Hallo! I'm not dead!

With The Hero in Langkawi

Hello all :) Yes, it's been a while, but this time I actually have an excuse for not writing for ages. So to save time, here's a summary of what I've been doing for the last six months or so:
- Work
- Work
- Work
- Study
- Study
- Work
- Study
- Exam
- Work
- Stress-induced migraine.

Actually, to be fair, "boyfriend" should be in there too, self-dubbed codename "The Hero". Haha, don't roll your eyes too much dear reader, it might actually be justified! Or not, hehe^^ (Actually, it is because he is a hero for putting up with me and not complaining about having to share my time with my studies.)

So as it turns out, studying in one city (Masters of International Law at UTS) whilst working in another (Admissions Assistant at the University of Wollongong) and dating someone in a third city (Canberra, 3 hours away) is not such a great recipe for a peaceful life. But it certainly keeps things "interesting" and challenges your time-management skills (or whatever of them exist).

Oh, so I should apologise here if you haven't heard from me in a while and are wondering if I'm still alive - sorry for being a terrible friend! :)

Which is not to say that I haven't had time for the occasional holiday, namely Langkawi! It was only for about 8 days in my mid-semester holiday break, but it was long enough to relax a bit and enjoy some quality time with The Hero.
There were also lots and lots of "cute" monkeys (read: cheeky bordering on aggressive) and lizards, and since Langkawi also has a crocodile farm featuring a lot of deformed crocs (I'm guessing they are a result of a fair amount of inbreeding), we saw some interesting freak animals amongst all the cute ones.

Oh and of course we had some very yummy food! I won't go into too much detail since most of my photos are on Facebook and yes, I have recently realised that I may take excessive amounts of food photos. MAY. But the Thai restaurant at the Berjaya was AMAZING, and a good distance away from our cabin that it gave us a nice walk backin the evening to digest everything we'd eaten (ok, scoffed).

So apart from that brief interlude, the previous summary has pretty much applied. Due to graduate in July of 2014, but hopefully I will find a job in Sydney next year, or possibly Canberra (if I can transfer to ANU) which will solve at least one commuting problem. We'll see how it goes I guess. In the mean time, am enjoying my job (the people I work with are pretty good, and that's even considering that they don't even know about this blog!^^) and law is proving pretty interesting, so things are manageable in a hectic kind of way.

Well that's about it for now - sorry for the lack of food-related pictures and also the lack of cute fat animal pictures! I'll make up for it next time, promise ;)

Farewell Friday

Sorry for the less-than-usual-attempt at a cheery post to end the week on, but I felt like this was an issue in need of awareness. Over the last week or so there have been a lot of posts on the 1000th protest of the women mostly stolen or enticed away with the promise of factory work and all kept against their will as Comfort Women. These women are now grandmothers in their 80's and 90's and slowly dying off, but nevertheless congregate from all over Korea to stage a protest outside the Japanese Embassy once a week, every Wednesday, come rain or shine - not for the money or compensation, but just in the hope that they and what happened to them will be acknowledged and that they will hear an apology before they die. Here are the last two posts that give the best insight into their cause. Sorry about the swearing by the way.


The first is from the Ask A Korean! blog

Ask a Korean! News: 1000th Wednesday Protest, and a Comfort Woman's Story

First, a little bit of background. As many of the readers know, although the Japanese government recognized its responsibility for Imperial Japan's hand in forcibly recruiting Comfort Women, the Japanese government has not yet made any compensation out of government funds.

Some of the surviving Comfort Women in Korea -- there are only 63 of them, who are in their 80s and 90s -- protest in front of the Japanese embassy for the inadequacy of Japan's response every Wednesday. The "Wednesday Protest" to be held on this Wednesday, December 14, 2011 will be the 1000th one, after nearly 20 years of weekly gatherings since January 1992.

Dong-A Ilbo featured a story told by Ms. Kim Bok-Dong, who was recruited as a Comfort Woman at age 14. She is now 87 years old, and is the longest participant of the Wednesday Protests. The translation is below.

*                 *                 *

"Mom, how old am I this year?"

She said it has been eight years. I was 14 when I was taken, so I was 22. All my friends were married and left the town.

As I was being dragged around by the Japanese military and tortured, I completely forgot how many years have passed. One day, there was a commotion about liberation. I was in Bangkok, Thailand at the time, my last stop as a Comfort Woman. I took a boat with other women. We had almost nothing to eat on the boat, and it took us several months for me to come back home [which was Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do.] It must have been around October when I got home -- the rice field was golden and people were harvesting.

I got home, and my mother was cooking in the kitchen. She was shocked, because I turned so dark. For so long, I was raped by hundreds and thousands again and again -- how could a 14-year-old child be right? My mother was in shock also because instead of crying my eyes out, the first thing I asked was: how old was I? I didn't really forget -- I blocked out the time when I had to deal with the Japanese soldiers.

When I was 14, someone from the local government office was in town, saying there was not enough people to make the soldiers' uniform. He told me, "you should go too." I said, "How could I? I never learned to sew." Then he said, "you can learn there. Don't worry, they will send you back by the time you got old enough to get married." I said, "I might go if I go with my mom, but I don't want to go." Then he scared me: "It's what the Japanese government wants to do. If you don't go, your family will be in trouble." I was scared, so I went along.

So I was dragged all over Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand and went through hell. At first, I had hope that I would get back home they promised that they would send me back when I'm older. So I barely hung on, counting days, but they would only take me to different countries. It's not like I could speak with them. I would tell them, "please send me home. I think I'm going to die," but the damn Japanese only laughed. Nobody listened to me, so I was practically a mute. After molesting a young child like that, I thought they would say, "sorry, you can go home now" -- but no one did. Two years passed.

Afterward, I lived without counting days. I gave up trying to figure out what day was today, what year was today. I think the pain would have broken me if I was counting the days. You have no idea when the pain would end, so you just hang on one day at a time. When the sun rises, I would think: "I'm awake." When the sun sets, "I'm still alive. It would be great if I died after I fall asleep." And then I would wake up the next morning again. The pain was unspeakable. I couldn't even imagine that it would take so long.

Ms. Kim Bok-Dong (second from the left) attends a memorial of Ms. Noh Su-Bok,
a former Comfort Women. The memorial was held at the 998th Wednesday Protest,
held in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.

