My Awesome Weekend in Korea

Once upon a time this shy girl wanted adventure. She's been working too hard. She needed a mini-vacation. And this weekend in Korea, she got it. She got it in the form of an Adventure Korea trip to the Gochang province and the surrounding area. It was seriously the best thing I did for myself in a while. This is such a beautiful country there are no words beyond that. I have posted pictures on my numerous internet outlets, and that should satisfy most of you, but this weekend was one that left me in awe of nature and pumped for the week ahead. I haven't felt that in a while.

Saturday we got an early start at 7am. We left Seoul and headed south for three hours. We visited a military fortress and hiked around it once for good fortune. We watched a military festival in progress there. We reloaded the bus and checked into our hotel and met new friends at dinner. Everyone that did this trip was super friendly and seeking the same experience, I think. Many different ages and backgrounds. It's so neat how a thirst for adventure brings us all together in that way.

Sunday we got an early start as well. After a quick peanut butter toast breakfast, we headed up the mountain on a three-hour hike! Gorgeous scenery and invigorating climbing were the main attractions. Fall here is beautiful. The weather was gorgeous. I am so thankful for all that has been given to me. All of the opportunities that have blessed me over the years. The fact that I am here, able to do these things, still amazes and amuses me.

We finished the hike and after a traditional Korean bibimbop lunch, we reloaded the bus and went digging for clams! In the mud! I've never done that before! It was an amazing experience, there are no other words, like I said before. I will have more on this later, but for now, I just wanted to say what an incredible experience this was, and I hope that you are blessed in whatever you are doing at the moment as well. Take time to enjoy the little, finer points in life.

What other time do we have but the present?

Pictures to come!

Love,

Me :)

Second Week Down

Second week is down and left me with a Friday night at 9:15 pm at school.

There's just so much to do. I end up prepping all week for Kindergarten that I don't get my weekly tests they want me to give done until last minute. I did get it all done, and now it's all in the delivery. Class continues to go well, if not a little repetitive. I suppose that's me being selfish though. They say that when you are learning a second language repetition is key, but if I have to sing "What are you doing/I'm playing a game/watch what I do/and then do the same" one more time with my K7A class I'm going to scream.

Same thing with the second graders. They are set to do two units a week, but every week it's the SAME PAGES in their text book and workbook. Practice speaking, practice speaking, practice speaking the SAME PHRASE over and over and over again. That's what I signed on to do though.

Me: What do you do after school? (This is our target language for this week.)
Kid: I (pause) stu- sud- sku
Me: Study?
Kid: Study!
Me: What do you study?
Kid: I studies English.
Me: I study English.
Kid: Yes.
Director: (who is always standing in the back of this class) REPEAT!!! (In scary Korean accent.)
Kid: (timidly) I........study.......English.
Me: Perfect. (Award star.)

Next kid. Same thing. Now I'm starting to see why class sizes are limited to nine kids.

When I think about it, this is exactly what happened in my Spanish class in high school. We'd have a textbook with conversational phrases in it, the teacher would introduce a lesson, have us practice speaking the target phrases to her, and then have us practice with a partner. Students would ALWAYS try to get away with only writing or reading silently, but the teacher would always be calling on kids to speak. This is exactly what I see as a teacher. Funny how that works.

On another notes, I like that all the kids have English names for the purpose of learning English. I was afraid that in coming over here I would have to learn some serious Korean nicknames for children. But no, all the children choose their own English name upon registering at this particular Hogwon. There are lots of Dorothys, Sallys, Jessicas, Thomases and Joshuas here, which are names I haven't heard in America in a long time. 6

I did hear from my recruiter too, who was so obviously checking up on my performance. She had a good report though. Apparently, my director thinks I am doing a good job for my first week officially on the job and also said that "I am a very sweet person." Awww. I have a reputation to uphold. Damn. And I thought I could get away with completely changing my image. As the G6B sixth graders like to say because they just learned this particular slang, "Fiddlesticks!"

I own a bunny now too. Pictures and more posts to come. Stay tuned.