life...

Wednesday October 23rd
Rather normal day. Ian in my Australia class cried. He was not paying attention. I told him several times to stop talking and pay attention. So I go over to help him (have him find the answers, and tell him they are correct). He starts writing the answers. I tell the entire class that we are moving to the next page. He tears up, telling me he is not done. I of course know this. He proceeded to start crying. I tell him that he is the only one in class that is not finished the page, and I am not going to stop the entire class to wait for him. His crying gets louder. I open up the door to the class and ask him if he needs to go to Korea class with the 5 year olds, because they cry a lot and they dont pay attention and fall behind in their work too. He of course says no. I once again reiterate that if he needs to go to Korea class to cry, I will let him. He stops the hissy cry fit, but still is sniffling. He finishes his work pretty quickly after that. He is a smart student, but he is not able to focus and be quite. I have to scold him every day about getting out of his chair, turning around, talking...
My afternoon classes went okay. I am having a little trouble with the first year 2nd and 3rd graders. Their English level is very low. When I say very low, I mean it is lower than my France class Kindy kids. Kindys pick up information so much quicker than the older kid. They are more set in their ways. With my Greece class 3rd graders, their level is low, but they have a foundation. My England class 3rd graders.... one of the kids did not know how to write his English name yet. One of they girls is pretty good, so she tries to take a helping hand with some of the other kids. My Greece class was okay. Ronnie watched Roy for a little bit.but thankfully just by looking in the window instead of being in class.
At home, I worked on report cards for quite a while. Since tomorrow is gym day, I did not finish all of them because I figure I can do it then. Scott, Rob and I played 2 games of settlers.

Thursday October 24th.
Hell day....
Niamh was not able to come in to work. So... my gym breaks and afternoon breaks... the ones where I was going to do my report cards and my Korean homework... Well, I did not get most of them. So it was very stressful, because I had so much work that I needed to get done, as well as getting other work done too. The day is kind of a blur. I asked Louise if I could turn in the report cards on Friday. She said yes. But I still had lots of other stuff to do. My 4th graders had vocabulary, so that did not add any good to the day.
I did not get my Korean homework done. I was a zombie in my Korean class. I was uber tired the entire time and had a super hard time focusing on it.
After class, Rob, Yufei and I went to Burger B. Everyone said it is the best burgers in Korea... well I had it, and I think Gonnys burgers are much much better... and cheaper.
Went to bed relatively early.

Friday October 25th.
I like Fridays, and this one came very quickly and was well needed.
France class has been really good for me recently. But for Christine and Sam, they are naughty. They like me, and they behave. I even started a new rule in class, if anyone speaks any Korean, every in class looses a star. New rule on Friday, and it worked really well. We had Good Manners education, so I only had one France and one Australia. I was able to get all of the other work caught up. Denmark was good today too. One of the moms came by class to take some pictures through the window. As soon as the kids saw that, Doing work with them us much more difficult. Kids (like myself) like being performers and making faces at the camera.
My England class is interesting. A few of the kids, one in particular sometimes speaks to me in Korean. Not just talking in passing, but is obviously trying to communicate. I do not think she knows or grasps that I do not know Korean. It is funny though, sometimes she says something that I do know (a noun I recognize.... like pencil) and I give her a pencil. It would be helpful to know some Korean, so I could understand the questions. I could still respond in English. But just knowing what someone says is a big deal.
My 3rd graders were okay. We did write it write. It is touch, because sometimes a few students just flat out refuse to work. Normally the students that choose not to work are the students that are behind. I try to help them... but I cant focus too much time on them because otherwise all of the other students suffer.
At night, Taylor, Hudson, Sarah, Rob, Yuri, Yufei, Scott, one of Yuri's friends, and myself went out to Hongdae. As I have said before, I have been craving Jerk Chicken. We went to Zion Boat. OMG. It hit the spot. It had a good vibe in the restaurant, very Jamaican themed with Reggae music playing. The food tasted just like Jerk food I could get in a Jamaican restaurant owned by Jamaicans in NYC. This was owned by a Korean guy that went to a music festival in Japan with Reggae music. He fell in-love with the culture and food. Went and learned how to cook authentic Jamaican food. Prices were a little high, but extremely reasonable for the quality and quantity.

After that, we went to a bar that just opened up. We played beer pong. It was a pretty fun little bar. Not many clients. The owner was there, and she let us decorate the windows. Yes, drunken foreigners. Never the less, I think we did pretty good, and I found a new bar that I want to go to. They have beer pong (but the cups were horrible), shuffle board, darts, and cheap drinks. Its called Aberdeen.

 This is the panel I did.

We lost people, until it was just Yufei, Rob, and myself. We drank, ate some monster pizza, and then were walking to get a cab, and I played some of the little crane games (we call them crane games -like what you use to win stuffed animals- these you use a rod to push things off of shelves). I won myself, Yufei, and Rob something. For some reason, I am pretty good at them.
Cabbed it home. Really late at night/early in the morning.

Saturday October 26th
Slept in. Went to the hardware store. Cleaned my room a little. Ate some 순대 (sundae). At night, I went to the FC Seoul soccer game. It was game one for the AFC finals. We were playing Guangzhou from China. I went with Karen (Callums gf/exgf). It was amazing soccer match. Very physical and not boring like some. We spent the first half in the upper bleachers eating, and for the second, we went to the lower level. Energy of the fans is much better lower.

View from upper

View from lower

The game ended in a tie, so I was disappointed. I like winners and losers. A tie is just that.... I think that is one of the reasons that soccer has a hard time catching on in the US. An entire game with no winners and no losers. Next year I want to go to more games. One thing I really appreciate... you can bring your own food and drinks into the stadium. If you don't, instead of charging a ton of money for crap food or beer (aka sports in the US), everything is market price. A bottle of water on a hot day isn't 5 dollars, it is 1. A beer isn't 10 dollars, it is 2.50, nachos aren't 8 dollars, they are 3. There are even convince stores in the stadium selling candy bars, beer, microwavable snacks.... I would pay the same price there, that I pay at the GS at Bobo. Speaking of this, when I saw this I laughed...

