July is half over

Saturday July 13
Training today. I had training today for Jeju. Training took place in Bundang, a city outside of Seoul. It took an hour and a half to get to the training place. Training was fun... But wow... this camp is going to be no walk in the park. I initially understood it to be some teaching, but more of a role of camp counselor. Nope. These kids are not getting a camp experience a all. Every day is wake up at 7. Breakfast. Then 3 hours of class, lunch, 3 hours of class, Dinner then 2 hours of class. And the classes are intensives. Not a cake walk. My days are going to be from everyday before 7 till after 9. We lose our classes at 9, then we have a teachers meeting. While the money I get is going to be nice... its not that great. This is one of my longest breaks... and I do not get a break at all. I do not get to explore Jeju.
It is still awesome that I get to go. There are 4 English teachers and we are teaching the top 52 students from all of the ECC's.  The class I am teaching is ironically the oldest kids (middle schoolers). I say ironically, because I am a full time Kindy teacher, and out of all of the classes I teach, only one is Middle School. The others are kindergarten and elementary. Next weekend, and throughout the week, I will start preparing material.
One of the classes we are doing is debate. A different format than the one we teach at school. They were going to show a video clip to show the students a debate. It was horrible. The people spoke too fast and it was a different format. So what did we do thanks for some genius... we recorded a mock debate using the format we are teaching. I just hope it turns out good.
I got home. The plan was to go to Ashleys again for the all you can eat. The one we were going to go to has all you can eat crab legs.... much to our misfortune, when we arrived, it was closed. Not because of hours, but because the Han River flooded. The restaurant is on a Barge... but with the river flooding, the gangway had to be closed. We went to another location in Sinchon. Food was still delicious, and the wine was still endlessly flowing. We stayed till they closed.
I then went with Ama and Sarah and one of her friends to meet Luke and Naray (I have no idea how to spell it). We went to a music bar, where we could request songs. We drank. We then went to a 노래방 (Noraebong) which is a karaoke place. We stayed there till late just singing and laughing. Such a great time at those places. Who doesn't love singing. We ate some Monster Pizza and headed home. We were trying to get a cab, but many passed us buy (it was raining and we were white). So I started taking pictures of the cabs that were passing us and not picking us up (Illegal). We were then picked up pretty quickly.

Sunday July 14th
Slept in. Played Computer games. I went to Itaewon. I needed to buy deodorant. Stores do sell some here in Korea, but most are not antiperspirant. If anyone knows anything about me, they know I am a sweaty guy. So I know what I need. I go to Itaewon. I buy Old Spice... but the market I am at has some other things I decided I want. Ranch Dressing. Siraccha (the one nicknamed cock sauce that is popular in the US), American BBQ sauce, Tobasco and Parmesan (while they can be purchased at other places, the international food market markup is less than emarts), and seasoned salt.
In Itaewon I looked at some custom suit places and custom shoe places. I can get 2 pair of custom handmade shoes for 290000 (yes, a lot, but custom handmade, and a guarantee {which doesnt mean much, but this guy had pictures of 2 US generals in his store, and the former joint Korean US military commander, all singing praises about his shoes}. Then I can get a custom hand tailored suit for 270000. Is it an expense I need to have? No. Do I want a suit out here. Yes. Do  I need the shoes? Well if they are really guaranteed... yes. I have been here for 4.5 months and have already worn out one pair of dress shoes, put a hole in my SAS shoes, and my Converse are falling apart. I am tough on my shoes (partially because I am a flat footed over pronator).
I got home and ate some street ribs. I think I posted about them last time I got them. They are freaking delicious.
Watched some West Wing then went to bed.

Monday July 15th.
Sally was super tired in France. Before class, she climbed up on my leg, put her head on my arm, and passed out. So I let her sleep there for the 5 minutes before class started. But there were no criers in France Class!!!! Was it going to be one of those rare days with no crying? No. Australia class. We are doing math. Each person comes up to answer a problem on the board. Emily comes up, gets hers wrong, corrects it, sits down, and cries.
Denmark class was okay. They were really slow cleaning up after lunch. When I got to class (the time I am supposed to start teaching) there were still 2 of the 9 kids eating. I am okay because I am a little ahead in math. But as everyone is cleaning, Ronnie comes by and just looks in my window. So he is probably judging me... but I cant help that the teacher before me did not make sure the kids were done and ready when I went to class.
My first graders were okay. Emma had a lot of energy, so I let her act like the teacher, and I could tell she was getting a little frustrated that the kids could not be quiet.  I wish I could say it is just because she was the one up there, but those kids are so loud and out of control.  As tough as it is for me to say, I actually like the days I have them first (right after I am done with Kindy.) I know I used to complain... but the teacher before me has a hard time putting them on a leash. So they are all riled up when I walk in... When I have them first, they are energetic because they just got to ECC and out of elementary school. With here, I think it is because she has no boundaries or is not good at enforcing the rules.
For my 10 year olds, I explained to them why I acted harsh on Friday, and I think they understood. I almost make Diana cry... It was awesome. Not that I almost made her cry, but the circumstances that led up to it. She was taking with her friend in Korean. I warned them several times to stop. They did not do it constantly but enough to where I had to put a stop it it. I caught them again, and I said If I catch one of you speaking Korean again, I will move them to the back. Diana said 거짓말 almost  under her breath. Now I do not know much Korean yet... but I do know that phrase. When Rob, Callum, Karen, Eva and I went to the Board Game room, one of the games we played used that phrase. I remember the phrase because it is pronounced like 'Go Cheat Mal'... Since I am a Firefly fan, it is easy to remember (Mal is a character). Anyway the phrase means, I do not believe you/lie. So I was like "What... you dont believe me, you think I am lying to you, get up, you are moving right now" at which point her eyes get really big, like oh crap. She is like... no no no, I'll stop... dont move me.... etc. I say to bad, and I tell her that even though they may not think I understand Korean, I do know some... And I just talk about how bad that is etc. Well she still refuses to move. So I take her books and move them to the back table, and then I drag her chair with her in it to the back table. Thats when she almost cries. But I had to do it, and I felt awesome. Because besides her eyes getting big that I understood, so did much of the classes. Her feeling of sadness did not last long. Pretty soon after she was moved back, Tomy and Roy started bickering. I asked her if she would mind if I moved her next to Barbie, and I would move Roy next to Tomy. She said okay. I sat Roy and Tomy together, and made them hold hands for the rest of class. Needles to say, that calmed them down quickly.
Came home, played on my Computer for a bit. Sarah was trying to get people together to order McDonalds. Not what I wanted, but I obliged. Sat outside and ate, now I am back in my room and will watch some West Wing or a movie.