Day 226 Seoul Zoo

July 31 Friday

Seoul Zoo

How to get to the zoo: Line 4-Seoul Grand Park-Exit 2----its a good idea to ride the tram car (800won) to the entrance. Its quite a walk!

Cost: 3,000 won to get into the zoo. Dolphin show is 2,000 won. (less than $5 for both!!)

More info: http://grandpark.seoul.go.kr/ (choose English from the language menu)

I wanted to go to the zoo today. Last night I asked my friend, Lesley, to tag along if she wanted to since we are both on vacation and she was back from her trip. She said she would come along.

We timed it really well where she would be on the train and I would just hop on when it got around to my stop.

It was only 5,000 won to enter the zoo and see the dolphin show. (3,000 to get into the zoo and 2,000 for the dolphin show)That's a great price. (less than $5). I looked up the price for Riverbanks (Columbia, SC) and its $9.75 to get in.

We looked at some of the African animals first. (Lesley is from South Africa). Then we went to the dolphin show. The venue for the dolphin show was packed! We got a pretty good seat. I enjoyed seeing the show. they also had some seals who were doing various things.

Then we took our time walking around the zoo looking at the animals and taking pictures. It was very hot outside! We were sweating a lot.

I think we finally got through around 6:30 or so. We saw almost everything. There were a few sections that we skipped. The animals are put in sections by countries. Each section has a theme-African animals, Australian animals, South American animals, etc. A lot of the animals were resting so I didn't get great photos. It was hard to take photos of certain animals because they were behind bars or in a cage. I fed a llama. They had some carrot slices that you could feed to them. There were a lot of kids who were feeding the llamas.

I wanted to see the rose garden also but I just decided not to. It was hot and we were tired so I decided to leave.

When we got on the subway it was packed on line 4! Every car was filled to capacity it seemed. All the seats were full, there were people in the aisle and near the doors. not many people were actually getting off so it stayed full for a while. We stood the whole time. Then we transferred to line 6 and it was pretty full also. I sat down for a short while.

Afterwards I went to the gym. I was almost done on the treadmill(I only did 30 mins today since I got a lot of exercise in at the zoo) and the cute guy at the front desk came to talk to me. He got on the treadmill like he was going to workout and turned it on then turned it off. He always asks if I've eaten dinner. (Its part of their culture--they use it as a greeting, but he uses it in the literal sense bc he wants to know why or what I ate)I told him not yet and he wants to know why. I told him I had just gotten back from the zoo and I came straight to the gym. I had to repeat it a few times for him to understand what I said. Then we talked for a little while about the zoo. Afterwards he said "Sorry my English is not good". I told him that I can understand what he says (maybe that will boost his confidence). His English is not as bad as he thinks it is. Then as I was leaving he was at the reception desk. He saw my camera and I asked him if he wanted to see my pictures. I showed him my pictures and he wanted to know the English name for some of the animals. Then I took a picture of him and the girl at the reception area. The girl wanted me to take the picture. He wanted to know why were all my pictures of the animals and none of me. I don't take pics of myself when I go places.

 

Day 225 Namsangol Hanok Village, Seoul Tower

July 30 Thursday

Today I met up with the head teacher from my school. Her husband, 2 kids and her niece and nephew. Her niece and nephew speak good English. They have lived in Canada for a year. The head teacher doesn't speak much English so they translated for her.

 They wanted to show me some traditional Korean houses in Namsangol Hanok Village. We didn't see the whole village. We just looked at the recreation area where they had some games and we saw Queen Sunjeonghyo Yun's house.

Namsangal Hanok Village

Namsangol Hanok Village, also known as "A Village of Traditional Houses in the Namsan Valley", is a Korean village located in the area of Pil-dong neighborhood in Jung-gu, a central district of Seoul, South Korea where hanok (한옥) or Korean traditional houses have been restored to preserve the original atmosphere of the area.

The Namsangol Hanok Village offers one the opportunity to experience a wide cross-section of Joseon-era citizenry and activities, from royalty to commoners. A great effort has been made to accurately furnish each dwelling with appropriate era and social status appointments.

A traditional Korean style garden, complete with a flowing stream and pavilion was constructed on the site in order to revive the classical feel of the Joseon-era. Five traditional houses, including some of the residences of high government officials - some of the largest mansions in Seoul at the time, along with commoners houses were moved to the 7,934 sq Meters/9,489 sq Yards grounds containing the restored village.

Directions to Namsangol Hanok Village: Chungmuro Station (Line 3 or 4) Exit #3 or 4, walk for 5 minutes. (Behind Chungang Univ. Affiliated Hospital) 

Price: Free

Info: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264116

Seoul Tower

Then we went to Seoul Tower. We rode the cable car on the way up. Then rode an elevator up to the observation deck at the tower. Its a great view of Seoul! I took a lot of pictures. Then we walked down from the tower-1200 meters (3937 feet)(.75 mile)! It was a long way down! I'm so glad we rode the cable car up. I wouldn't have the strength to walk up 1200 meters up a mountain!

N Seoul Tower is a communication tower located in Seoul, South Korea. Built in 1969, and opened to the public in 1980, the tower measures 236.7 m (777 ft) in height (from the base) and tops out at 479.7 m (1,574 ft) above sea level. It has also been known as the Namsan Tower or Seoul Tower. After the tower's original owner merged with the CJ Corporation, it was renamed the N Seoul Tower (official name CJ Seoul Tower).

Most visitors ride the Namsan cable car up the mountain, and then walk to the tower. The tower features a gift shop and restaurants on the ground floor. Visitors may go up the tower for a fee. There are four observation decks (the 4th observation deck, which is the revolving restaurant, rotates at a rate of one revolution every 48 minutes), as well as gift shops and two restaurants. Most of the city of Seoul can be seen from the top.

Website: http://www.nseoultower.net/english/customer/faq.asp

Directions to Seoul Tower: yellow bus at Chungmuro station (Line 3 or 4) or at Dongguk University station (Line 3), which will take you to the parking lot of N Seoul Tower. Bus No. 2 will drop you off at the bus stop right below N Seoul Tower, and you can walk up to N 5 to Seoul Tower Plaza. After completing your tour, take the same bus at the bus stop where you got off.

Bus Fare: 550 won / Hours: 08:00~24:00 / Bus interval: 5~6 min.

Price of Seoul Tower Observation: Children (Ages 4-12): 3,000 won/ Teens and Adults (Ages 13-64): 7,000 won / Senior (Ages 65+): 5,000 won

Day 224

July 29 Wednesday

Today was my lazy day. I decided to stay in and do nothing. That's exactly what I did.

I did go to the gym tonight. I had only been once in the past week. Had a good workout-burned 280 calories in 35 mins on the treadmill at 5km/hr and 4.0 incline. Mr Lee was there again tonight. He said hello in English this time. I've never met an American celeb but I see this popular Korean celeb a lot. He's spoken to me at least 4 times. He only says hello. That would never happen in America. In America celebs can't go anywhere alone without being followed and watched and stalked.

Tomorrow: Seoul tower with the head teacher from my school. I have to get up early. She wants to meet me at my house at noon.

I watched "The Bachelorette" finale on youtube. Ed was always a frontrunner and she chose him. She was so excited when he proposed. This season has been the most dramatic so far. They have had so many people come back. Ed left and came back. Jake came back to rat out Wes. Reid came back to profess his love for Jillian. What was up with his outfit? He had on a suit with the shirt untucked and tennis shoes. And he pulled up in a minivan!haha.

She had a great opportunity. When does someone get to date a lot of guys and have their choice? On the flip side it causes a lot of heartbreak.

I can't even get one guy to fall in love with me. I'm about ready to give up anyway.

Day 223 Coex Aquarium

July 28 Tuesday

(click on album to view)

Coex Aquarium

Today I went to the Coex Aquarium.
The subway was crowded. I didn't get a seat on the way there or the way back. There were people in almost all of the seats and people standing up in the aisles. A seat would open up here and there but I don't really like being sandwiched between people so I just stood for the whole trip.

The mall was crowded. Lots of people shopping on a weekday.

I ate supper at Burger King and finally went to the Aquarium around 6:40pm. 7pm was the last entrance and it closed at 8pm.

It costed 15,500 won to enter (@$15,000). Thats a decent price for an aquarium.

There were a good number of people at the aquarium. There were a few kids who were running around taking pics with their cell phones. I was the only person who was there solo. There were families and couples.

I enjoyed seeing all the fish. I took a lot of pictures. Some of them weren't that great because the fish kept moving! I still got some good ones though. I took my time going through the aquarium and I was done around 7:40pm. Then I headed home.

