Phone update.

These both were typed on my phone. There may be a few mistakes. I just wanted to try the app.

Wednesday June 26
The day went quickly.  Nothing much exciting. I had a tear up in France. No big surprise. It passed quickly luckily and wasn't a tantrum. Australia and Denmark both passed quickly.
My afternoon Canada class was good. Actually really good. I often complain about how its tough for me going straight from kindy to first grade with no break at all. I'm tired and have no energy. The kids don't like being at school because its boring so they do not act like good students. After I found out that so many of the did not like being there I told them I would make it more fun. I tried. I was failing...
Today when I walked in the desks were in a semi circle instead of just 2 lines. It was a stage looking area. David the one that gets to rowdy in class was not there. Figured I could try something out. If you know me, there is a good chance that you know I love to sing, though if you know that you probably also know I am horrible at it. But what did I do? I sang, danced and moved all over in the area in the middle of the semi circle. I was still really tired.... But the kids laughed, smiled, and were having fun. I fought that feeling of being tired. And or worked great. Most of the kids did their work. A complete 180 from the normal class. Me not having energy and being tired was no excuse to take away Eric teacher from the students.
There was a street food cart set up by bobo and Ama and I tried it. They had 순대 (soondae) which is Koreas version of blood sausage. Is very popular. The cart had all sorts but the 2 that stood out were the kimchi soondae and meat soondae (all soondae is made with meat... So we did not understand the name). Both were incredible. Ama and I each got one order and we shared.
After work we played settlers... Though we made it into a drinking game. We made it through one game and stupidly we began another. The second game one of the people quit, another got tired of playing, so it was just me and Ama... So we all just ended the game. While we were there a Korean that Ama knew walked by. This guys party trick I'd chugging a bottle of soju. So I got to see that.
We all went up stairs because of a field trip tomorrow with the kindy kids.

Thursday June 27
Field Trip day. Today was water gun fight field trip. Basically we take all of the kids to a park. There were 4 groups (made up of 3 classes each). The kids got to have water gun fights. I group at a time. Whole 1 group was fighting the others got to draw, have snack, and play. There were no crappy posed pictures. The kids got to play and had fun. Some of the kids wrote knee pads and elbow pads. Others didn't. There was a bit of crying because anytime you have kid running, kids will fall and they will skin their knees.
The guns were small. So the first group that did it, the kids constantly had to run away from the sink to fill up their guns. Well... I decided to fill up the big container they used to bring the guns in with water. Make a refill station right next to where the fight took place. Amazing and everyone liked it! It was used for the rest of the groups.
I wrote a black shirt to the fight... I had a blue OKC Thunder shirt on under it. I took off the black shirt in the eastern fight with my classes. I figured it would be more fun for them to see the water damage on me. It was a hit. Needless to say I got drenched. But it was fun.
We got back to ecc. Tired, worn out and wet. I had 2 kindy classes to teach. They went by quickly. Next was Canada. The desks were in a line and I was tired and still wet. The class stated boring... Then I had the kids move the desks in a semi circle again and fought through the being tired but singing and being active. It worked again today.
Erica was back in Korea class. She does seem less stressed note that there is another girl but I still worry about her. Angel is fitting in nicely. When I get her to laugh it is contagious. The other kids will laugh too. Erica giggles. Sometimes she is about ready to have a good laugh but she stops herself. Still working on her.
At night Ama, Rob, Taylor,  Hudson, Sarah and I all went to pizza school to get dinner. We were going to eat outside of the GS,  but all of the tables were taken. We all just retired to our rooms. I watched Cool Runnings while I ate my pizza. Love that movie!

Both of these typed on my phone...

Watch this!

Tuesday June 25th
Today went pretty quickly. The kids had drama presentation today. France class is the only class that I had that got cut short because of it, it was on the kids minds most of the day. Just like cartoon was yesterday. The difference was that my Denmark, France, and Australia class all had cartoon at the same time, they did not for drama. So the kids excitement levels were spread throughout the day.
I only got to see France class perform. I wish I could have seen everyone. Oh well. I took a short video of France. I did not teach them this class. So, check it out if you are so inclined. It is only 14 seconds long. Also when you watch, check out the awesome Mokdong ECC sign in the background. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MA9FnluRTA
I had to get mad at Denmark class today. Not really because I wanted to... but half of the class was not following along when we were reading. So I made each student that was not following along tell the class why they were not following along and why the class had to wait for them. It worked for the rest of class. I figure if I do the same thing a few more times, than they may all start to pay attention the entire class. Its tough for them. I teach them the last 2 periods of the day. I understand them being tired and worn out. God knows I am... that final stretch is hard.
Canada was Canada. Having them right after Kindy, though I have been like it the whole month, is so much more difficult for me to teach. Part of it is them just getting to ECC from elementary school, part of it is me being tired and unprepared.
Korea, Erica wasnt there today. The boys cheered. Bothers me on different levels. I told them it was not nice. Though I really do not think Erica should be in that class. Theys boys are just like what you expect 11/12 year old boys to be. At least now Angel is there and hopefully will help Erica build up some social confidence. Anyway... Angel is great in class. she participates and is smart. I think I blew her mind a little bit today. In our read and debate class we are talking about teen plastic surgery. She said she would get it (eventually Daniel and Danny agreed they would too). She said she would change her nose. Granted this is only a 12 year old girl (11 western age) and she already wants a nose job. Korea has huge social pressures based on looks. I think it goes 1 in 5 Korean women have had plastic surgery. There are looks to Korean (in fashion/ style) and you have to fit into one of the categories. It puts a huge amount of pressure on Koreans, especially young adults.... anyway we were talking about what is popular and what is considered pretty. All of the students were so set in what they thought. Then I said imagine 10 years in the future, and what would be popular and pretty then. I used videos and pictures of life in the mid 90's when I was their age. Jnco Jeans, Backstreet boys, NKotB.... and showed them the looks today. Then I showed them a Korean band called H.O.T. which was big in the 90s and Big Bang which is popular today. Completely different. So I drew fake noses on the board labeled A and B.  I said nose A might be ugly right now and nose B is pretty... But in 10 years B nose might be considered ugly, and A nose would be pretty. If you have an A nose now and change it to the B nose, would you in 10 years change back to the A nose if it was pretty and B was ugly.
I am not sure if it clicked, but it seemed like it did. I know as a child, and even still as an adult, sometimes we do not seem to remember there is a future, and what is now is not necessarily true in the future. But it seemed to hit her that what we think now might not be the same thing we think in the future. It mad her do a double take and think.
I did not have Robs Australia class today. Sad. So instead, I walked around my neighborhood then took a nap. Rob, Ama, Sarah and I played Settlers at the GS, and now I am up in my room. I'll watch a show then go to bed soon.
Oh, I remember one thing that I was going to say yesterday. When some student was leaving yesterday, he said I looked like Freddy Mercury. I do not know who this student was, but I shouted great reference.  This kid not only knows Queen, but also knows that Freddy Mercury had a moustache, and was able to make a comparison between me and him based on the soul feature of a moustache. It mad not sound like much, but having a kid from another country that had to be between the ages of 9-12 to make such a reference and comparison is pretty incredible.
My kids are also making me want to start to work out at least a little bit. I lift my kids up really tall. All of the kids love it. I am really tall and the kids heads almost touch the ceiling. Lifting a class of  11 can be hard... I also lift kids from my classes and others anytime I am in the hall. I love it and all of the kids get huge smiles... but some of these kids are bigger than what I think an 7 year old should be. Some of these kids are big...some are a bit on the hefty side, but others are tall and bulky. Lifting them is not hard if it is only 1 or if they are the first one... but lifting 13 kids and then having to finish up with several big kids... I am just not in that good of shape. I never want to have to tell a kid they are too big.
Okay, I am off to watch something and then hit the hay. I cant believe Wednesday is tomorrow. Time is flying a little quicker than I am comfortable with....

Relaxing then showtime!

Sunday June 23rd
Lazy day all day. Rob was flying back to Korea, so we were all going to take him out to dinner when he got back. So we were waiting outside of the GS. He got back and joined us there.
We went to a place called a jimjabong. They are popular in Korea. It is like a spa. There are 3 parts. The men, the unisex, the women. I only experienced the unisex and the men. When you check in, you get a pair of clothes and a key. First by the register, you check in your shoes and lock them up. Then the men go to the mens side and women womens side. Walking in the mens side... it is like a locker room. But nearly everyone is naked. We changed into the clothes and went to the common area.
The common area has different saunas. Ranging fom hell to freezing. The hell one may be the hottest thing I have experienced. 5 minutes in there I was drenched with sweat. I went straight to the cold one... I was steaming for a good 10 minutes before I normalized. They also have massage chairs. 2 bucks for a 15 minute chair massage that actually feels incredible. The only way it would be better if I were shorter or the chairs were made for taller people. One thing about jimjabongs is once you pay to get in, you can stay. One cheap way for families to travel in korea, instead of getting a hotel, just go somewhere and stay in the jimjabong. So there were families just sleeping on the ground on sleeping mats in the common area.
Our group split up and the women went to the women section, and the men, the men section.
The men section has the lockers and the spa/pool area. No clothes are permitted. Just dozens of naked men and boys.  The shock is pretty big at first. Dont get me wrong, I love being naked. But sitting and relaxing and just hanging out with naked men is a bit different.  But everyone is so naked... after the shock you just forget about it. They had a hot mineral bath, hot jacuzzi, hot tubs, hot pools, a cool pool, a cold pool, showers from the ceiling, jets of water, different saunas.
We all got back together in the common area, got chair massages, and left. Literally one of the most relaxing experiences in my life. The going between hot and cold, sweating out toxins, being in the water, massage chairs... It just relaxes every part of you. Either a great way to start the week or a great way to end it... or both. It only cost 11 bucks to get in. We were there for about 2.5-3 hrs. Easily could have stayed longer, but we had school the next day.