I hear the 1000th Wednesday Protest is coming up. I am 87 years old. All my protest buddies died off, and now there are barely 60 some odd people. I was 68 when I first joined the protest. I was a young grandmother at that time -- I could at least stand up straight. Other grandmothers had a lot of energy too, saying "we should fight." I heard that in that January cold, women's groups were getting together to protest every week to help the old Comfort Women grandmothers. I couldn't sit still, so I was took the train up from Busan, where I was living. They already had seven protests or so. I really thought, "Alright, I'm doing this. They wouldn't just sit around if a grandmother comes out like this."

I thought I had a strong resolution, but I just burst into tears in front of the Japanese embassy. I was trembling all over. All I could do was yell. I knew I had to protest, item by item, but all I could do was scream. For the crime of being a Comfort Woman, I lived in hiding outside of my hometown for 40 years, running a tiny restaurant. I have no child who calls me mother. All I could do was yell -- just come out and look at me, look at this old grandmother, after you made me unable to live like any other woman, unable to wear a wedding garb. I had no other way. I thought these bastards would come out and say, "we're sorry grandmother, we are sorry."

But the police came and put the grandmothers' on a bus. We were crying and yelling, but they just carried us out and put us down at the City Hall square. So what? We would come back. I took the train back to Busan. I even thought in the train back, "I should see this one through. If I keep showing up, wouldn't they at least say they were sorry?" I had hope. It's not about the money. If they are human, they had to apologize.

I came up for every protest. At the 50th protest, we went to the Blue House instead. We yelled at the front gate, "Mr. President, please come out, we need to get this resolved." The police took us again to the City Hall square. At first, I really thought it would be resolved soon, as long as I kept it up. I yelled at the protest, rain or snow. Yell, taken away and let go at the City Hall and go back to Busan -- and the time passed like that.

At first, we kept count. I figured around the 100th time they would hear us out -- but no. The Japanese embassy has twenty-some odd windows. When we go, they put the curtain down and block out all the windows. They don't even peek. No matter how much we chant -- "apologies and reparations" -- they put this thief-catching cameras on the gate and hide, just looking at what those grandmothers are doing. Now I am too old to yell, so I just look at the embassy, trying to see if they at least opened up the curtain a little. I can't even stand up straight anymore, but no one would listen. It doesn't matter how much we plead and protest.

Since then, I didn't count the numbers. I couldn't live like that. Now, I just let the week pass. I would realize it's Wednesday, then I attend the protest. I get home, and think another Wednesday passed. I hang on, one week at a time.

As I was dragged around for eight years, I began drinking at age 16. I would drink whiskey and gaoliangjiou when I had to deal with the Japanese, because I could not stand being clear headed. I would smoke after dealing with a Japanese soldier, because there was no other way to take care of the anger and sorrow in my young heart. Now, after each protest I sit in my room and chain-smoke. Every Wednesday, because they won't even draw their curtains no matter how much this grandmother yells.

After I came back, my mother said I should get married, since I was 22. She thought I was at a uniform factory. I had to tell her the truth. She could only say: "How would I meet my ancestors after I die? What would I say after turning my child this way?" She said that every day, then died only six years later. The doctor said her heart was full of anger.

There is a big commotion around this 1000th protest. I am just frustrated. My cataract surgery went wrong, so I can't see out of my left eye and the image is distorted out of my right eye too. I wonder if I could see at least those embassy bastards coming out and saying, "grandmother, please don't be angry any more. We're sorry," while I can still see. I couldn't even imagine that it would take so long. Being dragged around, not being able to say anything and not being able to receive any apology -- it's the same as before. I feel so helpless. I wonder if my mother felt this helpless also.

I miss my mom all of a sudden. This can't go over the 1000th time. We can't wait much longer. I am too old now.

The second is from the blog of a woman who volunteers at the House of Sharing.

Why I’m lucky to know the Halmonis

First off, I just want to say how happy I am to see the 1,000th protest photos explode on Tumblr.  Thanks to everyone who reblogged to spread the word about this issue.  It warms my heart to know that many people have gotten to hear at least a little about these courageous women.
Next, I want to write about how grateful I am to have been able to know them for the past 2.5 years as a volunteer at the House of Sharing. These women are truly remarkable.
I’ll start with an anecdote to illustrate the attitudes these women face when they go public as survivors of “comfort stations”.  On my own FB wall, an acquaintance of an acquaintance commented (one reason you should not accept just anyone’s friend request) in regards to a post I made about going to the 1,000th protest.  He wrote something along the lines that these women need to stop employing “nationalistic rituals” in order to ask for free handouts from the Japanese government and stop distracting from Korea’s more “pressing issues” (North-South relations, rise of China, etc). Of course, this guy thinks he’s an expert in East Asian diplomacy, all because he lived in Japan for a couple of years. I don’t think I need to explain any further, right?
ㅡㅡ
And then I remembered once again how amazing these women are.  Because they hear this bullshit all the time and they are STILL fighting.  I was ready to put my head through a wall after just that brief discourse on my FB wall and it wasn’t even in reference to anything that I’ve been forced to experience.  These Halmonis have to listen to people casually discuss the THOUSANDS of rapes that they survived as if it’s a nationalistic plot or should be discarded in order to promote diplomatic relations.  This is not a pawn for strategic relations, people. These are real women - over 200,000 - who were systematically raped, beaten, tortured, and killed. And they have to listen to dickheads like this guy flippantly reduce the rapes and torture that they experienced to political maneuvering.
He also made several references to them being similar to prostitutes, that they had volunteered to work in this “comfort stations” or were paid.  Let me just make two things very clear here: First, even IF you “volunteered” to work as a prostitute (how many 11-19 year old girls in 1930’s Korea would really knowingly do that??), once they are unable to voluntarily leave their “volunteering”, once they are physically forced to stay somewhere and have sex with people against their will, it is rape.  Even IF (big if), the initially went there as a volunteer, they ceased being a volunteer and became subjected to rape when they were unable to leave at their own will, unable to refuse sex at their own will, unable to avoid physical abuse and torture at their own will.  Secondly, even though most of these women never saw a dime of the money being paid (in official Japanese military coupons, by the way), being paid by your rapist does not make you a prostitute. BEING PAID BY YOUR RAPIST DOES NOT MAKE YOU A PROSTITUTE. Let me say it again - if someone rapes me and then throws $100 at me, I am not a prostitute and you are still a rapist.
And even though they face these attitudes EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY, they still fight!  That is why I’m lucky to know these women.  They teach me that women’s voices matter.  That no matter how little socio-economic power we have, if we demand to be heard, we will eventually be heard!
When they were abducted and forced into “comfort stations” they were the most vulnerable members - young, poor, uneducated females - of an already vulnerable society - Korea under forced Japanese colonial rule.  And yet they have created the longest-running human rights protest in the world.  These women have been fighting for 20 years to be goddamn heard.  And people have listened.  The US, Canada, EU, Philippines, and over 25 prefectures in Japan have passed official resolutions, urging Japan to resolve this issue.  And that is powerful people.  Old, poor, uneducated women - the most underrepresented members of our international community made people hear their voices.
Then this FB guy demanded that if I was so sure that it wasn’t a nationalistic issue, I’d better be doing everything I could do to stop it “in my own backyard” (Korea), where Korean women are suffering in the same ways, but this time, not by Japanese hands.
And here’s another reason why these women are amazing.  They do exactly that. They stand in solidarity with Korean (and now also Filipina) women who were coerced to work in the 기지촌 (US military camptowns) in Korea. They fight with these women, they understand the connection between their issue and what is happening in Korea today.  One of the 기지촌 survivors actually spoke at the 1,000th protest.  Our House of Sharing International Outreach Team will be holding a workshop today with Duraebang (a shelter for Filipina women trafficked into Korea), translated by yours truly.  More info on that event: http://www.facebook.com/events/181888128565648/
Finally, I want to say of the estimated 200,000 women who were forced to work as sex slaves in “comfort stations” during WWII, approximately 150,000 were Korean women but only 234 South Korean registered officially as survivors.
Of those 234, only 63 are still living. Japan must resolve this issue, but they are literally hoping that the issue will die away with the Halmonis.

