Wacky Week and Shanghai

After having an incredibly wacky week last week, I'm very much looking forward to the very very relaxed upcoming week I have ahead.

Last week, my schedule was thrown curveball upon curveball at my school. Monday morning, my co-teacher tells me, hey Wally, "tomorrow's classes are all going to be 70 minutes long instead of the standard 45 minutes. There are listening tests, so there had to be a schedule change."

my typical class schedule

Oh, okay, cool, 70 minute long classes. Not that I'm prepared to teach for a 70 minute time block, but sure, no problem. Luckily, I discovered that my activity in class took much longer to do than I had slated, and the students didn't get to finish the backs of their worksheets. Problem solved.

Well, later that day I'm informed that due to the 70 minute classes, 5th and 6th periods were cancelled on Tuesday and students were released slightly early. Oh, great, cool, I get a whole extra afternoon free as a result.

Well, still later, my co-teacher hands me a copy of the weeks schedule which is as follows:
Monday: regular classes.
Tuesday: periods 1-4, 70 minutes, period 5-6 cancelled
Wednesday: periods 1-4, normal times, periods 5-6 cancelled.
Thursday: all classes cancelled, Monday classes periods 1-3, Tuesday periods 5-6 during periods 4&5, Wednesday periods 5&6 during Thursday periods 6&7 (on Thursdays only this semester, classes start 40 minutes early and we have an extra period)
Friday: normal classes

An exact copy of the schedule change my co-teacher gave me on Monday around noon.

wtf? So now, as a result, two of my four monday classes are a week ahead, and my two thursday classes are a week behind. My school claims that this is to enable the classes to make up for missed days, but I was able to condense or expand my lessons to keep everything on track, and now my school does THIS. bla&*!sdlk%#roa#@itg;kfja! Anyways, my Monday classes will be corrected next week because there is a holiday. However, my Thursday class (as well as my Wednesday classes due to Election day, a holiday here in Korea) will be a full week behind. Thanks a whole effing lot.

Anyways, on the brighter side, I have no school on Wednesday because of Election Day. My co-teachers were shocked and appalled to discover that in the States people have to work on election day. they also admitted that even with a full day off work, none of them ever vote. wtf? I voted even when I didn't have a day off. How can that even be?

Plus, my Korean class got cancelled because we were supposed to have a week of vacation during the six months, but our teacher never did it, so here we are, two weeks left in the semester, and the second to last one she has to use for vacay. Unfortunately she gave us a crapton of homework that I can't do because it's too difficult.

PLUS, Friday afternoon, I'm flying to Shanghai, China, to compete with KUPA at a frisbee tournament. I'm really looking forward to it, and I think our team has a shot at doing pretty well. Keep your fingers crossed for us this weekened! We play Saturday and Sunday and then I leave Monday afternoon. I'm hoping to at least have time to see SOMETHING in Shanghai at least early in the morning before I have to run off to the airport.

This is the riverside promenade. This is my Shanghai goal. Even if I have to wake up at freaking 6 a.m. I'm going to see something in Shanghai.

xoxo,
A

Lately...

Things have been going great! I had a wonderful weekend, my family will be here in 4.5 days, my whole month is mostly planned, meaning all I have to do is make my powerpoints and prep class materials, school is back in session which means I get to see my stuuuuudents, I'm getting a new phone, Korean class is generally going well, and I'm happy.

Here are some pictures from the last few days. My next post will be dedicated to my Monday, which was glorious, but for now, everything else:

Fog seems to be so common here. In Florida, it's mostly an early morning thing, but this was taken at 6 p.m.

 

Monday was a national holiday (according to my Google Calendar, it's Independence Movement Day) and there were flags EVERYWHERE. I liked it.

On Friday night, I met a new friend, SY, who is amazingly cool and friendly. This Friday I will be learning how to make chopchae (there isn't a good way to write it in english... grrr) at her house from her mom. Seriously. I love this girl. We had coffee at Holly's Coffee and then met my friends for dinner.

It was SY's birthday on Saturday so we got her an ice cream cake. SO DELICIOUS!

We loooooove cake, birthdays and SY!

We also love kamikazes!

