The Routine

Day 12 - 3:25pm

It's been 2 days since I last posted, sorry about the wait. I've been busy and lazy when I'm not busy. There are a couple things to report. Life is beginning to settle into a nice groove. Here's the daily routine:

6:00am wake up, lie in bed and stare at the ceiling

6:15am traditional Korean yoga (I still need to ask what it's official name is)

7:00am Gchat and Skype with American family and friends (who are settling in for the afternoon)

10:00am jog along the Han River

12:00pm eat lunch

12:15pm prepare lesson for teaching

3:00pm teach

5:15pm return home

5:30pm play computer games and guitar with host-bro

6:00pm dinner

After dinner the random adventures begin.

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Teaching last Thursday (Day 2) was quite the reversal of the previous day. This time the younger group of early elementary kids were very good students, although I did find out they lied to me and can read and write the alphabet. The older groups of kids were the bad ones. They were in a "too cool for school" mode, pouting and whinging about everything. They refused to play Hangman as vocabulary review. Who doesn't like Hangman? I talked to the social workers in charge, and they said to not let it bother me too much. The kids have a lot of problems going on at home, and if they don't feel like learning English afterschool, it's best not to push. I am in the habit of always having to have successful lessons, so it is hard to accept my orders. Do the best I can giving the lecture, but don't try to hard to make them learn. So if a student starts to sleep, like 3 of them did, I have to just let them be. I will continue to try to make class as entertaining and education as possible, but I must harden my soul and accept there won't be Dangerous Minds or Sister Act II breakthroughs everyday.

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I've gotten frostbite for the first time in my life. It's really strange. I have survived Kansas and Illinois winters for the last couple years without any complaint, but 2 hours jogging along the Han and the back of my thighs are dead. Very red and purple. Hopefully it will go away in a couple days.