Fighting

Ok since last week's blog was all mushy about boys; I figured I'd change it up this week and talk about fighting. Hahaha. So last Sunday, my instructor was hosting a kickboxing tournament at another gym. We met at our home gym first thing in the morning and took a bus to the other gym. I was one of two foreigners that attended the tournament. The other foreigner was also from our gym; her name is Douchi. She is awesome. I really got to know her at the matches. It was pretty sweet. We spent all day watching matches. They were really good matches. The guys from our gym did really well! The high school boys did alright; one guy won his first match and lost his second match, another tied in his match, and the other lost his match. Our adult heavy-weight fighter lost his match; it was his second time up against this fighter and the fighter is really good. He was really upset about it. All of our other adult fighters won their matches. Only two of them had to fight all three rounds. The first adult fighter went all three rounds and won. The second and third adult fighters' opponents threw in the white flag before the first round was over. The last adult fighter fought in a special match. He fought without headgear, and he was awesome! It was a really good match.

After the tournament, we all went out to eat. The guys were hilarious! They kept teaching me Korean phrases. It was really cool because the ones that normally don't talk to me tried to talk to me. A lot of them don't like to speak in English in front of other Koreans or they don't like talking to foreigners because they are afraid their English is bad. I hate it when they are afraid to talk to me. I don't want them to think that I am going to make fun of them. Most of the time their English is really good. One of the Korean girls, her name is Son, at the gym speaks English very well, but she was so afraid to talk to me. I had to encourage her to speak in English to me. But we have started talking a lot at the gym, and she is so sweet! She is also extremely strong!!!! She can kick my butt! Hahaha. There's also a Korean guy at the gym that speaks in English very well too, and he always talks to me. His English isn't as good as Son's even though his mother is a middle school English teacher. I don't like to talk to him as much as Son because he is super mean! He says he is just kidding, but he always talks about the same thing so I'm thinking he's not. Anyways, he rides the same bus as I do so if we leave at the same time he likes to talk. Luckily, two other guys from the gym ride the same bus too. I like the other guys, but the other day he started being mean right in front of the other guys. It made me so mad; I moved to stand by the door awhile before my stop. I think he might like me, and so he's trying to pull a jerk move by breaking my confidence. He's asked me a couple of times if I have a boyfriend, and he's told me that he doesn't have a girlfriend. Guys are so weird sometimes! Grrr. Anyways, this post is not about boys right? Hahaha, but it was cool riding the bus with the other guys because I got to talk to them a bit and learn more about them. One of them is one of the guys that doesn't want to speak in English to me because I'm a foreigner which sucks because he likes to use the jerk to interpret for him. I hate that he won't speak to me in English because we are about the same age, and he is one of the guys that is really good with the little boy at the gym. So I would like to hang out with him more, but the language barrier is definitely a problem. The other guy is awesome. He is a big guy, but his skin is so soft...so I call him Pandy like a Panda Bear. He speaks to me in English when no one else is there to interpret for him...his English is good from what little he's used anyways.

Friday at school, we had birthday parties for the kids whose birthday is in May. The teachers also got a lot of presents because Teacher's Day was on Saturday and since we didn't have school the kids gave us presents on Friday. I got a lot of flowers, candy, and I even got some lotion and bath gel. It was definitely really nice!

Saturday, the gym had testing for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I went to watch because I haven't been feeling well lately and I didn't think that I would do well. It was intense!!!! They had to spar over and over with several different guys. One of the guys didn't pass his test and didn't get his stripe on his belt. He was upset the rest of the day. We went out to eat again afterward, and he still wasn't happy. It was nice eating with all the guys again. After dinner, I rode the bus home with Pandy and another guy. They were nice without the jerk there. We actually had a good conversation.

