If these walls could speak...

We've got spirit, yes we do...

Last week (Thursday) my school attended a city wide festival at the citizen's stadium which I got to attend. I didn't know it until the cheering began, but my girls had been working on their cheers for weeks in hopes to out-do Courtney's school: Jeomchon High School. We won. :) We had loud speakers with music, we had choreographed moves so that the girls could spell out words from within the crowd, white gloves, color coordinated pom-poms--they even had a song that they cheered from the crowd. However, the one thing everyone is talking about is not how great their cheers were but about the foreigner who led them in the wave (me). I've had several people come up to me in town and tell me that they saw me doing the wave. lol. Why was that so impressive?? Anyhow, I have photos coming soon. Perhaps tomorrow.

Teacher Training

My co-teacher dropped a couple bombs on me this morning. On the 16th and 17th we will be going to Gyoungju for a two day training session (can you say blah?) and then, I don't know when, but sometime in November a group of teachers from the Mung Yeoung area will be coming to my class and I have to teach them new ways to teach their classes... And though she didn't say it, I'm pretty sure they'll be evaluating me and my teaching abilities (typical Koreans). What in the world do I teach??? Ahh! And how long do I have to prepare??? She said they hadn't agreed on a date yet... That's not fair...

The New-do

So far I've had a mixed reaction. My fellow teachers think it makes me look smarter and younger (one said like a teenager, another said she is getting her hair cut like mine this weekend). The girl students are going crazy about it. I think I like it. It's a new length for me and I think it makes me look more mature. What do you think?

Um, hello...

I'm always confused about when to say hello and when to just keep my mouth shut. There have been times when I was told not to say anything to certain important people (just bow) and then there are other important people whom I'm apparently supposed to say hello to. How do I tell the difference? One of these people is the principal of my boys school and last night while eating dinner in the cafeteria, he walked past me twice, staring me down and waiting for me to say hello. I was completely confused why he kept walking past me when another teacher told me to say hello to him. Can you say "mortified?" I said hello, he smiled and then walked away. Obviously that's what he wanted since he didn't return, but I still feel awkward. I'm really not sure what to do about that guy...

English Camp No. 1

I taught at the middle school English camp Saturday and it went really well. I was so impressed. I had second year middle schoolers (about 8th grade) and they were loads of fun. Their English is WAY better than my high schoolers and they are excited to learn and participate! We had such a good time. I hope I get more opportunities to teach them.

Weekend in Seoul

After teaching on Saturday, Jamie and I went to Seoul for the night. After we arrived, we caught a movie and watched Copying Beethoven. (I highly recommend it!) That night we were on the subway trying to make it to a spa before the trains stopped and got stuck at some mystery station. We were completely lost and had no idea where to go, but luckily found another spa in the area to sleep at. The next day we split: I went to cruise the city; she went to her mother in law's. I visited the foreign food store and finally found some salsa and pesto!! Yay! I also visited a beauty shop down the street and got the best pedicure I've ever had! Holy cow! Those girls spent some serious time on my toes! I've decided that I need to include their shop into my monthly routine. :) After that, it was time to cut my hair which was way better than my experience in China! (If you don't remember, I got my haircut in China by a group of stylists who had never seen curly hair and had no English skills at all. Luckily it turned out okay but I was concerned for a while!) The salon is called Zen (near Ewah Woman's University--for those of you in Korea) and the owner (Johnny) studied hair in London where he had his own shop for a while, but now he's in Seoul, running his own school and a new salon. His staff was amazing. They all speak English and they serve you drinks (even wine!) while you wait. The best part: the cut and wash is about $25! Woo hoo! Afterwards, I got a nice cup of ice cream from Cold Stone (what a blessing to find one in Korea)!

Asleep at the Wheel

I've been told that the worst drivers in Korea are the bus drivers--I believe it! On our way to Seoul, Jamie and I were stuck on a bus that swerved more than a three legged dog! It was pretty scary! We have reason to believe he was a little crazy too. We were talking at a normal volume when he pulled the bus over on the freeway, walked back to our seats, and started yelling at us that we were too loud. It didn't matter how many times Jamie apologized (she's Korean)--he just kept on yelling. We were way too scared to keep talking after he left and unfortunately had to ride the next three hours in silence. In addition, Jamie said the mumbling he was doing up in the front was actually him talking to himself--like having real conversations. Thank goodness the bus ride home was better! Oh, and an interesting coincidence: while waiting to get on my returning bus, I ran into Courtney's co-teacher Ms. G., who was more than excited to introduce me to her brother--a twenty-something single guy whom she always tells me about. I was actually hoping to avoid meeting him... Anyhow, it was funny to see her. That's when you know you're a local--when you visit a city of over 10 million people and run into people you know! This is the second time that's happened to me!

Thanks!

I also wanted to say thank you to all of you who've responded to me call for addresses! I am so happy to see that so many of you want to participate and I am truly excited to get my students going on this project! I will update you more when I'm ready to send the post cards out and I'll let you know what to write in response as well as where to send it. Thanks again!!