Monday June 24th
I got to school and set up the stage. Only problem was Ronnie and Stephen were watching. So not only was the gym hot, I was nervous. I sweated like a cow (though it only took less than 10 to set up). I was nervous because I wanted everything to work. Work it did.

 Australia Class: Amy, Emily, Ella, Jin, Valeria, Daniel, Joey, Hayden, Jack, Eric, Ian

 France Class: Andy, David, Sharon, Fred, Juliet, Julie, Kelly, Sally

Denmark Class: Joshua, Shawn, Angelina, Chloe, Eric, John, Erica, Soo

I set it up a little bigger than that and had it so people could be behind it. They made it smaller, closed the curtains, and moved it back a little. The next class session they had it bigger and the curtains rolled back. It will probably take them a little time to figure out what they want to do with it. You can see the top bar is bent. It is because I got the 3 section bar instead of the 2. I will change that. Also, if you look at the sign... It lights up on the outside edge and if you look closely, behind the yellow too. The school put the power puff girls and the cartoon stuff up too. This is a  nice little improvement for the cartoon presentations. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of it. The kids were all excited, so that made me super happy. They left it up today because there is the Drama presentation tomorrow! I'm glad its getting used already.

My students did okay. Not great. But I taught them movements etc... but Christina just had them stand in a line. She also didnt have them do any of the other stuff I wanted them to do... Oh well

I had many great teachers growing up. Many of them went the extra mile for their students. I want to do the same for mine. And when I have kids, I hope their teachers do the same.

The rest of the day went pretty well. Nobody cried today. A few were close... but not close enough!

After school Rob and I went to Yongsan Electronics Market. He had to buy a power converter. He just texted me and said it was not working.

I signed a contract for Jeju and teaching in July. It sounds like it is going to be a ton of work... but 1 week of really hard work and getting paid 800 bucks is not that shabby.

I think there was more I was thinking about saying (I thought about it while riding the train) but I cannot remember what it was I wanted to say.

So I guess that is all for now.

Training...

Saturday June 22

Today... Well I woke up. I headed to ECC to test the stage I made. Not quite perfect yet... There is still some work I want to do... but it is good enough for the first time. I still need to fix the curtains to make them look longer. Also the sign (Which hopefully I will be able to make tomorrow). Also I will probably get a pole for the top that is 2 pieces instead of 3. I think my kids will like it. When I was there, Rachel was there. Every Saturday a Korean teacher comes in and works till one to help students... Today it was Rachel. She got a kick out of it and loved my dedication. She said something about how Ama and I are the best teachers at ECC because all of our students and their parents love us. Rosa (one of the Desk teachers {receptionist/front desk}) thought it was great. She said she has been at ECC for 10 years, and she thinks I am the best and most dedicated teacher she has seen. I texted a picture to Louise and she said she could not believe it and called me a treasure. I dont mind the praise, but I do not do it for the praise. I do it because I love doing things, and I really love making my kids happy. If I can make them excited and happy just a little, that is so much more rewarding to me than anything else. 

So here are pictures of  version 1... I will take a picture with kids on Monday... but this is just so you can put a picture with what I have been working on. When we do it, there is a backdrop that ECC uses. So this will go in front of it (so there wont be a mirror like there is now.

I had training this afternoon. It was okay but not really great. I spoke to one of the ladies and brought up some of the problems I am facing with the materials... She kind of said that we can adapt them to our own teaching methods and schedules... but then I told her about how rigid the schedule was. We also learned a little about a class we are teaching that is still in the development phase. It is called citizenship (not sure if I have spoken about that before). Anyway, the curriculum was made for classes that have computers in them to show video clips. Anyway, the class I teach does not have a computer so I am not able to do everything the teachers guide says... they were surprised that my classroom did not have a computer.

At the training, the 2 people that trained me were there. Turns out that the woman trainer is the head of that department from YBM. Not just a regular trainer, but a VIP. Ama has an interview with her next week for a job at corporate. I only bring this up, because she knew who I was and remembered me. Also I think that Mokdong has told them a little about me. Mokdong is the #2 ECC branch, so they are pretty well known and important. It seemed like they payed more attention to what I was saying than than what others were saying. Though of course a lot of my criticisms were constructive instead of just complaints. I wanted solutions. 

Ama and I stopped by a Lotteria on the way home from training. Lotteria is a Korean fast food chain (like McDonalds). I have had them before, but Ama said I should get the cheese sticks. Holy crikey... DELICIOUS. it was just like regular fried mozzarella sticks. But these were delicious. I have had many bad ones in my life. these were perfect. From a fast food joint no less. Next time instead of a mediocre burger, I will just just get 10 orders of these. They were that good.

Got home and took a nap. Needed a nap. It takes an hour and 15 minutes to get the the training, 4 hours of training, and an hour and 15 back. 

Went to the GS and had a beer with Sarah and Zara (another foreign teacher that lives in Bobo for a different Hagwon). Ama and Hye Jin came down. We were going to get 삼겹살 Samgyeopsal (the pork belly BBQ) but no places by us were open. We ended up eating Samurai. My gosh... that food is really good. Ama and I were not really hungry, HyeJin was. We all ate and ate. One order filled us all up. I would have been content not eating second dinner... but it was so good that I had to. I think I have had it for like 3 weeks straight. The beef is just so tender and succulent.  I will find out the name of the dish is sometime.

That has been my Saturday.

4 Months

Friday June 21st
Today marks my 4 months of landing and living in Korea. 4 Months. That is just so freaky thinking about. I can barely grasp that I have been here for that long. Time is flying faster that I imagined it would. That means I have already been here for 1/3 of a year. Wow.
So school was pretty decent today. Only one crier, and that is because I decided I would help out Niamh. She now teaches science to my Australia kids... So she is not used to how they work. She only got done with half of the science project in her class time. So I offered to finish it in my class (instead of sending students home with half finished science). So I everyone is good. Then I get to Valeria... So the science project was about magnets repelling each other. So we tape the magnets so they repel (one is hanging from a string and the others are based on the ground). Well, when I tape hers, she says no and rips the magnet off of the string and points it so it is attracted to the magnets on the ground.... Fair enough I thought. Instead of a magnet floating and bouncing around, she wants the magnet floating and being pulled toward the other magnets. Not quite what we were doing... but still science. So I tape it up. She cries.Turns out she did not want the magnet hanging from the string... she just wanted it stuck to the magnets on the ground. It is not a battle worth fighting and I take off the tape and let the magnets sit on top of each other. Everyone else is good.
France class, we practiced cartoon. 2 of the girls do not know their lines and we are preforming on Monday... oh well.  I was able to get them excited for half of my time with them... But doing boring math on a Friday.... I can be as silly as I possibly can be (which I try to be) and the kids still lose interest.
Denmark was interesting. The kids had a lot of energy which is great for a Friday. So when the kids have energy on a Friday I am not as much as an authoritarian... I am loose with the rules as long as the kids do not get too rowdy. They need a break. I get burned out so I definitely can see them getting burned out too. Most of the students were saying I was their favorite teacher.  They were telling me that their parents were asking who they liked the most, and they said me. I do not really think the kids have any reason to lie to me.  So even though I know longer teach them science and are (class favorites) and instead teach them monotonous boring work, and them saying I am their favorite feels good. One interesting thing happened in class though. Chloe grabbed my penis (through my pants of course) and said what is that. Took me for a total loop. I um used to kids grabbing my legs, tie, arms, glasses, but never have I had a kid do that. As soon as she did I jumped back. I definitely understand 7 year olds are interested in the world and everything different, so I do not want to shame or embarrass. I just said those are my pants and kept on going. I was taking to Ama after work and I asked him, and he said it happens quite a bit. So he shared several stories of when its happend to him. If I had known that was a thing, I would have thought of a better way to respond... now I know I need to think of it.
When I got to my afternoon Canada class (my fist graders) nobody was there. There were backpacks but no students. My only thoughts were "oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, please do not be getting into trouble" Turns out Ronnie took them all to his office to yell at them. From what I understand, some of the students were sitting on the desks and being rambunctious during the break between classes. They should all know to behave, because Ronnie is always watching them. but it seems like they always still get into trouble.
Greece class (my 3rd graders) was pretty good. I gave them a quiz about a test they will be taking soon. Most of them did pretty good. There were 2 that really did not do well at all. After class, the girl that did not do well, I saw crying in the lobby. My heart sunk because I thought that she was upset about doing poorly on the quiz. So I went to Angela (my co teacher) and spoke to her. Turns out That Lucy was crying when she got to class... so she was in a sad mood all day, so hopefully it was not the quiz that re-set her off. Well I mean that in an innocent way. Id much rather it be the quiz making her cry instead of a grand parent or someone dying...Hopefully she was just crying for some reason that 10 year olds cry over. Angela said she will find out and let me know.
Went to the 'hardware store' tonight to pick up the rest of the supplies I needed for the stage (other than the sign). I set it up in my room. I really need to borrow Sarah's sewing machine, though she does not know if it even works. It was left by a previous tenant. I do have to say it does not look as good as I was picturing... but it does not look bad either. I know I could have built it for 1/4 the cost in the US and built it better. But it is just so fun to do...When I am older, no matter where I live... I need a garage or workshop. Just assembling a crappy stage in my room felt so good.
Hudson, Taylor, Sarah, and I had guacamole night. We had freshly made guac. It was pretty good. The 2 things we were lacking... cilantro and Jalapenos. We had Korean peppers, but nowhere near as spicy as jalapenos. It was a good relaxing night with some pretty good guac.
Thats all for now. I may try to run by ECC in the morning to try setting up in the gym to see what it looks like. Tomorrow afternoon I have training. Tomorrow may be a rather boring Saturday, But I still want to get some sleep/

