Man, I can’t believe school just started again yesterday. It already feels like I’ve been back at it forever. Probably because I am suddenly so busy, with my new schedule and extracurriculars! I taught my first English conversation class to the third and fourth grade students from Hongsan and surrounding elementary schools yesterday, and it went all right for a first lesson. We will just have to get used to each other. I definitely need to plan out what exactly I want to accomplish in that class…mostly, I just don’t want them to despise me for taking away their afternoons of bliss, but I suppose I must teach them something, too. I foresee a lot of games and activities. It will be fun, I think, but I really wish the class were smaller. There are twenty-six students, and at that age, that’s more than a handful! Couple that with the fact that none of them understand me at all, and teaching ANYTHING becomes a real challenge!
I started my first real week of taekwondo yesterday and I can tell it’s going to be a real time commitment. I usually come home right after school for twenty minutes or so (just enough time for a quick snack ;-)) and then have to walk right back into town. I don’t get home until 7:15 or so. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have to teach those engineering men after TKD, so I don’t get home until 8:15. I sure wish that class were more interesting for me. Goodness knows it must be boring for them, too, but I really am at a loss when it comes to teaching adults. I only know how to play games, not actually teach! But at any rate, I am super happy my family eats late, both because of my new hectic schedule and because I just like it better that way. Last night we didn’t have dinner until 7:50, for goodness sakes. And last week, we had dinner once at 9:45. It’s a bit wild and actually not very Korean. Almost everyone is incredulous when I tell them when I have dinner. I am glad I landed with this family, if for nothing else than the eating schedule. It fits right in with my dietary particularities, strangely enough. I’ve always been a fan of the late lunch, 5 pm snack, and late dinner. Anyway, taekwondo before dinner is just about perfect, because right afterwards I am almost immediately hungry. The class has been going pretty well so far. The instructor thinks I’m completely inept, which is more or less true, but I do have a yellow belt! He tried to hand me a white belt today, but I told him I already have one. And it’s YELLOW. I think he wanted to cry over the fact that anyone could be blind enough to see I cannot do a single thing right. I like to think it’s just the two months that have passed since I last did taekwondo that have diminished my athletic prowess, but in all likelihood the skills were probably never there. On a positive note, my little friend I Bin is now in my class and helps me out a lot. It’s more than likely she transferred classes to be with me, which is really amusing, but I’m really glad to have a pal with me. She definitely doesn’t speak much English, but we seem to get by fine. If only we could get beyond her annoying habit of patting my belly and saying “Baby.” I KNOW I’ve gained weight…have some heart, stick girl!
Today I also started badminton classes. In addition to my English classes on Monday and Friday afternoons, the school is offering a variety of what they call “extra classes” in sports, music, art, etc. Badminton is on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a special badminton instructor, so now I get to play that three days a week. I’m stoked. I like badminton. Today he was teaching us the main overhead stroke, which is still really clumsy for me. I haven’t yet completely mastered speed and accuracy…ie, I kept missing the birdie and it was a little embarrassing because I can definitely hit it in a regular situation, but I was trying this new method. Afterwards, the nurse, who is also in the class, I guess, suggested that we practice together, but I hope we never do because she is actually legitimately horrible. I’ll show those haters on Thursday. It certainly doesn’t help that I’m the center of attention, even in that class. They might goof around while other people hit, but they’re all eyes when I’m up at the net. Oh, and the funniest thing…there are kids from the other elementary schools, and evidently word has spread about my oral piercing because there was a crowd of them in line demanding me to open my mouth. I didn’t oblige them, though.
Bianca comes tomorrow and I am really excited to see her and show her around my little bit of Korea. So much so that I am going to skip out on volleyball and taekwondo tomorrow…