Bright Attack

I've barely taught this week and won't have any classes again till next Thursday thanks to finals. So it's good because I can relax a little, but it's also a bit slow when I don't interact with the kids. Yesterday I went walking and found a hiking trail in the hills behind my school and took it quite a ways back. The weather's nice right now. I got off at noon today and when I got home my apartment was so bright. I usually leave by 8 AM and return at 5 PM or later so my apartment isn't usually so lit up when I'm here:



(I also decided not to pick up the clothes scattered around the living room to show you how disorganized I am)

It reminded me to charge my camera batteries and how I hardly ever post photos. I should show you how crazy Korean neighborhoods look.

Brainstorm With Me

I have to do a one-day camp in two weeks. It's already been planned out, and I need to fill it in with ideas. There will be about 40 kids. So comment and help me with these:

1. Cooking - We will make some kind of English/American food. The thing is, we don't really have cooking equipment. Maybe we can bring in a toaster or blender. I figure we can make sandwiches, but what else...? Smoothies? Milk shakes?

2. Board Games - The kids are going to play board games that use English. Scrabble, Boggle, and Scattergories have all been confirmed. The games don't have to be so English-focused, but they should use some English (Monopoly would be okay. Hungry Hungry Hippos wouldn't.).

3. Pop Song Contest - We're gonna have some kind of karaoke (noraebang in Korea). Any good websites or software, please link.

4. Halloween Themed Party - Even though we'll be doing this on November 15, we're having a Halloween section. My idea is to have the kids bring their own costumes or we can do face painting at the school. What are some other Halloween activities or party games that are good? We'll probably do musical chairs, but I want more ideas. They don't have to be explicitly Halloween related or use English.

Those are the main things I need help on. Keep in mind these kids are like 14 years old. Any experiences or ideas please comment, thanks.

Sports Day

Great day at work – no classes. We had a sports day and it was hella fun. Kids ran races and played dodgeball and danced to K-pop. A boy gave me a balloon with my face drawn on it and my name below that. He said his dream job is to be an English teacher. He also critiqued the English of one of my co-teacher’s (I have two Korean co-teachers and one is usually present in class with me), and it’s true, he has less of an accent than her.

After school, went to dinner at a traditional Korean restaurant with about ten co-workers and I sat next to the vice principal. We started to drink Korean wine and somehow the two of us drank more than the others. I was fine, keeping it under control, and even though I drank more than the VP, he ended up pretty wasted. I think some of the others got a little uncomfortable. Some drank a little, but not as much as us, and the Christian women were probably squirming the most. I just wonder how much of it was my fault… did I encourage it? He didn’t make a total fool of himself - just a few sentimental speeches in Korean but I got the gist...

As we were all going our separate ways after dinner he stepped toward the women and I could see them take a step back... funny. I just hope he doesn’t think he embarrassed himself and blame me. I hope the others don’t blame me for revealing that side of him. But I think it will be okay.

The won totally gained value against the dollar today! If it stays down I'm wiring a few grand to my US account tomorrow and obliterating my student loan *KA-BLAM*!!!$%$!!%%