Rakhi: Winter was back in full force last week. The rise in temperature and Joel’s cries of ‘spring is here’ a week earlier, were counter attacked with storms and snow. It was freezing. It seems to have calmed down now and Joel has restarted his wild exclamations, I hope he’s right this time.
A couple of weeks ago, we went out with our now former co-teachers. It was their treat which was a really nice gesture. When we mentioned to them that Neil and Lyndsey were coming over and they really wanted to go to the theme park Everland, Yeonhae kindly offered to drive us. We’ll see what happens though.
My new co-teacher is called Kim Hanee aka ‘Ellen’ and so far, so good. She has some great teaching ideas, is easygoing, friendly and likes to have a laugh with the kids even at her own expense. The latter point is ace and is in line with my own clownish teaching style! Other than figuring out roles in the classroom with my new co-teacher, school is pretty quiet at the moment. In December, my school appealed to The Office of Education for ‘model school’ status and it was successful. Therefore, Bucheon Yangji Elementary School is in the process of becoming a role model for other schools in ‘After-School Classes.’ The classes are designed to encourage students who are gifted and to help under achievers. Whilst the classes are being organised and the students abilities tested, I won’t be teaching any of my after-school lessons. This means that teaching finishes for me at 12:20 everyday at the moment. Apparently, everything will be finalised later this month and my new timetable will be revealed. They better hurry up though, there’s only just over 6 weeks of my English expertise left!
One thing that hasn’t changed at Bucheon Yangji, is the fact that my principal is an idiot. Joel and I asked both of our school’s if it would be possible to leave a couple of hours early on our last day, April 30th, so we can get to the airport in good time. Joel’s principal told him that it was completely fine. Mine on the other hand has said no. Even though I have no classes on that day after 2pm, I have to stay in school until 4:40pm with absolutely nothing to do. Thanks for all your hard work Rakhi.
On Sunday, Joel and I had a bit of a spring clean. We’ve still, or should I say, ‘I’ve’ still got so many things I need to get rid off before we move- namely clothes and shoes- it’s a good thing there’s a second hand clothes shop around the corner! On Saturday, we went to Olympic Park for the 2007 B-Boy (breakdancing) World Championships. There were 8 teams competing for the glory, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, America, Canada, France and China. It’s amazing what these guys can do with their bodies, like supporting all their weight on one hand and spinning, amongst other gravity defying things. It was good fun but it was also comedic when the teams exaggeratingly pretended to spar with each other. One thing that did stand out though was how sportsmanly Koreans are. Whilst it goes without saying that the audience was backing Korea to win, everybody still wholeheartedly cheered on the other breakdancing teams, even when they were competing directly against Korea. I’ve seen the same considerate display at the football where some fans cheer any goal regardless of team or scorer. Oh, if anyone cares, America won.
So, now it’s only 4 days until Si and Rach arrive. It’s going to be lovely to see them both and will give us the opportunity to do and see plenty of things before we leave Korea, I just hope the weather improves…
A couple of weeks ago, we went out with our now former co-teachers. It was their treat which was a really nice gesture. When we mentioned to them that Neil and Lyndsey were coming over and they really wanted to go to the theme park Everland, Yeonhae kindly offered to drive us. We’ll see what happens though.
My new co-teacher is called Kim Hanee aka ‘Ellen’ and so far, so good. She has some great teaching ideas, is easygoing, friendly and likes to have a laugh with the kids even at her own expense. The latter point is ace and is in line with my own clownish teaching style! Other than figuring out roles in the classroom with my new co-teacher, school is pretty quiet at the moment. In December, my school appealed to The Office of Education for ‘model school’ status and it was successful. Therefore, Bucheon Yangji Elementary School is in the process of becoming a role model for other schools in ‘After-School Classes.’ The classes are designed to encourage students who are gifted and to help under achievers. Whilst the classes are being organised and the students abilities tested, I won’t be teaching any of my after-school lessons. This means that teaching finishes for me at 12:20 everyday at the moment. Apparently, everything will be finalised later this month and my new timetable will be revealed. They better hurry up though, there’s only just over 6 weeks of my English expertise left!
One thing that hasn’t changed at Bucheon Yangji, is the fact that my principal is an idiot. Joel and I asked both of our school’s if it would be possible to leave a couple of hours early on our last day, April 30th, so we can get to the airport in good time. Joel’s principal told him that it was completely fine. Mine on the other hand has said no. Even though I have no classes on that day after 2pm, I have to stay in school until 4:40pm with absolutely nothing to do. Thanks for all your hard work Rakhi.
On Sunday, Joel and I had a bit of a spring clean. We’ve still, or should I say, ‘I’ve’ still got so many things I need to get rid off before we move- namely clothes and shoes- it’s a good thing there’s a second hand clothes shop around the corner! On Saturday, we went to Olympic Park for the 2007 B-Boy (breakdancing) World Championships. There were 8 teams competing for the glory, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, America, Canada, France and China. It’s amazing what these guys can do with their bodies, like supporting all their weight on one hand and spinning, amongst other gravity defying things. It was good fun but it was also comedic when the teams exaggeratingly pretended to spar with each other. One thing that did stand out though was how sportsmanly Koreans are. Whilst it goes without saying that the audience was backing Korea to win, everybody still wholeheartedly cheered on the other breakdancing teams, even when they were competing directly against Korea. I’ve seen the same considerate display at the football where some fans cheer any goal regardless of team or scorer. Oh, if anyone cares, America won.
So, now it’s only 4 days until Si and Rach arrive. It’s going to be lovely to see them both and will give us the opportunity to do and see plenty of things before we leave Korea, I just hope the weather improves…
posted by Rakhi and Joel @ 3:26 PM
1 Comments:
You write very well.
Post a Comment
<< Home