Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Day 161...Free Pony Rides

May 27 Wednesday

Its my 23rd week in South Korea. My 13th week teaching at my school. I always count from Wednesday because I arrived in South Korea on a Wednesday.

I wore a new kind of makeup today. Its a mineral makeup from a company on ebay. I asked them to send me a sample so I could try it. I like it. I might buy a set. Their sets come with foundation, blush, eyeshadow and its reasonably priced. Its sorta like the makeup that you see advertised on tv. I think its called 'bare minerals." they aren't affiliated with that company. they make their own makeup but same concept.

People at school noticed my makeup. I told them I wear makeup everyday. The only difference is that today I wore a darker lipstick. I usually just wear chap stick. They said that my makeup today makes me 'more beautiful'. Maybe I should start wearing the darker shade instead of just chap stick.

Today I took my Acai berry supplement. I'll give it some time to see if it actually helps. If I lose a good amount of weight then I'll buy another month's worth. The trainer at the gym keeps asking me everyday "did you check your body?" (He means did I get up on the scale). I haven't gotten on the scale since the 16th. I may get on it this weekend.

Today I was observed.

In my first class one student was present and the other was absent. So I had a one on one class. I think it went well. The student was having some trouble with my comprehension questions. We started a new chapter and I drew pictures on the board of the vocabulary words. My observer would occasionally ask the girl if she knew what the word was in Korean or she would tell her the Korean word. My student liked my drawing of an octopus. It made her laugh.haha. I'm not an artist. I drew it with 8 short legs.

In my 2nd class I have 3 students and they are usually out of control. They were speaking in Korean during study time and she told them to stop. They were being a little bad and she told them to be good and follow my directions. We had 2 tests. I let them study for 5 minutes for the word test. Then we had a writing test. I went over the answers to the writing test on the board. Then we went over homework.They were actually good for the class! I was surprised at how eager they were today. The 2 boys wanted to answer every question. I usually have to beg them to answer. One of the boys wanted to answer every question.

I found out that we don't have to finish the books until June 12th. We start new books in June and we have to finish them by August. Each "semester" is 6 months. In Sept we will start a new session.

I saw a funny shirt today. I wonder if the boy understands the meaning. It was a middle school boy at my school. His shirt said "Free Pony Rides" and had an arrow pointing down.

She watched all of my classes today. Then we had a meeting where she discussed things from notes she took. She said I was doing better from last time.She says I need to take things faster so the kids won't get bored. Well I was trying to take it slower so they actually understand. She says I need to describe the pictures more. Get the students to describe the pictures to me. I can bring in extra materials that go along with the topic-like maybe a news article that relates to the lesson. That's good to know. I never know if I'm suppose to only stick to the book. I can bring visual aids. If we are talking about a fish then bring in a picture of that fish from the internet so they can see what it is instead of drawing it on the board. She says I need to make it more personal. I need to ask them personal questions. Like if we are talking about food ask them what kind of foods they like,etc. I need to give them listening assignments. They have cds and tapes with their books. Get them to listen to the cd at home. I need to explain all the new vocabulary words. I need more interaction with the kids and let them interact with each other (like doing group work). I shouldn't let them speak Korean and If I'm having a behavior problem I should tell the Korean teacher and they will call their parents.

Oh and she reminded me again "don't get the swine flu." I'm not going to get the flu, but if its spreading rapidly then there isn't really a way to prevent it esp when you live in one of the biggest cities in the world. Personal space isn't a concept here.

I had a good workout. I did interval training for 30 minutes on the elliptical. Then I did 2 different leg machines. I don't really want to work my legs that much because they are already too big! Then I did 20 minutes on the treadmill at various speeds. In all today I burned about 250 calories in 50 minutes.

So Lesley has been texting this Korean American soldier. He wants to meet her next weekend. She asked me if I wanted to join. She wanted to make sure he knows its not a date. He's actually bringing along one of his American soldier buddies. She was texting him and he thought she was bringing her boyfriend. He asked her if she could bring someone to introduce to his American soldier friend (so I guess thats me). So next weekend we sorta have a 'double date.' I'm not really expecting anything to come out of it. I'm not really into soldiers. Plus dating me would be complicated-if he's looking for some action then he won't be getting any!! And he might be disappointed that she's introducing him to a fat girl. Get his hopes up that he's meeting some hot girl then he sees me and gets bummed out. (no I'm not putting myself down. I'm just saying most guys aren't into fat girls.their loss). I'm just going for the fun of it. Maybe I'll make some new friends.

North Korea is in the news again. They just keep doing things to stay in the news. They just started up their nuclear program and tested a few short range missiles. Now they are threatening to attack the South if they search their ships.

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