Korea...What More Can I Say?

Yesterday was a very boring day. I had no classes until after lunch because the grade 6's had physical activity day. Basically, they were outside all day competing in competitions. There was jump rope, shoe toss, hoola hoops, tug-of-war, relay races, etc. I sat in the office for a bit and then went outside to take a gander at the students. They were cheering with pom poms songs and chants and dancing. It was really quite a sight, but such a good idea to keep the students in shape. Anyways, after lunch I was with the grade 3's for two classes and then free the rest of the afternoon. In my grade 3 classes I was giving out Real Fruit jellies as the prize for a game. Well, at the end of the class this little boy in the very back row starts crying and I didn't even notice until Mrs. Kim told me. She said he was crying because he didn't get picked for the game and he didn't get a candy. I kind of laughed because it was funny and it was a boy. He actually stormed out of the classroom and slammed the door. Then we passed him in the hallway after class on his way back from the bathroom and Mrs. Kim tried to see if he was ok and he just pushed past us and went back to class. What a horrible teacher I am...I sat in the office and watched the movie '27 dresses' and the newest episode of 'Grey's Anatomy.' I'm so thankful Nick introduced me to a website that has every movie and TV show imaginable, because now I know my days will go by faster.

Today was a busy day with five grade 6 classes. I was lucky enough to have a break in between, which made it more bearable. Also, I got the best text message of my life. Of course, it was in Korean, so I got Jiny to read it and told me it was the camera place and my camera was fixed. How Exciting is that? Well, obviously for all of you it's not exciting, but for me it was the happiest day of my life. Now, I can officially put pictures back on my blog that are from my own damn camera.

In my favorite grade 6 class today a bunch of the girls kept yelling out, teacher, so naturally I looked. They started making heart shapes with their fingers, which was cute at first, but then a couple of them started to wink at me. Yes, wink! Who the hell winks at their teacher? Only in Korea. They were starting to get annoying. I'm like you don't need to keep showing me you love me with heart shapes and winks, I got it the first dozen times you did it.

In one class today Jiny was showing a multiple choice slideshow and getting students to stand up and answer. She gets to the third slide and it was, "I like summer" a) We have Christmas b) We have a long vacation or c) The weather is hot. This one boy student answers c, because naturally that would be one of the correct answers. BUT, Jiny was like 'no' the answer is b. I was blown away, so I told her that the weather is hot in summer (dah!) and they have a long vacation, so technically the answer could be b or c. She looked and me with that "I don't know if I agree with you" look and I was like, who's the English teacher, me or you?

In the last grade 6 class of the day just as Jiny and I start teaching there is a knock at the door. It's some people bringing the students pizza and one guy has a camera. Jiny goes outside to talk to them and the students go crazy and I got ignored, which usually happens because of the lack of teacher control. Then she comes back in and tells me that the students get free pizza and are going to have their pictures taken for some pizza paper or newspaper or something, I was confused. The whole class this photographer guy snaps random photos of the students and sticks his head through the classroom window to snap some more. It was the most random occurrence I have ever witnessed. Since the students were eating pizza Jiny told me I could go back to the office and relax, so I got to leave class 20 minutes early. I went back to the office and watched a couple episodes of One Tree Hill and then the school day ended.

After school I was anxious to get to Bupyeong station, so I could go pick up my camera. During the subway ride there I spent a good portion of the ride watching the most adorable little Korean girl. She kept sticking her tongue out and saying something. Every time I looked at her she would smile and stick her tongue out, it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I wanted to scoop her up and take her home, but I'm pretty sure her grandma would have taken me out. Then these 2 middle school or high school boys were sitting beside me and one was stroking the others hair, which is very common in Korea. Then they moved and sat across from me on the train and they were touching each other again, no where inappropriate. In Korea it is very common to be so friendly and touchy feely with friends. Then the one guy calls this poor girl and puts her on speaker phone, so the entire train can hear her. She must have been a girl that the boy liked because they were both giggling like little school girls the entire time the one talked to her.

The best part of my day was touching my camera and having it back in my possession. I'm pretty sure the guys at the camera place hate me because they speak no English and they try to tell me stuff in Korean and we both just stare and get frustrated. Today, involved no talking, just transfer of money for camera. Oh, what a great day. After I picked up my camera I went to check out the price of a bikini wax at the place in Bupyeong station I got my manicure at and randomly got an eyebrow wax. The girl was so gentle and a bit nervous, but she did a good job and it was no more expensive than Canada. How's that for random?

I decided to take some pointless random pictures. Picture on the left: My beautiful new navy blue purse I bought for $10 (this one is for you Lauren). Picture on the right: A random towel I got for yesterday's physical activity day.

I almost forgot to mention that I got asked after lunch today to work the English Festival from September 6 - September 7. I don't know many details yet, but it's an all day thing both days and I just work in a booth set-up where there will be songs, games, etc, for students to participate in. It sounds fun and I get paid extra to do it.