Upcoming...

I promise that several blogs with all that I've been up to in the last few months will be posted shortly!

Susy's-not-so-permanent-going-away

In less than 7 hours I will be boarding a plane to leave Korea. It still hasn't actually hit me at all. I feel like I'll wake up, head off to fight club, go teach salsa, get some Galbi, and dance the night away at Old Skool -- my usual Saturday... but no, that's not the case. Well maybe it will hit me when I get to finally see my Mommy and Daddy and Susa.

I'll write more when I get home...

It's zero hour.

Almost heading home...

I'm now a week away from my trip back to the states. I leave Daegu on December 6th which is a Saturday morning. I have to fly all over the place. I'm going from Daegu to Seoul, then from Seoul to Tokyo, then from Tokyo to Detroit, then from Detroit to Tampa. I'm anticipating being completely exhausted when I arrive in Tampa. Though I am extremely excited to have some of my Dad's delicious Cuban food and some of the other delicious things that I have missed over the past year. I feel like such a honky for being so excited about food, but I've made an official (written) list of all the foods I want to eat when I get home. I will have to double up the workouts so I don't gain a million pounds while I'm at home.

Well, Friday was my last official day working and as I expected it was really sad - the morning anyway. I pretty much knew that the hardest thing for me would be saying goodbye to my kindergarten students, and I was right. I hadn't even made it all the way into the classroom before I started crying. They all surprised me with cards that they had made, and even their parents wrote me letters (in Hangul of course so it will take me a long time to translate them, I'll have to enlist a Korean friend to help me). I thought it was so cute and sweet. I really will miss those kids like crazy. One of them, Kate, was one of the first students that I ever taught on my very first days at ECC so you can only imagine my attachment. But I took lots of pictures and got some funny videos of them being silly, so I'll always have lots of memories to look back on. My afternoon classes weren't really sad. I had a snack party with each class and I told them to be nice to their new teacher, and I said good-bye. A few of the students wrote me cards or gave me little presents. It was sweet. Then after work I went over to Ashley teacher's new apartment and had dinner with all the korean teachers. I'm really going to miss working with them, but at least I can find a way to hang out with them when I get back.

After Friday, even though I was supposed to be "done" working, things didn't really get any easier. Actually I spent most of the weekend feeling very overextended. On Friday night I pulled an all-nighter to try to pack up all of my apartment. I got a lot done but not nearly as much as I needed to. On Saturday morning (running on no sleep) I went to meet Nick and Young-gi at the hospital for Nick's hernia surgery. It was really bad timing (on the doctor's part, not Nick's) but I'm glad he was finally able to do it, and that I was able to be here. Especially because they don't really provide you with nursing care in Korea. In Korea, they assume/demand that the family do all the work for the patient. Aside from putting in meds and administering IV's and shit they don't do anything... at all. I think I would have been worried sick if I was at home when he was having this surgery. And Thank God for Young-gi. I don't know what we would've done without her. After Nick's surgery he was able to get some sleep so I had to go into school to get all the remainder of my work done. I had to make lesson plans, finish the kindie kid's writing books, clean out my desk, just a ton of stuff. I didn't get out of there until like 4:30 PM. Then I went home, got a few more things packed up and then I made myself a bag for the hospital and got ready for salsa. Even though I didn't really feel like salsa dancing, I felt that it was my responsibility to go to the last salsa class. A few of my Korean salsa students had made plans with me to take me out to eat so I had to go. So I went to the hospital for a little while and then went to the second (Intermediate) salsa class and to eat some galbi afterwards.

