Yo.
So, it’s been a while since I blogged. In the past weeks there haven’t been enough things blog-worthy to happen, but the accumulated amount I think is worth a blog entry on this fine week before Christmas. I’m in my 2nd to last week of teaching for year, because the school year ends on Wednesday the 29th. I, however, will be teaching “English Camp” for the first two weeks of January. English Camp isn’t really camp, its just more classes (these kids don’t catch a break! Instead of actually relaxing at home during their vacation they just go to extra classes during the afternoon. Poor things!) but the good news is that I have complete freedom for what I plan for it. English Camp, I am told, goes from 9:30am-12:30pm Monday through Friday. Now, they haven’t told me yet if it’s going to be two different groups of students (2 one-week sessions) or the same kids for both weeks. I guess it depends on how many students enroll, but of course they won’t know that until the Friday before I’m supposed to teach!! So lately at school I’ve been brainstorming and planning my Winter Camp lessons. I definitely want to do an international theme for one of the weeks, where the students learn about customs, food, clothing, and music from different parts of the world, all the while learning useful vocabulary and phrases for talking about all of those things. I really want to students to create something throughout the week so they have something to present and be proud of at the end of the week. For the international week, I think I’m going to have them create their own country, choosing customs, music, food, activities, laws, or even the design for their postage stamp (thanks for that great idea Lauren!). On the last day, students can visit each other’s countries and do the activities that the students create there. I got an idea online to make “passports” for each student so they can keep track of where they’ve “visited” (aka learned about). The passport will also have personal information about them so I can get to know my students a little better.
If I have the same kids for a second week, I want to continue with the theme but switch to travel. The target language for the lessons will be airport and travel situational vocabulary and phrases, and also what to pack, what could go wrong, etc. For their final project I think I’m going to have them work on skits, incorporating all the situations we talked about throughout the week. If I have a different group the second week, I’ll either repeat the International theme or pick another one, maybe music. I have a weeks-worth lesson plan sketched out for a music theme. But where I’m stuck is figuring out what they can create during that week. The students are extremely shy so having them make up a song and perform it or something is out of the question. I thought maybe they could learn the lyrics to an English song and do something with that. Help? Ideas? Keep in mind these are middle school students with VERY low self-esteem and a very narrow area of interest.
Other things:
I had a first 2 weekends ago. It’s not Korean at all, or even Asian, but it’s still a first for me: I got my very first pedicure. My friend Blythe called me up last Sunday and asked me if I wanted to get pedicures with her. Now, I have always avoided pedicures for two reasons. 1) For a long time I was a dancer and my feet were guaranteed to look like crap all the time. Paying to get them all prettied up would be a waste of money and time because dancing barefoot 3 days a week would cause my feet to look NASTY after just a few weeks. 2) My feet are EXTREMELY ticklish. I always had this image in my head of what me getting a pedicure would look like and it always ended with me not being able to control my reactions and giving the pedicurist a healthy kick in the nose. SO when Blythe called me I was thrilled at the idea with spending a chilly Sunday afternoon in a warm salon with her reading fashion magazines and chatting about our love lives. Or whatever people do when they get pedicures. I admitted to Blythe my hesitations due to my extreme ticklish-ness, but it didn’t take much to convince me since I was really looking forward to some girl time. Blythe said she was ready to be amused and would be sure to bring her camera. Which she did. And what she documented thankfully wasn’t what I had imagined would happen, just a few moments of “OMG that tickles. Hold it in, HOLD IT IN!” and a general good time. It turns out it wasn’t a complete pedicure that we had expected with the wax and the lotion and the soaking, just some lotion and a really good paiyyynt job!(said in Little Rascals voice). Nevertheless it was fun to hang with Blythe and read fashion magazines and talk about our love lives and get to know each other a little more. After our pedies we shopped a little in the surrounding stores (I didn’t buy anything though), then went for coffee. Later we called up Val and met us near Ajou University for Japanese food. Yum! We ended up sitting there for 2 hours just talking, so we continued our conversation at a nearby cute, trendy café down the street where we proceeded to play a really intense game of Uno.