The COEX Aquarium is the only theme-oriented aquarium in Korea. There are 90 exhibition water tanks and 140 tanks used for breeding. There are about 600 species and 40,000 oceanic fish altogether. The tanks are divided into six different sections and are viewed in a tunnel like atmosphere. The first exhibit is the 'The Inca Empire'. This exhibit displays the origins and relics from the Incan Empire. At the end of the Incan Empire, the 'Amazonian World' awaits. In this exhibit tropical fish and cute otters can be seen. In the seashore section of the 'Amazonian World’, sharks and stingrays can be viewed. The end of the 'Amazonian World’ leads to 'Seven Seas'. In romantic settings, fishes from the Mediterranean to the North and South Poles can be seen. After that, you can experience the ‘Ocean Kingdom’ in which displays dozens of sharks, polar bears, and numerous fish. You can see different types of fish swimming above you in the ceiling. The next exhibit 'Marine Touch' allows visitors to pet and play with baby sharks.

How to get to Coex Aquariam: Line 2-Green-Samseong-Exit 6--Its inside the Coex Mall.

Cost: Adults 15,500 won (its cheaper for children and senior citizens and groups of 20 or more)

Hours:10:00-20:00 (Weekdays, Sunday) / 10:00-21:00 (Saturday) / Allowed to enter until 1 hour prior to the closing time

Whats on the agenda for tomorrow: nothing!
Thursday:Namsan Tower(Seoul Tower)
Friday:Seoul Zoo
Saturday:2 palaces and Dongnimmun

Day 222 Yeouido Park, 63 Building

July 27 Monday (click on the albums to be telported to my picasa site to view the album!)

Well its my first day of spending a week being a tourist. Today I decided to go out to Yeouido.

It was a nice day out. No rain! It was very hot though. It was in the 80s but it felt a lot hotter. I don't think its gotten out of the 80's this summer, but its really humid so it feels a lot hotter. The monsoon season hasn't been as bad as I was expecting. There have only been 2 really heavy rains in the past month. The rest were just normal. And the forecast keeps changing everyday. I looked yesterday and it said it was suppose to be raining on Tuesday. I looked again today and now its suppose to be partly cloudy on Tuesday.

Yeouido is a large island next to the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. It is Seoul's main business and investment banking district. Its 8.4 square kilometers are home to some 30,988 people

My first stop was Yeouido Park. Its a lovely place. I took lots of pictures.

Yeouido Park (Summer 09)

Yeouido Park was formed in 1999 through the reclamation of a patch of land, known as Yeouido Square or 5/16 square, which had lain under asphalt for 27 years and was used for various large public gatherings

How to get to Yeoido Park: Yeouinaru Subway station (Line 5-Purple) Exit 1 walk straight for about 5 minutes

I also walked around and got some pictures of the Han River.

Han River (Seoul)

Then I went to the 63 building. There are 63 floors. 3 are below ground and 60 are above ground. I walked around for a little while and ate at Lotteria. The 63 building has tons of stuff to do. I was only there to go all the way to the top to see the view. There is a seaworld (aquarium), wax museum, IMAX, art museum on the top floor and other stores and restuarants. I chose to go to Skyart which is an art museum on the 60th floor. It costed $12,000 to go to the top. I didn't really want to go to the museum but I just wanted to get pictures of Seoul from the 60th floor. I think it was a waste of money. You have to take pictures behind the window and there is always a glare from so many lights that are there to illuminate the artwork. I didnt get many good pictures. It would be great if they had a place where you could take pictures where there weren't so many lights that cause a glare.

The DLI (Daehan Life Insurance) 63 Building is a skyscraper on Yeouido Island, overlooking the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. At 249 meters (817 ft) high, it is the 3rd tallest building in South Korea and the 135th tallest building worldwide. 63 refers to the building's 63 official stories, of which 60 are above ground level and 3 are basement floors. Construction was completed in 1985. At that time, the 63 Building was the tallest building in Asia; it lost this title to the OUB Centre one year later, but remained the tallest building in South Korea until Mok-dong Hyperion Towers, Tower A surpassed it in 2003.

The lower floors house a large shopping area with approximately 90 stores, an Imax Theater, and an aquarium. A convention center and banquet hall are also housed within the building. The observation deck (known as 63 Golden Tower) on the top floor is a popular place to go to see a good view of Seoul. Special observation elevators are also available; they are equipped with windows to enable their passengers to view the city as they ride up to (or down from) the observation deck.


**63 Golden Tower wasn't on the guide map that I was given. I guess they transformed it in to an art gallery. And I read that it only costed 5,000 won to go to the observation deck. I asked information about the observation deck and they said I had to go to SkyArt.

63 Building

How to get to 63 building: Subway line 1, Daebang Station, then use the free shuttle at the stop 40 meters from the exit towards Yeouido or you can take Yeouinaru (Line 5) Exit 4 and walk about 10 or so minutes.

Tomorrow's Agenda: Coex Mall-aquarium

Day 221

Sunday July 26

I didn't do anything of note. I went to bed at 6am and woke up at 5pm. I left the house once to go to E-mart.

It was my lazy day.

Day 220...first official day of vacation!

July 25 Saturday

I'm finally to the halfway mark! I have an app on facebook that counts down my days. I put in March 1st as my coming home date. (it could possibly be a day or two earlier). Our sessions go from March to end of August and then September to end of Feb. My last official day of teaching is February 27. My countdown says that I have 218 days left!

I am a serious nightowl. I went to bed at 6am. I finally got up at 5pm.

I don't have anything on the agenda for today. I wanted to get out and do something, but I decided to sleep in. I have to have at least one day where I can just sleep in and do nothing all day.

I still haven't decided what attractions I want to see on what days and if I want to see more than one thing in a day. I need to plan that out.

The only thing that is planned so far is Thursday. Namsan Tower (Seoul Tower). You can ride up the tower and see a view of Seoul. I'll take a lot of pictures.

I'll do my indoor activities in the beginning of the week since the forecast is calling for rain(but a lot of times it says it will rain but it doesnt). The end of the week is suppose to be nice so I'll save it for things like the zoo and palaces.

Indoor: Aquarium, 63 building,

Outdoor: Zoo, beach, palaces, maybe Everland or LotteWorld(theme parks), royal tomb, prehistoric site

So this week I'm playing the part of a Seoul tourist. There are so many things to see here. Staying here will save me a lot of money. No hotels or airline fees. I just have to pay the subway fares to get from place to place and the admission fees.

day 219...way too busy!

July 24 Friday

I didn't get much sleep! It was almost 2am when I finally got all my things moved over from one computer to the other. Then I wanted to check my email. I think I finally layed down around 3am. And I couldnt get to sleep.I was still awake at 4am and I had to get up at 7:30am! I made it through the day though. I was wide awake all day long and I had less than 3 hours of sleep. I finally got tired around 11:40pm. So I took a series of naps that lasted about 40 minutes or so. I'd take a nap for 20 mins. then set it for 10 more mins. Then 10 more.

I don't think I want to go on vacation again! Its a heck of a lot of work. I had to make all of my monthly tests to leave with the sub. Plus I had to write lesson plans for all 10 of my classes.

We started our new schedule today. I had to be at work at 9am. I had 40 mins to prepare for my classes. I had to make weekly tests for all my classes. I was done with all of my classes at 1:15 because they were all back to back. It seemed like the day went by much faster.

My first class was good. It started at 9:40am. 1 student was absent. I also had a new student. We took our test and they all made a perfect score. Then we started the new material. I let them read the story twice. They all love to tell me what parts they want to read. My other classes arent that enthusiastic. We had a good class. I wish all of my classes would be as good as this class.

My 2nd class was good. 1 student was absent and I had a new student. We covered a few pages of material. We had a lot of class interaction today. In our book we are talking about 'what's in your backpack?'. They have a list of vocab words like jump rope, ruler, notebook, comic book, and soccer ball. Then they have to draw some of those items in a backpack and talk about whats in the back pack. 'i have a soccer ball, a ruler, and a notebook'. Then I get them to ask their friend 'what's in your backpack'. Then they tell me what is in their friend's backpack.

I had to go to the teacher's room to get a new book for the student. While I was out 2 students were in the hall. They said "anyeonghasayo" (hello) to me and I replied back in Korean. The students in my class heard me speaking to the boys. When I came back in class they said "say it again". They get so excited when I speak just a little Korean. Then they asked me to repeat some words they said. They never tell me what I'm saying though.haha.

Then I had to go to my level 10 class which I don't normally teach on Fridays but they switched the schedule to Monday and Friday instead of Monday and Wednesday so I had to teach them 3 times this week. I didn't know which book they would bring to class. Both of the boys brought their writing books so we covered another writing unit. We usually do writing on Monday so I told them to bring their speaking book on Monday.

Then I had my 4th and last class for the day. 3 of my students were absent. We took a test and we covered a part of a writing unit. It was a very quiet class without the 3 boys. One of my students lost his writing book so I had to make copies for him.

After class I had to finish making monthly tests and I typed out all of my lesson plans. I also took time to eat lunch. We ordered from kimbab heaven and had it delivered.

