Changes + decisions = stress

Here's some exciting things that happened/are happening this week --

• On Friday, I found out I've been saying a bad word with some regularity and in front of various people including but not limited to: my boss, my students, and other teachers. Apparently, it's not bad enough that anybody thought to correct me, but it's kinda like saying "eff" instead of the actual f-word; you might not be saying it, but people know what you mean. Oops. 

• The co-worker I'm closest with is leaving on Friday :( She will still be in Seoul, but school won't be the same without her. I'm pretty bummed about it. Which also leads to...

• The new teacher is coming Monday! He's a Korean who was raised in New Zealand, so he's our bilingual teacher. He will be my partner for the five-year-olds, which I'm nervous about because they're babies, and are used to female teachers. He doesn't have any teaching experience, but knowing Korean is a bit of an advantage. Fingers crossed! No matter how good he is though, next week will be very stressful for myself and the classes we share. We're preparing as much as we can, but I think it's just going to come down to lots of caffeine and patience.

• I went to a restaurant with my friend where they served our bulgogi (meat) on a shovel! Afterwards, we went to a self bar where you grab bottles of beer from standing coolers, then turn in your empties and pay when you're finished. Then, we went to a place called "clubby bar," which was more like a club with a bar hidden in the back. It was lots of fun and really crazy! After that (changing place is the Korean way!), we went to noraebong (a karaoke room) until the buses started running again. It was a great time and we made a lot of new friends. Oh, I also tried chicken neck stew this weekend! It was delicious! Did I ever tell you guys I tried jellyfish? That was good, too! Moving on...

• I have agreed to help a few friends improve their English with a weekly study group they organized. Each week, they'll send me a paper on a topic of my choice, I'll edit it, and we'll discuss any revisions on Sundays. I'm looking forward to this because I get to pick the topics -- so I'll definitely be learning a lot about Korea -- and because, uh, money!

• The time is quickly approaching when I'll have to make a decision about next year. My choices are: stay in Korea for 6 months or more at my current position, stay in Korea for another year at a different school, au pair in Italy for a year, or decide to return home and start looking for jobs right now. There are some weighty pros and cons to each option. One I think needs some explaining...

I never thought I'd be considering turning down a job as an au pair in Italy. This is why I am doing just that: I have grown to love teaching over these past few years and although I would be "tutoring" the girls in English, it would not be anything like teaching; I would be living with FOUR other people, one of whom speaks English; I would be sharing a room with a five-year-old; the job is in Naples, which is a notoriously dirty, dangerous place that is not foreigner-friendly; due to the above reasons, it would be nearly impossible to make friends; the money is not good (can't forget those student loans!); and I don't like pasta (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA just kidding, that's actually the first "pro!").

Considering all those things, I don't think this is the right opportunity for me to explore Italy and/or Europe. I'm not writing it off yet, though. I'll keep you guys updated.

Anyway, those are a few things happening in my life right now. If you hadn't noticed, I've switched my posting schedule to once a week, usually on Sundays. Hopefully that's enough to satisfy your curiosity for now, but I'll be sure to post more often when it gets warmer and I can have some more exciting excursions! 

Have a good week!