Friday marked the end of my first week of summer camp. Finishing the first week was a great feeling because camp is my least favorite time of the semester. It’s fun for the kids, but it takes a lot of work and usually stresses me out.
I did an Olympics theme and on Friday I gave all of the students medals. They all had a really good week so I think that means it was a success.
Today was camp day four. The past two days of camp have been really tiring. I have 3rd grade for 40 minutes, 1st & 2nd graders for 40 minutes and then I teach 4th grade for 80 minutes.
My 4th graders are exhausting. They are just so blah about camp and it’s hard to get them to be enthusiastic about anything. Even at break time, they’d rather watch Tom & Jerry than go run around the halls.
I bought my dinner from the back of a truck tonight. I love it when this truck is parked in my neighborhood. He sells delicious steamed dumplings (10 for 3,000 won).
It’s funny how instinctual this pose is here.
School is out for summer, but the public schools put on summer camps so I’m teaching English classes all week.
My 1st and 2nd graders were confused about where they were supposed to sit so I went around to take pictures of the students in their assigned seats. These girls went from normal to “Kimchi!” in the 2 seconds it took for me to snap their picture.
Note: They say “Kimchi!” when taking pictures instead of “Cheese!” like we do.
I’m cheating a bit because this picture is actually from Friday. I just couldn’t pass up posting it.
Friday was the last day of the semester do the kids got to leave at noon. All of the teachers and staff at my school were taken out for lunch. Every person you can see in this picture works at my school. My vice principal is actually sitting behind me in the white dress.
We had Korean BBQ. Korean meals come with lots of side dishes so our table was covered with food. At most BBQ restaurants they bring the meat out raw and you cook it at your table. Some restaurants have gas grills and others use hot coals. This restaurant used coals. It was really good!
Six months ago Dave and I went to Jeju Island. I kept the tourist map from the hotel and it came in handy on Sunday.
Joni is coming to visit me in just over a month and we are all going to Jeju for a few days. Dave and I sat down with the map to try to plan out our trip.
Dave and I went to O’Taco for lunch on Saturday to have burritos. I’m always really amused by the bar across the street. It’s a “Western Bar” that caters to foreigners (like many in the area do). I just really like their sign.
“Happy 2 hours”
Today was a pretty good day. My coteachers and I all did last minute touches on English camp things and then the teachers and staff at my school all went to lunch. We had Korean BBQ and there was so much food! We could have easily fed 6 people with the amount of food they brought our table of 4.
Afterwards, I caught a ride to the train station from another teacher. I got to the train station earlier than I anticipated and it was just in time to catch the next train. As I was waiting for my train, I met this woman. She sat down next to me and started telling me (in Korean) about the headband she’s holding in the picture. She said it was beautiful and I’m pretty sure she said it was 4,000 won, but she got it for 2,000. I told her (in Korean) “Beautiful. This.” and mimicked taking a picture with my hands. She dug the headband back out of her purse and posed for my picture.
Obviously my amazing ability to say 2 words in Korean impressed her because she then carried on a conversation with me in full Korean. I had no idea what she was saying so when I thought it fit into what she was staying, I’d use my limited Korean to say things like “American” and “English teacher.” There were lots of shoulder shrugs, pretend to be understanding head nods and a few thumbs up.
I did understand a bit of what she was saying. But only words here and there. Even though it was a bit awkward, I enjoy moments like that. They are quirky and it’s just part of the Korea experience.
Faith is coming over for dinner tonight so I stopped by Domino’s to pick up a pizza. Pizza is really popular here, but it’s nothing like back home. I just ordered a potato pizza. The toppings are potato wedges, corn, mushrooms, bacon and a ring of some kind of cream/mayo type sauce. It’s better than it sounds.
Even though everything is so different, it’s nice to have some sources of familiarity here.
I met up with Jami, Shanna and Matt in PNU after work on Wednesday. We had Japanese ramen and afterwards we stopped here for a smoothie. Places like this are very common. The fruit for the smoothies is pre portioned out in cups. You just pick a cup and they make you a delicious smoothie. This stand also sells waffles and they gave us a free one. They spread whipped cream and honey on it and then fold it over. They are quite tasty.
Life Outside of Texas 