I could have left at 4 but I wasn't finished with my lesson plans. The sub came in to meet me and I had to meet with him to tell him about my classes. I showed him all my materials and went over what he should cover in every class. I wrote out detailed lesson plans. (thats why it takes so long--I'm very detailed).My sub is a Korean guy who speaks good English. He may be a Korean American. I didn't ask. I gave him my number just in case there was anything I didn't cover with him.

The Korean teacher is always commenting on how detailed I am. I can't help it. I have to include all the details. That's why my blogs are so long! So when I'm looking for a job and I tell the interviewer that I'm 'detail oriented' its the truth!

After I got finished meeting with the sub I had to print out all of my monthly tests and organize them by classes. I finally left at 5:45pm. The korean teachers were still there doing work.

On Thursday I'm going to Namsam tower with the head teacher from my school. She's bringing along her neice and nephew. They live in Canada and can speak English well.

Then I went to the gym. I skipped the past 2 days. I walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes while watching the UK's next top model. After I was done I stopped to talk to the personal trainer. He wanted to know why I was there early. (Im usually there at 10pm but I was leaving the gym around 7:30pm) I told him I was working days instead of nights for a few weeks. I told him I was on vacation and he asked where I was going. I told him I was staying here. He asked if I was going to the beach. I told him I might go to the beach. Then he goes into his 'you should lose the weight.'I know he means well, but I just hate hearing that so much.

Day 218..

July 23 Thursday

Well its nearly 2am(on Friday) and I'm still up and I have to be at work at 9am!

I got my new computer! It took two hours to transfer everything over from my old one. I used a program called "PC Mover". The program was $46 on Amazon and the license only lets you use it one time, but its worth it because I had a lot of files to move over! While it was going I couldnt use my computer so I just wrote out my lesson plans on paper.

1st and 2nd class was good.

I gave my 3rd class a test and they all made a perfect score. One of the students asked if they could play a game since they all made a perfect score. I told them that we could play after covering our lesson. We covered a few pages. They were playing a game and the student who is always late came in. It was 7:15 and my class would be over at 7:20. His dad was with him. He speaks some English. He told me that the student was late because of a job. ok. He asked me if class was finished. I told him yeah. (there was only 5 minutes left).

My 4th class usually gives me problems. Before class the korean teacher told them "no speaking in korean". They don't listen. They do it anyway. I keep reminding them not to speak in korean. They were also doing other work in my class. They were filling in questions in their listening book. One of the boys was telling me that he was sick. He showed me his leg. he had a bump on his leg similar to a mosquito bite. It wasn't bleeding but he begged to go to "information". and the other boy wanted to go with him. so i let them go. he came back with a bandaid on his leg. The boys won't write in complete sentences in their writing book. How can they improve their writing if they wont write? I keep begging them to write the answers but they wont. No one had their homework today. So I had to take time in class to go over the homework just like it was a regular lesson. I let the Korean teacher know about all my problems with the class. I'll let her handle disciplining them.

I only had one student in my last class. The other student was absent. We went over a writing unit. The student didnt bring her book so I had to make a copy for her. The class goes by too fast when you only have one student. We covered a lot of material and still had free time left over.

When I was packing up my things everyone reminded me that I have to be at school on Friday at 9am. We are changing our schedule since the students are on summer vacation. That really sucks for them! They are on summer break but they still have to come to the academy at 9:30am. I always slept late during my summer vacation. If my mom told me I had to get up early to go to school I'd tell her she was crazy! But English education in Korea is a huge deal so the kids just have to put up with it. At least they get 2 days off from the academy on Thursday and Friday of next week because all the teachers are on vacation at the same time. I'm just wondering how many absences I'll have during summer break.

I skipped the gym since I had to be at work early. I went home and started setting up my new computer and making more lesson plans.

Day 217

July 22 Wednesday

My 1st class is becoming one of my favorite classes. Its one of my larger classes with 9 students but they are well behaved. They do the speaking parts when I ask them to. They all participate. They all want me to call on them. "me next, me next". They love to read the parts in the story. Today I let them read the story 3 times. They were so enthusiastic and they would run up to me and tell me what part they wanted to read. We had a good class today.

My 2nd class is my least favorite class. They are devils-3 boys ages 10-11. The girl has been absent for the past 2 days. They are loud and they don't listen and they are late for class. There's a break in between and they have 10 mins. They decide to go to Home Plus before class and they didnt get back till a few mins after class should have started. They tell me that someone broke in front of them in the line. It was funny hearing them describe it. "we were at the desk and this lady human-then they make a motion of someone going around them (they didn't know how to put it into words! and the desk is the register). They described it many times. It was so funny how they referred to the woman as a 'lady human.'They begged for a game but I told them no. I said if you dont be good you dont get to play a game. 2 of the boys were sharing a drink. The one who bought the drink was drinking it from the bottle. Then the other boy was holding his head back and the other boy poured it in to his mouth. Then he spilt some in the chair. They ran to the bathroom to get tissue. All 3 boys went. They kept spilling it. Then they wouldnt do their work. No one did their homework. No one brought their essay. They don't listen in class.

My last class was okay. I have 10 students in the class. Half of them had their essays. A lot of them didn't do their homework. I asked one student if he had his homework and essay and he told me he was too busy to do his homework. We covered a good amount of material. The students were being loud today so I had to keep telling them to be quiet. Its funny how they seperate themselves in class. All the girls sit on the left and the guys sit on the right-6 girls and 4 guys.

After class I was packing up my things and the korean teacher told me about our get together tonight. She mentioned it to me last week but then never said anything else about it so I didn't know if we were doing it or not. She said we were. I stayed to hangout. We went to a restaurant and had galbi. There were 8 of us in all. 3 math teachers and 3 elementary teachers and 2 assistants. They put me on the spot and asked me what korean words did I know. I'm sitting there trying to think of all the korean that I've learned. haha. I had a hard time thinking of what I knew! The food was delicious. I like the salad, galbi and steamed eggs. I drank cider (which they said was like 7up) because they didnt have cola at the restaurant. After we finished eating around midnight we went to another restaurant to have drinks. They all had Soju and beer. I had coke. One of the assistants only drank water (He was the designated driver-he took 3 of us home). They were all having a good time and getting drunk. Its weird going out during the middle of the week. Going out for drinks is a big part of Korean culture. We were finally finished at 2am. So we hungout and socialized from 10pm till 2am.

Galbi or kalbi generally refers to a variety of gui or grilled dishes in Korean cuisine that is made with marinated beef (or pork) short ribs in a ganjang-based sauce (Korean soy sauce).[1] In the Korean language, galbi literally means "rib" and can often indicate uncooked ribs. In addition, the dish's full name is galbi gui, although "gui" (grilling) is commonly omitted to refer to it.

Since galbi is generally made with beef ribs, it may be called "sogalbi" (소갈비) or "soegalbi" (쇠갈비) in Korean, whose prefix, "so" or "soe" (beef) is often omitted as well. However, just like the literal meaning, galbi dish also can be made with pork ribs or chicken. In such cases, the dish is called "dwaeji galbi" (돼지갈비) or "dak galbi" (닭갈비) to emphasize the main ingredient

The Korean drinking culture is well known as Korea has the highest per capital alcohol consumption in the world.

When I came home I had a note on my door. My package arrived when I wasnt home and now its waiting at the post office!! I can go pick it up tomorrow!!

Day 216 "You have new hair. Its fantastic"

July 21 Tuesday

3 days till vacation!

So my mom shipped my laptop on Saturday the 18th. She sent it by international express since its suppose to be a fast way. Its suppose to take 3-5 business days. She got a message today saying that the delivery date was suppose to be July 27th. Why wil it take so long? She could have just sent it by regular mail for it to get here on that day. Maybe it will get here sooner. I hope so. I keep checking the tracking but there haven't been any updates since Saturday. All I know is it left the processing center on Saturday and is on its way to its destination. So far its been 2 business days. or 3 if Saturday counts..

I saw one of my kids on the subway today. He came over to say hi and asked me where I was going. Its funny how they call me "Valerie teacher". He came over and said "Valerie teacher. Are you going to Gusan?" I was headed to school in Gusan. He's in my Wed/Friday classes.

I wore my hair a different way today and everyone seemed to like it. I usually just wear it down and wear a headband. I can't really do anything with it because its too short. Today I wore it half up and half down. I wore the barette that my student from Avalon gave to me.

In my 2nd class one of the girls said "you changed your hair". In my 3rd class one of the boys said "You have new hair. Its fantastic". He was so enthusiastic about it. it was quite funny. The girls in my 4th class liked it also.

I was told that my new schedule doesn't start until I am on vacation. So maybe I dont have to get up early this week! I have to make my monthly tests for the kids to take while I'm gone.

