Mass of Red

Sorry it's been a while since the last update. Our days seem to be getting busier, a feat I didn't imagine possible! Somehow time has slipped away from me, and there haven't been any huge trips or massive feats worth blogging about. Still, our lives have plugged along, with the occasional cool thing in there.
Things at our hagwon have gotten busier. I'm teaching nine classes a day with ten minute breaks in between. On top of that we have curriculum to prepare and definitions to write and schedules to make. All of that combined and we hardly have time to breathe during the day! I've found it challenging, but I'm also learning to be grateful through all of it. I'm trying to treasure all the time I have left with my munchkins. I've grown so close to them throughout the past four months of teaching them. It tears my heart, the thought of leaving them. There is a chance that some of the kids might visit me in the States later (their parents are all rich and love to travel,) but who knows. We had a dance party today, and the number one requested song was "My Heart Will Go On." I have a few Titanic fans in my class :). It's cute. They hum the song when they color their dinosaurs. That and the Star Wars opening theme.
Saturday was a full day. We went to a BBQ at our church in Seoul. It was some of the most mouthwatering American style meat I've had in a while. There were ribs, pulled pork and kebabs. Ooh, my stomach is growling just thinking about it! It was really great to fellowship with all of the other married couples at the church. Afterwards, David and I went to Itaewon to do a maternity shoot for a couple we met at church. It was pretty fun helping David with one of his shoots. We went all over the place, from the couple's home to a botanical garden on the nearby mountain. I've never seen the sky so beautiful in Korea as it was that Saturday in Seoul. It was amazingly blue and there were clouds to accent the sunset. We ended our evening with Peter and Bo (the maternity shoot couple) taking a drink on a restaurant that overlooked a good part of Seoul. It was so peaceful and relaxing.
After the maternity shoot we headed to Munhak Sports Complex (near our home in Incheon) to watch the World Cup game. We bought some red shirts in the Bupyeong underground and joined our friends, along with thousands of other Koreans, in cheering for the Red Devils! They were playing Uruguay, and during the pregame show we got to hear some Spanish. It was so odd to hear a language that wasn't English that I (at least partially) understood. I'm so used to being completely oblivious to Korean. The cheering during the game was INSANE. The crowd cheered for everything. Whenever the ball came into Korea's possession, and whenever Uruguay fouled Korea the stadium burst into a nearly deafening roar (only notches above the constant volume of the crowd). During the one goal they made, the red mass of humanity went NUTS. There were fireworks going off, clappers clapping and people jumping up and down and hollering their lungs out. It was so crushingly sad when Korea lost. Everyone shuffled out of the stadium with such defeated looks. I was unhappy since we wouldn't be able to witness the crazy crowd energy of another game. The next Monday at school our kids came in with sad faces and informed us of the loss. Aw. At least I got the super cool experience of being in a country that was enthusiastic about their participation in the World Cup, unlike *ahem* America.




We're gearing up for vacations soon! Thailand in 3 weeks! I'm so beyond excited! And In two months we'll be of to New Zealand for our farming adventure.

the subtle joys of teaching

I think sometimes we forget how people influenced us. I know I do. I take my love of reading and writing for granted, but if I look back far enough, I can trace these passions to some of my elementary school teachers. It's these adults who've become faint (although very fond) memories in my head who helped mold me into the person I am today. Just a week or so ago I rediscovered that power that I have as a teacher now. Our hagwon has a pretty extensive English library, with several books that are geared toward older kids (abridged versions of the classics). I was teaching a class of three 8-year-old boys when the subject of vampires popped up. We talked about them for a while, and I mentioned the book "Dracula" that we have in the library. Their eyes lit up, so I took them down the hallway and showed them all of the scary, cool books in the library that I thought they might like. They each ended up taking one of the classics home with them. They brought them back the very next class (after the weekend) and demanded to be shown more cool books. It got me so pumped that I could show them the joys of reading a really good story, and help them learn English at the same time. It's these little joys that are going to carry me through the next 2.5 months!

Saturday Musings.

It's a rainy day in South Korea. Surprising how rare those are here. Although now that monsoon season is approaching I think that this might be a more common occurrence. I love rainy days when there's nothing to do but curl up and read a book. I've been making my way through the most random tomes here. There aren't any huge English language bookstores near our apartment, so I kinda have to scrounge around for whatever I can get. I've been reading a lot of Paulo Coehlo and some books my lovely bestie shipped me from overseas. :) It's crazy (but it does make sense) how vital reading is to the creative process of writing. Books feed writers. Whenever I'm reading a really good book, my writing is visibly better than when I'm not. So I've been trying to read as consistently as I can.
Summer has arrived, although now it doesn't bring the same sweet freedom that it did back in the school days. The weather here is nothing compared to Charleston's beastly heat and humidity. It has been slightly muggy the past few days though. We've been trucking through school, handling lots of poor, overworked children. The days are slowly but surely getting crossed off of the calendar. Here's the count: 5 weeks until mud festival, 6 weeks until Thailand and 11 weeks until we leave Korea for good (New Zealand and Africa here we come!!). It's so close yet so far at the same time! I know that it will be upon us before we know it.
We had another Wednesday holiday last week and decided to go into Seoul and bike down the Han River. It was such a blast. I haven't ridden a bike in so long! The day was sunny and warm and pretty perfect. Unfortunately David didn't bring his camera, so we have no documentation of it.
Last night we went to a Noraebang (singing room) with a bunch of our friends. It's basically a room you go into and sing karaoke for an hourly rate. It was so much fun, belting out Evanescence, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas. :) No one cares how you sound, so you just kinda let it all go. My ears really felt it after an hour of David and Steve singing :p
Today is the first day of Korea's participation in the World Cup. Everyone is geared up here with their "Red Devils" soccer jerseys. It's kinda cool to be in a country that has so much team spirit about the World Cup. I hope they get far!
Well, that's about all for now! I'm going to go and enjoy the remainder of our rainy Saturday.