Almost Friday

Thursday June 20th
Long day that went quickly. Gym 2 periods but instead of relaxing, I was working on my report cards. I actually stayed till about 7:15 today working on them and grading diary's, journals, book reports... Oh well.
Sharon cried today. Luckily not a tantrum. She almost started. When I check peoples work, I usually draw a star or a heart or a face. Well sometimes I let the kid pick, other times I just do a random one, or I give everyone the same. Well I was giving everyone a star. She wanted a heart. I still drew a star. She starts crying. I just say I gave everyone a start and turn around and go back up to the front. When a kid cries, normally one of the kids say "(students name) is sad." When they said that to me when she was crying, I just said I know, she wanted a heart but everyone else got a star. So not coddling her or giving her attention, I nipped that in the rear.
Ian in my Australia class cried. He did the work wrong and scribbled all over the next page we were going to do. I tell him to erase which he does not do, so I erase it. Time is always tight and I do not have time. He starts crying. I just say "do you need to go see Christina teacher?" He says no and stops crying. I've seen him cry before.
It often seems like they do it just because they want attention. If they are not getting the attention they want, they stop. There are only a few kids I feel bad for when they cry... but most of them I do not.
Canada was good.
Korea was okay. Vocabulary is tough. I wish I could make it more interesting... I just do not know how to make it interesting for kids that do not want to learn it. Today I played music as they were doing their busy work. It may have helped a little. Then at the end of class I let them watch a music video as a reward. I need to find some fun vocab teaching game for 12 year olds.
Today was the last day with Robs Australia class. I am going to miss them. I only had them for 4 days, but they have the kind of energy I love. It is so easy to play off into it. They laugh and are excited. Funny voices, stories, and being active just holds their attention and engages them. Engaged students are so much more fun to teach than disengages students.
One reason I would never be able to live in Korea for a long time. No actual hardware stores like ACE, Home Depot, Lowes. There are some stores that have a minimal selection of tools or screws... but nowhere has the selection of everything. There are stores that may specialize in one thing, but they do not have the other. From one website for foreigners in Korea, they said "Koreans tend not to do a lot menial work themselves, they'll often call someone even if it's a simple as dropping a blue cleaning puck into the toilet tank." While that is an over exaggeration, I do see many websites talking about the same sentiment with all types of DIY stuff. There is probably a good handyman supply store... but for a person that does not speak Korean, I believe it would be hard to find. I'm lucky that I live near the store that we nicknamed the hardware store... but when it comes down to it.... it is not really a hardware store, more like a junk store that has some random things we need. The reason I speak of this... I am trying to find the last pieces that I need to make and screw on the hooks for the stage... and emart, the hardware store, and home plus do not have what I need.  Pretty frustrating. I know even walmart would have them. Oh well...
Okay, Im going to try to call it an early night so I can finish the week off strong!

Week is winding down

Wednesday June 19th
Pretty decent day. Really not much happened. It seemed to go pretty quickly. I got through the day with no cries and no near cries!  I love it when that happens. All of my Kindy kids were pretty well behaved. My first graders were pretty well behaved.
My one on one with Chloe went well too. She is much more comfortable talking if we do something as we talk. Instead of just sitting talking, if we play something in the gym, she just talks and talks. Her and her sister both are climbers, and at any chance will try to climb me. It doesnt bother me, but I am always afraid that if some parent sees me with kids climbing on me, they might do a double take. If I am just standing, Chloe will just start to climb up me. I think it is awesome, because I can totally see myself doing the same thing. I dont know if I did... but I do know that I love climbing trees. That fear though of what parents may think...that could just be the western view. Like I said, it seems like here people are less likely to jump to the same crazy conclusions like in the west and parents can get mad if we give their child less physical attention. Kids will complain and so will the parents if we do not pick up and hug the kids. Kids also want to climb in my lap, have me read them stories, even if I am just sitting down on the benches in the lobby, it is not uncommon for one of my students (and other times other ECC students that I do not know but that know me) will just climb up on my lap. Many kids say 'daddy' often jokingly. Its funny to think that these kids think of me as a father type figure, and it is surreal to think that these kids could actually be mine if I had kids right out of college.
One thing that I did not say yesterday, was how I taught one of my Australia kids to open the door. Yes... opening the door. It is a glass door that swings both ways. Everyone (including him) said he could not open it because he was week. Well I observed him and noticed it was because he was doing it wrong. Instead of pushing or pulling it, he was pulling down on the handle and pushing with the hand closes to the hinges. Well I showed him how to do it right. And he was able to do it himself. Christina talked about how she was so surprised that Hayden was able to do this himself and how he was just going in and out and how he didnt need help. So that made me happy.
My curtains came in today. Not exactly what I was wanting... but I will be able to fix it soon. Now I need to find the best way to hand the cross bar across the two stands. I can do it one way, but I would like to find something better. Something that will make setup easier. I am also going to use Sarahs sewing machine to lengthen the drapes. It is easy to do, and I know how to... I just need to borrow it and hope it works. If it does not, I will still be able to set it up for Monday.  Hopefully I will be able make the sign for Monday too. as of right now, I have no plans for the weekend, so hopefully I can get it all done and looking as awesome as I hope. When push comes to shove after I finish my sign) these things will have about 200000 won invested. Far more than I imagined, but I keep going, because I am so excited about it.It is just fun for me to do. I enjoy making and doing things so much... Its cheesy, but I love cheese!
I had McDonalds for dinner. Not because I was wanting McDonalds, but I was craving bacon. Bacon is not popular in Korea. Even the bacon at McDonalds is not great. But sometimes you just need some bacon in life. I need to go to costco sometime and buy bacon. Then I can cook bacon at home.
Sat outside with my fellow Bobo teachers and they had beer and soju... I had Oreo's and milk. Sometimes cookies and milk are just great to have. We were not out for long... Now I am up in my room, and watching The Kings Speech. Such a great movie!!!
Okay, thats all for now.

