December 16th, 2008
Day 41 Monday
Class at the middle school was cancelled (there might have been fire training? Everyone was gathering at the gym). Not much to do today...
授業
started to make a video about personalities.. took pretty long for being only 1 minute short.
Day 42 Tuesday
Walking around today. Finished the video. Still need to think about what to do exactly tomorrow. D:
授業
We sang „My Bonnie is over the ocean“ with ES today, and taught vocabs about personality to MS. Asked them to describe some friends and what kind of people they like. Time went by fast in both classes (good).
Day 44 Thursday
I felt very bad today. In the morning, my head hurt and was spinning, and I almost couldn't swallow anything. I tried not to sleep until lunch (Seon Gap told me it's bad), but I was really tired, so I slept maybe an hour (by the way, I overslept this morning and woke up because Seon Gaps phone was ringing... he usually sleeps until I call him, hahaha). At lunch I was pretty hungry, so I tried to swallow. Samonim gave me a huge glass with ginger slices, by the way (for tea).
After lunch, I slept some more and woke up because my phone was ringing.
I went downstairs at quarter past 5, only to meet Seon Gap, who told me that today there was no class because everyone was building and preparing for Saturday (there are a lot more people here than in the past weeks). I accidentally spilled some ginger tea on my laptop :((
It seems it isn't hurt, but the ants will come... I know it. I've been trying to erase them all throughout my stay here, but I keep on seeing them. And now... do ants like ginger?
So actually it's dinner time (I'm not really hungry because I didn't do much today, but I know I will be very hungry in 2 hours), but there's nothing prepared downstairs, and it doesn't look like there will be anytime soon (and noone tells me anything), so I guess I'll just wait here until someone tells either me or Seon Gap to come down.
At least I've prepared copies for the students tomorrow (actually for today).
The worst thing about how I feel right now, is that I sometimes will randomly lose my balance. I dun wanna fall down the stairs..
I wonder how saturday will be. They're not telling us beforehand (of course) so I'll just have to see. I hope I'll feel better by then, because right now I wouldn't have the nerve to deal with 300 people.
授業
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Day 45 Friday
No class as well today. Everyone is preparing for tomorrow.
I prefer the quiet mornings though... even if I have to teach kids then.
Just now my room has been declared to be used as the women's changing room tomorrow.. for the choir. Oh great. I'll try to put all my stuff away, but that is a very uncomfortable thought for me... strangers with my stuff... I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to mingle. I guess it can't be helped, but I don't like the whole thing... not knowing what will happen, a lot of people around here whom I don't know.. I'm just my cranky self right now.
And today is a grey day. A little later I will go for a walk (even though it was raining a little earlier), because sitting in this uncomfortable room all the time is making me go mad. I wish I had my own apartement right now... /sfz.
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Day 46 Saturday
So today was day X, so to speak. I woke up early and washed my hair and cleaned my room.. only to meet Seon Gap perfectly on time (8:30) who told me we'd have some rolls for breakfast. Actually he said bread. It turned out to be a small bag of sweet rolls and some sweet cream. I thought it was weird to put sweet cream into a bag of sweet rolls, but yeah... ate some of it. With it went milk, which of course I didn't drink. Told 'em a couple of times before, but oh well. 2 students turned up and ate most of the rolls. So basically no real breakfast. Then I went downstairs to maybe snatch a cup of coffee, but a lot of people were already doing stuff. So I fled again.
At around 10 o'clock I went downstairs. A lot of people were already walking about, and after standing around awkwardly for a while, I went into the building... and Samonim asked me if I wanted to help, and I said „uh, sure“ which sealed my fate. I put a lot of things on plates and peeled kam and stuff like that... at 11:30 quite some people were already eating lunch, even though the church service started at 11 and went until after 12 (I guess). I fled and walked around a bit... using searching for Seon Gap as an excuse. At around 2pm I was also allowed to eat something.. until then most was cold and that was when most people left. So no peaceful lunch for me. It didn't even taste so good.. the Tteok was bitter and the soup very hot and full of fish bones. The meat and jon was very cold (and the meat had too much fat). Everywhere stuff was lying around. Then we cleaned... and cleaned... and cleaned... at around 4 I fled again, to my room this time. Somewhere in the process I had received a towel of today.
I also had the conversation I sometimes read about... a woman was trying to talk to me, always asking in English, and I always answered in Korean (where are you from, what do you do here, how long have you been here..). At the end of the conversation, she asked me if I understood any Korean. .........
