Day 92

March 19 Thursday

I actually got out of bed at 11:20am. I went to bed earlier although I didn't fall alsleep any earlier. I went to bed at 2am and was still awake at 2:40am. Dont know why.

I wake up every morning with a terrible backache. How do koreans sleep on these beds that are hard as a rock? I can't wait till I can't afford to buy a mattress topper! I'm willing to pay for comfort! I'm also going to get a firmer pillow.

I made it out to the post office today. I went in and I didn't have a clue which form to use. I picked up about 5 different forms and just stared at them. I hate not knowing what Im doing. I cant read them! I finally just chose one. Then I was standing around looking like an idiot looking for the number machine. At the post office you don't just get in line. You go to the machine, get your number, and wait for your number. The post office was pretty empty when I went so I got in line quickly. I had the right type of form, but I chose the wrong one.So I had to fill out another form. The package weighed 1154 grams which is @2.5 pounds. It costed 23,400 which is about 16.75. I actually got an English speaking person helping me.She asked if I wanted to send it by air or surface. I wanted to know which was cheaper. Surface was cheaper but it would take 3 months. WOW. I chose air mail which takes about 2 weeks.

I hate that they are on a different system on everything. grams instead of pounds. Kilograms instead of pounds. celcius instead of fahrenheit. won instead of dollars. korean instead of english. you get my point.

Then I had to go to Nokbeon for a teachers workshop with Rocky. He was talking to all of the teachers. Giving us tips. I agree with his philosophy that tests are bad. Students hate tests. I also agree with not giving much homework. I don't give much homework. Today we talked about the 24 rules of human relations. Things like give praise, show appreciation, don't argue,etc. Then we talked about personality types. I read over the descriptions and I think Im Analytical. Next week we will talk about what other people think of our choice. Sometimes we think we are one type and other people think we are another type.

The characteristics for Analytical: Critical, Indecisive, Stuffy, Exacting, Moralistic, industrious, persistant, serious, viligant, and orderly

Andrew showed me a drycleaner/tailor today. Now I can get my pants hemmed and my clothes drycleaned/pressed soon.

I had to make a new resume today to send to immigration. I have to have 2 months of experience so I can get a new visa. So I redid my resume and added in my job from Avalon because mk only had my american resume. no one ever asked me to submit a new resume so they still had my old one. I should be going to Japan around the 1st of April.

Im loving the warmer weather!

So today I had 5 classes. busy day. I had 3 speaking classes. My first class was asking me about words. How to pronounce different words. They wanted to know what the difference was between sun and son. They both sound the same. Then we listened to a story then we read it. Afterwards I asked comprehension questions. I don't think they understood the comprehension questions. I had to basically point out the answer to them. In my 2nd class we talked about sports. 3rd class we reviewed the unit about days of the week and weather. One of my kids is funny. We had a song about weather and he was dancing to it. some of the students seem to like the corny songs on the cds. Some of them are hilarious and we laugh the whole way through.After class all 3 students wanted to take pictures of me with their cellphones.

I had 2 writing classes today. In the first class we were talking about letters. They read their letters that they wrote from an exercise in the book. Then I gave them tips on how to write a letter. Then their classwork/homework was to write a letter about their family. They have to turn it in on Tuesday. In my last class I was explaining how to write an essay. I went over all the steps one by one with sample paragraphs. Then I told them to write an essay. After I spent all that time telling them how to write they looked at me like I was crazy. So all that time I was explaining/giving detailed instructions on the board they weren't really listening. Its really frustrating teaching people to write! Their speaking is good but they need a lot of help writing! So I let them write in class and I helped them while they were writing. I helped with what to write about, how to make a correct sentence, etc. I'm going to give them back their essay on Tuesday with corrections and a final draft will be due on Thursday. I think I will give them a sample essay so they can see what one looks like. I think level 7 has the best writing book. I like the format. I like how it lays out the whole format of the essay. In paragraph one write this. In paragraph 2 write this. Although even with it all laid out my students still don't understand. This is going to be a long semester!

I have to give the students one essay assignment a month. I'll choose one of the topics out of the book. I've already given an essay assignment to levels 7 and 9. Tomorrow I will give an assignment to level 8. Monday I will give an assignment to level 10. I need to ask if I'm suppose to give writing assignments to the lower level classes that don't have a writing class. If teaching writing to level 7 was hard just think about teaching writing to 2nd graders in level 2 and 3. oh my.

In addition to the weekly tests for speaking class I also have to give a monthly writing test.

Today's Exchange: (as of 11:45 pm) 1396 won=$1 usd....down a few points from yesterday. its looking better will it strengthen more? or will it be back up to 1420 tomorrow?