 Microwaves anyone can use to heat up food.

I decided not to do anything at night. Just stay home and take it easy. Boring sounding... but... I have no problem being boring sometimes.

Posting is so much harder...

Posting is so much harder than it used to be... I am now pretty busy in life.

Wednesday October 16th.
Pretty average day. Nothing big happened with my Kindergartners. No drama, no tears.
Louise had to come into my 3rd grade class (my Greece class) to give a student some paperwork. I was working with the kids on the L sound and the V and Z sounds. She made an off handed comment that she needs to take my class. I did not take the bus home today like I like doing. Why? There was a guy selling 3 suits off of craigslist. I went down to Bucheon to try them on. The guy was pretty much my size... But he lost a lot of weight. He was never as fat as I am now. But he was a big guy. The suits were just a little small in the mid-section (which I am slowly trying to reduce).  The arm length was perfect (rare). So I got them! I just need to loose a little of my stomach fat and I will have 3 nice suits. As cheesy as it sounds, suits may be one of the best motivators for me. I really love wearing suits. Even though I am always hot... I just love it. Everything is good except for the stomach sizes....
After I got home. I worked on my Korean homework.  It is tough to do that. I copied all of my vocab words and worked on memorizing and all of the other homework... hence no update. I honestly forgot how bad homework is. I hate it and love it. I can finally say that I appreciate it.

Thursday, October 17th
Good day. Gym day. I graded my kindergartners diary's and journals. We had a vocab test with my 4th graders... so not much happened in that class.
 I attempted to memorize more of my memorization as it was homework.
Went to hagwon after school. I am still behind....Me and one other girl are behind... it is tough with people that are fast, but it forces me learn. I definitely need to practice more. We are having a test on Tuesday of next week.
After Hagwon, Rob, Yufei and I ate Gusto Tacos, then walked around Hongdae and Hapjong a little. I came home and went to bed.

Friday, October 18th.
School was good. John from Denmark cried. Why? Well... Reginas mom brought cupcakes for halloween. She was supposed to take picures to send to the moms... well Soo was taken out of class right after lunch (unbeknownst to me) so she could take a practice test. So we did not get to take pictures after lunch. We did a class, we worked on the grammar book. Then in the last period for the last 20 minutes we got to share cupcakes and take pictures. But there were only 2 of each cupcakes... and John did not get the cupcake he wanted. So... he cried. Having Reginas mom in class was okay... but I did not feel I could control the class as I wanted... And she spoke a lot of Korean to them. Feeling like you are being judged. Normally I would let John have cried. Shawn and John did not share, so normally I would just take the cupcake away. But since Reginas mom was there I couldnt just do that. So I ended up letting John cry for a while, then cut 2 cupcakes in half and giving each 2 halves. Actually, if Reginas mom was not there, I would have taken everyone's cupcakes away and put them in the refrigerator and had them eat Monday. It still amazes me that a kid will start crying (Korean 7, I know he is an older US 6) because the color of the icing he got was blue (with an oreo) instead of yellow (with a piece of chocolate).
Later in the day, Christina, my co teacher told me that parents were not supposed to take pictures in the classroom. News to me. Oh well. I have no problem letting a parent do that. Especially Reginas mom. She was taking them and sending them to the other kids moms. Anything to help Regina. If Reginas mom is accepted by the other kids moms, then maybe they will invite Regina over to play with their daughters.
Ronnie observed my 3rd grade Greece class. One of the moms has been complaining about one of the other students in the class. Roy, whom I have talked about before is not a great student... smart, but he is super socially awkward. Well, Tomy complains about Roy to his mother. Mother complains to school.
I am no professional, but Roy shows some classic signs of being on the Autism spectrum. His mannerisms, outbursts, work... since it is Korea he will never be diagnosed. He is smart, but he is unable to communicate with other students and build relationships with them. He is nice, but he does not know how to express anything to me or the other students or even to me as the teacher. It is difficult.
James, from Daegu was in town. We went out for dinner. Had Gonnys burgers (delicious) and then walked around Hongdae. We got a few drinks. James went home as did Rob and Yuri. Hudson, Sam, Carrie and I all went bar hopping. We went to all new places and it was great. We got to Bobo, had a few drinks and then went to bed. It was a night that was a lot later and more expensive than I was planning.

Saturday October 19th.
Went to Hudson's room in the morning. Last night, we (Hudson Sam and I) decided to drink mimosas and watch 80's-90's movies. We watched Waynes World. Great movie that I had not seen in a long time. After the movie we went to the park by our apartment and had a few drinks just basking in the wonderful weather. We then came home. I took a nap, because we were planning on having a late night with James. I meet the crew in Hongdae. Its okay. We get a few drinks, we go to a bar that is just opening... one of the promoters went to Cornell and I knew some people that he also knew. We then wandered around Hongdae, none of us really feeling anything exciting. We all went our separate ways, not going all out as we had planned. Not bad, because we did have fun... and it was also good for my wallet.

Sunday October 20th.
I slept in as much as the sun would allow, which sadly is not much. I woke up and went to the bathroom. As I was in, the intercom system in my apartment started talking. Not necessarily what you want to hear in the john. Especially when you have no idea what it is saying. Anyway..there is a light in my room with no switch. It turned on and the power went out. The power was out for about 40 minutes. It came on later. Rob and I went to Yongsan Electronics Market. We wanted to find Super Smash Brothers (a nintendo gamecube game) We could not. We also looked at Wii's. An American Wii cost nearly 100 bucks. Rob is a big gamer and he is thinking about getting one.
That night, Yuri, Rob, Scott and I watched Gravity. In all a pretty good flick. I would watch it again, but some of the science being off bothered me. But... without skewing the science, the movie could not happen. For what it was, it is worth the several bucks to watch it.
Scott Rob and I tried to play Settlers. It got to a point where Scott just called the game (quit) so Rob and I quit as well. Pretty good Sunday.