There were also 3 people (!) who randomly asked me where I was from, and when I said „tokil“ (I tried to speak Korean all the time) they said „ah, you're from Turkey!“ Oo
At 5 Seon Gap told me to come down for dinner... which was way too early. I couldn't eat much. But I know I'll be hungry at 8... what should I do? I could go buy some sweets for me, but then again, I don't really want to. Maybe I'll use taking over the glass with ginger pieces as an excuse to go to Samonim's house... but on the other hand, they probably want to spend the evening in peace for once, too. It's really uncomfortable that everything is so uncomfortable.
I'm longing for my own nice& clean home where I can sit on the couch and eat icecream or cereals or fruits whenever I feel like it..
Day 47 sunday
The night was horrible. I kinda upset my stomach, so I felt like vomiting the whole night, meaning only about 4hours sleep (I looked at the clock at 3 and 6 am). I thought we'd get some free time, but at lunch, Moksanim told me I'd have to teach the Mokpo kids again (seems to have been ad hoc), so I did, even though I felt very sick. Then Moksanim shoved us all into the car (I didn't even get it at first) and we went to a small island close to Mokpo and ate Nakji (living octopus) there. 2 hours driving there. I was in the backseat of the van and spent the whole time trying to concentrate on not vomiting. I think it was the meat on saturday...
When we went back I was already pretty down... and Cheui kept on pulling my hair and spitting on me... and her brother kicked me... and it was cold and I felt sick and tired and I knew I had to prepare class on monday... so we arrived at 8pm and I basically just fell into bed.
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Day 48 Monday
We went to eat Han-u (korean cow) today. Even though I would have loved just to stay here. We also visited another center (kongbu-pang) which will have a foreign teacher in January. They ignored me the whole time. But they had a cat.
The meat was nice... I tried not to eat too much, now that I started to feel better. They told me it cost 100k Won, and in Seoul the same amount of food would be at least 400k Won. Oo;
When we came back, Seon Gap and me had about 20 minutes to prepare something for the middle school.. well, I basically let him do all the work (it was the first time for him to introduce all the vocabs to the students there, and I think he finally noticed that it isn't so easy.. but he did better than I would have xD) which was mean of me, but I felt like dropping on the ground.
授業
Drew a map in the evening and made the MS ask each other how to get somewhere. They had a lot of fun, even extending the class time.
Day 49 Tuesday
I finally feel ok again.
In the morning, there was a pastor-ess (?) who is very nice, but she surprised me. Moksanim was about to tell Samonim we'd go somewhere today, because we finished breakfast early, but I „saved us“ (Seon Gap said) by saying that I was really tired and that we didn't have time to prepare anything yesterday. Then we fled.
Today is Bebbero Day, which is a treat like „Mikado“ in Germany. It's the 11th of November.. and it's still so warm... during the day I'm wearing long sleeves, but one doesn't really need a sweater.
I want a quiet day today.
授業
We'll sing „My Bonnie is over the ocean“ again, and teach directions again. But tomorrow... uhh. ^^“
Day 50 Wednesday
Seon Gap just told me we're going on a bike trip to Jindo tomorrow. I kinda thought it was saturday because he kept on saying „on the weekend“. Grr.
He also told me by the way that of course our classes will be cancelled (never mind I've already thought about it for some time). And it will be around 200km. Uhh... I tried to tell him that I'm untrained... : /
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Day 31 Friday
Not much to do for me today- we did some calligraphy in the morning (I'm so bad at that) and then I tried to fix my computer, which was being weird.
I made the mistake to show the kids that I possess a DS and a laptop (some days ago, they just came into my room and saw). And well... they're kids... and I happen to be in love with my laptop and my DS.. yeah, I'm a sucker for technical stuff. Nice and expensive technical stuff. So right now I'm trying to fend of Min-u, who keeps on demanding (!) my DS. It's just... no! I want to use it for the next few years!
There's only 1 class in the evening, and Seon Gap wanted to do something, which I don't know. He went walking and generally being absent, so I can't ask. Dinner is in half an hour, maybe he'll tell me then?
I also went for a walk, took a pic of the temple.. and met Haeim's father, who asked me where I was going. I said „for a walk“ which seemed to explain everything. (oh my, they're destroying the room next to mine..)
Another Korean I met asked me the same... it was like a normal conversation. I felt pretty good.
But it's gotten cold. I'm glad to be back here.
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Day 32 Saturday
Somehow Samonim seems to have lost a little of her get-up-early spirit, meaning, when I got there at 8:40 (actually they told me to be there at 8:30) she just started cooking, instead of having it all done, like the first two weeks. Haha. Well, getting up a little later is fine by me..
