they took me to lunch anyways, haha. 

I impressed my principal with my chopsticks skills as we ate Korean-ified Chinese food. (Looked gross, surprisingly delicious!) And then we were off to Mungyeong. Along the way, my principal tuned on an oldies CD - like, Beegees oldies and proceeded to ask me "You like pop music?" I said yes (thinking he would change the station or whatever we were listening to) and ... he just nodded in agreement and turned up the music. Apparently the Beegees (to him) is pop music. Too cute :) I just laughed to myself and went along for the ride. Literally. 

We arrived in Mungyeong and they took me first to the first school I'd be working at, Mungyeong Middle School. Apparently its an all boys school !! (GOOGLE FAIL.) And so is my second school. (COMPLETE GOOGLE FAIL.) Two all-boys middle schools. Yeah, didn't see that one coming ... But I met some of the staff and the three English teachers in the school (Minji - the one that picked me up, Narae - my other co-teacher, and Kim (aka Jieun ) who I will not be teaching with ... for some reason.) 

The three of them took me to my apartment, about a 5min drive from the school. They helped me carry my things up and check out the apartment. They showed me how to work the washing machine (its all in Korean and has 500 unnecessary buttons, just like every washing machine) and how to work the ondol (the floor heating system that also heats my water.) The landlord saw me and you could tell he was excited to have a migook (American) living in his building, haha. He immediately said to me "You very pretty." I thanked him and he ran out of the room to open the apartment next door. He showed me a giant desk and asked me, "You want?" Since I had almost no furniture in my place, I said yes, especially knowing I'd need a place to work on lesson plans and stuff. The landlord and three teachers dropped everything and moved the desk into my apartment. I tried to help but they clearly did not want me to. Just like they would not let me carry my own luggage either. (I think they were just trying to make me feel welcome by making it easier for me.) With the desk moved, we headed to a store to get me a cell phone. 

Once at the phone store, they looked at my phone and said that everything was fine with the one I had and that all I had to do was select a phone plan and they would get it set up right away. They were able to call a person to explain me the phone plans in English and we had everything all worked out - I was even able to get a 12 month plan which is basically unheard of! I explained to the guy on the phone that I was under the impression that my phone did not have a place for SIM card and that I would have to buy a new one. 

Should not have said that. 

Throw the last 20 minutes out the window, suddenly I had to get a two year contract that would include the price of the phone every month. YIKES. I explained this to my co-teachers and Minji happened to have an old phone that she was willing to let me have so that I did not have to sign a two-year contract OR buy a phone. HUZZAH! We ran to her place to get the phone, took it back, they said they'd get it all set up while we went to our next stop: Home Plus.

Home Plus is basically a Target + Walmart + anything else you could ever need in one place. Kind of amazing for a small town like this. They used the money from my "settlement allowance" to get me some things I needed for my apartment and for school. Hangers, food, dishes, silverware, dish soap, detergent, internet router, even slippers / sandals / indoor shoes for my schools and ... a "bed". I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to get a real bed? Not just a mat on the floor with a blanket but ... Yeah. More updates on that later when I figure more things out, haha. 

After all of this ... WHEW. I was very overwhelmed, and super exhausted. I spent the night unpacking while I watched the one Korean channel I could find in English, the JUST SO HAPPENED to be showing Kpop performances at that time. Needless to say, I was quite content to have a space to myself and time to relax and settle in. 

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Saurday morning I woke up and realized ... I knew no one and had no idea how to get anywhere in the city. All I had was the address for my school on Monday and the phone numbers of my co-teachers in my phone that was not working yet ... unless I had wi-fi. My directionally challenged abilities and my desire to sleep and be 100% healthy by Monday beat out any desire to go explore my city on my own. I did not even know my own address to tell a taxi driver if I got lost ... So, yeah. SLEEPING WINS. 

Around noon I got a message from a girl named Kaitlyn who was a teacher in my area. Apparently no one knew I was coming because my positions had been vacant the semester before and they were not anticipating anyone filling those spots. SO. By sending just ONE picture via FB chat, Kaitlyn knew where I lived (AMAZING) and she sent Annie to come and pick me up so we could explore together. 

Annie and I walked and met up with Kaitlyn, who had found Chanelle and Ben, the other two teachers from my orientation a few days earlier assigned to Mungyeong. The five of us went to get ddak galbi (so freakin 'good) and then we explored a little more. I bought my first Korean street food and loved it (even though he'd put sunflower seeds in it. (I'm quickly becoming the most un-picky eater EVER. Weird.)

