just believe the one who holds the storms will bring the SUN...

February is quickly coming to an end.  With this comes the joy of knowing a three day weekend is just days away, but at the same time a sense of sadness.  This coming Friday is my last day with my kindergartners as kinders.  I have loved my time with them immensely, even the moments when we've had a mutual "over it" feeling.  One student in particular will be in my memories forever.  He has tortured me from day one.  His name, Sun.  I'm not going to come close to capturing his unique spirit in this blog, but I'm going to do my best.

One does not even have to be looking and it's known when Sun has entered the classroom.  It's as though Elvis has entered the building.  He walks in with all the confidence in the world.  Coolness just oozes from this child.  I wish I had video of this entrance that I speak of.  He has a way of throwing his coat on the table and announcing his arrival that is more than entertaining, and disruptive.  And his fellow classmates are more than pleased that he is gracing us with his unbeatable presence.

Every morning of each day I ask everyone of my students how they are feeling and what did they do after school, this past weekend....  Most of the children respond with: great, awesome, not so good because my baby sister bit me, etc.  Even a few every morning reply with: very, very, very, very, very good.  Sun?  Without fail is "so, so".  When I ponder why he is only "so,so", his response?  He's "great because Alvin and Chris are here, bad because Megan teacher time".  There are even hand gestures to go with this.  When he is describing why he is good, he has a thumbs up sign with his left hand, when describing "bad Megan teacher" his right hand is giving a thumbs down.  And to make sure you understand what "so, so" means he then rotates the two thumbs so they appear to be confused or torn in thought.  This is what I am greeted with Monday- Friday at 9:50am. 

There have been a few slip ups where Sun has told me that he is "good".  But, he quickly remembers who he is talking to and corrects himself.  One weekend we had a few days off for a holiday and then the first two days we were supposed to be back classes were canceled due to snow.  So, I thought, maybe Sun missed me.  I pointed out to him that I had not seen him in lets say, 6 days and I was sad.  He told me those 6 days were his best days.  It doesn't end with morning greetings.  "Bad Megan teacher time" carries throughout the entire day.  I could see him in the hall, in the elevator, walking into the classroom..., always "bad Megan teacher".  I thought he was originally punishing me for replacing his teacher he'd had the previous eight months.  I've been here four months now, the child is committed.

You would think that I torture my students.  I happen to be a very fun teacher.  Everyday I mix in some form of a game, I youtube anything I can to better explain a topic, especially animals.  I mean, we watched kangaroos box on a golf course and they loved it!  I take the time and money to find rad stickers that they go crazy over, throw parties, and I genuinely show that I care about them and that their happiness is important to me! 

So, after all this, Sun loves to make my days hell.  That's what he thinks he's doing anyway, if he only knew that he thoroughly entertains me with each of his snide remarks and glares that can only be described as plots to behead me, he just might be disappointed with all his efforts. 



Look at the kid from school
He's teaching the mamas and papas how to be a little cool
He's changing fashion, the way he dress
The tracksuits are old, and the hoody's way too moody 
For a kid with the will to funk
He dances in secret; he's a part-time punk
-Belle & Sebastian 

"part III of my life I will call mission: adulthood and learning to cope" -s.l.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about where I am and how I got here.  It was two years ago today actually, that single handedly changed who I was and who I will become more so than any other day.  At the time, I didn't think I'd ever be the same person.  And I won't, but I realize now it's mostly been for the better.  This conclusion didn't come easy or quickly.  I've learned during these past two years more about who I am and the person that I want to be.  I am immensely thankful for my family and my friends who were and still are there for me. 

I am a planner by nature.  Not knowing what is going on makes me very anxious.  I'm not saying that I need details, I just need an idea of the situation ahead.  Yet, looking at most of my major decisions they have all been unexpected even to myself.  If anyone had told me a year ago that I'd be living in Korea I would have laughed it off.  This is certainly not a place I have ever dreamed of traveling to, let alone live.  With that said, I love Seoul and wouldn't change anything that got me here.  Yes, I'd like to erase certain things from memory, but in the end those things most likely had the biggest influence on getting me where I am today. 

I graduated college a year ago, I started a second degree two weeks later, ten months after that I moved to Asia.  I have no idea what I'm going to do in a year.  And for the first time, I'm okay with not having it all planned out. 

to keep the sharks at bay

So this first post I realize is long past due and not going to come close to the content that it should contain, but none the less here it is.

I've been living in Seoul now for a complete month and am loving it.  This place is rad.  There are more words that could be used, but I'm going to stick with rad.  I'm not sure there is a place that I have set foot in that could be used to compare it to.  It's like a mixture of New York, San Fran, Tokyo & Los Angeles rolled into one and that still does not give the complete picture. 

To recap the past month would just be too much at this point so I'm going to save that for a later time.  I will instead start with this weekend.  Today Katie, a coworker who will be more discussed at another point because well, she's just awesome, and I went into Itaewon in search of America.  Itaewon is the most westernized portion of Seoul, and maybe all of South Korea due to a US military base located within the city.  Upon arriving we ate at a burger establishment that was no In N Out, but still amazing.  From there we made a stop at Coldstone for some ice cream.  After being completely full, a rare occasion in this country for me, we found the mythical grocery store we'd heard of.  It had MEXICAN food ingredients.  Now I know for all of you at home this discovery is nothing, but you are not living in Korea.  This is like finding gold.  It was at this moment that we decided we are cooking a mexican dinner for Thanksgiving purposes.  A girl overheard us mention Thanksgiving and attempted to invite us to her church for their traditional dinner and when we kindly turned her down stating neither of us actually love the traditional dinner feast she was not a fan of us.  After making the rounds in this very tiny, but obviously gold mine of a store we headed next door to the book store that was our original purpose.  The bookstore trip did not end without incident as few of the places I wonder into do.  And being with Katie, my California blonde alien twin as we feel, does not help keep the lurkers away.  As soon as we walked in we were confronted by a Korean guy who wanted to be my friend.  Those were his words.  I have never seen this man before and already he wants this honor.  Turns out really, he wanted to use me for my English skills.  Long story short, he wants to be a lawyer and needs to speak perfect English and that's where I would come in.  I suggested he watch movies and go to coffee shops, at which point he didn't get the hint and invited me to do both.  Katie had somehow managed to walk away leaving me alone with this painful conversation, but at some point I guess decided she'd save me.  The Korean guy quickly moved onto the nearest blonde girl and at that point literally couldn't take his hands off her hair.  It was the most awkward thing.  I'm not sure what it is, but Koreans do not understand blonde hair.  People, and a few of my kids, look at me like I'm not from Earth.  It is the most bizarre thing.  And apparently this other girl felt the same way and the next thing we hear is a girl telling this Korean "not everyone is meant to be friends".  Katie and I almost died laughing.  So it's at this point that we quickly paid for our books and left.  Feeling that we'd accomplished finding America we picked up a bottle of Yellow Tail Moscato wine at the closest 7 11, hopped on the subway back to the apartment where a viewing of Love Actually was held to celebrate the start of the holiday season.

.meg xoxo