Episode 19: In Which DFM Gets A Fever (That Might Be A Tumour), And Makes Another Surprise Visit

Last Thursday I developed a sore throat, and what with all my singing on Friday and talking with Kyu-rhang on Saturday I did not do it any favours. My immune system is exceptionally strong and I was able to heal up by Monday morning, but in the process of healing my throat it (my immune system) must have forgotten about the rest of my body, and before lunch on Monday I noticed I was suffering from a light fever.

My fever persisted through Tuesday night (perhaps I should not have gone climbing on Monday or Tuesday, and the hard climbing both nights probably didn't help either). That said, I still managed to get over 8 hours of sleep both nights, and even though my body had been sore all over, by Wednesday morning (today) I was starting to feel a fair bit better.

After work on Tuesday, I had asked my boss some key questions about his company's educational philosophy in the hopes of being able to modify my teaching style to better succeed in helping the children improve their English speaking ability (pretty much everyone's goal in Korea, for better or worse). One of my goals following the highly informative session was to increase the amount of time I spent communicating in English with each child individually. I should have started this earlier, because the results at school today were fantastic.

Until today (Wednesday) I had thought that with the exception of my one Australian gyopo (Korean who has lived abroad for an extended period of time) student, none of my children could speak in complete sentences. However, one six-year-old boy (Korean age, subtract one year for Canadian age), whom I already knew was exceptionally bright, absolutely blew me away. I had sat down with him and wished him a happy Chuseok. This is the unedited answer I received: "Chuseok is Korean Thanksgiving. It is a National Holiday." I have taught kindergarten kids in Canada and did not even hear speaking that well from some of them.

Another impossibly cute girl, was so advanced I took my personal minute with her to teach the difference between "who is it?" and "whose is it?" Considering the majority of her classmates still answer "I'm seven years old" when I ask them how they're doing, I consider this a major milestone.

....

By the afternoon I was feeling nearly recovered and decided to continue with my earlier plan to visit Summit Sports Climbing Centre again.

While I normally climb at Ace Climbing Centre because of the camaraderie and the uncommon (for Korea) focus on hard bouldering, I feel somewhat loyal to Summit because the owner gave me a present on my first visit back in March. During my last stay I believe I went to Summit at least four different times. Unfortunately, I have so far been far busy working every day to make it over to see Mr. Chang and my friends at Summit this trip, but last night I brought home my climbing shoes and shorts from my Ace locker in preparation for my big return today.

Just like my surprise return to Ace, I did not tell anyone at Summit that I was returning to Korea (I also did not want anyone to feel slighted if I did not show up for a few weeks or more, like it has been). When I showed up and knocked on Mr. Chang's office door - and he looked up - he nearly fell off his chair in surprise. It was the reaction I was hoping for, so the return can be considered a success. I did not get to see the reactions of any of my other Summit friends though because no one else I knew was there.

Although it seems that none of the routes have changed, many of the climbers have. Summit gym is located near a number of large universities and so the climbing population is constantly changing as the students change or their schedules become busier. Additionally, when I was here in April I was the only foreigner, but now there is an American (whom I have actually met already when he dropped in at Ace last week), an Australian, and another Canadian. I'm not sure if Yu-seok (sounds unfortunately like "You Suck") or Hyundai (his real name) are still there, but Mr. Chang told me "Bin" (whom I had met and helped climb across the "advanced" wall for the first time on one of my visits) had left on a one-year student exchange to America. Jenny wasn't there today, but Mr. Chang told me she still climbs there. Later, Mr. Chang actually phoned her up and handed me the phone without telling her it was me. When I told her who I was, she said, "really?" Followed by Korea's favourite English expression, "oh my God!"

That's it for today, but tomorrow I have my second meeting with the English club, and this long weekend is Chuseok (my schedule is already full), so there should be lots to read about in the near future.

(Note: If you read the whole post trying to find out about my tumour, it doesn't actually exist. It's actually just a reference to "Lowell" from The Kindergarten Cop.)

