I accidentally hiked a mountain today. While my instruction sheet from the hospital was pretty vague, other websites recommended no strenuous exercise for at least a week. Walking it is, then! As the pollution was finally in the green and the weather was hot but dry, I decided to wander around the easy trails at the base of the mountain behind school. I didn’t realize that after about 20 minutes I had already ascended halfway. Well what’s 150 meters more? This mountain is on the same ridge of my favorite Seoul hike: Achasan. I’ve never been to this peak though and at the top I was greeted by some (restored)…

The morning started off with a free comedy routine: stern security guard and the Yakult yogurt lady were arguing in increasingly loud voices outside the school gate about where she could park her motorized yogurt cart. Stern security gaurd is near retirement but called her ajumma and yelled at her with honorific language. Mrs. Yakult argued right back with an addition of loud huffs and scoffs. The office lady happened upon the same scene and as we breezed pass, I told her it was like a movie. She then asked if I was sick since I was out yesterday. “No, I went to the hospital and had a biopsy.” At…

They may be little gremlins but they are my little gremlins.

I asked C if she would introduce herself to the new fourth graders tomorrow; they’ve heard her voice online but have never seen her. “Oh, I don’t know, do you think I should?” “Of course you should! It can be as simple as ‘Hi, I’m Teacher C. Now show me your homework.’.” “I don’t know, I’m shy about that.” Girl, establish dominance! She also has yet to realize I have little to no shame when it comes to kids. I’ll do just about anything for a laugh. C and I got to chatting about America and Korea and I complained about fake English because the plum juice we got said…

C and I settled in for lunch between the clear plastic dividers when the VP, sitting to her other side, asked her a question which made her laugh then pass on to me in English: “The VP wants to know, do you like makgeolli and pajeon?” I laughed helplessly. So I suppose the office staff was not too embarrassed to tell everyone that they ran into me at the restaurant all those months ago. I do of course wonder if they left out the details that they were already eight bottles of makgeolli in or that the office manager showed me an old picture of his abs. Somehow, I doubt…

Korea giveth and Korea taketh away. C told me today that there would be no native teacher replacing me next semester and Seoul will not be hiring any new teachers in fall. The reasoning was that new teachers would have to do two weeks of quarantine. The excuse is a bit flimsy to me since new teachers, and anyone else arriving from abroad, must do a mandatory two week quarantine and have been doing so since March. Why is it now a concern? It got me thinking though and when I got back to my desk I did some research. Many provinces through the national program and even the independent…

C had left for her daily training across town when the classroom phone started to ring. I never answer the phone because it is never for me and is always in Korean. However, not two minutes later I got an email from the kind office lady that explained G was trying to call me and that I should call her back. G and I had a date to meet later that day to get coffee and give me my requested recommendation letter. In the middle of typing my response, or should I say finger pecking at the Korean keyboard, there was a knock on the classroom door and the same…

Things I accomplished today: Another teaching course module Video edits for my one year Korea anniversary video English volunteer tutoring lesson for my refugee student Pointed out to the pharmacist that he gave me KF80 masks for my national ration and yes I would like the KF94 masks instead, I’m allergic to pollution thanks Two hours peppering my Hong Kong tutor with questions about the difference between “잘하다” and “잘 하다”. Your eyes do not deceive you, the only difference is a space which stacks up to a lot of meaning in the context heavy language of Korean. Before leaving for her off site teaching course, C gave me the…