We all went home for a few hours and then met up again for dinner, this time also meeting Sarah and Grant (pronounced grAUNT not grANT -. Get it right) We went for samgyupsal and then went to a few more places where everyone got something to drink. "But not I," said the Molly Mormon, and I stuck to my water, sparkling cider, and cranberry juice, haha. We played darts and ate the local cuisine (see video) and just got to know each other better as well as ask questions / advice about the city and schools. It was a fun night. I did get home a little later than I wanted, but I'm also glad I did not sit inside all day. :)

Sunday. March 1, 2015

Cuz that's all I did today. Sit inside. Nothing on TV. Did not know how to get to church or even where it was, really. I was able to Skype with family and update them on how I was and give them the ultimate tour of my "wonum" (aka studio apartment). I had already been told that I would not be teaching that week so ... I did not really prepare anything for school. With no textbooks I could not even pretend to gauge what their English level was. So ... I started a new Korean drama My Korean Frosted Flakes and ATE. Mashisayo ~~ 

I went to bed early so that I could be well-rested for my first day of school the next day!

Two Weeks in Korea (Part 1 - Orientation)

So, I apologize for my lack of blogging. But let’s be honest. You all knew I would be terrible at this anyways. But I’m determined to keep at it!! I need some way to remember all the craziness I’ve experienced in just my first two weeks in Southeast Asia.

I took some detailed notes of the first few days in South Korea, including the hotel and trip to orientation, but I was unable to post it due to lack of stable Wi-Fi at orientation. Then, once I caught on to the repetition of our days in orientation… I stopped caring to document it all, haha. But here's what I had written thus far:

TUESDAY, February 17th

I left Tucson at 5am to make it to Phoenix in time to make my flight. Everything went really smoothly in through security and I made it with plenty of time to spare and for me to spam all social media outlets available that I was officially leaving the country. I noticed that there were a lot of Asians gathering for my flight to San Francisco… Hmmm, suspicious? I actually got to sit next to cute old Asian man on that flight. He slept the whole way, haha.

I landed in SFO and we'd been on such a tiny little plane they let us off on the… place where the airplanes are. I cannot for the life of me remember an actual word for this, haha. Anyways. I literally felt like a rapper walking down the steps, haha. I picked up my other carry-on and booked it to the international terminal for my flight to KOREA! I arrived at the gate for my flight (surprise!) It was super easy to pick out the people that were going to Korea as EPIK participants, haha. A sweet girl Roxanne (Rox) is the quick friend I made before this flight. As I walked on the flight so many people stared at me, haha. All preparation for standing out for the next year in my assigned city!! The flight itself was long but relatively painless. They fed us a CRAP ton of food (after every meal I thought, "and that's the last time I'll see a fork for a year…") and I sat next to the most all-up-onz engaged couple, so I was really super glad I had a window seat and my Bullseye pillow pet to be both my friend and my comfort. I "slept" for "a lot" of the flight. I really had no way to gauge the time as I forgot to wear a watch and I never felt like I slept well anyways… So who knows what really happened. I don't…

AND THEN I LANDED IN KOREA!! Crazy, right?? They made the announcement that they were going to start the decent to Incheon and I was taken aback by how calm I was. I wasn't scared, I wasn't sad, I was just flat-out EXCITED. (No tears? That's weird… I think I'm broken…) I waited for most of the Asians to get off the plane first since I didn't have anywhere to rush off to, haha. Once off the plane, I made my way to immigration where all of the EPIK teachers on my flight had so obviously gathered together. So I was able to meet a few people then (and meet up again with Rox!) We made it through immigration and headed to baggage claim and customs. (This is the part where we all began to regret just how much we'd all packed, yet we all felt justified in what we bought with us, haha). A quick pit stop at the bathroom and at the currency exchange booth and we were all on our way to our respective destinations.

I had gotten a hotel with a girl named Maria that had been assigned to my region, but her plane wasn't going to land for 2  more hours. So I wandered the airport with Rox until she met up with her recruiter and the group that she was going to be staying with that night. So I was able to meet even more people! Huzzah! I talked with them for almost 2hrs until it was time for me to go find Maria and make our way to the hotel. I headed back to the area that Maria and I had decided to meet at beforehand and she was already there!! I felt bad for making her wait, even though it had only been a few minutes, haha. We called our hotel who let our shuttle know that we were there, and then we were off to find our shuttle!

