Saturday...

Why is it that some days just turn out to be wonderful?

Today started with a nice Skype chat with Kev's parents... Then I headed off to school for Stella's kimbap making class with the 6th graders. I arrived about 20 minutes early, so I decided to walk up to the Insane Assylum to get a closer look at the building and to see if I saw anyone interesting enough to watch. Apparently they all stay inside on Saturday's because it looked deserted. The point of this is that I discovered a beautiful pathway through the forest behind my school that I am going to hike one day after school; maybe this week!

The kimbap class was great! I was in a group with 4 other 6th grade girls. I was in charge of cutting the kimbap rolls. Whenever I cut one wrong, or if it fell apart, one of the girls would pick up the crumbled kimbap, put it right in front of my mouth and say "eat." Koreans love to feed each other... It's the funniest thing! Anyhow, our group won for the BEST TASTING KIMBAP and BEST PRESENTATION. It was Korea's own version of the iron chef contest! Anyhow, we all celebrated with the news of our victory with high 5's and cups of cider!

After class, Kevin and Jinho scooted over to my school to pick me up to go to the beach where we basked in the sun, dipped in the cool and jellyfish-filled ocean water, built a sand castle, watched it crumble, talked about politics and drove the scooter on the boardwalk! Oh, maybe I should clarify - I DROVE the scooter on the boardwalk. Yep, Kev gave me a lesson and I didn't even crash! It was hit and miss there at the beginning, but I think I've got it now.

After the beach we rode the scooter to a huge bookstore about 15 minutes across town to try to find new books to indulge in on the beaches of Thailand in August. I picked out "Honeymoon with my Brother" which I had a hard time saving for the trip. I'm already on chapter 4.

Today, I'm the student!

In addition to Monday - Friday, Korean students also go to school every other Saturday.  Luckily, my contract has prohibited me from having to work on Saturdays, so I get the pleasure of having 2 day weekends, every weekend!  But today, I'm going to work anyway. Although, I'm not going to teach... I'm going to be a student.  

Stella, in addition to teaching English, also teaches the equivalent of Home Ec, and today she is teaching the 6th graders how to make kimbap, and I will be one of her students!    

You think you know... but you have NO IDEA!

This is the TRUE LIFE story of Korean kids!

Before I moved to Korea, I expected the kids to be perfect students in and out of the classroom. I pictured them sitting at their desks with their hands folded in front of them, bowing to me as I walked by, answering my questions with perfect english grammar, sitting silently as I taught, and studying every extra moment they had outside of the classroom. Afterall, that's what American's always think Asian students are like, right? Boy was I in for a big surprise!

While my students are darling and polite for the most part, they are also absolutely NORMAL kids! During breaktimes, they play games, run around, scream at each other, tumble in the building, and run up and down the stairs! It's mass chaos - but somehow, I love it.

Today, I decided I would document the student's breaktime. Oh and PS... There is absolutely NO supervision. Teachers stay in their classrooms and work on planning while who knows what is going on outside... and contrary to popular American belief, the kids are usually fine and if there's a fight, they work it out themselves - most of the time at least! Enjoy!

Playing cards on the floor is a favorite for 5th graders...

Pretend fighting in the hallways is common with the 6th graders...

You can always find a group of 4th grade girls sitting on the stairway, chatting and laughing together..

and you're sure to hear the recorder during every break! Every kid has one, and almost every kid plays it!

Soccer is a favorite during lunchtime!

Tumbling at the top of the stairway is always popular for the 3rd grade boys!

and climbing on the jungle gym is an all time favorite for the 3rd grade girls...

It's always mass chaos on the playground during lunch...

and your bound to see at least a few boys fall while trying to run down the slide...

Ah, to be a kid again, huh?!

I can't believe I...

... ate 2 silkworm cocoons at dinner last night... climbed up a cliff overlooking the ocean, holding onto only a rope... ate something raw out of a seashell... have 4 different recycling/trash bins at my apartment (paper, plastic, glass, food, and trash)... walk and ride a bus to work... taught two 29 year old Korean women how to use a tampon at a coffee shop... work at a school with holes in the ground for toilets... take showers in the middle of my bathroom and the water sprays everywhere... tripped and fell on the stairs at my school 2 times in 1 day... sang Hotel California in a NoreBang (Karaeokee room) filled with all my Korean speaking cowokers... drank an entire cup of makeju (beer) because I lost in rock, paper, scissors 4 times in a row with a teacher at my school... ate the side of a fish head... paid 35,000 won (equivalent of $30.00) for a tube of tinted sunscreen... don't own a car for the 1st time in 12 years... have never had to pay at a restaurant that I ate with another Korean at ... walked home from Nampodong Market - 3 hours in the dark and I was completely safe... have yellow hair... am addicted to DVD Bangs (private movie theaters)... had a 3rd grade student wearing playboy barrettes in her pigtails today... my school overlooks the ocean... blog almost everyday. Who knew I was such a writer?!... love pancakes mixed with shredded veggies and seafood... am married to a man who owns a scooter... can buy new and fashionable clothes for the equivalent of $5.00!... saw a teacher at my school hitting one of the 6th grade boys... have to use a Korean version of Microsoft Word and Powerpoint at work. I have no idea what anything says!... work at a school where the kids are allowed to have the keys to their classrooms... wear stockings to work everyday ... was teaching about Mexican food and none of the moms in my parents class had heard of tacos or tortillas!... was on a subway that stopped because someone had jumped on the tracks... see small white dogs on a weekly basis with pink, blue, or purple dyed hair... have a cell phone charm... carry my groceries up a hill and then 5 flights of stairs to my place... taught an entire 50 minute teacher class on the topic of: New Kids on the Block... get to wear comfy slippers at work... live in a country where there's no toilet paper in any of the bathrooms... get free stuff, from the clerk, everytime I shop at the market by my apartment... eat bowls and bowls of fresh cherry tomatoes everyday ... am living in a studio apartment the size of my childhood bedroom... and believe it or not, I love it here!

Yes, even I can't believe the things I've experienced sometimes!!! Cheers to all the things I can't believe have happened since I've been here... and another cheers to all the things that are bound to happen in the future!

The Insane Assylum

So, it turns out, there is a huge Insane Assylum behind our school. Lovely, huh?! You would think that the government would think twice about putting an Insane Assylum within 500 feet of an elementary school... Hey, gotta love Korea.