Bits and bobs to finish the week.

Ok first of all, something always guaranteed to make blog authors smile - the weird stuff that people who visit your site put into search engines that get them directed to your blog. The weirdest this week? "just one happy smiley face black leather watch silver trim". I have no idea when the hell I've even mentioned a watch, much less happy smiley faces. Anyway, that aside - it's Friday! Huzzah!

So onto actual content. As mentioned earlier, I tried the Face Shop's foot peeling treatment, but forgot to post photos along with all the bitching I was doing about how leprous my feet looked. So you don't suspect me of exaggeration (and because I like grossing people out), this is a genuine picture of my foot on day 6 after the treatment. Keep in mind that this was AFTER I'd been wearing socks all day and had just also tried to rub off the worst of it. Gross right?

...teehee, don't say I never give you anything ^_^

Anyway, the next is the Southern Hemisphere Summer Christmas party I went to a couple of weeks ago. After bitching about all the snow and low temperatures we'd had to suffer last December, a bunch of Kiwis, an Aussie (me) and some Saffas (a word I've never heard before coming to Korea that South Africans use to each other), as well as some token Northern Hemispherians, had a rollicking good Summer picnic in a park pagoda, even with the unfortunate addition of up to 2 metres of rainfall that weekend. We even had some unexpected entertainment in watching two drunk guys pee in some bushes, as one of them very courteously held an umbrella over his mate, getting a good eyeful of his junk while doing so.

And last but not least to be covered, my blog wouldn't be my blog if it weren't for the crazies that are my students. In my classroom there are two sets of switches. The top one, two sets of three buttons, is the light switch. The bottom one, three sets of two buttons are the fans. The average time it takes for my students to work out which ones are which? 4.5 minutes. Keeping in mind that a) there are 6 fans in my classroom, b) when I come in I usually have to turn the lights on because for some reason they like to sit in the dark until I rock up and c) the bloody lights are pretty damn obvious whether they are on or not, this was a worthy achievement. I actually thought it was just the boys (three of my first year boys actually took about 8 minutes to figure it out while I laughed helplessly in the corner), but then today someone in class 2-4 (average level girls) had a crack at it and gave up after about 2 minutes, complaining that it was too hard. IT'S A FREAKIN' LIGHT SWITCH, NOT A NUCLEAR FISSION REACTOR! I took pity on them and did it for them, but they couldn't understand why I was trying not to giggle (cue usual chorus of "왜ㅐㅐㅐㅐㅐ [why] teacher???"). As my neighbour Edithe often hears me say, my students this year are really stupid ...special. Poor things. I am also loving the fact that I have been applauded for every lesson this week at least once because I'm letting them watch movies - class 1-6 (boys) this morning actually gave me a standing ovation and four of them told me that they loved me. It's a nice change from yesterday when I had to tell Man-Seok in class 1-7 to get out of the girl's bathrooms, then tell him put his socks and shoes back on and stop lying on the table, and then have a talk to him TWICE about why you shouldn't say "kiss me!" to teachers and blow kisses at them. Oh and apparently the PG13 (or whatever) movie "Stardust" is an "adult" movie, according to class 1-7, who were scandalised at the afore-mentioned kissing, naked shoulders and bath scene where you see Claire Danes' shoulders and bare legs below the knee. Mind you, they are also the only class who noticed the word "ero movie = soft porn" on the Konglish vocabulary curtain at the back that I usually have rolled up to cover it (why that was necessary for middle-schoolers I have no idea) and spent the first three minutes of class running around yelling out, so the idea was probably already imprinted in their fragile (*cough cough*) little minds before the movie started. Anyway, I'm not sure why the second years seem so surprised that I'm letting them watch movies as it's exactly the same thing I did last year after exams, but it's nice that they appreciate the fact that I want to do work just about as much as they do. Haha, simple pleasures &c maybe?

Oh and something else that made me giggle - answers to the English exam, or rather, one boy's unique approach to answering the questions. Warning, if you comment on this and try to turn something that's supposed to be some light-hearted whimsy to brighten your day into a serious discussion, for example, on how crappy language learning in Asia is compared to Australia or vice versa I WILL hunt you down and batter you to death with a copy of whatever foreign language textbook I have close to hand.

2nd year English exam questions (in Korean):
1. [Susan is 13 years old, Tom is 11. Write a comparative sentence].
2. 빵 한 덩어리 is ...?
3. [Finish this sentence in English]: Study hard...

Answers:
1. Susan is older than Tom/Tom is younger than Susan.
2. A loaf of bread
3. .. and you will ace your final exam.

Dong-Wook's answers:
1. GO! GO! LIGHTNING FAST RUN!!!!!!!
2. Hey Negro! What's up man? Oh... that bad say, right teacher??? (They didn't know that I was marking these, but this is something I continually tell them off about so it's good to see it stuck)
3. The END! I not know nothing!!!! SORRY TEACHER HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Haha ^_^ Oh Dong-Wook. I spend most lessons with his class telling him to shut up or sit down, but you can't say he doesn't try.