Rakhi: Wednesday, or 'Open Class Day,' began pretty appallingly for my co-teacher. She was so stressed and confessed to not getting any sleep the night before. To make matters worse, the principal and vice-principal came into the our classroom halfway through the first lesson of the day and started rearranging furniture and questioning Yeonhae's organisation of the classroom. All of this got Yeonhae even more fraught and finally she broke down and started crying. Oh no. When the time for our demonstration lesson came and teachers began to arrive, Yeonhae was still tense. Luckily, everything came together for the actual lesson and I think it went well. We got lots of positive comments and as the students were so well behaved they made us look like excellent teachers totally in control of the classroom!

After the open class finished, I was looking forward to getting home and relaxing as it'd been a pretty taxing day. However, my prinicpal had other ideas and organised an impromptu dinner by way of a thank you. Of course, it wasn't an invitation, it was an obligation for me to attend. The dinner itself was fine and Yeonhae and I hatched a plan so we could leave early. What was rather grim was having to share the principal's saliva. Here in Korea, drinking is an integral part of so many things and there are many drinking customs to be aware of such as how to hold a glass, pour drinks and also exchanging glasses. After someone finishes their own drink it's customary to give their empty glass to another person and fill it up for them to drink out off. The principal kindly handed me his glass which still had some of his dribble in the bottom. I felt queasy accepting it but there was no way I couldn't take it as I would have caused immense offense. Urgh!

On Friday, Yeonhae and I had a little party for the students who we did the open class with. They were so well behaved and enthusiastic so we wanted to thank them for helping us.

Last night Sam and Shane came over to our German Market! Joel and I keep hearing from cruel people back in Manchester how great the German Market is this year. 'The bratwurst's tastier than ever,' 'the gluhwein's better,' 'the singing moose is amazing...' blah blah blah. Not ones to be left out of a good thing, Joel and I recreated the market in our living room! We found some bratwursts in Costco, bought some good cheese, some Hoegaarden and Krombacher and made some lovely gluhwein. It was great and Sam and Shane were thoroughly impressed.

Today, Joel and I found a whole new area within our area! Just behind my school there are lots of vegetable plots and a forest. I see it every day from my school window and have been keen to see what lies beyond for a long time. Walking only two minutes from my school, we came accross a train track, a stream, lots of greenery and farmland. It was a great discovery.

What was even better though was getting in from the cold and warming up with a mug of hot gluhwein! Mmmmm!