Monday October 21st.
2 Things really stick out about my Kindy classes. One. Juliet from France class did not have her colored pencils, and she did not cry!!! She has matured so much! I love it. If it were several months ago, she would have cried.
Second thing... it gets its own story. I have a general rule in my Denmark class (since I have them right before we go home). If a kid has to go to the bathroom with 15 minutes left of class, they cannot go (this is because the last 15 minutes are finishing the lesson, packing up and getting ready for home. Erica asked me with 15 minutes left of class and I told her just to hold it for 15 more minutes. With less than 10 minutes left, she says she has to go again... and says "Hurry." Well she does this nearly every time she has to go to the bathroom. It got so bad, all of my students started saying the same thing, because for a while it got them out of class with no questions.... Some teachers get in trouble because the let the kids go too much... others get in trouble if they let kids out of class that close to class being over (because parents can be there, and they do not like seeing an unsupervised kids walking through the hall. Yes they are 7, so that is 6 western, which is a firstgrader. Well after she says hurry, is say not right now. She looks at me and says 'really hurry' so I let her go. She comes back 2 minutes later, and has a small wet spot on the back thigh of her dress. The floors of the bathrooms are always wet. Boy and girls bathrooms. I figured she just got some water on it. Heck, when the kids use the sinks, they have spray nozzles, and I often have kids that soaked their pants or shirts.
Well, Erica says nothing. Last time she wet herself, she told me and we got her new clothes. She did not say anything this time... so I figured it was all good. After I dropped the kids off at the gym to go home... I got a feeling... just that feeling you get sometime. I told Christina the story.
Welp, about 15 minutes later Christina tells me that Erica's mom called and she is pissed off (not actually those words, but similar feeling). She tells Christina that Ericas clothes were soaked with urine. She is livid, and she talks to Ronnie teacher and threatens to come down to school. Not good. Christina asks me again what happened, and I say the same thing.
I am teaching my Afternoon 3rd graders (the ones right before I go home) and Christina knocks on the door. Bad sign. She says they have reviewed the whole 2 hours of CCTV footage (each class is recorded) and Erica never leaves the classroom. I stand by my story and say that I will watch the whole thing. I once again tell Christina that Erica left between 5 and 10 minutes left of class. I spend the rest of that class freaked out a little. I knew I sent her to the bathroom, and I had no idea why the CCTV would not show her leaving the classroom.
After Class I find Christina, ready to spend the rest of the night watching CCTV. She tells me that they found it. She left my class at 2:23. 7 Minutes before class was let go. She gets back, and they cannot see evidence of an incident. They also check Ericas shoes, which when a kid pees themselves, are usually wet (urine flowing down the leg...) which hers were not. They tell the mom this, and she is not happy but calmed down a little. As I understand, the way the mom understood it was that Erica had to sit in her own pee for 2 hours because I would not let her go to the bathroom or change. We are not exactly sure what happened, maybe she went when she was walking to the bathroom, maybe she got the urge to go again on the bus home... no idea. I talked to Christina... Erica has done the same thing in her class. She waits until the last minute... literally the last minute. Christina said she would have a talk with her in Korean telling her to let us know a while before she is going to have an accident.

So that was a little more adventure that what normally happens. The CCTV in my class never has bothered me, because I believe what I am doing is good, and that there is very little that the CCTV could show being questionable about how I teach.
The rest of my classes, were pretty okay... nothing big.
After school, Rob, Scott, Carrie and myself met Yufei and we went to costco where we met up with Sam. We had a costco dinner. We looked around. Yufei is the one that wanted to go so he could get Halloween Candy to pass out. The rest of us just grazed.
We got back. Scott, Hudson, Rob and I played a game of Settlers, and we played it to completion.

Tuesday October 22nd
Average day.   France class is actually acting really good for me. I talked to Sam. David is ostensibly being really bad for him. Same with Christine. Me... Over the last several weeks I have made a lot of progress with him. He does not act up much at all in my class. Occasionally, but so do all of the other. For Sam and Christina he runs around and causes trouble (like he used to with me). I started treating him more like an adult. Instead of giving him a reaction when he does something bad, I ignore it. When he does the little things bad (like taking off shoes in class) I scold him. I praise him when he does good. I will praise students that work well. I will praise him when he works well. I will make passive comments not about him, but about things he does... like if he tries to throw something like his shoe across the classroom, I will just get it and give it back to him, and then 10 minutes later, I talk about how often the 5 year olds take of their shoes and throw them, and how I am happy that this class acts live 7 year olds. When you punish him... it gives him the attention which he craves. I give him more attention when he does good things rather than the bad things. He wants the attention, so he does more good things. The other things I call him out on embarrass him (taking shoes off in class or speaking Korean like a 5 year old). He does not like that attention. It is really just recently that I have started doing this, and it is already working wonders. One other thing I do, is just give him a look that says I am not amused and that I am disappointed... or tell him that I know he can be a better student than that.
All of the rest of my classes went okay. Nothing really big went down.
During my break, I worked on my Korean homework. I have progress reports that I was just given today, due on Thursday. I also have to go through like a hundred books and classify them for grade levels.
Korean class was good. I got a 100% on my test/quiz... I need a lot of work. I am getting it partially. My listening and speaking ability is pretty poor. So is my writing ability. But mix them all together with my ability to memorize, its not that bad. I wish I had more time to really just commit to it. But there is so much other stuff going on (I could give up on social life, but honestly it is important to me), I just cannot give as much brain power and energy to it. But slowly I am progressing. After Hagwon, Yufei, Rob, Sarah (shes back) and  were going to get Jamaican food. They were closed. We went to another cafe... A superhero bar/cafe. It was okay. What we thought was dinner was more of just a snack. It would be a much better drinking establishment than eating.
After that, Rob and I cabbed back to Bobo.

Adventures!

Saturday October 12th
Woke up early to go with Adventure Korea to the Haemi Folk Festival in Chungcheongnam-do. The weather was perfect. Saw all sorts of things, from torture devices (I tied one, but the people that wer tying to torture me were too light , to a tree where the used to hang Catholics, to traditional clothes, performances, pottery, traditional food We drank some Maggoli and ate some pajeon. We hit drums. We jumped over sticks and pushed kids in carts. After pushing the kids, I was dead tired... granted the cart weighed a lot and I pushed fast (and I had just eaten). I had to sit down and catch my breath. I met a local politician and he gave me a brief tour of part of the festival. I did not take as many pictures as I wanted to. There was a lot of neat stuff.
After the festival we went to an apple farm, winery. We got to pick apples... We got to taste the apple wine and apple brandy (delicious). We made apple pies and apple jam.

