March 2013
4 posts
"My body is not delicious today"
Novie, on why you can’t translate phrases directly from one language to another.
I seem to have entered an alternate universe where grown men can openly like One Direction and nobody makes sarcastic comments about their sexuality.
I find having a maid really strange. I don’t know if it’s just British reserve but it’s hard to have no privacy whatsoever. Pretty much everyone I work with had been into my house, the office boys go in all the time to deliver...
If I didn't know better
I would think someone regularly pretended to ride a horse past my house in the middle of the night with two halves of a coconut
Updates will come in pieces
So I’ve been in Solo for 2 months now, if you don’t count the couple of weeks I spent in Singapore. I’m not sure why you wouldn’t count that though.
I like it here, for the most part. It’s hot and the people are generally pretty nice. I’m having the food problem again though, in Korea everything I ate managed to be both bland and spicy. Here it’s all...
February 2013
1 post
Tabi: You know what I don't get?
Me: What?
Tabi: Why do people go to clubs to sing and to dance? Why don't they go to clubs to paint or something?
January 2013
1 post
Indonesia (part one)
Wow, the traffic here is pretty scary. I’ve ridden a motorbike (as a passenger) here more times than I’d ever done before. Which was none, so I guess that’s not saying much. They do the thing they do in Bali of treating the motorbike as if it were a family car, with the mum, dad, 3 kids all squished on. But they drive relatively slowly, which I guess is how they’re not all...
November 2012
1 post
June 2012
6 posts
I think he was probably joking...
Me: Okay so I'll see how much of your speech you can remember?
Student: No thanks, I'm full
On Friday my boss asked Liam “What’s your relationship to Elizabeth? Boyfriend?”.
This wouldn’t be all that surprising except that she rents our flat for us. She knows we only have one bed. Weird.
Vicky: Elizabeth is beautiful!
Bella: Elizabeth is fun!
Jess: Elizabeth is best teacher!
Bella: And kind!
Vicky: And... cool!
Me: Thanks. You still have to do the work though.
SHIT I CAN'T MAKE UP: Convo between my 7 year-old...
(Names have been altered slightly, just in case.)
Josie: I have a new crusshhhhh
Matt: Me, too! On a boy!
Pearl: You're a boy with a crush on a boy?
Matt: Yeah he's really cute.
Pearl: Oh.
(pause for a bit)
Matt: Boys can like boys. I just can't marry him because boys can't marry boys.
Me: Yeah they can. You can marry whoever you want.
Matt: Really?
Josie: YEAH. my tia has a wife so now I have a titi and an auntie.
Matt: Okay. Then maybe I'll marry him.
Dave: (from across the room) No you can't, you're seven.
(Age was apparently the only foreseeable problem anyone of my elementary schoolers could see with gay marriage. I almost cried out of happiness. Later, when I was asked if boys could kiss anyone they wanted, I replied, "only if they want to kiss you back." And Josie responded, "Yeah! Your body, your life.")
My students are the shit.
--
Reblogging for 7-year olf bad-assery.
Pizza etc
So Friday was my birthday, which was nice, except for the getting older part which I’m not so fond of. 23 is still “early twenties” though, right? It’s 24 when you start being “mid twenties”.
I’d told a couple of the students about it because I wanted an idea of what to do to celebrate, but they just suggested normal things you could do in Swansea (like...
I burnt my hand, so Liam got me a bowl with cold...
Me: Every time I put my hand in ice water I...
Liam: What?
Me: Nothing
Liam: What?
Me: Nothing
Liam: You what?
Me: Can't help picturing a killer whale swimming up and eating it
May 2012
8 posts
We had our welcoming party about a week ago, in what we think is the only vegetarian restaurant in Gunsan. We had to sit on the floor and eat vegetables, so over all it was a fairly stressful experience encompassing both my and Liam’s neuroses, and our boss (the only person who speaks English) left about halfway through. Though it might not sound like it, I did enjoy it. It was brunch, which...
Me: I'm not that easily distracted, am I?
Me again: Well, I did turn my music off to do this personality test
Me again: I should put this inner monologue on Tumblr
Personality test: *Is still incomplete in the other tab*
I have no idea what the message he was intending...
