Summer Camp

The five reasons I LOVE English camp…

1. Three hour work days. During winter and summer camp I only have to work for three hours from 9am to 12pm leaving the rest of the day free for me to explore Seoul, meet up with friends or just go home and sleep if I want to! Woohoo!

2. Small class sizes. The most students I’ve had in any one class for camp is fifteen. So half the size of a regular class. Soooooo much better!

3. No stupid textbook! Unlike regular classes, I don’t have to teach from a textbook and although the teachers get together before hand to allocate general topics and decide what each person will be teaching, it’s much more free reign than normal. This means lessons are much more fun and exciting and the students (and MYSELF!) are more interested and engaged in the lesson.

4. Teaching alone. Now don’t get me wrong, I ADORE my co-teachers and I have so much fun teaching with them BUT teaching alone brings with it so much more responsibly and challenge and I need this in my job. The lack of these things is what I find most difficult in Korea, even above the language and cultural barriers and missing loved ones from home. Teaching alone makes me feel like a real teacher again and it reignites my one main passion in life- teaching and inspiring children.

5. Building good relationships with the children. For me, good relationships with the children you teach is the most important part to get right. This needs to be in place first before the children can learn anything from you.  Children need to know that they can trust their teacher and that their teacher values them and cares about them as a person not just the learning they do in the lesson that’s being taught. At home it was the part of the job I did best and I miss having that closeness with my own class. I have built some good relationships throughout the year but it’s taken a long time and it’s been difficult due to numerous factors such as seeing the students only once or twice a week, having hundreds of them to get to know, the language barrier and of course the fact that to them I’m the ‘foreign’ teacher. Camp is a really nice way to get to know the kids on a personal level and for them to get to know me. Small groups of kids that I see every day for three weeks. I always feel so attached to them by the time the three weeks is up. Having those good relationships is the thing I love most about teaching because it’s when you have that that you know that you can inspire them and encourage them in whatever way they need. That’s when  you can make a difference and that’s why I’m a teacher.  So although it’s not quite like that all of the time here, I’m glad I get to have it for a least a few weeks of the year :)

Enough free drinks to sink a ship!

So the latest Hongdae night involved us going to a singles' event in which we had to wear an appropriately coloured wrist band upon entry- the idea being to get chatting to other singles and for the hopeless romantics out there, 'find love.' Probably not gonna happen at a Hongdae singles' event though. Just saying. Needless to say, it was the free entry with free cocktails for one hour that enticed us. 'Too good to be true,' I hear you say but, no, it was just as wonderful as it sounds. To say we went a little crazy with the drinks would be a bit of an understatement...

Beginning the night at our favourite Soju cocktail place across the road

Single, single, single, not so single, taken

With CuPIG

That bar did not know what had hit it with us lot!

Strategic drinking... the clock was ticking...

An additional after time freebie for filling out a questionnaire and another for having "the same face as the Korean barmaid!" Alrighty then. Not gonna argue! 

Still in tact despite the large quantities of alcohol that had been consumed by this point! WINNING! 

A little bit of mud never hurt anybody

The weekend after the teachers' retreat saw my return back to Daechon Beach but this time for a very different reason.  Mud.  Yes, that's right, mud.  Mud glorious mud! It was Boryeong's 13th anuual mud Festival and Melisa, Katie and I decided to go along and check it out with almost every other foreigner in Korea.  The mud is  taken from Boryeong mud flats and is taken by truck to the beach area.  The mud is considered rich in minerals and used to manufacture cosmetics.

We eventually arrived at the beach after a stressful start (we missed our train and had to wait a while for the next one) and made our way to 'Mud Experience Land' which was nothing quite like anything I have ever seen before.  Think a cross between a park/ playground/ theme-park full of inflatables and fun looking things but everything and everyone covered in mud and that's exactly what it was like. Within second of arriving at the hub we were covered head to toe within minutes. Our plan of 'not getting our hair muddy' (because we were travelling back to Seoul later that night) went to pot within seconds of entering the 'Mud Prison.'  But we didn't care.  It was just so much fun!

After playing in the mud we cleaned off in the sea and relaxed for a bit on the beach and made the most of the beautiful weather.

After that our luck was in because we got a free dinner thanks to the overnight trip our friends had booked.

Later we walked along the beach to collect our things and headed to the 'shower block' which looked more like a 'torture chamber before making our way back to Seoul.

Mud Experience Land

Mud Inflatables

Getting muddy

Mud Prison

Very muddy

Daecheon Beach

Drying off in the sun

Free dinner thanks to these boys

Shower block AKA torture chamber

Nothing surprising about this at this festival

We had such a brilliant day! It was one of my favourite days in Korea so far! Who knew mud could be so much fun!

Teachers' Seaside Retreat

I had a wonderful time when I went with the teachers from my school on an overnight retreat to Daecheon Beach, Boryeong.  Despite the pouring rain I had lots of fun exploring Boryeong and getting to know some of the other teachers at the school.  Before the trip I was a little worried about how the weekend would pan out.but I needn't have worried.  Everyone was so lovely as always and I made lots of new friends with some of the younger teachers that I haven't had chance to speak to much before. All in all, a very successful trip!  

On the way to Gae Sim Temple.  A difficult walk to say the least!

With Jiyeon at Gae Sim Temple

Entrance to Hae Mi Eup Fortress

Trying on traditional Korean clothing (hanbok)

Work chingus!

Dinner #1 : Sushi and Sashimi

Colleagues getting tipsy!

Soju making the rounds thanks to Yuseon

Noreabang fun

Dinner #2: Seafood

Rainy Daecheon Beach

Wrong kind of umbrellas for the beach but on the beach nonetheless! 

Speaking Test Gems of the Day

This morning I had to do speaking tests with my lovely grade six classes.  And as always, they did not fail to deliver... in making me smile I mean.

The best mistakes, bless these kids, went a little something like this:

Me: Which season is your favourite?

Student #1: Yellow.

Me: Which season is your favourite?

Student #2: Cake.

Me: Which season is your favourite?

Student #3: Grandmother.

Me: What do you want to be (when you're older)?

Student #4: Puppy.

Me: What do you want to be (when you're older)?

Student #5: Different woman. (She meant diplomat. Bless. At least she was closer to being on the ball.) 

Now imagine trying to keep a straight face hearing those answers.  I was dying inside! I absolutely ADORE these kids! Can't wait to see what tomorrow's speaking tests bring...