Just a simple Tuesday

Tuesday June 18th
Nothing really happened at all today with any of my Kindy kids. The classes all went pretty well. No crying (though there were a few minutes in France class I thought it might happen - Sharon couldn't find her green colored pencil, Sally didnt listen, other students were going faster than Juliet). I did have to take David to Christine because he was not doing his work. I just asked her if I could put him in class so he would do his work (stemming from the whole sending Sharon home with a book she didnt finish). She brought him back and the work was done. Having to leave the 7 year old class to go to the 5 year old class is embarrassing and students do not want to do that.
Emily in my Australia class always wants to hole my hand. When I am walking up and down the aisles just to check work, she holds out her hand or grabs mine, holds for a few seconds, sometimes swings it, then lets go. Sometimes the just pokes the back of my hand. Her and her twin sister (Jenny, but not in any of my classes) are very adorable and can be extremely shy. Jenny will sometimes just come up and wave at me for a second and run back to her class. I always wave back really big at her and she just smiles so big. I hope that the extra attention that I give them helps them break out of that shyness.
My firstgraders were semi controlled today. I think one of the keys is not keeping them in their seats and letting them come to the board to write their answers.  Not much, but it gives them something to do other than the mundane sitting.
I think Erica and Angel from my afternoon Korea class might be bonding. God I hope so. Today I saw them sitting together in the hallway before class, and I assigned them (in a round about way) to be debate team partners. Erica, seems to be able to smile a little bit more... she has been on on upward trend, and I hope this new girl really pushes her forward.
My (Robs) Australia was a fun class again today. I think part of it is, besides their personality is the subject. Rob teaches them the CNN class, which is made to be engaging. They are nearly the same level as the Korea class. I only see Korea for Read and Debate (Horrible class- the layout, format, and book are HORRIBLE) and Vocabulary (Busy work). Korea may be better with better subject matter. So Australia I am only seeing with this one class, and they all seem to enjoy it.
It is time for me to do progress reports again for the Kindy kids. I now am completely in charge of 3 classes (instead of just 2 and a half). That and I have fewer breaks to complete the work. So I may have to stay late tomorrow and work on them (they are due on Thursday).
I went by the hardware store tonight. I bought a remote control for an air conditioner. Not for my apartment (I have one) but for me to keep in my basket at school. Our air conditioners can only be turned on and off by remote control. It is great because we get to set the temperatures as they need to be in class, but it is bad because the school only has 5 remotes, and only 4 of them work. Normally it is not bad, but there are several teachers that have the habit of picking one up and keeping it. This sends the teachers or desk teachers to go looking through each classroom to find the remote. Its a pain. Now I can just get mine out of my basket. I have decorated it, and tomorrow I will get some string and tie it to my basket. It was only 8 bucks, and will save me much heartache in the long run.
One of my friends asked me to do some voice recordings for her...people say I have a great voice. It makes me chuckle because in high school, my voice was made fun of.
Other than all of that, I am doing nothing at home other than relaxing...

Oh. I shaved off my beard yesterday and kept the moustache. The kids all thought it was funny.

Already half of June is over....

Monday June 17th
School was long today, but I think that is because I was tired all day. I slept a lot yesterday and I know I will sleep a lot today. I actually have already slept for 2 hours and I am still tired.
In class before school started, a kid ran in the class, put something in my basket and ran out. A minute later Soo from Denmark came in and said "Eric Teacher, look in your basket." I did. I was a little baggie that had some small cherries in it. She told me she picked them this weekend at her grandmas house. The bag was a nice bag and the Denmark kids all had them. They were delicious. She was so excited that she picked them.
In France class, near the end of it, I think Juliet may have wept... but I might have stopped it in time. Not sure... about 50/50 either way. She has one of those faces that is always on the verge of weeping, so sometimes I am not sure if it happened or not. Australia was good. Denmark... well I sort of maybe got in trouble afterwards.
One of my kids, Erica, in my second class with them (The class right before the kids go home) told me her throat hurt several times. I asked if she wanted to go to the desk teacher. Nope. She did not act ill, she was not mopey, just every once in a while said her throat was ouchy or it hurt. Kids do this all of the time. If they say they do not want to go to the desk teacher, it is normally because they are faking it and do not want to get caught. I asked Erica if she had any medicine and she said she already took it. So I thought nothing of it. She had energy and was answering questions. Well Christina comes to me after my Canada class and said that Erica's mom called the school really upset because Erica was crying when she got off the bus and had a fever. Basically equating it to us not caring enough about the kids. Of course come to find out, when mom sent Erica to school in the morning, she was already sick. She sent medicine (a lot of parents send their kids with medicine on a regular basis) but did not send any special instructions about her being sick. So, mom pawns off the sick kid on the school, and gets mad that her sick kid is still sick when she comes home and we did not do anything... Christina said I should have sent her to the desk teacher. If I sent kids to the desk teacher everytime a kid complained about something, I would have no kids in class (do note that the desk teacher also gives kids candy). Then Christina agreed. Then she said I should feel the kids forehead to see if they are hot. I have many skills, that is not one of them. I am always hot at school, and I have felt kids foreheads before and they always feel hot to me. And being able to tell the difference between 98.6 and 99 or 100. That is 2 degrees. A bit out of the scope of my feelings... She said if I dont know, I can always send them to her. If your kids is ill, DO NOT SEND THEM TO SCHOOL or if you do, at least let the school know what is up and do not get mad if your child is not pampered because we dont know. I AM NOT A MD.  And if your kid is sick and contagious... well thanks for infecting my class and possibly me.
We got no work done in my Canada class today. The kids were all out of it and did not want to do anything. Some days I just have to write it off as a lost day. If I fight 12 first graders I will lose. The trouble makers will take any energy and feed off of it. I just had a very relaxed class. Went over the material informally. Tried to make it more fun. Of of my biggest problems with having no break between Kindy and them is that I have no time to prepare anything special for them. I used to be able to. Now, I cant. It makes it a lot harder to make class interesting. When I get in in the morning, I have to plan for my 6 classes of Kindergarten. When I only had 5 Kindy classes, I had the last period off before the elementary kids came in. I could plan then. Then I also had the first graders second period which gave me one period to re energize and one period to plan. Now I have none of it.
Greece was good. I do not feel I am teaching them much because the material (book) I have to use to teach them really stinks. It is not very clear and the subject matter is hard to relate to 10 year olds. It is also because the book is split between me and my co-teacher. So I do not get to do an entire lesson, I only get to do a page or 2 of the lesson, so I never get to build up any rhythm because the subject matter I teach them is never consistent.
I came home and I passed out. I woke up to my alarm so I could wake up, then stay awake for several hours and then go to bed at my normal time (hoping to get a regular rhythm again). I am still so tired and lethargic. I feel better today than I did yesterday, but not 100%. I'm still drinking a lot of fluids which I think is helping.

catching up

Thursday June 13th
School was decent today. I have 2 gym periods right now on Thursdays. It is a slight break thought often not a real break. I had no criers today! There were several students on the verge, but I corrected the situation before tears. It was just the same ole people finished before me, someone said something mean, I did something dumb...... oh well, it is a win in my book (though I do know I only had one hour of France and one hour of Australia because of gym).
I like when students give me stuff. Not important things... just something like a small eraser. It means so much to them and them giving it to me makes me feel really good and they are really happy too.Its those little things that just make me smile. Some kids even just fold up a piece of paper in a faux origami fold. They are so proud of it. Sometimes if I can, I clip it onto my tie clip. Kids have the cutest gestures.
My afternoon Korea class wasn't that bad. The new girl we have livens up things a little. The boys seem like they try a little harder to impress her... though with that is them also doing other things to try to impress her. Erica seems a little happier that now she is not the center of their attention. My afternoon Australia class is still a fun group of kids that seem excited to be there. They are fun to joke around with because they like to joke around too. They all wanted to take pictures of me, so I let them. Better to do it like that than to have them try to take candid shots in class. It will be interesting to let Rob get them back in 2 weeks.
Just had a relaxing night in. I watched a movie and netflix. Just spent the night relaxing and energizing.

Friday June 14th.
France was energetic. Juliet wept in math because she was behind. During snack time when I went to go put the trash and dishes away, I hear a loud wail from my room. A sound I can recognize anywhere. Sharon. So I put the stuff away and make it back to the room. She stopped... most likely because nobody came. As soon as I get in I see in her eyes that she will scream again. Before she could get the chance, I told the kids sternly that play time was over and there would be no playtime on Monday. I said if we cant get along during playtime, than we wont have playtime. I was talking to Christine in the afternoon and she said that France cries more than the 5 year olds she teaches.
Today was an observation day in my Australia class. Every classroom has CCTV. We have an observation room where parents can come and watch us teach any day. But there are set aside days where parents are invited to come watch. My kids acted really well (as Australia does most of the time). They raised their hands and worked hard. I am not sure what the parents thought, but from where I was it seems like it turned out okay. I talked to Ama at night and he said he usually gets the kids to laugh some so it seems like they are having fun too. I'll know for next time.
Denmark was Denmark with lots of energy. It is amazing how different the class dynamic is between them and Australia. They used to be mixed together... but the separated the classes into pretty much the smart kids and the slower more active kids. The biggest problem is that the classes have the same expectations. I can get through so much more quicker with the Australia kids than the Denmark ones.
David in my afternoon Canada class was mocking Ronnie when I came into class. Ronnie, the person in charge of the school. That is one of the big problems with him micromanaging and working just to keep the kids happy. They do not fear his position.  He eventually got frustrated and just left. So David won that battle. I am able to keep him under control better. As I was walking home, I did so with Ama. I talked to him about David, and it turns out that there is a long back story with David and ECC. So I am going to try to change how I interact with him. Maybe turn him around from being the trouble maker to a good student. I took Ama's advice with Billy, worked it into my own way of doing things, and Billy almost never gives me trouble any more.
One thing I have been doing for school is reading. A lot of the students have speech competitions. for their elementary schools (in English). I read these kids speeches in English slowly and monotonously so the children can practice the words. Everyone likes my voice.
At night we went to Costco because we were having a beach day on Saturday. After Costco, we went to the Samurai BBQ place again. Ate lots of food, came back to the GS and drank for a while just having a good time.

