"Beef Up, Fish Down"

   One of the other foreign teachers used the term "beef up" while speaking to one of his high-level classes. After explaining what it meant in slang-terms, one of the students proceeded to ask if English speakers also say "fish down". Not only amusing, I think it's the perfect idiom for my first week as a fully functioning member of Korean society. Every day - no, ever HOUR - brings so much change on you and you never can be sure what you're going to get. Of course things are normalizing as time goes on, but the adjustment game is still 50/50

   With 29 classes I have 29 different classroom dynamics to discover and work with. On Thursday a student in a class told me to go fuck myself, but on Friday the class followed me into the office demanding I come back so they don't have to work with the Korean co-teacher. Fish down, beef up.

   I go to my first local foreigner meet up on a Saturday night and find two young women my age both living in town (one of which in my building) and make fast friends. But I also spend the entirety of the night dodging a middle-aged man from Southern USA who referred to me as "Princess" and couldn't keep his hands to himself. Beef up, fish down.

   After such a shaky first day, I'm happy to say that I found myself some hobbies outside of school. I started taking Korean classes Monday and Wednesday mornings. But more than that...I've also registered for hapkido on Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings the hour just before Korean. The teacher and location are one and the same, exercise can't hurt, and I feel like I'll have something to show for my time spent here. If I leave Korea after this year, if I move to a new city and start a new contract, I'll always have whichever belt I'll have earned to look at and say "I worked at this while I was living in Changwon". I can actually feel all of my close friends and family holding their breath waiting for news of a broken bone or face plant. Don't worry guys, I got this.

Just to spruce things up a little bit around here, how about some pictures?!

This is a picture of the first full, proper meal I had in Korea. It's not quite 삼겹살 (samgyeopsal) (pork belly) because I believe we ended up with beef, but it was DELISH. You grill it yourself at the table and have an assortment of things to dip it in, everything from oil and salt to spicy pepper paste called 고추장 (gochujang).

The view from my apartment. 롯데마트 (Lotte Mart) is kind of like a Wal-Mart Supercenter. From what I've noticed, Lotte seems to have a hand in the production of just about everything in Korea. Really interesting is that two Wednesdays out of the month, Lotte Mart closes so people have no choice to shop at smaller places. I guess it's some kind of law that protects small businesses.



   It's true everything is still new and exciting for me, but I feel like I'm finally getting a hold of my life here. I've done normal things like laundry and grocery shopping and taking a taxi, and it keeps getting easier and easier. I do, however, have to prepare mock teaching lessons to present to my coworkers this week. Not only that, but I have to be up in the morning for hapkido, Korean, and work! Gotta beef up on my sleep or this fish'll be down all day tomorrow.