floating fingers

so i know its been a really long time...and things have been crazy. some of you i have seen since my last post, some of you may think i dropped off the face of the earth. well good news is i am hoping to continue posting on this blog considering how much more time i am near a computer with my new job and i am kind of lonely at the moment. i dont think lonely is a good word...rather i am always at a computer or my phone so i can check it and its a sad feeling to look and see nothing. but thats life. especially when your email is continuously up.

there have been some crazy changes and let me say this year will be a totally different experience here in the lovely city of seoul. on monday i started a new job. i am now working with avalon which is a big franchise hagwon. its huge. this particular branch hasn't even been open for a year and its a nice new building with lots of teachers in it. there are like 7 other foreign teachers, i think thats elementary and middle, im not sure...so if im wrong, well then there are even more teachers. and there are about 15 to 20 korean teachers. its big. we each have our own computer. we each have to input grades and attendance into the computer. ive gone from the vern's general store to the walmart of hagwons....dun dun dun....

this even includes my apartment. i moved from a massive family apartment to a box. its a nice box though! haha. but my favorite part is not the inside...but the quirky outside. we have a gate you have to use to go in and out with that green carpet/fake grass stuff like grandma schrenkel used to have on her porch. then we have a ROOF! hahaha! its awesome. but i have to admit, if i die it will be coming down those stairs. but totally worth it. plus my little quirk of a place is right next to Sungshin Women's University, as in like at the base of the hill on the same street! and next to the shopping area there - like im finally living in the college town that houghton never had...which I am thankful for because i can already feel my money slipping from my fingers without a good sense of discipline.

ive thrown the discipline out the window at the moment as i have no food in my apartment, no furniture except a bed and 2 tiny bedside tables and bags and bags of my crap. so i just walk next door and buy some ddoekpokke and then go and buy a cup of coffee as im trying to adjust to my new work schedule of 3pm to 10pm. this is a joke. i work from 5:30 to 9:45....the rest is free to do whatever. how sweet is that?!? and no one questions anything....well i mean so far. i wonder if they will wonder about me. luckily i have the youngest students but even those students stare at me like im crazy when i give them a high five. i plan on bringing my "kindy-ness" to this business place. please don't let me grow up!

actually my new manager who helped me move was saying how he saw a plastic sword in one of my bags (from my halloween power ranger costume) and he was wondering if i taught kids or if i was being taught. good. thats my style. i have a plastic sword, plastic snakes, games, bouncy balls and lots of clothes....but no frying pan, or even a bowl to my name. ;) thats how i roll. and i like it. i like kids. even those who are being institutionalized.

i also have started my internship which so far so good. a lot of computer work so hopefully i can prove myself and move onto the bigger and better things that i like. but im learning a ton even so far. so its perfect. so my mornings i go out to insadong to work at the NKHR office and then stop home, get a nap and some food and then head out to Avalon until 10pm. busy. fun. enjoyable. though i am looking for one nice long day to just work on house stuff and once thats in order i will feel alot better...especially if i get some food in my house. :)

so thats the story for now. i met a museum curator this morning when i was just studying one of the maps while waiting for the subway. he thought i was lost. i wasn't. but apparently he got his MA from University of Chicago and works for some sweet museum out on the East Coast (like near the beach) of Korea. He might need help with some proofreading his english. i might need help with some summer beach action. i love the randomness of life! :)

so i hope you enjoy this post and i will try to do this more often which i think will be very possible especially once i wrap my head around this work schedule that is just too easy. and prepared for me.

always, your amber