The Wanderlust Project

The Awesome Time I Taught My Students What a ‘Hot Mess’ Means

by Sheryll on May 16, 2012

I love my job.

But it has pros and cons. I don’t have to teach from the book, my school actually doesn’t even want me to look at the book. I’m there to be a real life, walking, breathing, American culture expert. So while it’s kind of cool I don’t have to teach from the book and I can seriously do whatever I want….I also have to think of things to teach and go outside of the box. This a huge task when you realize you can literally teach pretty much anything (obviously within reason).

Insert my brilliant idea to teach the students, ‘Sheryll’s Slang of the Week’ as my class warmup. This week, I’ve been teaching them my favorite phrase of ALL time: Hot Mess. And they LOVE it.

All week, my students have been coming up to me and impressing me with their retention skills.

“Sheryll teacha! The weather is a …….. HOT MESS!” *proud grin*
“I am feeling like a hot mess today teacha”
“Lunch was a hot mess today!”

It is amazing. I didn’t really expect them to retain the information, let alone actually use it. Maybe because I told them they’d be super cool if they did.

So after my ‘Sheryll’s Slang’ warmup, I’ve been teaching a Konglish lesson, where one of slides features a picture of a sign that says “Clean Blue Crap”. The students are supposed to tell me what’s wrong with the picture…obvious being the word crap instead of crab. Here is a recap of what went down in my 8th grade all boys class (10 students, thank God):

Me: Yes. Crap is incorrect. Does anyone know what crap means?
Student 1: YES TEACHA! *stands up and makes poop motion*
Me: ….. *trying to keep composure* Yes. You are right. Crap is a slang term for ….
Student 2: SHIT! shit shit shit shit shit shit!
ALL of the boys: *screaming, laughing, yelling the word shit*
Student 3: *pointing at his friend* YOU ARE A SHIT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
All of the boys: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT

I look over at my coteacher and her face is beet red and she’s trying to hold back her laughter.

Me: OKAY! Yes…you are right. The word “shit” is also another word for crap. However, it’s highly inappropriate to use in America, and pretty much all of the other English speaking countries. It’s a BAD BAD BAD word! You can’t say it!
All of the students: *blank stare*
Student 1: *raises hand* Sheryll Teacha! Is …….. that word a…….. hot mess?
Me: ……Yes. Yes, it is.*mentally gives myself a pat on the back*

WINS. FOREVER.

PinExt The Awesome Time I Taught My Students What a Hot Mess Means

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I Just Want a Turkey Sandwich

by Sheryll on May 10, 2012

I’ve been in Korea for 5 weeks now. I’m currently on my second day of deskwarming, better known as sitting at my desk and watching TV shows and painting my nails. The students were on a field trip yesterday, and today it’s ‘club day’. I don’t know what club day means other than the students aren’t wearing their uniforms and they all seem to be doing fun things like playing the guitar and drawing, but hey, this just means I have an extra day to lesson plan and watch Breaking Bad.

This is what I've been doing the past 2 days. Nail polish and movies.

Things here have been great. I’m really, really, lucky to work in the school that I do and have Johnny so close to me. My students are hilarious and smart and seem generally interested in English and really seem to like me.

I’ve connected with an awesome group of expats in my area and we have dinner every Wednesday. Two of my really good friends from high school are here too, so I really do have an awesome network of people. I’m rarely lonely anymore.

But damnit. ALL I want in life is a turkey sandwich.

Korean food is delicious. Bibimbap, samgyeopsal, mandu, kimbap, kimchi jjiggae, etc. etc. the list goes on. But this turkey sandwich craving has been killing my soul. I spent 2 hours on Google the other day trying to find a turkey sandwich in my area. It’s THAT bad.

My dinner of samgyeopsal last night was DELICIOUS. But all I want is a turkey club on sourdough, with avocado and tomato. SIGH.

