Blogger Notes

It's that time of year again:
Time for Rain and Stephen Colbert to face off on the Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People list! Basically, the magazine editors compile a list and "the public" votes online for a second list. Basically, it's a popularity contest. I don't even know how Rain got on there, but he's not disappearing any time soon.

Last year Colbert made a video decrying his 2nd place status to a mere "pop star" and this year, he's squealing, "Oh my God, Rain knows who I am!" ROFL! [video below]

It all makes for some entertaining television. Let's just hope our boy has learned enough English to make an appearance on the Colbert Report.

I don't know what else to say about this commercial other than. *Um, wow.* I really, really don't need my bathroom experience to be this exciting.

After a few more episodes of SangDoo, I realized the sunsingyim bomb is getting dropped everywhere. The teacher is sunsingyim. The doctor is sunsingyim. The principal is sunsingyim. I'm just going to think of the word as meaning "honored person." Hopefully, sometime in the near future, I'll get to the bottom of it...

Then there's ajumma as a greeting, ajumma as an entreaty, ajumma as a title, ajumma as a description. I feel as if I've learned the two most useful words in Korean even though I couldn't properly define either one if I tried!

So, in a moment of boredness, I hit up my old friend Crunchy Roll for a fix. Since I've already seen Full House, I decided on Bi's other drama, Sang Doo! Let's Go To School.

In addition to all the excitement of the drama's storyline: baby mamas and gigolos y'all!--I'm on episode 3 and this beats Full House hands down--I've discovered that even my nonchalant study of Korean has enabled me to understand a few words other than "yes" and "no."

The first is sunsingyim. I know I didn't spell that right but point being, in a Pimsleur Korean lesson, I heard the word used as a substitute for sir or ma'am as in, "Excuse me sir." (shile hamnida sunsingyim.) In the drama, I hear Bi screaming it to describe his long lost love's profession. SHE'S A TEACHER! Nice.

The second one that stood out was the highly fabled ajoshi and ajumma. I had heard mention of both as if they were distinct species but this was the first time I noticed either word being used to address someone. The first was ajoshi. One of the kids sees Bi in the hallway and addresses him as ajoshi. I'm like, Can he do that? I mean, dude's clearly under 30. I get ticked when little kids call me ma'am! Later, in an obligatory scene, Bi takes his love to a love motel where he addresses the woman in charge as "ajumma." It seemed much more appropriate on that occasion because the woman was obviously middle aged.

While I'm glad to know my soap opera watching has some value, I really wish I could shake the impression that Lee Dong Gun looks like this Lance Bass. It's both distracting and disconcerting.

Soooo, I had my phone interview with Footprints today and all went well. I was accepted. *yeah!* The next step is to turn in two letters of reference (I already filled out the application) which will eventually be forwarded to SMOE.

I also found out today that I have to get my dog USDA veternarian certified before I can take him to Korea and it has to happen no more than 10 days before departure! At this point, I still don't know if I'll be in Nashville or back in Virginia at that time but finding out is definitely on my to-do list.

One more thing out of the way, one more thing added to the list...

I formally submitted my application to Footprints yesterday. I feel a palpable sense of relief at having gotten that done!

So far, I've submitted

• my resume and cover letter
• a headshot in which my skin looks as soft as a baby's butt via a little Glamour treatment
• and as a bonus, a completed copy of the SMOE teacher application.

The next step is to complete an interview with Footprints in which they'll decide whether or not to represent me. I don't anticipate any problems on that end but at the same time, I have no idea what to expect!

Also, I've decided that if for some reason I can't get a position with SMOE, I will consider GEPIK which is the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education's program to recruit English teachers. Gyeonggi is the province directly encompassing the Seoul metro area. The only thing that prevents me from doing so is my fear of living in the country. I like to visit rural areas but I do not find joy in living there. I kid you not, living in the boondocks raises my anxiety level. Gyeonggi-do is a BIG province so there's no guarantees.

On the other hand, there's always Incheon, Seoul's less glamorous stepsibling. The two are connected by subway but Incheon is best known for lending its name to one of the highest rated airports in the world (and little else). I would consider Incheon a stronger second choice IF and only if I can avoid applying through EPIK, Korea's teacher recruiting program for the entire country. I need some kinda guarantee I'm not going to banished to farm land!

So much to think about. So much time to think about it!