As much as I'd love to see it or support a protest (impossible with a public school timetable), I have yet to visit the House of Sharing, but this is their website for any who are interested. It doesn't look like they'll have any English tours until the new year, but they have a calendar of events for those interested in finding out, or of course you can contact them.

On a side note, one of those bizarre conversations I just had that seem to occur quite often in Korea.
Paige (my official co-teacher who I don't actually teach with, having just gotten off the phone from another teacher): Do you have any English word puzzles?
Me: What kind of puzzles?
P: Umm like a word puzzle.
Me: Er.. I don't but I can show you the program I use to make them. (Show her)
P: Oh, I meant like word scrambles.
Me: Uh, well, no I don't have any prepared. There's no program for them because scrambles aren't really complicated enough to need them. Can the teacher not make them himself since presumably he'll know what kinds of words will be needed?
P: Well, you know it's hard because we're not native English speakers... Are you sure you don't have any?
Me: Do you mean you want me to make some?
P: ... Yes.
Me: Ok. What kind? What sort of vocabulary should it use?
P: Any kind.
Me: ... Ok, well is there any special thing this is for?
P: This is for homework for students in the holidays. Mr Jeong is putting the worksheet together.
Me: So.. what kinds of words do the rest of the worksheets use? Should it be basic vocabulary or should it be something specific like feelings, weather, etc?
P: Anything.
Me: *ㅎ-ㅎ* Ok, well is it for first year or second year or what?
P: It's for students coming to our school next year. So you can use any words.

So basically the other teacher had called her and said 'get Amy to make some crud to fill the rest of the worksheets this afternoon'. Just to give you some background, they've been making these worksheets for three weeks (I saw one of my actual co-teachers working on one and discussed it). Why this had to wait until 3.40pm on a Friday I don't know. Paige tried to make it sound vaguely less ridiculous a request than it was, but still. So I ended up making it from vocabulary from the first year textbook. Unfortunately, the other teacher also didn't specify that he needed this stuff in a certain format (a program that only exists in Korea) so it didn't go entirely smoothly. I hope he didn't need it this afternoon as we both left at 4.30 :p

Anyway, that's about it. Happy picture for the weekend though^^ Have a great one people!

Random thought

I love my black bondi cut JAG jeans. They're a size 8 which is really a size too small, but I can still squeeze my butt into them, as long as I'm not planning on eating too much. Which means that I may have to change outfits tonight before going for curry at Hungry Eyes in Chungdae with the girls... :D

Plans for the weekend include: giving banana bread a whirl thanks to my new toaster oven. Fran actually found me a rice-cooker recipe, but I quite like the sweet crispy edges you get with baked banana bread so that's probably a last resort. Other plans include sleeping, going to the gym before my crazy 14 hours of after school classes start next week, and going downtown to get some goodies for various people :) I may also have to go back to the cake shop (Nat I blame you as much as I ♥ you for putting me onto this addiction!) for some study weekend sustenance, and then while I'm there drop back in at Homeplus to ogle the hedgehogs again ^_^

They will also much less glamourously include knocking out at least 3 TESOL units (hopefully) and finishing revising my lesson plans for the next three weeks for the current chapter of the 1st and 2nd year English textbooks, which are, for the record, awful. I'm really hopeless with technology stuff but if I can figure it out I'm going to post lesson plans and ideas somewhere so that newbies to the Thomas Orr kitty cat books don't feel as aghast and perplexed as I did in the first few weeks trying to figure out what on earth to do with it. I do realise that it's only Thursday, but a little wishful thinking can't hurt. Copious amounts of milky tea will probably be needed.

Anyway, some funny stuff from my lovely students to see me (and hopefully) you through today. This week we have been deciding on some class rules, and the results have been quite telling on what sort of year to expect I think:

Girls:
- Do not eat bad foods in class (apparently good foods are ok!)
- No bite to friends, even if they say bad things at you
- You should not chatting with friends
- No touch your friends especially their hair
- Do not bathroom in class
- Open your ears

Boys:
- We don't smoke in class.
- No soju or beer or makkoli or whiskey.
- Don't touch friend's body
- Don't speak Ipod (I still have no idea what that was supposed to mean)
- No weapons
- We must wear clothes every time
- Don't leg screw ( =Don't cross your legs... I have no idea why this is meant to be bad)
- We must love Amy teacher and Ms Kwon all the time!

There were also quite a few about swearing. Although most of them phrased it as 'no bad language' or 'no bad words', there were a few that were more direct saying 'don't say <expletive>' or even 'don't f*** in class' who couldn't understand why I was trying not to laugh (they are also all single-sex classes so the boys in that class probably would have made a huge uproar if I had explained exactly what they were saying).

And haha we were talking about differences between Primary and Middle school students/student life, and I thought it was hilarious that one of them said "This year we have very much delicious lunches!" It's true, we have an awesome school nutritionist ^__^

And also, Neil and Geri, if you are reading this, I have some of your old students! I asked some first years about which school they'd been at and if they'd had you guys, and one of them piped up with "white hair Geri teacher!" Looks like you are fondly remembered :)

** Addendum: one of the boys came up to me later and shouted "YOU KNOW NIL?? WHERE IS NIL???" (apparently he does not have a dial for volume control) and it took me a while to figure out he was saying "Neil" and not talking about some new K-pop band.**

Oh and against all probability, class 2-8 is once again looking to be the worst behaved. *sigh*
But I've also been told that I'm going on the 2nd year excursion this year (to the same place as last time) and my 2nd year co-teacher has a homeroom class with some of my favourite girls from last year so I'm quite looking forward to it. Hopefully our VP doesn't come with us like last year though.

