Are you ready for a speed round?!

Okay, so this will cover Wednesday-Thursday because I want to be caught up so I can start writing the day of, instead of relying on whatever pictures I have to remind myself of the day I'm writing for (remember my steel trap). So here we go, speed-writing!

Please blame Apple for any & all spelling mistakes. I take no responsibility whatsoever.

Wednesday 3/4:

I alologize for the quality, but someone- cough cough Taylor -didn't want to stand in the middle of the sidewalk while I took a more skilled photo on our way in to work Wed morning. But above is, yes, SHINee, my favorite kpop group promoting Baskin Robins in SK. I plan to somehow steal that poster...

Second note-worthy detail about my Wednesday...Taylor & I caved & got pizza. The one close-up is simply your run-of-the-mill cheese, which was either good due to its quality or its familiarity, & the one in the background was potato, which made me quite happy, though admittedly more from novelty than true brilliant design or recipe.

Thursday 3/5: (& Wed classes)

Ah, teaching! The greatest of callings. Molding young minds, cultivating a life-long desire for knowledge, the sculpture of future generations of mankind...

Or reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear 16 times to a shrieking group of 5 year olds who don't yet fully know how to speak their native Korean tongue, let alone a lick of English.

Let's just say I learned a Korean word in Wednesday & Thursday's kindie (kindergarden) classes very quickly...& it will probably forever be drilled in my mind; ha-gee-mah or HAGEEMAH! Which essentially means "Don't do that!". Also, making an X with your arms seems to communicate 'no' or 'stop' to the kids. I still don't know how to say 'great job listening' or 'wow, good concentration, class' but I don't foresee a need for those phrases in my near future anyways.

After kindie I have elementary school, which is quite nice, adorable, young, but able to sit for 45 minutes without reverting to making animal noises & dinosaur calls. I'll give you a more thorough walk-through of the students once I know them better. I'll also post a picture of my schedule later this week, so when I talk about my classes it will make more sense😀

Finally on Wed & Fri evenings I have middle school, just two classes on Wed & the same two on Fri, but they are quite fun(ny). I forgot how 'cool' (aka sullen/sulky/angsty) middle schoolers are 😭 I'm sure many stories will come from these two classes.

And I know I'm failing at this 'speed-round' thing but you all knew I was long-winded anyways. So Thursday night Taylor & I went out for some drinks in Itaewon & it was quite an adventure! We got to the first bar (JR's) at about 8:00. It was right off the subway & looked very 'western' & indeed it was. We walked in to see their owner (a very tanned, outgoing man) & about 8 professional baseball players (Americans who had just flown in that day to play for the Korean season - a White Sox player, a Dodgers player, ect) drinking & slapping backs & being very loud, which was fun(ny) to watch. Also the owner was incredibly friendly & chatted with Taylor & myself a few times. Our waitor (Korean) also spoke perfect English & recommended other bars for us to try later on. It was refreshing to be somewhere where the conversation around us was in a language we understood!

Next we went to a swanky place where the chairs had big fleece blankets of western flags drapped over them (Tay had Britain, I America) where I found & enjoyed some Jack Honey whiskey which I have been missing terribly (picture below).

After the swanky place (whose name escapes me) we went to Bulldog Seoul (or something like that) which was just your typical underground bar, but with great music & a waitor who told Taylor he was very attractive & rubbed his shoulders more than once. Friendly interactions between males seems a common occurrence here 😆 We then hopped on the very last subway of the night (12am) & juuust made it home, the subway shutting down as soon as we stepped off at our home station.

More to come!