Friday, January 20, 2012

sister winter...

winter camp has been "officially" over for about 20 minutes. we are still here, but the awards have been given, certificates handed out...and i have posted the last few photos. success.

i forgot to mention in my last post that we had some excitement this camp. some students believed they were on the set of prison break and tried to escape from camp. two kids actually made it home before they were sent back. remember, we are out in the countryside.

okay. more later. the bus is leaving!


Monday, January 16, 2012

listen, the snow is falling...

hello dear friends and faithful readers! i had many not-so-subtle demands to write more often. i fully intended to write after my first week of winter camp, but, alas, it did not happen.

winter camp at my school is basically a three-week English course. we are given a thrown-together book of curriculum for six different subjects and told that this book will help them learn English. we teach one homeroom class of the same level bible, reading/writing, english/grammar, social studies, science, and conversation. thankfully, we have one forty-minute period break every day while they have art/p.e./music class alternating everyday. let me tell you, i am thankful we change classes in secondary. being in the same room with the same students, although i have really great ones, is a looooong day, for them AND for me.

oh gosh. we are taking "finals" today (yeah, after two weeks). i just woke a kid up who fell asleep during the science test and he actually had drooled on his paper. awesome.

hilarious-quote-of-the-weekend #34: yesterday, i played soccer with some of the boys. i think i had just kicked the ball, and as easily impressed as they are (because most girls don't play), one of the younger boys looked up at me with awe and said, "teacher, you are the strongest woman in the world".

our p.e. teachers this week decided to teach ultimate frisbee (!!) during p.e. class, sparking interest in the students. also, the first week of camp, we had frozen snow on our dirt field, so none of the boys wanted to play soccer. thus, every single day during free time, i got to play ultimate frisbee with a fairly large group of students. this is remarkable, being the first time i have actually played ultimate in korea, not just throwing a disc. some of them are really good too! i want to train them up to form an ultimate army :)

we have seen snowfall twice, although besides a few patches, it hasn't stuck around for long. the admin put us up in a lovely pension - also remarkable, considering the dirty motel we had to stay in last time i went to camp. this pension is about 3-4 times the size of my studio in bucheon, clean (which is rare in korean housing), and nice. we have had some game nights there in our "nook" - yeah. my bathroom even has a claw-foot bathtub. seriously!

my week in america for the holidays was so lovely. it was great to see everyone, although the time was short. i have to grade some tests now (we have six today!), but i really, really will try to write more frequently in 2012!

here are some photos from the last few weeks.