Today, Sunday, I got up early to go to Korean tutoring. It was ok. It was difficult because they taught me the Korean alphabet last time, and they expected me to be able to read stuff this time. I told them that it was going to take me some time because I have to hear the pronunciation while looking at the letter. It's also hard because I don't have a lot of time to study. I have a lot of time to practice phrases because I'm in Korea where everyone speaks Korean so I get speaking practice in. Hopefully, they understood and weren't too mad at me. After that, I went shopping. I wanted some shoes, and I had to get my Dad a Father's Day present to ship home. I have to ship home my Mom and sister's birthday presents and my Dad's Father's Day present this week in order for them to get there in time. I got my mom and sister some accessories because they are easier to ship and all girls love accessories. Dad's present was way harder to find. I went to a shop and picked up some chopsticks, a sign that says office in Korean, and some pencils with Korean writing on them. Then, I went to twenty different shops looking for a ball cap written in Korean. It is so hard to find those because Koreans mostly wear MLB caps or caps written in English. I finally found one and got it. And now, I'm doing laundry and writing this so I think we're up to date.

Boys

WARNING: This post is me being all gushy about boys...so read at the risk of your sanity...hahaha...jk. But seriously, this week has been about boys. So that's what I am going to have to write about.

Perhaps, you might remember that a few weeks after my arrival I met a couple of random guys. Well, I have been keeping in touch with one of the guys. He just so happens to own a bar/restaurant by my house. On Sunday, he invited me to meet him at his bar and hang out with him. So, of course I did. Hahaha. He is the sweetest guy ever, and he makes a pretty good pizza. Yeah, he cooks. He is super cute too. Korean girls call him a Korean handsome boy; whatever that is supposed to mean. Hahaha. Anyways, so we had made plans to hang out on my day off on Wednesday, but his sister came into town and he had to cancel. In America, it wouldn't concern me that he was hanging out with his sister, but in Korea, it's different. When a guy says he is hanging out with his sister, it could mean he's hanging out with an ex-girlfriend or a girl that's a friend that he wants to be his girlfriend. So, I started thinking maybe we weren't on the same page about what this relationship was all about. In all actuality, I have no idea how to date a Korean guy. I mean there's a bit of a language barrier as well as a cultural barrier. It's like I'm back in middle school again trying to figure out if a guy likes me or not, and if I should hold his hand. It is not a fun feeling, but this guy is really sweet. So here's my plan, I am just going to treat this relationship as I would back in America. Until we have that somewhat awkward conversation about the definition of our relationship, I am going to treat him like a friend. I will continue to hang out with other people including guys. If you have any better ideas, please tell me because I am seriously way out in left field here. Although, my relationships in America haven't worked out very well, so maybe I should do it differently over here? I'm so confused on what to do here. Hahaha.

Anyways, so we were supposed to hang out on Wednesday, but that didn't happen (I went to get a massage instead). He told me that we would hang out today (Saturday) instead. So we went to lunch and talked a bit. He told me that his sister had come to visit his mom who is in the hospital here in town. So that eased my mind a bit about him being a player. But we had a good conversation. I learned a bit about his family and his ambitions. He is a really good guy. I am really looking forward to hanging out with him again.

In other boy news, there are a couple of guys at the gym that I think are interested in me as well. Or at least they are interested in whether or not I have a boyfriend so I'm thinking that means they are interested? Yes/no??? Anyways, they are all pretty cute, but I'm a sucker for guys with tight abs so...yeah, I'm not picky about looks otherwise. As long as they have a sense of humor and are courteous to other people...I'm good. Hahaha. They all try to speak in English to me which is pretty sweet. There's one guy in particular that cracks me up because he gets frustrated when I speak too quickly or throw in any colloquial words. Most of the time, I do those things just to tease him. Last night, though, he was so cute because there was a little boy that visited the gym because he wants to learn fighting. The kid couldn't be more than 8 years old. He was so tiny and very cute. But this guy took such good care of the kid, he showed him these different techniques and treated him like he was his little brother. It was so adorable! But yeah, I guess that's enough about guys for now. I'm sure that there will be more to come.

There is nothing much else planned for this weekend; except for a kickboxing tournament at the gym tomorrow. It's at the same time that I usually go to Korean tutoring, but the last few times I went to tutoring it hasn't been that great so I'm thinking I'm going to skip it this week. I hope they don't get frustrated with me and think I'm not committed to it; if they do, I guess I will be on my own with my Korean studies. It won't be too terrible because I am making a lot of Korean friends that can help me with my learning. In all honesty, I learn more from my friends than I do from the tutoring. Anyways, I guess that's it for now...later!

