Nice Things for Me

You might remember this place? The little coffeeshop Coffeenie by my apartment that I like to go to on Saturday mornings for a vanilla latte and a waffle! When I first arrived, somewhere in the first week, the coffeeguy took a polaroid of me and the pup-in-a-bag. I didn't think they actually put it up until last Saturday when I saw me!!!

Photos on the wall...

A group of some of the photos...

Me and mags-in-a-bag!

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The first Saturday after MY FIRST PAYDAY(!) I went with a couple of girls from work to get a pedicure... lovely, lovely pedicure! Me with my takes-forever-to-choose problem and the 200 colours of nail polish... lol... actually, I picked my colur off the top of my head this time, and I loved it!

         

     Mariko in the chair, Jill on the bed and getting her nails done above...

We (the 4 of us girls at work) have decided that it is going to be a payday tradition, and a pedicure will follow paydays from here on in - LOVE IT!!

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Today I went for a massage. The women at the clinic didn't speak much English, but I made the appointment on Monday so I sucked up the courage and went in after work today. 3 words: OH. MY. GOD!

I went in and it turned out that the women in the clinic were all from China (including the owner), not from Korea (expats themselves, they don't know any English!). They (all 3 of them!) escorted me to the change room and after skeptically chatting and arguing while holding up 3 different pairs of the same sized shorts in front of me, handed me a set of clothes to change into. Have to say I was kind of happy about the clothes, as the one thing I don't much enjoy about massages at home is being naked and hiding under a towel - it just feels so weird! 

So here's me in my schnazzy getup... better than the buttercream yellow from the hospital in Seoul, wouldn't you say?!  :) In the massage room there was a heat pad on the table, and a warm fuzzy blanket to lay under. The masseus spoke great Korean, so we muddled through a short conversation. My massage was a 'Sports Massage' (I didn't want any of that aromatherapy relaxation crap, I wanted my shoulders and hip fixed!), and by the time it was done I felt like I'd been through a workout!

My arms, back, shoulders, head, neck, and legs were pushed, pulled, pinched, poked, slapped, kneaded and elbowded seven-ways-to-Sunday. At one point I thought she might be trying to snap my toes right off my feet, but then she went onto something new. She did this awful chicken-wing thing to release a knot in one of my armpits, and something equally terrible to get a knot out of my chest. Though I couldn't see to be sure, I'm thinking that at some point she may actually have been breakdancing on my back while spinning on her elbows!! Toward the end she had me sit up with my legs out straight in front of me and she jumped up on the table behind me... pulled my arms back, put her feet on my lower back, pushed on my back and pulled on my arms - I thought I was gonna POP!!  I'm laughing now as I picture how ridiculous it must have all looked, lol... what an incredible massage!

When the hour ended I could have sworn I'd been in there closer to 90 minutes, but it was just under and hour, and it was freakin' fantastic. I loved it, and I actually think it's the best sports massage I have ever had... I made another appointment for next week! I'm going to go once a week for the first month and then every other week, woohoo!! I always said I'd like to do something like this - and now I am!

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2 other things... today when I was leaving the massage clinic I saw a sign for a reflexology clinic on the 3rd floor... that's where they work on your body through different points in your feet? I've always wanted to try that, so now it's on the list... there's a good chance that after 32kms on the bike tour that are coming up this weekend I'm gonna need all kinds of therapy!!

Oh, and last but not least... I'm trying a month at the gym in our building to see if I actually go... so far so good, running in the morning when it's ick outside... cross your fingers for me, will ya??!

1st Day at School

So the first day of school... let me just say first of all that whoever thought of "Working Until 7pm" days being on  Monday and Fridays should be flogged! That aside, the school is a lot of fun. I got to the school around 9 to meet the teachers, and I spent the whole day following another teacher around. I thought it was going to be quite terrible honestly, at the very least boring, but I had a good time. It feels so good to be back in a school with kids, I was even excited when I first woke up in the morning. Of course for my mom I took a "first day of school" picture before I left the house, the outfit is a little different and I'm without a lunchbox, but I thought she'd appreciate the comparison, hahaha!

So a walkthrough of my day... I was up at 7 since Mags and I have to go for a morning walk before I get ready for work. We went down to the river for the first time, which was really fantastic. I let her off leash for the first time since arriving and she ran around like a crazy wahoo, rubbing in the grass with her tongue lolling out of her head. After she'd ran and ran and ran we walked up the path a little more, hopefully I'll repost this later with some photos added so you can see. I've noticed that when I walk "with purpose" as Ceasar says, Mags follows perfectly... when I find her way up ahead of me I know that I've started to dawdle and lolligag, it's very funny. So we walked for about 45 minutes total. My calves and quads are telling me that Mags has done more walking since our arrival than she has in her whole little life, and I can't remember the last time I walked as much as I do here! Good way to get some exercise really, happy for my MP3 player too since it makes walking so much more pleasant! So after our walk I dropped her off at home and went to the soup restaurant for breakfast. Quick bowl of soup, a stop next door at Coffeenie  for a Cafe Mocha and it was off to school.

The kids here are in their last week of school, and I start actually teaching next week with a new group of kids. We don't know for sure who is teaching what class, but of course you'll know when I know! Time flew by from class to class and it's obvious how much the kids have learned. There isn't a whole lot of preparation required for each lesson, and from what I've seen so far I even like the books, so that's a good start! In the mornings I'll be teaching a kindergarten class... 10 kids of my very own to thrill and excite with the english language, haha.... There is a lunch break from 12:30-1:10 (though I use half of that time having lunch with the kids, the boss' mother in law cooks a Korean lunch for everyone, it was delicious!!) and then class goes until 1:45pm. After that the kindergarten kids go home on the bus, and we have a break until 2:50pm when the elementary kids come. During the break I went home and got Mags, took her to the nearby public square and played fetch for half an hour - she was very happy about it, and the people in the park really liked watching her, it was very cute. In the afternoon there are 2 groups of elementary kids that we see for 2 hours each on Mondays and Fridays (the rest of the week there's just one group and we're done at 5pm). Time flies in those blocks too, and the classes seem really fun, I am actually looking forward to starting with my own kids next week!!

So that was the first day at school. The other teachers I'm working with are pretty great, friendly and helpful, and the school feels like it's going to be a good place to work. I'll be happy to finish at 5pm today so I can have some time to do what I want at home - and the itnernet arrives this afternoon!! I'll fill you in on a few more of the details (and hopefully show you some pictures) after work this afternoon... if you're back at home you'll be in bed before I get to it, but look for it in the morning!! My head is just exploding with things I want to share, and the teacher's room is very busy and chatty so I'm going to sign off my disordered brain for now... thanks for comin' by, see you again soon!


S.