I spent Saturday night at the hospital. On Sunday morning I woke up and went straight to my apartment to get my stuff ready to move out. I have to say that I feel truly lucky because I have made some really amazing friends here in Korea. Elly and Janita came over and helped me clean up, Matt came over and was practically my work horse (he carried all my stuff over to Nick's and even helped clean), and Erin, my Kindergarted Korean co-teacher, came over with her car and drove all my stuff over to Nick's. They all helped so much. Even Stephanie, who will be moving into the apartment today, came over and cleaned a lot. By Sunday evening I was exhausted but I felt like I could finally relax a little. Matt and I headed over to the hospital after getting some Mcdonald's and Baskin Robbins for Nick. We all ate (it was Nick's first meal since Friday evening) and watched a movie. Then this morning (Monday) Nick was discharged and we came to his apartment. So now I'm at Nick's getting all my stuff ready for my trip and trying to leave my other things organized.

5 days til I'm home.

One-Year Anniversary

Today marks the one-year anniversary of my arrival in Korea.

It's hard to believe that I've already been here for a year. It's even harder to remember what I expected from my adventure across the world. I'd be lying if I said my feelings were crystal clear at the moment... They're a little mixed, to say the least.

I'm very excited to see my family and friends that I've been away from for a year. I know that seeing them and getting to spend the Holidays with them will make me very happy. Furthermore, the possibility of getting to see my family in Cuba is enough to give me a little ray of sunshine.

But...

I'm sad about leaving my school. My Kindergarten students have already begun giving me guilt trips. I've been teaching them for their entire school year and these kids really are all mine (as I'm one of two teachers for them). One of them, a little girl named Kate, insists - to anyone that will listen - "In December I will go America with Susy Teacher." She is so freaking adorable. I'm sad about not working with all the Korean teachers that I've really come to love. Who will be the Korean-English to English-English translator once I'm gone? Who will bring a little common sense and efficiency to the wonderful ECC I've come to love? I'm sad about leaving Nick and not getting to spend Christmas and New Year's with him...no New Year's kiss for me this year.

I'm stressed out about heading back to the states with no money because I just cant afford to change my money over right now. The exchange rate is so shitty I would basically be throwing a third of the money I've earned in the crapper. I'm worried about the fact that neither one of my parents is working. My little sister is overworking herself with a full time job and going to school full time. And my possibilities to help them have considerably diminished since I can't really send money over anytime soon.

I'm not sure... at this point I'm hoping for the best and trying to be happy just because I'm going to get to see my mommy and daddy and Susa; Tati, Caro, and Kristi (hopefully) - who I've missed so much; my Daniel - who must be huge by now; Katoya, Jose and the always adorable Brie; Dulce, Jesse, Dan... and many, many more that I have missed so much over the past and hopefully have missed me a little bit.

17 days til I'm home.

Halloween madness...

This year, I can definitely say that Halloween was unlike any other. For starters, I celebrated it in South Korea, where it's not really a holiday. Secondly, Nick and I placed second in a Costume contest. And third, I can now say that everyone has seen me in my underwear (well, my bra at least).

For Halloween this year, one of our friends, Sarah, decided to put together this huge "Rocky Horror Picture Show" Halloween event. I don't really think I anticipated how big it got but it turned into this HUGE event. Since Nick and I are both a little weird (and not exactly easily embarrassed) we decided to go in full Rocky Horror style with him dressed as Rocky and me dressed as Janet. For any Rocky Horror Virgins out there not familiar with these characters they don't really wear very much for the duration of the movie. Janet wears a white bra and a slip. And Rocky... well... Rocky wears nothing but gold underpants. Oh yea...

As all my friends can attest, if I do something I do it all out, so I actually made Nick's teeny, tiny gold shorts out of these crazy stripper pants that we found in the "hooker" stores on the shady side of downtown and then I used the left-over fabric from the legs of the pants to make him gold boots. We of course also found a gold wig and then I did my best to recreate the Rocky haircut on it. For myself I just bought a white bra and a slip and fixed up my white heels to look like Mary Janes. We're crazy I know. But I thought we looked really authentic. The only reason we didn't win first place is because there was a guy there dressed as Dr. Scott from the movie with a freaking wheel-chair and everything. Whatever, you overachiever. Lol!

So here we are as Rocky and Janet. What do you guys think?