So yes, I can go to Costco. But it’s a little far and apparently a nightmare. Subway is here, but they don’t have turkey sandwiches apparently (THE HORROR!). Quiznos is in Itaewon, but that’s a good 2 hours away from me. I am dying. It’s really the only food I’ve craved since I’ve been here. I’ve had plenty of delicious Mexican food, so I haven’t fully exploded yet. But yeah…gimme a turkey sandwich! (and hummus. SIGH. hummus)

In other important news, Korean cosmetics are EVERYFUCKINGTHING. I should just go ahead and give Innisfree, Etude House and SkinFood all of my paychecks from now on (oh…and stationary stores…but I’m not even going to get into that yet..LOL!). My skin is actually clearing up from using the products here. In my experience, it’s fairly easy to spot products that are for whitening, as it will usually say ‘whitening/brightening/lightening/etc’. I always ask a sales associate just in case, but Innisfree and SkinFood definitely have some English on their labels so you can read them. And I always Google product reviews too! After spending SO much money on acne stuff from Sephora, buying things here is like heaven. It’s inexpensive and they actually work! I’m currently using:

SkinFood Green Tea Milk Foaming Cleanser: really good for taking my makeup off at the end of the night
SkinFood Parsley and Mandarin Toner and Emulsion for Troubled Skin: this stuff has SAVED my skin. I don’t know what it’s doing, but I’ve seen a dramatic difference in my blackheads and breakouts. For someone who is suffering from the terrible, sad, awful, worst thing ever known as adult acne, this stuff has been a godsend.
SkinFood Black Sugar Mask Scrub: I’ll be buying 4 tons of this stuff to take back to America. It smells like heaven, it’s a great scrub, and a little goes a long way.
Innisfree Jeju Volcanic Ash Pore Mask: MIRACLE WORKER I TELL YOU! I read reviews about this stuff from a beauty website and it looked promising. It’s everything. You can use it as an all over mask, or as an overnight spot treatment for stubborn pimples. I used it as a spot treatment last night and my problem areas are visibly less red and the few pimples I had seem to have shrank. The night before, I used it as an all over face mask and my skin felt super smooth afterwards, and my pores were definitely smaller.
Etude House Lash Perm Mascara: I originally saw this stuff and laughed out loud. “LASH PERM!?” But it’s possibly one of the best mascaras I’ve used…and I’ve used a LOT. To me, a great mascara is equal really thick, really black formula and a great brush. Lash Perm has both. My eyelashes look fake!

My medicine cabinet is already getting full and I've only been here 5 weeks!

This doesn’t even cover the lip glosses, nail polishes, face masks, and other stuff I’ve bought. And whenever you buy from any of these places, they always throw in a TON of free samples for you to try. I’ve just been taking them all to Johnny ‘s apartment so I have stuff over there when I stay over. It’s a win all around! And the price point for most of the products in the stores is about 15,000W or less, or roughly $14.50 (being the most expensive thing there). All of the things I’ve talked about were about 9,000W or less. YES!

This weekend I think I’m probably going out with one of my friends from high school to Hongdae. I haven’t been to a club here yet, and I’ve been dying to dance!

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Bau House Dog Cafe = Best Ever (especially if you miss your dog like crazy)

by Sheryll on May 8, 2012

I miss my puppy Jack.

I haven’t seen him since before Johnny and I left for Europe, almost 7 months ago. It’s tough. Whenever I see someone walking their adorable, toy sized pooch, my heart melts. During my ice breaker/intro week, I showed my students pictures of Jack, and they all screamed, “CUTE–UH!” Sigh.

So, what’s a girl to do when she needs a cute puppy fix and she’s in S. Korea? Go to a dog cafe!

What’s a dog cafe? Well, it’s a cafe, filled with dogs. You buy a drink, and hang out with them for awhile and hopefully go home a happier person. AKA it’s one of the best places of all time.

A few weekends ago, Johnny and I went to probably the most popular dog cafe in Seoul, Bau House. And it was everything I’ve always wanted, and more. You’d think that small cafe filled with at least 15 dogs would be super gross and smelly, but it was actually very clean. There were at least 8 people working, all armed with cleaning sprays and paper towels the SECOND a dog used the bathroom. And all of the dogs were walked regularly! While I was there, the bigger dogs were walked twice, which is great because it *is* a small space for some of the huge ones.

You have to buy a drink, and a coffee is about 7,000W, or roughly $6.50ish, so it’s sort of pricey. Johnny and I got beers for 5,000W, or like $4.50ish, which to me is a little more doable. To me, it was totally worth it!

And yes, the dogs do whatever the fuck they want. Including walking on tables, laying on the windowsills, laying on the booths, or just chillin’ on the floor. You can buy treats to feed them for about 3,000W, and Johnny and I definitely took advantage.

Pure joy, I tell you. And how could you not be the happiest person ever? Just look at these faces!

