ODDS and ENDS...

I've been neglecting my blog for a little while now and have a few odds and ends of things that I wanted to add to it, so on this last day of school while I sit alone in my classroom with no lesson planning or teaching to do, I thought I'd get to work on the blog!

Odds and ends from school:

My school was selected to be a study school for incorporating English speaking into the everyday lives of the kids. What this translated to was that the students had a list of sentences that they worked with every two weeks that had to be memorized and then presented in a dialog or in memorized speech form. I had to give an oral mark to each student every two weeks based on these sentences. I was really not involved in this project at all, which is a shame because I think I could have helped out in a few areas. For starters, in the beginning, no one ever asked me to proof read the sentences that the kids had to memorize. Many of them we grammatically incorrect or didn't make sense in the context in which they were being used. Towards the end of this semester my co-teacher caught on to this and had me proof read. I would have been happy to help come up with some of the topics and sentences though too if they would have let me be involved. I also would have been happy to help come up with the testing and marking methods as these made no sense at all and essentially marks were pre-determined for each students before they even spoke. I've learned though that I just have to shut up and go with the flow because in Korea they really aren't interested in "teaching" or "learning", they only want to memorize, pass the test, and never speak English again.

I did however get a kick out of this weeks sentences, and my co-teacher's sense of humour!

I do like lots of Korean foods, but I am constantly made fun of and of course open criticized because I pack my own lunch everyday rather than eat the cafeteria meal which consists of white rice and fish soup everyday!

These next two examples as to why my school should have me proof-read, are from the beginning of the semester when I had co-teacher Kim #2. He is the one who quit after 3 weeks because he had "hypochondria and melancholy" -- LOL!!!

This here is the "bellutin" board in my class where I hang student's work.

I also get lots of natural light in my classroom if I open the "blinder".

Odds and ends weekends:

Before rainy season started, we had a few great weekends at the beach with Jane and Andy out on Docho Island. The island isn't far from Mokpo, an hour on the fast ship, and two hours on the slow, car ferry. Milton and I usually opt for the slow ferry because it is a third of the price and the ride is much smoother ---no motion sickness for me even when I don't take gravol which is a huge accomplishment!

This is our boat:
The other reason we like the slow ship is because you can sit outside for the ride. The fast boat is kind of like a greyhound bus on water --- the seats are comfy but there is no fresh air and its really stuffy!

A quiet day at the beach! Andy made this nice parasol out of a broken umbrella and a bamboo stick. The pagodas on the beach are really nice, but you have to lay on the sand at the beach - that's what it's there for!

There were NO Koreans on the beach at this time. There are unwritten official rules of beach and sun exposure in Korea. Beach time does not start until school is out and rainy season is over. And ends once school starts again. This gives Koreans a one month window to enjoy the beautiful beaches! We were there in May and June which means we are "crazy waygooks"!

Updates from the Tampole apartment:

We had some plumbing done about two months ago. We had no hot water in the bathroom and it took three visits from plumbers and engineers (?!) to fix the problem. This is what the repair looks like:

This was a normal looking shower/bathtub before the repair, but we are now left with the pipes coming into the tub instead of behind it and holes where the faucets used to be. If you think this is bad though, you should see whats on the other side of that wall! The pipes were put in and left totally exposed in a side wall of our spare room/study. There are also exposed pipes on the balcony but at least they are tightly tucked up against the wall and are much less noticeable. We do have hot water now and amazing pressure! :)

And finally, it was a sad, sad day at the Tampole apartment a few weeks ago. Milton had to say goodbye to one of his most cherished possessions...

Dear Santa, a.k.a Mom, please send Milton a new dish mop for Christmas. :)