Since then, Seon Gap is gone. I guess he's using the computer downstairs, because he wrote a weird comment in Lisa's facebook account.. Oô
I have no idea what's going to happen today.
Yesterday we watched a movie (get smart) together, with Haeim and Songbini.. it got really late, because we started to watch it at 8 (only Seon Gap and me) but had to stop halfway through because the other two arrived, so we had to install a different player to play the subtitles. Sôn Gap told me later that he didn't understand a thing without the subtitles (why didn't he say so?!).
So this morning I stole a banana, so to speak. I need more fruit.
By the way, did I ever write down that the men here wear handbags? And they even look like handbags (a european man wouldn't be caught dead with a real handbag xD). I've even seen a teenaged couple that matched their handbags (that brown caro stuff, gucci?).
授業
No class on sunday, Moksanim said! Ya~y!
Day 33 Sunday
What did we do? Ah yes, it was a little different today. After lunch after the service, we all got some gloves and started cleaning up the church. Which means, the girls had to clean up all the plants here.. we ripped out so much. 오매. The whole thing took maybe 3 hours?
We also found a lot of garbage in the plants. All the plants, garbage and whatever we found, and everything that was in the church that they didn't need anymore was piled up and burnt on tuesday. Even plastic and glass and...
Haeim's sister was here again, who doesn't speak English, but is very nice.
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Day 34 Monday
Went to Jindo and visited ruins. They were nice.
Jibsanim had „something to do at home“ and didn't come today, so Samonim cooked a sparse lunch, and we went out for dinner.
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At school half our class didn't show up because of a Hancha exam. At the center, there were only 3 MS, 2 of them Hanbin and Yujin (his best friend, I finally learned his name). We talked about making food, and I let them write their own recipes.
Day 35 Tuesday
Today there's supposed to be some gas delivered. Which means... warm water! Finally! It would be like a dream come true... ^^ No, of course not, but a nice warm shower would be the greatest at the moment. Because it gets really cold at night.
Today, there seems to be a problem with the internet connection. It's there and then it's gone. Which is annoying. I hope it'll get better soon? It's my way outside, after all.
I also did some laundry. And cleaning. My hands seem to have suffered a lot, they're all raw.. :/
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Day 36 Wednesday
We cooked at the middle school. I made Eierkuchen again. They want me to open a Korean bank account, which I don't want.
I didn't feel good today; dizzy. Samonim will talk to the headmaster tomorrow.
授業
Class at middle school wasn't really class today. I hope they liked it.
In the evening we had only 4 students and taught them in/ on/ at and read the remaining recipes. The recipes seemed to be difficult for them. We helped a lot. It is very weird that there is a huge gap in English skill between the students. The bad ones can hardly read a single word, the good ones can even understand pretty complicated structures.
How on earth do teachers deal with that every day? And with kids, generally?
Day 37 Thursday
dunno
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We made a story together, with the MS. Everyone made on sentence. It was pretty funny, and time went by... well, in no time. The story was about superheroes. We had Superman, who turned out to be Batman (but a fake one), the real Batman, Wonderwoman, Catwoman, The Wondergirls (a pop band here)... oh, and Superman's mom, because he was only 9. And in the end, everyone died. Of course.
Day 38 Friday
Class was cancelled for this day; I thought a lot about next week's class (characters).
Seon Gap had to work on the outdoor-toilet. I think it's a little mean that Moksanim just assumes he is going to help them build it. I mean, he's a teacher here...
I don't have to help because I'm a girl (I guess). So I tried to do some classroom work for Seon Gap instead. But I was still a little bored...
I researched „Halloween“ (because today was October 31st) and printed out the Korean description (pretty short). A little later I did handicraft work with Chiin, Songbin, Yujin, Haeim and Jibsanim (ghosts, witches, cats, pumpkins...) which they liked (I guess). But basically, I was bored.
In the evening I got pretty upset, so I went out for a walk (9:30?) and returned 2 hours later to a worried Seon Gap („It's so late!“) and we talked for a while.
Actually we wanted to ride bikes through Jindo this weekend, but Moksanim said „no“. Which is kinda mean. Instead, we're going to get some freetime overnext weekend. How nice.
Went to bed at 12.
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Day 39 Saturday
We got up earlier today, and at 7:45 we got on two bikes (one was Haeim's and the other belonged to a student). Next stop was the garage next to the church, to fix the other bike's tire. They were really friendly, and it turned out that the boss over there is the father of a student (I remembered the man, but not whose father he is..) so he invited us to coffee.
