I’ve decided that spring is not my favorite of the Korean seasons. It’s too rainy! It will be gorgeous for a day or two, and then rain falls again. I think it’s rained three times in the last week! It’s too much for me. Fall is the best of all, in my opinion—it’s warm and CLEAR.
The threat of rain hung in the air from my first waking moment, casting a grey hue on everything (including my soul). After the magnificence of yesterday, I was hoping for another day of brilliant sunshine, but I knew it was not to be. However, even though the stormy skies quickly made good on their promise, the day quickly improved. Two of my classes were canceled (SCORE!) and even though the other two went terribly, I was happy to have the extra time to plan and prepare. I’m such an organization freak—it really gives me pleasure to straighten files out and organize my lesson plans in a coherent manner. Inspiration struck me repeatedly today in regards to teaching methods, which makes me ecstatic. I may finally have figured out how I’m gonna teach these kids, nine months in. It’s a little late, but now with my extension, I have a whole year to implement these new plans. This is actually exciting news. What kind of freak feels a delightful shiver of anticipation at that prospect? Anyone besides me? At any rate, things were going so well this afternoon that I didn’t even make it to samulnori. I really hate to give up at work when it’s coming along nicely, which often leads to me keeping long hours since the work is really unceasing. I was thinking this morning, though, that I really make it into more work than it should be with all my efforts toward organization and overarching goals and plans. I have a vision—helping my kids develop the basic skills of communicating in English—and right now I’m immersed in piecing together the practical side of it—that is, how do I go about doing this? What should I teach first, and how? It’s definitely a trial-and-error process and unfortunately these kids are the unfortunate recipients. Hopefully all this work will pan out someday and I will finally put together a coherent vision and a step-by-step way to achieve it. Perhaps I’ll even be able to write a book. It’s like my thesis all over again, only I actually know what I’m talking about now. More or less…I still would like to learn more about how children learn, especially in the realm of foreign language. I’d like to take a class while I’m home, but I haven’t been able to find one. Anyway, even though I spent my free afternoon at school, I feel very accomplished. The pouring rain couldn’t touch me. The vice-principal’s announcement that I have to prepare a “free speak” three page report in both English and Korean in a week for a mysterious conference in two weeks didn’t even faze me. I rock the teaching world.
When I got home, I studied my Korean for a while. At first I was unmolested, but then my host father and his friends came in. Now, my host father basically has nothing to do with me, but there’s this one friend of his who always tries to talk to me—mostly to invite me out to drink, but still…it’s nice of him, even if these efforts almost always end in frustration at both ends. Anyway, this time my vocabulary list was out, so we had a topic of conversation out and ready for both of us to use. Unfortunately, it dealt with various aches and pains, so after a while, he pointed out the ugly scabs I have on my face from absentmindedly picking at it throughout the day in nervousness and stated that I needed yak (medicine). Thus ensued a ten minutes of the entire family scrutinizing my face. It was all good, though…with the help of my vocab list, we had real interaction with each other, for once. I ended up working on my Korean for over an hour, but it was cool—I got some help in pronunciation and usage, and I was able to put my new phrases into use. So I’m feeling really good about my Korean, too.
Now I just have to hope that the rain ceases by tomorrow morning for my daily regimen of largely unsuccessful fat prevention activities. (But the truth is, I won’t be heartbroken if it doesn’t!)