Hello out there,
I finally have found a moment to sit back and relax and I thought that I might as well share it with all of you. My life has been jam packed lately and I am eagerly anticipating the detumescence of my schedule. We are currently in the second week of the Korean school's summer vacation. At our institute, CDI, we capitalize on this time (of course) and offer a summer intensive program; man is it intense. Korean mothers are adamant about their children receiving THE best education possible (by this I mean best in the known universe, some commu
te to neighboring solar systems), so they don't waste time on childhood trivialities such as fun and relaxation. Don't get me wrong, some people do go on vacation, however our classes are not under populated by any means and the kids don't hesitate to complain about the banalities of their summer vacations: homework and going to CDI. I try to make it fun for them though. I give out prizes for good work and high grades. In my Novel Reading class, aside from showering my students with encomiums for their wonderful pronunciation and superior reading skills, I am giving away a book on each Friday of the next three weeks. I found some cheap copies of 'Scary Stories to tell in the Dark,' 'Where The Sidewalk Ends,' and 'A Light in the Attic'. Each book was about three dollars and they all have Korean translations for the difficult words in the book. The kids were pretty excited and I had to pat myself on the back for being able to actually get them all raising their hands and wanting to participate. Plus it's been a long time since I've had a chance to read any of those wonderful books and just looking them over brought back some really nostalgic memories of boa constrictors, not taking the garbage out, of ickle me, pickle me and tickle me too. They've been tons of fun to look at and I kind of don't even want to give them away, but I already promised so I'll have to postpone any hopes of a permanent return to childhood. Anyway, because of this added program I am now working six days a week from about 8:30am to 10:30pm on Mon, Wed, Thurs and Friday. Tuesday I work from 8:30 to 7:30 and Wednesday (my old day off) I only work from 8:30 to 12:30. So far I'm doing okay. I don't have much time for my ninja training but I do what I can in the apartment here and there and play soccer on Wednesday nights. Mostly my exercise is limited to morning yoga so I don't go crazy when I get to a classroom full of inimical twelve year olds eager to eschew their teacher for their mothers' great expectations. So, needless to say, my next three weeks are to remain quite busy and a bit arduous.
Aside from massive work loads I manage to have some fun here and there. Ashley's good friend from Cal Poly, Amy Poppers, has come out to teach English for a month here in Changwon. She works at a competing school but only because our school won't higher for less than one year. One of my English friends from soccer got her the job. She lives in our spare apartment and having a familiar face from home to hang out with has bee
n great for both Ashley and my own sanity. Last weekend we went to Busan, Korea's second largest city and did some sight seeing (I've attached some pictures). It was really fun checking out Buddhist temples and other city sites like the largest fish market in Korea and other out door markets. It was super cheap to head out there, about five dollars each way, and cheap to site see as well which is always a plus. The most expensive part was when I had to go to starbucks because, well you all know why, and the bucks isn't in Changwon. We are going out to Busan again this weekend to check out the beach and some museums. Our company is also going to meet us out there and buy us dinner which is always nice because we get the top shelf treatment. Well, not much more to report. This whole ten minute relaxation period has only made me realize that I'm too tired to think of clever and witty things to say. So, you get the obtuse and insipid version of the concatenations of my day to day existence. Maybe next time we can wax more entertainingly.
Until then, whatever... I'm tired.
