Saturday, I woke up early and went to Itaewon to meet Ama, Christina and Louise from school. We were getting food before the awards ceremony for one of my students and one of Ama's. We went to a decent little brunch joint. I had french toast...Delicious! After we ordered, I think Louise was disappointed that we did not get hamburgers. Ama and I both got the french toast. Western breakfast food is pretty rare over here. Most breakfast food consist of rice, kimchi, and some kind of meat... breakfast is almost the exact same as lunch... unless you stop by a bakery or coffee shop and get a bagel.
We went to the awards ceremony... Henna, Ama's student actually got to compete. The winner in her group... well, in my opinion was sub par (aka the worst). Not saying she was the best (was not), but out of the 4, the winner had the least content, worst pronunciation, intonation, gestures, and charisma. All of us were stunned. We think that the judges must have judged the original video submission, and not the competition. My student, Daniel, got his award, which was good to see. I know both Hennas and Daniels parents were happy that we were there. Henna cried after she lost... But we still had a lot of pictures to take at the end. So, I made funny faces and gave the photographer, her dad, Ronnie, Ama, bunny ears etc. and it made her smile and laugh.
After the Ceremony, Ama and I went to All American Diner and got second brunch. Much better service this time. I got the hash, which was not very good. The corned beef was, but the onions and potatoes were just not right. The proportions and sizes were off. I also had the country fried potatoes... great. And the biscuits and sausage gravy. The sausage gravy was fantastic, but the biscuits left me wanting... too salty and too oily. Oh well. I was still satisfied.
I got home and pretty much turned around to head out again. That night, we were having Callums going away party. We rented a room in a boutique hotel. The Nox Hotel...
Expensive... but it was a party room. So we had 15 people there. Food and drinks. Projector, karaoke machine, pool table, Jacuzzi tubs, balcony overlooking part of Gangnam. Great night. I'll the the pictures speak for themselves.
.jpg)
Sunday September 1st.
Woke up... we cleaned the room. I got back in the Jacuzzi tub. I wish I had one. We left the hotel, and went and got lunch.
We all went our separate ways. Got back to bobo and went to sleep. I was up till after 4am. I slept on a couch that I was far to big for. I woke up too early for a night like the night before.
I almost ordered McDonalds for dinner. Then I remembered that Rob said GS has microwavable hotdogs. They do. They have microwavable chili cheese dogs. They were actually pretty decent. Not as good as grilled and with good chili (this chili had corn in it - a lot of things in Korea do). I was very happy, and I think I will get them a lot more. Sometimes GS gets trial products... I hope this is not one of them....
I watched the Wire for a little while. I did several loads of laundry.
Went to bed at a reasonable time!
Monday September 2nd
It is amazing that it is already September. Aye aye aye. A new month... I have some new classes too. Well one new class, and that class is tomorrow... I will write about it then. My Kindy classes were pretty good today. France was a little tired, so I played Gangnam Style and they danced and were happy. Then they acted tired so I would play it again... I didnt. I am still working to transition them into their new books. Australia class was good, as was Denmark. It is amazing how different their personalities are. It is amazing to think that they used to be combined... I wonder what those classes were like. It seems like the classes were split on personalities. There are a few that are a little out of place... But for the most part, the way the classes mesh. Just how Australia is mostly more quiet and introverted and Denmark loud and extroverted. I know some of it is herd mentality, but still interesting.
My firstgraders are starting to behave again. David came back. He was actually well behaved for most of the day... I hope his time away allowed him to mature. Min is no longer in our class. He was moved, which is good. classes are 2 periods. He almost every day missed 90% of the first period. I think I am going to get the class to 50 class points soon to have a little party. They are getting better slowly I think. There are still hiccups, but the trend seems better. But we will see if David changes the balance. Billy has behaved much better without David (except when him and Billy start butting heads).
We have a new 3rd grader, and we lost one. The one we lost moved to another more advanced class. It surprised me. The 2 most advanced girls in the class stayed. Sometimes I am not exactly sure how things happen. I am not sure yet what level the new kid is, but I have high hopes. I call them my 3rd graders, and most of them are. There are a few second graders and 1 (maybe 2) fourth graders.
I was losing my voice today. I shouted (not angry shouting, but more like reading and speaking loud to get the kids attention, and getting them to shout the answers to me- keeps them awake). I also did a bit of singing and dancing....
I rode the bus home again today. It really is fun being with the kids outside of school. The one girl that I spoke of earlier... I think she is a first grader... not exactly sure yet, but she is talking to me a little more. There is another girl too that is quite loquacious. My student sometimes is and sometimes is not. I know she is not super confident with her English. I do wish I could speak Korean, not just to talk to the kids, but also the bus driver and the woman that is in-charge of the students on the bus.
For dinner tonight, we went to On the Border. The same as the ones in the States. Expensive buy delicious. So delicious. I have Queso! I love cheese. I had enchiladas and fajita steak, rice and beans, a froze margarita, and chips and salsa. I love Korean food, but I think one of the reasons that I love eating the 'western foods' is not so much because I need the taste of home, but more because the varieties of food here (close to me) are not super incredible. In NY, within 3 blocks I could have food from Ethiopia, Korea, Brazil, Italy (traditional of pizza), US, Vietnam, Japan, Pakistan, France,China, Morocco, Jewish Deli, from different US states, Mexican, Latin.... Here it is mostly Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, or fast food. I mean that different restaurants have different food and specialties.... But most of it is rice and noodle based (maybe not based, but where a significant portion is rice or noodles).
So... that was my day, not great, not bad, but I had a fantastic dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment