Sunday, November 16, 2008
I really like presents :p Especially from little kids. It makes you feel all warm inside. So my kids had introduced me to "Peppero Day" the week before November 11th while they were playing with me in my office. Once I heard that couples give each other peppero I immediately thought of Valentine's day. What did we do as children on valentine's day?? We gave the teachers and each other valentine cards and candy!!!! So that meant, I'd be getting free snacks ;D And indeed, look at my stash!! I continued to get a few more on the 2nd day too.. I was in heaven :D
Talking about snacks.. I give out candy to winning teams whenever we play games in my classes. One of the candies is yellow so a boy kept on asking me "lemon? lemon?" in a really cute voice!! I was like ;_; I'm sorry, I have no idea!! I should try out the candy before giving it to them. I'm really glad I'm teaching elementary school. They can be monsters but they're cute monsters :D
Continuing where I left off on the last post..
November 1st was my first day of "Saturday English Program." The class for the 3rd and 4th graders went really well. I spent many many hours and lost a lot of sleep preparing the powerpoints and activities for them so if it bombed, I would've been sooo disappointed! My co-teacher had originally thought that the books we bought would have movies or animation for the children to watch on the TV.. even though I already informed her that it was only a sound clip reading out the stories in a very boring and slow voice. I don't think she was expecting me to have to put so much work into the classes. My class for 5th-6th grade was really boring. She wanted me to teach them from these boring educational Discovery science books and since I was an Astronomy major, she wanted Astronomy related. She rejected my airplane book. It probably would've been more interesting to boys, but at least it was a story and girls still have fun doing activities.
We went with a book on Stars where I had to create a bunch of activities and required specific items that ended up being substituted with other items that made the experiments not work lol. I wanted them to make a kaleidoscope but since mirrors were potentially dangerous, the idea was rejected. I then wanted them to do an activity with a glass bowl, water, foil, black paper, and a flashlight, but instead of glass bowls I was given plastic cylindrical tubs. It didn't work at all :( I felt bad that the students had to sit through the boring reading and explanation of the book and do an activity that didn't work out in the end. Fortunately, for the class yesterday, my coteacher decided to just do a super quick summary of Chapter 2 and move on to the activities rather than to actually read the book lol. Yesterday I had them make constellations out of foil, glue, and black paper so it was simple :D It took a lot of time so class ended 30 mins past time but the kids had fun! Now I need to find glow in the dark paint/glue for the next class. The 3rd and 4th graders are working on making a "moving tiger." My prototype 1 Tiger turned out really.. weird. He had uneven skinny legs, his body was really fat, and his ears kept drooping lol. Prototype 2 came out ok but some of the holes were misplaced and he had too many stripes so it would take forever to color. I'm proud of the final tiger :D He's cute!
Anyway, back to what I've done for the past few weeks..
11/5: Teacher's field trip! Jang abandoned me when she found out we were going to the sea rather than going hiking... I was left to talk to the male "pragmatics" teacher in her office for the whole bus ride. Going there was fine, he just explained some stuff and pointed out locations and showed me where we were on the map.. but coming back was horrible. He wanted to discuss religion and politics. Two of the things I probably hate "discussing" the most. Real discussions are ok, but people forcing their opinions on me is not ok! My life is just going to be filled with forced opinions when it comes to religions and politics. Other than that, the 4th grade teachers saved me by accompanying me on our walk around Sangam Dong Sky Park. They are really nice :) I love their students too :p The park used to be a waste area but the government eventually cleaned the area and planted a bunch of plants there so now its a huge field high up :D The other teachers pressured me in walking on the red balls in the picture above.. it hurt like crazy but it was "good for my health." right.....