Then we started going over to Jindo- it was pretty cool (in both ways) and fun, but also pretty tiring for me (no sports for 2 years...). We went over the bridge, but then we had to turn around, because it was 8:30. We were back at 8:47, which is a good time, I guess. Then we ate breakfast (I wondered why Samonim made so much- I should find out only little later). It was very warm. We started stamping the ground around the newly build outdoor-toilet, and Jibsanim and Kim Sonsaengnim started to spray the ground with water. I had to take off my pullover. Then the cement arrived. After the first car I also worked, evening out the cement... omae, that was quite hard work. Just walking through the (occasionally over) ankle-high cement, wielding the heavy shovel.. I got blisters on my left hand. Then Jibsanim told me to stop working (Samonim and Haeim didn't do anything either, so I guess it was ok). That was after the 8th car, maybe? All in all they needed 11 cars full of cement. We started at around 11 and finished after 3. In the meanwhile it got really cold.
I've invited Seon Gap and Haeim to hot chocolate, so to speak.. Samonim gave a litre of milk to Seon Gap and me (it's quite expensive here) and I thought we'd take it over and heat up some, and steal some cocoa... >: D
Would be good, what with the weather right now. Unfortunately we'll have to climb over to Moksanim's house because of the wet cement. But really, I understand why he wanted to have us (well... Seon Gap) here: It was really hard work. I couldn't have done a quarter of the work that Haeim's father did...
I put the papers from yesterday on the board, together with the print about Halloween. Maybe some student will read it..
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Day 40 Sunday
No work today!! The cement has also dried overnight.
After lunch today, I got a call, so I was pretty happy. Then we surprisingly went to Haenam, where some kids had an additional exam. In the meantime, Haeim, Seon Gap, Kimsonsaengnim and me went to a traditional tea house, which was very nice. I drank jujube tea (soo good). I also found the time to go through a gift shop, buying a christmas gift for my mother and my sister. I'm going to bring an octopus for my boyfriend and my mother's friend. ^^ The exam took 2 hours, and then we took the kids out for (sweet potato) pizza. That was at around 4 in the afternoon. Now it's seven and I can tell I'm going to be hungry at around 9. Oh well. Pizza was a nice change.
The car was incredibly full... 15 people?
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Day 21 Tuesday
We went to the festival again... just to have lunch there, as I found out. We had Chinese, which is quite different from the Chinese food I know from home. First, it was a black sauce, that looked quite scary. Second, it was rather sweet than hot. The Chinese food I know has a lot of vegetables, but this one had onion and mushroom and some kind of (very little) meat. And the always favorited noodles.
Moksanim always asks me whether I know something or not. So he asked whether I had ever eaten Chinese before and if I knew the noodles. He has also asked me whether I knew a navigation system, an mp3-player and cucumber before. But he thought it was normal that I could use chopsticks (a little). I'm always trying to explain how the world looks in Europe, but he smiles, nods, and gets nothing, I guess. I don't know how he imagines it.. I usually think the country will basically be the same. I've already known a great deal about Asia before I came here, so there aren't many big surprises waiting for me (sleeping and sitting on the floor, sea food, no foreigners...).
Did I ever mention that toilet paper is called „roll tissue“ here? I don't know if this is because they don't realize it's usual usage, or if the name has it's origin in emberassement. They have toilet paper everywhere here, on the table while eating, even in restaurants. A tissue.
授業
Tried to teach the alphabet to the ES. Quite annoying. They kept on screaming „We know! We know!“ but couldn't write „house“ or read „blue“ even though they could say the words. After I wrote blue I wrote another word and they were screaming color names. So they don't read at all, I suppose.
Gave the second text to the MS- I guess this one is a little too hard. We didn't get it through (but on the other hand Seon Gap talked a lot so we lost a lot of time. It was kind of annoying me a little. He might be motivated, but except for explaining, there shouldn't be so much Korean during English class) and will continue with it next time (thursday?).
Day 22 Wednesday
Nothing special today. Went downstairs for lunch and was picked up by Seon Gap, who said „oh, we're going out for lunch today. I was just going over.“
Why doesn't anyone bother to tell me anything?! Anyway, it was tasty. I keep on overeating here.... very, very bad.
授業
Were collecting vocabs relating to illnesses at the middle school today (injection, recipe, surgeon, sneeze..) and I think it was ok. I'm really getting out my acting skills and pantomime everything- even the English teacher, who was sitting in the back again, smiled. How emberrassing.