Anyway, that's about it for now. I'm going to try and stay offline as much as possible for the rest of today and tomorrow so that I can get through some work.  ♥'s to everyone though - if you're in Korea, get outside and enjoy the lovely sunshine!

*** So much for staying offline. I had to come back on to add these student gems from my last class todayMe: What are some differences between elementary school and middle school?
Gyeong-Cheon: Elementary school teachers are very nice, but middle school teachers are very scary.
Jin-Su: Middle school time is 5 minutes plus. Oh no! (Middle school classes are 5 minutes longer than in Elementary school).

Me: What are some things that you are lucky to have?
Sang-Hyeop: We are very lucky to have met Amy teacher!
Me: (laughing) Awww! Thankyou... but that probably remains to be seen.
Sang-Hyeop: ... what?
Yeong-Ho: No, we always lucky to see you! Because we see you only one time a week.

Haha, I couldn't figure out if Yeong-Ho meant that as a compliment or not so I just gave them class points and changed the topic ^_^ Class 1-4 (first year boys) were already my favourites because they actually talk, but I love them even more now that they can make me laugh. They are classic!***

Welcome to the Korean school system...

I know it's pretty rare (and demanding) to write two posts in one day but this is a special occasion. Lots of people write or rant about how inefficient Korea is, especially the bureacracy - and there's a lot of bureacracy - so I'm not going to bother going into details about that. I'm just going to launch straight into a rant of my own.

First things first: as you may have gathered from an earlier post, things got a bit stressed last year with my old vice-principal, and all in all I was rather glad this year to find that a) he went to a new school and b) I'm no longer in the same office as the new one. I was also all happy that I only have 17 regular teaching hours, and 6 after school classes (I was expecting 8). Lesson of the day: DUHHHHHHHHHH! I should have touched wood. I should have thrown salt over my shoulder. I should have spent the entire week looking for black cats and dyeing them any other colour (purple or green for preference) and hunting down four leaf clovers. They say pride comes before a fall and although it's more like relief comes before a big kick in the pants, it's still much the case here. Because the new VP isn't just demanding.

He's.

Frickin'.

Crazy.

So yes, the old VP was a bit pushy, and wanted the school to do well (they all do), but we got on pretty well and he was pretty nice to me on the whole. My new co-teacher Paige said he was really awful to her, and last night one of my new co-workers who is also new to the school said that he'd heard the old VP was comparable to Gaddafi, so I imagine that there were a few others who also had problems with him, but really, that wasn't my problem and why he was like that to them wasn't either. I evaluate people on my own impressions and interactions with them, both for good and bad, and although there were some bad moments between me and him, things could have been a lot worse.

Well now they are. This new guy is completely and utterly committed to results, no matter how they're achieved. Not only is he likely to piss off the entire staff with this attitude, he's also likely to wipe out his entire student body because they're going to have to spend so much time studying that they aren't going to have any to do little things like eat, sleep and bathe. Last year, the Principal signed our school up for a Mentoring Program (and the attendant funding) without consulting ANY of the teachers first, which is pretty much meant to compete with the hagwon ('Academy' or tutoring) system that kids are usually stuffed into straight after school and pretty much in any spare time they might have. A Korean middle school student has it comparatively easy compared to high school students, but can still expect to have to spend a good 2 or 3 hours a day having English, Math, Science, piano, baseball, violin, taekwondo, drawing or anything else you'd care to think of lessons after school which is 8.30 - 4.30. I have seen my students walking home at night at 9.30 in the evening. Our mentoring program was designed to provide the same thing from 7 - 9 pm, but only for subjects taught at school that kids needed extra help with, and be more accessible by being cheaper than the usual hagwon fees. Good idea, right? Wrong. Because the thing about hagwons is that even though they are usually afternoon/evening classes, the teachers still usually only work a regular day (for Korea) workshift. So who teaches our mentoring program? Yep, the teachers. Which means that most of them have a work day of between 9 - 12 hours, which they obviously love.
Hooray for someone signing everyone but themselves up for extra work!

Luckily there are plenty of teachers not working insane schedules already or at least want the money more than I do who are keen for some tutoring so I don't have to do it. Which is lucky because there are three classes this year rather than one.

So we get to my gripe and why I think my VP is psychotic. He has just informed me that I'm expected to run a four hour class from 6 - 10pm (hopefully only once a week) for students to practice everything from conversation to presentations to whatever. This was not a request. What the fudge. First of all, never mind me, but what kind of ...person.... thinks that that kind of thing is going to be productive for the kids?? They're only 15 at oldest, and even though yes, they're used to studying for long hours and working hard, do you really think that making them go to a class after even a regular school day for four hours is going to do anything? It's not even going to be in their native tongue, so all they are going to end up doing is either not attending after the first couple of weeks or falling asleep. Oh and how about "what about the teacher who's going to have to teach at least 9 hours of her 14 hour working day"??????? Although I live in a pretty safe area, I also don't particularly like the idea of walking home by myself at 10pm at night.

I'm slightly pissed off. This is the whole parents winter conversation class over again. I suggested that we at least run it as two two-hour classes instead of one huge chunk, but that didn't seem to go down very well. I really don't care about the money - I'd rather have the free time - so I'm hoping that the VP will let me find someone else to do it because he doesn't really seem to understand what "refusing point blank" means, probably because it doesn't really happen in Korea. I told him that if he wants me to do it, I'm not doing it until at least the 25th of March so I can at least finish my TESOL coursework first and that was tricky enough.

Something weird is also happening with our exam preparation class intended to help students prepare for English language contests like the Ban Ki Moon essay/speech contest. But hey, it's not like the students have a choice about entering this so I guess it's only fair that I get forced to do it too. The weirdness is that apparently the head English teacher (who isn't great at classroom management and handling students to begin with, or at least in my classes anyway) really wants the students to do well, so only the absolute top students are going to be allowed in the class, but nevertheless she's putting FIRST graders in as well as seconds. Which to me just sounds stupid since there is only one test for everyone who enters with no distinction for different ages/grades but there you go. Unfortunately, Yong-Seo, one of the students who's been vetted from entering the class was one of my favourites last year as apparently he only did well in his English speaking test and bombed the rest, and one of the girls, Yeong-Ji was vetted out too because she doesn't have the right attitude or something.