See!!!!

Bau House is in Hongdae. I found the directions here. Even if you don’t miss your dog, or you maybe even hate dogs, I think Bau House is an awesome place to visit one of the quirkier cafes in Korea. You definitely won’t find a dog cafe anywhere else!

PinExt Bau House Dog Cafe = Best Ever (especially if you miss your dog like crazy)

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Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

by Sheryll on May 1, 2012

So, a few weeks ago I posted pictures of the hilarious pictures my 7th grade students drew depicting Justin Bieber’s song Baby. And this week, I bring to you my 9th grade students’ pictures of their song of the week, Cee Lo’s, Forget You (the Glee version, of course).

IMG 9670 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

I love that the newscaster is so happy.

IMG 9336 001 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

Homegirl is giving her ex the hand! But he's still so handsome. Sigh.

IMG 9337 001 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

band x3. Yes. He looks so sad too!

IMG 9339 001 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

As you can see, some of my students are freaking artists. AMAZING! (I can't even draw a stick figure properly)

IMG 9661 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

Chanel bag? Check. Fur stole? Check. Fancy sunglasses? Check.

IMG 9669 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

I laughed so hard at this one. "You are a gold digger?" "No...." It's the "..." that gets me. LOL! Also notice that the sun is ALL up in their business.

IMG 9667 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

Apparently a gold digger is also roughly translated into a Korean word meaning 'snake'. ALL of my students drew snakes/snake women to represent a gold digger.

IMG 9340 001 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

See! Snakes! (also really awesome picture)

IMG 9666 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

The guy looks like a wanna be rapper and I love it.

IMG 9665 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

I need my students to teach me how to draw!

IMG 9663 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

I'm really feeling the emotion in this drawing.

IMG 9662 Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

awesome!

Next week, my teachers gave me the okay to teach the students the ChaCha Slide. Did I mention that I have the coolest job EVER?!

PinExt Shit My Students Draw: The Cee Lo Edition

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A Little Bit of France in Seoul: Seorae Village

by Sheryll on April 30, 2012

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’d know that France (and more specifically, Paris), is EVERYTHING to me. Johnny and I still can’t stop talking about our time there. So we were pleasantly surprised (and shocked) to find out that there is actually a small French village in Seoul called Seorae Village. This weekend, Johnny and I ventured out of Yongin to check it out.

According to Wikipedia, Seorae Village is home to about 560 French people, or roughly 40% of the French population in Seoul. It’s located on top of a hill, so the village is appropriately nicknamed Montmartre.

Upon first glance, Seorae Village may not seem terribly French, but there are a few French wine bars, bakeries, restaurants and stores. Paris Croissant (not to be confused with Paris Baguette), is a French style bakery that serves pretty authentic French baguettes and pastries. I was told that the owner imports his flour from France, so it’s pretty legit! I even heard a few people speaking French, which was pretty fucking awesome.

Gotta love the Konglish!

Seorae Village is full of little markers letting you know you’re in the French village. Even the sidewalks are tri–color like the French flag!

Glorious, glorious cheese. In the land of basically NO cheese, I almost cried at the sight of brie, camembert, and even goat cheese! It’s obviously trés expensive, but I think I just may have to splurge one of these days.

There was even a Cajun restaurant!
Apparently many people are hesitant about the jambalaya.

Seorae Village is also home to the only French international school in Seoul.

After walking around for an hour or so, Johnny and I decided to stop inside one of the really cute themed cafes to rest our feet and get a drink. I’ll seriously never get over how adorable the cafes are here.

In the end, Johnny and I decided to go to the above cafe because it looked really cool. I was not disappointed!

My cherry limeade was to die for, especially on the unusually warm spring day on Saturday. They were also playing Karate Kid on the TV, so Johnny and I got sucked into the story line for a minute. It was such a lovely ending to a pretty awesome Saturday afternoon.

To get to Seorae Village, take line 3 to the Express Bus Terminal. Take Exit 5 out of the station (very important!) Once you’ve left the subway station, walk down a street (path) that looks like this….:

…towards the walking overpass. Once you near the overpass, you’ll see the big signs for Seorae Village to the left.

Seorae Village is pretty small, and is easily manageable to check out in a few hours. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re looking for a cheese, wine and baguette fix!