Day 23 Thursday
We're leaving for Mokp'o at around 7, because we're going to Taejon for the mid-workcamp meeting. Which is not really mid for us. More like less than ¼. Whatever. It will last until saturday, and then Seon Gap wants to visit a friend who lives in that city. He wants to stay until sunday. But Moksanim wants to bring students on sunday, which means we're going to start real early on sunday, so that we'll be able to teach them at around 1 pm. Uargh.
I'm also most likely going to sleep with Seon Gap and his friend in his friend's tiny apartement. Not so much fun.. but hey, I'm never going to see that guy again, right? I really don't want to spoil that for him.
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Day 27 Monday
The KTX took pretty long, but it was rather comfortable. Seon Gap and Moksanim were sleeping most of the time (Moksanim went on to Seoul). I lost one of my favorite earrings in the train, I guess. We were really early. I think we arrived between 10 and 11, but were supposed to meet the others at 2 pm. So I told Seon Gap „let's walk around“ and he ended up calling his friend (first he talked about him as though it was someone else, but I later learned that this was the one he had wanted to visit) who was studying at the time, because there was a really important exam on sunday. So we walked to the university and waited there, everyone staring at us. Then we met up with his friend, who lived in London as a child. He was really nice. And he invited us for lunch.
Then we went back to the train station and met the other volunteers, who were all really nice and great people. We took a bus and went to the Hill House, where we stayed until saturday. There were people from Canada, USA, England, Belgium, France, Germany (3), Finland, Czech Republic and Ukraine(2). I really think it was a kind of culture shock for Seon Gap, who had only seen 2 foreigner so far (me and Stephanie). He talked too much and too wrong.. and got drunk from one can of beer. We played paperball and talked a lot, and in the evening we had western style dinner, which was very Korean. But we got ice cream as dessert! And it was good nonetheless. Afterwards the IWO staff wanted us to discuss teaching, but since most of the other volunteers didn't have to do real teaching, that kind of failed. We just sat outside at night, which was really really cold, and talked. At night, the 15 of us slept in the house... and the ondol was broken, so we were being fried in our sleeps. Luckily I slept under the window, which I opened. From time to time there would be a breeze.
The next day there was cereal! And they brought some French rolls, which were pretty weird and very Korean. But it was good anyways. We went out for lunch and then went to have a „small picknick“ at the mountain.. I later learned, Seon Gap never knew what a picknick was. So he took it as „climbing a mountain“. I had to explain that to him.. because we just climbed the mountain and there was no picknick whatsoever and everyone made jokes about this. Then we had some pizza, which also was very Korean.. Seon Gap told me later that pizza is pretty expensive here („expansible“). It was chicken pizza (very hot), pork pizza (sweet-sour) and another one, and they gave us eingelegte cucumber with it as though it was the most normal thing in the world.
Then there was a small barbecue at night and the people drank a lot of alcohol. Well, actually not so much. I only tried a Korean beer on the first night, and a sip of Soju on the second. Both were.. not extraordinary. One of the Sergejs was juggling, and I tried it too. It's a lot of fun, and tonight I want to make some balls for me too. Maybe I'll learn it?
The night was slightly better. The next day was kind of sad, because we all grew together so much in the short time. Some stayed in Taejon at a host family, most went back, and Seon Gap and me went to the other side of the city. Like I had thought, he only called his friend that morning to tell him we'd stay with him for the night. But he was taking his exam, so naturally, he couldn't answer the phone. So we sat around in the heat with our backpacks and Seon Gap with his guitar. I asked him why we didn't go to his friend's place first to leave our stuff there and he was very surprised and said that this was a good idea, but we were already at the other end of the city because that's where the shuttle bus to the military festival started. His friend was done for after the exam (I thought so..) so we went there alone. It was really hot and the bus took 50 minutes. There were lots of people and lots of soldiers, oh my god. I got a mousepad, which is pretty practical for me. After ~2 hours we wanted to leave, but the bus was half an hour late and then we were told the next would leave at 9 o'clock and this one was full. After some talking, we were allowed to enter it.. but it was no normal bus, so we sat on the ground, which was very uncomfortable, for 40 minutes until some people exited.
Then we met his friend again, who again brought some other friend with him, who also studies medicine. We went to Taejon szene quarter, had some dinner, and then they treated us to beer. All the time I tried not to think about that I was dressed for climbing a mountain and had spent the day in heat .. and all the people around us were dressed up for the evening. Anyway, we slept at the friend's apartment, which was actually very nice. He had to go to a wedding the next day, so we left early and had to wait 2 hours until our train. After we arrived in Mokpo, we had to take a bus to the train station and then one to Usuyeong.. all in all it cost me 20000won, which I actually don't have...
