My whole textbook is written in KOREAN...ugh!

So here is the thing...Korean is hard to learn. Sitting in the clasroom for 4 hours a day my confidence had much pretty much shattered. However, I went to Seoul this weekend. YES I partied all night, YES I went up and danced on stage, YES I had an amazing time and a SURPRISING YES to understanding things I had learned in contextual situations. Example: we had been learnig about money and having basic conversations on how to ask for the check at a restaurant. We had Koreans with us who were fluent in the language but I could comprehend things as they were talking to the waiter. Another amazing moment- I made up my very own sentence, something that would have taken a panic attack and a lot of coaxing from the teacher to complete in class. Moral of the story: Korean is hard but I know more than I give myself credit for. Once I get to my homestay I will probably find myself more confident and speaking more freely than I do in class.
Hmmm, other important updates: Body image, as well as first impressions are crucial in Korea. When in Seoul, I saw very many people who had plastic surgery to look a certain way and even spotten men and women who were sporting white makeup. The lighter the skin tone- the better I guess. It is a little un-nerving though that my host family will be openly critisizing me for my weight and at the same time telling me to eat more. These types of contradictions are frequent in society- you have to wear makeup, but not too much, it isn't ok to bear your shoulders but your skirt barely has to exist. Dieting and food restrictions seem to be common, but girls will never want to exercise.
Lastly, I wanted to remember and reflect on a year ago. It seems like every year I think "oh boy, I was so silly to be thinking this or doing that" and wondering when I will finally be mature enough to look back a year and not have to raise my eyebrows in disapproval of the choices and thought patterns I was having at that time. I doubt that a day like that will ever come, and really thinking about it now I feel as if it is better that it never does, because that would mean that I had hit a plateau in development. To start off, I had bleached my hair in an attempt to see if blondes had more fun (Id have to say no and red is still the way to go). I had also gone through an interesting boy phase and I was not being kind to myself or most people around me. The best memories however stem around the first days of school during my second year at BICI north. Coming back, knowing what I was facing with my challenging students, and then hitting the problems head on made me feel great. Like I finally had enough confidence in my abilities to stop taking the backseat and take over. I remember the first year teachers (now stellar educators in their own right who I miss just a little bit!) overwhelmed and panic stricken. True fear is having 13 unruly 7th and 8th graders spitting game at you at the same time as chucking a used condom at your 16,000 dollar smartboard. Oh the glory days. The baton has been passed once again and the second years get to kick back and watch as the new teachers attempt classroom management and develop their teacher personas. A part of me wishes I could be in on that school culture once again. Give advice and listen to horror stories as well as cheer on the newcomers. But it is best to let that part of my life stay in the past and look forward to being a newbie once again when I go to my Korean school, bright eyed and bushy tailed the cycle begins again!