PinExt A Little Bit of France in Seoul: Seorae Village

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Week 2: Homesickness, Cafes, and Justin Bieber

by Sheryll on April 20, 2012

Today marks two weeks since I have moved to Korea. And while things have been awesome (my co workers, students, Johnny), I’ve been feeling a little down. I like being by myself more often than with people, but there have been times I’ve been extremely lonely since I’ve been here. I suppose it’s just the homesickness setting in. I’ve finally settled into my apartment, have a routine, know the bus routes and schedules, know how to get to Seoul on my own, and have become friends with the old woman who works at the corner store in my neighborhood. Then it hit me….I’m going to be here for a YEAR. I know it’s not long, but these 2 weeks have seemed like forever. In an effort to meet some people, I joined the Facebook group for expats in my area and went out to dinner with a group of 7 on Wednesday. It was a ton of fun, and I even met a girl who went to Florida State! Such a freakin’ small world. I’ve already made plans to have dinner with them next Wednesday as well!

Johnny is usually busy during the week doing MMA training (he’s been taking classes with the Korean Top Team, aka his DREAM), and I’ve been keeping myself busy going to a nearby area called Jukjeon and checking out the cafe scene, or ‘cafe street’ as the popular area is called.

Last weekend, Johnny and I first went to Jukjeon cafe street. I pretty much screamed when I found out that there was a Mexican restaurant in the area. Of course, Johnny and I had lunch and margaritas. It was actually really, really good, way better than I expected.

Cafes in Korea are ADORABLE. Most have a certain theme (Western themed, book themed, cake themed), but overall, they are awesome and very pretty. After being on the computer for 8 hours, I long to spend time with my Kindle. I’ve been going to Jukjeon everyday and finding a new cafe to read in. It helps keep me busy so I don’t sit around sad in my apartment.

My favorite cafe I’ve been to so far is called Cafe Yaang. It seems to be sheep themed (?), with plenty of rustic French touches. I love it because there’s a super cute reading area that I stake out each time I go. They have REALLY amazing tea, including my favorite organic vanilla blackberry blend.

My students are awesome. They all have such unique personalities, and besides the language they speak, they’re pretty much like American middle school students. There’s always a class clown in each class, a shy girl, the cliques. This week, I taught pop songs to my students. They listened to the song a few times, I explained the lyrics, and then they had to pick a cut out lyric from a basket and draw whatever lyric they got. My 7th graders learned Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ (which FYI 7th graders are OBSESSED with the Biebs) and here are some of the examples:

IMG 9379 Week 2: Homesickness, Cafes, and Justin Bieber

This one was hands down the funniest/my favorite. I laughed for a good minute straight.

IMG 9366 Week 2: Homesickness, Cafes, and Justin Bieber

I love how the girl is giving a stank face while all the boys give her gifts

IMG 9368 Week 2: Homesickness, Cafes, and Justin Bieber

This kid would buy his girlfriend a house, a car, a dog, give her money, take her to the movies...LOL!

IMG 9352 Week 2: Homesickness, Cafes, and Justin Bieber

I like how this kid actually has Justin Bieber hair.

IMG 9367 Week 2: Homesickness, Cafes, and Justin Bieber

"I want this ring!" "Okay. I'll buy that." ....if only it were that easy.

I plan on posting the rest on my Facebook page. Check it out soon, there are some REAL gems.

This weekend, I’m going to an art exhibit with Johnny and his co–teacher, and possibly a cherry blossom festival if the weather is okay. It’s finally starting to warm up here, so I’d love to hang out on some patio/rooftop bar and drink beer. Brunch on Sunday is definitely happening, and Johnny and I are going to watch the UFC fight Sunday night. SO excited!

PinExt Week 2: Homesickness, Cafes, and Justin Bieber

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A Week in Korea

by Sheryll on April 13, 2012

I’ve been in Korea for a little over a week, and I wanted to share some pictures with you!

Kimbap is slowly becoming my favorite (and cheap) thing to eat.

Korean stationary is going to ruin my wallet. SO cute.

This sign is from a coffee shop in my neighborhood called Pentagram: Coffee and Tarot. I’m obsessed.

I totally bought the giraffe socks. They were only 1,000 won (about $1!!).

Korea is full of amazing beauty, skin, and other random products, and this is easily the best thing I’ve ever seen. They are heart shaped heat patches for that time of the month. When I found these, my face was like the girl in the last frame….happiest person EVER. I’ve yet to try them, but if they work, I’ll let you all know!