Beginning of a new...

Sunday September 8th
Lazy Sunday. I slept on and off till early afternoon. I watched the 5th Element. Great movie. I am always entertained watching it. So cheesy and fun.
I had many intentions of going out and exploring later in the day. But then the temperature reached over 30 degrees (heigh 80's, low 90's). So, not horrible, but not enough to be comfortable. If it had stayed in the 20's I would have.
I did do laundry. I do laundry so much more here! In NYC I did laundry pretty rarely. I would often go buy more socks and underwear instead of laundry. Not that I was adverse to laundry, but carrying a bag outside for several blocks, then starting it, then having to leave, then to coming back to change it to the dryer, then leaving, then coming back, then dragging the bag back home was just miserable. Here, I just throw my stuff in the washer and bam... The biggest problem is not having a dryer. Clothes take a long time to dry and it makes my apartment incredibly humid as the clothes dry. Also because they take so long to dry, sometimes they do not smell the best.
I went to the hardware store today because I love seeing what they have and I am always looking for stuff either for me or my students. I know I have talked about getting a lamp for my apartment before. Well today at the hardware store, they had lamps. Not typical floor lamps. They had a drop light (like what is used in a work shop) on a clip. It was only 5,500. A light bulb was 700. So I got a complete lamp for less than 7 bucks. It works perfect for me. I was this close }{ to buying a lamp for 40 bucks, but that little stop saved me 33 dollars.
At night, I just watched 2 episodes of The Wire and drank a beer. I really do not like Korean beer, but sometimes, it is just very refreshing.

Monday September 9th
Today went pretty well for a Monday. France was pretty good for the first class. Juliet started to cry as she put away her stuff. I was counting down (it is a great motivator) and she dropped her colored pencils all over the floor. It would be very scary for any student. But, the girls all helped her pick them up, and before it was a real cry, it was gone. So much different than it used to be. The second class was a little slower with them. Monday... and no play time. We got a letter on Friday that said only 15 minutes for snack time. So we have to take the kids at 10:15 to wash their hands. There are only 5 sinks, and there are about 50 7 year olds. So it took France about 7 minutes to wash their hands. Then we have to get back to the class, and I have to prepare their snacks. Today, it was cereal. The first student finished their cereal with 3 minutes left of snack time, then they have to go wash their spoon. So, right as the 15 minutes was ending, my students were finishing up their food. So, normally I would give them an extra 5 minutes to play (they need it). But after that memo, I will try to follow it as much as I can. The second period students were getting really tired. So I played Gangnam Style again, let the kids dance for 4 minutes, and boosted their energy. The rest of the class went smoothly. Australia class was good. We got test scores back for some test they took... One student in Australia scored very low... This is bad. Christina and I talked about what to do... He is sitting in the back of the class. I have been concerned about him before... but the test results just confirmed what I was thinking. But other than moving him to the front and referring him for a mentor class, he will just get pushed along.
Denmark was okay, and energetic. I moved the kids around, and I had Regina sit next to Chloe for a while, and Erica for a while. I can see Regina trying to fit in... but she is socially awkward... as if she does not know how to properly interact with these kids. I honestly do not think she does. Its tough, but I am going to try to keep working at it, moving all of the kids around, but giving Regina a chance to interact with different kids. I still think Sweden class would be good for her... level wise and just the personality of the class. Some of Denmark kids can sometimes have a bit of a negative attitude. The two teachers that teach Sweden say those kids are never like that. Only time will tell. I think another problem she will face is that there are 5 girls. 4 established ones, and her, the new one. It adds a new dynamic.
My first graders behaved badly for the first half of class, but the second they acted okay. We were working on the new writing book for the first half of class (when they were acting up) and when we got to the reading street, they behaved much better.
My Thirdgraders... the class was interesting. We did our Write it Right book today. It is a book they could not do when we first started out, but now all of the kids can do it very well on their own. I tried playing a game with them at the end of class.... but we ran out of time... So I may try it again. Doing something to get them active is good. I like getting the students engaged in more than just the book.
I took the bus home again today. Diana and the one other little girl both got a huge kick out of me today. Both do piano, so I was trying to guess the songs, but they did not know the name of the songs they are learning, so I pretended to play the piano and made piano noises with my mouth. They were very entertained by it.
A new sandwich shop opened up by ECC. Not the best sandwiches I have ever had. But they use real white bread (most Korean white bread is sweet) and they have dill pickles (I have not had dill pickles since I moved here... all of the pickles are sweet). It is reasonably priced... so it will be a great thing for when ECC has lunches that I do not feel like eating.
Tonight, Rob Ama and I booked 1 Hostel in Japan. We are staying our first night in Nagasaki. We are not booking anything else right now (not planning on it at least). Since none of us have ever been there, we want to leave it open so we can spend time doing what we want to do. If Nagasaki is awesome, we can spend another day there, if it is not, there are tons of other towns within a few hours. We are not going to the main land where Tokyo is, we are just staying on the one big southern island. We are all super excited about it!
So, I am going to get ready for bed.