The shuttle ride was interesting, almost terrifying. But also very educational. I quickly learned why Asians are stereotyped as "bad drivers" and that roads are not the only surface available for driving/parking on. Its basically free game, haha. Left turns on a red light? No biggie. Switching lanes so that we're literally inches from hitting the other person? I do this every day. Roads that are only wide enough to be a one-way road but people go both directions anyways? That's a thing. A REAL THING. (Keep in mind that this was all in about 10min of driving from the airport and another hotel before getting to ours. I almost kissed the ground when I got off that shuttle, haha.) We checked into the room and took our stuff upstairs. There was a guy that was helping us take our luggage up who looked way too young to be working there (let alone up that late) but Asians mysteriously don't appear to age so… I was probably wrong. Anywho, Maria and I were rearranging things in our room to make all our luggage fit and the kid helping with our luggage kept asking for our room key for some reason. After scrambling in the dark to find it, we hand it to him and he puts it in this thing in the wall and the light magically turned on!! Marian and I simultaneously gasp and say, "oooohhhhhhhhhhhhh!" and the kid just could not stop laughing at us!! Haha. I quickly said "kamsahamnida" and he bowed his way out of the hallway with the biggest smile on his face. Glad we could make his night, haha.

We settled into our rooms and took turns showering to get the airplane/airport smell off of us. We decided we'd rather take some time to talk to loved ones back home and let them know we were safe than call a taxi and have them take us for food. We waited up for a little for a response from friends/family, but all we wanted to do was sleep. The mattresses were basically wood pallets with sheets on them (welcome to Korea!) and the room temperature was in Celcius. (Thankfully Maria is from Canada, but I had to trust her that the room was at a good temperature, haha.) I slept until about 2:30 am when I shot awake. I fell asleep again around 4am and kinda slept until the wake-up call at 8.

We were shocked when we woke up to discover the floors were heated. Like, CRAZY heated. Like, had-to-wear-socks/slippers-or-your-feet-burned heated. Maybe we're just pansies, but it hurt, dangit! (ALSO! Just a note for future reference: don’t put chocolate on the bottom of your bag and then leave your bag on the floor because your chocolate WILL MELT. I now know this from first-hand experience…) We took a look out on our balcony to see the "ocean view" that the hotel was named for and… were disappointed, haha. But the sunrise was still beautiful and refreshing! :) We packed up and were ready for our shuttle to take us back to the airport at 9:30. We made it to the orientation check-in at the airport by 10:30 and we were all registered and set to take the 11:30 bus to Daejeon for the start of orientation!

Because of Lunar/Chinese New Year (a big Korean Holiday happening now) there was a lot of traffic, so it took us over 3hrs to make it to Daejeon from the airport. Maria and I met more EPIK teachers and got to talk a lot on this bus ride. We enjoyed seeing the Korean architecture of the cities and the different landscape from the desert I call home. Once at the campus where orientation is, we checked in and moved in to the rooms where we'll be until the 27th when we head to our separate areas. They serve us breakfast, lunch, and dinner on campus (complete with kimchi - always!) between orientation classes. Orientation starts first thing tomorrow, on the 20th. The classes range from teaching prep to Korean lessons, to Taekwodo lessons. I can't wait to get started!!

Right now, I'm chilling in my room enjoying some semi-peace and quiet. This introvert severely needs to re-charge! Haha. I'm seriously exhausted… My roommate hasn't arrived yet so its quieter despite the crazy kids in the lobby. I found a kpop channel on tv (hey, it’s the only thing where I semi-understand what's going on…) and I'm trying to drown out the noise from the crazy kids in the hallways.

DAY 2 - Friday, Feb 20th (I lost a day, say whaaaa??!)

My roommate and I were both awake by 6am even though our group wasn't scheduled to do our campus tour until 11:15. We tried so hard to kill as much time as possible… but we were still pretty bored, haha. We went to the cafeteria  for breakfast at 8am where we had scrambled eggs, potato wedges, plain rice, mushroom soup, and my favorite combination: frosted flakes and kimchi!! (People weren't kidding when they said they had kimchi for every meal here. I figure I probably won't eat it when I'm on my own, so I'll embrace it while at orientation, haha. It actually not bad for breakfast! It definitely gives your palette a kick-start, haha.) My favorite part was at the end of the meal when I asked my roommate what sauce I'd put on the rice, because I really liked it. She looked at me weird and said, "that was ketchup…" I tried the sauce again and - yup. Ketchup. They fooled me! Had me thinkin' it was something else, haha.