The next destination was the Sorae Port of Inchon (dunno if this is an official name). I was warned by one of the 4th grade teachers to not have any expectations and really, it's not a pretty area lol. We did get to explore a bit and did have a really good seafood dinner. We had sashimi (I don't really like Korean sashimi.. theres bones...), steamed crab, and a spicey fish soup. The steamed crab was awesome :D I didn't try their octopus sashimi though.. after it's cut up it STILL moves.. it was creepy O_O The 4th grade teacher said it sticks to your mouth while you chew it too @_@
11/8 : Anthea and I decided to go exploring in Guri for Homeplus and Lottemart. I had found them on a map online the day before but we only had time for Homeplus. And boy were we disappointed. It was a Homeplus Express. It was only a grocery store and the store was tinier than my local grocery store. After Homeplus Express we headed off to get Ashley a cake and to Gangnam for her birthday dinner at Dos Tacos. To get to Dos Tacos you go out exit 6 and walk really far down until you see Tous Les Jour. Turn left down the alley before Tous Les Jour and you'll see Dos Tacos. It's a tiny but good Mexican restaurant. I had a chimichanga as usual and as every restaurant makes their chimichangas different, this one was also different and I am unable to compare. BUT it was still yummy. After dinner, we headed off to sing (Noraebang?)! Ashley picked some really scandalous songs.. bad Ashley... it was fun though :D After singing we took some cute sticker pictures :D It was a pretty cheap night! We each chipped in about 20k~ The night ended with Ashley coming to sleep over at my place :)
This past Thursday my school was closed because Anthea's school was hosting important high school exams. It was kinda annoying because they forced me to use a paid vacation day and didn't allow me to just come in and sit instead. But that day Anthea and I finally went to Lottemart! It was pretty large and we only explored one of the buildings but I was still kind of disappointed. I didn't find a good towel, no filter for the faucet, and no lint catchers. Butterknives were way too expensive to buy as well >< After Lottemart, we met up with Ashley in Gangnam so she could visit the Northface over there and check for her jacket. She ended up buying a small size black influx jacket :D The guy gave her free socks too haha. We had Quiznos for dinner that night but it wasn't what I expected. The combo (6500 won) only included a soda and a sandwich. The rosemary mozarella bread was also an extra 300 won :( I was having a bit of a hiccuping problem from the soda too haha. After dinner we headed down to the Kyobo bookstore and to Hottracks to get some more pens :D I need to stop buying pens.. I left a bunch at home because I was too lazy to bring them.. now I've bought more :xIn case anyone is reading this from Guri and wants to know how to get to Gangnam-- you take bus 1115-2 or 9-3 to Gangbyeon terminal station and hop onto the subway for line 2 (green line), then you ride all the way to Gangnam. Any of the 9 buses will take you to the station too but they all take a roundabout way besides 9-3.
To get to Costco from Guri, take bus number 201, 2227, or 2228 from Doldari stop and get off at Mangu Station bus stop (you'll hear it announced). After you get off, cross over the street twice (so you make a diagonal line to the other corner). Walk further and you'll see Costco on your left. Emart is also nearby and you should be able to see it from the bus stop. After that bus stop, the bus will loop like crazy. If you miss Mangu Station, stay on it all the way until Sangbong Bus Terminal stop. It'll be one of the median bus lanes and Costco will be on your right (the bus loops in a full circle before going back to Guri). To get home, just hop onto one of those buses and it'll take you back home.
As Anthea says, "Ok so.. Susan has crazy 6th graders.." When we were leaving my school around 6pm some of my 6th graders were playing in the park next to my school and they spot me and start yelling numbers.. So they aren't exactly the brightest students but they are one of my favorite classes.. they yell to me "117".. and other numbers until they finally correct themselves and say "119" and then I'm like O_o?? You need the police?? That's when I spot a boy on top of the roof of one of the gazebos. Before we decide to cross the street to get closer to them, a small firetruck comes by. Apparently my landlord (who's also the school nurse) had already called for help XD. It was pretty interesting, partially because my 6th graders are again classified as crazy but also because they couldn't get the numbers right AND told the nurse and me that they were class 6-2, when I just had them on that day.. they were class 6-6. It's not a big deal, kids climb on roofs and get stuck like cats right? XD Everyday is an interesting day in elementary school.