My first class was okay. None of them did their homework. They all told me they didnt write it down so I assigned it again. 3 of the kids didnt bring their essay. One of them told me I didnt give her a paper. I think I did but I gave her a new one anyway. They were good in class but one student kept getting out of his seat and turning around to talk to the person behind him.We were talking about Halloween in that class today. They dont really celebrate Halloween here. I was telling them what we did in the USA about going trick or treating.

I have a new student in my 2nd class. She's really quiet. I couldnt get her to participate in class. I told them to talk to a partner and she wouldn't do it. When i was assigning partners the boy didnt want to be partners with the new girl. he wanted me to be his partner. The new girl needed a partner so I told him to talk to her. When she wouldnt participate I asked her if she would talk to him but she wouldnt. Today we were talking about illnesses like fever, cold, toothache, stomachache, headache. Their speaking assignment was to look at their vocab and ask "What's wrong?". The person would answer "I have a fever.""I have a cold", etc.Its frustrating to have an odd number of students and one who wont cooperate. She doesn't have an English name. I gave her a list of names if she wanted to choose one but she just gave it back to me. I hate it when they don't choose an English name and I dont know what to call them. I can't force them to choose a name. I saw her crying some during class. Maybe she won't participate bc its her first day and she's shy. Maybe it will get better once she gets to know everyone.

My 3rd class was pretty good. 2 of them had their essays but I gave them back because they didn't write in complete sentences. I can't grade an essay when all they wrote was one word. One of the questions was "What do you eat for breakfast?" and one student wrote "yummy food". That student is hilarious. He's the same one who loves unicorns. We finished the unit and then I let them play a game.

In my last class 2 of my students were absent. Of the 3 that were there only 1 of them did their essay and homework. The other 2 didnt do the essay or their homework. We covered a lot of material today. They were actually very quiet in class today and they did the activities the correct way. When you get all 5 of them together thats when they want to act up. We were talking about "must and mustn't". Who even uses 'mustn't'? I don't think I've ever used that in a conversation. "You mustn't drink cold water" the better response would be "dont drink cold water." The ESL books are crazy! Sometimes the korean teachers ask for my help on answers in their books and sometimes their books are crazy too!

I finished my class, packed up my things and I was out right after my last class. I don't want to stay any longer than I have to. Then I got all the way to the subway stairs and I realized I left my phone. I had to go back. I'm always forgetting something. So far this session i've left my pocketbook,check card, and phone. I'm surprised I haven't lost any items yet!

I keep putting off making my monthly tests! Yuck! I hate it. I'm going to have to make myself come up with half of them on Wed night and half on thursday night.

Day 215

July 20 Monday

Today I had to go all the way to Nokbeon to pay a bill at the bank. I got on one of the city buses and it was packed. It was about as full as it could get-seats and the people standing in the aisles. I missed my stop because I couldnt get to the door in time bc the aisles were full. 3 other people missed their stop also. I just got off at the next stop up. On the way to the subway station I actually got a seat on the bus. I missed my regular subway time so I took the next train. I still arrived in time-5 minutes late.

My first class was good. We reviewed our previous unit then we started a new unit. Today we started a unit about various foods like candy bar, soda, potato chips, cookie. I let them have a fun activity where they drew what was in their lunch box. Then they had to ask the other people in the class about the things in their lunch box.

My 2nd class is a waste of my time. Today there were 3 boys in the class. These are some of my youngest students 10 and 11 years old. They like to talk to each other during class. Today one of them had a comic book and he kept looking at it although I told him to put it away. They wouldnt read with me as a class. They didnt do their homework so I assigned the same homework again. They begged for a game but I didnt let them play a game because they were bad. I had them do the same activity we did on friday bc they didnt do it right on Friday. They had to draw a pic of their family.

My last class was good. One of my students was absent so I just had one student. We just went over a writing unit.

4 days till vacation!

Day 213/214

July 18/19 Saturday/Sunday

This weekend was the Watermelon Festival in my hometown. I usually go every year, but I couldn't go this year bc I'm here. Its a very big deal where I come from. Watermelons are our claim to fame. They are abundant and not expensive like they are in South Korea. I was looking at the watermelon selection in E-Mart and the cheapest one was about 13,000 won which is around 12usd. Thats for a normal size watermelon. You can get huge watermelons at a farmer's market in Pageland for about 10usd.

I found some peaches at E-Mart and I decided to get some even though they were expensive. They come in a container of 3. There wasn't an option just to take a few and put them in a bag like in the US. 3 peaches for 3,980 won which comes out to $3.14. Thats $1 for a peach. Their coloring is more yellow than orangish like the ones in SC. They aren't as sweet but they are very juicy.





I also got some peanut bread. I wonder what that tastes like. I got some vegetable chips and they are actually good.

I had a relaxing weekend. I went to 3 places. The gym, Burger King and E-Mart. The rest of my time was spent inside.

Saturday I was in a good mood and the weather was great so I walked home from the gym. I usually take the subway. It was a mild temperature with a breeze. It was raining at various points in the day but not when I was out.

I watch a lot of TV on the weekend. I really like a channel called OnStyle. I keep up with "Rachel Zoe" and "Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency".

I watched "Tool Academy" tonight on one channel. They were testing the guys on fidelity. The guys were getting ready for a photo shoot. They put hidden cameras in the room and then they hired makeup artists to flirt with the men to see what they would do. Some of the guys gave the girls their phone number and some even gave them their room number and told the girls they could come by(that is so wrong! all these guys have girlfriends). One guy kissed the makeup artist. There were a few guys who told the women they had girlfriends and that they weren't interested. One of the guys made a good impression-he wouldn't even take off his shirt in front of the makeup artist. They showed the videos in the therapy session. Then they found out that one of the guys had 2 girlfriends. His other girlfriend showed up. She was an ex that he decided to date while he was dating a new girl. He chose the girl that showed up and his current girlfriend left. I hope I never get into a relationship with these kinds of guys.

5 days till vacation!! I decided to stay home for vacation. I want to do things in Seoul. I'm going to go to the zoo and the aquarium. I might do a Incheon city tour and visit some of the beaches there if there is a day when its not raining. I checked the 10 day forcast and its raining at least 3 days of my vacation.

Day 212...take me to a place without no name

July 17 Friday

There was a 25 sec clip of an unreleased song from Michael Jackson on the internet. The song has the same melody as "horse with no name". In the song he says "take me to a place without no name". Wow thats some bad grammar-double negative. Also there was new footage released of when MJ got his head burned from a Pepsi commercial in 1984. Why would someone want to release that? Thats just wrong. The video shows his hair catching on fire when the pyrotechnics went off.

My first class was good. First I gave back some paperwork(howework/tests). Then we took a test. The students were well behaved and participated so that was good. I gave everyone a sticker since I didnt assign any homework to be due today. Last time I didnt cover what I made homework for. (homework was for unit 4 and I wasn't able to finish unit 3). So I just gave them their essay which is due on Wednesday. One of my students said he didn't know how to do the essay so I went over the questions and told him how to write the sentences. Since they were good I gave them less homework than I had planned.

My 2nd class was good. We are learning about the days of the week and weather. They all participated in class and were good. We took a test on what we covered last time. I gave them hints.haha. We finished the unit today. I gave them their essays and they wrote them in class. I wrote the questions on the board and showed them how to write the answer in a sentence. Its basically like writing the essay for them but they are the lowest level. Hopefully it will stick with them and they learn how to write complete sentences and how to answer a question.

My 3rd class was pretty good. They are always asking for free time. The boys play with their nintendo ds during break. They have 10 minutes between classes so I dont give them extra time. Today we took a test and we went over a writing unit. The class was very well behaved. No problems at all.

On friday we start a new schedule working 9-5. The day schedule for summer vacation. I'll be on a day schedule for one day then I'll go on vacation. Its weird to start a new schedule on a Friday.


One week till my vacation starts!!! I am so ready!! Its funny how they all call it a holiday. Its not a holiday-its a vacation. Holidays and vacations are 2 distinct things.

Day 211

July 16 Thursday

I spent all of my planning time making tests and homework again today.

We started our new schedule today. Classes started 10 minutes early in the 1st block of classes. Well I screwed it up on the 2nd class!

My first class was pretty good. I gave them a test then we went over a few pages of material. Today we talked about the capitals of South American countries. Then we read a story called "trick or treat". I had to keep telling this one student to quit turning around. he kept talking to the guy behind him.

My 2nd class was good. One of the Korean teachers sat in on my class. She wanted to watch my class. We took a test. I gave them hints. All the students did their homework. Then we covered a lot of material and reviewed. There was a lot of speaking time. The students were well behaved and participated. THe only bad part was that i messed up the schedule. the schedule was posted on the podium but I was looking at the wrong one. I was looking at the Mon/Wed/Fri schedule and I thought class was over at 5:50. It was suppose to be over at 5:35. I went 15 minutes over. Why did we have to start a new schedule???

