MAN???

There is a male teacher!! WHO IS MY AGE!!! At my school!!! I didn't think I would ever see the day. Hahaaa, finally someone (other than me) who is younger than 30.

In other news, kids did an activity today where they had to create a movie script. Here' s a good one:

Type of Program: Documentary

Directors: Kim Dragon Ticket, Kim Fall Brother, Mr. Um

Actors: Anna, Universe God, Bigbang-Top, Alien

Number of Cameramen: 1

Summary: Long time ago, there was no earth. But there was a woman there. Her name was Anna. Anna was very angry because an alien ate Anna's nail. So she hit the universe god. So the god afraid of Anna. So he made a bigbang. But Anna was very strong, so she killed Top. And she became god of earth. So she made a earth. This is a earth story.

Most Important Scene:
A: Alien ate my nail. So I will hit the god.
B: I'm sorry.
A: Shut up. I must hit you.
B: Okay. I will make a Bigbang-Top for you.
A: You motherfucker. I will kill Top and I will be a god of earth.
B: Oh no! Help me.

1st week of new semester

Jeez, so I completely neglect to write about China and Japan, yet here I am writing about school?? *roll eyes* I need to sort out my priorities. :-p

This is my first week teaching the new kids, and I am astounded at how GOOD their English comprehension is. I mean... WOW.

When I came to this school 6 months ago, most of the students could barely understand me. But these 1st graders are almost at the same level as the current 2nd and 3rd graders are.

Almost all of the kids had a foreign teacher in Elementary school, and I think this is the key. Don't get me wrong - their speaking ability is pretty crappy - but they can already understand me very well.

I did meet one kid who is very outgoing (yeah he's gonna be a handful in the months to come) and who speaks exceptionally well. The class fell silent as he spoke, "Teacher. May I ask you a question? I am just wondering: are you single, or are you married?" :D I was amazed.

Speaking is such a huge issue, overall. The current 3rd graders recently had to read some sentences in their classes, and the teachers noticed just how poor their pronunciation is. It makes me think that we are ultimately failing as teachers. I know that my co-teachers do most of the teaching and that I only teach each class once a week, but I feel partially responsible for this.

I gotta change something this semester. Now if I wasn't so damn tired all the time, I could maybe think of some ideas right now. :-p

Yesterday I visited with some 2nd graders and let a kid taste my coffee for some unknown reason. After a few minutes I spun around in circles saying, "Where is my coffee??" to find that he had drunk it all. ("Teacher! One-shot!") Poor kid was probably jumping off the walls later on.

In other news, just saw this picture of Austria, and I'm wondering what my life would be like if I had decided to teach in Europe instead of Asia. I really do love Korea, but man, I miss Europe.

Errr yeah so... why the hell won't my picture stay at the bottom of this post? Bah. Oh well.

Failed perms, New Years, and China!

First post of 2009, YAY!!!

So the other day I decided to get a haircut, and the Korean I was with (Sojung) insisted I get a perm.

The hairstylist was a really really nice young guy who didn't speak any English. He sat me down in the chair and proceeded to cut my bangs REALLY short, in a style which I specifically said I did NOT want. :-p Oh, Korea. The rest of my hair he made all complicated and layered, so I was happy about that. (At one point he wanted me to close my eyes, and he said, "Ears... Put - down!" and I totally understood. I deserve a round of applause, here.)

Then I spent the next 2.5 or so hours sitting in curlers with machines rotating around my head, getting my hair permed. In the end it didn't turn out the way that was expected, so rather than sitting an additional hour in that place I decided to leave. I was really hoping that the guy wouldn't feel guilty, but my friend just HAD to guilt-trip the place into giving me half price for the treatment.

Anyway now I have ridiculous hair that I would never have in the States, but Korea makes me brave. About a lot of things. *cough*

On New Year's Eve I went to Itaewon to meet Jethro. We had a really chill time at a coffee shop before heading over to his Hapkido practice. That was actually pretty fun to watch, and now I'm inspired to take a class like that myself. Jethro surprised the hell out of me. That man can really move butt in there...

Jethro and I debated for ages on what to do the rest of the night. My problem was getting home early enough to get some sleep before leaving for China in the morning. I called the magic number of 1330, and they told me it'd be extremely difficult to get a cab back considering it was the holidays. So, we decided to just head home early... I'm really sorry to Eric for not meeting up with him. :-( I hope he's not too upset and that I can still meet his "friend" before she leaves.

Anyway, off to China in about 8 hours, so I better go to bed. 我不是中国人!! Fuck yeah that's the only thing I can remember from my semester of Chinese.