  

Sunday October 14th.

A nothing day... I got up and watched a little college football. I cleaned my room... I actually got it about 75% clean, so that is better than normal. I was going to go to Costco, but they were closed (2nd and 4th Sundays). I studied Korean for a while. So, relaxing and semi productive (in terms of cleaning my room).  We were going to go see the movie Gravity because we all thought it was out. Much to our disappointment, it does not come out until the 17th. So thats what we will do this coming weekend.

Monday October 15th

I cant believe that October is already half over... where is the time going? School was good. We got a bit of work done in France class. We did show and tell instead of speech (miscommunication). The kids seemed to like the change... any change to a boring schedule is a good thing. Australia was good. We got a good amount of work done. There are some kids still slow with math, but not too bad. I wish I could say the same with Denmark. Several of the students are bad, real bad at it. One was not able to count by 5's (5,10,15,20...) I asked her is she could count to one hundred, and she said no. These are the things they are supposed to learn their first year... I was just doing a review. I dont know what I am going to do with that.

England was good. I am starting to get the kids personalities, and understand how each student is a little more.

We had an easy day with my 3rd graders.

I took the bus home... I am glad I did. Diana, one of my 3rd graders has trouble pronouncing some of the sounds in English (l,r,z,v...) so I go by her and over exaggerate my facial and tongue placements and she picks it up. We she rides my bus... I was talking with the kids about me going to Hagwon and they wanted to know what I am learning. I told them letters and sounds right now. So I would draw the vowel on my phone, and Diana would pronounce it, the same way I do for her... bigger facial expressions. It is exactly what I need. I am pretty visual when it comes to learning. And being close to someone and actually seeing where the tongue is supposed to be and how the mouth should really be shaped helps. In class, our teacher does not over exaggerate... So when I am learning, I am really going to focus on the mouths and tounges of people so I can see the sound, rather than just hear it.

Rob, Yuri, and I went to Costco. We bought some random stuff, including a pumpkin pie!

At night, Rob, Yuri, Scott and I started to play a game of Settlers. Then Scott got a call from his gf/ex and Yuri had to go home. So we did not finish the game. Scott and I drank a few beers in his apartment and had a good conversation. He and I are alike in many ways.

Tuesday October 16th

Field trip day! We went to Lotte World (we were going to go to a park but it was raining). Lotte World is an indoor amusement park... Which, sounds like fun, but being there with 120 kindergarten students is not the easiest thing. It was crowded too. Tons of High School students and other kindergartens.

Our bus dropped us (Denmark and Australia) off at the wrong place, after an hour and 15 minute bus ride. So it took us 30 minutes to find the other groups. We did the marry go round, and they were filming a commercial (or something). The people they were filming were white. Most of the advertisements had white people, and a lot of the performers in the shows that went on were white. Very interesting. Then we got to ride a tea cup ride. then it was lunch time. All of the other foreign teachers left, I stayed (I only have 1 afternoon class, so that was covered for me). We ate lunch. Soooo muuuuch kimbap. Students give you a piece of theirs, then they give you other snack and treats. It is rude to not accept it. In the morning, we get lunches from students. So I go through and pick and choose a small lunch for me. Sally from france gave me one, and she said her dad made it for me. I brought most of the stuff from her. It was incredible. The kimbap had american cheese in it. It also had a sandwich. I eat that, then I eat dozens of other kimbap pieces and food. Aye aye aye. I love to eat, but that much rice just weighs me down.

After lunch the kids got to ride a ride that raises them up and bounces them down. We went to Sinbads adventure. 3 kids did not want to do it (most of the other rides 2 kids did not want to do. So we wait in line... as soon as we get up to the boat (the ride is just a boat that floats around) Angelina decided she does not want to do it. So I make sure all of the kids get on, then I take her to the Christina and the group of kids not going, and I met them at the exit. We then met up with everyone else so we could go home.

Our bus was 30 minutes late picking us up, so we had to wait outside in the cool drizzly weather.

We finally get back to ECC. I leave to go home. I talk to Reginas mom for a minute as I am leaving (Regina was sick and did not get to go), but the mom met the other moms at ECC and 'gossiped.' 

I come home for a few minutes, then head out to Hagwon.

I have homework. Like, legit homework. I have to look up answers, do paperwork, and memorize words. I am actually kind of excited!

After work, Yufei, Rob and I were going to go to Gustos to get tacos. They were closed. We decide to walk past a burger joint. We almost did not go... we did. Wow. The best burger I have had in Korea, and one of the best burgers I have had in a long time. It was reasonably priced too. Home made bread. Actual meat instead of processed. American cheese, swiss cheese. Bacon. Lettuce, tomoato, onion. Sauteed mushrooms. The owner we talked to. He studied Korean cooking. He went to the US with his wife (Korean American). He lived in NYC for a year. He learned how to cook american style. Came back to Korea and opened up a NY themed burger joint. Legit. I will be back...  We then walked around the area for a bit and found a pizza buffet, a superhero themed restaurant, an all you can eat chicken joint, and a few others.... all were reasonably priced! Yay for reasonably priced!

(Yummy)

(Spelling mistake made me laugh)

Weekend is just around the bend.