I think the best part of the whole night were people's reactions. I got so many comments regarding the fact that I was in a bra. I got several "Nice rack," a few "Oh my God!" and of course my personal favorite goes a little something like this:
Me: (walking out onto a staircase)
Random Australian Guy: (walking up the staircase)
Me: (polite smile)
Random Australian Guy: Krroiikkeyy!
Yup! And that doesn't even compare to the comments that Nick got. Random Korean girls kept fondling him. The funniest thing is that most people who wear like Superman or other superhero outfits buy them with these fake muscles on them, but Nick's were actually real. Some girl said she thought we had photoshopped the pictures. But nope.

So yea that was Halloween. Nick and I finally stumbled home (after some delicious galbi, of course) at about 5AM.
Overall, one of the best Halloween's I've had in a long time.

Salsa Congress... plus my spark for dance reignited!

This past weekend was the Korean Salsa Congress in Seoul. Looking back on it I can honestly say that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. At the Babalu salsa party about a month back, Spin (the Korean guy running the Congress) approached me to ask if I could "volunteer" my time to help translate a little for some Colombian and Venezuelan dance groups that they had coming in, and they would put me up in a hotel and pay for my food. He neglected to mention that the Colombians, from a group called Swing Latino, are the current World Champions in group salsa and that there would be several other World Champions there. Um yea.

So I arrive in Seoul on Thursday night after having left directly from work and after a full day of work, 2 hours on the KTX train, and over an hour on the Seoul subway I get to a dance club where I'm expected to hang out and dance until 3:30 in the morning. (Oh and this was the earliest night I had all weekend). It is important to emphasize that being the airhead that I am I had no idea who any of these people were. Anyways, so I introduced myself to all the people from the groups and I translated everything that Spin said. All pretty normal considering that I was asked to be a translator. Then I'm told I'm in charge of getting everyone settled in their rooms, getting them up the next morning - at 8AM, mind you - and then getting them all together and onto a bus for workshops.

The woman that I was supposed to be doing this with, Suk Ja, was a Korean lady who speaks some English, but definitely not enough to not make my weekend ultra frustrating. She would constantly tell me one thing and then 5 minutes later tell me another. Only to then change her mind yet again in another 10. This chick was seriously the most a-typical Korean woman I've ever met. She dresses slightly scandalously, although she definitely does not have the typical petite Korean frame, she smokes and oh did I mention, she has no grasp of logic (although that last one is actually typical of many Koreans). So basically I ended up doing her job. Not only did I translate, I was in charge of all the international dancers (not just the Colombians and Venezuelans). I had to find them food and on several occasions get them around the city. But let's not forget I DON'T LIVE IN SEOUL! Whatever! Luckily I did have the help of a Korean guy named Simon, who was the other translator, but he only spoke Korean and Spanish. At the workshops we would have to be together because the dancers only spoke Spanish and most of the people spoke Korean but some dancers from Taiwan and Japan did not speak Spanish or Korean so I would have to translate it in English. Ridiculous!

Friday they had workshops all day, a big performance that night at the Seoul Opera House and then again dancing until the wee hours of the morning afterwards. That night at the performance I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get everyone to where they were supposed to be and find dressing rooms and get the judges to their places, it was not my job to be a backstage manager, but there I was. And I kept getting lost backstage. Ahh! But it all turned out ok. Except for the part where Spin was trying to introduce the Colombians and then he turns to the packed Opera House floor and says "Susy I need you" so there I am running like an idiot,with everyone laughing at me. So I get onstage not knowing what the hell I'm expected to do. And I ended up trying to say a few words in Korean and they all laughed at me. Oh yea... ha ha ha... laugh at the weiguk. What else is new? After the performance we danced at Club Top all night. We went home at about 5AM. But I had to get up at 6AM to wake up some of the dancers that were supposed to fly out to China. Then again at 8AM to get everyone up. Exhausting!