When we arrived here, I was so so tired and fed up with the world, because Seon Gap was also being his dull self. It was 12:58 when we arrived, and then immediatly I had to entertain 3 kids from Mokpo and teach them some English. At 1 pm. Actually, Seon Gap was supposed to be there also, but he just left. I was pretty angry. Then Moksanim sat there and the kids demanded ice cream (at the end of the lesson, but they had complained about no snacks the whole time) and when Una brought some, I got one too (thank you!). I told him that this was my lunch, and he laughed it off like a small funny joke. I know he simply didn't understand the simple sentence, but I was really angry about it. I spent the rest of the day trying to calm down and relax, which mostly failed. I counted the minutes until dinner. Then it was postponed until 7 pm. Seon Gap made some stupid comments and I was ready to kill him.. I had prepared the lessons for MS here at the center and I've got some notes for the lesson at the school.
This morning I asked him if he had prepared something and he said yes. We were sitting at the breakfast table and Moksanim and Samonim were listening. Then, a while later, (I was happy he had done something) I asked what exactly he had prepared. He said (in a low voice) „nothing“. At that time, Moksanim and Samonim weren't listening. I feel angry again.
I mean, I'm even sharing the money with him, shouldn't he do the same work as me?
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Day 28 Tuesday
Made 3 balls for juggling, Seon Gap too... well, YuJin made them for him. She's pretty good at sewing and doing such precise things. Samonim treated us to Koguma again, which was nice, but I would have preferred an apple...
I miss to be able to eat whatever I want whenever I want. :/
授業
Did the rest of the text about suicide with the MS. Played with the ES by throwing a ball, and everyone had to shout out the number (1,2,3..). We got until 118.
I gave the MS the homework to look up an article in Wikipedia (they didn't know the page) and then switch to English and try to read it again. There is a Korean Wikipedia, but it is rather new, and has few entries, and since the page is built for them to use, I thought this would introduce it nicely. I use the switching option a lot, because sometimes one can get more info in another language. Haha. Go me, who can read 2 languages almost fluently... maybe? At least one. I hope.
Day 29 Wednesday
Nothing special.. in the evening we had „Kimpap“, which is hot sushi. The 6th graders made it, as I learned. It was pretty good.. there were only few people today, I asked why and was told everyone went home early. Dunno if there was any special reason, maybe just one wanted to leave and two friends accompanied him, and then two others went along and so on.. we were maybe 9? Usually there's around 30-40 people? Seon Gap, Haeim, Jibsanim and me. I talked to Jibsanim again- it's pretty good exercise. I understand her (and also Samonim) way better than Seon Gaps (or Moksanims) Korean. Why? I don't know. Maybe they're actually trying to use simple words.
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Middle school: showed them a short movie clip (food court musical) and made them tell us everything they understood, explained some vocabs and made a dialogue at a restaurant together. Then they prepared a dialogue with a partner and we listened to it. The English teacher was sitting in class, and he told us later that we did really good today. I was really happy because actually, we hadn't prepared anything. x)
Day 30 Thursday
This morning was pretty fun. A former student of Moksanim came by, he's really shy, but I talked 'at' him. Haha. Then Haeim came and brought some Kam, which we ate- very delicious. I love them. The student fled before she came. Samonim bought some Thermotherapy© cushions and we heated up 2. Then Moksanim and Seon Gap started to take apart a small shed that was standing around innocently and widely ignored until now. Samonim and Haeim exchanged some gossip (about some teacher..?) and then Jibsanim arrived. The also ate some Kam (and made me eat one of the older ones, like the ones we get in Europe) and I gave her the second warm cushion. Haeim and I tried to talk a little again (she understands half of what I say, and I understand half of what she says, but at least there's something that overlaps) and I asked her how to spell Shikhye (say: Shi-ke), which is 식혜 and explains why I didn't find it on Wikipedia before. Then she used a really cute expression and said „수정과 [Sujong-gwa] is a friend of 식혜.“ So I looked it up as well. ^^ There even was a page in German! So now it's past 11 and almost lunch time again... recently we often spend the mornings as leisurely as that. I wonder why we have to get up so early to be lazy? But anyway, yesterday the best friend of Samonim's first son (names...) showed me what he learned from me so far: the word 'anyway'. Haha. Well, at least it's something. I'm happy if in my time here, I can teach a handful of new vocabs and especially how to use them (e.g. not saying „nice to meet you“ randomly..). And maybe introduce some new useful things (like the webpage Wikipedia).