Thursday October 10th
 More or less a regular day. It was a gym day. Instead of having gym 3 times, I only have it two. I no longer have gym with Australia, only France and Denmark. It hit me that gym is one of the reasons that my spelling book was so far behind in France. I have one fewer class periods to do that class. So it all makes sense in a way, and it is something that I cannot do anything about. I hate to say it, the break is nice, but losing the class period adds more stress. I lost gym with Australia... the one class that I have that is actually fast at doing their work and does not fall behind too much. Bleh.
Regina during lunch spilled a lot of water as she was pouring her cup. This in turn meant that students had to tell me that she spilled, which caused Regina to get upset and give a brief cry and scream. I just said I do not care that water was spilt. It does not bother me. So it did not go further than that.
My afternoon kids were okay too. I had the 2 class break before my 4th graders, so I got my grading in. After my 4th graders I waited for Rob so we could go to Hagwon together.
Hagwon was good, but I am already behind everyone else. Not through any fault of my own. 2 of the guys were between level 1 and 2, so they got stuck in level one. One of the girls mothers is Korean, so she knows a bit of Korean. One is a fluent Korean American that cannot read or write Korean. The other girl has already done level one and another hagwon. Then there are 2 Japanese guys that this is their first time learning Korean... but Korean and Japanese are related.... their are the same sounds in Korean and Japanese (both originated in a way from Chinese) so they just have to associate the sounds with letters. Then there is me. My ear cannot hear the subtle differences in the sounds (cause I am not used to them yet), I am not Korean, I have not studied, I have not been living here for over 2 years.... All of that being said, I still like hagwon and I am excited to be learning. After hagwon, Yufei, one of his friends and myself went out for Jokbal... basically pig leg and feet. Absolutely delicious. We had garlic Jokbal.

I came home and Skyped with my parents.

Friday October 11th.

I woke up super tired. I did not sleep well at all last night. I kept waking up because I could not get comfortable. 

France class was okay first period. Then snack. So I was playing music... then Kelly starts to cry? Why? Well everyone was dancing, and she said David kicked her.... Well everyone was jumping dancing... I would not be surprised if he kicked someone, but he would most likely kick Andy, not a girl.... so we stopped the music, and instead of cartoon, I made them do some more work. Then when we were about to watch cartoon, Andy and David started arguing and shoving about who was done first. So I put cartoon off again, and we do more work. I let them watch the 7 minute cartoon for the last seven minute period of class.

Australia is where my day went down hill. Not their fault. We worked really hard in Australia this week to catch up and get ahead in everything. A feat we accomplished today. So, I played concentration with them. I played the game for the last 20 minutes of class... on a Friday, after a long week of work. So, after class Louise pulls me aside in the teachers room and wants to know what we were doing, because the kids were loud all period because games should not be that long. First, that was not true... we were in lesson until 12:10. Second... Australia class is right next to the teachers room, so of course it is going to be loud (especially because it does not have a real door, just a glass door with wide gaps). Third, concentration I feel is a good game, because it is fun, but it is also good at helping students recall things they see and words they read... some teachers play games that have no benefit other than fun or show silly youtube videos. Fourth, we completed everything we were supposed to this week. Fifth, I try to keep Denmark and Australia at the same level, because while Australia is fast and Denmark is slow, they are expected to get the same work done. If I worked as fat as Australia could, we would be done 2 weeks before Denmark.

So I am not a happy camper... now it is lunch time. So lunch is going okay... what happens? Kate teacher comes in and spoon feeds one of my students. WTF? She is 7 (Western 6). She has eaten many times on her own. Kate does not come in only once, she stops in 3 or 4 times to had feed this kid. I was very perturbed. The girls was eating too... maybe not as fast as Kate wanted... but there was still 20 minutes left of lunch... so time wasnt a factor for me (I let kids eat until 5 minutes of lunch left). After Kate left one time, I gave the kids a speech about how Korea class makes big messes when they eat and they need the teachers to spoon feed them. That if they needed to be treated like Korea class, I could just take them to Korea class. (Korea class is the 5 year olds). The last time that Kate came in to feed Soo, Soo took the spoon from her and put it in her own mouth. 

We worked hard in Denmark after lunch to catch up. I also took them to the bathroom and told them not to speak. We had nine kids there today, 6 spoke. So I took stars away from the 6 and gave extra stars to the kids that didnt. I did the whole are you being good students, bad students, do you make Eric teacher happy or sad when you don't like to listen to him, why do you like to make Eric teacher sad.

I talked to Rob about both things during one of my breaks, and he shared some of his similar stories with me... it helped ease my frustration.

Afternoon went okay. My new England class was good. I am still working on the best way to connect with them since they do not speak much English. My Greece class was good, we watched a few YouTube clips about the birds we were learning about. I rode the bus home...

Rob Scott and I got some Chicken and beer for dinner. Just doing a relaxing night in, because I need to go to bed early, because I am doing my next Adventure Korea tomorrow, and I have to wake up at 6am.

a little ketchup

Sunday October 6th.
I slept in... I slept in long and hard. I had the eye cover thing on over my eyes so the light would not wake me... I did not wake up until noon. Granted, that was still only like 9 hours of sleep, but it was refreshing. I decided I was going to do laundry and clean my room. I know cleaning my room is a common thing I talk about doing on Sunday... but the truth of the matter is that I really do not get much (if any) of my room cleaned. For instance, today I decided I wanted to have a movie on in the background as I cleaned. I chose Happy Gilmore. I cleaned for maybe the first 15 minutes of the film.... Then watching the movie was so much more entertaining.
For dinner, Rob, Yuri, and I decided to go to dinner in Hongdae. We went to a place called Reggae Chicken. We have been craving some Jerk Chicken and Jamaican food for a while. Well, we got the Reggae chicken, and it was not jerk chicken.... It had a faint taste of jerk spices, but not like real jerk chicken. We also had the Jamaican salad, which was actually pretty fantastic. So, while the restaurant did not hit the spot we wanted it to, it was good, and used spices other than what most Korean chicken places had. It is always refreshing to get some good different flavors. For me, in NYC, if I wanted Jamaican food, I could go to a Jamaican restaurant operated by Jamaicans and that was frequented by Jamaicans.
We walked around after food and got some icecream.
We got home, and by this time it was already decently late. Late enough where I really could not do anything. So I decided that it was time to start getting ready for bed and winding down for the evening, and that is just what I did.

