I never thought I would be scared of little old ladies. But Korean little old ladies play on a totally different level to your sweet old nana at home. My concept of old people has been limited to crocheting and Mint Imperials. Not these women! They are capable of retaining the fear of many. Frankly, I am much more scared of the lady who sits outside the GS24 (convenience store), than I am of my principal.

For everyone who doesn't know, an Ajumma loosely refers to an older lady in Korea.

It seems to be a generational thing. Although I would like to clearly say, that I have also come across some lovely ladies. However, as a stereotype some women from this error seem to be pushy, aggressive and just plain angry.
And I have no idea why.
Maybe they've just reached the age where they no longer care what people think of them. I suppose at 85, maybe I'll feel like I deserve to be first in line as well. This being my experience at Homeplus, when an ajumma positively growled at me to get in front. Hey I suppose a good 60 years of paying tax in a country should entitle you to something right?

While shopping in Itaewon a few days ago Tamrin and I witnessed a crowd of people crossing the street. Clearly the three ajummas in the car (like a trio of aggressive power puff girls), had no intention of waiting for everyone to cross the street. The ajumma in the driving seat loudly revved the engine, warning any innocent passersby that she meant business. Suddenly there was a mass panicked scattering of the crowd. A teenage girl gave a little squeal as she moved out of the way and the victorious grannies roared on by. I suppose I should just hope I'm like that when I'm older.
"stuff the crowd.. I want to drive now mwhahaha".

On a lighter note... two of the foreigners Natalie and Marais said they are thinking of going as Ajumma's to the Halloween party. I think its a brilliant idea! I hope they win:

Natalie and Marais- I'm sorry... I couldn't help it!! :)

In general can't complain. Had a relaxing weekend at home! Missing everyone from South Africa. I am incredibly jealous of everyone tanning and swimming in the sea. It was about 5 degrees Celsius early this morning... and this is only the beginning!

This weekend, I went up to the Seoul area for the Ilsan pub crawl.
What a magnificent venture.
It is a crawl along all the bars in Ilsan to raise money for charity. Tamrin and I, being very charitable people.. had no choice but to take part. It was a huge night. We went home at 6am on the first train. I do remember a patch of time where Tamrin, Janet and I thought it would be a good idea to have a nap under one of the bar tables. We even went as far as to make up a drinking song and solemnly promised each other we would add other verses to it next time we were drunk. We pinkie-promised each other before downing a shot of soju to seal the deal. I felt like throwing up most of the bus ride home back to Yeongju on Sunday. Not my proudest moment haha.

On the way to Seoul. Yeongju Bridge.

Out in Ilsan (Tamrin's picture)

The lights of Ilsan!

Drinking with the girls in Ilsan

Teaching this week has been a little challenging.  I have a particularly difficult class on Monday afternoons. In this weeks' lesson there were two boys who managed to rub me up the wrong way over the course of an hour. Eventually I threw one of them out of class, only to have him come back in again and argue with me in Korean. He was hugely disruptive and slammed the door on the way out, all while shouting racist remarks at the trick or treating little girls displayed on the screen.

Dealing with teenagers is hard.
Dealing with teenage boys, who don't speak English is even harder.
One of the most difficult aspects is the fact that, as hard as I try, it is difficult to be authoritative and intimidating when everyone in your class towers above you. Its much easier to shout down to a child, then to shout up at one. My schools policy to give the kids a smack around when they misbehave. I am trying very hard to avoid this because I don't really think it's right. But Jeez, do they make it difficult for me to resist this.
It was one of those days where you go home, have a glass of wine, watch trashy television and hope tomorrow is better. In general though, most of the other classes are really great and easy to deal with.  My classes on Tuesday are wonderful. They continue to interest and intrigue me.

The renegade class!!!

I had another Bizarre-o experience last Wednesday when a boy called me over to his table and handed me his cellphone. On the screen was a picture of myself... shopping at Home plus in the crisps isle two days before. "Teacher you shop Home Plus".
What a creepy 16 year old.
I felt like saying... "Yes teacher does have a life like everyone else"
Whats concerning, is that he felt the need to hide behind another isle and take a picture of me.

