As I wrote before, we have three morning classes every day, along with three afternoon classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I think we have a good team going for the teaching. We've been doing our third afternoon class combined because it's so small. We have a nice system worked out and I'm happy to be working alongside him.
Our principal took Geoff, Katie, the vice principal, Julie and Sunny out to dinner on Tuesday night. It was a nice Korean traditional meal that included soups, pork, chicken and some other weird Korean things. The Koreans claimed one of the soup was potatoes, but it did not appear to be potatoes -- neither in taste not texture.
But the gesture was very nice. After the dinner, the native speakers went out with Julie and Sunny. Katie's boyfriend joined us in Yeonsu-dong. It was a fun night.
On Wednesday, I met with my friends at InHa University. It was really nice to see them again. A lot has changed in the 6 weeks I was gone. The biggest news is that Smith got an electrical engineering job at Samsung. It's a very coveted position and we're all thrilled for him.
Unfortunately, the group will surely be breaking apart soon, as they all get jobs and move away. I've had a really wonderful time with them and treasure the things I've learned as well as the friendship.
Work today was interesting. Geoff and I went in and started to prepare for our morning classes when Julie came in and told us we had no classes. Since we have no afternoon classes on Thursday, we had nothing all day.
But Julie asked if we'd help with one of Katie's advanced classes. I think I can safely say we were happy to do so. They were playing a game/lesson about cultural differences. It was interesting to watch how it worked out and how their personalities affected the outcome.
Katie's a fun teacher and she knows what she's doing for sure. It's nice to observe my peers and watch how they do things. I think I'm learning a lot that way.
In the afternoon, we basically just prepared our lessons some more.
But at lunch, we almost got some bad news. Julie told us the staff picture for the yearbook would be Saturday, and we all had to be there by 8 a.m. YIKES!
School at 8 a.m. on Saturday? That's for the birds.**
Katie and I both already had plans, and no doubt Geoff would rather be somewhere else. So we appealed to Julie to help us. Fortunately for us, Julie has a tooth surgery Saturday that she already paid for. She went to the head teacher and pleaded our case.
And ... SUCCESS!!!
We have to bring in pictures tomorrow for the school, but we don't have to be there at 8 a.m. Saturday. It's good for Julie, too. She said bringing us in on a Saturday requires loads of paperwork.
Tomorrow I am meeting with Hye Yun (Vicky), her cousin, Minji, and her cousin's boyfriend (and former Jungchul buddy) Chris. I'm looking forward to it. It will kick off a nice weekend away from school.
Like I said, this year I won't let myself get so invested in my work to the point of frustration. I'm leaving work at work as much as possible.
So things are looking fairly good right now. At the very least, things are nearly stable. Bon Jovi Friday is upon us.
** I forgot to mention this, but we have a glass bird cage at our school in the main lobby. In honor of them, I will post a bird picture every time I think something is totally insane. This pic is not of them, but all future pics will be.
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