After breakfast, I came back to the dorms and called home to let them know I was alive (tada!) and then went back upstairs with my roommate, Chunpreet, where we watched Mean Girls while we waited for our tour to start. I felt like all of my energy and excitement for the day kinda drained while waiting so long… but that's the story of my life, haha. When you're tall, you're always in the back. When you're assigned to Gyeongbuk, you're put in group 6. THE LAST GROUP FOR EVERYTHING, ALWAYS. What can I say, I'm used to it! Haha

The tour was very basic, and we'd all been able to explore on our own already so this was mostly just a review and reminder of important rooms for orientation. But our tour guide/teacher, Harah, is so stinkin' cute, I just want to carry her in my pocket everywhere I go!! She's mayyybe 5 feet tall, and glides/waddles with little tiny steps everywhere she goes. All of her movements seem like she's dancing! Our other teacher, DongJoon is the exact opposite. Just a nice and funny, but he's tall and bigger, and endearingly awkward. The two of them together just crack me up! I'm excited to work with them for the next week :)

Lunch was after the tour. We ate fast so that we could go back to our room and change into nicer clothes for the welcome to orientation celebration/performance/thing. It started off with introductions of the EPIK staff and then performances from middle school kids on traditional Korean drums and another traditional dance done about kings and queens. The folk dancer in me geeked out a lot (okay, a lot) when these performances were happening. I loved them!! Then we had our first lecture talking a little bit about Korean history, culture, and expectations.

After the lecture, we headed to the "celebration dinner" which was basically another way of saying "stuff yourself silly before you can't eat again until after your medical exam tomorrow". The meal consisted of Korean-ified Chinese food, fried broccoli, french fries (!!!!), peanut butter sandwiches, jelly sandwiches (separate sandwiches - not on the same bread, haha) aaaaannnd… you guessed it, kimchi! :)

After dinner my roommate and I walked up and down the street to the nearby 7-11 to try and find a card to have internet in our rooms. All of the other EPIK-ers had beat us here, because they were all gone, haha. Chunpreet and I both weren't feeling good (she got a cold from the plane and I think I got it from her) so we went back to our room and found the Mnet channel and fell asleep watching kpop performances on the tv, haha. We can't take any kind of medication for our… cold/whatever we have… because of the medical exam. We can't even eat after 10pm or drink water after midnight. Thank goodness I brought my oils! OnGuard has been my friend, but I still don't have anything for my sore throat. But dangit, Imma get something after this dang medical exam! I'm sure lots of people will be glad to take certain medications after this medical exam. Especially those that will help with jet lag :)

Day 3 - Saturday, February 21st - Medical Exam Day!

MEDICAL EXAM DAY! Yyaaayyyy… Chunpreet and I were up at 6am again. Medical exam scheduled for 10:40. Group 6 is last to go… again. ALWAYS. This whole fasting-and-not-allowed-o-take-medicine-while-sick-and-oh-I'm-also-jet-lagged thing is really not ideal. Haha. But I can take ALL OF THE MEDICINE WHEN ITS DONE!! Imma sleep good tonight :)

Medical exam was easy-peasy. Check height, weight, eyesight, hearing (lamest hearing test EVER coming from a former CommD student who took entire semester class(es) on what all a hearing test truly entails) and then the blood test and a urine test (which is REALLY hard to do when they haven't let you drink for almost 12hrs, juuuust sayin'…) Then on to the weirdest part of the exam - the chest x-ray for TB… ON A BUS.  Literally. On this bus was an x-ray machine, a tiiiiny little waiting room, and an Asian man to keep it all in order. Weird. Yes.

They fed us snacks afterward and then shoved more lunch down us a few minutes later. What an unfortunate combination of being in Group 6/always going last and the Korean mentality that humans must always be hungry.

… … …

Aaannd… that's where I stopped keeping track, haha. After that is when all the madness began. People didn't have to stay sober now since the medical exam was over, so the invites to go out every night kept coming. And thus began the internal battle of deciding to be an introvert or an extrovert and if I should make friends/memories or if I should really try to sleep and get over my dang cold. I'd say I ended at a 50/50 for all of it, haha.

Some classes were more interesting than others. Taekwondo was exhausting followed by a storytelling class… Don't remember much of that one. I was so tired. I received a lot of good websites for class ideas and websites and continued to learn great things from teachers that have been through all of this before. I think my favorite class was the one on classroom management, and probably for many reasons: 1) it was our very last class at orientation 2) the teacher had some HILARIOUS stories about students and their (mis)behaviors and 3) she began the class with a bunch of Kpop videos. Please and thank you.

Oh! And we did go on a short field trip one day to a city called Jeonju that has a lot of history preserved as well as a lot of delicious-looking street food. Silly me forgot all her money, but I was able to see the history for cheap and take some pictures with cute Korean girls!!

