February 2021: Making Mac & Cheese is an Act of Love
Here’s another installment of my monthly updates, in which I talk about my life living and teaching in South Korea. Short month, short update.
The beginning of this month was Seollal, or Lunar New Years. Koreans traditionally spend it with their families and eat rice cake soup.
God, I swear this is always the time of year when I deal with so many goodbyes and new beginnings. As a Zodiac Rat, the Year of the Rat was not kind to me (or anyone, really), so let’s hope and pray the Year of the Ox is.
This one is especially bittersweet. I always switch coteachers every school year so I should be used to it by now, but I adored both of mine this year. Luckily, I’m keeping one coteacher, and I’m so grateful for her. However, the other is moving on to be a homeroom teacher. It’s so hard losing that relationship after you spend so long building it.
And it’s especially hard because I’m also losing my classroom and moving to the teacher’s office. I have so many memories in this room and it’s where I feel most comfortable teaching.
There was sweetness to the goodbyes, though. I gave a tearful farewell speech to my 6th graders and got some lovely notes. And my coteachers took me out to a really fancy lunch which was, no kidding, probably the best meal I’ve ever had.
In fact, I think most of this month was bonding over food. While Korea’s under no strict lockdown, eating at home has become our #1 activity.
So I made an American meal for my Korean friends, who’d never had mac n cheese or cornbread before. I was pretty nervous cause I’d never made mac n cheese from scratch before—only ever seen family make it—but it turned out waaaay better than expected. They liked it, and it felt like a mini Thanksgiving.
My friend Abbie and my latest thing is launching into improv sketches. We tried doing that in English, then in Spanish, then in Korean (we’re both learning both). It was…a glorious mess.
With so much vacation time, I’ve been messing around with curly girl stuff, trying new gels and protein treatments. I met a person here who runs a beauty channel (wavycurlyria) for those with wavy/curly hair and live in Korea! She also cuts hair so…I might get bangs soon?
Also this month was Spring Break, and I headed to Jeju for 3 days.
I know it seems odd to head to the island right now—Jeju is known for its gorgeous beaches and balmy weather—but actually, there’s a lot to do in winter. I’ll write up some of my fave activities soon but my highlights were the Bunker de Lumieres, Udo, orange picking, and this kinda creepy chocolate museum.
I was worried about COVID safety, too but I checked with my school and they were more than okay with it (and even seemed a bit confused why I’d even ask…). My travel buddy and I double-masked and hosed ourselves down with sanitizer every chance we got. So don’t you worry.
After I got back, I dealt with a busted sink and a wrecked budget. Then I spent the weekend at my friend, Abbie’s, to celebrate their birthday and record a podcast on bisexuality. As your resident bisexual, I had a lot of thoughts. It’s not out yet as of time of posting, but you can check out Abbie’s podcast Thoughts on That here.
We also did a little hike and ate lunch on the mountain by their house to cap off the end of our break.
Like I said, I always get a little sentimental around this time of year. And especially since I plan to leave in six months (I mean it this time, really!) but I’ll save those thoughts for when I leave.
While I feel I’ve gotten off easy being in Korea, we haven’t escaped the effects of this pandemic either. Vaccines are still a distant blip on the horizon, but at least cases here are low for now. It’s a privilege to be surrounded by loved ones and to attempt careful travel around the country.
Hell, it’s relieving to just be able to make mac n cheese for friends.
Thanks for reading and take care.