Julia's Asian Travels: CARE PACKAGE DAY :)

Nothing overly exciting to report over the past two days. Yesterday was a pretty regular day, I just taught three grade 6 classes and one grade 3 class. Teaching the grade 3's is fun because the entire lesson is in my control, so I get to discipline them and everything. Mrs. Kim is great too helping me discipline when needed and making sure the students understand what is being taught. Yesterday, I had planned on taking the train into Bupyeong to get my camera fixed, but when I got on the train I fiddled around with it and it ended up working again, so I didn't go. As soon as I got home and downloaded pictures the lens wrecked again, so now I have to go into Bupyeong tomorrow and for sure get it looked at if I plan on having a camera by the weekend. Instead of heading to Bupyeong I went to Lotte Mart and picked up some groceries, got home, made dinner and spontaneously decided to go for a run. The run felt so good that I've decided to add running into my weekly work-out, instead of just walking home from school everyday. Today, was a rather interesting day. When I walked into the office this morning it was full of Korean women. It was so loud from all of them yelling and jabbering in Korean I was losing my mind. Plus, my entire desk had been taken over by paper and name tags. I asked Jiny what was going on and apparently every school term the students all get physicals. Not, like we would in Canada, but they get their eye sight checked, weighed, measured, etc. First class of the day had to get cancelled and moved to last class of the day and then the second period class lasted 10 minutes and the students all had to go get checked. Talk about last minute notice, just one of the things I love about Korea. Then, the greatest thing ever happened and the whole point of this blog. I received my very first care package from home. My family sent it to me just before Easter and I had been anxiously waiting for over three weeks for it to arrive. I WAS SO EXCITED WHEN IT ARRIVED!! I FELT LIKE A CELEBRITY AND A GIGGLY LITTLE SCHOOL GIRL. I finally get to enjoy my Cheerios, Captain Crunch, Sour Soothers, Bits and Bites, Pringles, Stickers, Dress Coat, Pantyhose, ABBA CD, M.A.C. Make-Up (Love You Tessa), Cadbury Thin bars and the Amazing Craig Conroy newspaper clip that mom surprised me with (I was going to take a picture of the care package greatness to show off, but again with the camera). I just want to say THANK YOU MOM, DAD, and LAUREN. I LOVE YOU AND YOU ROCK!! Anyways, now that I have shared that great news with you all back to the reality of school. I really enjoyed lunch today because I got to see my teacher crush and he was looking so cute today. He had his collar popped, which just made him even more adorable. Now, obviously popping your collar isn't that cool if you're from North America because it just looks tacky and makes uncool people feel cool when they aren't, but here in Korea things are different and he is cute, so he can get away with it. Today was the first day since I've been here that I taught right until 2:40, which is when class ends. It was nice because I didn't have as much time to waste in the office. *Side Note: A girl in one of the grade 6 classes today is really quite good at English and today she was, so cute. She asked me if I could tell her what a monsoon was. At first, I didn't know what she was saying, so I asked her if she could spell it and she could. I thought that was incredible. I told her what a monsoon was and she was very happy and thankful. I thought it was really cute and I also thought she was crazy smart.* Now, remember the girl in one of my grade 6 classes that keeps complimenting me? Well, today she didn't say anything out loud to me, but her and her friend whispered about me all class. I knew they were because they kept staring and giggling. I felt rather uncomfortable, but played cool. She is so odd and I love it. After school today Jiny, Yong, myself and two other grade 6 teachers headed to Incheon Grand Park to see the cherry blossoms on the trees (lack of camera means no pictures, sorry). The park is huge and quite entertaining. You can rent bicycles, which the teachers tried to do, but they were closed when we went there. Thank goodness because I didn't want to ride a bike today. They have vendors in the park, exercise equipment of course, picnic tables and pathways for you to cruise the park. If you've ever been to Vancouver it's very much like Stanley Park, minus the Ocean. The park isn't fully in bloom because the flowers have yet to come out, but Jiny told me usually the last week of April or early May the park looks great, so I will have to try and make it back then. The greatest thing about the park was the people, so many interesting people. Women, young and old wear high heels and fancy clothes all the time even for a leisurely stroll through the park and it cracks me up watching them walk or should I say, trying to walk. The few Koreans who own dogs treat them like humans by dressing them in clothes, so ridiculous. Don't even get me started on the outfits people wear because that could take an entire blog in itself. Anyways, the park wasn't overly fascinating, but it could be fun to picnic in with some friends and more spring blossoms.

After, we finished at the Incheon Grand Park we headed for Chinese food in my area of town and of course, soju got ordered. Two of the co-teachers and I downed three bottles, which seems like a lot, but the bottles aren't that big. I love going out with my co-teachers because they won't let me pay and I drink for FREE :) When dinner finished Jiny drove me home.