Tired

Today I could feel the coming rain. Last week I was told that the monsoon season came a week early, as it rained cats and dogs and then some one Wednesday ago. Today as I was leaving school I asked the 4th grade teacher if it would rain later. She said she didn't think, at least not soon, and that it has been a dry rainy season. It wasn't windy then, but the wind picked up as we drove home. I walked home in the most delightful strong wind. It's been so hot and sticky lately that any moving air is a blessing, even if it means that rain is sure to come.
Right now I'm listening to it pour. I've lit a few candles and turned the lights off so I can have the window open to listen to the rain. These little gnat type bugs come in if the light is on. They squeeze right through my screen.

Last week I was home only long enough to sleep. Monday, Wednesday and Friday were dance class. Tuesday was my 100 day "anniversary" with J. Thursday was a special orchestral and choral concert put on for "English teachers, educators and mixed nationality families" held by the province's office of education. It was "strongly encouraged" that we all attend. J couldn't go because he had work to catch up on.

 This is Tian, me and Tevyn. We were waiting for the concert. Tevyn is a talk scholar, like Tian is. And he goes to dance class too. He's actually a very good dancer.

 This is the infamous Khoi. He's Khoi, singer of wrong lyrics, dirty phrase in foreign language collecting, social butterfly who knows at least a thousand people - or they know him.

Me and Tian - my friendship pirate. We have adventures together. Jongsoo gets jealous, but hey, girl time is sacred.

Here are a few shots from the concert.

This lady was awesome. I love this kind of instrument.. I wish I knew the Korean name for it.

Kids sang Lemon Tree and did a little dance. Cute, but well.. after teaching elementary - they lose their cuteness.

The orchestra did a medley of Beatles songs, and then it wouldn't be a Korean performance without a fan dance.

That's last week in a nutshell.

A line of music

I'm listening to an old Korean song, the kind with the quavery old lady voice and the bouncy beat. It's being played outside my school on the speakers they set up yesterday. There's a big tent in the middle of the school ground (not sure what you'd call it since we don't have them in America - it's the big rectangle sand lot every Korean (and probably Asian) school has for holding all kinds of outdoor events. the students typically play soccer or baseball out there. sometimes they shoot bottle rockets). Around the big tent are about a dozen white and blue plastic tents like you'd see at a fair or wedding. I'm not sure what all they have out there because I haven't been out there.
This is all because today is Sosu's Apricot Festival.
The 4th grade teacher told me about it on Tuesday or Wednesday. Sosu has a lot of ornamental apricot trees, and this is their yearly festival which they decided to name after the trees. There are no apricots [fruit], sadly.
Because of this the students and their homeroom teachers went to Cheongju for the festival? I'm not sure. All I know is they are going to have a singing contest there. I really wish I could go! But I have a Regional Professional Development Meeting that I have to go to instead. Oh well. I like the meetings too.

This morning I walked under a big.... Is there an English word for this?

That is a special kind of "fork lift" (?) for people moving into apartment buildings. You put your stuff on this pallet and the machine lifts it up to the top. I guess they tie the top of the "ladder" to your window and there you have it. No heavy bags up and down stairs. It's a scary convenience. I had the pleasure of walking under it this morning - in that small gap between the vehicle and the wall there. I hope it doesn't constitute as a ladder! Haha!

What have I been doing this last week? Work. Yes. Well. Actually last week was a 4 day weekend. Thursday was a holiday and Friday was a school holiday, so it looked pretty promising. Except Jongsoo and Khoi both still had school Friday, and Tian had a trip with her mentor teacher. So I ended up staying home writing lesson plans, which was good because I had a lot of things to prepare for this week. I've reached that point where I feel like we've played all the games there are - even though this isn't true. I just need inspiration. I also had an open class looming over my head (it was Monday, the 10th). I was really nervous about being watched by other people because when I am alone - the kids are quite disrespectful and speak in a lot of Korean. To top this off - because they told me my open class was a Monday, I had a choice of only 2 grades - grade 1 or grade 3. *headdesk* Grade 3 is the most unruly and disrespectful of them all. I picked grade 1 - because I'm not stupid. But even so, grade 1 has its difficulties with the kids rushing through the work and demanding stickers like cheeky little things (so impatient! they're all so very impatient). I wasn't sure how well they would do with the principal, vice principal and other teachers watching. I hoped they would do well with my using only English.
Actually - prayers were answered and the 3 first graders were angels. They waited, listened, and though they looked a little bored, they were great. It was interesting. I could see where they were still lacking in knowledge because they actually had to wait to go from one letter to the next. I think I can re-tailor lessons better now to review the trouble spots. Interestingly enough, I find my boys can remember how to write the letters the best.
The rest of the weekend I spent with friends in JP. I actually ended up doing lesson planning on Sunday too. Fun fun. ><'

Everything else this week was just classes and preparations. Oh and dance class. We're learning a 2ne1 song... I don't know the name of it. It's like... industrial pop? It's somewhere between rap, hip hop and pop and it has industrial elements. It's hard but fun. Oh and painful. My legs are so sore!

Anyway. There you have it. This weekend I'm going clothes shopping with Tian. We need school worthy summer clothes. Did I mention tank tops are not socially acceptible in Korea? Thick or thin strap - you don't show those sexy sexy shoulders! Cover up!