Saturday June 15th
Beach Day. We went to Wangsan beach. It is right next to the one we went to last week. We have to take the subway to Incheon Airport and transfer to a bus. While at the airport we got brunch consisting of McDonalds but myself and a few others chose KFC. First time I have had KFC out here. Delicious. And it is funny because it is different than the other fried chicken we get out here. KFC chicken has spices in the breading, but here, most of the breading is not particularly spiced. Here they put more toppings and sauces to change and alter the chicken.
Wangsan was a good beach. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. The water and water area here were much better, but the beach sand was very coarse. The beach sand last week was soft, but the water area was different. The mart and bathrooms last week were also much closer.
We swam, played frisbee, played volleyball, played wiffle ball, grilled, relaxed, talked. In all a good day. Though on the way back, I had a rather cathartic moment. People talk about how a lot of expats are in a state of arrested development. A lot are immature adult children. Seeing how some of the the people were acting on the train on the ride back, I definitely understood why people think this. I mean, not just the ride back, but even the whole going to the beach shtick. Dont get me wrong, its fun, relaxing... but it does not really do anything to better myself or advance goals that I have, Not saying that staying home or exploring Seoul (or anywhere else) would change that... I guess I see the beach as more of a vacation...  The only difference between a beach here and a beach in SoCal are Koreans set up tents and are afraid to swim.  So I am not hating on the beach... but I do not want to fall into the trap of doing these things over and over again.
We got back to Bobo. We still had some hotdogs out, so we decided to set up the grill in front of the GS. We did, the GS people thought it was fun. We also gave them some hot dogs. We were playing music and were going to watch a movie, but that did not turn out so well.
By the end of the day I was not feeling so hot. At the beach I really didnt drink a lot. I think I only had 3 beers the entire time I was at the beach, and I had one on the ride home (1.5 hrs). I was coated in Suntan lotion the whole time. But this time we had no shade structures. So I think I got way too much sun.

Sunday June 16th.
I slept, and I slept, and I slept. We were all going to get up early and watch hockey. I woke up briefly when the messaged me. I was still super tired and not feeling well. I turned off the notifications. I went back to sleep and slept till 2 when they knocked on my door to see if I wanted pizza. Nope. I went back to sleep till nearly 4. Woke up and still was feeling super tired and not the best. Decided I would just spend the rest of the day home in bed. If my body is saying sleep, sleep, sleep... than I think I need to listen. I am also running my AC but still feel hot to the touch. No sunburn, but feel feverish. Think I may have gotten a minor case of sun poisoning/sun sickness. I'm presenting most of the symptoms found online.
Slept slept and slept. I did laundry. I set it and started it, woke up by its beeping, changed the load, and went back to sleep. At night I Skyped my parents and wished my dad a happy Fathers day. Showered, and now I am ready for bed and more sleep.
This may have been one of the most unproductive days I have had since I have been here. But I think I needed it.

Bought the curtains.

Wednesday June 12
Long Wednesday. I think pretty much all Wednesdays will be. Not bad, but wow... just a lot of work. Juliet wept in France because 2 people finished before her. I stood next to her and she finished working. I walked into Australia class and Emily was crying. They were doing art in the class before, her piece of art broke, and the teacher did not help her immediately. So I taped it for her, she finished her weeping, and sat down.
Everything else went pretty good. I had my one on one with Chloe and it was better today, she seemed more comfortable. She was really excited for Thursday. Her grandmother is going  to come by her house and buy her slime. Not exactly sure what she called it... Something like slimey wimey. She was so excited about getting it. I just love that a kid can be so excited about something so trivial. In 2 days she might not remember it... But just that it is on her mind like that is so fascinating.
My biggest problem with Wednesdays is that I get out at 5:40. I get to school at 9:00 and get to my classroom between 9:15 and 9:20. I get one 40 minute break the entire day. Lunch I am with the kids, so that is no break. I have papers I have to grade, lessons I have to make, and I just need some time being away from the students so I can recharge. Wednesday I do not have much time to do that.
Ama Sarah and I were going to play a game of Settlers and eat a huge pizza tonight. It had to be after 9 cause that is when Sarah was getting home. Well at 9 Ama texted and said he was just too tired. Sarah and I went out and got dinner. Good food. Cheese chicken. We talked about school and the things that annoyed us about ECC. Pretty much all of us English teachers have the same complaints. We just have to get together and speak out minds, which are pretty much the same things (control of students and lesson plans, students that are in the wrong level holding classes back, quasi politics).
I think I am going to start watching a movie and head to bed pretty soon. I am tired, but not tired enough to sleep yet.
Also today I ordered curtains for the stage I am building for ECC. Not cheap...  but it is the shipping that was the worst part. I am paying as much for shipping as I am for the curtains. I looked all over Korea and all over Korean sales websites. What I am bought is still much cheaper than what I could have purchased out here. I just hope when it gets here, the stage will look as good as I am imagining it in my head. I know I could do the whole thing better and cheaper if I had the resources... but living here and having no space... well I just don't. And shipping is expensive over seas... so it is a losing battle. But I am excited to see how it looks and I hope the kids like it!
Thats all for now.

Fieldtrip and Soccer

Monday June 10th
We had a fieldtrip today. It was not a great fieldtrip for Kindergartners. We went to the Korea Folk History Museum. It seems like a museum I would enjoy, but a 7 year old not so much. I was in charge of Denmark class. After we got back to ECC I asked the students what their favorite part was. 2 boys said banging on the drums (there were drums kids could bang- the museum was talking about early communication) and the rest of the students said playing outside with their friends during lunch. It really is fun watching the kids run around and have fun during lunch... it is something that it seems like most of the kids never really have a chance to do, not will they. As they get older, the time that a Korean child has to play gets exponentially smaller.
The rest of the day went really well. My Canada class behaved pretty well. Same with my Greece class.
After work I went to emart to look at foldable camp tables. We are thinking of getting one to take to the beach with us. We have not made a decisions. Some are for it, some are against it. I like it... because food on a table is easier than food on the sand. But if we did get one, the transportation would be a bit more difficult. We would need a grill person, a cooler person, and now a table person. Not sure how that would work out. When at emart, I ran into Ronnie and Stephen. Awkward but neat.
When I got home, my apartment was 29 degrees. I turned on my air conditioner It felt great. I went down stairs to have a drink with Hudson, Taylor and Sarah. We talked about the field trip, the table, and life. we finished our drink (singular) and went upstairs. After being upstairs for a few minutes, I decided I was hungry. I went back to the GS to get a microwavable burger. I came back upstairs, and could not remember the pass-code to open my door. I was drawing an absolute blank. I have come home intoxicated before and had not trouble. This time... I just could not remember. I have always been afraid of this. I have no idea why I could not remember. Even worse was I left my cell phone in my room. So I left, walked around, came back, tried again. No use. I went around the neighborhood. No use. I ate. No use... Now I am starting to freak a little.  I go, sit outside. relax. Come back, and enter the code and get in. I was reversing the numbers.  No rhyme or reason why... but wow... No excuse. I was not intoxicated, I was not super tired... I was not anything special. I just came upstairs and had a complete dyslexia moment.
When I got in, it still was not very late... So I watched the movie UP. Just made me feel happy.

