Monday and Tuesday I just relaxed around the home -- free reading, laundry, lesson planning, wasting time on the internet, and the likes. I went for short walks in the evening with the boys after dinner. On Tuesday, everyone had school except my host mom and I. For lunch we ate at a food court in the Home Plus store (it's like a Super Target) and then did a little shopping. I asked her to show me where the Suncheon Bus Terminal is, because on Saturday I will be going to Gwangju (2 hours away, capital city of my province) to meet up with a few other ETAs.
This morning was back to work -- oh, how I dreaded it!! I guess the long weekend spoiled me, because I really really didn't want to go to work today. :-) It probably is also because I was up past my bedtime reading my book (Digital Fortress, by Dan Brown - author of DaVinci Code -- so you know how addicting his books are...). It is impossible to put down. I just started it on Monday and I will likely stay up tonight and finish it at all costs. Last night I felt like a little kid/rebel -- I was reading my book using my book light and I ate some of my cheesy Ritz Bitz crackers from America in bed, after brushing my teeth. Oh my! :-O Anyway, it's a good book.
Today my classes didn't go quite as well as the last 2 days. I taught the lesson on drawing again, which should be fun, but the kids were just so slow paced today -- maybe since it was the first day back from the long weekend. Anyway, I started off the classes with a game of "hangman" to introduce the topic, like I did last week and want to do the whole semester. Anyway, they were so slow to guess letters today. Finally I was like "hello! This is hangman. you know how to play this game -- it is easy and fun! Just choose letters!" And they still wouldn't respond. So then I had to randomly draw numbers (each student here has a number) to get them to choose a letter. So ridiculous. But then I got a chuckle when the last class was guessing, and someone guessed "S" and then the next person guessed "E" and I wrote them in the box for the wrong letters. Then of course the next student raised his hand and said "X". Thankfully I pre-empted him and wrote the letter before the S instead of after the E, which would have spelled "SEX" on the chalkboard. Boys will be boys. The boys also had dificulties today understanding my explanation of the drawing competition -- don't really know why since the classes on Thur/Fri understood. I'll blame in on Chuseok. I also had the teacher's workshop today. Only 2 showed up as they were busy "observing" classes at another high school in town today. Anyway, one printed out last week's transcript of FRIENDS instead of this weeks. Maybe I should start writing my emails in Chinese or French or something, because they are obviously not understanding my English emails. Actually they just are ignoring the directions, even though I would think the date-stamp would be a dead give away as to which week the email corresponds to. Anyway... :-P
After I finished teaching at 4, I got stalked about re-recording my interview for the promotional video for the school. Last time I was "too quiet" and my "face looked like I was anxious or thinking about something else" -- gee, you think? I was in the middle of teaching a class last time!! Anyway, it took about 20 minutes and I had to repeat it 4 times. I definitely felt like I sold my soul to my school again today. They even made me do a cheesy "2 thumbs up" pose after I finished talking. Oh Korea and your obsession with "saving face" -- making things appear as they really are not.
To top off my exhaustion from teaching 5 classes, grading ~140 journals, and doing the damn interview again the bus ride home took longer than usual. I was pooped by the time I got off the bus. So, I treated myself to some raison bread from Tous Les Jours (an American bakery chain, with one branch conveniently located 1 block from my apt) before I went back to the apartment. Tonight after dinner I went with Jun-eun and the mom for a walk to do some of their errands, and then when I got home the host dad and the older brother were back -- they had missed dinner. My host dad helped me figure out a bus schedule to get to the Andong Mask Festival next weekend -- yay!! I really hope it works out and I get to go, and that it is worth the 5-hour bus trip each way. Also had some delicious fruit for dessert -- I love Korean fruit. We had grapes and pears. The grapes here are like Concord (I think?) grapes -- they have seeds and are more jelly-like grapes. The pears are shaped like a grapefruit, but have regular pear skin. I think the flavor is a bit different -- I never really liked pears in the US, but I love the pears here.
Anyway, I don't have to teach tomorrow. I got lucky -- the students have tests all day, so I have no classes!! I plan on sleeping in, and then making a trip to the post office and exploring part of downtown Suncheon and maybe doing some shopping. Should be nice to just wander around by myself. It's nice knowing I can get myself lost and a taxi ride home will just be $5 or less from pretty much anywhere in the city.
Below I've attached some pictures from the food display in the food court we ate in on Tuesday. The food is obviously fake, but looks just like the real thing, so it gives you an idea of some of the typical dishes -- not traditional dishes, mind you -- typical restaurant/food court options.
Can you spot the typo? (This was in the Home Plus store)
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