I told the Korean teacher I was sorry that I took up her time. She said "no problem". I felt bad that I was the one to mess up the schedule. I always go to class on time and end on time and then they change the schedule and I mess it up on the first day.

During my break I graded tests and made homework. I looked over my activities in my writing class and the students were suppose to write in the present progressive. I actually had to look it up on google. I know all the grammar rules, but I don't know the names for them! I looked it up and made out a sheet showing how to write in present progressive and found some exercises for homework from the internet.

My 3rd class was good. We had a test. Went over 3 pages of material then I let them play a game. I can't believe that used to be my worst class. Now they are one of the best classes.

In my 4th class we went over a writing unit. 2 people had their homework. The other 3 didnt do it. One of them showed me that he did do it but he didn't do it correctly so I didnt give him credit. Some of the kids were using their cell phones in class. I told him no cellphones and they said "I was using the dictionary". I told them they didn't need the dictionary for this section. They had to read a paragraph and answer the questions in complete sentences. THey were just playing around on their phones. Some of the students won't do the activities the correct way. Its a writing class but they try to take shortcuts. Instead of writing the whole sentence they will draw arrows from the answer to the question or they wont write the words in the correct order but just number them where they should go. (example: goes/store/she/to) They wont write the sentence but just put a number to show the order.

There was only one student in my last class. one student was absent. We took a test then went over half of a writing unit. It didn't take long to cover present progressive and the 4 pages of the unit. Then she had 20 minutes of free time.

After class I packed up my things quickly and left.

I found a sitcom that I like on a channel called "Fox Life". its called 세친구 "three friends"-its a situation comedy. I watch it some days before I go to school. Its on around 12:30 and 1pm. Its also on at 1:20am. Its in Korean and I dont know what they are saying, but its funny. I just wish I had English subtitles!!

While I was walking on the treadmill at the gym I found a new show on the reality channel.(it came on VH1 Jan-March 09 in the USA) Its called "Tool Academy"-I watched some of the first episode. I only saw a few minutes of it. There were these guys who think they are so hot and they treat their girlfriends like crap and cheat on them. And their girfriends put up with it and complain. The girls say things like "he treats me like crap", "I'm taking care of him and he doesn't have a job","he never includes me in his plans") So their girlfriends brought them to "relationship boot camp".I don't even know why people put up with being treated bad. If a guy treats me bad just one time I'm out. I won't put up with it.

Tool Academy--The nine men, all of whom have been nominated by their respective girlfriends, initially think they are taking part in a competition for the title of "Mr. Awesome." However, shortly after arriving they find out the truth: they are actually being entered into a "charm school" which focuses on teaching them how to behave as boyfriends. Each week, one contestant is eliminated and his girlfriend must choose whether or not to stay with him. The last contestant remaining will win a $100,000 prize and the title of "Mr. Awesome." Relationship counselor Trina Dolenz helps the contestants with their relationship problems and decides who is expelled

Day 210--He said an English dirty word

July 15 Wednesday

I've been here 30 weeks. I'm almost halfway done! I'm up to the point where my days remaining are almost smaller than my days that I've been here. I've been here 210 days and I have 228 (or a little less) days left. 30 weeks of teaching left. Oh my!

Being a teacher is a lot of work! I spend all of my planning time before school from 2-4 grading papers, making tests and essays and making homework. Its a ton of work. If I had premade homework and tests that came along with the books it would be a whole lot easier, but no thats not the way it works. I have to make my own stuff.

I feel like I can't ever get anything accomplished! I went into my first class and I had to get 2 students who were absent to make up a test. So I have to wait to start class. One of the students wants to talk instead of do the test and he wants to do the test wrong. One of my students lost his book so I have to make copies for him all the time. Then 2 students told me they lost their homework paper and they wanted another copy. One of the students filled in the blanks with nonsense and expected me to give him credit for doing his homework. He lost it-I'm not giving him credit for filling in the blanks with the wrong answers. 3 of my kids changed their names. I only got one page done in class today.

My students are so funny. During class one of my students said "He said an English dirty word". Then he starts spelling the 'dirty' word. He says "Sexi". haha. He can't even spell it. Sexy is not a dirty word. Then later one of the girls hears him spelling and she blurts out "sexy". haha.

I didn't get much accomplished in my 2nd class. First i had them do a test and they took a long time on that even though it was simple and I gave them examples. They like to talk and no matter how many times I tell them to be quiet they still talk during the test. Then we started the lesson. We were talking about family. I asked them to draw a picture of their family and label it. They turned it into a complicated thing. One of them was writing something totally off topic. He started writing "my name is....I am..years old. I like TV. What? I told you to draw your family. then one guy doesnt draw he just writes. I'm just trying to get them to talk about their family and I thought letting them draw a picture would be a fun activity but they can't even do it right. No one was paying attention while I was telling them about the essay.

When I was in that class again I saw one of the essays that I gave out to level 3 laying on the desk. great. won't be getting an essay from that kid. I don't know what to do. These kids won't do their homework and they wont turn in their essays. I'm wasting my time coming up with topics and making homework. I try to reward them for doing homework but that doesn't help.

I have around 50 students. Right now about half of them have done their homework for every class. I have one level who is really good about doing their homework. Everyone in the class always has it and they look forward to getting the stickers.

My 3rd class seemed to be tired and bored all during class. I'm sorry that I don't know how to make it interesting. We were just talking about animals.

I walked into my last class and they were asking for more free time. I told them no. They had 10 minutes of free time before I came in. I said "you already had 10 minutes". I passed out their tests, checked homework, went over homework and then started class. We went over a few pages today. They were really good. I didn't have any problems. One of the main troublemakers was absent today. I saw one of the boys crying during class. I don't know what was wrong. No one was bothering him. He didn't cry for long. He was fine just a few mins later. We finished one unit and started a new unit. Some of the new words were hard so I made out a sheet defining all the words and even adding some pictures. We are studying about Ancient Egypt. When we had 10 minutes left they were all rushing me. One student said "hurry up. I want to go home". wow. Another one said "are we done yet?". I said "not yet". I was trying to pass out homework and explain the essay although I dont think anyone was listening. We usually ended class at 8:45 but for some stupid reason we started a new schedule and class is over at 8:55. I think since it was the first day of the change they are still used to getting out at 8:45.

Day 209

July 14 Tuesday

Today I went to the bank to transfer money. There was only one teller at the time and she was with a customer. After waiting for a few minutes a bank employee sent me to one counter and then she sent me to another counter with someone who could help me. I transferred 1.3 million won and it came out to sending $990. The exchange rate isnt that good. I think my exchange rate was 1297 won =$1 usd. I also paid 2 of my bills: gas and cable.

Today is another heavy rain day.

So Friday they gave us a new timetable for classes. The only problem is that they didn't even tell the students!! Why? They are crazy. So they don't bother to tell me that they haven't told the students until I go to class at the 4:00 posted time. I was sitting at my desk from 2-4 and so were they. Why not tell me then? So we will start the new timetable on Thursday which is crazy since we are moving to mornings next week. When will I get that timetable? last minute? I don't understand anything that goes on here! The people in charge don't know what the heck they are doing and I'm always out of the loop.

2 of my students were absent in my first class. One of the students called the other girl and she was at home. Last time she missed it was raining heavy also. So now she's missed 2 classes in a row. We covered a lot of material today in class. We talked about giving directions to different rooms in a house like "its upstairs next to the bathroom". Today we learned about the White house in Washington, DC also. I showed them where it was on the map. We also learned about countries in South America. We all gathered around the map and wrote the names of the countries. Next class we will go over the capitals of South American countries.

My 2nd class was good. When I went in class one of the students gave me a muffin. It was good. Later another student gave me a snack that looks like fries and it has a picture of a lobster on the front. It tastes a little funny. I guess its made from lobster? I dont know. I took up the homework which everyone had and they all picked out which sticker they wanted. Then they wanted to know where we would start and end in our book. Today I wanted to cover half of the unit-4 pages. We covered all that material in 30 minutes. We talked about chores like clean your shoes, make your bed, feed the pets, etc. I gave them a lot of speaking time. I had to have one group of 3 people since we had an odd number of people today. Then I gave them free time. During free time I graded their homework. I don't give them a grade. I just mark if its right or wrong.

My 3rd class was good. we went over a few pages in the book. They were really well behaved and wanted to participate. We finished a little early and they got to play a game.

My 4th class was pretty short. We finished one unit and started a new unit. I only went over 4 pages today. I should have covered more. I'll make up for it later. After we finished the 4 pages they had about 15 minutes of free time.

My last class was okay. They still won't read together as a class. They like to echo each other. So you have the same thing being said 4 or 5 times. We covered a lot of material today. I think we covered 4 pages of material which is more than I had planned.