Episode 16: In Which DFM Becomes An Englishee Teacher, And Misses Tim Horton's

Hyenii, the English teacher who invited me to her church two weeks ago, also attends an English speaking club. The club members (about a dozen) meet once a week to learn new English slang phrases and practice reading English articles, in addition to having open group discussions. Hyenii had asked me to attend last Thursday, but I was already busy with the climbing competition, so I told her I would come this week.

Before attending the meeting, Hyenii, myself, and two of Hyenii's friends from the club went to a nearby restaurant for supper. Compared to the mounds of sundae (and a free soft drink) I received in Sillim for $6, the $7.50 for a relatively small plate of breaded fish and pork at this restaurant was pretty expensive. Furthermore, I can honestly say it is the first non-delicious meal I've had since coming back here and the service was nothing to write home about.

The club meets in a cafe I was told was "specially designed for hosting meetings." Essentially it is a cafe in which there are conference rooms that can be rented. They also make a cup of warm chocolate for about one-quarter of the price of an equally bad hot chocolate at Starbucks (to get a good hot chocolate you have to go to Tim Horton's).

The club is led by Tom - who directs the discussions and whom I assume finds the articles. This week's articles were on corporeal punishment (coaches on players and senior players on junior players) in Korean professional sports, and Korean actor Kim Myung-min, who recently lost 44 pounds in preparation and filming of his role as a Lou Gehrig's patient for the film "You Are My Sunshine" (he eventually ended up at 114 lbs, at 5'9"). The role was remarkable considering people with disabilities are normally looked down upon in Korea. Kim was so dedicated to the role, he had to be told to stop losing weight by his director, who was worried Kim might die if he continued losing weight.

The club was overjoyed to have a native speaker at their meeting, but the meeting was a great experience for me as well. For obvious reasons, I do not get to speak English freely while I am teaching kindergarten kids, many of whom have barely mastered "hello" and "good-bye," and when I am climbing I try to speak in Korean as much as possible. Consequently, I had not realized how much I missed being able to engage in deep discussions about controversial topics.

I guess I missed talking a little too much though, for at the end of the night I noticed my throat was feeling rather sore. I was worried that I had talked too much and had hogged all the time, but every one assured me that listening to a native speaker was an important learning opportunity they do not usually get. The club members also enjoyed my "kind hearted explanations" of English slang so much that they invited me to be an official member of their club. I accepted, since I really enjoy teaching, and it is a great networking opportunity for myself as well.

Episode 12: In Which DFM Suspects Big Brother Is Watching Him, And Takes Is Taken Away From A Subway Station In A Stranger's Car

On my way to work today I got the rare chance to witness some good old-fashioned racism first hand. I was sitting on the subway and two seats over was a black man. An older Korean woman came and sat down between us because there were no other seats. Later, when three seats opened up across from us, she got up and walked over. Had she sat in the middle seat I would have thought, "she just wants a more comfortable seat" and would have thought nothing of it. However, she chooses to wedge herself between a pole and another Korean woman who was wider than either the black man or myself.

When I finally got to work, I was met by an unexpected guest. I never did learn his name, but he was there when I showed up and proceeded to follow me around for the majority of the morning.

During my last stay here, I heard of a teacher for the same company who had the cops come and inspect his class and arrest him for teaching English (our visas do not cover English teaching). What he was doing, and I am doing is not illegal. I am teaching art, not English, and so legally I am safe. However, this other teacher was also legally safe, and he was arrested by the police who hoped to get a bribe payout by his boss. Our boss instead hired a lawyer, at considerable expense, and beat the charges. Regardless, the situation was fairly stressful for everyone.

Not wanting to experience the same unpleasantness myself, I felt a bit uneasy by presence of this strange guest who seemed far too official, and seemed to be asking a lot of questions about me teaching the children English. Later, though, I found out that he was from the head office for the Korean English teacher at the school and must have just been trying to ascertain the progress of the children. He cannot have been too impressed though, since the children seemed as wary of this new "friend" of mine as I was, and would answer "are you a foreigner?" to him (in Korean of course) every time he asked them a simple English question. (Note: he was Korean.)

