It's beginning to look like SPRING!!!

The dead of winter is finally fading away and the signs of spring are in full bloom. It's now time to put away all of my warm clothes and winter scarves and bring out the sunglasses, flip-flops, and more! And to my delight, the cherry blossoms are better than I had ever imagined. The spring is turning out to be absolutely breathtaking and each day I am discovering new beauty. Check out my transformed route to work!

I will now go to the Doctor for any little thing...

After spending $30.00 on a single bottle of DayQuil (silly me only packed NyQuil), loading up on massive amounts of Vitamin C, and finding that 12 days later I still wasn't getting any better, I finally broke down and went to see a Korean doctor.

I dragged myself out of bed and made the trip to the closest clinic, which was about a 10 minute walk. I had no appointment and I had no idea what to expect, but the process was absolutely painless. It was actually more enjoyable than visiting the doctor back home. I filled out a rather short document and then the Doctor saw me about 20 minutes later and to my surprise, spoke perfect English. He started asking me questions about where I was from and what I was doing in Korea and before long, he gave me his diagnosis. It turns out I have Bronchitis and a slight sinus infection. Awesome! He wrote me a prescription and then he started talking to me about his son and how he's studying to be a pharmacist at the University of Texas. I think my eyes got pretty wide at the thought of a young Korean man who spoke English, had a doctor for a dad (an extremely pleasant one at that), and was studying to be a pharmacist. So instead of thinking about how awesome it was that I only paid $3.80 for my doctor's visit and $6.00 for my drugs, all I could think about was when is that boy coming home? Does that make me a bad person?

So now I'm on a lot of drugs for the next three days. I literally take 5 pills in the morning, 3 in the afternoon, and another 5 pills with dinner all while taking a liquid pouch of syrup with each dose.

But whatever! I'm already starting to feel better. And Doctor Jae Young Kim said to come back Friday if I wasn't feeling better. I'm thinking I might just have to in order to meet this son of his!!

I love Korean POP

So I feel as though I should finally share my favorite Korean pop song with you...check out the video link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpQkYHFKSNU

It's by Big Bang...only the best boy band to hit Korea. The song is called Sunset Glow and it is still very popular even though it's getting old now. Big Bang makes me think back to the days when the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC ruled American pop culture. It's almost tragic.

My absolute favorite part of most Korean music is all of the random English words intertwined with the Korean ones. You can always catch me randomly singing (usually just the English parts and humming the rest) on the street, the bus, in my classroom to my students, really anywhere. I can't seem to help myself. They're just catchy!

I am also in love with the Wonder Girls who kind of remind me of the Spice Girls in a way. If you're curious, my favorite song by them is called, "Nobody". Check it out!

"I love you girl!"

:)

End of the Month = New Classes

So at the end of every month, report cards are due for all of my classes. As the new month begins, so do new classes which means that I could gain or loose students or perhaps even teach an entirely new class. Well my second to last class rolled around with my absolute favorite class (with my favorite student - Denny). They had somehow learned of "The Merge" and as soon as I stepped foot into class, I was drilled with a hundred different questions from my frazzled students.

"Teacher! Are you leaving? Do we have a new teacher? Will we have a new class? Will you go to another school? What is happening? I need to know answers!"

Then their frantic questions turned into panicked statements:

"I don't want you to leave teacher! You cannot go! You are the best teacher, I do not want a new one! Please teacher stay."

I didn't exactly know how to react as I wasn't supposed to share any information with them and to be honest, I didn't know the answers! I didn't know what they would do to with me! But I was so relieved to learn that they felt the same way about me as I did about them. Well our intermission/10 minute break rolled around and I went into the teacher's room to grab a quick snack. After the 10 minutes was up, I traveled back to my classroom only to find my students sitting proudly at their desks with their hands folded. Denny ran up to me and said, "Cassandra! We all asked very nicely to the counter teachers (the main office) for you to stay and be our teacher. We hope that helps!"

Then I looked at the board and it was COMPLETELY COVERED with the most wonderful and heart-felt messages. It literally brought me to tears! Here, take a look!


Needless to say, I learned the following day that I would be keeping this class. I also learned the parents really like me as their teacher as well (which is a huge accomplishment as I'm so new...these parents are tough!!) Here are some close-ups of my best/favorite day as a teacher!:

Denny vs Peter

So I know I've talked about my class crushes in past blogs, so I imagine you are somewhat familiar with at least their names. And if you aren't, Denny was my first crush, has an amazing personality, is smart, funny, and is 9 years old. Peter is a newer student that I acquired last month and speaks excellent English, is also 9 years old, and is very shy.

Now as a teacher, I realize discussing the issue may be totally inappropriate. But I simply can't hold it in. They really are so darn cute and I very much look forward to seeing them in each and every class. I would also like to throw in the following disclaimer:

I am not now, nor have I ever been a pedophile.

I feel as though I should be allowed to express my gratitude for being blessed with such adorable students. Besides, crushes are harmless....right!?! Well allow me to share with you some recent photos. You can be the judge!

(Denny is hiding in the chairs to SURPRISE ME! So clever!)

(Peter is a little more camera shy - in the stripes!)

Beijing is out

So it's official. As a trio, we decided to spend our short holidays exploring Korea itself rather than try and fit entire countries into just a few days. We decided it would be best to take a month after our contracts are up and go backpacking from one Asian country to the next so we can really do and see all that we want. I love the idea and plus it gives us a lot of time to save!!

So on the top of the list for now is some sort of temple stay, bungee jumping, and Jeju Island. The options are endless! Stay tuned!

Change of Name

Having Paulina around has been nothing but fantastic. Especially when she shares her Polish heritage with a me. I'm learning a lot from her. Like for instance, my name in Polish would be pronounced:

Cassandra Grabovska

I like the way the Poles say it much better. Americans really butchered it!

I'm fairly certain I'll change my name someday! Thanks Pauly!