Monday October 7th.
Today was a Monday... That pretty much is the extent of the day.France, Australia, and Denmark were all pretty good today. About as good as they can be for a Monday, but I was the same way. I love and I hate days when there is not much to talk about with them. Its good because that means there was no drama, but it is bad, because... well I think maybe because it happens so rarely.
I am doing lunch with the kids again... I really dont mind it... but it is kind of difficult doing 9:20-2:30 with no breaks. I would love even a 10 minute break somewhere in there to run and get a coffee, use the bathroom, check my email, eat a snack...
My new afternoon class was a little more difficult for me. We had to draw pictures of things with multiple arms, eyes, legs, mouths, etc.  It seemed most of the kids were too shy to get up in front of the class and show their drawing or answer the questions. That is all that I was supposed to do today other than reading 2 pages in the book (which equates to reading 2 sentences). They also spoke a bit of Korean (which I understand because they are still new to English.
My third graders did write it right today, and they now go quickly. So that class was easy, We played a micro game at the end... they thought it was a game, but I really just had them putting the flash cards in order so I would not have to do it (yay free labor).
We were supposed to be having a field trip tomorrow... but it was cancelled at the end of the day. It is supposed to be raining pretty hard outside tomorrow. So ba humbug to that. I start Hagwon tomorrow!

Tuesday October 8th
Well my no crying rhythm has been broken. When I walked into class Juliet was weeping. She had a Rapunzel doll. Kelly also had one. Kellys was bigger and Juliets was more the size of a barbie doll. I guess someone insulted Juliets, so it caused some tears. Later in class Sharon cried. She had some shoe decoration (the kids wear croc like shoes where little charms can be put into them). She was convinced David kicked it, so she started crying about it. When I looked, it was just on the ground where she could not see. When the kids were telling me what was going on, it sounded like they said David was kissing, not kicking...
In Australia class, I found out that we were not having school on Wednesday. You would think the school would let me know, instead of leaving it to a 7 year old to tell me. So, they asked me if we could watch our cartoon (normally on Wednesday) today. I agreed... because well, without them I would have gone to school tomorrow.
Denmark we caught up! Yay. only 4 days behind. Not too bad. I got in trouble a little because 2 of the kids lost their copy of the supplement for the citizenship class. I just made copies for them to do, but I guess that is not acceptable, and we have to completely make a new citizenship booklet for them... Oh well.
I only had one class in the afternoon. So after Kindy I had a 2 class breaktime. Kind of annoying. But I teach my 4th graders... and I enjoy teaching smart kids that are with it. Today was the award for winning the debate from last Tuesday. So I got the sweet potato pizza. The winners each had one and a half slices, the winners gave the losers a half slice. The next debate topic we are doing is the internet, and it might actually be good. I can already see the class is split on what they think.  I do not know if I will make the people that think the internet is good argue against it, and the people that do not like it argue for it. It might make it interesting...but I am not sure if that would succeed.
I had my first Hagwon experience! Wow... It was only 2 hours (I thought 3). If it was three it would have been too much... I started to zone a little nearing the end of class. Wow... I feel sorry for my kids. Well a little sorry. I was confused for most of it (even though we were only going over the alphabet). There was a little english spoken, but not much, and the only time it was is when we had questions pertaining to what we were learning. It has been 6 years since I have been in school, so being in school again was a shock. A good shock. There was one part at the end of class when we were supposed to be doing an assignment. I had no idea what was going on. I made the comment that I expect my students to know how to do these things, and I cant even do them. It was interesting. We even got assigned homework. I knew most of the stuff that we learned in class, but I feel that I actually learned it more in class than I did practicing alone.
After class, Myself, Yufei (one of my friend that is also at the school, and in my class) and several other class members (2 Japanese guys, one girl from Hawaii, and another girl from another class at the hagwon) went out. Rob was feeling sick so he did not. We went to Gusto Tacos, Holy crikey.... I know that I have had reviews of mexican food before... this place blows them out of the water. By far. The tacos are phenomenal. The burrito was okay... but the tacos... wow. Not cheap... but well worth the price. I would recommend to anyone. After that we went to the park in Hongdae to get a few drinks, and after that we went and got chicken. A great night... especially because we did not have school the next day!!!!

Wednesday September 9th
No School! Hangul Day (Hangul is the written Korean alphabet). Why is it a holiday? No idea, but I am not going to complain. I slept in. I love sleeping in. Even after I woke up, I decided I wanted to go back to sleep, so I did. I could have done so many things, but I did not. Sleeping was what I felt like.
I went to the hardware store to pick up a glass container, and then the mart by my apartment to pick up pickling soju. It was time to turn the ginseng that I picked into ginseng wine. So I got the materials, and back at my apartment, I cleaned and 'peeled' (scraped) the ginseng. I put it in the glass container and poured the soju in. In 3 months, I should have even more ginseng wine. I have no idea what it tastes like... so hopefully it is good.
I watched Star Wars in the afternoon. I took a little nap, then I went out. One of my former students (a student from my old Denmark class... from a while ago, my 13 year olds that I lost several months ago) told me about this mart by his math hagwon that has some foreign foods. So I went out to find it. Find it I did. They had Arizona Ice Tea in America Sized cans, salt and vinegar chips, some American candies and spices, american toothpaste... not a great selection, but good enough. It is a 10 minute walk from ECC, so I will definitely go back. I just wish they had American deodorant, and I would be happy.
I came home and did most of my homework. I could have finished it all... but I have 2 class periods tomorrow where I do not have anything to do, and I kind of what the Korean teachers to see me doing Korean homework. I do not think they would really care, but subconsciously, they may appreciate me trying to learn.
Met up with most of the crew tonight in-front of GS, just to talk, drink, and well, hang out. We also got some food from the restaurant next to the GS (there are 3. Red table, Blue table, and Fish place) We orderd from blue table and got some of the pork cutlet pizza. Pretty good dinner.
Not a productive day off, but a relaxing one, and I appreciate that.

