All is quiet once again

Quiet, perhaps, but certainly not dull! I have been extremely busy (and about to get more so) this past week.  I have decided to become more productive with all of the spare time that an English teacher is blessed with.  So, I have started taking some free online classes.  These classes are equivalent to a class one would take at an University.  This is a good way for me to continue to keep my brain cells alive as teaching basic English at an elementary level, apparently, is not.

This week I have started my sustainability class.  So far it has been very interesting.  While it promises to be a lot of work it's definitely worth it.  In a few weeks I will be starting a history class and possibly a class on Greek and Roman mythology.

Teaching is going to well.  I still haven't taught a full week since coming back from camp. This was supposed to be the first "full" week but the students didn't have to come to school tomorrow because we were supposed to have been hit by a typhoon.  Which definitely did not happen.  It was rather anti-climatic.  It didn't even really rain except for maybe 15 minutes around lunch time.

So to sum up, lately my life has been full of lesson planning, reading, writing papers, and taking notes while fitting in an absurd amount of teacher dinners in.  (Not that I mind about the dinners...I swear my life has been revolving around food lately.)  

Curiosity killed the cat...

This past Saturday was fun.  Alex had some friends, Chris and Emily, in town visiting from Singapore.  I decided to tag along for a day of fun with them.

First, we visited the base where Alex works and were able to play with helicopters! This is the helicopter I played in. :)

 The inside looks very complicated and was definitely cramped.  But it was pretty cool to see.   There were also many more outside (and inside where we were while they were being worked on).

After playing with the helicopters we headed over for some yummy Korean food for lunch while we made plans for the day.  We were heading over to the fish market where Emily and Alex were going to eat Sannakji--or live octopus.  Chris was on the fence and I was a definite no.  Since I am not even a fan of sea food in general there was no way that I would try something that was still alive.

Eventually we wandered over to the market.  I was actually surprised that it was inside--for some reason I had a picture of it being an outdoor thing.  So we wandered around looking at rows and rows of...dead and alive animals of the sea.

We eventually came to one booth and the lady asked if we wanted to buy the octopus.  We asked where they would prepare it for us and she pointed for us to follow another lady.  The second lady took the bag with our snack and we followed her down what seemed like at the time to be a rather long and isolated alleyway/ramp.  At the bottom was a restaurant where they prepare whatever seafood was bought at the market and then serve it like they would a regular restaurant.  So we all had a seat and waited for them to bring it out to us.

Here is the video of that experience.

After that we had to decide what to do with the...body section.  So, brave Alex decided he would give it a try.

Once this was over, we decided to get some real food and then ended the night by playing some card games.  Overall quite the day.  I guess this is another time when I should never say never.

PS--that was probably the most disgusting thing I have ever done in my entire life.  

Time flies in Korea

It's hard to believe it's the middle of July already.  I have spent most of this month feeling a little sick on and off for most of the month.  I think it's all the weather fluctuations.  This past weekend I got really sick with a stomach bug.  I blame it on eating food that the kids prepared.

I'm feeling a lot better today, although still a little under the weather.  Things at work have been super busy.  I am still preparing for my summer lesson plans for camp that starts next week.  I am about 85% done with them which is nice.

In two weeks it's my birthday and in three weeks it's my vacation.  I am really looking forward to vacation.

There is not much to write about as I haven't ventured too far from home this month.  I made it to a baseball game one weekend so that was fun.  I haven't been doing nearly as much "touristy" stuff that I did last year--although that will probably pick up after the 3 month point as then I will be receiving full salary instead of the reduced.

That's pretty much all there is to update on right now. 

Monsoon season is upon us!

"Oh wait.  Not really.  Just kidding!"  --Mother Nature

The rains started on Saturday.  And boy did it rain.  Monsoon season is about two weeks or so later than it was last year and so I assumed that when the rains started it wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.  But after a day of raining, it stopped shortly after dinner time that same day.

Of course it would rain on the day we did our school trip.  I have to admit that a few times (mostly when we were climbing up or sliding down the side of a mountain) I had the thought, "These people are crazy.  Don't they know that rainy days are perfect for staying indoors, dry?"  But, I suppose if they had that attitude then they would never leave during the summer months.

Despite the rain, the trip was fun.  We hiked a little, went through a cave, ate delicious food, and had good company.  There was also the historical aspect of visiting a king's tomb and visiting where he was exiled so his uncle could rule instead.

Apparently the rains will be back later this week so we'll see if they actually stick around this time.  Right now it's in the upper 80's and sunny.  