The big assignment for orientation was the presentation of our lesson plans. We were all split into groups of three and asked to prepare a lesson on an assigned topic. This was to be presented on our very last day at orientation and we would receive feedback on our lesson plans. I was assigned to work with two hilarious humans, Cady and Joseph/Johnathan. We were probably the most chill group ever because we were all competent humans that didn't want to make the project harder than it was supposed to be. (Also, its not like they were going to send us home if we did terribly, right? Its more of those "there's always room for improvement" scenarios regardless of how well you do, haha.) One night we decided to all be only-be-social-to-the-extent-required introverts and work on our lesson plans in one of the lobbies on in the dorms. We found a quiet lobby with two Korean men talking and so we sat on the other side, just wanting to hash out a few details and then call it a night. However, one of the Korean men started talking to us - he went to school in Texas and spoke very good English (and was very cocky about it, too). He chatted us up for a bit while his friend disappeared… and came back with more Koreans. More DRUNK Koreans. Needless to say, I cried laughing multiple times while the drunk men (actually, man) peeped his head around the corner, offered us ice cream (ALWAYS EATING), tried to drink from the water dispenser by removing the entire water jug, took pictures with us, not-so-randomly and 100% racist-ly shouted I LOVE SOUTH AFRICAAAA! and then left - but not without one asking me for my number first, haha. Thank goodness I didn't have a number at this point so I didn't have to lie to him, haha.

THAT. Was a good night, haha.

I went out in Daejeon only twice during orientation. The first time was the night after the medical exam when a large group from our region went to "the lighty place" where all the bars were and had a few drinks/got pretttyyyy wasted. Rox and I were content with walking around the city, just seeing what was there and enjoying each other's company. A few nights later we took a taxi to an "even more lighty place" with tons of everything and went to a noraebang (karaoke/music room). That night was just a small group, but we had fun trying to sing songs in Korean… and trying to dance songs in Korean as well, haha. (**Video of this night was taken, but many have asked for it not to be posted. Unfortunately, I have to respect their wishes. I do have a few pictures though..!) Curfew was at midnight every night (though that didn't stop some from being carried in at 2am, haha). Most other nights I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep/get over my cold that was taking everything out of me.

Anywho, a few days later Cadi, Joseph and I nailed out presentation!! (Seriously though. Why doesn't EVERYONE end their lessons with a dance party??!) After this was over, we FINALLY found out exactly what city we had been placed in and what ages we would be teaching. I was given the assignment to live in Mungyeong and teach at two middle schools one in Mungyeong and another in neighboring Jeomchon. Google told me that one was an all-girls middle school and another was an all-girls high school (good thing my last 10 days of orientation/training were all for elementary-age students). There were two others from my orientation coming to the same area as me, an adorable couple from South Africa/New Zealand. I had no idea what was ahead for me, as I could find very little information on my city on Google. All I knew is that it had about 77,000 people in the city (for Korea, that is VERY small, like, CRAZY SMALL) and… yeah. That's about all I knew, haha.

Once I arrived it was a whirlwind. I'll save that for another post as this one is already obscenely long…!

Also, I'm sorry for the lack of pics. I had a ton to add but... my webpage won't translate to English from Korean for some reason. And I just KNOW I will push the wrong thing and break the internet. So. I'll wait until I can get it in English and then come back and add the pics, haha.

Until then, I'll be working on Part 2 - more details of my first days in Mungyeong :)

my own little eat, pray, love.

So, in case you haven't heard, in less than two weeks I'll be going to Korea!!! Now, before you all start pummeling me with endless questions, let me just sum of half of the conversations I've had in the last few months. I guarantee you others have had the same questions as you.

FAQ's

Q: North Korea or South?

A: Ummm… What do you think? Definitely South Korea. (Seriously though. Let's ask smart questions from now on…)

Q: What are you doing there?

A: I'll be there teaching English for a year.

Q: How long will you be there for?

A: (Did you not just hear me?) I'll be there for a year.

Q: Will you be in Seoul? Do you know where you'll be?

A: I don't know where exactly I'll be. All they've told me is that I've been placed in the Gyongbuk Province.

Q: How can you not know where you'll be?

A: They haven't told me? At the end of orientation they'll tell me that and what age I'm teaching.

Q: They haven't told you what age either?
A: (I swear I just said this, haha.) Nope. But it will most likely be elementary-age students.

Q: How do you plan lessons and things without knowing?
A: I don't… yet. I will receive training when I'm first out there on how to plan lessons and handle a classroom, though I've done some classes and training online already. I'm not too worried about it. The curriculum and textbooks are different from school to school anyways, so there's no point in really planning until I'm out there.

Q: … … … (They need a minute to process things to see if I'm really serious about all of this or not.)

A: I'm actually really excited!!

This is where the older people generally say something along the lines of:
Q: Do you plan on getting married ever? (This is where I still keep a smile on my face but deep down I'm reeeaaallly tired of answering this question.)