Miss Me?

Ok, so I know I missed my post last week. Sorry! My internet was not working. So last week, nothing much happened. I got a haircut. It looks really good, and it was super cheap. I have never paid so little for a haircut. It works out to be about $12 in America. Crazy right? It's like I went to some fancy haircutting place and paid the same price I would have at SuperCuts or whatever the cheap-o hair salon is called. As for last weekend, I hung out with two other foreigners from the gym. They were really great guys. We went out to eat after the gym. Then, we hung out the apartment. One of the guys bought a guitar over here, and so we just sang songs and talked. I met them at the gym again on Saturday, and they helped me with my Jiu Jitzu which was super sweet of them because the other guys laugh at me. Hahaha. It was so much fun! I can't wait to hang out with them again. I didn't hang out with them this weekend because I skipped the gym on Friday and Saturday. Yeah, I know; I'm slacking. So what did I do this weekend if I didn't go to the gym? Absolutely nothing!!!! Hahaha. Friday night, I watched some movies and gave myself a facial and pedicure. I know girlie stuff right? Does it help to know the movie I watched was Transformers? On Saturday, I cleaned my apartment and walked around the city a bit. Today, I walked down to the river and laid out! It was such a beautiful day. I could not waste it. I took my Korean study books with me and studied. I am hoping to pick up the language soon because I suck! I can't even tell someone where I live without them thinking I live in poop. Seriously. I say poop instead of neighborhood. I can't figure out which is which. But I absolutely love where I live. The river is right outside my neighborhood. It's maybe a five minute walk from my apartment. It's so nice because there is a lot of open fields where you can just lay out or even play some ball. There is also a track where you can run by the river. Amazing!!!! I love it! I am hoping that this nice weather sticks because it is gorgeous outside!!!!!!!

The gym and randomness

I really love this city!!!! It is a big city with a small town feel. I think it's amazing that I go out and random people come up and talk to me. They are so curious about what I think about the city and the food. Today, I had a random lady walk up to me shake my hand and say, "Thank you" in English. It was weird because I couldn't figure out what she was thanking me for. Maybe she was just trying to say, "hello" and couldn't remember which one it was. It was sweet.

I really love the gym that I have been going to. Its called Daejeon MMA if you live in the city and you want to check it out. Its near Hannam University. The people are so fun! They crack me up. There is a group of high schoolers that like to hang around me which is cool. They are super curious about me and my lifestyle. They even talk about themselves. One is hilarious! He was talking about being one of Angelina Jolie's adopted kids. Then, he started in on Tiger Woods. He said that his uncle's friend was one of Tiger's mistresses. I was dying...everyone thought I was crazy because they had no idea what this kid was talking about. The people aren't the only reason I go to this gym though. I heard about the gym from a guy that does some serious MMA up in Seoul, and he said that it was a good gym. Several of the top competitors in Seoul trained under this instructor. The instructor is really good and very knowledgeable about BJJ. He does one class everyday at 7PM, and the rest of the time its open gym for kickboxing, weight lifting, jump rope, and whatever. He walks around and corrects your form. I really like it because the guys at the gym are really friendly and will help me out with my form too. Some of them speak English so they help explain what the instructor is trying to tell me. The instructor speaks a little English, but he doesn't like to use it. He tries for my benefit, but most of the time one of the guys will translate it for me.

I am seriously trying to learn Korean because I think it will be beneficial for me. I went to Korean tutoring this morning. I am hoping to be able to continue attending. I have also been studying my Korean-English dictionary and my Korean studies book. It's kind of hard because the sounds are so different from English, and the letters are different from English. It's funny because when I don't understand what people are saying, I use their facial expressions to make up what they are saying. It's never what they are actually saying, but it keeps me entertained...hahaha. Well, not much more to say so...Cheers for now!