I also keep on catching tiny ants in my room, even thought I've cleaned it thoroughly a few times now. Grr.
It also seems to be normal in Korea to draw a lot on the board. I always thought O-Sonsêngnim just had her own style, but everyone seems to do it here. Drawing random lines, only one quotation mark, no points at the end of a sentence, points at the end of a single word...
授業
We taught the ES the weekdays today, and made them draw a „plan“, with a picture next to the day's English name. It worked surprisingly well, and they were all quiet all the time!
It took the whole lesson. I guess we'll have them draw more often?
The MS learned how to use a dictionary today. I think they needed it...
Day 15 Wednesday
This morning, they changed the time for lunch again. And no one ever bothers to tell me about any of this. Grah. Oh well, not that important. I slept most of the time until class began.
At middle school, the headmaster and the English teacher made me have a contract with the school... but I think I mustn't work. I didn't sign anything, so I don't know whether this is valid or not... I told Seon Gap, and that I will talk to Moksanim about it, because it is pretty hard to make myself understandable to the headmaster and the English teacher. I want them to only list Seon Gap. This way, I will have no trouble... I don't understand this anyway, I don't expect any money here, but they insist.
They told me they will give me 60 000 Won(~32,84€) per week, which would be great, but that Seon Gap will only get 30 000 Won. I told him that I want it split in 45 000 Won (~24,63€) for each one of us. I think this is also in his favour.
Anyway, I was pretty shaken up, because I'm not a teacher and I don't want to do work that I can't do. And then the English teacher told me he wanted to sit in our class again and that we should have more dialogue... all in all I was so nervous. But fortunately, he left us alone.
After the class, we were invited to the weekly teacher's „party“ that wasn't so much party, than more like dinner. They had monster chicken (Seon Gap told me, in the city they're calling the countryside chicken 'dragon' because of it's size) and then chicken soup. It was good, but a lot. And they gave me Korean raspberry wine, that tasted very good; not so bitter like grape wine. Oh yes, and they were asking me what I would drink.... I said, I don't drink much, but sometimes a little beer with mixed in coke or another soft drink. I can't tell them I'm a hardcore drinker, can I.... besides, I don't want to drink so much anymore anyways. I'd talked about this to Seon Gap before though, and he was grinning through the conversation with the teachers. And stuffing himself with the dragon. Gosh, the guy can eat...
授業
Gave the MS some vocabs for their mid term exams on monday and sang the song again. The lesson was pretty short somehow, but I think they found it ok.
Here, the other MS group did well with my story too. I'm glad.
I planned a lot with Seon Gap right now. Our plan is as follows:
for the middle school (twice a week):
-1 topic per week (e.g. sickness, shopping)
-have a dialogue (we will act, then clear the vocabs)
-clear the grammar
-do an exercise (from his book)
-do a fun thing! (song, tell something interesting...)
-if there's time left: have a short discussion (what's the best medicine for...)
for MS here (twice a week):
-1 text per week (I will write it)
-some grammar
-exercises for grammar (look through all books)
-something special. (make them write a short text..)
for ES here (3 or 4 times a week):
-steal from Kathrin's notes :D
Friday will be special day! We will sing a song or watch a short movie together.
Tomorrow, we will have the topic „the body“ with the ES, and teach the MS how to use a dictionary. Next week, we'll start with the picked topics.
Day 16 Thursday
Went to Wando. Beautiful island. Felt annoyed at the underestimation of my comprehension skills („This is the Wando Tower. The Wando... Tooowwer. It is. The. Wando. Tower.“), but I've never been known to be a patient one.
Visited Moksanim and Samonim's friends, a fisher and his wife. She made lunch, basically a soup with whole fish and a huge crab and tentacles in it. I think I ate something that upset my stomach a little.
授業
No MS class today, since they're preparing for monday's exam. For the ES, we revised the body parts. I wanted them to write something at the board, and now I think the next time, we're going to revise the alphabet.
Seon Gap and me tried to be more serious, and he said very little during class. It worked well; we won today.
Day 17 Friday
My mother sent me the same mail 3 times, and she's complaining again, how I didn't tell them anything. Well, I did tell them, they just don't listen. Argh.
授業
There will be no MS class today; and Seon Gap wants to teach the „older“ ES alone. We split the group, because there's a huge age difference in the ES... so, no class for me today. I started to prepare a text about suicide in Korea, because just one week ago(?) a very famous actress killed herself, and afterwards, the suicide rates went up. And since we wanted to have more of a discussion with the MS here, I will write an easy text about this topic... also because I think they should think about this.