On a lighter note a lot of the Yeongju-ians are getting ready for the annual Halloween party. Which should be great. There are serious planning committees and everything. I'm on the decorating one. For someone who doesn't normally care about Halloween at all, I've dived in! All the foreigners in my town get together and throw it every year. It Should be really fun. Once again I am so grateful to be part of a foreigner community that is so active. Hey who knows... maybe we'll add a few verses to our drinking song on the night. I'm torn whether to go as a fairy or team up with Tamrin to be 2 Broke Girls.

Yes or no?

Suggestions?

 I got my bill for electricity for the month yesterday. I had prepared myself for a high bill.. after all I had been running the air conditioning on and off during the hot days. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my bill came to measly R100 ($10 approx). I was so surprised I even double checked it with my co teacher. Previously, at university my roommates and I were putting in about R200 ($20) a week each. And even then, we didn't dare turn on the air conditioning or heating. Utilities are cheap here!

I don't understand it... but hey its cheap.. so no complaints.

Korea seems to have a whole bunch of public holidays clumped together in one month.. So September and October has been comprised of 3 or 4 day weeks. I have gotten quite used to a nice day off in the middle of the week.. adjusting to teaching everyday is going to be quite a challenge. Wednesdays have become nap day.

The high school boys, as usual, always keep me entertained. This week I have been playing a game where they are given a topic in teams and have to guess 5 words that go along with that topic. Most of them scream, shout and publicly slate each other, so that their team will win and get candy. One boy stood at the front of the class trying to write the word 'banana'. He had the word perfectly correct, when a boy from another team stood up and starting manipulating him into believing it was laughably incorrect.

" Double 'n' crazy boy. It bad.. you  lose point. Changie it. I promisie. It will be much better" (He even had me a little convinced at one point)

One of my higher level classes.

Last weekend I went to Daegu with a bunch of girls that I met at orientation. Daegu is the third biggest city after Seoul and Busan and it is huge. It was really nice to catch up with everyone after a month of heading off on our own. Even though we went through the same orientation, we have all ended up in such different and unique situations across the country. Weirdly enough everyone seems relatively happy. Poor Philippa got ribbed constantly throughout the weekend for admitting that she walked dogs for Kensington Palace as her odd job in between university.

"So nice to be in the presence of Kate Middies bestie"
"You want the more expensive drink? Well I do suppose you run in those circles now"
"Pippa, I bet you had a totally different name before the royal wedding"
Everyone hash tagged (#) Princess when mentioning Philippa's name.

Philippa :) hahah

We spent most of the weekend in the downtown area where we stayed. I would recommend Danim backpackers to anyone who wants cheap and convenient accommodation option in Bangwaldong (the downtown area). It was only R200 a night ($20) and is just off the subway line. Everyone was incredibly friendly, even giving us advice on where to watch the SA vs NZ rugby match.  I dealt with Sukie over text message when booking (things are that relaxed). When we arrived, they pointed to a drying wrack and said, "Those are your sheets but they are still drying, grab them when they're done."

http://daeguhostel.com/

Our 6 man dorm.

A picture of all the girls. Sorry Saree- pinched your photo till I get home to my camera.

One of the coolest things I did in Daegu was visit a the Catdog cafe. Basically, it is a cafe where you sit, drink some coffee and play with the animals. It is a trend that I have never heard of outside of Korea.There are two levels, one for the cats and a higher level dedicated to the dogs. The shopkeeper explained, that most Koreans do not have space for pets and so they come to cafes to enjoy a little animal interaction. It may just be a personal preference but I found the cats a little boring. Sitting and watching felines sleep is not quite as thrilling as I'd imagined it might be. But the dogs... now they were cool! In fact the cafe gives you long gypsy style skirts to wear, so the dogs have something to chew on and rip apart.

Here are couple of foodie pics from my long weekend.

Over the public holiday, we had dakgalbi. This is basically a dish cooked in the middle of a table, with chicken, rice and cabbage (its much nicer than it sounds). Lindsay, Faridha and I... starving.

Cooking the chicken in the pot frying pan type thing.

All cooked and ready to eat.

One Friday, Tamrin and I went one town over to the Andong Mask Festival and ended up having a different kind of Samguypsal. It was was basically slow roasted pork belly on a rotisserie. It was different but surprisingly great.

making a mask at the festival.

All in all, a good couple of days. Bring on the weekend!!!