Random anecdotes from the past few days:

*I had my first experience with a Korean medical clinic on Monday. I woke up in the middle of the night with some sort of stomach virus and pretty much hugged the toilet until my host mom woke and decided I needed to go to the clinic. I'm pretty sure I have not been that sick for many years...not fun. The clinic was an experience in itself. No one spoke a word of English the entire time, so I'm not really sure what was going on. All I know was that I was led to a table to lay down on, had an IV inserted in me, and then 2 other syringes filled with god only knows what injected into me. I was made to lay with the IV in my arm for over two hours. Luckily, I was somehow able to fall asleep on the table for most of the two hours. Maybe one of the syringes had anesthesia...who knows. It was the first time since I'd arrived in Korea that I found myself thinking, "What the f*** am I doing in this country?" I've since gotten over that, but I'm hoping that I don't get sick like that again for the rest of the year (fingers crossed).

*Yesterday at lunch my host mom said to me "Cassidy, after lunch maybe I teach you how to quilt." I said "Okay host mom", since I had nothing else planned for the rest of the day. So after lunch I am lounging on the couch, still in my PJs and glasses waiting for my host mom, when she comes out of her room with her purse and bag and says to me, "Okay! Let's go!". Welcome to the world of Korea, where what you think is going to happen usually is not what is going to happen at all. Apparently by "teach you how to quilt" my mom meant "bring you to my quilting class in some random woman's apartment with me". She gave me just enough time to throw on some normal clothes before whisking me off to some other Korean mom's apartment where I was taught how to quilt a change purse. It ended up being really fun (since I already really enjoy sewing) and I think it may become a weekly thing. I'm pretty excited about it. We will see though. I have heard about 20 different things my host mom and I are going to be doing together and most of them have not materialized yet.

*Today while walking home from downtown, I had a random woman on the sidewalk come up to me and introduce herself as "Esther". For five minutes she then begged me to teach her English in my free time and kept asking me where I lived. Super awkward. I just kept telling her "maybe" and that I was very busy. I was a little worried she was going to follow me home.

*Tomorrow is the first day of the three day English camp I am going to be teaching at at Namsung Elementary School. I met with one of the other English teachers for a short while yesterday and again today, and I still have no clue what is going on. I know that we are doing self introductions, body parts, feelings, and how to make a BLT sandwich (RANDOM!) but I was never told what I am actually teaching or what I need to know to explain. Guess I will have to wing it! I was also told to make a 5 question quiz on...anything. That's exactly what my teacher told me. Hmmm... should be an interesting three days.


Funny friend story of the day:
"We've had the homestay stories- now that we're all teaching, we should branch out into those hilarious school moments we've surely all been having. I'll begin. Today I told my students to write about themselves. Here are a few responses.

Student 1
My favorite sports is baseball. I love myself. thanks.

Student 2
English class is very boring. I think Ben teacher is very look like
obama.

Student 3
English class is like penis/ Not Fun

and my favorite, Student 4
I can play the violin. I learn 6 years. I want to play the piano. I am
Christ.

That's right, folks. The second coming is upon us, and I'm his
teacher. Talk about being at the right place at the right time."