Saturday was about the same thing. Workshops all day, but this time they said the bus couldn't come to get us so I ended up having to get them to Club Top for the workshops on two taxis. For the record I hate being in a car in Seoul. It's just not worth it. The subway is sooooo much faster. But at least the taxi ride was entertaining. The driver had a crush on Marayud and he kept saying to her "yepouda" which is Korean for pretty or beautiful and he made them give him their autographs. It was pretty hilarious. He said his name was Mr. Moon and he kept shouting their names so they would shout his back. It was a pretty fun taxi ride. Then that night they had another performance, only this time no one had given me a schedule, no one had prepped anything. I saw right it before the show was about to start. None of the dancers had even seen it. It turns out that they had Billy and Katie performing less than 10 minutes after he had finished judging for a routine that is so extremely difficult (well you guys can judge: it's just below). So I had to run around and get the Suk Ja to change the show order. At this point no one has even collected the dancers music, so I'm running around trying to explain to the DJ how to play the music (keep in mind, none of this is my job). Only at that point the judges were supposed to be going out to the judging table. Well since I was trying to do the music, I couldn't do it, seeing as I have not yet developed the ability to be in two places at once. No one else even bothers to think "oh wait, we're starting and the judges aren't out." So I realized this and I run backstage and I tell them we have to go. At this point Spin is all pissed off because one group already went and the judges didn't see it. I ended up fixing it and luckily the dancers realized that it wasn't my fault. I felt like it was a great compliment when Billy and Katie told Spin that "[I] did a great job and next year he needs 10 of [me]." Seriously, I got to the point where I was getting really stressed out. I was really annoyed that I was completely in charge of all that stuff. Who the heck am I, seriously? Anyways, after that performance we headed to the club again and I had to stick around until all the dancers left. So I didn't get to sleep until 5AM.

By Sunday I was completely drained what with less than 8 hours of sleep pretty much. But when I got up I had to meet with Spin and Marta to translate and then Spin tells me that the bus isn't coming to get us. So I tell this to the dancers. Then Suk Ja calls me, I tell her what Spin said and she's like "No no no, the bus will be there." So I tell this to the dancers. 5 minutes later she calls me again so tell me that the bus can't be there until later so we should take the subway as I had initially planned... this process went on for a little while. Needless to say I was getting a little peeved. Plus if I keep telling them different things then I'm the one that looks incompetent. In the end, I was like, "No that's it. I'm taking them on the subway." AAAHHH! In the end I took them on the subway, we got there on time, and everything was ok. I ended up leaving at like 4PM on Sunday even though I didn't really want to go, and the dancers wanted me to stay, but I knew I had a long day on Monday and I needed to sleep. I had even lost my voice. So I came back to Daegu.

Overall, it was a pretty draining weekend. Nevertheless, all of the petty annoyances were completely outweighed by how great of an experience I had with the dancers themselves. I spent the whole weekend with several dancers from Swing Latino (Kevin, Cristian, Nilson, Saray, Eliana, Deisy, and their director Marta), Grizzly and Marayud (a Cabaret salsa couple from Venezuela), Anya and Luis (one of the best-known On-2 salsa couples from New York), Victor and Burju (who are another On-2 couple from Boston who go by the stage name, Hacha y Machete), Olliver (an Australian guy, who is the current On-2 salsa champion with his partner Luda - who wasn't able to make it because she's on the Australian "Dancing with the Stars", Aki and Yasue (a couple from Japan), and Billy Fajardo and Katie Marlow (a couple who have been salsa champions forever, he is currently the head judge at the World Salsa Championships). I feel so priviledged to have met these people. The thing is that being as who they are, they could have all been total a-holes to me, but they were all the absolute nicest people ever. They even invited me to come hang out with them when they go to World's which are this December in Orlando. How cool is that?

The truth is that I didn't really realize the full extent of who most of these people were until I got back to Daegu on Sunday night. It turns out that I was dragging Billy Fajardo, the HEAD JUDGE of the most important salsa event ever around the Seoul Subway system. God I'm an airhead sometimes. But it all worked out ok. And all in all I feel pretty lucky.

