Every month our schedules change and this month I'm especially busy. I thought my long days were over after our Summer Intensive courses were finished. WRONG! I picked up two additional classes this month which means I work my kindie classes in the morning, as always, and then from 3-9 straight Monday, Wednesday, Friday and 3-7:30 straight on Tuesday and Thursdays. Now, this may not sound that bad...but when you're working with kids it seems like F-O-R-E-V-E-R. haha
I now have another beginner's class and they are equally as cute as my last class (which moved up a level to another teacher. I was very sad to hear this!). I also have another semi-beginner class that started with four students and now is up to six students. They are impossibly quiet and it is so hard to work with students who don't talk!!! I just don't know if they don't get it or if they're shy or if I just plain scare them! And then I got the smartest students at ECC in one class. And wow, are they intimidating. They are between the ages of 13-16 (American age) and are studying for the TOEFL. You should see their workbooks. I can barely understand what the articles about! Good thing I get the teacher's manual...haha! They are kind of lazy with their work, as all teenagers are, but they are really fun. I just haven't figured out how to discipline them if they don't do their homework. You can't really threaten them by taking away points and stickers...
And now for the drama... Recently, there was a huge news story in Seoul about Americans and Canadians coming to Korea to smoke weed and do drugs. I tried looking it up on the Korea Herald, the English newspaper for foreigners, but they didn't have anything about it. Hmmmm...wonder why... Anyways, the news said that Korea has become the "new Thailand" and that all the Americans and Canadians do in Korea is party party party and take drugs. Apparently, one American got caught with weed and is in loads of trouble...and it just trickled down to all North Americans are potheads. My friend, Luc, was actually stopped by an old Korean man because he has a Canadian flag patch on his backpack. This is how apparently how the conversation went:
Old Man: Hey. I know what you're doing. (Pointing at Luc's cigarette)
Luc: (Totally confused) What??
Old Man: I know what you do. (Pointing at the cigarette and making a smoking weed gesture)
Luc: Ummm. Yeah. Smoking?
Old Man: I wouldn't tell anyone you're from Canada.
Well, in Korea, if there's a negative story like that, it seems like EVERYONE believes it. When we had a work meeting, our boss had to cover the rules and regulations about drug use as ordered from YBM Headquarters as a result of this news story.
I always feel safe in Korea, no matter where I am. Well, actually, the most unsafe place I feel would be in Itaewan...but even then, it's not even that bad. Anyways, apparently the other week two Korean girls were attacked, raped, and murdered in Hongdae, the district with lots of night clubs where my friends and I go on the weekends. Their bodies were found in a small, dark, side-street. Apparently, a Korean man posed as a taxi driver and the girls got in. So, now there are loads of police officers patrolling the streets of Hongdae. It's just so strange to me that something like this happened in Korea! Everyone was pretty shocked by it too.
Okay, now on to some lighter news! My friend from college, May, is visiting me this weekend and I'm super excited to see her! She is currently in her second year teaching English near Osaka, Japan. She's coming on Saturday and staying until Sunday. We wanted to go to the DMZ on Sunday but my co-worker is getting married that day (she didn't give out invitations until last week, which is typical). But I am definitely going to take her to HO Bar and to a restaurant that serves my favorite Korean dish (so far) called jjimdak. YUM-O! I just hope I feel better by then!
Yesterday and today, I haven't been feeling well. I think it's a mixture of allergies and cold. Today, I really wasn't feeling well at all and my boss was concerned and told me to go to the doctor. I really felt that I didn't need to see one but she insisted. She took me to the doctor's office during our break between morning and afternoon classes. Luckily, the doctor's office is really close. We get there and the doctor's are out for lunch from 1-2 (it was 1:55 when we arrived). We got registered and literally signed our names on a list to be seen. We were number 4. Well, after waiting a whole 10 minutes, we went in to the doctor's OFFICE. Not an examination room but an office. Cindy told him my symptoms and it wasn't until after I said a had a little bit of a scratchy throat that he finally did something to me...stuck a metal tongue depresser in my mouth and took a look. Then he gave me a presciption and told me stay away from air conditioners. He never took my temperature, blood pressure, weight, height, etc. The the visit with him was about 5 minutes. We leave his office and pay the cost...which was a whopping 3,400 won. Then we go to the pharmacy next door to pick up my medicine. I get 6 packets of 4 pills. I'm supposed to take a packet of pills twice a day for three days. I was thinking, "Wow, all these pills for just a common cold?" For my drugs, I had to pay a whole 4,000 won. Very different from the States, that's for sure! Apparently dental and eye examinations are also very cheap. Excellent.