In other interesting happenings, the six-year-olds (Canadian five-year-olds) were making banana and apple smoothies. To cut up the apples and bananas, each pair of students had a plastic knife (bigger than a butter knife you'd use at a picnic though, and thicker too). One of the boys came up to me and decided to show me his knife fighting skills. When I told him he could not chop my arm with his banana slime-covered knife, he turned the knife on himself and showed me his seppuku skills (look it up). Although he was just joking, I'm sure glad Mr. Official had stepped out of the room at that moment. Yes, I understand Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world, but usually Korean men wait until they're a bit older and have kids and a family of their own and are passed over for a promotion before they kill themselves. Furthermore, it is considered impolite in Korea for a younger person to try and rise above his age-defined place in this rigid social hierarchy by committing suicide before his elders do. (Sorry to all the Korean readers out there for my tasteless joke.)

After work I went to teach a private lesson in some outlying area of Seoul. I had no idea who I was meeting, but my friend (whose job it is to find teachers) needed a favour this week and asked me to go because he needed a teacher on short notice (that's how I got my current job too).

The lesson took place between 5:45 and 6:45 PM. I thought I would be teaching one or two children, but when I was taken to the apartment there were six children in a living room. I suspect that the woman had told all her friends about the coming tutor, and they decided to get in on the good fortune by sending their kids over.

I already figured an hour would be a long time for the kids, who could not have been more than nine. Today though, I found out first hand that children that age have a maximum attention span for learning English of one-half hour. The children started out eager to learn, but the last fifteen minutes of the lesson were hell, as I had children jumping on the couch and pretty much doing everything but studying. Normally I would not have cared, since they had covered all the necessary material (actually, they were far beyond the material being covered and were probably quite bored). However, I was being paid for an hour, so I got my whip out and cracked down hard. Eventually (I'm not sure how) I managed to get everyone back on task and we hobbled towards the finish. It was fairly stressful, and I was worried I had failed, but when the mother came back in to the room she seemed to think that I was the world's greatest tutor.

She begged me to come back and teach the children, and even offered me $60/hr. I suspect the reason she has so much trouble finding tutors is that no one wants to teach those kids for a full hour.

I felt bad for her actually. She was clearly trying very hard to learn English herself, and even though it would appear to most Canadians that she was pushing her children too hard, Korea is a country where, for better or worse, the government has told its citizens they need to learn English. In many cases, companies will hire or promote an employee based solely on his or her level of proficiency in English, regardless of that candidate's job-related skills, or whether or not the position in question actually requires English language proficiency. This woman was only trying to provide her children (and those of her friends) with a chance to find a successful job. Sadly, though, I really did not want to add another full day of travelling to my already exhausting schedule - not to mention lose another day of climbing - so I told her I was too busy with an ever changing work schedule (not entirely untrue).

Episode 6: The Return of Sticker Girl and Balance Boy

It has been a busy busy week, and my first full week of teaching (although it's not yet done). So far the general trend for the week has been to get up at 7:00 AM, leave at 8:00 for a 1 hour commute, go climbing for two to three hours after work, and then commute an hour back home again. I usually do not get home until 9:30 or 10:00 PM every night. After trying to stuff a small supper into my starving belly I am barely able to summon the energy to take off my clothes before crashing into bed John Kimble style. (You mean you watch other movies besides Kindergarten Cop? STAHP IT!)

However, today (Thursday) was a good day, and since I have to do my laundry before leaving on a three day rock climbing adventure tomorrow night I figured I would take the forced opportunity to update everyone on my adventures. In keeping with my goal of not boring everyone with the details of my teaching though, I'll only highlight some of the exciting moments, since teaching is after all a big part of what I do here, not to mention why I'm back again in the first place.

My first day back to my old kindergarten was a great day, and I was surprised that many of the students' faces lit up with joy when they saw me; I had expected them to forget me. By my third day there (today) though, it was as if I had never left.