Ginseng

Friday October 4th
My 7 month anniversary. Holy jeeze.
France class worked really hard in math first period, because I told them if we did not get the work done, we would not watch cartoon. It was a good motivator. Australia we finished the supplement and caught up everywhere else, so Monday we will only be 2 days behind (and on a monthly schedule, that aint bad. Denmark almost caught up with the supplement, and we are still behind on writing. The next story Australia and Denmark do is Cinderella, and the girls are all excited. I told Denmark that we would not get to start Cinderella till we were caught up in both classes... that seemed to be a good motivator... I think by Tuesday we will be caught up.
It was my first day with out my first graders.... Wendy gave me a note... I do not remember exactly what it said, but it brought a tear to my eye. It was saying how she had a teacher when she was six leave her class and go back to the US, so she cried a lot, but even though she knows I am not teaching her, I am still going to be at ECC so she didnt cry. I will really miss teaching her (as well as almost all of them). I think I was starting to have a good effect on her and she was starting to grow and find her place. I know I often spoke of my frustrations with here.... but she was a pleasure in class.  Emma gave me a note before Cheusok. Ann gave me one this week too. I do not think I talked about the individual students in this class enough. I might have to type a little about some of them so I can remember. I know why the school moved me.... but it doesn't mean I like it.
I have lost a lot of classes and gained a lot of classes... but this one really hits that I wont be teaching anymore.  From what my schedule is now... I am only teaching 3 classes that I started at the beginning of the year. I started with one Denmark and one Australia... Now I have 2 of each of them and 2 France. I still have my 3rd graders. Everything else has changed.
I taught my new class today. They all knew me, and I had seen them all in the halls so I recognized them. They are 3rd graders, but very low English skills. In class, we learned "You look great!" "Thank you!" How many _______ do you have?" "I have __________    __________." So it was mouths, necks, arms, hands, and feet. But it was not the normal answers, there were pictures of monstery aliens with multiple body parts. But thats what we did in class. They are using some of the same books our kindy kids use. But the kids all seemed to enjoy me, and that is a great place to start building up. Older kids are harder to build a relationship with most of the time... they are busy with everything and are coming in to who they are.
My third graders were good. Tomy was sick... by that, I mean when I went into class, he looked like death. He should not have been in class. But he moved a desk to the corner of the classroom and did not sit by anybody. His mom came by when he got to school (before his first class) and yet she had him stay. I have had many sick kids... but he looked pail and out of it...
After work, Rob, Scott and I went to Hongdae. Scott had to activate his cell phone. Rob and I did something partially crazy and expensive. We both signed up for Hagwon. A Korean Hagwon. So we can learn Korean. He is several levels ahead of me, but he has done it before and I have not. Surprisingly (sarcasm added) there are not many Korean Hagwons to learn Korean. The nearest is in Hongdae. I can go to Hagwon to learn Chinese, English, Math, Literature, Piano.... but not so much how to speak and read Korean. I am very excited.... It is a 3 hour class every Tuesday and Thursday. I will give it at least a month to see if I like it and it works. If it does, I'll stick with it. When I was younger I really didnt care to be bilingual... now, I really do. This place is supposed to be pretty legit too. I have tried practicing on my own... but it is tough... There are three different K sound, Different O sounds, different A sound. And practicing by yourself, you have no idea if what you are saying is right. And in Korean, where the Korean word for Chopsicks is almost the exact same word as slang for penis, the Korean word for shoe is one small sound away from f***, and the word for father is one sound away from the slang term for vagina.... knowing the difference between certain sounds is incredibly important.
The three of us went to Mammoth and ate a lot of delicious meat. I love that place. I know I have typed about it before... but 12 dollars for all you can eat.... all sort of meat... this time they had duck too... plus all the other stuff a salad bar has... just feels so right.
I came home and attempted to go to be.

Saturday September 5th
Ginseng festival in Young-Ju!
I had to wake up far earlier than I am used to. I tried going to sleep early last night and failed miserably. So, needless to say I was pretty tired. The bus out to Youn-ju took nearly 3 hours. It was good getting out of Seoul for just a day trip. It was 29,000 to do, and well worth it in my opinion.
We get there, and the first thing we do is peel ginseng and put it into glass containers with soju to make ginseng wine. Locals were very impressed with my ginseng route. The more like a person a ginseng plant looks like, the better.

 Well, as you can see, mine has 2 legs, an arm, and a penis. So, it was pretty special. It would have been better with 2 arms... but what can you do?

 Festival

After that, we went out to a Ginseng farm where we got to dig up our own ginseng plants.

 This is the plant I dug up. It does not look like a person... yet, it got a lot of the ajumma's (adult female) attention. A lot came over to look at it and gave me a big thumbs up and were excited. It had something to do with how many roots my plant had and how they weren't ripped off. Harvesting can be a fragile thing to do, so a lot of plants do not come out with a lot of roots. So they were happy.  I think it has something to do with luck or fortune... both of which are things I like. Also we had a photo shoot with the mayor of the town. There were a lot of cameras and video cameras following us around all day. I bet they are going to use some of the pictures to advertise next years festival.

After the farm we went to Seionbichon. It is a traditional Korean rebuilt to the exact specifications of the village that was around in the 15 and 16 hundreds. It is very popular in Korean Dramas and for Korean history. Something about some important Confusionist scholar founded and lived there. Not quite sure. It was beautiful outside and a great day for walking around and exploring.

 What do you know, they are filming a Korean Drama (winter scene)

 Awesome sky at rest stop on way home.

party bus!

Got back to Seoul and had dinner with several of the other people that went on the trip. It was hosted by Adventure Korea, so pretty much everyone there was a foreigner. There was one guy that was friends of the bus driver. He was there with his daughter... he tried to take a picture of me with here... it did not turn out too great... She has not started learning English yet (though her father was okay... he and I talked for a while). So I was more of a mystery to her than the usual teacher... but it was still fun making funny faces with her.... Its still a nice picture.

I got back to bobo. Then by chatting, we all decide we want to play mario party. In the end it is only me, Rob, and Yuri. We play that for several hours.

In all a fantastic Saturday... I think I may try to do more with Adventure Korea... the stuff is cheap, and Id much rather spend 30 bucks for a day then 30 bucks out in Hongdae at night. Hongdae I have explored... but there is so much more out there.

Another week almost done...