Tonight at the gym I walked on the treadmill for 50 minutes. I think I burned about 300 calories (but ruined it when I ate at Burger King). I had originally set the timer for 35 minutes then I was watching "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and I wanted to see what happened. They showed highlights from their very first episode. The first guy was a mess! He was a nice looking guy, but he really needed some help! He wasn't fashionable. His house was disgusting. He admitted to washing his hair about once a month. He actually had a girlfriend. I don't know how he was able to keep a girlfriend with his bad hygiene and his nasty apartment. They transformed his house and gave him a new look.

Day 208

July 13 Monday

I had a decent day today.

So today in my first class we were talking about the weather and the days of the week. We had a pretty good class. At the beginning of class one of the students asked for a game at 4:30. I told her 4:40 since 4:30 would have been 20 mins after class started. We covered all the material I wanted to cover. They completed their homework in class and then we played a game. We played the game they always like to play. They did a good job.

My 2nd class gave me problems on Wednesday. Today they were much better. No one had their homework. The 10 year old just doesn't ever do his. One student lost his sheet that I gave him. The other student was completing it when I was asking for it so he doesnt get credit for having it. The students were actually better today. They have moments where they like to goof off and talk to one another during the lesson but they actually participated in the lesson. They did well in the speaking part of class. We had about 10 minutes left in class and I was at a good stopping point so I let them play a game. They don't like the 10 year old so they were trying to put him on my team while the 3 of them played on a team. They know that he isn't really good at the game. I told them to play 2 against 2 and I wasnt playing. No one wanted to be on the team with King Kong (thats his current English name). So they played individually. I don't think they had a winner or loser. They were still playing when I left the classroom.

I spent my whole break time creating essays. At least I have all of the essay topics made out for every class. I'm going to let the lowest 2 levels write about themselves like they are writing to a penpal. Just a few sentences like their name, age, where they are from. easy stuff. Levels 4-9 will be writing about their morning routine-which was actually a topic from the book for my highest level class, but its not hard. Its just questions like "what do you do first in the morning?" "What do you eat for breakfast?""how do you get to school?" My highest level class has the longest essay. I asked them to write about themselves. It was a topic from their writing book. There are questions like "what is your name?""what grade are you in?" "
what do you do for fun?"

I put a note on all of the essay papers. I'm tired of them not turning it in or turning it in late. I said if they are late or don't turn it in they will get 5 points taken away from their writing grade and a point taken away from their homework grade. Not like they actually care about their grades anyway.

I can't even motivate them to do their homework by saying I will give them a prize if they do it all month. Some of them still don't do their homework.

Our schedule times changed today. The Korean teachers didn't even notice the time change. (I dont even think the students know!)My last class of the day used to start at 8:00 but now its suppose to start at 8:10. I was still sitting at my desk at 8:05 and the Korean teacher told me that I have class. I showed her the schedule and told her the time changed. She said "it hasnt started yet". I showed her the schedule again and showed her that today was the 13th like the schedule said. She said "I didn't even notice". So yeah she just glanced over and didnt even notice that 2 classes started 10 minutes later than normal.

I went into the class at 8:10. We went over a writing unit. One of the boys never does his homework. We went over homework and finished the unit. I finished the unit right at our old ending time. I asked the students if they knew the time changed and they said no. I let them go at the regular time since I was at a good stopping point and didn't have anything else to cover in the last 10 minutes. I assigned their essay today-its due on Monday so they have a week to complete it. Thats the only homework I gave them. They were excited that it was the only homework.

One of the students in class was texting during class. I asked him to read an answer to a question in the book. In the middle of answering he just picks up his phone to check a message. I asked him "are you on your phone?". He says that his friend keeps messaging him and he acts like its perfectly fine just to answer it in the middle of class. I told him to put it away and he didn't get it out for the rest of class.

After class I packed up my things and left at nine. I went to the gym.I walked on the treadmill for 37 minutes and burned about 255 calories. I was watching a TV show that was called "I get that a lot". it was very funny. Celebs work normal jobs and people tell them that they look like a certian person and they keep saying "i get that a lot". Heidi Klum was working at a pizza place. Leann Rimes was being a waitress. Ice T was working at a shoe store. Jared (the subway guy) was working at Subway. Finally they would say "i'm _________ and youre on "I get that a lot" I enjoyed it. It was on an English channel that shows reality shows. "real entertainment channel" I think. I think I have that channel at my house but I couldnt find it today.

Then I went to the stationary bike. While I was there a Korean guy sat down next to me. He started talking to me a little while later. He told me he had lived in America before-california and Idaho. He guessed my age to be 27. I told him I was 27 in America. He asked me to guess his age. I guessed 27 and he said he was younger than that. He is 25 Korean age (23 in America). He's a university student. He studied at the hagwon that I teach at.

I have to go to the bank tomorrow. I need to transfer money home and pay 2 bills. I hate that it takes forever at the bank! You can be 3rd or 4th in line and still be in there over 30 minutes. They only have 3 tellers.

day 206/207

July 11,12 Saturday/Sunday

Well I just had another lazy Saturday. I skipped the gym. The only place I went was to Emart to eat at Mcdonalds. It was a nice day with very light rain but I still didn't want to go anywhere. I'm prefering lazy Saturdays these days. Once the weather cools down and stops raining so much I'll be ready to get out again. During my vacation I'm going to go to a lot of places.

On Sunday I went to the gym. I walked on the treadmill for about 35 minutes at various speeds around 4.0-4.7 km/hr and using an incline all the way up to 7.0. I think I burned about 40 calories.

Then I went to eat at Burger King. While I was eating Johnny Depp (my coworker) was walking by and saw me in there and came to talk to me.

The weather wasn't as bad as the weather channel said it would be. The weather channel predicted nonstop heavy rain all day long. It didn't rain all day long. When I was out of the house between 5pm and 10pm I didn't even use my umbrella. There were a few sprinkles here and there.

I decided to go to the soccer game. I stayed for half of the game. When I left at halftime FC Seoul was winning 4 to 1. The next game is on August 15th. I'll probably go to that game.

Day 205

July 10 Friday

My schedule is changing next week. Still the same classes but the times are earlier. We usually start class on Tues/Thurs at 4:10. Now we are starting at 4:00 and we have a 10 min break instead of 5 minutes. Now we also have a 10 min break on MWF between classes. class ends at 8:55 now instead of 8:45.

My first class was good. I had 2 absent students. I have one student who didnt bring his book to class on Wed or today so I had to make him a copy. Almost all of the kids did their homework.The kids were pretty well behaved today. We took a test then we did one page in the book. Checking homework and giving tests takes too much time away from teaching. They enjoy reading the stories in the book. We read it twice. I give everyone different characters to read. they are all shouting out "I want to be cindy", etc. They wanted to read it 3rd time but I needed to go forward in the book. We had 10 mins left in class and they asked for a game. I let them play because there wasn't enough time to finish the new concept.

I really dont like my 2nd class. Its my lowest level. I explained the directions and played the cd 3 times and they still didn't understand. I told them to listen to the description and match the person. The cd would say something like "he's short and she's tall" and they had to match the name with the person, but they werent even trying. I kept looking at the book and no one was writing. I finally just wrote it on the board. They all seem bored. Well I was too. The material isn't exciting. We were just talking about things like happy, sad, big, small, young, old, ugly, beautiful, short, tall.

So today during our 2nd block of classes the Korean teacher goes into the class then comes back out to her desk and sits down and eats. I never come out of my class and sit down during class. Even if she is giving them a test she should be in the room.

They like to eat peppers as a snack. Green bell peppers, and yellow peppers cut into pieces with some sort of sauce. yuck.

My last class was loud. There are a few boys and a few girls who love to talk during class. I keep telling them to be quiet. At least everyone still does their work. Everyone had thier homework except 3 people. The boys in the class beside us like to bang on the wall. Then my students go and bang back. I guess the teacher was out of the room while they were doing that. I know she wouldn't let them do that while she was in the room.

I was leaving at 9pm and one of the teachers said "its only 9". I told her that I'm suppose to leave at 9pm. My contract is for 2-9. (the woman at the Nokbeon school said she would tell the person in charge at my school...but obviously she didn't. the communication between schools is terrible!!)

When I was leaving the gym I noticed that I left my check card at the school. I panicked for a while because I had no cash on me. I'd have to go all weekend without any money. It was 10:45 when I noticed. I texted one of the teachers and asked her how late was someone at the school. She didn't know. So I decided I'd just take a chance and go to the school. I got to the school at 11pm and I could tell there were lights still on. I went in and there was one person still there at 11am. I was able to get my card! I'm always forgetting something because I have to carry so much junk around!

I got my gas bill today. It was only 3,000 won (thats less than $3 for the whole month of May). I'm going to pay it on Monday and transfer some money home to my American account.