A: I would like to, yes! But I've been in Utah County for almost eight years, being graduated from college for almost three of those. Zero marriage proposals, haha. And actually, hardly interests I had actually morphed into something that would work in a healthy way. In all honesty, I was feeling claustrophobic where I was, every day I went by feeling like I needed a challenge. I needed to get out of the rut I was in. (Actually, it was a bubble, not a rut. Provo is a bubble. A literal bubble.) This opportunity to teach in South Korea came when I felt I had hit rock bottom. I see this as an opportunity to help shape me into the person I want to become, which will help me attract the kind of person I want to marry. Believe me, I get it: Not many 25-year-old Mormon girls are still single. He'll come around when he's supposed to, but I'm not going to sit around and wait for him. And I'm okay with the direction I'm going with my life. I think that's most important right now.

I'll just leave that right there…

Continuing with questions!

Q: So… Why… Korea?? (Accompanied with the "you must be crazy" face. The cherry on top, really…)

A: There are a lot of reasons, actually. I literally just Googled "English teaching jobs abroad" one day and the first thing that popped up was a link to Greenheart Travel I found other sites that said similar information that I found on Greenheart's website. The position most talked about was with the English Program in Korea (EPIK). The main appeal that this opportunity had to me was that it was a paid position!! I've always been far too stingy to just drop my job and spend all my savings for a few months of volunteer work in another country. Call me what you will, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. On top of this being a paid position, they were reimbursing my flights, providing me with housing in Korea and even helping pay for part of my health insurance costs. Any concerns I had as far as excessive cost were taken care of. I felt I could have this opportunity and not lose everything that I had been working for personally. There's also the fact that I've never wanted to be considered a "visitor" or a "tourist" in any country that I traveled to. I want to learn from them. The fact that I'll be out there for a year gives me plenty of opportunity to truly love and be loved by the people of South Korea. I could literally not think of any reason to not try for this position!!

**If I'm fully honest, there's an added bonus of going to South Korea: There's this magical thing called "k-pop" that I came across one day. It's like a freakin' happy pill!! Seriously, it's like they're stuck in the 90's and it’s the best. thing. ever!! Boy bands galore. Turn on k-pop, I can't stop dancing. (If you think I'm joking, ask my friends from the Viv.) Because of k-pop, I was already a little familiar with the country (just scraping the surface, really, but enough for me to be okay with considering going there). K-pop is a big thing over there, and I'll undoubtedly join in the crowds fangirls (and fanboys! haha) if I ever see a K-pop Idol walk by.

Q: Are you going with a friend? Do you know anyone out there?

A: Nope. Not a soul.

Here's my favorite follow-up question to that one (though only asked once):

Q: HAVE YOU SEEN THE MOVIE TAKEN??!!

A: Yes. Yes, I have. That doesn't change my decision to go though. There's this thing called common sense and I happen to have that. So I think I'll be juuuuust fine. Thanks for your concern though. :)

Q: So you're really excited then?

A: YES! How could I not be??! I've been working toward this for months now and I finally got it! It was not Plan A in my life or even Plan G, but I finally found something that worked for me. Plan H! PLAN HUZZZAH! I call that a success. Although… I'll be honest. I'm not entirely sure what I've gotten myself into, haha. I've never traveled before (I had to get a passport just for my application months ago) and I don't speak Korean. Like, at all. BUT. I'm not worried. Everything will work out. Not sure how! But it will.

Q: So you're not scared then?
A: Not in the sense that you're asking. I'm going over there with zero expectations except to make the best of whatever comes my way. I'm not going out there to just have fun. This will be a job. Monday through Friday, I'll be working 8hrs a day. I'll have vacation days, but I don't even know when!! I have things I want to do while over there, yes, but I'm just grateful for this opportunity. I've fought for months for this and I know this will be a great experience for me. I need this.

Q: When do you leave?

A: I fly out on the 17th. 

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS, PEOPLE.

Twelve days left in the US. This is real. This is crazy town. And I can't wait. 

#KMintheSK

reminiscing...

so lately, i've been thinking a lot.

i know, right? i know what you're thinking:

"uh-oh..."

well, there are two reasons i've been doing all of this thinking:

1) i just graduated from college. freak! that's five years all summed up on a piece of paper with my name on it and a stamp that makes it look all official-like - and i haven't even seen it yet! i had it mailed to my parents because i had no idea where i'd be living this summer. no idea where life would take me... but that's beside the point... kinda... the point here is: five years. i wish i remembered every, every minute of it. its times like this that i want to slap myself silly for being terrible at keeping a journal. there are so many experiences, now only memories, that brought me to where i am now. whether its classes, relationships, jobs, teams, roommates, friends... they all worked together to give me some of the best years of my life. and...