Tuesday October 1st.
October.... It is already October. I cant believe it. It is exciting and it is scary.  I am excited though. Time is flying in a whole new way for me. Ever since I graduated from college time has flown, but here, it is doing a different type of flying that I do not quite know how to describe, nor do I understand.
France class was great today. One of the best days behaved that I can remember. Christine teacher told me to move kids that act up, and make them sit by themselves... mostly talking about David and Sally. It was Davids birthday so I gave him a little leeway... Sally, I did not give any, and she was behaved better then pretty much every other student. This made me happy. The biggest complaint, is when Christine came it to tell me about moving them... she said "the" in front of each of their names.... The... the the the... This article bothers me so much... It is almost always wrong in Korea... The subway and train systems use it wrong and most other places do to... it annoys me... So she says "if the Sally is bad, move her" or "if the David is talking, move him." The definite article "the" is being used incorrectly... and yet main stream Korean uses it wrong... What do I do? The answer correct Christine is what makes sense to me... but if Korean culture uses is grammatically incorrectly, and I correct a Korean with it... and I teaching them the grammatically incorrect thing in the culture?
We got through a lot in Australia class. We might actually be able to get all caught up by tomorrow! For Denmark... I hate how passive some co teachers can be... Christina... great teacher... She asks me how we are doing on the reading street supplement and the citizenship book. I know she looks through to see... I see her doing this. Instead of saying "Eric, lets get this done" she asks how we are doing with it (though I know she knows we have not started it because I saw her looking in it). This type of thing happens often... with a lot of the Korean teachers.... To me it is very condescending. I do not think they mean it like that... From what a lot of people have said... they are not very confrontational... I see that. But still, I wish the teachers would give me honest comments.
The teacher that is taking over my first graders observed today. The kids behaved themselves mostly. But we talked afterward. He pretty much guessed who the problem children will be... The one thing he said that I did not like, was that it was about the kids being bad kids. I know it is semantics... but even the trouble makers I do not think of as bad kids. All of them are great kids with many strong suits... some just do not know how to behave in the classroom or with each other. Thinking they are bad kids puts them at a disadvantage... Even the naughty kids have moments of genius.
We had the debate with my 4th and 5th graders. The team full of girls was amazing. They actually had good arguments and thoughts, and came up with independent ideas... the boys... not so much. They were short in what they said and had no good information. So it was a win in my books. If the girls keep up that attitude... who knows how far that can go!
After work, I went to Anyang to buy some stuff. Art. My walls are so barren. A guy was selling replicas of paintings on Craigslist. So, I needed them. Posters of anything other than Kpop is pretty much non existent. These were mounted replicas.

I ended up talking to the guy for an hour and a half. He was an Econ major, and we got into a long conversation about the economics of Korea, the Hagwon system, the University system, and the future of Korea. It was very entertaining. He then said one of his friends is thinking of opening a bar in Mokdong (where I live), so we talked about that.
I came back home. Sarah wanted to store some stuff in my apartment because she is leaving. So now I have some other stuff to store here for several weeks. Other than that, it was a nothing night.

Wednesday October 2nd.
Started the day with France. We started with science. Science was pretty much putting a straw on the wrist sticking up, to watch the pulse move it. It did not work.. but the kids were impressed because since they were not able to keep their hands still, the straw moved giving the illusion of a hear beating. We then did math. Australia was good. We did cartoon and then worked on reading street. Denmark we worked on reading street the whole time. We needed to. We are almost caught up with Australia. I will start the next unit several days behind. Oh well.
My first graders were crazy again. They started off okay, got tired. So I tried to get them some energy... what happens, they push one of the kids into the hallway. Ruined it for everyone. I tried to take a picture again. More of a failure this time too. I have one picture from Monday that is okay... and one from today that is okay (other than the students that wondered off. I think the new teacher Scott will have his hands full with them. Im gonna miss them....  But it will also be nice not having to worry about them. After I left in Karen teachers class. Billy ((according to Chloe) exploded and had a big fit full of yelling and pushing things around.

 From Monday. Wendy, Min, William, Billy, Diana, David (in the front) Emma, Andy, Lucy, Chloe, Ann, May (in the back)

From Wednesday: Billy, Lucy, David, Ann, Andy. May, Chloe, and Emma are in the back by me.

It is funny. France class is known to be the most naughty kindergarten classes, and my first graders are the worst class too. Both are bad because of a few trouble makers, and the bring both classes down...
My one on one with Chloe was good. I get a good workout every time I do it. Picking her up and playing all of the games she makes up... but she is speaking english and having fun, and thats what counts.
My 3rd graders... we had one page to do... not even a full page. 9 questions. That is all that I had for the class. So I was having fun with them. Kate teacher comes in and makes a comment about how it is like one of my students isnt there to learn and then talks about the rest of the class. It annoyed me. I am not being a hard ass strict teacher and letting the kids have a little fun. We had 9 questions. The class before, they read the story and had already answered 2 pages of questions. I had 5 t/f questions about the story, and 4 questions where the students had to write the answers. Not hard. But after she came in, I had to be a strict ass incase someone checked up on the class.
After work, Rob and I had Moms Touch chicken burgers. Then we went to Emart to look for the new Korean beer that is supposed to be good. We cabbed it home. Later Ama, Taylor, Husdon, Sarah, Rob, Scott (new teacher) Carrie, and Sam went to the restaurant downstairs and ate a little. Then we went to GS to drink some (no work tomorrow), then went up to Robs room to try to play video games (which did not work). Fun night. I think Scott is going to fit in with our bunch. He has taught in Korea for 2 years, and is back to do it again.

Thursday October 3rd.
Lazy day. Rearranged my room and worked on cleaning a little. Cleared out one of my cabinets to put all of Sarah's stuff.
Then I went to Itaewon to meet with Rob and Yuri (his GF) Sarah and Scott. We went to Reillys Tap House because they have Pumpkin beer. So we each had several pints. I love Pumpkin beer. Not necessarily because it is great beer, but I love anything in limited quantities, and pumpkin beer is only around for one month out of the year. Then we had Lamb sandwiches (not quite a gyro and not quite a sandwich). Then we went to Sin Bin to play shuffle board and Darts. Then we had some Taco Bell. It was a fun Thursday off work. Back to work tomorrow for one day, then the weekend... And I might be out of Seoul on Saturday... I am trying to go to a ginseng festival!