And here are some videos of the dancers that I met:
This is the championship routine for the Swing Latino dance group. This is Cali style salsa from Cali, Colombia. It's pretty ridiculous the synchronization that they manage to have with their stunts and complex footwork.


This is Luis and Anya at the NYC Salsa Congress performing one of their routines. They are awesome!


This is Oliver, with his partner Luda, performing their championship routine at the '06 World Salsa Championships. They are fantastic!


This is Billy and Katie performing their best known routine "Conversation with a Snake." Keep in mind as you watch this, he is 51 and she is in her forties. It's absolutely amazing!

Winding down...

I now, officially, have less than two months left in Korea. It seems crazy to think that I've been here for almost a year already. It definitely doesn't feel like it most of the time. I'm starting to make plans for all the things I need to do for when I go back home: pack up all my stuff and find somewhere to put it all, find someone to take over my salsa class.... that kind of stuff. I think most of my stuff will end up at Nick's place. And I've met this really cool Ecuadorian/Canadian girl named Melinda that seems interested in teaching my class while I'm gone. And I'm also trying to plan for all the things I want to do/have to do in Korea before I leave. I don't want to end up like most people who are at their last week teaching and all of a sudden they realize they have two days left and a ton of stuff to get done. I want to go on a temple stay, get my Hapkido blue belt, buy souveniers for everyone at home... and more. Oh, and my kindergarten students have already started to give me guilt trips about me leaving. Monica even went as far as to write "I rell miss Susy T" on my hand. Awww.


Additonaly, I'm also having to start thinking about all the things I want to do in my limited time in the states. Realistically, two months is not a long time. Especially when I'll be in Cuba for like 3 weeks of that time. And at this point I don't even know exactly when I'll be coming back to Korea since I haven't set up a job yet (but I'm working on it). My "To Do" list - or lists, I should say - are getting pretty long. Any suggestions?

But in other news: The last month has been pretty great. Nick came back <3. My birthday was awesome. Salsa is going well. I've gone to some pretty ridiculous parties. Pictures of the cape party to celebrate Nick's and Francis's birthdays below... So yea it's been pretty good.
--- The whole "Capes" gang at Billibowl.--- Nick and I managing to be all cutesy even though we're dressed as villains.--- Francis and I getting into character.--- This is our official villain picture - although Dave's sarong cape doesn't fit super well with the theme. (Nick, me, Andy and Dave)

For Nick's actual birthday, which coincided with Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving, we went to Busan. We got to hang out at the beach and eat yummy food. Oh and we saw some Koreans almost drown. That wasn't one of the fun parts. It was pretty ridiculous because, being the crazy weigooks we had no idea what was happening, but yea, apparently they were drowning... What can I say? It's Korea. Then to celebrate the following weekend, Francis decided that he wanted to have a "cape party" for his (Sept 17th) and Nick's (Sept 14th) birthdays and we all jumped on then bandwagon. The premise is that everyone wears capes... that's it. But inevitably craziness ensued. Luckily we missed the drunken, naked, swimming in a fountain part of the evening... These pictures are too funny.

And then last weekend was Babalu's 3rd big Salsa party. It was awesome! After my class there was a movement workshop. At first I wasn't to impressed but afterwards the guy teaching it actually danced with me and he is probably one of the best leads I've ever danced with. I would go as far as to say he's like the Korean Danny G... lol. But there were some really amazing dancers there and it was great. Plus the free beer didn't hurt. I got quite tipsy. By the time I arrived at Old Skool, Nick was three sheets to the wind himself, so we ended up having to go home. I ended up with a wicked hangover the next day. :-(

This weekend I am SUPER EXCITED about attending the Korea Salsa Congress. It's one of the biggest salsa events in all of Asia. I hope it goes well. I'll be there to help translate for the Colombian and Venezuelan salsa teams that they're flying in. Wish me luck!