It's almost been a month since I moved into my new apartment and I can't remember my life before it. It's honestly a bit unbelievable that I put up with such a small space for a whole year. Many of our students live in the same complex or close by, so I can't even walk to the nearby market without getting flagged down by excited teens. On Sunday, I was feeling extremely hungover and went to Outback with Dean. By the end, I felt as if I'd run into every student at my school. I know that's an exaggeration, but uh...I wasn't too thrilled to see them. They were probably kind of shocked to see me decked fully out in black, hair unwashed, wearing glasses, and looking like a zombie.

On Friday morning, I was walking into the school building and I ran into one of my JA girls. She immediately struck up a conversation and asked what I was doing the next day. I had confessed that I didn't have anything exciting to brag about, when she handed me two tickets from a pack of ten she was holding. They were tickets for the KB B-Boy competition in Jamsil, with Big Bang, Shinee, Kara, Mighty Mouth, and Dynamic Duo as the special guests. It was really sweet and Dean agreed that it would be something fun to do. On Saturday evening, we're on our way to the show and I'm getting all these texts from the student. I didn't realize it, but we were joining her and her friends. So Dean and I ended up hanging with eight insanely hyper 8th graders for the evening. They were amusing and I know two of them quite well, so it wasn't nearly as awkward as it could have been. When Shinee and Big Bang performed, they showed their true fangirl selves.

After the show ended, they wanted us to come get dinner with them, but Dean andI had promised some friends that we would meet for drinks around 11. So they headed off to down some samgyetang (chicken soup--soooo delicious) and we took the 22 stops that led us to our usual hang out spot. That night, I also met up with my younger cousin who has just started working with SMOE. It was the first time I'd been with her and not with our families, but it wasn't uncomfortable at all (especially after a couple rounds of tequila had been drained).

On a crazy note, my school has been kind of violent lately. Sometimes, it's hard to distinguish between when the Korean teens are goofing around and when they're seriously upset. But just last week, TWO students got so angry in their classes that they smashed their fists through the glass classroom windows. On Tuesday, the police came to the school and gave a twenty-minute presentation on cutting down the violence. But on Tuesday afternoon, one of my 9th grade co-teachers came up to me at the start of class and she was *shaking*. Apparently, one of the girls in her previous class had been quite bad. My co-teacher had attempted to force her to leave and go to the teacher's office. The girl not only refused, she started yelling curses at the teacher and then ASSAULTED her when my co-teacher tried to lead her out of the room.

That being said, my co-teacher refused to teach that class for the rest of the week. We were supposed to teach them last period yesterday, but she profusely apologized and said she just couldn't go. I said it was alright, but inwardly, I was really worried. That specific class is...mischievous. They're eccentric, zany, scheming, funny, and overall pretty nice. While not mean-spirited, they definitely have a questionable attitude. So I faced them alone and had a mixed experience. At first, they were terrified at having class alone with me. "Korean teacher..no? She angry??? When come?!?" I shrugged and said, "I don't know. You were all very bad on Tuesday, so of course, she is angry." They nodded solemnly and took their seats. Four boys, however, continued to chatter even as I told them off again and again. It lead to a short shouting match between them and a handful of girls on the other side that went something like this:

Girl 1: BE QUIET! TEACHER IS TALKING!

Boy 1: Shut up. *talk talk talk*

Girl 2: STOP TALKING!!!

Boy 2: We don't want to.

You know, the usual teenage bickering. Finally, the class representative (a cheerful, lanky, smart boy who sits in the back) lost his cool and barked, "EVERYONE, LISTEN!!!!" A hush fell over the class that was followed immediately by hearty claps and shocked, "WOWWWW!!!" comments. Even the chatting boys were surprised enough that they laughed, clapped him on the back, and actually stopped talking. I felt a huge surge of gratefulness.

The rest of the class ran fairly smoothly, except for during the last 7 minutes, which were "free time." Basically, some of the boys decided to joke around with one of their friends and like...tried to take his clothes off. So I'm in a corner, talking with a group of girls, when all of a sudden, a shoe goes whizzing past my head. I look over and a group of five or six boys have their friend (red faced), pinned down on a desk and are trying to take his pants off. WTH???? I immediately marched over, pulled his friends off (who were laughing) and made the other boy put his shoes back on. He didn't look upset or angry, just kind of embarrassed (zipping up your pants in front of the teacher...obviously a cause for embarrassment). One of the boys (the Cassanova, who I now call "Mullet boy" due to his new hairstyle) laughed, pointed, and said, "Teacher, he is dirty boy!" to which I responded, "YOU were the one taking HIS pants off! YOU'RE the dirty boy!" He just laughed, shrugged, and followed me back to my desk so he could engage in his weekly attempts to seduce with his eyes. When the bell rang and they skipped/giggled their way through the door ("Byyyyyeeeeee, teacher!! I loooooove youuuu!!!"), I couldn't have been happier. It felt kind of like Christmas. I hope I don't have to teach another class on my own ever again.

Here's me and some of my students after the concert. I look like I'm 15. Guh.

3 of my best English students in my after school class. The shortest one has a sun because she is always cheerful, adorable, and friendly. The middle one has a skull because she's the punk rocker. And the tall, bashful one who won't look at the camera is the hopeless dreamer--an endless advocate of "true love."

Finally, these are two pictures from the Takeout Cocktail stand at Idae. Dean and I were just shopping around one afternoon when we chanced upon it. They have a big list of drinks (martini, mimosa, jack and coke, sex on the beach, etc) that they mix and then place *in a bag.* Dean got a Long Island Iced Tea and I got a gin and tonic.

This title is Trouble is a Friend by Lenka

Trouble is a friend but trouble is a foe, oh oh.

And no matter what I feed him he always seems to grow, oh oh.

He sees what I see and he knows what I know, oh oh.

So don't forget as you ease on down the road.