The school year starts in March here, so all of the students were still the same, which meant all of the old favourites were back too. There was Fight Girl, Sticker Girl (who gave me a Sticker on my first day back), Balance Boy (Lew) and Louis. They were all the same, except Fight Girl doesn't fight as much, and Louis isn't quite as wild from what I can see, but Sticker Girl still plays practical jokes on me. Some of you might also remember the girl that used to follow me around silently and stare at me from the top of the stairs. Well now you wouldn't recognize her; she smiles all the time and talks non-stop.

Other than that, nothing much to report besides going to work and going climbing. I have been studying my Korean every day and I now know enough Korean grammar to formulate my own basic sentences (a real milestone). I'll be gone all of this weekend on a climbing trip, so there won't be any updates in the near future. However, check back some time next week to hear about what will hopefully have been a successful journey.

Episode 3: In Which DFM Is Told He Smells Pretty, But Is Also That He Should Put A Paper Bag On His Head

Today was my first day of teaching. I won't bore everyone with all the details of every day this year, but things would seem to have started ominously as I somehow managed to mistime my journey and arrive an hour and a half early. This led to an awkward conversation between myself and the director who had very limited knowledge of English. I salvaged the situation though when I managed to "accidentally" under guessed her age by 10 years (34 v. 44), thus finding myself rewarded with the most delicious citrus juice in the world from the famous Jeju island.

Once I got into the class and started teaching though, things were back to normal and I felt like I had never left. Although it was a different school the children behaved exactly the same as my other students. They asked if I was a friend of their old teacher, J.M., and when I said I was they fell down with excitement (or horror) and squealed with delight. After that I was called J.M. or Seth (yup, the same teacher who taught at my other school and for whom I was also mistaken also appears to have taught here too) or Canada Teacher by all the students. I suspected they were having me on though, so when one of the girls asked me what my name was I said "J.M." She scrunched up her face and said, "nooo!" So I thought about it and said, "Seth." "Noooo!" "Hmm... DFM?" "Yes! Good job." "Thank-you."

Another humourous situation involved my bodywash. I have a bodywash by L'Oreal I use every day. One of the young girls smelled it and said that I stunk. But then later one of the boys smelled my arm and said "pretty!" He then proceeded to try and smell the rest of me. I'm not sure what the marketers of L'Oreal Body Wash for men would think about this, or even what I think about it. It may just another or the many closeted aspects of Korean culture I've yet to learn about though.

After work I went to Ace to buy a three month membership and start getting back into climbing shape. Last time I was here I completely ignored every balancing muscle to climbing in my body and paid the price for it with a months long recovery process for a destroyed shoulder. This time I have undertaken a daily push up and neck routine in my room (finally I have a room big enough in which to do push ups), and a bench press, shoulder press/rotator cuff program at Ace Climbing Centre's workout area. If the results are impressive I'll post an article on The Kindergarten Cop blog.

While climbing I managed to communicate to the regulars in limited, but well chosen Korean. I was quite proud of myself since I have endeavoured to learn at least two new Korean words or phrases every day for the remainder of my stay, and this was a sign that my work up until this point was starting to pay off. Earlier in the day I was even told that if I put a bag over my head people would think I was Korean. Unfortunately the comments about my Koreanisation have not all filled me with joy. Ji-hyeun told me that when she hears me speak English now, she sometimes thinks I am not a Native Speaker (It's official, I speak Konglish).

Episode 64: In Which DFM Falls Back Into Old Habits And Says Some More Good-Byes

Today was supposed to be a rest day in which I packed up my things and said good-bye to everyone.  As per the norm with this trip though, things just could not be that easy.  

My boss phoned me earlier in the week and told me that he needed me to come back into work one more day to show the new guy what I had been doing, so back to work I went one more time.

Today was actually a fun day though, and many of the classes went outside to do their work because the weather was so nice.  I tried to just relax and play with the kids, but my teacher instincts soon kicked in and I found myself back to being "Canada teacher!" (캐나다 선생님 for my Korean readers.)