I've been incredibly busy and unable to update :( But right now I'm yet again proofreading a paper.. but this time this paper needs to be completely rewritten. I retyped it into word because I was only given a hard copy and I've been tracking changes. It looks completely red :x The teacher wants me to use red pen to correct so I'll give her this red edited electronic copy and her hard copy back with red all over it. Wonder what she'll think? :o I did get bribed with a "sponge cake" which happened to be a crumbly cake rather than spongey but it's been a good breakfast the past couple of days. I needed a break from the paper so I decided I'd finally do a post. So what have I been up to since last post? Here's a "short" summary:
10/17 weekend: Jack came over and Jack, Anthea, Ashley, and I hung out all weekend! On that saturday Anthea, Jack, and I went to Sinchon to look for cellphones. We failed in finding a place that would give us a SK plan without a 200,000 deposit/have a Korean friend sign their name so we decided to come back after some rethinking and when Ashley would have her bank account and ID card. Since I'm stupid, I left Ashley's phone number at home. I had intended to call her that morning before we set out but it was really early and I ended up not calling her. The paper was left on my desk :( We went to Sadang hoping she'd just come anyway but after waiting about an hour we gave up haha. We did get a really good lunch in the Sadang area for pretty cheap though!
On Sunday, we met up with Ashley and explored Myeong-dong, shopped at Migliore (got our shirts that say "This is my Saturday night shirt. I also wear it on other days when it doesn't smell" and found Mari's store), ate at Myeong-dong Gyo-Ja (yummy!! It's a popular Chinese place with only 2 or 4 different dishes), and then went to the crochet club. Jack went home on Monday after observing 2 of my classes :D
10/24 weekend: The cable guy came and after some investigating, he concluded that there is no possible way for me to get cable TV and cable internet -_-;.. Something about the box missing from the roof and something about no replacement?? Anyway, I went with Jang to look for materials for our Saturday class and then ate at Pizza Hut together. Her treat :D
That Saturday, Anthea, Ashley, Mi-Young, and I went to Namdaemun to look for some fake coats. We found a bunch of male "Black Face" jackets XD but no jackets for girls :( We did end up buying some purses though ;D We headed to Dongdaemun after that. I found a coat at BangBang for about 50k won. It's really too big though. I don't see how their "small" 90 size fits the girls here. They're skinnier than me! Oh well.
Our next destination was Sinchon. We finally got our cellphones! They're pretty :D Though after buying a cord for it and everything, there's no way I can transfer things to my computer or onto my phone :( For the cellphone, go out Exit 8 of Sinchon station and go straight. On the left there will be a KTF/SK/SHOW place where a bunch of people work. Most notable are 3 young but fun/nice guys. The cellphone cost 70,000 won with a 30,000 activation fee (spread out on our bill for the first 3 months). They gave us a charger, clear cellphone case, and a USIM card. We did have to sign up for an internet plan though. I found out later that you can cancel the internet plan at any time and they'll only charge you for the days you've had it (not the whole month)!
After cellphones, we went to fulfill our main objective of the day. Go to the cafe for Coffee Prince in Hongdae!! It was a lot of fun :D Drinks were incredibly expensive but we spent a lot of time there chatting and taking pictures :) There was even a really cute kid that liked to explain the whole menu to people. After Hongdae, I got sick and we pretty much went home..Sunday, Anthea and I went to Kyobo for more materials for my class and Costco to get some much needed western foods and items :D It was a pain to lug it all back though.
Ok last thing in this post (I'll continue in next)--> I finally got internet at home :) No more wire rack as a desk and sitting outside on my balcony. I signed up with Hanaro Telecom (SK) b/c they offered 1 month free with the contract, no modem fee, no activation fee, free gift (still waiting for it), and it's 35k a month. I've slowly been getting back into knowing what I can do now that I have internet at home. It's really weird to not have internet for a whole month and a half. I know there was internet at school, but my computer at school is like 10 years old and everything is blocked on my school's network. Only thing I can do is chat on gchat with Ashley while being logged into gmail -_-;.. Sometimes I still walk to my balcony and open the window and try to guess if it'll rain today before I realize, oh I can check the weather online... It's weird being reconnected.