Anyway, I've also just been told that I'm doing two more conversation classes, this time in 8th and 9th period on the two afternoons I had free, and since I usually get here at 8am, it looks like I'll have a few 10 hour days. I'm hoping that this means that I don't have to do the ridiculous 4 hour thing but who knows. Apparently this is also different from the 2 hour conversation class I'll have that's 1st 2nd AND 3rd year on Mondays and poor Paige has about as much idea as I do why that has to be different from the 1st year and 2nd year classes and can't just be changed so that there are three separate conversation classes, one for each grade so I can use some sort of teaching aide like a textbook and don't have to make the whole damn thing up myself. But no. So a fair prediction for the mixed Monday class is that we'll be watching a lot of movies. (I teach all of these classes by myself without a co-teacher by the way).

*sigh* Poor kids. Some of them are going to be mighty sick of seeing me every single day every week by the end of the semester.

Only two more days to go...

Two more days of class that is, and then only three more of non-class (which I shall enjoy significantly more!) and then I'm home! Glorious, glorious home!

So this has been a bit of a sucky week, for all sorts of little reasons, but not really any big ones, and with many little happy moments to keep me uplifted and to stop it from being a REALLY sucky week.

One of these such moments was samgyetang (삼계탕, a sort of spring chicken soup where you get a whole little chicken thing in a stone hot pot stuffed with rice and cooked in a delicious soup), photo stickers and a strawberry ice-cream sundae at Love Story (a cafe) with Lara. The food was delicious of course (the samgyetang restaurant we go to ALL the time is awesome) although it was weird to get cherry tomatoes as part of the fruit in our sundae and cornflakes too, and taking sticker photos with lots and lots of glitter was an excellent way to burn off some energy between courses. Here is one of the results! Sorry for the awful webcam quality - still without a real camera. Looking at some of the features on cameras I am considering buying, I figured out that it might have actually frozen on the day of our teachers' trip since apparently "freeze-resistance" is something that Korean camera makers consider important.

Another thing that made me happy this week was newspaper that my second year kids made during our winter camp. We did activities for articles for it each day, like making up their own country (which the girls promptly decided to name after their favourite drama "Dream High"), and telling each other's fortunes, and then they had to write another 'newspapery' piece as well, so I gave them 20 minutes at the end of each two hour class to work on what they had. I'm not going to sugar-coat it, my kids aren't the most brilliant in Korea, and it wasn't anything that's going to rock the world, but I was really proud of how well they did, and how they all helped each other out to get everything done on time, and in the end I really didn't have that much editing to do to put it all together. My co-teacher Paige took some photos so everyone was in it or contributed at least two or three things, even if it was just a few sentences. So it was great, and I was really happy, and they've seemed pretty impressed with it themselves as they've picked up their copies this week.

However, I then did something really stupid - I gave our Vice-Principal and Principal each a copy, because I thought they might like to see what the kids had been doing (even though most of the kids undoubtedly have better English and the VP and P probably couldn't even read the whole thing without a dictionary). First came the VP, who grunted non-committedly and immediately pointed out that we were infringing copyright by using a picture of Kim Yuna and a movie poster. Fair enough. Then the Principal. Before he even opened it, out came the red pen, and he started nagging my co-teacher about how it didn't look professional enough because the margins were wrong (I'd basically just printed everything out back to back and then stapled it down one side). Next, flicking through it, he complained that I should have written the date on it and I hadn't put in page numbers - ok, fair enough too, shame on me for not taking a four day project seriously enough. Then came the kicker - he told us to fix it up because he wanted to distribute as a school product to show off our English program. BIG WTF moment. Never mind that half of it is something that will ONLY make sense to the people who actually went to the class, since half the articles are about an imaginary country. Oh and he complained that the puzzle page that Dae-Ho had done was too hard to do because it was too small.

Pain. In. The. Butt.

So anyway, I escaped at that point because I had a class to go to, but my poor co-teacher had to stay and listen. Actually, I guess it's karmic irony really, because earlier in the year the VP had told me that he expected me to write an English newspaper for the school and waved one from another school (that he had clearly not read himself) in my face that had turned out to not actually be written by a teacher, but by the students of a very prestigious girl's high school with a rigourous English language program, which I had docilely agreed to and then forgotten as quickly as possible, as it was a ridiculous demand and I already had been volunteered into running the Super Duper English club every week. But still. So I did a bit more editing, and sent it off to Paige, but I have no idea what she can do about the puzzle (which we don't even have an electronic copy of) so I guess she's got a busy few days ahead of her until she leaves (very thankfully I'm sure!) on her much-needed holiday.

My new 'visa'

Oh and yes, this was right after the lovely day I had on Tuesday, which constituted of my VP calling me a bitch (I think he meant to say "busy"), walking out on my flabberghasted face when I didn't respond, then telling me ten minutes later that he expects me to tutor him one on one once the new semester starts which I flatly told him he would then have to either pay me extra or take it out of my teaching hours because that's not my job. Oh and then I ended up having to cancel my afternoon class (which on the upside at least meant I got to the gym) because I spent my whole lunch break waiting at the Office of Immigration for two hours and fifteen minutes to get my visa extended. Which turned out to constitute writing on the back of my ARC (alien rego card) with a texta and covering it with sellotape. Yes, sellotape. Thankyou for justifying the 30 000 won and more than three hours getting to and waiting in your ridiculous office.

Anyway, basically, I have now learned to keep things to myself, and after a really pointless day yesterday, the silliness of sticker photos and good food with a good friend was much appreciated ^_^ Thankyou Lala chingu~~~!

Another GREAT day in snowy Korea!

Yep, it's great. GRRRREEEAAAAT. In the completely sarcastic non-great kind of way. First of all, there were no parents in my parents class today, so my Vice Principal got irritated and although he quite likes me and so didn't segue into the full-blown angry yelling boss, he was still being an arse about it. Apparently my co-teacher Paige (who doesn't even come to the classes with me because she has her own at the same time) should be calling all of the parents every day to make sure they come and basically harassing them into attending, because their own busy schedhules are not sufficient excuse enough to miss a class most of them don't want to come to anyway. Why we can't just cancel them entirely and run something more worthwhile I don't know - say like an extra conversation class, perhaps for the 3rd years that I don't teach and so don't see all year anyway, some of whom would probably be interested in taking it before they go to high school next year and the hardwork really starts. I tried suggesting that to him but I don't think he was listening, because he just looked at me, nodded vaguely, and then answered an incoming call on his mobile. This also means grief for Paige, because he's sure to nag her about it.