Tuesday June 12.
The day started off with Sharon crying on my leg as soon as I walk into class. Why? I have no idea. She cried for a few minutes wrapped around my left leg. She finished and was done. I am guessing the students had some argument or disagreement before I came in. She almost cried again later in class for some reason or another, but I avoided it. Juliet also cried. 2 people yelled done before she was... So she had to cry, so I would come over, and I would stand by her as she finished.
I also got in trouble today. Sort of in trouble. But passively. When we are done with a book we send the book home. Well, I sent a book home, with a note, to one of my students. I think I spoke about this situation in a previous post. Anyway, the last 6 pages of the book, this student refused to do. She would not keep on writing. So I send it home, with a note saying that she did not finish the book because she did not want to work. I explained it. Well... Now I am told that I should not sent the book home if the student is not finished it. But they also told me that I had to send the book home immediately. The schedule is so rigid. If I had her keep working in the book, she would fall behind in the new book. So this is a no win situation, and I lost. Now if a student is being stubborn, I am supposed to send them to Louise teacher. Which, if I send them to Lousie teacher, they will get candy and may or may not work. I would much rather a parent tell the kid that they better do their work. I guess thats just not the way the world works.
Tuesdays and Thursdays will suck. I have kindy, kindy, kindy, kindy, lunch (with my class), kindy, kindy, First grade. 1 period break, Korea class, and now with Rob gone Australia class.
Korea class has a new student, and it may be good. It is a girl, and hopefully that will help Erica. She is also really smart. We are talking about plastic surgery in my read and debate class with them. One of the questions was if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be. Erica put personality. She changed it to something more superficial by the end of class. I really want to help her. As I have talked about with her, it seems she is calling out... I just do not know how to answer that call. I know she is not comfortable in English, but it seems like that Korean teachers just sort of ignore it... thats a phase, etc. Well my other girls that are that age are not in that phase. Koreans notoriously like to ignore certain problems.
I then went to my new Australia class. I only have them when Rob is gone... but I will have a tough time giving them up. They are awesome. they have such a passion. There are 3 girls from my old Spain class in there (the Australia class is now the advanced, the Spain is the slow class... the just split them up in the last 2 weeks). The class is CNN (where students watch CNN new stories as the topic of the class). This one was about a teenager changing her neighborhood. I was on the 3rd step (each topic has 3 steps, watch, vocab, write) and I had these kids writing slightly different. The kids had to think of one thing they could change in their neighborhood. So instead of them just doing the formulaic writing I had them write about what they want to change and how they can do it. I told them they could change the world with what they are writing. They could change where they live, change their neighborhood, change Korea.... I have not read their responses yet, but I think I will get some good ones. I will copy all of them, and will try to implement one. One of the kids, as they were writing, asked me "I can change the world?" in the most innocent and longing voice. It is like she had never been told nor had thought that she has a voice that could impact the world. I know that is not the status quo in Korea... but damn, it makes me smiling just thinking that her life might have just been touched and inspired.
After work I went to World Cup Stadium with Callum, Karen, Mike and several of their friends to watch the Qualifier for the World Cup between Korea and Uzbekistan. Amazing experience. We were on the first row. A lot of prett took pictures of me. It was raining outside. I was wearing a poncho and had my tie wrapped around my head. Our group also got the wave going in the stadium... not as good as I have gotten before, but it was pretty awesome. Our group had several video cameras pointed at us throughout the match. A mixture of whites and Koreans in the first 2 rows was a site to be seen. It was fantastic. I tried taking several pictures, but none really came out too well because it was raining. I will post them soon.
Great night! The Soccer game was much more fun than any other games I have been to in the recent past. It is also really interesting listening and trying to cheer in a different language. Callum is going to let me know the next time they go to a game. It probably wont be a qualifier (as the qualifying is almost over), but just a regular game is great for me. I love watching sports live.
I am hungry (I did not get food before or after the game). I know if I eat now, I wont be able to sleep, and I know I need sleep. I need every bit of energy I can get go push through the 8 classes without a break. Now I am off to bed...

a little catching up

Thursday June 6th.
Beach day. Today we went to Eurwangni beach by Incheon Airport. On the ride out there... we took a subway to a bus, and the bus was supposed to take us to the beach. Well when we were 10 minutes (walking time) away from the beach, the bus got in an accident. Dont know what happened. It was not a bad accident, just mostly scraped 2 cars fenders. It looks like one was in a left turn lane, the other was in a right turn lane, and the center lane where the bus was, well both of them were in it. a little bit and stopped instead of turning. The driver tried to stop but could not brake in time.... nobody was hurt. So pretty much everyone in the bus got out and walked.
The beach was great. The water still a little chilly, but not bad. We could actually swim in the water, so we did. I could actually walk to water that was over my head, so I enjoyed that. Not much to say about the beach. We grilled on my little grill, drank, swam, played frisbee, played wiffle ball... just a great and relaxing day at the beach.
Though when we were getting ready to leave, we could not find Ama's girlfriend. So he went off looking for her. She left her cell phone and wallet at our little beach area. He is gone and then Bella gets a call on her phone from the police. Turns out she went for a walk and got lost. It was dark outside and we were still on the beach (along with a lot of other people). The beach had no lights and she just couldn't find us. So Bella told the police where we were, and the police drove HyeJin to where we were on the beach. Pretty awesome.
We leave and and come back home. All of us are tired. More exercise then any of us have had in a long time and being out in the sun all day really took it out of us. Great fun though.

Friday June 7th.
Woke up and did laundry! Today was a pretty relaxing day. I just took a train to Gwanghwamun and just walked around for hours. It was hot. There was a stage set up and I listened to music. Just walked around aimlessly looking at buildings and exploring. I really should keep a map or find a way to log where I go. Looking at the map I know I walked in Jongno, Sajik-dong, Seodaemun.
Came back to Bobo just looking to relax. Sarah invites all of us to dinner with her friends. I agree (and end up being the only one of us that went along). We get dinner in Youngdeungpo-dong 3-ga. Which basically is a neighborhood 2 subway stops away from where I live. I wish there was a better way to describe it... but if there is, I do not know. Basically it is in the same district (gu) but different area (dong).
We then went for drinks. I got along with her friends really well, and all of us were out till 5 in the morning. We really didn't even drink that much... We just were talking... they were all catching up, then we talked Korean/North Korean politics, food. The place we went to was called 부비부비 translated to Boobi Boobi. We got a kick out of the name, hence why we went. It was just a lounge type of bar with quiet music. Great place to talk. It was far later than any of us wanted to stay out, but the time really just flew.

Saturday June 8th
Woke up and it was beautiful outside. Ama Sarah and I all went to the GS to get coffee and play a game of settlers.  We ended up playing 2 and just relaxing and talking. I had to go out to Wangsimni to pick up a computer monitor. I figures that instead of paying 150 for a new one, buying one off of craigslist for 60 was good enough for me. It also came with a mouse and a keyboard. Good purchase and it works really good too.
For dinner we got together with Sam and his GF and we went to a Korean BBQ place that the foreign teachers nicknamed Samurai. The nickname comes from a picture of a picture of a guy that looks like a samurai on their sign. The meat they had was delicious. Some of the best meat I have had in Korea. This was marinated perfectly. We were having beef, so each morsel was a succulent little piece of steak.
We then headed to Hongdae to meet up with some of Ama's friends. We went to Thursday Party. I almost did not go since that place just does not do it for me. But I went. It was okay this time, but nowhere near good. We were there for a little while, but nobody was really digging it. So we left. We headed to Joons where he was having a fundraiser to buy his bar an air conditioner.  It needs it. We stayed and played beer pong... but it was pretty hot down there. When we left, Ama and his friends when to GoGo's (a club/bar) and Sarah and I went to Taco Bell and then home. Just did not feel like staying out. I was soaking wet with sweat from being at unairconditioned Joons.

Sunday June 9th.
Woke up. Ama and Sarah wanted to go see our former coworker in a play. Actually, in the Wizard of Oz... And we were going to get lunch first. So, I decided I would go with them for lunch, then come back to Bobo as they went to watch the Wizard of Oz. I met the former Coworker right as she was leaving (I replaced her) so I had only met her like twice. I had planned on coming back and going to church. But being out... man, its tough. The only days I get to enjoy living in Korea are the days I do not have school (not saying I do not enjoy living her every day, I just mean I cannot explore Korea as I am in a classroom). So I decide to stay out and go to the play with them. They thought the play started at 2 but it really started at 4. So we got to explore a really neat part of Seoul. It almost had the feel of SoHo in NYC and Boulder Colorado. Little stores, cafes, trendy places. It is definitely a place I want to go explore again. Myeondong..
The play was great. The actors were great. Fiona was Dorothy and was fantastic. She is from New Zealand but had a great American accent. She also had a fantastic singing voice. the show was nearly 3 hours long.
After the show, we went to the same water park that we went to last week and met up with Sam and Carrie there. It was less crowded, though by the time we got there the sun was setting. I took some pictures and I will post them soon. I would tonight but I need to get to bed soon.
We then went to the same neighborhood I was at on Friday and got 닭갈비 (dak Galbi). A spicy chicken dish. It was delicious but all of were full. We got too much and we got the extra spicy (and we should only have gotten regular). I love spicy food, but when the weather is hot, and the food is cooking right in front of you, and the food is steaming when it is put in front of you... that extra spice just does not help.  I really am not a big fan of hot (temperature) food. It was just the kicker.
Got back to bobo. I had been gone out of the apartment for 11 hours today and it was a fantastic day. Time for a shower and shave and then bed... the school week starts in 9 hours.

Last day of the week.

