Level Tests - Day 2 And Elisabeth

The second day of level tests was hell.  Well, not really, but it was boring as shit.  Yes mom, I swore.  There is no other way to describe the hours I spent watching my poor students suffer through those tests.  But, now that they are done, I have new classes, new students, and new free time to adjust to.  I was happy that one of my very favorite classes, a group of 9 boys who are all 15 years old, will stay the way it is.  Normally, that would be a problem, but these boys are amazing.  They seem to actually like me too which is a plus.  They are one of the most fun classes I teach.  I still have my problem classes, but I think I may have worked out a way to deal with them.... Maybe.  I don't understand these kids.  I am a cool teacher (at least I think I am), which may in fact be the problem.  I want my kids to like me and like learning in my class.  I may need to except that this may not be possible in a place where they are at school 12 hours a day.

An interesting thing happened to me durning the level tests.  I was sitting in the last test, and falling asleep a bit to be honest.  I started to look around the classroom.  This is a class that I argue with every time I teach them, but I still like them.  Each time I made eye contact with a student, they broke into a big smile  and went back to work.  The feeling I got seeing that really got to me.  It was in that moment that I realized, I really love teaching these kids.  Even when I am down and homesick, wanting nothing more then to stay curled up in bed, and dreading work, the moment I walk into the classroom, my day is brighter.

Which brings me to my next big thought of the week.  I think I want to stay another year.  I really think I do.

Elisabeth

I went to go see the play, Elisabeth, today.  Again the whole thing was in korean.  It was awesome.  I am really glad I saw it.  I watched a little of the german version of it and I understood a bit more.  Then I looked up the synapsis online and now I really do understand what was going on.  I am really starting to fall in love with korean musicals here.  I have about 5 more I am hoping to see.  I don't have much else to sa about this one other then that the actors were hot and had voices that were out of this world.  And the set was absolutely crazy awesome.  Perfect.

Level Tests - Day 1

The next two days will be filled with my students level tests at Hanvit.  For my students, level tests mean hours of stress and lots of studying and then three hours of vocabulary, grammar, listening, and reading tests.  They have to give up their phones, sit up straight, behave way better then normal, and remain quiet the entire time.  For me, it means sitting at my desk in my classroom for about 5 1/2 hours straight watching the kids take their tests.  I get to push the play button once to start the listening, but otherwise, I am left with not much to do.  I have some essays to grade, but not very many since I finished most yesterday and this morning.  I also have journals to finish.  All that should take up the first three hours of the first day.

As for the rest of my time in these tests, I am working on a list I hope to complete.  So far the list includes, editing my story, writing three poems, and drawing one good picture of my students.  I will also write in my journal both days and prepare for the craziness that my classes will become in the next few weeks.  Not only will the students who level up be switching around, but we have Shannon coming back and one of the korean teachers leaving for awhile and that has created the need to rearrange the teachers again.  And, as if that isn't enough craziness, the next few weeks are exams for my students at school again, which means they will be in and out at random times, and it means we will be getting in a new crop of elementary kids.  It is going to be one super crazy month.

Homerun x4

I went to my very first baseball game in Korea last weekend.  Now, I may have said it before, but if you all have forgotten, I love baseball.  Not all baseball.  Pretty much, I love the Brewers.  But, I can't imagine a summer without at least one ball game.  So, when Chris asked us teachers if we would be interested in checking out a game for his birthday weekend, I jumped.  The original plan was to meet up and go to this restaurant by one of the lakes here that lets you rent a large barbecue grill and provides you with meat to grill and sides and drinks.  Eddie, Blaine, Dana, Jack, Chris, Keller, and I all met up at 12:30 and headed to the lake.  Sadly, when we arrived, the restaurant was no longer there.  Not something too unusual in Korea, but depressing nonetheless.  We then began to wander the area around the lake looking for someplace else to eat.  There were a lot of fish places, but Dana doesn't eat fish, so we kept trucking.  We found a place that specialized in duck, but Dana doesn't eat duck either.  We continued to search, coming across a lot of places that were closed for afternoon cleaning, until we came around a corner and spotted a galbi place that seemed to be open.  It was!!  We sat out on the porch, and ordered samgyeopsal and german galbi.  They were pretty amazing.  And the side dishes were not bad either.

After lunch we headed to the game at Daegu Citizen Park. Once we got there, the hunt was on to find tickets, chicken, and beer.  The tickets get bought up early by scalpers, so find a good price was not as easy as we had hoped it would be, but we eventually found some and some beer and headed into the stadium.  The seats were pretty much full, so we grabbed some stairs and settled in to the game.  Chris and I sat in water, which was okay because it was a hot day and the sun dried it pretty quickly.  Once the game began, I found it a little hard to follow, simply because I was looking all around me at all the stuff going on.  The game itself is very similar, but being there is totally different.  Koreans do a lot of chants, and I could only follow those that were player's names.  It was a lot of fun.  The food at this game was like nothing I have seen at a game before.  Besides fried chicken, there was sushi, ramen, dried squid, and more....  There was one familiar thing at the game besides beer and baseball,  The Wave.  It was like being back home.  The best part of the game??  Samsung Lions, my team, got four homeruns, two in the first inning alone.  What a game.  

After the game we went home to change and get to Blaine's Battle of the Bands.  As his band usually is, they were amazing.  By this time, I was super tired and all I wanted was to go home and sleep.  I didn't even want to go to the show.  But, blaine needed support from his friends and no way was I going to let him down.  I made it through his set, and got to see some of the Koreans I teach with who also showed up at the show.  I think that really made Blaine's night, as well as the rest of ours.  After his show, I went home to pass out.  I found out on monday that his band won and is headed to the next round.  Super happy for him and I can't wait for the final show.  

Now I must head to work to educate young korean minds in the mystery of the english language.  Actually, wednesdays are my best days.  Less classes, and I get to teach the supplemental class that I worked out a curriculum for.  I leave you with some pictures from the game.

check out the Korean scoreboard 

Not A Lot To Go On

Well, I am keeping up the writing at least once a week bit.  I don't have a lot of time right now, but tomorrow I will tell you all about my first korean baseball game, hunting for lunch, and Blaine's band's victory (thus far) in battle of the bands this weekend.  It should be a relatively extensive post.  So to make up for the short teaser-trailer I just gave you, here is a picture of a kitten.

Have a nice day!