So anyway, that part of the day sucks. The other part that sucks, or perhaps makes the sucky things more sucky, is that I currently have no cold water in my apartment. Although I'm very grateful that it's the cold water that's out and not the hot, it's still a pain in the butt, especially because I came home to discover this last night after I'd already used my toilet, only to find that it wouldn't flush because there was no water in the cistern. Don't worry - it was only a number one, but it was still annoying that I had to fill up the cistern by hand with a bucket to flush my loo, and because I didn't get home until about 2am, it was too late to call my neighbour to call our landlord to see if it could be fixed. Luckily he came by today so he now knows about the problem and is hopefully getting it fixed. I guess I'm just going to have to use the nasty toilet in the lobby of my building for a while until then. Apparently it's only our floor though so at least there'll only be the five of us (or possibly six since I'm still convinced my weird neighbour with the weird OCD light switch flicking habit has his girlfriend living with him) queueing in the lobby. It's kind of weird though - even though the cold water is out, my tap keeps dripping if I leave it in the off position over cold, and occasionally streaming water late at night, so I've taken to tying a dishcloth around it in a kind of washerwoman's bandanna to soak up the water and stop the noise. Ever wondered what a faucet with a toothache looks like? I'd like to imagine it looks something like mine does right now.

There are also another couple of reasons why I'm so irritated today but there's enough negativity here so I'll leave it as is and instead move onto my eternal fountain of entertainment - my students. We've been making a newspaper in our conversation class this week, and yesterday we did fortune telling and paper chatterboxes (with some stupid answers - explaining why "your mama" is funny to a bunch of Korean teenagers was hard but totally worth it), so I asked them to write predictions for each other. Here are some of the results (I tidied them up a little):

Ji-Soo will be taller than me - Yes

Sunny’s teeth will be healthy this year. -For sure

Soyeong will have a boyfriend -your mama!

Hyeon-Jeong will eat mushrooms - No way!

Won-Min will meet a handsome boyfriend - you smell!

Amy teacher will maybe go back to Australia. But Amy should stay in Korea because Korea is super good than Australia.

And my favourite (and the best) by Dae-Ho.
Paige Teacher's luck this year:

She will meet a good boyfriend in Europe this year. Paige and her boyfriend will fall in love very quickly so Paige will want to only date for 5 years and then get married, because she doesn’t have any money. However her boyfriend will have lots of money. So they will get married in Europe. They won’t want to have children. However they will travel to very beautiful sites and will live happily ever after.

Oh and a picture of the costumes they made for each other when they had to invent a country and come up with some public holidays, traditions, a flag and clothes.

Sunny and Dae-Ho

Good lord, it's a bus full of teachers!



Hello all! Yesterday being the last day of school, today was the teachers' end of year 'picnic' trip. And oh boy was it a wowser! I can in all honesty say that I've never been on such an interesting and also possibly such an illegal business trip in my life. It wasn't that we did one particular thing that was spectacular, but rather, the whole day added up to .... well, something pretty darn memorable!



Lucy and I braving a taxi

 Ok so first things first. The lovely Lucy came to visit on Sunday last week and stayed with me for three days, discovering the joys of ondol heating (Korean underfloor-heating) and particularly, how awesome it is to sleep on when it's cold outside! Also, the joys of noraebang (karaoke), soju, Korean taxis, snow, snow and more snow. On our first night, in the space of a 20 minute journey, our taxi driver managed to only just miss colliding with a delivery bike and another taxi, and then dropped us off in the middle of the road, nowhere near the pavement, leaving us to splash through a pile of dirty slush.

Introducing Lucy to Cass beer

Oh and the snow... so yes, it's been cold. It was so cold that on the way to and from Incheon Airport, the condensation on the inside of the bus windows FROZE, even with the heating on. Luckily it started raining on Lucy's last day, so the snow melted a little and wasn't so bad... or so I thought. At about 12, the rain became snow. And more snow. And more snow. About 10cms later, it eased up a little.. needless to say, I am very definitely sleeping on my floor these days as even with a hoodie, trackies, three blankets and my heating turned up full blast, my bed isn't cutting the mustard any more. (If you want to see snow pics, you can have a look at my facebook albums - will post a link in a bit). Oh and hehe, I have a confession to make here - as previously confessed, I am not a fan of snow. But I don't mind it so much when it's as thick as this was, as it's way easier to walk on and more crunchy than slippery. As I was meeting Lara for dinner on Tuesday, I remembered that she had professed a wish for a snowball fight. Obligingly, I decided that a surprise snowball would be in order, that I would spring out with. Going for the surprise 'snow' factor rather than the 'fight', I decided that I'd only toss it, and throw with my left hand so there'd be a chance it wouldn't actually hit her at all. So I hid behind a car, and got ready to girly-throw my ball of powdery fluff...

Ba-bow. Failure. Not only did I manage to hit her, I managed to hit her right in the face. O_O

So back to the story. What with the cold and all, most of us had our fingers crossed that the teachers' trip today would be cancelled, as we knew we were going to Namiseon (남이선), an island in Gyeonggi-do famous for its scenery and for being the site for much of the famous Korean drama [Winter Sonata] ([겨울 연가]). (These days, apparently some famous Thai film has also been shot there.) But no, so we all turned up at school and hopped onto the bus at 9 and set off. Being in Korea, this meant, we immediately cracked open the food, so everyone got their roll of kimbap, as well as a bottle of water, a packet of songpyeon and sweet ddok (see earlier post for an explanation) and a little snackpack consisting of a packet of salted peanuts, two mini nougat chocolate bars (like Milky Ways), a small packet of Gosomi biscuits, two mandarines, some gum, some caramels and a cheese sausage stick. And of course, the alcohol. Most of the male teachers were sitting at the back of the bus, like where the tough kids sit, and three bottles of soju immediately found their way there.


Mohyeong Joong library entrance

Before heading to Namiseon however, we made a detour by Mohyeon Middle School in Yongin which is famous for both a high record of academic achievement and for it's excellent afterschool- and mentoring programs. It was amazing! Perhaps because it was kind of on the outskirts of the city, almost in a kind of small satellite town, the grounds and buildings were twice the size of ours with space for gardens and some small fields for their agricultural program. Once inside, everything was clean, well sign posted, very modern looking and brightly decorated. We peeked into a classroom, which looked to be about a third again as big as ours, and then went to the library to watch a short video on their afterschool program and talk to some of the teachers in charge of it.