2) those five years began five years ago. this week. exactly. its kinda trippy, actually... summer term 2007. dang. (for those of you that truly know me, you know i have a weird way of remembering dates and anniversaries of things. it probably correlates with my obsession with planners, haha...)

so.

to make up for all of those years that i never kept a journal and all i have left are my planners with 'detailed notes' of things... and random notes, cards, pictures, and movie ticket stubs... i'm hoping to piece those all together. it'll be a crazy trip down memory lane... but i'm excited. excited to look back. see where i was, where i am now, and who i've become.

also, because of this, i'll be making my blog private... not that any of you really read it anyway, haha. (...probably because i never really write anything on here either!) but. i'm just going to be writing a lot of personal things here in the next few days... weeks... months... as i go through all of everything from the last five years. this blog will be my catch-up journal. eventually i may make it public again, but by then, there will be so much boring stuff here for you to read, that you won't read it all. ha. ;)

i wish i could post a picture or something of my favorite college memory but... that's impossible. so... this is about all i can put up right now...

i dunno about you, but it appears i'm the only
one in this picture excited to graduate...

this is a picture that my dad snapped during graduation, right before i walked across a stage in a smelly gym to receive my diploma. (you know, that piece of paper with an official looking stamp on it that represents five years of my life...) at this particular moment though, we were asked to find our parents, and thank them for all that they had done for us through ... everything. i, naturally, was brought to tears. because my parents were - and have always - been there for me. not just after those first two hell-ish weeks of summer term... not those multiple times that i was so ready to never go back to byu... but literally always. it makes me so sad to know that there is no way that i can really repay them for all that they have done for me. i only hope that i can take those lessons taught and the aaaalllllllll the love given and give the same to my children and others around me. i owe my parents everything. 

(hey, maybe that's why i had my diploma mailed to them and not me...?)

some much-needed advice: should i be macaulay culkin's mini-golf partner?

so. amidst the stress of finals and whatnot, i keep going back to an experience that i had at work this past week. no - not that terrible one in which i managed to drop the shipment of the shirts that have been on back order for 6 weeks now in a puddle while trying to bring them inside... no, its a happier much moment. an odd one that i will probably never have again, but still a good one.

it was tuesday, and i started work at 3pm. i was working until close, all by my lonesome. it had been a really slow day, as tuesdays usually are. now, when customers come in, i welcome them to the store and ask if they're looking for anything specifically. since it is a women's modest clothing store, typically the women come in in groups to "browse" not looking for anything in particular. but i always giggle to myself a little bit when guys come in looking for something because you can immediately tell they feel so out of place and ... almost uncomfortable. this one mosied (mosy-ed?) on in looking at a brochure of some kind. as was instinct, i welcomed him and asked him if i could help him with anything. he closed the brochure, looked up at me and said, "i hope so, yeah."

uh-oh.

me: "okay, well, what can i do for ya?"
guy: "are you from tennessee?

i was caught off guard by this question... i figured he was confusing me for someone else.

me: "nope. i'm from arizona."
guy: "really? 'cuz you're the only ten i see."

...is this guy for real right now? i couldn't think of anything else to do but ... laugh. he could sense my awkwardness.

guy: "no, but, actually, do you have a phone i could use?"
me: "uh, here, yeah, you can use the store phone."
guy: "great, thanks, i just need to call God really quick and tell him i found one of his missing angels."

again, all i could do was laugh. i couldn't believe this was actually happening! i thanked him for his compliments and apologized for not being more gracious about it. he said that was why he had waited to come in until no one was in the store. (wait... how long was this guy standing out there for??)

guy: "no, but in all seriousness, i am ... in need of a mini-golf partner. i had one, but she got too busy and its just not working out. so... do you like mini-golf?"
me: "like it, yes. am i good at it? not particularly. i do have fun though."
guy: "and that's all i'm asking for! it is mini-golf after all."
me: "then, yeah, i think i could do that."

CRAP. what did i just agree to? why can't i ever say no??

guy: "i do have to tell you though, i'm kinda busy for the next little bit so we might not be able to go right away..."
me: "yeah, i, uh.... yeah..."
guy: "you're married aren't you?"

this guy was serious!! it was at this point that i started to feel bad for him. haha, oh dear. i told him i wasn't married, but that i also was busy and it may take us awhile to figure out a time to work this out. i told him finals and graduation were coming up and life was busy with rehearsals with my team and then going on tour for a month... he cut me off before i really got to it all though.

guy: "do you go to byu?"
me: "yes, i do."
guy: "okay, well, i feel like i should tell you this. normally i don't worry about this off the bat but... i'm a darwinist."

he could see the confusion on my face, haha. i had no idea what that meant.

