I'm back & I've got my dancing shoes on

 My dance teacher, Ji Soo and Chae Won enjoy American Jelly Bellys.

I returned to Gongju one month ago, but today was the first day that I truly felt like I was back in my old groove. So from a window seat in my favorite coffeeshop, I'll dive into why K-Pop dancing makes Gongju truly feel like home.

Perhaps that's a little unfair to my school since I'm ridiculously happy there. English competitions, debate club meetings, essay grading and more keep me busy - I've never felt more involved. I know that I have less than seven months of teaching left there, yet I can't imagine being anywhere else. 


One of the reasons why is based purely on numbers: over the course of a few weeks, a whopping 75% of my 200 second-grade students have asked me to help them review their individual English presentation assignments. I'll let you do the math. I'm thrilled that I've gotten to interact so directly with my students and their English. Having 400 students a week makes it difficult to connect with everyone, so this has been a great way to get one-on-one time with so many of them. I also try to track down the students "in their natural habitat" of their homerooms, which was shocking for the first few weeks. Now the students and staff are no longer surprised to see me running all over the school during breaks in search of a student who gave me his/her presentation to read.


Yes, things at school are great. But work at school and multiple projects in my (new) apartment (built in the 1970s) have kept me too busy to rejoin my dance class. TODAY was the day that I made it back and it felt so good.


This dance class deserved a blog many long months ago. As I wrote to a fellow ETA,"It's my exercise, social outlet, opportunity to practice Korean and connection to popular culture all in one. Plus a place to shower." But the feeling of homecoming I experienced there tonight absolutely cements CMS as a second home to me.


When I entered the studio, my dance instructor had her head between her knees in a stretch, but still managed to shout my name with a happy welcome. Several of the girls who help out at the studio looked up from their cellphones and gathered around me with happy surprise. I chatted in Korean with a few of the elementary students I befriended last semester about where I'd been and why I hadn't been back in a while. In true cultural ambassador fashion, I also came prepared with Jelly Bellys from the US and ddok (rice cake) from my school. Both went over extremely well and I was offered donuts, chestnuts and socks as a welcome back present.


To balance out all of my praise of this place, I feel like I need a disclaimer: I'm no marvelous dancer nor am drawn to dance here because of my undying love for K-Pop. While it felt good to join in with the opening stretches and warm-up routines that we've been doing since I started there, I still missed a few beats. When we started into our actual routine for the night, it was to one of the most annoying and inane K-Pop songs that I'm already sick of and I was already far behind in learning it due to my recent absences. 


Despite the repetitive cutesy beats and my own clumsiness, I was so happy to be dancing with these people. For all that I rave about my school and how happy I am there, sometimes I need other places to call home in Gongju. CMS Dance Studio happens to be one of them. Just like my school, the people there had to warm up to the 외국인 (foreigner) being all up in their business every day, but now I think they like it.


CMS does have one major advantage over both of my other "homes" in Gongju: a steady stream of hot water for showers. I swear that I'm more comfortable in the communal shower of my dance studio than I am in my own cramped bathroom that doesn't have enough warm water to rinse all of my hair at once. Too much information?

Free drink next time at Cafe Rudico!

I've come a long way since my first day at at CMS a year ago. It's a fun story, but for another time, perhaps. One of the reasons I love this coffeeshop is its late hours, but they're starting to wipe down tables. I ran into a friend here earlier and spent an easy 45 minutes catching up before we looked at our watches and guiltily remembered that we had each come here with specific tasks to accomplish. But maybe that's another reason why this shop is a favorite? I feel like I'm always running into friends here.

I'm sure I'll back soon. After all, I just filled my frequent buyer card.