Bringing up the Past... LSU French Studies

LSU in Ubaye Valley

What an interesting Friday: a definite other-than-ordinary for a day bringing me closer to my month-long February vacation. Yee-hah.

This evening, I met Ahsan at Yeungjin after a bit of weekend teaching preparations at the old work (photocopies and the like; definitely a fun way to spend my time with the big dawgs when I don't have to be there!) We hopped in Ahsan's purple beater and went over to pick up our travel tickets during, coincidentally, rush-hour traffic at the Manchon eMart--way across town. Loads of fun, I assure you. I have nothing but good things to say now about Korean crazy drivers: as of tonight, I have christened myself as a contribution to the daily dose of impetuous traffic art otherwise polluting the Korean roadscapes (kudos for the lingual forplay, there, Chels!)

As usual, I spent my day teaching from 9:30am until 12:30pm. Now, in a nutshell, Kids' Camp at Yeungjin is a little bit like attending a seminar English 101 class at a mid-sized college in the U.S.: You have your mixture of kids who wanna be there, those who don't, but overall, it's a clusterfudge of bees, books and chaos, and you--as well as the other foreign teachers--are the honey that glues everything together. Mind you, the glue is so very little, indeed, and is expected to perform miracles under great pressure. Leave of course, the worst part, that the bee-hive has very limited supplies, like a photo-copier that rarely works, with a disproportion of malcommunication, where the communication lines from the big-Momma (or Poppa bee, for those readers who lean towards patriarchal systems) trickle down like a new river downstream an impoverished, dry African village.

Now, seeing as I have one more week of Kids' Camp, I just hope that I keep my hair in-tact long enough to not have to express-order a wig from the local ajumma nylon shop, or be impelled to wear my cancer patient knitted hat. It truly wouldn't be a pretty picture.

After my daily kid-screaming dosage, I grabbed lunch with my fellow teacher and friend Marinel, who I recently find out is leaving us... a tragic but evident realization that Yeungjin has many kinks to work out. Hmmph. Then at 2, I flew over via taxi to attend my DELF preparation French class at KyungPook National University. Yes, I have to agree, pushing myself academically has been a great affair thus far (all 2 classes that I have attended); however, what lies ahead of me will be quite an arduous task~ that is, studying daily, French articles, reading response questions and digging deep into the cobwebs of my French studies know-how to prepare for this test---which I take just 4 days after I return from my vacation. Is this not dedication or what? Perhaps I don't reckon doing some studying while I check out the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, or while I make my way to a Pakistani Mosque... yeah, that wouldn't hurt.

And as I simmer down from my evening, having eaten some dok-yah-cheh-bok-um-bop (Chicken with fried rice and veggies) and watched the chick-flick While you were falling in love at the local DVD bong, I come to the realization that my travels have taken me to quite a number of places. In fact, while Ahsan sang to the sandman shortly after returning home, I decided to gander at a bit of history: my Alumni, LSU, and the Department of French Studies website. Interestingly enough, I decide to check out the Ubaye Valley Program which I attended after graduating, in summer of 2004... thereby coming across a marvelous picture of me (with short hair and all, slaving away at an internship making French pastries!) What a blast it was to dig up this history! I come to find as well, that LSU French Studies and Academic Programs Abroad department had put up, for the majority, my pictures that I had taken during the program! I guess I have Mrs. Roark to thank for that one! Great stuff, huh? Awesome pictures, indeed. Maybe I should have asked for royalties for the gems they're using to attract students to take the program! Hmm...

Which reminds me, it's about time I dig up some old pictures to put up on Flikr! Ah, but tomorrow is another busy day, and this history-making gal needs her beauty sleep. Stay tuned for nearly 10 more days of cram-packed posts leading up to my vacation. In the plans: packing for 30 days; buying souvenirs for my peeps in 2 countries and 3 states; attempting to move my apartment from the 7th to the 11th floor (I assure you, it'll be worth the hassle, and disgusting cleaning I have to endure to get into the new pad..) as well as, oh, a zillion trickles of sweat imagining how I'm going to attempt to do all of this. Amazing...

Lights out ~

Chels

Snowballs were flying...and I'm off to Pakistan!

Another great little post that I've dug up from the 6th of January...

"It snowed today.

In the waking hours of my day, scooting from one student's house to another on my motorcycle, I recall an interesting moment when I found myself making an awkward jesture at a stoplight: I pushed my helmet screen above my head to gaze at the cloudy sky, when surprisingly, my eyelashes met several clumps of snowflakes, clinging frantically to them. Then a snowflake fell in my eye. What a strange way to say hello.

Surprising was an understatement, actually. I looked around as the light turned green, watching the people hurriedly walking to their destination, obviously unprepared for a little bit of snow fluster. The last time it had snowed, even a sprinkle, was actually just about a week ago, when I woke up at the crack of dawn clearly from sleep deprivation. The morning began as yet another, waking up well before my alarm because my lungs were gasping for air: surely, it was the new resident chainsmoking ajumma (grandlady) that lives below me (again, another interesting and dispicable way to say, "good morning" if you ask me...) Nevertheless, seeing the snow made me sucking in the smoke, all the more worthwhile."