Massage=Happy Melanie

Well, all in all my week was pretty good. On Monday, I decided to join a MMA gym across town. I have to take two buses to get there, but the gym is nice...the instructor is one of the best not too mention he's hilarious!!!! And I love the other members there. I got a three month membership for 180,000 won. So, if I still enjoy it after that I may keep it up.

The rest of the week went by so quickly because I went to the gym at night after school. It was relatively uneventful until Friday. At school on Friday, I had a girl pee in her pants. She had asked me twice to go to the bathroom and both times I said no. The first time she asked we had just come back from the bathroom, and I had told them to go to the bathroom and get water. The second time, we were getting ready to leave and before they leave they have to set their table for lunch; so I told her she had to set her table first and that's when she peed on the floor. I told my Korean partner about what had happened and she just laughed. She wasn't too worried about it, but later the mom called and was mad. So my Korean partner told the mom it wouldn't ever happen again. My Korean partner still thought it was funny and didn't care, but she told me that every time the little girl asks to go to the bathroom I have to let her go even if we have just come back from the bathroom. These parents baby their kids too much!!!

On Saturday, I went to the gym again and worked out for a bit. I talked to one of the guys there. He was really nice; he doesn't speak English very well but he wants to learn. I think he wants to hang out. He asked me how old I was and I found out he was younger than me. In my experience, in Korea after the guy finds out you are older he says we can be friends which I think means that he doesn't want to try to date me because I'm older. Which is fine with me because in all honesty I am not in Korea to find a boyfriend. I would prefer to just make friends. I took the bus home from the gym, and a lady from Japan started talking to me. She has just moved to Korea as well. She asked if we could hang out sometime, and I said sure. I feel badly because I think she wanted to hang out that afternoon, but I didn't realize that at the time. I told her that I had to change buses in order to get home, but we did exchange numbers. I messaged her today to see if she wanted to meet sometime for coffee. I think we are going to meet on Saturday. Anyways after I changed buses, I decided to take the bus to the subway and take the subway home. On the subway, I noticed that one of the stops was Yuseong Spa. I thought maybe the spa would have a masseuse or something. So I figured maybe I'd get a massage. So I got off at the spa stop. I didn't see the spa, but I did see a Thai Massage Parlor. So I decided to check that out. It was 70,000 won for an hour and a half massage which is a really good price since you can't get that kind of price in America for a 45 minute massage. So I decided to get the massage. It was really good! They even gave me a mini facial at the beginning, and they served me some tea at the beginning and end of the massage. I felt really relaxed and so much better afterwards. As I walked out, I saw that there was another Thai Massage parlor right by the subway exit so I might try that one next time. I may make this a regular monthly thing to unwind and de-stress. After the massage, I was so sleepy! I just went home and went to bed at like 7:30. I slept in late too!

I wanted to get up early enough to go to the Korean lesson at the church at 9:30 but I didn't wake up in time...I almost didn't make it to the service. I was running late, but I met a Korean girl outside that wanted to go to the English service but couldn't remember where it was so I took her to the service. Her name was Cherry. A lot of Koreans go to the English service to improve their English. I decided to stay for Sunday School this time. It was interesting. The pastor led Sunday School as well. He talked about the background information on the passages before we read them. I really enjoy that. He does that a bit in his sermons as well. It really helps you understand where the people are coming from when they are righting the passages. Between church service and Sunday School, there is about a thirty minute time frame to hang around and talk with each other. A lot of people came up and talked to me. There were a couple of young Korean college guys that came up and talked to me for a bit. They wanted to know how old I was. After they found out that I was 25, they asked if I was married. When I told them I wasn't, they asked me why not. I think it is uncommon in Korea for a girl my age to not be married unless there is something wrong with her. They said that I was too pretty to be single. It was funny. They were too sweet for saying that. It really made my day.

After Sunday School, I walked home and ate. Then I decided to go to the Wholesale Market in Nouen. I saw it on the subway stop list. So I took the subway to the market; it was right outside the subway exit. I walked through and they had a ton of fresh fruits and vegetables and other fresh foods. I picked up some bananas and strawberries. I want to go back and get some other fruits and veggies too. All in all this week was pretty good. I think I am definitely starting to find my place in this city!