I think I'm just going to relax on Saturday. Sleep in and skip the gym. I should be out doing something, but sometimes I just need to relax.

I was looking at the weather for this weekend.The weather channel said 100% chance of rain and they are expecting a large amount of heavy rain.. I really want to go to the soccer game. I think I'll just go and sit in the rain. Maybe the rain will have stopped by 8pm. I wonder if they play in heavy rain.

My laptop arrives by UPS at my parents house today!! Then in a few days (once my software arrives) they can ship it to me! I need to research what the cheapest and/or the most effective way to get my laptop sent to me. Maybe UPS or Fedex or DHL. I'm just afraid they will show up when Im not at home. Regular mail would take too long.

Day 204

July 9 Thursday

We had our first big rain 2 weeks into the monsoon season. Its really coming down. I have a big umbrella and I still got soaked. I also had to step in a lot of puddles so my feet were wet. The floor in the lobby of the subway station was really wet from everyone coming in from the rain. I don't know how long it rained but it was over by the time I left school at 9pm.

My first class was okay but we didn't get as much accomplished as I wanted to. One of the students was taking their test too slowly. He kept talking in between questions. I told him to quit talking and do his test. One of the students was absent. The other student told me she was absent because there was "many rain". Okay. Skipping class because of the rain.

In my 2nd class there is one student who has missed a ton of classes. He missed so many classes last month that I didn't even give him a grade. He was back in class today. Today in that class we went over homework and finished the unit and reviewed. The students don't like to review. They want to end class quickly so they can have free time. I make them review anyway. One of the students told me "we know this stuff". They only got 5 mins of free time. I told one of my students to study the new words in the unit and I would give her a test. I gave her the test today and she said "what's this?" I told her that I asked her last time to study the words so she could take the test.

I spent my break time today filling in grades for report cards. If I was nice I would just fill in A's for everyone for behavior, assignment, attendance and contribution, but I fill it in realistically. I grade fairly. There's no bribing me. The student that missed so many classes got a 'D' for his attendance grade from me. The guy that is always late got a 'B'. If some of the students are a little rowdy in my class I gave them a 'B' for behavior. If they didn't turn in their essay they got a 'C' for their writing grade. Its so funny how the kids try to bribe me, but it doesnt work. I'll start to write the homework on the board and they will say things like "you are so beautiful. I love you teacher", hoping that I'll not give them homework.haha.

My 3rd class was good. We went over homework, went over a few pages of work and then I let them play a game. They ask for a game at the beginning of class. I said "if we finish our lesson". Then they try to rush the lesson, but the 3 boys are well behaved and they grasp the material. They do their work, dont speak in korean and they keep the noise level down. They love to hear me speak in Korean. Even if all I say is hello. They get all excited when I say "anyeonghaseyo". I guess the twins arent in my class anymore. The korean teacher didn't have a report card for me to fill in for them for last month. The boy that is always late showed up 30 minutes late while they were playing the game. He missed the whole lesson. I'm going to tell the Korean teacher that he is always late and see what she says.

I had a new kid in my 4th class. In class today we went over homework and then we did a review unit. They all did good in my class today. They did their work and had good behavior.

My 5th class was really short. We finished up the unit which didn't take long at all. Then they had the rest of the class as free time. They like to write on the board. One of the students had me to write something in Hangul on the board. She told me not to erase it. She wouldnt tell me what it meant.

The person in charge at Nokbeon asked me if I paid my phone bill. I told her that I don't even know how much it is. I don't get a phone bill. The school always just tells me how much it is. I asked my school and they said they will ask how much I owe. The first 2 times they just took it out of my payroll. Why can't they keep doing that??

I decided that having a landline is stupid so the person at Nokbeon called and got it disconnected for me. I know it was only about $5 a month but I dont want to pay for something that I don't even use. When I told her I wanted it disconnected she thought it was a good idea to save money since I only want to use my cell phone.

I really want to go to the soccer game this weekend! I hope its not raining like it was today. If it is I won't be going. I wonder if they play soccer in the rain. If its not raining I will definatly be there.

I signed my payroll today at my school. So why have I been having to go to Nokbeon every month to sign if they could have just sent it to my school?? crazy!

Day 203

July 8 Wednesday

I left work at 9pm tonight! I'm only suppose to be staying at work from 2-9pm. My school is so out of the loop-I had been staying till 9:30 bc thats what time I was told I could leave.

The person in charge at Nokbeon is still begging for my receipts.(Do I really get all of the money back from paying my bills? It just seems odd. The teacher at my school says they need my receipts because I get all the money back. When she was telling me that I was looking at her like I was confused) I gave my receipts to the person in charge at my school. I asked the person at my school if I could get them so I could take them to the person at Nokbeon. She told me she would take them there. ok. I don't think she really understands me when I talk to her. The person in charge at my school has really bad English skills.

I have to go to Nokbeon tomorrow to sign for my payroll. The only problem is that I don't know what time Im suppose to be there. I asked the person in charge what time I need to come and she said "I'll have to talk to the person in charge". I thought she WAS the person in charge. It will probably be the same old crap as usual. She will probably call me at 1pm and ask if I can be there by 1:30pm or something like that. I asked today so I could know in advance. Advance notice is a foreign term over here. seriously.

Classes were decent today, except for my level 3 class.

My first class was good. I have one new student so I have a total of 9 students in that class-3 girls and 6 boys. They are actually pretty well behaved. We were talking about things like next to, across from, and between today. Some of them were begging to participate. They keep saying "me, me". I asked them to write sentences for homework using between, next to and across from using a map in their book. I gave most of them credit if they said they did their activities on the CD ROM. I have no way of knowing if they actually did it. One boy actually told me he didn't do it. Most of the other students said they did do the activity. One of the students said the CD was funny so at least he looked at it.

My 2nd class was being very bad today. They basically ignored me all during class. They wouldn't read and they kept talking to each other. I kept telling them to read and they wouldn't pay attention. Its like I wasn't even there. I was getting fustrated with them and they didn't seem to care. Today's lesson was probably a waste of time, but I'm not doing the lesson over. I'll give them a test and if they didn't do their homework then they will have a bad grade. They were constantly asking for a game. I told them they weren't getting a game today because they were bad. I even told them that I was going to let the Korean teacher punish them but that didnt seem to matter to them. I told the Korean teacher that they were bad and all she did was make them say "Im sorry. I will be good". Great-the forced apology. They only said it because she made them.

My 3rd class was good. They both didn't do their homework. The incentive program means nothing to them. They didn't do the previous 2 homework assignments so they are automatically out of the running for a reward. We just did 2 units in our speaking book today.

My 4th class was pretty good. One of my students told me she lost her book. I just gave it to her last week! I made a copy for her. Then another student never brings his book to class. I let him use a book that was an extra for a student who has been absent 3 times and doesnt have the book yet. We went over a few pages in the book then I let them have the last 8 mins of class as free time. They played hangman. I didn't check homework in the class because I didn't assign any last time.

I left school at 9pm and headed to the gym.

I walked on the treadmill at various inclines all the way up to 6.0 and a speed of at least 4.5 km/h. I walked for 40 minutes and burned about 300 calories. Then I cycled for 20 mins and burned 100 calories. So I burned 400 calories, but it doesn't even help if I don't eat the right things. I guess I don't go to the gym to lose weight right now. I need to eat better, but its hard esp when I dont have the resources I would have in America (food that I like!) I think going to the gym just a way to destress. I actually enjoy going. I usually go 6 times a week and work out for at least 30 minutes. Most days I do an hour of exercise. I only do cardio-bike, treadmill or eliptical.

Day 202

July 7 Tuesday

My school drives me crazy! I hate feeling this way! They changed the schedule today but neglected to tell me until the last minute. Actually past last minute if thats possible.

I can't wait until my contract is up. And I'm seriously going to tell them to not contact me as a reference for the school for my potential replacements.I think that teachers who want to teach at my school will just have to take a leap of faith like I did. Its going to be one hell of a ride, but they need to just jump right in without my opinion. I honestly have nothing positive to say. This school is actually worse than my first school. The communication between campuses is horrendus. My school has no clue whats going on half of the time.

Our 2nd round of classes usually starts at 6:50 pm. I went to class today at the normal time and stayed in class for the time that I was suppose to be there. After I came out the korean teacher told me. "we changed the schedule". Every class starts 10 minutes earlier because the shuttle bus schedule changed (they have a shuttle bus that takes kids home). My first class starts at 6:40 and lasts till 7:25. 2nd class goes from 7:30 till 8:15. Last class goes from 8:15 till 9:00.

Ok so why couldn't they tell me BEFORE class? and not AFTER the schedule had already changed. (and they didnt even stick to the schedule!)