Wednesday June 6th.
David came back today. His face was not nearly as bandaged as Christine was making me think he would be. He was back and full of energy. A blessing and a curse. Juliet cried today. People got finished before she did, so she had to cry. I stood with her as she finished filling the answers (all of which she knew). Kelly also cried during playtime. It seems like all of the girls want to get the pink and yellow blocks. Kelly took longer to eat than the rest of the class, so she was not able to find as many pink and yellow blocks. I am thinking of taking all of them away. The girls all love pink and yellow (yellow more than pink). The boys play with every color, pink, yellow blue, red, green, brown... They care more about building. The girls seem to care more about the color and just holding the colored block is more important than making anything.
No real thoughts in most of my other classes. Australia and Denmark were normal as well as Canada. I had my first one on one with Chloe from Canada today. She seemed nervous. When she talks to me in the teachers room she is quite the wordsmith. Her talking to me in a one on one... not so much. She seemed more apprehensive. It was almost like she was concerned about getting a bad grade than she was on just talking. We started off in the counseling room (slightly intimidating) and moved to the gym. Once we were at the gym she felt better about talking.
My Greece class had a lot of Energy. They are my 3rd graders. They knew it was a 4 day weekend so they did not have much attention. I let them play a little 공기 (Gonggi). The game is almost like jacks, but not quite. I do not know how to describe it... it is about throwing up a piece of plastic, picking up another piece of plastic, then catching what you thew up. The girls all love that game. I also let them play several other simple games during the lesson. Just popluar games like the handslap and thumb war games. They tried to teach me some Korean ones... but I never quite understood them.
After school, Ama Sarah and I went to Costco. We ate dinner there. Hotdogs and a chicken roll. Delicious. We went there to pick up some food for tomorrow. We needed hamburger meat and hotdogs. We are planning on going to a beach tomorrow and grilling. At Costco we ran into 3 students. Two of Ama's and one of mine. Soo from Denmark class was mine. She waved and she came over to me. I picked her up! She went back to her mom. I saw her once again and she was jumping motioning for me to come over to her. I did. I gave her another hug. I showed her that I still had the I love you note written on my hand (that she wrote). She always tries to get me to say hello in Korean to her at ECC. Well when she said it to me, I responded in Korean and I also said goodbye in Korean. The look on her face was priceless. They left. Ama and Sarah and I bought all of the rest of our stuff. We came home, and we played a game of settlers outside of the GS.  We all (Ama, Sarah, Hudson, Taylor, Sam, Carrie) all sat out and just talked and sipped beer. We are all going to leave to go to the beach early tomorrow, so none of us did anything crazy. We are meeting up early in the morning so we will get a full day at the beach.
On that note I am off to sleep.

Not much...

Tuesday May 4th
3 Months at ECC. Wow. The time is flying faster and faster. It is actually scary. I am 1/4 done with my contract.
Today... well I was afraid I would be taking over Robs class. I did not do that today, so that will start next week. I also thought I would be going to the FC Seoul soccer game this week, but that too is next week.
Julie in France cried today. I was surprised because it is rare for her to. She did not put a book away when I told her to, and then I did a countdown and she was not back in her seat when I reached 0. So I erased a star. She wept. I silent weeping. She did not argue or anything else. She realized she did something wrong... she was still sad. Emily in my Australia class also wept. She did not understand an answer (that was written on the board). The answer was 3 fill in the blanks. So I wrote all 3 on the board vertically. She wrote the first and second one in the first spot and the third one in the second spot. So she did not have all 3 filled in. So tears came. Also in Australia Jack was not back today. His mom will send him back next week. I spoke more to Christina about it, and neither of us had seen him unhappy or not playing with others...
For my afternoon Canada, Chloe asked me why I am so nice before class and in class I have to yell. I told her "it is because we have so many students that do not pay attention, that get out of their seats, that talk, that draw... I told her that if all of the students were like her, I would always be happy"... I also not teach them as soon as they get to ECC, which means Ronnie watches over the class because there are known trouble makers. It makes it very stressful. Half the class is good, the other half is bad. Crazy first graders. Their antics are becoming worse and more frustrating. I'm not sure why...
Korea class was Korea class.  Not much to say about them.
Rob Sarah and I got Pizza School for dinner. We played a game of Settlers. Ama watched us for a little then Hudson and Taylor.
I was going to type more, but it is already after midnight.... wow... where is time going.
Only one more day of school left, then a 4 day weekend. I'd love to say I need it, but I really dont. Id much rather have a 3 day weekend and then another 3 day weekend later. Oh well.

Crazy Monday.

Monday June 3rd
Phew.... wow. So, we started an updated schedule accounting for Rob going to the US. So, I was saying I have my Kindy kids till 2:30. I used to have a break. Now I have 10 minutes and then go straight to teaching my 1st graders. Its tough. Today I had one of my co-teachers ask if I had a test graded that we finished my last hour on Friday. I laughed. I told her I had not had a break all day to get any grading done, and I still had one more class until I get to sit down. Granted, I do get to sit down for lunch... and occasionally sit down while teaching, but it is never a sit down to catch my breath. I do not get a breather until 3:30. Then, that is the only time I have to grade my work and re-energize. On Wednesdays, I will have my 1 on one, then go directly to another class. I am not exactly sure how Tuesday/Thursday will be... but I do know that I will teach straight till 3:30. Then I think there is a break, then 2 more hours of teaching. I teach a lot, which is actually pretty good. It just is very energy intensive.
Today in France. Sharon cried... when Sharon cries, I bet everyone in ECC can hear her. She is really small, but the decibels she can hit is staggering. She was mad because I made her put her stickers away (because she was not paying attention, then she kept playing with a princess tiara. So I took it, and put it on my head. She laughed, the class laughed, then as I was giving it back to her all of a sudden. BOOM. Wailing. So I sit next to her for a minute, and realize she will not stop any time soon with me there. So I tell the class I will let her do her thing, and I will keep on teaching. As soon as I turn around and go back to the board she stops. Instantly. Then 20 seconds Ronnie comes in. As soon as she sees him. She bursts out crying again. So of course he takes her. She comes back happy, and the entire lesson of just letting her cry was destroyed. It is so FRUSTRATING. I know I have mentioned it before. All of us foreign teachers feel the same way. Then during snack/play time Kelly cried. I have no idea why. I walk out to go put the dishes and trash away, I get back she is sitting on the mat sniffling. That evolves into a cry. Thank God she does not cry as loud as Sharon. I can only assume that someone said something to her, did not play with her or knowing Kelly she said something to someone and they responded by saying something back to her. She cried for a few minutes, regathered herself, and was fine. Then during the lesson after snack time, Juliet wept. She wept because she was not done with the page and everyone else was. This is a common thing for her. She is the slowest of the class. Christine and I were talking about the ranks, and she ranks the lowest in all education forms. Reading, speaking, writing.  Our class is basically 2 levels. The smarter fast kids, and the slower and/or naughty kids. The exception is Sally. She does not do work, but she is the best speaker and best thinker of the class. She formulates her own ideas and is the best at forming sentences. She just does not work. So we classify her as a slower and/or naughty. Andy is smart, but never speaks or does work so we cannot gauge him very well. We are making progress. It goes Fred, David, Sharon, Julie, Sally, Andy, Kelly, Juliet.
Jack in my Australia class was gone today.  His mom called Christina teacher and said he doesnt want to go to ECC any more because he does not have any friends. This was a shock to me, because he plays with the other kids during lunch, talks to them, messes around with them, and gets scolded with them. It is not like a student that never talks to anyone or plays with himself. She Christina and I both talked about it and neither of us have seen anything. He will be in school tomorrow, so we both are going to keep an eye out.
Denmark... Well today for half of the time I was with them, Angelina and Erica were feuding. The other half they were best friends. The problem was these periods were not congruent. It makes it hard when they are drawing pictures of eachother with hearts, and 5 minutes later they are saying Angeline "Teacher, I am very angry at Erica..." or Erica "I am going to tell my mom about...." Then 5 minutes after that they are giggling and laughing together. They are both completely different personalities. Sometimes they are inseparable, other times they are enemies... Aye aye aye.
Noting exciting happened in my Canada class. They were not on good behavior, but not bad behavior either. They acted like students act on Monday. Same with my Greece class. Except after class, one of the girls wanted to draw a heart on my hand. Of course I let her. She wanted to make sure that I understood that the ink comes off with soap and water. It almost seems like she may have gotten in trouble some time for drawing something on someone. I just loved how concerned she was about it.
After work I went to Gunpo to buy a hiking backpack. It was on sale on craigslist for 45 bucks. I needed one. Last time I went out on an excursion with my friends, I had a gym bag. Not easy to get around. Since we are talking about going out again to a beach this weekend, I felt the urge to buy something.  The coast of any type of outdoor backpack starts at about 80 new. So I saved a few bucks and now I've got what I need.
Got home and got a beer. Normally drinking alone in my apartment is not something I do often... but today was a very long day for me. I just wanted to take my pants off, put my feet up, and enjoy an cold beer. It feels good.

June is here!

