Raining and Dancing...
It is raining. Not sure how much of this has been reported on international news, but the rain has been very bad here. Several people have drowned in different parts of the country, though we seem to be pretty safe here in Mokpo. It has been raining for about a week now and is not set to stop until the weekend according to BBC News (my sanity in a world of Korean TV). The weather is good and bad for me - good because the cockroaches seem to have found somewhere else to go for a change, but bad because the mould on my walls (and therefore anything that touches my walls such as my bed and clothes) is getting worse. On the bright side - it has turned red so adds a touch of the Christmas spirit to an otherwise very dull summer month. (The boss is coming to look at it later so I will keep you posted on that one).
Last week was very tiring. My co-teacher was on vacation for a week and so me and the Korean teacher had to cover his classes. Turned out not too bad as there weren't many clashes of timetable (there were only two classes on at the same time so I spent a lot of that 45 minutes running between two classrooms) but it did mean that I had to work the full 30 hours that I am contracted to do for the first time since I got here. Now I used to work much more than 30 hours a week in various previous incarnations but nothing is as exhausting as spending that amount of time locked in rooms with kids - some of whom were new to me, and we had to go through the whole thing about me not being able to speak Korean all over again - the babies just can't understand that concept - and why should they? - so they are particularly difficult. I am forever impressed at how little the kids take advantage of my not being able to understand them. But last week there was a new boy who I suspected of saying bad stuff (simply by the reaction of his classmates) and I wasn't really able to handle the situation as well as I wanted to.
It was the end of the week and I was far too tired to think of anything inventive to occupy the boys. Have decided that the teenage girls are my strength and the boys are my weakness. I was pretty upset by this kid's attitude and will have to work on it this week. Fortunately my adult students took me out on Friday night and gave me a night of compliments so that was great!
I am still trying to adjust to getting up three hours earlier than usual and teaching for two hours longer. Obviously one of the best ways to do this is to go drinking all night on Saturday night and not get to bed until 10.30 the next day - so that is what I did. It was a South African friend of mine's birthday so I was out with a group of South Africans in Gwangju. It was a really cool night and great to meet some new faces from other parts of the world. And a great moment in my life when an African man told me that I had a great sense of rhythm. I think that he was taking the piss but I will take the compliment at face value for today. After drinking and dancing we went for food until the restaurant pointed out that they were shutting at 8am. Then it was a cab to the bus station and a bus back to Mokpo - me and Rebecca looking a state in the face of so many other people getting on with their days as we headed to bed. Went out for Korean barbecue last night - something that I must write more about one day for you and then home and bed.
Tim is back this week so I have free time again!
Love, a very damp Helen
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Last week was very tiring. My co-teacher was on vacation for a week and so me and the Korean teacher had to cover his classes. Turned out not too bad as there weren't many clashes of timetable (there were only two classes on at the same time so I spent a lot of that 45 minutes running between two classrooms) but it did mean that I had to work the full 30 hours that I am contracted to do for the first time since I got here. Now I used to work much more than 30 hours a week in various previous incarnations but nothing is as exhausting as spending that amount of time locked in rooms with kids - some of whom were new to me, and we had to go through the whole thing about me not being able to speak Korean all over again - the babies just can't understand that concept - and why should they? - so they are particularly difficult. I am forever impressed at how little the kids take advantage of my not being able to understand them. But last week there was a new boy who I suspected of saying bad stuff (simply by the reaction of his classmates) and I wasn't really able to handle the situation as well as I wanted to.
It was the end of the week and I was far too tired to think of anything inventive to occupy the boys. Have decided that the teenage girls are my strength and the boys are my weakness. I was pretty upset by this kid's attitude and will have to work on it this week. Fortunately my adult students took me out on Friday night and gave me a night of compliments so that was great!
I am still trying to adjust to getting up three hours earlier than usual and teaching for two hours longer. Obviously one of the best ways to do this is to go drinking all night on Saturday night and not get to bed until 10.30 the next day - so that is what I did. It was a South African friend of mine's birthday so I was out with a group of South Africans in Gwangju. It was a really cool night and great to meet some new faces from other parts of the world. And a great moment in my life when an African man told me that I had a great sense of rhythm. I think that he was taking the piss but I will take the compliment at face value for today. After drinking and dancing we went for food until the restaurant pointed out that they were shutting at 8am. Then it was a cab to the bus station and a bus back to Mokpo - me and Rebecca looking a state in the face of so many other people getting on with their days as we headed to bed. Went out for Korean barbecue last night - something that I must write more about one day for you and then home and bed.
Tim is back this week so I have free time again!
Love, a very damp Helen
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posted by Helen @ 5:17 PM
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