My favorite KPop song right now

If you can, just listen and don't watch the video because it's one of the worst videos I have ever seen.

However, if you do watch the video, riddle me this. Why is this girl blueballing all the boys? She really needs to stop. I do like that they picked an average cutesy girl instead of a hot girl. That's nice.

More Gems from my 12 Year Old

Me: Give me an example of someone or something that is gaudy (our classroom definition was showy or colorful)
JY: A flamingo

JY: Teacher, have you gotten any plastic surgery?
Me: No
JY: Maybe you should

Upon seeing my outfit
JY: Teacher, what is your look today?!?

JY: Teacher, did you go to church yesterday?
Me: No, I told you I don't go to church
JY: But I told you to go to church, God told me to tell you to go to Church.*

I love her (besides the whole 'trying to convert me every Monday afternoon') and I love teaching more than I thought I would. It makes me sad that I would never pursue it as an actual career due to the lack of money.

*I am much more tolerant of people getting preachy on me when it comes from a 12 year old. I remember when I believed when I was younger, life was so innocent back then.

2AM > 2PM

I really really like 2AM. Video will be posted later.

Taxi Cab Confessions

It has been confirmed recently that I love to converse with cab drivers all over the world (besides Paris, long story). The most Korean practice I get is when I am drunk taking a cab home (every Friday and Saturday). Sadly, my job requires me to speak only English 7 hours a day and my roommate is fluent in English so my Korean hasn't improve that much since coming here.

I am notoriously chatty with NYC cab drivers and have the ability to learn a driver's entire life story from anywhere below 34th street to Bushwick. They love to chat back since they probably deal with a lot of angry NYC assholes all day its refreshing to get someone....I guess I wouldn't call myself normal..but friendly? But I always wondered if they are humoring me for a tip. Since coming here it is confirmed that cab drivers adore me, Korean cabs don't get tips.

When I tell a Korean cab driver where I am going, he can tell from my accent that I am not a native Korean. He always proceeds to ask me where I am from. We get into the obligatory NYC vs Seoul conversation. Then after he gets comfortable with me, he inevitably starts whipping out his English. The English is always surprisingly good. They can carry conversations with me in English and it's amazing. He then asks me to say certain phrases in English using me as a free English tutor. I ask him to translate things I don't know in Korean. It's always a nice, informal language exchange. Finally, he drops me off at home and always asks if this is my apartment in which I reply, "No, I am poor it's my relatives place." This exact scenario has taken place the last 4 times I have taken a cab.

I should take more cabs just for the cheap Korean lessons.

The life of Korean Kids

So I private tutor a 12 year old in addition to my SAT classes. It is good depending on whether or not she is having a good or bad day. On a good day I want to take her home with me and love her and buy her stuffed animals. On bad day I want to wring her neck.

I don't blame her for her bad days though. The girl is worked like a piece of dough as many kids here are. She is the typical korean student with 18 hours of studying and activities a day. This girl is more productive in a week than I have ever been in my life.

Her summer is as follows:
4 hours of tutoring by me in math and english from Monday-Friday, then depending on the day and time of day she has one of the following...
Squash lessons
ballet lessons
regular dance lessons (I don't quite know what this means but its non-ballet dance)
violin lessons
swimming lessons
golf lessons
pilates (why a 12 year old girl needs to go Pilates when she already swims, golfs, and plays squash is beyond me)
church

Before she came to my class she had already golfed and done pilates. Immediately after my class she had a violin lesson.

She is surprisingly upbeat despite all this half the time. A kid is still a kid though and towards the end of the week she can get really restless.

I couldn't even sit in a chair for 3 hours straight in the summer of all seasons when I was 12, let alone learn the meaning of the word coalesce. It's weird, I know she should respect me because I am the teacher but in many ways I am in awe of her.

Some gems from the mouth of my 12 year old:

When she found out I do not attend church:
"If you go to Church teacher I will study really really hard. I promise"

When asked about the difference between advanced civilizations and primitive civilizations
"People in Seoul are advanced and people in Busan are primitive"
(Busan is the 2nd largest city in Korea by the way for those who are unaware, Seoulites are so the New Yorkers of Korea)

Missing my Family

I am really missing my family right now. It's strange because I saw them a month ago in Cali which is one of the shortest time periods I have gone without seeing them since moving out of their home 8 years ago. I think just being here reminds me of my family. I can't look at an old Korean man with big ears without thinking of my grandfather. I can't look at a poorly dressed yet adorable woman without thinking of my mom. I see a drunk man I think Daddy?! I could have sworn I saw my grandfather's brother at the bank the other day (very well could have been because my grandfather is 1 of 10 children). My family moved to California a few months ago after living in NY for 25 years and it just really hit me how much I miss them. I guess living in NY has made me too preoccupied and busy to realize. Sad.

Korean Wedding

I have no idea who got married but I went to a Korean wedding today. It is wedding season here in Korea. Apparently you can bring anyone you want as long as you pay for their meal. So that is how I found myself in a wedding of 2 people I have never met.

So Korean weddings are very boring. For a culture that loves to drink, weddings are a very sober affair. You go, they start in the morning. The couple bows to the mother's parents, then the father's parents while guests talk the whole time. My cousin kept chatting with me and I found it very bizarre, like shouldn't we be paying attention? Then the couple stands in the front while various groups of people stand next to them to get their pictures taken.

The guests go eat their meal (giving the wedding hall people a ticket to show you have paid). The couple comes into the dining hall while you eat, they cut the cake (but no one eats the cake so I was curious where this cake goes after they cut it, do they take it home? No sharing?!) and then they pour champagne into a champagne fountain (none of the champagne glasses are shared either $#@&Y*&^&$!). No dancing, no open bar, no DJ, no live band singing Journey songs, I got the sads.*

My family was talking shit because it wasn't buffet style which is funny because in the States we would prefer non-buffet style. My aunt then made my cousin steal the rice cakes in her purse to take home. My aunt is not poor by any means. She carried a Tod's purse to the affair, but stealing from restaurants crosses all socio-economic levels for Koreans. I remember my mom making me sneak food in my purses in high school and this mortified me. Now, I feel very normal about it all.

So that was my Korean wedding experience. The highlight was def when my cousin and I walked in late to the ceremony and a guy who was a very very mediocre singer was serenading the couple standing right next to them. I felt so awkward. While we may not drink like fishes like we normally do, I guess we still need to throw in a little karaoke.

*My cousin did state that sometimes the couple and their close friends will party the night before the wedding however I can't imagine looking great in your wedding pictures with a wicked hangover.