Thursday May 30th.
First day of the new school month which means I am now teaching all kindergarten in the morning with no break, and I eat lunch with them. So from 9:15-2:30 I am with my kindy kids. Then I have my first graders. then the elementary kids. Its great but it really takes a lot of energy being with the kindy kids so long.
Juliet wept, but she has a good reason. She has a cut or something on her face, and I guess it hurt. My other kindy classes were good. I no longer do science and art with Australia and Denmark. Now I teach them both writing and grammar and our ACC (reading) classes. So I wont be the fun teacher for them any more.
I may be being hopeful, but I think I am having some breakthroughs with Erica in my afternoon Korea class. Praising her for doing better than the guys makes her happy. She is academically slower than them, but she tries a lot harder than them. Just being silly with her really helps her talk more and smile. Dylan was not at class today and he normally gives her a hard time. With him being gone she was not under that stress. But giving her positive attention is good. I know she likes the attention that the boys in the class give her (she is the only girl in the class) though she acts like she doesnt. Getting attention from an adult is something I do not think she gets much at home. At least that is what I have heard... the standard parents working way too much etc. I think a lot of teachers kind of gave up on her because she is a lot of work. It tough but I have not. I have actually made her laugh. Rob once said he did not think he ever saw her smile. We took a vocab test. The students know they do not matter. She did the first page really well, the second page, she marked the entire page with a's. I think it is because everyone else had finished and she was still working... but I think she did it like that to be a joke (so it would seem like she was being sarcastic or something). So I just played along,  like you did the first page so well, doing better than everyone than you gave me all a's...ahhh, as I was smiling and joking. She was happy.  Instead of her feeling 'dumb' for being slow, I praised her for the work she did and played along with the all of the answers marked A. I also did a mimic of her movements. She laughed and smiled. She kept doing funny things, moving her head, arms... she was playing along. Then the rest of the class did it too. She was getting attention, but it was positive attention and she enjoyed it. Instead of people mocking her or picking on her, she was leading the class. She opens up more, speaks more, smiles, and is happy. Now I just need to find a way for her to keep that feeling.
After school, I intended to come home and do progress reports. Well, Taylor was sitting at the GS. So I join her. The group gets bigger as more teachers come home. We went to the hardware store and I bought a frying pan. Now I can cook bacon and eggs. We then ate 부대찌개 (budae jjigae). We got home. I did some of my progress reports. It took nearly 2 hours to do one class. So I only did that one class.

Friday May 31st.
I got to school early so I could work on more progress reports. Turns out the reason my the cards for my Canada class took so long was because I was writing too much. The report cards are online. There is a teachers comment section. I was writing good comments about the students. Little paragraphs. Turns out we are only really supposed to do 2 or 3 sentences.
Sharon did a mini weep in France. She did not do any of her work on Thursday and was not happy when the other students finished and were getting to draw and she had to keep doing her work to catch up. It didnt last long because I like to think that she figured out if she got finished she would get to play, and crying would not help her finish any faster. Dont know if thats what really went through her head...
We got a new student in my afternoon Greece class. He is at the right level and seems like he will do well in class. I hope so. I had everyone introduce themselves to him... I was going to have them say which elementary school they go to, but the entire class wanted to say what their Korean name was. That is what I let them do. He will do better than Eric was in is miles ahead of Roy. So, good addition.
We went to a bar called Bunker. It was one of Ama's friends not going away party. He was going to leave Korea and come back in several months, but he got a new job that starts immediately, so he is not going away. Bunker was awesome. They had a pool table and good music. It seems to be a pretty good mix between a Korean bar and a foreigner bar. Good mixes of everyone. They also sold buckets of drinks. You could buy a bucket of jack and coke or a bucket of long island ice tea. Buckets were not really that big. They cost the same as 2 single drinks. It is more the novelty of drinking from a mini bucket than anything else. Fun night. It was located in a place called 압구정 (apgujeong) which is a neighborhood in 강남 (Gangnam). We took a cab home.

Saturday June 1st
We wake up, and all go down to the GS. We were going to go to Yongsan Electronics market, but decided it was just too beautiful of a day. We all sit out and just talk. We figure it is a good day for day drinking. We order McDonalds, and they forget to put one of the burgers in the bag. I tried calling, but not being able to speak Korean I got nowhere. Baaaaa.
We go to 여의도 (Yeouido). There was supposed to be a music festival, and sitting outside, talking and drinking just seemed like a fun thing to do. We get there... the music festival is pretty bad. Its not so much of a festival, just more like people playing music over speakers. We decide to just walk. We walk to a water park. Literally, part of the park that is water, not a place with slides. There is a fountain, and just a huge area of flowing water, water that flows into the Han river. We set up, take off our shoes, and just wade in a part of one of the pools. There is a guy with a remote controlled boat. I get him to drive it through my legs. That, drinking, talking. A great day. The day goes on, we buy water guns. They are only 1000 won each, and what better thing in life than water guns.
 So we play with the water guns. Its not long until kids see us playing and they want to also. We are all still somewhat of a mystery to them. There are just so few white people, we are an attraction. Well, we get into one of the pools that has a lot of kids. We instantly become jungle gyms for these kids. They just flock to us. All of us are teachers, so we are used to being with and playing with kids. There were kids that spoke no English, some that spoke a few words, and some that could speak simple sentences. It was just so awesome. At one point, I had 4 kids wrapped around my legs, and I was walking with them holding on, and every step I took, I made a monster like noise. Picking them up and holding them high. Splashing with them. Pretending that they are super strong when they push you.
There is a genuine innocence/beauty of it. I can not imagine that anywhere in the US would it be socially acceptable for complete and random strangers to pick up children and play with them in a pool. There is so much of a state of fear that all adult men are out to hurt children. Some airlines have policies against men sitting with children that are not their own. It does not seem to really exist here. The parents were perfectly content with us playing with their children. It made them happy. It might be because the parents assume that we are all English teachers, so they know we have had background checks and these schools do not see us as a threat. Korea definitely has a culture of fear (google fan death), but for whatever reason, the playing with kids just doesn't seem to be. There are playgrounds in NYC that say if you do not have a kid in the park, you cannot be there.
There was one cute little girl... we filled a water gun with soju (cause when is shooting alcohol in you mouth a bad idea). She was so concerned. She did not know what it was, but she knew it smelled bad.  She looked and pointed to the gun. She pinched her nose and made the no sign (making an X with your arms) and shook her head.  She was so concerned. She tried to unscrew the tank and throw it out.  I would have let her, but one of our members did not want to. It was just so funny how concerned she was.  Anytime one of us touched it, she warned us.
We decided to go to Hongdae for dinner. On the way to the subway stop, we got some 번데기 (Beondegi). It is a traditional Korean snack. It is silkworm pupae. Not delicious, not bad. It would have been much better if it had been spicy or if I had ranch dressing with it. Probably not something I'd get again (Corndogs are the same price) but I would not reject an offer to eat them.

 

I love the perspective on this shot.

Photo taken by Taylor. This pic is of my splashing Hudson. I am including this pic so you can see what this water place was like.

We at BBQ in Hongdae and there was drama. Words were said. More than half of the group left. It was just some dumb drunken argument. I was at the other end of the table so I am not sure what exactly was going on. Anyway, I told the people that were leaving that I was not taking sides, I just wanted to keep eating. This was completely acceptable, and they thought it was funny. Needless to say I got my fill of food. Those of us that stayed, finished eating. We headed to the park because that is where everybody was. The offending party apologized and took each person aside to personally apologize.  Needless to say we were all back hanging together quickly. Our group has a couple of people with very strong opinions and personalities. Sometimes drinking together and spending a day in the sun... well it can make for heated debates. Luckily I am never in the middle. I am far more confrontational (not in a mean sense) sober (anybody that has debated me regarding politics knows this). There are very few people that I will get into heated debates with when drinking, but when we do, it is always a mutually respectful debate, we never resort to name calling. Some people just do not operate that way.

We eat Monster Pizza (actually good pizza) and all head home.

Sunday June 2nd.

Woke up early. The sun shining in my window I think did not want me to sleep much. I skyped with my family for a while. Met up with the crew. We ate a little, talked, and we played settlers. I won the first game, Rob won the second. It was good to finally be able to play that. We orderd McDonalds. I got the 1955 Burger (Bacon, onions, BBQ, Cheese, Tomato, Lettuce. It was a very chill day. Rob Sarah and I decide that we want to go watch the new Star Trek movie in 4D. Fantastic. Iron Man 3 was okay... this completely blew it out of the water. I would go see it again. I love Star Trek, and the moving chairs, the smells, the sounds gust make it great. 4D is cheesy but a lot of fun. Its like being in the movie. When Enterprise is flying the chairs move with it, explosions cause the chairs to jump, running through plants makes the theatre smell like plants, bursts of are when people shoot.

We walk home and run into Sam and his girlfriend. We get ice cream at the GS and all head our separate ways. I showered and decided to finish this continuing update. I used a dull blade to shave my head. I make that mistake more frequently than I would like... I am always like "I can get one more shave out of you" and then the blade says "lol, just try it."

I did not do laundry nor did I take my shirts to the dry cleaner to be cleaned. I will try...

This week is going to be a short one. It is a 3 day week (yay)! I am going to an FC Seoul (Soccer) game on Tuesday. Rob leaves Wednesday to fly back to the states for 2 weeks. Thursday and Friday we have off (I think Korean Memorial day is Thursday, so they are just making it a 4 day weekend at the school). I talked to Rob as we were walking home from the movie and I said something about making Erica in my Korea class laugh. He said he walked by on Thursday and saw her smiling. He said he had to do a double take when he saw it. That made me smile a little. Its those little things... Small victories... it may not seem like much, but it just makes me so happy.

Now it is time for bed...