guy: "i was raised mormon, but i don't believe in that church anymore. i'm a darwinist. i just know that mormon's generally date mormons and i just wanted to make you aware ... that ... this is mini-golfing. partners. not dating. so it doesn't really matter, right?"

i caught his drift and suddenly ... i had a lot more respect for this guy. weird? anyway, we went on to exchange names (his name is chris) and he went out on a limb and gave me his number, not asking for mine or even hinting for it. (i put his name in my phone as chris, the darwinist who is in need of a mini-golf partner. yes. its really all there.) we talked a little more aside from that, he continued to compliment me and how i looked, and i awkwardly tried to accept his compliments.

so basically... i don't know what to do. i don't think i'll have time to go mini-golfing before tour on the 27th... is it worth it to contact this guy? part of me wonders if i should trust him...? i mean, i don't even know him! he's just a random macaulay culkin look-alike that walked into my store and told me i was the most beautiful girl in the mall and he had to make sure i knew. (yeah. holy cow. don't think that's true...!) and so part of me thinks this would be a totally awkward ... not date. but then there's the other part of me that thinks i could have a lot of fun with him, haha. i just can't decide which part is more pressing...

just livin' the dream.

i don't know if you all have noticed, but i'm pretty dang blessed. unfortunately, i've gotten caught up in... just... life lately, and i've either forgotten or become completely unaware of my amazing life.

guys, i'm freaking living my dream!! i can't believe i forget this. since i can remember, i've wanted to come to BYU and perform with the folk dance team. along the way - and just in the folk dance program - i've met so many fantastic people...

8 WSC - Winter '09

9 WSC - Fall '09

SPAC - Winter '10

BackPac - Fall '10

10 WSC "Pirates" - Winter '11

SPAC 2011

PAC! Fall '11

10 WSC - Winter '12

Freaking PAAAC - Winter '12

each and every team - whether i was actually on the team or just the TA - has been a complete blessing to me. the people that i met were the ones needed to help me make it through the trials that i would face that semester. ...when i take a step back and think about things, i realize just how blessed i am to be at BYU and doing what i've always wanted to. it was a two-part dream, and both parts were hard for me to achieve. i have been taking them for granted. now that i have literally TWENTY FOUR DAYS UNTIL GRADUATION (holy heck...) i'm realizing just how soon this will be ending. and just how badly i don't want it to...

also, the past few days, i've been kinda really homesick. i haven't told anyone this but... yes. utah is great and all, but its inconsistent weather tendencies, well... i've had enough. with my self-diagnosed SAD disorder  there are days when some good ol' arizona sunshine is all i need. and maybe a hug or two from my family.

i love my family. 

hilarious, quirky, musical, loving... 

always there. for me. for each other.  

from evan and annette's wedding reception in AZ back in october.
(i'm in 3in heels and my little brother is still taller than me... i don't think i'll ever get used to that.)

these are just two things (of the many) that i'm thankful for today:
my family at home and my family away from home - my folk dance family.  

"day two" (alright... we'll pretend that's true.)

i love to laugh.

and i mean, who doesn't?

obviously, this little guy does. 

and clearly... so does this guy.

how can you look at those pictures and not smile?

i really don't think its possible!!

in high school, i had a really close group of friends. when we all graduated, one friend in that group wrote a short story about all of us just hanging out one night, doing "typical" things. she took a little time to describe each of us in the story. in my paragraph, she noted my love of laughing:

" Kelsey laughs at things that amuse her - 

and she doesn't care if that amusing thing happened to take place at the funeral of the Pope."

yes, it is very true. sometimes i laugh so much, i can be irreverent. my apologies. also, sometimes, it may appear as if i'm laughing at you, personally. i promise, i'm not. i'll get up and help you out... but only after i've had a good laugh, haha. 

as a lot of you know, i have this laugh... its kind of silent... for a looong time. and then suddenly... there is this atrocious noise that escapes my throat. i have no idea how it happens... all i know is that there comes a point when i need air, and it is at that exact moment that my absolutely hideous "foghorn" laugh appears. over the years, i've gained control over the foghorn. but sometimes, when i'm really tired, i just can't... and then i can't stop. and its bad. the only good that comes from it, is that it makes others laugh as well. so, i guess i can't complain too much about it :) 

what's funny to me? well, inside jokes are great and all but recently... i just enjoy laughing at things that deserve to be laughed at. like this. and this. and what about this? (oh, and if you've got a few hours, be sure to check out this hilarious blog that i wish i had written and this amazing HP musical that i want to keep to myself but...let's be honest - its just too good not to share!!) you want more? believe me, i got more. just ask!

yes, all of the above deserve a good laugh. hopefully one was able to at least make you smile!

:)