Way-gook-in' it up in Korea!: TGIF

So, it is late and I have a headache, so I will try to keep this blog brief:

I had been meaning to count the speed bumps on the way to work for awhile, and this morning I finally remembered! Official Speed Bump Count (from my apartment to the school): 18.

Today my classes were particularly frustrating. I made a map and did a lesson on directions, but the kids just FO'd during the partner practice, and then when I chose random students to do presentations at the end, some of them couldn't do anything. I even scolded one class -- saying, we had been studying directions for 50 minutes, why hadn't they learned anything? It was frustrating because I spent a lot of time making a map of downtown Washington and making a set of worksheets which involved partners giving directions to each other. It was really frustrating -- I'll have to spend some time thinking about how I can improve the lesson, because I must not be teaching it well. Anyway, the journal prompt for today was: "What are your favorite places to go in your city? Why?" and the best answer I got (by far) was: "My favorite place to go is WC because I have constipation."

I finished teaching at 1, but stuck around until 4 because the teachers were going to play volleyball together. It was definitely worth it -- I got in on teacher bonding! First I played 2 games with the other women -- it was pretty pathetic. The point maybe lasted past the serve. :-P Anyway, I hit the ball 4 times and even served once (and it made it over the net) and everyone thought I was a "good" player --heh, yeah right. Then the men took the floor -- they were so competitive!! The principal was by far the MVP -- and he was the oldest one there. He was spiking, diving for the ball, and jumping like crazy! I couldn't believe it. And the VP was trying to be a big deal too, but looked like he was just trying too hard -- man, you can't take on the Principal!

After dinner I went to HomeEver with my host mom -- they had a going out of business sale. I spent another $50 on 3 shirts, a pair of shoes, and a tie for Ike. (See pic below for the shirts -- I forgot to include the shoes and tie) Then, after we returned home, I finally got the balls to bring up the topic of my dance classes. They made it seem like I was asking for $1,000,000!! I don't get why it is soooo difficult for them. I offered to only do the class 3 times a week (even though it is offered -- and I will be paying for -- 5 days a week). I also offered to buy myself kimbap (sushi) on my own if holding food for me after dinner was too much of a burdon. They seemed to think that eating at 9 was impossibly late --regardless of if they have to prepare it or not. I explained that I don't want to dance on a full stomache. Then my host dad suggested that since school is done early for me, I could just come home and prepare dinner for myself before dance class. So then I re-iterated about not wanting to eat a meal before dance class. Anyway, I suggested that I will eat a snack before class -- piece of PB&J toast sounds perfect to me with maybe a bit of fruit -- and then eat dinner after class. My host mom finally agreed to give it a try. But, they just made it seem so impossible -- like they really wanted to just tell me not to do the classes. I really can't understand why, especially since this is the only available time. I told them I asked if an earlier class was possible, and that it wasn't, and that I was sorry the class time was so bad, but that there was nothing I could do about it. Anyway, they should know how important dance is to me and should be happy that I will be studying traditional Korean dance!! Anyway, I'll start Monday. M&W I will take a 2 hour ballet class, and Thur I will do traditional Korean.

To top it all off, I got a call from the VP's son --who is an English teacher -- at 10pm tonight. That is usually my bedtime! Anyway, he wanted me to help him with an "English" sentence he didn't understand: "Truth and oil are ever above." WAT?!? I told him that I had no clue what it meant, and that I did not think it was even proper English. Then of course he asked me to guess -- and I said I couldn't even guess the meaning. Ay yi yi, where do they get this stuff? The Engrish here is so bad sometimes.