Zoo Trip

Another short post.. Can't seem to get myself motivated for much longer than a little post these days! It's weird trying to write about life when it's just boring old life!!

Anyways, we went to the zoo on Wednesday. I asked my homeroom kids what their favorite part of the zoo was - what animal they liked the best. The only answer they would give me was "Hilary Teacher and Danny Teacher." So despite the fact that I had nothing to do with them at the zoo (we split into two groups and I wasn't part of theirs - I supervised a different class), and I teach then twice a day all week, we were still their favorite part of the day. Weird!!

Gotta love kids!

Korean Taxi Ride

The other day I decided to take a taxi home.. for very important reasons (I had to get home to do phone teaching and I wanted enough time to order pizza and have it arrive before I had to start - REAL important...). Anyways, I get into the taxi and the guy starts talking to me in mostly Korean but with the odd English word thrown in. At this point of my stay in Korea, I can understand certain words in Korean.. not too many I have to say. So he asks me where I'm from, and when I say Canada, he goes, "Oh, goood. Canada, number one!" And repeats this over and over.. then he says some other stuff and I finally figure out he's asking me if I have kids.. Then I say no. And I think from there he was asking me if I have a boyfriend or husband back in Canada. Then if I have one in Korea (either that or he was asking me if I wanted him to be my boyfriend - not sure - this is where it got hazy). Oh, also at some point he goes, "Jesus?" And I say "No!" Hahaha. Good times in broken English and Korean.

Pictures

Okay I finally got a digital camera.. my new baby!! But anyways, in lieu of emailing random images and posting them here and there, I'm gonna put them all in photobucket. You can see them at http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/hilthepill/ I should add more soon, it just takes so damn long!!

I am a Mommy

Okay - just a quick post because the night is winnowing away (correct usage??) and I'm lazy...

This week I have become a mommy. One of my classes - I am their only foreign teacher and they've become quite attached to me - and me to them, I'll admit. I teach them twice a day MWF and once on T/Th.. anyways, any time I see them in the hall they yell "Hilary Teacher!" and run over and hug me, wave or smile. When they walk past my class and they see me through the window, I hear them yelling my name - when I'm not teaching them, they try and kidnap me into their class.. (they're about 5 or 6 years old)... anyways one little girl always wants to hang off of me.. she was hugging me the other day, and called me "Oma" (which means mom in Korean) then all the others started chanting "oma, oma oma...". The next day I was handing out some stuff and this little guy, Peter, goes "Thank you, Mommy." Ahh good times...

And in one of my older afternoon classes, one of my students who I've taught for almost 5 months now called me Mom today! Weird!!

So I think I am officially a "Mom." Now I just need to get a minivan and some mom jeans.

Sniffing...

The things kids do are strange - if you've been reading my blog, you probably have gathered that! Anyways, in the past week, I have had two kids sniff me. One kid was walking around me running his nose all over my back and arms (yeah kinda gross, I know) and today one little girl wouldn't stop sniffing my arm. Other teachers have told me they've had kids do this as well. I wonder why they do it? It's not a bad smell thing (I think??) - I wonder if they just do it to foreign teachers, because they're curious about us? One of my classes that I teach - I'm the only foreign teacher they've ever had - today the boys were full on trying to lift up my shirt. I had to make them put their hands up and apologise to me for it... It's a strange line to walk with kids, because you want to let them know that certain behaviour isn't okay - but on the other hand, they don't mean anything malicious by it - they're just curious!

Magic Weapon

I have been in Korea now teaching for over 4 months (WHAT?! where does time go!)... And far from being an expert teacher, I have learned tricks - had bad classes and good, and discovered many ways of filling those extra 10 or 15 (or 30 - hahaha) extra minutes at the end of the class...

Lately I have discovered a new magic weapon. My super-duper interesting life ;) I have a little book of photographs from home - some from when I was younger, some of my house, some of my family, some of different places in Canada, and some of me playing rugby and baseball. I whip that out when I run out of things to do.. "Want to see teacher playing baseball? Want to see teacher's cat?"

In one of my afternoon classes I have all the smart kids that I taught in kindergarten until they graduated a month ago. Anyways the last few classes I've found myself off on some WILD tangents from the material we're supposed to be studying (which sucks anyways, so I don't feel bad). Like talking about the diets of elephant seals and sea lions. Or today, talking about all the different kinds of rays I've seen scuba diving and the different types of sharks - and the ones I've swam with. The other day, the kids sat silently as I regailed them with tails of how my brother and I used to play "car crash" in the living room - sitting across the carpet from one another, smashing toy cars into each other - the kids even had me draw the toy cars we'd play with on the board. (What?!)

I've promised this class I'll bring them pictures of my trip to the Galapagos as well to show them. So anyways, this is my new magic weapon. I figure it is interesting to them because it is so far removed from their lives. I don't know - but anyways, keeps me... and them occupied!

Phone Teaching

Part of my contract is that I have to phone teach once a month. This means phoning each of the kids in any class I have above a certain level and asking them simple questions for about 3-5 minutes, just as a way to show the parents that their kids can actually speak in English on the phone.

Anyways, most of the kids dread it - most are way quieter on the phone then they are in class - and I struggle to fill 3 minutes talking to them. I had one girl to call today and I was really worried about talking to her on the phone - in class she is very quiet and I get the impression that out of my class of 10 kids, she never really knows what's going on. So in class today, she is looking at me and saying, with a big smile, "Teacher, you me tonight." Finally I figured out she was reminding me to call her tonight...

So after the day of teaching, I pick up the phone to call her. Usually I have a list of several questions to ask the kids, then I say good bye and hang up.. So Ruth gets on the phone. I'm about to ask her some questions, and she says, "Teacher, how old are you?" Then she cycles through my family -"Teacher have brother? How old? How old is your father?" Etc. Etc.

Then she is asking me if I like pizza.. and hamburgers.. then she asks me if my brother likes hamburgers. And I tell her he'd eat hamburgers for every meal if he could. And she says, "Me too!" Then she asks me if I like apples. Then potatoes.

At this point, I'm ready to go - I've been on the phone for the requisite 5 minutes and beyond - so I tell her that that's all the questions I have for her and I have to go. She says "No. Now speak Korean!" So I ask her what she wants to hear - (hajima - stop it). So I oblige, and I say, "Goodnight Ruth - I have to go call some other children now." And she keeps saying no, no matter what I say!! At this point, all the other teachers in the staff room are in stitches as I try and get off the phone with this girl!!

Finally I end up hanging up on her! I can't believe I had to hang up on a student, I feel quite bad - I think she'll take it in good humour, right?? But MAN I just couldn't get her off the phone! It turned into about a 10 minute long conversation... But it was quite funny!!