It. Was. Amazing! The library was beautifully decorated, both structurally and by the students (presumably), and very inviting. Apparently Hankook University of Foreign Language Studies has a campus in the town nearby, which supplies their Mentoring (like after-school tutoring) programs with all their teachers too. My co-teacher Ms Shin (who is also in charge of supervising the afterschool program) asked their supervisor what their secret was to a successful program, to which they answered "it's magic!" Cute, but possibly somewhat smug? ... Anyway, it was a beautiful school, so any smugness would be well justified!

1/3 of the school building and a third of their playground





Another 1/3 of the total building




Handing out the Cass

So after Mohyeon, we piled back on the bus and started the 1 and a half hour trip it would take to get us to Namiseon. By now it was about 11.30, so obviously, it was beer o'clock. Since it was a more reasonable hour, some of the female teachers joined in, so I didn't feel so bad about sharing a beer with my bus-buddies Miss Cho and the tech teacher Mr Lee Soong-Gi, although some of the other teachers made surprised noises that I was able to drink. Even more surprising however was when the bad boy teachers at the back lit up and started smoking. Yep, you read that right - teachers, smoking, on the bus. Oh, sorry, smoking AND drinking, on the bus. Just like would probably happen if it was a school trip with the kids and one of them had lit up (probably without the alcohol though), soon the other teachers up the front noticed and started yelling at the smokers to put out the cigarettes and telling them off for the smell. The rebels tried cracking open the hatch at the back, but eventually put out their smokes, thank God.

Some six packs of beer later, we got to Namison, just in time for lunch. Keep in mind the food that we had already had, as well as two more boxes of mandarines that we'd been munching our way through, as well as the beer and soju... but this was barely an appetiser. Lunch was dak-kalbi (닭갈비), bing-eo twikim (빙어 튀김) and makguksu (막국수), a kind of broiled chicken marinated in a spicy sauce, deep-fried freshwater anchovies, and buckwheat noodles in a spicy sauce/soup served cold, like a mix between mul-naengmyeon and bibim-naengmyeon, but with julienned carrot strips, lettuce and kim (seaweed). Unlike the kind I'd tried before however, this dak-kalbi was grilled like samgyeopsal over a firepot. Of course, it was all delicious! Especially the bing-eo, which had really soft and almost creamy flesh, and wasn't crunchy like it's saltwater cousins, myeolchi (멸치) which is usually dried before it appears in dishes. And of course, there was more alcohol. Since none of the three teachers I was sittng with drank however, I didn't have anything either, which was lucky because I don't think I could have knocked back the three or four (or five or six) bottles of soju that ALL of the other tables were managing. Don't get the wrong idea (if you've never been to a Korean meal in Korea before), it wasn't a general lunch-time sot-fest. It was very convivial, with everyone pouring drinks and toasting each other, and as is usual for Korean meals, making sure everyone had lots to eat and sharing the best bits of the dishes with everyone else, in some cases force-feeding each other by holding it to their mouths and insisting "먹어! 먹어!" ("mok-o! mok-o!"/ "eat! eat!")

Soju bottle Christmas tree

After lunch, we sauntered onto the ferry and made the 5 minute journey out to 'The Republic of Namiseon', highly amused that our tickets were in fact 'visas' and that the boat proudly declared "We Are All Naminarians! Welcome!" on the front. Despite the snow, or maybe because of it, it was beautiful! Many of the teachers had been at least once before, so we just kind of wandered around the tiny island, looking at all the displays and trying not to make the resident wild ostriches and Muscovy ducks angry (if you know anything about either of these animals, both can be prone to rather violent anger) and taking lots of pictures. Despite the large crowds of tourists, many from Japan, Thailand, China and Vietnam, it was very serene and peaceful, and we saw various ice-sculptures (or rather icicle-sculptures made from frozen fountain jets), the UNICEF Hall of Peace, dozens of different artworks made of soju bottles, the Cheot-kisu (첫키스 or 'first kiss') place from 'Winter Sonata', Meta-Sequoia Lane, a strange kind of pyramid made of books, and so on. And there were periodic woodfires to melt yourself in front of, so it was very nice ^_^

Meta-Sequoia Lane

My principal and Mr Park having a snow fight

Ms Ha (?), Miss Cho, Ms Shin and Ms Park

**Sadly, I don't have any more photos after this point as my camera has gone kaput for some unknown reason**

After an hour or so of wandering around freezing our butts off, it was home time, so we putted back across the semi-frozen river on the ferry and gladly scrambled back into our warm bus. Once we were all in, the teachers began again on that consummate solution to the cold - more alcohol - and began shouting for another - noraebang! Others brought up the small point that karaoke on buses is now in fact illegal in Korea, to which the Principal, Mr Kim, responded that yes, and so was drinking alcohol. Twenty minutes of discussion later, as one of the teachers who is leaving next year to do his PhD moved down the bus pouring shots for everyone (Miss Cho, who doesn't drink, was very smart and took a very small amount, then discreetly spat it out while pretending to drink a cup of coffee), and the art teacher Mr Lee Kwang-Jae solved the argument by putting a song on, picking up the microphone, and belting it out, followed by four others, all male, and all most likely the biggest drinkers. Having warmed up the bus-mosphere, they then decided that since none of the women were singing, the best way to spread the trend was by making ME do one. I am by no stretch of the imagination a good singer, being mostly tone-deaf, but I can usually hit a few of the right notes (mostly by accident). So I wasn't exactly keen. Nonetheless, seeing that there was nowhere to run away to, I thought "why not? Better to embarrass myself having a go at something rather than falling over drunk at a dinner at some point", took a deep breath, got up and belted out "All I Want For Christmas" by Mariah Carey. Having been completely abandoned by Miss Cho, thankfully then EVERYONE (including the people who had been pretending to sleep) on the bus started clapping along, in some cases singing, and then my Principal, bless him, got up and danced along to the music. If you've never seen a short, stocky, slightly tipsy Korean man in his late fifties with a jolly face and a decided pot belly in a suit dancing along to Mariah Carey, pulling faces, pouting, cheering, and occasionally shouting out "WOO WOO WOO!" behind you on a moving bus while 35 other teachers cheer you both on, you've never done karaoke.

My martyrdom over, everyone politely cheered and I sat down highly embarrassed, and highly amused :) The singing and dancing, including the Principal pretending to pash one of the other male teachers, and at one point what was almost a six-teacher conga line in the aisle, continued for another two hours, and we finally reached our school once more at 8pm after what was possibly the most illegal and interesting bus trip I've ever had in my life. P.S. the cherry on the sundae (or even Thursdae, ㅋㅋㅋ) - I don't have to go in to work tomorrow. My school rocks!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Goddamnit.

