Hotel California or Tom's Apartment

Last week I went out to dinner thinking it would be like any dinner other I go to with my host parents - I meet some of their friends, we speak some broken English, I try a few Korean phrases, and then I say it was so nice to meet you at the end. But this time it was just my host mom and four of her girlfriends, and during dinner they asked me if I had anything else to do that night because they wanted to go to karaoke with me. After dinner I went to karaoke with them, and singing "hotel california" wasn't enough, they wanted to dance the whole time. So we danced and sang. Luckily two of the husbands came after about 20 minutes so I had some guys to hang out with. But imagine singing and dancing with some middle aged Korean women who you don't really know that well and can't really have a conversation with. At times, a little awkward. But I was thinking if it was awkward for me, maybe it was awkward for them too. Maybe they were doing it because they wanted me to have fun, and that's what young Korean adults do. So if that was the case, I did appreciate. Among other things, it was a good bonding experience... At least now my host mom got her wish and got to see me dance.

Last weekend I went to Cheongju and saw Tom again, and we also met up with Forest and Annie for some night life fun. Sat night = So much fun. It's just really nice to be able to relax and freely communicate with friends, and not have to worry about how fast I'm talking.

Tom is an English teacher in Korea with another program, and he gets his own apartment instead of a homestay. Sure, there are pros and cons to both, but right now I liking that fact that I have a homestay. It's always fun to mess with little siblings. And my host mom is such a good cook. Tom and I also played basketball saturday afternoon at a university near his apartment. I hadn't really played a real game since Chuncheon (over a month!) It was a perfect day for ball, and I found some Koreans who are good at basketball.

Next weekend we have an ETA conference, so all of us English teachers will get together and marvel at how fast time has flown (we all left for our placements almost a month and a half ago!) I only got to know the other ETA's for six weeks, but I do miss them (most of them).