Da Update

Heey Guys! I am so sorry that it has been such a long while since I last talked with all of you! I guess that I just didn't want to write a post when nothing interesting is really going on right now. This is supposed to be a meaningful and funny (hopefully) blog that provides insightful messages and meaningful cultural commentary, not about how I had to move out of my host family or the fact that work has been relatively unremarkable...
Here are the exciting things that are going on for me right now:
1) I started my club last week. This club is supposed to be for helping Korean children improve their English writing and speaking skills. Overall the whole thing has been amazing and wonderful, but there is one thing that I still do not really understand. How am I supposed to teach English to a kid who speaks no English? I mean, for someone without any formal training in English teaching... Anyway, I love all the kids I'm working with, even if one of them can barely communicate with me... This is also the little girl who looked at me, said "eyebrow" in Korean, and began to laugh really hard last Saturday. I wish that I could have had this experience earlier in my project. I have to admit that I am a little bit more than peeved that all the work I have done while here has been on a weekend. Also, I find it interesting that in terms of punishments for children in Korea, hitting kids is acceptable, but little girls are not allowed to touch the ground. (This might sound a bit odd, but this past Saturday was the second class, and the consequence for not doing homework was a set of push ups for each of the kids).
2) I got all the papers completed and turned in for my Chinese visa. Finding the correct office in Seoul alone took like 4 days. The actual embassy for China here is a huge building that looks like a palace and is guarder by an extremely unfriendly Korean man who obviously requires a code or card of some kind to move aside. In addition, you have to fill out an itinerary for every day of your stay in China, so winging it in this situation will just not cut it. To make matters more distatesteful, for a US citizen, a visa costs more than 3x more than for any other people for a visit of 30 days or less. Even with all my papers, it took me over an hour in the actual office, which was way longer than anyone else. People were leaving from either side of me, and I was still sitting there, growing increasingly frustrated with the gentleman going through my papers. Fingers crossed that I get the visa!
3) I moved in with the other volunteers in their apartment. With six girls, things could be a whole lot worse... Other than "Dishwashing Gate" things have been going pretty smoothly. Tank goodness we have 3 bathrooms :)
If anyone would be interested in an apartment tour on my YouTube channel, please let me know!
Love you all,
Elena Giselle