2010

happy new year.

2009 came and went. a lot has happened and a lot hasn't. it's a new year and a new decade. let us march on and make this year happen for our favour. there is plenty to do.

it's a windy day today...and children can be cruel

last night i woke up around 4am and it was windy as ever. my curtains almost flew right off and i thought my window was going to as well. maybe it wasn't as windy as i thought and it was just really early in the morning and i was paranoid.

yesterday, i encountered some bullying in my school that really got to me. sweetest little 3rd grader was walking around the halls crying because she thought she lost her backpack. it turned out that some of her classmates had taken it and put it inside the bin they use to put their umbrellas in. now, i don't know why but everyone picks on this little girl. it makes me so angry.

children can be cruel and it's unfortunate that it follows us until we die.

welcome to the show

my school is in a panic preparing for this massive open class for our school evaluation. i've been on and off busy for it since they want me to prepare some materials to go into some english portfolio. and we even have a grade 6 class to come in and dance along side me for my open class.

on another note, i made a video for christina (an american-korean who visited our school for a couple of months). i had her classmates made her some posters and a video. i hope she'll like it. i still keep in touch with her mom here and there so i'm hoping to get the posters and a copy of the video mailed to her.

it's funny, as i was editing the video and watching the kids i just noticed how incredibly cute my grade 3s are. hahaha. maybe it's because when i'm teaching them they're all rambunctious, screaming, snot-coming-out-of-their-noses, little devils (some more than others). but not having to deal with them and just watching the show is different. hehe.

yea...the kids are alright, i guess. :)

a sunday

i've finally started to do some serious unpacking and furniture moving. things are finally starting to take shape at my new place....except for the stinky bathroom. i'm going to have to dump a ton of air fresheners in the drains.

jeju pictures are loaded on my comp but uploading online is a serious pain. i'll eventually get to it along with others.

a very little bit of jeju-do (text)

jeju-do was a-freakin-mazing! we stayed at esther's mom's place for the first and last night and at this retarded-ridiculously-fabulous villa at the lotte hotel. i'll put up pictures in the next post since i'm at school right now. i'll just let the pictures explain the trip it for me. i'm terrible at prose and wont be able to do it any justice (the pictures wont either but it's better than nothing).

anyways, our flight back was brutal. 6:30am to 7:25am. we slept at around midnight and woke up at 3:30am. went straight to work from there. was half teaching/half hallucinating at that point and was surprised i didn't pass out in front of my 4th graders.

the trip was as follows (in no particular order): sight-seeing, screaming, swimming, eating, getting lost, almost falling off a mountain, driving, hiking, birthday surprises, and tons of fun. many many many thanks goes to esther and her mom. this would definitely not have been possible without them.

all-in-all though, the trip was a huge success. to the 4 wonderfully crazy ladies with me on the island, this was a fabulous way to begin this month-long birthday celebration!

cheers to the beginning of the 3/4 of my life.

week 1

i'm on a plane to jeju-do in about 6 hours.

i've signed on for another year in korea and felt a little apprehensive. the feeling's subsided a little the past week. it just feels like routine now.

i'm currently sitting in the english multi-study room with about 5 or 6 students waiting on their after-school classes. about half of them are staring intently at their phones meticulously trying to outdo their last high score from whatever game they are playing. beats their earlier game of serious-physical-harm-blind man's bluff.

after a year here i've gotten used to (for the most part) their violent behaviour and nature. i'm wondering now if kids back home now are just as rough and tumble. i was home for a couple of weeks in the summer time and thought about that observation. perhaps it's just a miscommunication thing.

i made a grade 2 boy cry today. that was a miscommunication thing. kids fighting and making fun of each other...oh my life for one more year.

and round 2 officially begins. ding.