Hopefully everyone else is enjoying themselves as much as I am. I still sometimes can't believe I'm in Korea. Gosh, I sure am a lucky person, being able to travel as much as I have been, and meet as many new exciting people as I have, work at such a wonderful place like I do.

Also, I booked my plane ticket to Jeju Island, for the savage nines tournament going on there in May. I'm really really excited! Also, that link above is to an English language site, so check it out! I know many of my links are to Korean sites, so I'm throwing a bone to you foreigners. *^^*

xoxo
A

Korean Love

Man, I love living here.

Today, I had Korean class. I was about 15 minutes early to class (I try to leave early because I never know when the bus will get to the bus stop, and because I can get some extra studying in at TalkHouse, wear I take classes beforehand). My teacher was there, but none of the rest of the students were there, and she started talking to me about my neighborhood and my experiences before coming to Korea. She is from the same area I live in now (she graduated from the middle school I currently teach at), and so she knows how boring it is out here. haha. Also, she asked me what I studied at university, and when I told her English and Spanish she said, "ah, yes, I can tell you have a talent for languages." YAY! I think I am starting to get Korean, and I'm moving along at a pretty healthy rate, especially now. We are moving really really fast, and the verbs are mind-numbingly difficult to learn, because we are learning present, future, past and conditional tenses simultaneously, and that has been a REAL challenge. It is very Korean to present a tremendous amount of information and basically just say, "learn it," so I'm doing the best I can to succesfully learn things. Honestly, I'm beginning to be able to pick out words and phrases in other people's conversations, which is really AWESOME.

Also, after leaving Korean classes, I went to my usual kimbab place for a light dinner of cheese ddeokbokki (a rather boring recipe video here, but it provides a recipe nonetheless. If you live in Gainesville, go to the Korean market on Archer & 34th. TRY THIS DISH, IT IS SO DELICIOUS), and the ladies were very nice to me (as usual), and my ddeokbokki was delish (as usual). After finishing and paying for my meal (2500 won, or about 2 dollars), I went outside to the bus stop. As it so happened, I left the kimbab place the very moment three high school boys were walking by. They all looked at me, mouths agape, and said, "oooooh, HELLO!" I said hello back, of course, as I always do. Then one turned around and said, "oh! So beautiful!" I said thank you, as I always do. The a different one asked me "aaaah, ki, ki, (ki is height in Korean) how tall?" And I said, 186 cms, indicating also with my hands 1-8-6. They, as people always do, stopped in their tracks and said, "ooooooooooooohhhhh, woooow!" and then proceeded to giggle like 6 year-old girls as they walked by me, gasping out a "goodbye" as they passed. It was hilarious and adorable and it kills me everytime.

Also, tomorrow is Peppero day, another wonderful reason to love Korea, but more on that after the holiday has officially been celebrated by yours truly.

xoxo,
A

A Lovely Day

Today was made to be perfect.

I had fried eggs and toast for breakfast (so yummy, even though I did break a yolk on my flip).

On the walk to school, a guy was trimming some evergreen trees on the other side of the privacy wall, and it smelled like Christmas trees, and it was briskly cool out, which was glorious.

At school lunch today, we had pork loin that tasted EXACTLY like what my mom makes, and cucumbers and I basically died because it tasted so much like home. Comfort food, to the fullest.

My next door neighbors put out some Halloween decorations. Plus, I found out where I can get a real big pumpkin to put up for halloween in my classroom. I wish I could afford little bitty pumpkins for my students. Unfortunately, I have 600 of them, and that simply will not work...

Had a McDonalds choco sundae, which is literally the best snack a human being could have invented. At just under one buck, I can have soft serve vanilla ice cream slathered with thick hot fudge in exactly the perfect proportion. McDonalds is not a place I would consider known for perfection, but this is edible perfection in a plastic cup.

Korean class was freaking ridiculous, but I didn't care. I think I will learn a lot, as long as I study a LOT, and try to pay attention in class even when I don't know what the hell is going on. Flash cards, here I come.

This was extra clutch because last night I had been feeling a touch lonely and stressed, but those feelings have completely evaporated and I'm happy to say nothing could be better. ^o^

Back at home, readying myself for bed. yay!