Ok so I go into my next class at 7:40 and I have to rush because there is a lot I needed to accomplish but not much time. Plus the students in that class like to rush the class anyway. We actually studied the whole time instead of getting free time. I ended my class at 8:15 because this was the new time. I went out and put my books down and was going to head to my other class. The korean teacher was still in her class when it was suppose to be over. I just stood outside the door for a little while. Then my students wanted me to come back in the class till 8:25. I went back in there and just stood while they wrote on the board. I left the class at 8:23. I talked to the korean teacher at 8:25. I said "does the new schedule start today?" and she said "yes". Then I told her that I ended my class at 8:15 and the other korean teacher was still having class. All she says is "just wait" (for her to get finished). Like its no big deal. They dont start or end classes on time and to them its no big deal. This is crazy!!! Then I go in the class at 8:25 and she says "sorry, I forgot". Then the kids took their break. I had 30 minutes to give them a test, go over 2 pages of homework and start a new unit. At least the students were good today. I didn't get to cover as much as I wanted to.

In my 1st class 2 students had their homework. One of my students told me he lost his cd. oh my. How can I assign homework if they are losing their cd? The other guy in the class didn't do his homework. He obviously hasn't looked at the cd because when I described what happened on the cd he was clueless.

And a student in my 3rd class has lost his cd. I told them to listen to their cd and he says "what cd?" I told him I gave one to everyone when I gave them the books.

In my 3rd class one student is always late and its getting distracting. I didn't get anything accomplished today. I gave a test to the 3 boys who were there on time. I gave them time to study first. They took a while to do the test. Then after we are through with the test and ready to start class the boy comes in late so I have to give him the test..plus time to study since bc of his lateness he hadn't learned that material. by the time he got through class was over. I didn't cover any new material. The only good thing about that class is it went from being the worst to actually a good class.(I think one of the twin girls was one of my main problems..the twins have been absent twice) The boys are all well behaved. One of them is really polite. He always says 'thank you' if I give him a hint or play the cd an extra time so he can fill in the answers. The boys like to ask a lot of questions also. 'do you like this?' 'do you like that?'. At least they are all speaking in English. They didn't speak in Korean at all.

I ordered my new laptop today. I chose bestbuy (online) because they had a Toshiba for $348. I decided to go with something cheaper. I don't need anything fancy-just a basic laptop for email and some Office programs. Toshiba is a popular brand-5th largest computer manufacturer. I also ordered an anti virus program and a program to move things from one computer to another from 2 other websites. The laptop will be shipped to my parents house and they will ship it to me.

I watched "The Bachelorette"..Reid is my favorite...I'm glad Wes is gone! His date in Spain was awful. He wasn't being affectionate at all and he let it slip that he had a girlfriend. And the limo ride--he was bragging how he was the only person who made it that far with a girlfriend. I never liked him from the beginning. I wonder what effect the show will have on his music career. He thinks that it will give him exposure, but I think it would lead people to not like his music after seeing how he was portrayed. I thin it could hurt his dating life in the future. Girls see what kind of person he was and they won't want to be with him. The bachelorette is full of drama.The other 3 guys seem like they are all hesitant to say that they would propose. I hate how they keep showing previews of what's going to happen in the future at the FRC. Its still weeks away but they have to have a way to keep people wanting to see more. the anticipation kills me! I hate waiting for the next show to come on! I think its all scripted anyway. And their editing makes everyone look bad. I'd love to be an editor on the show. I think it would be exciting splicing up everything they said and stringing it together out of context.

I should try out for the bachelor (for laughs because I seriously dont think I would meet the caliber of guy that I need or want), but I know that I'd probably be turned away before I even said anything. I'm nothing like the girls who go on that show. They are all pretty,skinny, and ambitious. That's just not me.I'm not a public person anyway. And I'm a huge cynic! I don't even know if I believe in true love. I just don't belive it can happen to me. I think I'll stop caring in a few years. I think I'm already halfway to the point where I don't even care about being in love. I've already realized that I'm going to be single forever! Nobody wants to be with someone who can't even communicate. Thats a huge weakness for me. And I like constant change-I don't know if I could live with the same person forever.

I'm just waiting on that special someone who will take away all of my doubts and make me believe.

Day 201

July 6 Monday

Lesley told me today that all the foreign teachers only work 7 hours a day. Why do I have to be at school for 7 1/2? I sent an email to the person in charge and asked her why I have to work more. I also asked if I can leave at 9 instead of 9:30. My contract says that my working hours are from 2pm till 9pm. I have classes until 9:10 on Tues and Thurs but I want to be able to leave right after.

The boys in my classes are always telling me I'm beautiful. how sweet. One of my kids was talking to me today during my break and he said "you're beautiful" Then he left. Why is it that only 12 and 13 year old boys think I'm attractive?? Maybe they like variety. Basically all the girls in SK look alike. The Korean men can say 'i like skinny girls with black hair and brown eyes'-That sums up most of the korean women. In America there's so much more variety.

In my 1st class 2 students got stickers for having their homework. So far I have one student who is out of the running for getting a homework prize. The new student had trouble with the test today. Last class I spent a lot of time on 'that's' and 'those are'.That's my hat. Those are my boots. She was guessing and acted like she'd never seen that concept before. She got 6 out of 10 right. Next class I need to give a lot of speaking time because I didn't today. Its hard to do partner work when you have 3 kids. I'll just have to think of a way to let all 3 of them ask each other questions. They all did their homework in the last few mins of class so they all get a check on homework for Friday. I hope they actually do their listening homework that i gave them. They had to listen to 3 tracks on their cd for homework.

I don't think the rules are going to mean anything to my 2nd class. Giving a test and going over rules took up most of my class time so we didn't learn anything new. They weren't paying attention most of the time. I think they will be the ones to break the most rules. No one had their homework today. I assigned the same homework today so they'd have a chance to do it. I even gave them a few mins in class to work on it. One student finished so I marked it off on her homework check. They asked for a game but I told them no. They weren't getting a game because they wouldnt behave.

In my 3rd class we went over a writing unit. They didn't do their homework either-so we did it in class. I gave them the new rules and told them about the homework check.

I found out that on July 22 we start our summer schedule. I heard it from Lesley. I'm sure my school will tell me last minute. The students will be on summer vacation, but they still have to come to our school. I'd hate that! I wonder if we'll have more absences during summer vacation. Since they don't have regular school we will be switching to a morning schedule--9:30-4:30. We have to do that from June 22-August 14. At least I only have to do it for 3 weeks. I'll be on vacation for one week. I've already heard that I'll have to teach an extra conversation class during summer vacation. I'm just going to find conversation questios off the internet and let them ask each other questions for 45 minutes. No teaching on my part-just letting them talk to each other.

I'm going to use my american account to buy a new laptop. I'm going to buy a program from Dell so I can transfer all of my files over to my new laptop. Then I'm going to transfer half of my salary to my american account on Monday. I'm going to leave enough for bills and decide how much I want to put away for savings.

Why are tons of foreign guys emailing me on myspace wanting to meet me? Since I've been in SK I've had a Persian, Moroccan, German, Korean, and others that I've ignored (They all currently live in SK for various reasons). I've told them that I don't like meeting people from Myspace. Some of them just don't give up. THey email over and over and over. I'm not here to meet guys. I'm surely not going to fall in love and move to their country. Plus they are probably just desperate and want to hook up. I don't do hookups. You know what they say about Myspace-'Myspace is the new booty call'. Why are all these guys emailing me? Surely they could find someone better in person. They need to stop hiding behind their computer and get out into the real world and meet someone face to face. One guy actually told me "you're missing out on a good guy who is really good in bed"-see I know exactly what he wanted.

Day 200-Changdeokgung Palace

July 5 Sunday

Day 200--in 165 more days I will have been here for a year.

Today I finally got out and did something. I went to Changdeokgung Palace.

Click on the album to view my pictures:

Changdeokgung

Changdeokgung, also known as Changdeokgung Palace or Changdeok Palace, is set within a large park in Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the "Five Grand Palaces" built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty and because of its location east of Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeokgung is also referred to as the East Palace. The literal meaning of Changdeokgung(昌德宮) is "Palace of Prospering Virtue".

Changdeokgung was the favored palace of many kings of the Joseon Dynasty and retained many Korean elements dating from the Three Kingdoms of Korea period that were not incorporated in the more formalistic Gyeongbokgung. One such element is the fact that the buildings of Changdeokgung blend with the topography of the site instead of imposing upon nature.

The only way that you can enter the palace is with a tour guide. The last English tour of the day was at 3:30. There was a large group of people on the tour. I hated having to go around with a group. You can't get good pictures because there's always someone in the way. Our tour didn't include the whole palace. Just a select number of places within the palace. If you want to see other parts you have to be on a "special" tour.

How to get there: Line 3-Anguk Station-Exit 3-about a 5 minute walk from the exit

Admission: 3,000 won

English tours: 11:30, 13:30, 15:30

Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

*Tours offered throughout the year, except on Thursdays-April-October

*Closed on Mondays