Field Trip

So, this week was pretty laid back. On Wednesday, we talked to the kids about Easter. We let them decorate some eggs, and I let the kids do a semi-Easter egg hunt with paper eggs cut in half. They had to find the eggs' match. It was fun! Then on Friday, we went on a field trip to a forest museum about 40 minutes from the school. I have no idea what it was called because everything was in Korean! I had no idea what the tour guide was telling the kids so I just looked around and took pictures. I ended up with 250 pictures in about a two hour time frame. Hahaha. The kids were super cute! They loved it!








Friday night, we went to this bar called Watermelon Sugar. It was pretty sweet mostly because there was only a few foreigners...it was all Koreans. It was definitely a good change because I feel like all the bars we go to are foreigners, and so we don't meet a whole lot of Koreans. I don't want to spend a year in the country and not make any Korean friends.

The rest of the weekend was kind of chill because everyone ran out of money. We get paid this week so it will be more exciting next weekend! I can't wait!!!!

Santa Claus in March

So I mentioned that I have been sick, right? I have been going to the pharmacy every two days to get medication because they only give you two days worth of medicine at a time. It's interesting because I have been to about ten different pharmacies, and I have not received the same medication twice. Finally, the assistant director suggested that I go to the doctor, and she told me that she would go with me. So I broke down and went to the doctor. He confirmed what I had assumed all along that it was just a cold. He prescribed me some medication and gave me an injection. I did not have an appointment; I just walked right in. I was in and out of the doc's office and the pharmacy in less than 30 minutes total. You cannot even get out of the waiting room in that length of time with an appointment in the US. My only complaint about the doc's office was the table was too short, and I had to bend my knees when I got my shot.

Since I have arrived, a lot of the locals stop and want to talk to me for a bit which is super cool because I love hearing what they have to say. It's mostly the women or old men. However, this week two guys around my age have stopped me and asked me some questions. One guy is a manager of a bar near my neighborhood (or dong). I gave him my e-mail, and he e-mailed me right away. I think he wants to work on his English, but he told me that if I needed help with anything to give him a call. The second guy is the assistant master at a tae kwon do gym in my dong. He invited me to join his gym. My friends, Mellissa and Janet, and I went to check it out. However, it was mostly kiddie classes and not exactly the type of gym we were looking for. Mellissa and I also checked out this gym that offered Brazilian Jiu Jitzu classes pretty cheap. We had told one of the guys that we would come and check it out, but apparently he did not pass along the message and the other guys were not expecting a couple of girls to watch their workout. Korean men are very conservative around women, but very open around other guys. A couple of them were practicing in their boxer briefs, and the others were practicing without their shirts on. A couple of guys walked in out of the glass doors that we were standing by, and also didn't think it was important to mention that a couple of girls were watching them practice. Finally, we stopped one of the guys and asked if we could watch. When he told the other guys that we were there to watch, they all scrambled for their pants and shirts. One of the guys was so embarrassed because we saw him in his boxers, but he recovered nicely. The BJJ gym was nice, and it was the least expensive of all the gyms we visited. We also checked out this Mixed Martial Arts gym which was mostly freestyle with no class times. I don't think Mellissa liked it very much, but it's not very crowded so its a lot like having your own personal trainer. There are a few other gyms in the area that we have learned about that we are planning to check out before we make a decision. Hopefully, we can find one that all three of us like.

After checking out the MMA and Tae Kwon Do gyms, we decided to go out to a bar with a couple of guys the girls knew. The bar is called Santa Claus. We had so much fun. It was not at all crowded, and it was mostly foreigners. We played a few games and talked and joked around. It was so much fun, and the guys were HILARIOUS!!!! I was really hesitant about going out when I had to work the next morning since I have been sick, but it was totally worth it. Seriously, I love hanging out with the other foreigners here. We all have this instantaneous bond. It's pretty sweet! I can't wait to see what this weekend has to offer!!!