Halloween Party

On Friday we had our annual Halloween Party, complete with the scare room, decorations and games. It was a hit. In fact, these parties have become so popular that many kids brought friends and siblings as well, making an hour block with 80 kids in to over a 100. While I like that these parties have become so popular, all the extra kids meant that all the games we had planned became difficult, if not impossible to do (50 kids in a classroom who don't speak a lot of English is just chaos). Some serious improvising managed to get us to the six o'clock block (when the herd thinned out) but needless to say we were all quite tired (six consecutive scare room showings followed by a game with fifty or so 3rd and 4th grades can be exhausting..... and it does wonders for your voice). For anyone not familiar, the scare room is a room we cover over and make pitch black, we then have a few decorations (this years theme was a graveyard). We then lead the kids in and then jump out and scare the hell out of them. Most of them freak out and then lights go on and I take off my mask and they laugh. We had a few cryers, but even they get happy when I take my mask off and give them a candy (but they're terrified until I take it off, even when the lights are on). I should mention it was a yellow and red Mexican wrestling mask Geoff brought me from mexico. However,  the highlight for me was when a few of my middle school students decided they wanted to help me jump out and scare everyone in the scare room. I wasn't sure if the older kids actually enjoy the Halloween party or if they just want to eat candy and watch the Simpsons, but when they were as excited as the little ones and really getting in to it I had my answer, and was happy with it :) However, it ended on a bit of a sour note with the big boss talking to the Korean teachers, and he seemed upset about something (what I don't know). Not sure why it couldn't have waited until Monday but I guess it's not my place to worry about it (and if a few of those kids who came to the party decide to enrol I bet the higher up's will be very happy :)

I'll post pics on facebook later for anyone interested.

After work I was exhausted so the three of us just grabbed a convenience store beer together and then went our separate ways. I was boring and just went home to watch a movie called Seven Years in Tibet. Not a bad film (actually I quite enjoyed most of it) but really took a political tone towards the end and it was, well lets say somewhat one sided in it's views on the Dalai Lama (though I in no way condone Mao Zedong or his fanatics did in 1950-1951, or what the Chinese government has done against the Tibetan culture and people in years since, it should have been mentioned in the interests of fairness that Tibet had been a part of China for almost 400 years at that point, so it was not the invasion comparable to Nazi Germany's actions as the film suggests). Anyway, a great film for the relations between Pitt's character and the Dalai Lama if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Getting Ready for Halloween

following in our Hagwan's tradition we are doing another halloween party. Last year, with four teachers we managed to do three separate rooms. This year, with only three teachers, we decided to make the hallway/scare room in to one big haunted house and keep the entertainment room, complete with games and Simpson's halloween specials going back to when I was the age of these students (many many years ago.....). The scare room is now in the graveyard section and I'm hoping that we can really get the younger kids. Either way I'll post a lot more after it's done.

I also managed to sneak out last night to my favourite Japanese place. It has a name but we just call it the Nagasaki noodle house (that being the dish we usually order as our main). Unlike most other Japanese restaurants in Korea, this one is authentically Japanese (no kimchi udon, gimbap or soju on the menu) and so is a nice change from the Korean fare (though I should mention that I happen to love Korean food, that being one of the nicest surprises about moving here).

Anyway off to shower and bed, I have some children to terrify tomorrow.

this week

well I'm still really new to this whole blog thing, so I'm just going to fill up with what I've been doing this week and see how it goes.

With winter here on the peninsula it is again flu season, complete with Korean kids who don't seem to ever want to cover their mouths no matter what is coming outta there. The result: I have managed to get sick on successive weekends. It was kinda nice just relaxing and watching Supernatural all weekend, but with the really cold weather coming in we only have a few weekends left so I was hoping for another road trip, maybe to Andong. Geoff and I had also planned to go to Gwangju last weekend, but of course it was not to be.

Of course the other side to spending last weekend at home is that we got to spend it on my new bed. It was one of my requests when I renewed and so far I'm more than happy with it. For anyone who has not been to my place, it's sort of what you'd imagine a hobbit ghetto to look like (but it's free, so I can't complain) but that means that having a new piece of furniture in there is great, especially when I plan to spend eight hours a day on it. It also replaces a very old, sagging mattress that was okay for one, but impossible for two.

Finally, there's been a few big changes at work. One of our oldest Korean teachers, Michelle, decided to leave last week. Unofficially I hear it's because she was getting passed over for promotions, raises etc. and was not happy about it. Also, they are changing the curriculum around and all the teachers seem really stressed. What really bothers me though, is that she didn't bother to say goodbye to any of us (I mean, we did work together for a year). We just showed up on Monday morning and she wasn't there. When Jiny left (another teacher that was there a long time) it was big goodbye's, phone number exchanges etc. The personnel and curriculum changes are making for a stressful few months but overall I am pretty happy with our SEI, especially given how the teachers at the other one are being treated. I'll spare everyone Bobby's saga, but it's enough to make anyone angry (and does). Another big change coming up is Sterling leaving at the end of November. It's strange for me both in that he's been there a year already and that it's been a year since Kris and Miranda left Korea. He's a good guy but he is not being replaced (part of the changes means less native teacher classes) so it will just be two of us from now on.

Finally, my favourite Korean student quote for today: when describing how someone appeared she said: "you look humourous"

My very first blog :)

Well after two years of living in Korea I figured I might as well start my own blog. I know I really enjoy reading Stephanie and David’s blogs (both of whom are now in China) so I thought I would imitate them (the highest form of flattery right) and make this. Stay tuned for updates.