Pegoopah and other Korean lessons

I kind of forgot Valentine’s Day this year. I didn’t forget it was happening, but I pretty much neglected it and learned to ski instead. Best Valentine’s Day ever!
My boss planned a ski trip for our Hagwon and the best part was teachers got to go cost free! It kind of made up for all the times he’s been a little douchey towards us but does not give him a free pass to be douchey in the future. We stayed at the Phoenix resort and got ski lessons from the father of one of our students. He also happens to be the husband of our main secretary. Their children are beautiful (probably because their mother is gorgeous)! I really liked him but the issue came when he didn’t speak English but was teaching me to ski. Good thing I learn well by example. The language barrier wasn’t really a problem though because I picked up pretty quick on his Korean prompts and learned to ski with no injuries! He also threw in some key english words he learned through me repeating over and over what I THOUGHT he wanted to say. So you have me on a hill muttering, “Arapro, Arapro” and him saying, “Up, Down, Up, Down” The first being a reminder to pick my poles up and not scrunch my arms close to my body and the second being his reminder how to turn properly but raising my hips up then down. It was really cool when I made it down the hill twice on my own! Small victory but it definitely made me wanna go back! There was a tiny mishap though, as one would expect to hear of when someone like me goes skiing.
We got there on Saturday and three sessions to ski. The first session was an introductory lesson for the beginner skiiers. After that session, we had dinner and then were supposed to meet up to get another lesson except our instructor failed to inform us where we would be meeting. We waited about half an hour where we had our first lesson and didn’t see him. So we practiced a bit more before I started feeling super antsy about getting on a real hill. I should have been able to reason it out in my head and think “You’ve only been skiing for about 2 hours and have been going down a hill with almost no gradient whatsoever…maybe going down a real hill is a bad idea…” But instead my inner dialogue went something like this, “You only live once! You’re in effing KOREA! You should at least TRY a real hill! It can’t be that bad, Claire is LEARNING to snowboard on this hill. Just do it.” So I convince my co worker to come with (she even skiied worse than me) and we got on the lift to what we thought was the beginner hill. We get off the lift look down the hill and quickly realize in no reality is this the beginner hill. My co worker asks the lift operator where the beginner’s hill is and he says we are most definitely on the wrong hill. I try to convince her to go down anyways but she is very much against it since she cried on the lift from being so scared…my persuasion skills were misused in the case of convincing her to get on the lift. I finally persuade her to try and get down the hill and I take off to go down myself. I couldn’t really control my speed too well since I had just learned and shouldn’t have been on an intermediate hill anyways, so after sliding somewhat uncontrollably down the hill, I accidentally run into a snowboarder as I’m trying to stop and he acts like it was HIS fault I ran into him. I realized then that I could definitely get hurt on this hill. I was about a 1/3 of the way down and was looking at the rest of the hill noticing how steep it seemed and realizing how unable I was of stopping. In short, I was freaking out. I don’t remember being that scared since the night before I moved to Korea. I honestly had no idea what to do and about 3 times almost had myself convinced I could handle the rest of the way down, but since I knew that I could barely handle the first 1/3 I couldn’t fool myself into the last part. It was awful. At that point, I hated skiing. As badly as I wanted to cry I knew that wouldn’t help my situation and finally figured out a way to get down the hill via a closed in lift (since at this point one of skis wouldn’t go back on my foot, no idea how that happened) through the help of a ski pro. I didn’t know how to say anything in Korean except “help” so they showed me where the lift was. I wanted to hug them. The next day I got a proper lesson from my instructor and really learned to ski. Thus, at the end of the day, skiing had redeemed itself and I did not hate it but LOVED it.
I also met two Russian dudes in the mart on the resort and they invited me to celebrate some victory with them. I couldn’t celebrate with them, but I DID practice my Russian with them. It was great. I forgot how much I enjoy Russian people and their wonderful accents and beautiful language. I realized my Russian has digressed considerably and my Korean has improved since I was answering in Korean without thinking. It was cool and disappointing at the same time.
Before the ski weekend, I got a new co worker! We’ll call her C. She is GREAT. We seem to have a lot in common and we both had tons of fun with our co teachers this weekend, so I’m very glad she is here! There are times like this weekend that I am reminded how much God is looking after me. I don’t need reminders to tell me how awesome God is, but this weekend was a reminder that He is all powerful and loving. I really, really appreciate reminders like that. I know the stories I told aren’t really proof of this reminder but nonetheless, the reminders were present. And…my body aches.

I love my mom and other things that comprise my life.

It is officially my mom’s birthday in Korea. Yay! Happy Birthday mom….there’s a letter on its way so be looking out! February is full of celebrating birthdays of those I love. There were four people born in February that I cannot imagine my life without, February is an important month it seems. Out of these four though, my mother is the most important. The woman that taught me I was the one who put the spice in life since she herself is a spicy woman, to not take the bullshit of life, what sacrifice for love is, and to stay kind. I am glad my mother was born. J
This past weekend was a good one: I moved into the apartment of my former co-worker which is 5 times better than my old apartment, I went to the same church for the second time and LOVED it, and I started the process of compiling a list of grad schools I am interested in, and I got my hair cut…among other things.
The haircut. A student went with me so I wouldn’t feel like they were on a mission to butcher my hair since I happen to know me sporting an Asian style would be a mess. I brought pictures and it was FANTASTIC. I got cake, juice, a shampoo/condition, shoulder/head massage, a paraffin dip/hand massage, blow dry, hair cut, and Korean lesson for 10,000 won!! Could not believe it. And the cut was a good one! I am a big fan of Korean salons. If I had a camera I would post pictures of my cut, but no camera so no pics.
Grad schools. I am definitely intimidated and have realized for now I need to study my ASS off for this GRE and pray my ASS off for wisdom on what to do next. Perhaps it’s not even the right time for me to be pursuing grad school but if that is the case I need to get an inclination of it soon. Timing is important.
Church. It’s a small church comprised of Koreans and native English speakers. Turns out to be a great mix for me to practice my Korean and still have people to form bonds with that speak English. I really love their service format because it’s so small, this enables it to be closer to a Bible study rather than a large service/lecture. I. Love. It.
Moving. It was a bit irritating moving since I JUST got the feeling of settled not one week before I was informed I would be moving. Thankfully, I upgraded so my irritation quickly turned to glee when I saw/felt my better floors, HOT WATER STREAMING FROM MY SHOWER HEAD, a shower head with purifying charcoal beads (Dear God, YES!), better kitchen table, microwave, way better stovetop, large refrigerator, more cupboards, a wine glass my co-worker left, better desk, great view since I’m 12 floors up, and better lighting (except for my burnt out kitchen light). I am happy. EXCEPT for the fact that my boss told me I was moving again in 3 or 4 months. I’m hoping time will be on my side when I try to convince him it would be easier to let me stay put until my contract is up. Moving is just irritating.
ANNNND I just found out a new American co worker will be here….TOMORROW. I love the advance notice of these things. I did know someone was coming but I didn’t know when. I’m excited, though! Now I can be a semi-veteran and show her things. It should be a good time, I haven’t really met anyone here yet that I don’t get along with, so let’s hope she’s not the first.