It's snowing. I don't like snow. It's very pretty, when you're sitting inside somewhere warm and cosy, and there's nothing making you have to go outside in it, but when it's something you actually have to experience, it's cold, wet, makes everything slippery and dangerous and honestly, it's just bits of ice falling out of the sky. What's so magical about that? I get that some people find it enchanting and whatnot, but I'm not one of them. Unless I'm actually at a snowfield for the specific purpose of playing in the snow (fun for about 10 minutes until you get soaked) or snowboarding, etc, I can't see snow as fun.

I realise as I type that I sound like an awful sourpuss about it all, and I'm sorry to be making my first post in a long while so down, but really, I don't know why the snow is depressing me so much today of all days, but it is. Maybe it's because of the cold (this week we have had an average of minus 14 degree days). Maybe it's because I'm not a morning person at the best of times, and after seeing the latest Harry Potter film last night (which was awesome!!!!) and then making myself shower and wash my hair because I knew there was no way I was going to actually get up and out of bed in the morning at 6.30 when it's not even light outside to do it then meant that I didn't get to bed until 1am, so am very tired. Maybe it's because I have five regular classes today in our seven period day, one after-school class and have not really voluntarily given up my lunchtime to help the English club make paper decorations (which is my own fault for getting them started on it on Wednesday when I actually had the energy to be excited in a serious lack of foresight). And even though two of those classes are some of my sweetest first year girls, and we're only watching a movie in the others, the sheer number of students I will have seen today is an exhausting thought. Plus I've already watched the first 40 minutes of Home Alone 2 seven times this week and really can't be excited about either the prospect of watching it three more times or studying my TESOL coursework instead. But really, more than anything, or maybe in combination with the utter exhaustion I face the rest of today with, I think the snow is making me feel down simply because it's yet another reminder of how far away I am from home. It should be summer now dammnit!

Even though I've been here before around the same time and been in cold countries over (their) winter, I still don't really have the hang of dressing properly for cold, so I usually end up freezing, then slowly cooking in the over-heated classroom to a chorus of whiny teenagers whingeing "쌤!추워~~~~~ (teacher, it's cold!)" with a "쌤! 너무 뜨겁다! (teacher! too hot!)" accompaniement from the few kids sitting right under the heating air flow. I know it's cold, and I've already turned the heating on and it's at 30 degrees so what else do you want me to do??? Maybe if you don't want to be cold you shouldn't be outside having snowfights and stealing each other's shoes in the break. You can either enjoy the magic and wonder of being a kid or you can be warm and sensible and stay inside, not both.

Anyway, so students aside (usually they are more or less great, but sometimes they just drive me up the wall) the snow has more or less stopped for a break about now. I'll post photos later when I get home so you can see for yourself how utterly negative or spot on (depending on your point of view) I'm being about the whole thing. It's cold, it's weird, it's not home. Therefore I am sad. Actually, not sad, just in a bit of a black mood. Also, I think snow doesn't make me feel particularly happy because in Australia, when you see white stuff floating in the air during December, it's usually ashes from a bushfire. Bit hard to explain that one in Korean to my co-teachers when they ask why I'm not gushing about the pretty snowflakes. Also, seeing it now makes me think that I'll be doing this all over again at the same time next year too. Another black thought on a day that makes me homesick that also makes me wonder why the hell I signed up for a second year. Hopefully my trip home and quality time Down Undah will help me through this :)

Ok, so I guess I should try and end my rant on a positive note. Things that I'm looking forward to today that will make me feel calmer if not happier:

• class 2-8. Although they are also something that I am not looking forward to because they are so noisy and exhausting, they are also my last regular class for the day and they always say something offbeat to make me laugh.
• going home after school, knowing that I have a whole two glorious days before I have to be back again (even though I'm not really going to have any free time to actually appreciate them).
• having a drink tonight with my mate Sueji at a friend's place. And then another. And then maybe a few more.
• sleeping in tomorrow. I am a bit of a masochist in that on days I can actually sleep in, I like to set my alarm for 7 (the usual time I get up) just so I can wake up, look outside and see it's still dark and cold, then turn it off and go back to sleep.
• going to the gym tomorrow because it will be in actual daylight. Haven't been in a week because it's cold and dark by the time I get home and now I feel like a slug.
• going to Busan to celebrate my lovely friend Natalie's birthday!! Yay!!!!! ^_^ oh and crashing at Christy's because she actually gives me a pillow to sleep with as opposed to SOME! lol~
• zipping up to Seoul on the KTX (there is no super fast train between Cheongju and Busan so I always have to bus it) to see my favourite Gokhale girls Hema and Sonali! DOUBLE YAY! Hopefully I won't be too hungover from Saturday night to appreciate them, although if Natalie is even conscious by the time I leave Busan I will be sorely disappointed :)

So yes, although there is also a list of other things that I have to get done that I don't face with any particular relish, and although today is a bit of a bummer, it heralds good things as well as bad. Namely, the miraculous ability of friends and a little alcohol to make you feel better :)


**edit: snow photos. eurrrrrrrkkkkkk.

starting to snow (actually the first snow about a week before this post)... grrrrr

about 3 minutes later

yes, those white things are snow. that's how big the flakes were.

the kids having their P.E. lesson in the snow on the actual day of posting while i take sneaky photos from a warm staffroom. hehe~

Thoughts of a Dying Atheist

.. not really. just thought i'd throw that song title in anyway because i love muse.

not quite dying, but i feel like i should be. got a horrible cold from SOMEONE... I'M GLARING AT YOU CHANEL! but actually it's been going around so it was only a matter of time. then and again, pretty much everyone who had contact with her last weekend seems to be ill... hmmm... :p luckily i don't have it too badly in that i'm not coughing up any blood or throwing up like some of the others. evidentally i look terrible enough to warrant a sick day from school though (although they are in our contracts, they're virtually non-existent in Korea) because as soon as i walked in to the staffroom today, my co-teacher took one look at me and started organising with my other co-teachers to take my classes for me, then got the vice principal's permission to send me home after a whole 26 minutes of being at work. seeing as i am also losing my voice, i probably wouldn't be able to run my classes very well today anyway. i have to add here that i love that she takes care of me, without me even needing to ask. last time i was really sick in may, she took me to the doctors, then looked up a recipe for chicken soup on the internet with my neighbour the school nutritionist and they made me a pot of it.

so here i am at home now, on the first of many cups of lemon tea i plan to subsist on today (seeing as i have no appetite and eating makes me feel gross and a little nauseated right now) in between some much needed sleeping. hopefully i can snooze this thing off.