Amazing discoveries

This past weekend was fairly busy.  The differences between living in Paju and Seongnam is pretty big.  The things that I have at my finger tips here is amazing compared to having to travel an 1+ one way to do anything during the weekend.

So, this blog is geared more towards those that are living in/around Seoul and want to know about some fun things I discovered this past weekend.

On Saturday I had a meeting about tutoring North Koreans.  There is a tutoring program which is ran through the North Korean Defectors' Freedom Association.  They meet on Saturday's from 12:30-3 in Daecheong, Seoul.  There is an assortment of ages, all the way from Kindergarten students to adults. While not all of them came directly from N. Korea (for example, the kindergarten students are the children of defectors) they all share the common need of needing tutoring so they can survive in this world.

So, if you're near this area I highly recommend this.  This is, of course, a volunteer position.  It's a good way to become involved in the community and to give back.  This organization has made it into the Korean newspaper and you can read more about it here.

Another discovery this weekend was a place called "Once in a blue moon."   This was an amazing discovery as it's so hard to actually find live music in Korea.  This place is located in Apgujeong (Exit 6 if you're taking the metro) and has performances between 7:30-12:40.  The admission is free but you're paying for it through drinks.  I believe a Cass beer was 16,000\ and it only went up from there.  I ordered an orange juice--just the juice and my drink was 15,000\.  I wasn't there for the food but I can only assume that would also be pricey--the atmosphere and the music (at least when I went) was definitely worth the cost of my drink though.

The last place I am going to talk about is Butterfinger Pancakes.  The one I went to was in Gangnam (which is about 40 minutes away) but apparently there is one near me.  I refuse to learn where as I am afraid of always going there once I find out!

This place is absolutely amazing and puts I-Hop to shame.  I ordered a mozzarella and cream cheese pancake.  I was a little uncertain about the combination but it was absolutely delicious!  I also ordered.....

A rootbeer float!

That's right.  A rootbeer float.  In Korea!  

Needless to say, I was beyond full when I left that place and managed to sleep off the food that afternoon. :)  

So yes, three amazing discoveries this weekend in the Bundang area.  I love living here.  This weekend I will go rafting with my school.  In the rain.  I can't say that I am excited about being rained on (at all) but I am glad it'll rain! We're also supposed to get thunderstorms! I keep being assured that they aren't planning on cancelling the trip even with the rain so I suppose I should just prepare myself to be drenched as there is a 100% chance of it raining the entire day (and night).  

Summer Camps

It's now the middle of June (when did that happen?!) which means that summer is upon us.  In less than one month from now I will be teaching summer camp.

Last year, summer camp was pretty easy to plan because 1.) We didn't have a budget and 2) The co-teacher wanted everything to be super educational.

This year, not only do we have a budget but I also have to come up with fun themes to do.

So, I have decided for the older kids (4th-5th grade) to do a "Korea's got Talent" type of theme (kind of) and have the students performing most of the week.  They will make music videos, short dramas, fashion shows, and an "Iron Chef" segment, and then randomly thrown in there on the first day--science experiments.  They will also make their own 'commercials' and if they're anything as humorous as the commercials on the TV here I will be entertained greatly.

This is going to take a LOT of planning and organization but if I am able to pull it off it will be a pretty fun camp.  And I will have some fun videos to show as well.

Then, the next week I will have 2nd and 3rd grade students.  This won't be nearly as advanced as I have to make it fairly easy for their level of English.  I haven't planned entirely yet but I believe it will be something along the theme of "On the farm."   They can learn animals, foods, and general farm stuff.  Like I said, I haven't really thought to much about this one yet.

I have also been busy with other lesson plans as we're pretty much finished with the text book for the semester and won't start the next segment until mid-August. I have to admit that almost every moment of the entire day is busy with lesson planning.  Despite being drained by the end of the day though, I don't really mind.

A lot harder...

It's a lot harder to update my blog this year.  Last year I would usually write it when I was at school but for some reason this website doesn't work on the school computer.  Which means I have to write it when I am at home--and clearly that's not working out too well.

Once again I have nothing to write about.  One of these days soon I will post a video of my apartment.  First, I have to catch up on laundry so I won't have clothes drying everywhere in the video.  I feel as though this is a never ending battle though as the washer is so small that I am constantly doing laundry.  Especially since it's so hot and humid (and I walk so much) that I wear at least 2 outfits a day if not more.

It'll happen soon though.  I make a goal to have it done within the week...