Perhaps the next few weeks will prove to be interesting with the possibility of skiing... oh, that shall be fun: it's been more than 3 years since I've skiied! And then, well, what beautiful skiing resort could one compare that of Chablais in Switzerland? I have yet to find a comparable paradise!

I finally recieved an itinerary for my trip. As per the last post about my vacation, which definitely looked like a rock-n-roll time to be had, I ended up making lots of changes along the way! It looks like, and I tear as I say this, Ahsan and I won't be going to Switzerland this time. There's simply not enough time in one month! So, we'll be heading off to his country of origin Pakistan (boy, what am I getting myself into, I have no idea!) for about 12 days.. and then I ride the long boat to China... joking. I take my flight mid-February and head over to the States: New Orleans, and then up to Seattle to visit the families~ about equal time I guess.

The month of February would have been gruelling trying to make a roadtrip either way~and since my trusted travel companion JuYeong will be starting school in February, I'm off to venture back home alone. Yes, yes.. you ask, why doesn't Ahsan go with you? Alas, my friends, we did intend for a miracle, but the US Embassy wouldn't issue Ahsan a visa because of his 'possible intention to immigrate to the US'. What a load of bologny! Grr.. it's always the good guys who get their throats slit on a reasonable attempt to visit the States. On the positive side, though, we'll be together in Pakistan for nearly 2 weeks~ and if luck may have it, I'm hoping to meet up with my pop, Roger, in Delhi (since he'll be backpacking in India for 3 weeks or so!) Fingers crossed!

Ah.. another good morning, and I'm off to trek up to Yeungjin. It's English camp again, folks.. and I better get to hacking up this cold's phlegm to get my teacher's voice prepped for screaming kids! Ack! ;)

~ Later!

Blackbelt: RECIEVED!

This is an oldie-but-a goodie: A post I began back around December 12th, 2006...11:34 AM: It reads...

"I'm thrilled beyond words.

Last Sunday my Dojang (Taekwondo school), along with JuYeong and I, went over to the Daegu indoor stadium for our Blackbelt test. The stadium rocked like a crazy nest of bees--kids swarming in their uniforms, excited and anticipating the moment when they get to show off their stuff.

The event wasn't like I had expected, but it was rather interesting to say the least. In Korea, we sort of learn to 'hurry up and wait'---as a teacher, you learn to hurry up to meetings, only you have to wait for things to get started; when paying bills at the bank, you hurry up for a quick payment, only to stand in line with other like-minded Korean folks; and at the grocery story, it's always the ajumma with a ton of groceries, that firmly stands in front of you while you wait to pay for an ice-cream or a snack. The hurry up and wait syndrome hit me hard at the Blackbelt test: we basically had to hurry to the event, whilst finding out that we had to wait 3 hours to take our test!

Of course, the most exciting part of the day was hanging out with JuYeoung, ... and the new boyfriend (who I invited) along with the ex-boyfriend (who suddenly decided to come, since he had been taking Taekwondo with our dojang). Woh, double deal: That was a crazy mixture! But in the end, we all had fun, and by the time JuYeong and I took our test, we had enough excitement and endurance in us, that everything felt like a piece of cake! We did the 7th and 8th formations (called poomseh's) and luckily, both JuYeong and I were paired up (among 8 other blackbelt testers) to 'fight' against one another... now that was concindental! Pure coincidence..

I told JuYeong, "Fight like you wanna KILL me!'~ mouthing out the words, which I playfully meant, of course~ but I tell you, she took it literally! That girl came at me like a bad woman, kicking me left and right.. and like a movie, I lifted up one leg and dolchuggi (side kick), gave her a love tap on her belly. POINT! Boo-yeah! hehe.. she only laughed and returned another kick.

That day, JuYeoung and I found out we had recieved our blackbelts. Right on! That's another check off my list of must-do's while I'm in Korea. "

Bittersweet memories! As of this month, I've decided to take 2 months off of Taekwondo: the first reason being as it is winter vacation now, and the only class available for JuYeong and I to take at our dojang has a ton of kids in it, so we don't get quite the attention and work out that our private a.m. class normally provides us; and the second being, well, next month is February, and that means I'll be taking my month-long vacation! There's another right on: check out the next post for vacation updates and stories of January's English camp fun at Yeungjin... loads of fun, for sure!

Until then, yes, I will settle with yet another cold I've acquired. That makes 6 last year for 2006, and number 1 for 2007. I'm intending on keeping the number down this year.. fingers crossed.

Big shout-outs to my Momma for making a safe trip to and fro Alabama to visit my bro and his wife, Amy. They're expecting their first child in May/June! Kisses to you...

~ Chelsea

Happy New Year!!!

New Year's Resolution #4,726: Update blog more often.

ps. Happy New Year, everybody! May all your wishes come true for 2007.... ~ . ~
pps. Pakistan is now added to the must-visit-during-month-vacation in February. Whew!

Chelsea