Me: So, if you look at the article, does it say that men or women are more likely to live to 100?
Ian: I like men
Me: Yes... I suspected that about you...
Background info for this: On the tefl course I...
Me: Okay, "make babies" probably isn't exactly what you meant to say there... Anyone know what you'd normally say?
Student 1: Birth?
Me: ... Not really...
Student 2: I know! Lay!
Me: Umm... that's more if you're a bird...
Needs must when the Devil drives: Trip to the... →
sailorontheriverlethe:
On Monday I took a trip to the capital to help a friend out.
At the bus terminal we saw this gem:
I want to be positive about the idea, but I’m fairly certain that it would sit unused in the States.
After taking care of business we walked to the Gyeongbokgung palace - the palace of…
I’d write this out myself, but Josh has already covered it pretty...
I found out today that in Korea people measure age differently to us. My Korean age is 24. So this whole time when I’ve been telling them I was 22, they’ve been thinking I was 20. Confused? I was.
There’s two differences (hence the two year difference). First, they don’t tell you how many full years they’ve had, they tell you which year they’re in now. So our...
Liam: It's SO hot
Liam: How is it this hot? I'm going to be complaining about this A LOT.
Liam: Seriously, though, this is the hottest it's possible to be
Liam: This is hotter than a human should be
Liam: People die of heat in cooler weather than this
Liam: How are you not overheating? I refuse to believe you enjoy this
Student: Wow, it's only spring.
A few things I think you should know
1. Liam really wants a hair cut, it’s got to the length where it can’t really be spiked up properly anymore. But he’s worried about going to get it done, not just for the obvious language-barrier reasons but also because of a strange cultural quirk which seems to dictate that 80% of the population has either a bowl cut or Jessie J hair
I understand his fear really, I...
April 2012
9 posts
Korean Buddhists ARE vegetarian! Then why do they have such a hard time understanding the concept???
I think I’ve solved my washing machine problem. Not the flooding, but the being in Korean. It’s okay just to pick a cycle at random and put all your clothes on it, right?
I’ve decided to give up on trying to explain vegetarianism to anyone, and just avoid accepting food from anyone except Student Who Gives Us Snacks. (I feel it’s too late to ask his name now. Should...
Small student who not only has big geeky glasses and a blazer which he wears with sweatpants (CAN that be school uniform?) but was wearing socks with a dog printed on them and the word "DOG" written on the toes: I like Liam and Elizabeth. Very good teacher!
Me: ... cheers bro.
Wow, HSBC’s fraud people are pretty good aren’t they? Took money out this morning, they’re already on the case. They thought Rachel was trying to steal her own identity and run off to Austria before though, so I shouldn’t be so surprised.
On the plus side, this means we’re no longer in the odd situation of having £400 in a draw but not being able to afford bread!...
I’m hoping the novelty of playing house doesn’t wear off any time soon, because at the moment things like the fact I can’t work out how to work the washing machine are funny and not particularly annoying. It’s not exactly intuitive and (surprisingly enough) it’s in Korean. Pushing buttons at random seems to almost be working, I’ve only flooded the room once...
Liam: Hey try one of these crisps and tell me what flavour you think they are
Me: ... I don't want to. What flavour are they?
Liam: What flavour do you think they are?
Me: Tell me
Liam: Well a blue packet would suggest salt and vinegar, right?
Me: And they are...?
Liam: I'm gonna guess doughnut
Second post
So here’s the situation
(and there, probably, is nobody getting the reference).
Anyway… So we turned up at about 10pm on Wednesday (which sounds so easy because it doesn’t mention the 14 hours of flight (btw anyone who went on CELTA with me and reads this might be interested to know that due to the stopover we’ve now officially been to Turkey (are we still there?...
First post
Okay, news so far from Korea:
1. Koreans DO NOT stop to let you cross the road. Regardless of what the red man/ green man light would suggest, it’s actually NEVER our turn. They seem to only slow down when someone actually starts walking across. Funnily, they’re very unwilling to be the one who walks out. I’ve theorised that the first person to cross is sacrificial. Needs...