It was neat to finally get to see Seth ("Australia teacher!").  Seth was actually the person I had filled in for originally when I first started teaching back in March, and at the time many of the children thought I was Seth.  To see both of us together threw some of them for a real loop, and Seth had some fun by telling everyone that he was from Canada and I was from Australia.

I wasn't sure how the kids would react to seeing me again after I had already told them I was leaving, but it was business as usual.  And by business as usual I mean playing "change the colour of the crayon inside of the plastic holder and then try to get DFM to guess the colour before laughing hysterically at him."  Oh, great fun.

Of course I had to go back to Summit and say good-bye to everyone there as well.  This time I met another new friend named Kyu-rhang.  For those of you who think she looks like all of my other friends, look closer.  Kyu-rhang has black hair and brown eyes, whereas my other Korean friends have brown eyes and black hair.

I also had to say good-bye to Hyeun-A.  Lee had made her pay for my KFC meal on our first date, so this time I decided to do the Korean thing and pay for her meal.  She hates coming to Itaewon, but she made an exception tonight because I said there was a fantastic ice cream shop near my place.  Hyeun-A gave me a letter afterwards, but said it was all in Korean so I would not be able to read it unless I studied my Korean very hard when I went back to Canada.

I went to bed wishing I had another week in Korea, and wishing I had gotten a chance to say good-bye to everyone else as well.

Episode 56: In Which DFM Gets His First Sunburn Of The Season And Is The Topic Of Another Speech

Tuesday may have been my last day teaching, but Wednesday was the day of the school's big picnic and I was invited along.  The picnic was supposed to be last week, but the weather did not cooperate so it go bumped to today.  Although it had been windy and rainy all week, the temperature this day was in the high 20s.

My last weekend must have really taken it out of me, because I slept in over an hour this morning.  I woke up in a panic and shifted into quadruple time mode.  Miraculously, I managed to make it to the school only ten minutes later than I normally do, which lets you know how much I like to take my time in the morning.

My job was to help the poor play school teacher with her four year olds.  All I can say is that one four year old is hard enough to control, but trying to keep track of fifteen on a field trip is madness.

After 45 minutes of driving and almost getting ran over by a dump truck, we finally made it to our mystery location.  The children spewed forth from the buses, and then the fun of sorting the 125 some-odd students into their classes began.

The teacher I was helping asked me to walk at the end of the line and keep everyone in order.  She never explained to me how you keep four year olds in order when they're still learning their (English) name, let alone commands like "stay in a line."

To make matters worse, Daisy here (pig tails, no bow) decided that it would be fun to stand in the middle of the road with the "brakes on" and make me push her along.  At the same time two other boys were going in any direction but straight. 

Eventually the three Korean teachers and myself were able to get two classes of four year olds together for some strawberry relay races.  My job was to take a seemingly endless stream of boys to the trees to go pee.  On the plus side I learned the Korean word for pee - pronounced "she."

This picture is the perfect metaphor for Toby (white hat).  Everyone is looking to the right, but he seems to have his own idea.  Good luck little Korean rebel, don't let The Man get you down.

Lunch time came around not a moment too soon since I had not had time for much of a breakfast.  However I was a bit worried as I had not been able to pack myself a lunch either.  But, the lunch ladies at this school are always looking out for me and it turns out that they packed me a giant Tupperware container of kimbap (a California sushi roll, but the seaweed is on the outside and there are only vegetables and rice on the inside)

After stuffing myself full of kimbap I walked around and said "hello" to all of the other classes... big mistake!  It seems as though every second child wanted to give me something from his/her lunch.  I got to the point where I couldn't eat the kimbap fast enough and had a stack of eight in my hand.  Eventually a teacher took pity on me and handed me a tray to hold everything (but not before she had a good laugh).

