open fire

this week, i had the pleasure of hosting two open classes for my kindergarten classes. i initially thought that an open class would mean parents would come in to observe a regular old day of class. this made me nervous, but the maybe only the kind of nervous that makes you sweat a little. well, i later learned that we actually had to "perform" elaborate activities, songs, and choreographed dances. now this is the kind of nervous that makes me want to cry. i am not a performer. i never joined the drama club for good reason. i don't like memorizing things. i don't like all eyes on me. i don't like singing and dancing in front of staring and judging parents. my supervisor changed our lesson plans for each class just about every day. i had to memorize who to call on for each activity. i had to memorize what numbers to count to during one of our scripted games.
me: so i count down from 10 first and then basically count down from a descending number each other time?
supervisor: no. you start by counting down by 10. then you count down by 9. then you count down by 5. then 3.
me: so it doesn't really matter. as long as i start with 10 and then count down from any descending number, right?
supervisor: no. you start by counting down by 10. then you count down by 9. then you count down by 5. then 3.

everything was pretty much scripted out for me. i don't think they trusted me to wing it. grrr. so the open classes came and went. for my first class, the mothers reminded me of the korean version of housewives of orange county. they were decked out in bright colors, gold, pumps, and disapproving looks on their faces. it's funny. you know when someone has a booger hanging out of their nose, but you don't want to explicitly say, "hey you have a booger hanging out of your nose," so you do that subtle brushing your nose with you finger move? well, i thought i had a booger cemented to my nose all day because 3 of the korean staff at school kept doing that to me. after several mirror checks, i realized i had no booger. they were just trying to tell me to take out my nose ring. without actually telling me. so, in order to avoid another all day game of charades i took my nose ring out for the next open class.

my second open class was much better, but it was far from fun.

i'm really not into having people watch me while i work. but it's funny, i'm actually getting used to it. by the end of this year i may crave attention at all times. well, i'm glad that it's all over. every week at school seems to bring about fun new adventures. we'll see what happens next.

e-mart thinks i'm fat

e-mart is our local walmart/targetish one stop shop. it's big and convenient and there are free samples galore. it also feels like there is an employee for every customer in the store. if you have a question, just turn around and you will find a bevy of eager ajumas longing to show you the way to the best shampoo deal. if you don't have a question, it's ok. they still have answers for you. i like e-mart for their cute stickers and stationary. korea is a very cutesy place, and anyone who knows me knows that i'm into "cute". they also have fun deals like buy batteries and get a free pack of moist towelettes. or get a free can of spam with your laundry detergent. i don't like e-mart because they really don't want me to buy desserts. i tried to buy an ice cream bar and one of the million employees told me i couldn't. jared tried to buy donuts once, and again we were denied. today, i was so excited to buy a bag of mini twix bars. no dice. the cashier said something to me in korean, smiled, and slowly placed the bars underneath the register. i can't figure it out. i have gained some weight since coming here, but damn...

why can't everyday be saturday?

things have been well for the old man and i. we have settled into our jobs pretty well. now, we are focused on the daily joys of classroom discipline. it's a delicate balance of letting kids be kids without letting them go so far as burning the building down. any tips?

we have been doing a lot of traveling around the south of the country on our long weekends. we went to the south west province, jeollanam do, several weeks ago and saw a bamboo forest and a green tea plantation. a few weekends ago, we went to a sea town, tong young. from there, we went to two small islands. the island that we slept on was like stepping back in time. there were no cabs and the buses stopped running at 4pm. it seemed as though people were fishing or hiking earlier in the day, and then they would start getting wasted at 2pm. so, we joined in the festivities by drinking soju and loitering on a dock. good times were had by all.

we spent a few separate weekends in busan. i really heart busan. there is a yummy turkish restaurant that i've been having dreams about. i will go broke shopping there. i kind of love young korean style. too bad i'm an old lady. dan k took us to a lotte giants baseball game in busan. it was pure fun. $7 gives you a general admission seat of your choosing. you can bring all the food and drink into the game that you'd like. i saw one woman take up 4 seats with her makeshift kitchen. i really love the weekends. sigh.