While minding my own business...

So, in light of the fact that I haven't posted anything for the last 7 months, I now have a lot of stories to catch you up on!  And lets face it... nothing exciting happened today.  So here's a short story from March?  April?  Um... I'm not sure.  I know it was after February.  Anyway, here you go!

One day in March (or April), I rode my bike to the gym.  While riding, I had to stop at a traffic light.  (Traffic here is not well organized - I literally almost got run over by a motorcycle one day while rounding a corner ...on the sidewalk!)  Anyway...so I was stopped at an intersection.  There was a Korean woman standing next to me, talking on her cell phone.  Maybe in her late thirties, early to mid forties.  More or less, I have no idea.  It's pretty hard to judge a Korean woman's age for me.  Regardless, she ended her phone conversation and peered over at me.  "Oh, pretty girl!" she exclaimed.  Alright.  So that's a weird thing to say to a stranger.  I said hello.  She asked me where I was going.  Also weird.  I told her I was going to the gym.  She asked where.  Um...what?  I told her the neighborhood.  I don't know why.  It felt rude not to answer her.  But it was weird that she was asking  The light turned green and I started pedaling away.  Saved by the light!  Except not.  She started running alongside me.  "What's your naaammme?!?!?!?!" she shouts.  I looked over at her and told her my name.  Then I pedaled faster.  At that point she finally gave up and stopped running.  Well, she didn't really have a choice because she was quite out of breath from laughing uncontrollably.  I have no idea what provoked that encounter.  No idea why she had a laughing fit at the end.  Just... literally no idea.

On a similarly strange note:  I was walking home from a friend's house the other day and was once again impeded by the terrible traffic.  I was walking on the sidewalk in front of City Hall and had a car swerve directly in front of me and then stop.  I hardly glanced up because I'm pretty used to ridiculous driving like that now.  But as it turns out, the woman driving got out of her car and said, "Excuse me," in perfect English. That got my attention.  Supposedly there was a foreigner festival happening 5 or 10 minutes down the road and she was one of the coordinators for the event.  She invited me to come along and experience some traditional Korean foods and try on some clothing.  I thought it was polite.  Maybe a bit desperate.  Then she said I should get in her car.  Now, I know Korea is supposed to be safe.  And I know she was a woman.  But I distinctly remember being told to never get in a car with a stranger when I was little.  I turned her down, and she looked legitimately crushed.  She gave me her business card, though, and told me if I changed my mind, I should call her and she would come pick me up from wherever I was.  

I must say, I this culture can be very hard for me to read!

Back in the Swing of Things

I'm now 3 days back into the swing of things since Summer Break ended.  Well, 2 or 3 depending on if you count yesterday, when no students showed up because of the Typhoon.

I had my first 2nd grade class today since being back.  We were working on making our first phonics book, Zac the Rat, and one of the little girls finished early.  She asked if she could color on the back - absolutely, if that means you'll happily and quietly sit still, you can do anything you want!  This is what she drew.  I figured it was too cute not to share!  She kept pointing at her drawing and then at me to make sure I understood.  I had been a little unsure at first, given the number of people with yellow hair in my school... or in Korea in general.   

Straight chaos!

I found this gem on Facebook.

Also, I figured I should update you on the Typhoon Bolaven damage now that the storm has come and gone.  These pictures are not my own, both borrowed from foreign friends who are also teaching in the area.  They capture the essence of the storm perfectly.  I took a brief video of the view out my window while at work, but I'm still working on getting it uploaded to my blog.

My coteacher asked me today if I stayed home last night because of the storm.  Um... no. It was a little windy, but that didn't stop me from going out for pizza.  Both her and the students were quite concerned, "But teacher, in Korea, some trees fell down!"  Right.  And that was more or less the extent of, "one of the worst typhoons to ever hit the Korean peninsula." [Quoted from The Korea Herald.]  I did read that there were a few causalities and structural damage further south in the country where the storm hit the strongest -down near Jeju, the island just off the southern tip of the peninsula.  And that's certainly tragic.  But mind you, I'm nowhere near that.  Something tells me they wouldn't know what to do with themselves during one of the more intense WI thunderstorms.

Typhoon Bolaven

So, I'm writing this post as I sit at my desk at work.  No, Dad, I'm not being a slacker.  I'm just trying to make the best use of my time while I sit here in an empty classroom. 

Gee, Jenny.  Why are you sitting in an empty classroom?

Well, you see, the students didn't come to school today.

That's nice.  Why?

Well, there's a hurricane, you see.

Then why are you at school?

Well, I don't know.  I'm just supposed to be here.

But you said you were in an empty

classroom.  Where's your coteacher?

She's at home.

Wait... what?

She left early so she could drive home before the brunt of it hit this area.  Technically you have to use vacation time for that (some vacation!).  But you see, having just come back from my two week summer vacation, I'm fresh out of vacation time.  So here I sit, in a school that's empty except for about five other teachers and the vice principal during what is supposedly the worst typhoon to hit Korea in almost a decade.

   

Speaking of my vice principal, he just came on the PA system and made an announcement.  In Korean.  Of course, I have no idea what he said.  Just going to hope that it wasn't anything too urgent, and that if it was, one of the remaining teachers in the school would let in on the secret. 

All that being said, as I look out my window, my view is...well...boring.  The windows have been rattling just a little.  But otherwise it's just an overcast, windy day.  With a sprinkling of rain here and there.  I must say, I'm a bit disappointed. 

Looking out the window at my apartment, however is a different story!  Actually, you can't look out my window. 

Once again... Why?

I covered my entire window in newspaper.

And you did this because?

It was suggested by a lot of Koreans to help protect my apartment.

Newspapers are going to protect your apartment? 

Right.  I know it sounds crazy.  I think the plywood boards put up by people in Florida every hurricane season makes a bit more sense.  But nonetheless, people here swear by it.  A few of them say that taping newspaper to your window, and then spraying them with water, makes the windows super strong.

...And you believe this?

Most definitely not.  But I'm not going to rule out what some of the other Koreans hypothesized.  They said the benefit is that if your window breaks, the wet newspaper helps prevent the glass from shattering everywhere.  I suppose their other suggestion, putting duct tape X's or boxes across my windows would have been easier.  But I came across newspaper first. 

Ok, well, I suppose, 'Better safe than sorry!'

Yeah, I felt pretty good about when I finally finished the job around midnight last night.  But then about five minutes later I realized the water would dry up quickly.  Huh.  I suppose this sort of window treatment only works if you are home to maintain it and continue spraying water on it.  (By the way, spraying water proved quite difficult, given that I don't have a spray bottle.  I do, however, have an iron that has a misting function.  Excellent, except that more water leaks out the bottom than sprays through the nozzle part.  I ended up just getting a rag and wiping down all the places I could reach.  Needless to say, the top of my wall of windows was a bit neglected.  Still, I figured getting what I could reach was better than nothing.)



My apartment window before
I attacked it with newspaper.

After.  Obviously.

  

The duct tape X window treatment.
Would have been a lot less work.  But hey, you live and you learn!

A Few Quick Links About the Storm

http://m.koreaherald.com/view.htm?20120827000205

I don't understand the way they stated the wind speeds, but I did get a kick out of this quote: "[the strong winds] can move not just people but big rocks!"

http://www.france24.com/en/20120828-risky-rescue-bid-fishermen-typhoon-hits-skorea 

Unfortunatley for the people of North Korea, it looks like

they will be seeing a bit more typhoon action than us in the South.