Sticker Girl (bottom picture) was up to her old tricks again and played another practical joke on me.  She called me over and showed me her milk bottle.  She pointed to the label and proudly proclaimed "see?  milk!"  I was very proud of her, and was just about to applaud her when she flipped the bottle over to show me the bottom where it became obvious that the inside contained some green tea like substance and not milk, as had been advertised.  She knew from the look on my face that she had got me, because she burst into hysterical laughter and I thought her smile was so wide it might rip off her face.  Touche little girl, you got me this time.

You may have noticed that the children have these ingenious chopsticks that are hinged on one end.  They allow for the perfect pinch every time and show that someone was really thinking when he made them.

This boy even had his own personalized lunch.  Enlarge the picture to see that his egg man has the same hair he does.

("You mean you eat other kids lunches?  Stop it!")

It's never too early to be an ROK soldier.  The two boys in front used the remainder of their lunch time to practice "going over the top."

It seems that children love to fall into holes.  Any ditch or mud puddle around the picnic area was soon filled with children making themselves dirty.

Some of the children were smart/strong enough to jump over the ditches.

Mostly though, they just got stuck and I would have to go rescue them.  In hindsight I think some of the children were getting "stuck" a little too often for it to be an "accident."

After lunch the children had some pictures taken (by a professional photographer, not just me), and played with bubbles.  Some of the children had to learn the hard way that when you dump your soap out you can't blow any more bubbles.  In Canada we would have coddled these "less fortunates" by giving them some social welfare, but over in Korea I get to just let them cry.  As MandDFM would say, "it's good for building personal discipline".

I'm not sure if there's some secret chain letter that's being passed around the World's kindergartens, but it seems that children everywhere love to latch themselves onto my legs whenever possible.  Today they finally managed to hit a nerve at just the right spot and take me down.  The little monsters showed no mercy though, and attempted to try and... well, I'm not exactly sure what they were trying to do here, but they sure looked happy doing it.

After the picnic we dropped the kids back off at school where most of their parents were waiting for them.  A few of the kids did not want me to leave though and took turns blocking my progress all the way along the length of the second floor hallway and down the stairs to the exit.

Finally they pooled their resources and made their Last Stand at the doorway.  

Poor kids.   One little girl (not pictured) actually started crying when I left.  I'll miss them too.

No time to cry just yet though.  After teaching I hustled over to Ace Climbing Center for one last training session and a chance to say "good bye."

Thomas and I had made a hard route on the roof of this "cave."  We were having troubles finishing it though so I did what I always do when I can't climb something at Ace: I called Ji-Hyeun over.  She flashed it (completed it on her first try), and even campused the last part (climbed without using her feet) on holds that were very hard to grasp.

What made her feat even more impressive too, was that she had just recuperated (barely) from becoming the first climber in the gym to complete a new boulder problem that had been created.  Choi and a group of the gym's tallest and best climbers had set up a hard problem and were taking turns trying to "send" it.  The men tried many times, but it was 5'4" Ji-Hyeun who finished the route first.

After climbing Choi took me out for Samgyeupsal, since it was my last day climbing at Ace.  Some of the other members came along and Choi gave a speech about how I was special to him.  He told me that from when he first met me to now that I had learned a lot of Korean and that he was impressed.  Before I had to leave he gave me one of his personal key chains - a miniature "Figure 8" belay device.  I'll miss Choi and everyone at Ace Climbing Center too.

Episode 55: In Which DFM Has A Private Concert Performed For Him And Finds A Boy Who Had His DNA Merged With That Of A Strawberry (The Fly Style)

Today was my final day teaching.

Every Tuesday the children in my first block class will sing a song to start the day.  Many songs have been sung over the last month, but my favourite is "Baby Squirrel Song."  I requested that the children sing it on my last day, but they outdid themselves and sang a small concert for me.  In case you're curious, "Baby Squirrel Song" was the final song in the video.  Astute readers can find Kindergarten Cop regulars like Minnie-Mouse Ears Girl, Sticker Girl, and Lew ("Balance Boy") in this video.

