A Countdown Begins...

7 weeks
35 teaching days
47 days
until our Jeju-Do vacation

11 weeks
55 teaching days
94 days
until the end of our contract

7 weeks of cyber school teaching
23 weeks of in-classroom teaching

Students taught: approx. 290
Patience remaing for Korea, Koreaness, and Korea kids: minimal and rapidly depleating

9 Months and 1 Day

Since we arrived in S. Korea.  Everything is as it always is.  Except for the former presidents possible suicide/possible murder.  And the fact that North Korea preformed at least 2 nuclear tests today.  At least the won is holding steady.  

If you are thinking about going to the movies: Terminator isn't worth it.  Star Trek is.  And if you are feeling like renting, I would recommend Son of Rambow.  

Korea is wearing me out on the cooking front.  I can't wait to get to be able to buy any ingredient I want.   That said, I've made my own torillas, french fries, perogies, eggplant patties, and chicken nuggets since being here, so it's not all bad.

Here is where we live and work:

View Larger Map

Some photos from our hike up Hwawangsan (화왕산) on Sunday:

I Liked These Kids Better Than Last Week

I like that the boys are making hearts together.

My camera was on the motion stablization setting, so the photos look a little fuzzy.

Today at Upo

Well, the kids were monsters, but I took these photos: 

Preston took this one last weekend at the bus stop in Namji.  There are two turkeys, some very dirty geese and a goat or two.  

Poem

This is a poem written by one of my best students so far. She is ten years old and doesn't go to a hagwon or other academy to learn English- her father teaches her. I was really impressed with her English. She could ask questions in full sentences and would translate for the rest of the class. Anyway, she would finish her assignments much quicker than the rest of the class, so I showed her a poem in the workbook and had her write a similar one. The rough outline was already there, but she filled in all the words. It's pretty cute.

I Like Animals
By Sarah

I like animals

White tigers
Pink rabbits
Green snakes
Brown mouses
Any kind of animals

An animal in a mountain
An animal in the house
An animal on the big rock
An animal in a water

I like animals

Big animals
Small animals
Fat animals
Dirty animals
Largh (Large?) animals
Sleepy animals
I like animals.

Another boy wrote one about birds, but he didn't get a chance to finish it, so I don't have a copy.

Happy Children's Day

Today we didn't have work because Children's Day is a natoinal holiday in Korea.  So Preston and I went on a little picnic hike this morning.  It was a nice day.  Too bad we have to go back to school to sit and do nothing for the next three days.