What else…
I had another first. This one was actually Korean so it’s a little more exciting. Val and I joined some friends at a Nore bang (pronounced nor-ee-bahng) (singing room). They’re super popular here. Its basically a place where you and your friends can go into this huge room and do karaoke. But this was intense. There’s a huge TV and tamborines laying on the huge couch that lines 2 walls of a room that is probably close to the size of my entire apartment. They even had free ice cream! I sang Baby Got Back and some other ones. Classic. Good times! Looking forward to going back soon.
After hearing that The Nutcracker was in town (well, in Seoul) ,on a whim I called the foreigner hotline Seoul Arts Center where it’s playing to see if there were any tickets still available. When the lady on the phone said there were, I just went for it and and bought tickets for Val & I for Dec. 30th. Our seats are really far away (on the 3rd floor, but 2nd row)but they were only 30,000 won (about 30 bucks) so I thought it would be worth it. It’s being performed by the Korea National Ballet. I haven’t seen the Nutcracker (or any professional ballet) since I was a very little girl, and Val’s never been the ballet, so I’m really looking forward to it. Yay! I’ll let you know how it is.
I started taking yoga classes once a week. We’ve only had 2 classes so far but I really like it. It’s the perfect combination of stretching and exercise. Even though the teacher doesn’t speak a word of English, she’s very kind and always makes sure I have a mat near the front so she can gesture to me. There is one woman in the class who speaks English so she makes sure to sit next to me so she can occasionally translate. I’m really glad I’m getting at least SOME exercise, because before I wasn’t getting any at all aside from walking around. I feel really good about that.
For Christmas, Val's friend Taylor invited us to a Christmas buffet at a Canadian-style bar and grill place in Seoul. The buffet's supposed to have turkey and ham and all that good stuff and I'm REALLY excited because there is NO turkey in this country and its my favorite meat. So that's what we'll be doing Christmas day. As for New Years, no plans yet but hoping to go out with friends.
It's starting to get cold here. We had our first real snow (that stuck) last week, and since then it's been pretty darn cold. Apparently we get jet winds from Siberia and Mongolia and it's damn cold. I mean, I'm used to the cold but the winds here are frigid and strong. It's definitely winter. The good news is that Korea's winters are supposed to be fairly dry, so it won't be too snowy but still cold. What is cold without snow? Not fun. Despite that, I think I'm OK with a winter sans knee-high snow banks. I have to admit, though, not seeing snow until December was a shock. I'm pretty sure that's the longest I've gone without seeing snow, so I was happy when it started to fall. It was pretty!
No more news on the North Korea stuff.
Watched Strictly Ballroom on our movie channel this weekend. Score.
One last thing. I watched Toy Story 3 last night, and I cried at the end. Legit cried. Like, had to wipe my eyes and blow my nose cried. Val thought I was being ridiculous but those of you who told me what tear-jerker it was you ain’t lyin! Man, those Pixar movies really get to me.
Overall, I think I'm doing than I was before. As my Mom helped me realize, two of the things I felt I was missing in my life I now have. I wanted friends and a chance to exercise. Now that I have my awesome friends from the GEPIK orientation and the yoga class, my life is feeling a little more complete. I still would love to find a dance class, but I'll take what I can get. I might start a pilates class in January, or I'm considering taking up belly dancing, because that's whats available here. I think I'd be fun and REALLY good exercise.
Ok, I’m going to go now, I think that’s enough to keep you busy for a while ☺.
Merry Christmas and happy belated Chanukah! By the way, I somehow remembered to pack a menorah and Chanukah candles when I left so I got to light the menorah every night. It was very special to share the rituals with Val (and to make him latkes!). I made latkes for us and then brought most of them to school, along with my homemade applesauce, to share with my colleagues. They were a hit and they devoured all of them… there weren’t even any left to bring back home!
Ok, I’m really going now. Miss you all!
Love,
Mel