After singing it was time to get down to work.  I'm not sure what they were making, but it looks like a forest to me (hey, this class stole my idea!)  

Sticker Girl is in the second picture with a small present I gave her.  I thought she would be able to put it in her back pack and hide it, but she just couldn't resist showing it off everywhere and I got in trouble with the kids when I did not have enough for everyone.

My next class spent the entire block making "love letters" for me.  I told them my Korean name was Dae-ho and they thought this was fantastic.  Many of the pictures they made say "Dae-ho I love you," or something close to that.  Some of them just have wet marks on them though.

I even had a second class make me love letters too (the phrase "I love you" in Korean has a slightly different connotation than it does in North America and is used by everyone as a term of endearment between friends).  The boy in the second picture went for the "realist" approach with is drawing though, and drew me as an astronaut with antennae.  Later he put his hands on his head like antennae and bobbled around.  He called himself "Andy the ant."  I was impressed that he included the word "the," since many Koreans I've met seem to have trouble with the articles the/a/an.

The four year olds were still working on their strawberry theme, and were wrapping it up today with a "strawberry foods book."  Poor little Daniel just couldn't stay awake though and was practically falling asleep sitting up (I've actually seen a kid do that before).

The other four year old class made strawberry cookies.  I was honoured though to receive the first one.  Mmm... delicious.

When Koreans latch on to something they do it DFM style - they go all the way!  Here, the proof is in the pudding, and strawberry boys are that pudding.

The five year olds were finishing up their ant unit with a giant ant collage.  There were bits of magazines and newspapers, colourful fuzzy balls, straws, beads and sparkles.  But, because everything was being attached with glue, it wasn't a surprise that at least one child thought it would be a good idea to put glue all over his hands and try to stick them together.

For my final Special Art Class, I finished up my forest unit by getting the children to make a cover for a book containing all the pieces they've drawn over the last month (in this unit).  I didn't really think it through though, and the poor Korean teacher had to bind all the books by herself.

One final picture of Sticker Girl and Fight Girl together for "old time's" sake.  In hindsight, if I'd noticed Sticker Girl forgot the 'f' in forest I would have made her go back and fix it.

Good-bye school.

After work I went climbing, but today was a bit different because Woojin wanted to come along with me (Sung Bok's friend, not the phys ed teacher).  He struggled like all beginners do when they start climbing, but I was impressed with his determination and he lasted as long as I did.  He later mentioned it was something he wanted to get into more seriously, so I was happy to be able to do my part in helping to increase the dismally low number of active young adults in Korea.

Episode 54: In Which DFM Throws Some Children In A Sack And Gets A Headache

It's my last week of teaching, but today I still have to get through the always tough Monday Physical Education classes.  Fortunately, today was a fun day.  It was a simple task for the children so they were all able to do it, which made them happy and me too (I did not have to help them  constantly).

On you marks, get set, go!  Jump in the bag, hop around the Woojin and back to the start.  Smiles for everyone, and the field goal is good!

Woojin told me that he promised the children last class that he would make them balloon animals.  I tried to make one too, but all I got was a headache.  Woojin blew up 53 of these; I was in awe.  They were a big hit with the kids, naturally.

In Special Art Class I've really come into my own as a teacher, and now have a small unit going dealing with the forest.  I gave a short lesson on the different animals in the forest, and then the children worked on drawing pictures of whatever animals they wanted in their forest.  Sticker Girl looks so pensive here because she just couldn't get her giraffe to look right.  She's a perfectionist like me.

After school I went to the train station to buy tickets for my tour with April.  I'm sure glad she was there, because it was quite a complicated process (I had to take four different trains).

After buying the tickets April took me out to the Cilantro restaurant at The Hilton again.  Apparently she eats here every day.  Once again the service was excellent, and this time we were joined by two of her former students who are now married and working for two of the big Korean corporations (to a Korean, that's the equivalent of "making it").  I'd tell you how amazing it was, but I was eating Korean food with Korean friends, so I think that speaks for itself.