Day 18 Saturday
Went to Mokp'o again, and then to the festival here, where they celebrated that the Koreans won against the Japanese. Unfortunately the turtle ship was burning :(
I saw a man eat a living octopus. It was trying to flee even when he was already swallowing..
授業
help
Day 19 Sunday
Somehow I don't remember this day too well. I think I was very lazy. I talked to my family in the evening; my mother acted like calling was really fiddly.
After dinner, I played some games like Go with SongBin(i)... and he won them all. Even though I tried to win! Very frustrating.
授業
help
Day 20 Monday
Because of the exams and the festival, there are no classes today. SeonGap and me went to the festival in the morning, we walked there. The bus took more than 10 minutes back. Today is also a pretty warm day. I was soo hungry when we got back.. I think I've eaten too much. Oh well. I will roll in the sun a little and relax..
In the evening, we'll go there again, together with some students.
授業
help
December 8th, 2008
Day 11 Saturday
Was able to talk to a friend yesterday evening, which made me very happy. I can't believe 10% of my time here is already over. I know 3 months isn't actually that long, no it's short... but at the same time, it is very, very long to me.
We're going to leave for Jindo in 5 minutes; at 10:20 am.
We came back quite early. The site in Jindo was a mixture of historical museum and exhibition about an artist family that lived/s there. The pictures were very pretty.
Luckily I caught my friend again (forgot to turn off the alarm clock, haha) and we were talking a lot. Another problem that has been on my mind has also been solved. So I feel pretty relaxed right now. There doesn't seem to be anything else planned for today so... I'll see what happens.
授業
help
Day 12 Sunday
Attended church service today too. It's somehow a lot more open and friendlier than German church service. More singing, and the songs sound good. Walked a little through town. It rained, but was very humid.
The people here have taken to calling me „Rijyan“. „Jini“ (Kim Ji-In) explained to me, that the last part of my name (-san) sounds a little like -jan, and since I remind the kids here of an Indian, they mixed my name with Tarzan (T'ajan). Where the y comes from and how Tarzan relates to an indian? No idea. Seon Gap said (some days ago), he's going to think about a Korean name for me. There's this habit here to take on an English name. His is Gavin (a friend told him, the last syllable of his name reminded him of that name). It's pretty weird, everything.
授業
Two students from Mokp'o came over, and they were a lot more talkative, friendly and .... I liked them better than the 2 boys from before. We talked about a lot of things and drew on the white board.
Still have to prepare something for the MS.
Day 13 Monday
Walked through the city at night, and people kept staring at me. Does this have something to do with the fact that there were no women around?
授業
We tried to teach the MS at school a song today. Alicia Keys. Kinda hard to sing; Seon Gap picked it. I found out about 10 minutes before that he didn't understand the whole song. Wtf.
I think it was a little too hard.
In the evening, we played wordsnake with the MS, take a word, and the next word has to start with it's last letter. (apple-elephant-tea...) They did really well and played almost an hour! We didn't even have to do anything.
Day 14 Tuesday
We went fishing with Hyeim's father today. 6 people. Small ship. Out into the ocean. It was soo great! The wind! The waves! The island he picked! I climbed around on the rocks and would have loved to just keep going, but of course, they wanted to fish. And they did. There were only 2 fishing poles, but we all were supposed to collect shells/ snails. They want to eat them.
They had brought a lot of stuff for lunch (a ricemaker with rice in it, and a lot of meat..) so we had pretty heavy baggage, but it was delicious (as always). They caught about 10 fish, maybe?
I sat in the sun and got sunburned in the face. I didn't think it was so warm!
Anyway, a lot of fun. I love to ride on ships.
Started to prepare the presentation for mid-workcamp meeting in 2 weeks.
授業
Tried to play a color game with the ES, but lost again. They scare me.
The MS were great today. I gave them the story I wrote, and we translated it together. It went really well. They even grinned at the story. Success!
But I feel a little left out, because all in all there are little girls, and in this class there's none, so of course all the boys look up to Seon Gap. And since I can't really talk to them, there's no use trying to befriend them. Aw shoot..
So they're outside and having fun, and I sit here and type.
Day 15 Wednesday
This morning, they changed the time for lunch again. And no one ever bothers to tell me about any of this. Grah. Oh well, not that important. I slept most of the time until class began.
At middle school, the headmaster and the English teacher made me have a contract with the school... but I think I mustn't work. I didn't sign anything, so I don't know whether this is valid or not... I told Seon Gap, and that I will talk to Moksanim about it, because it is pretty hard to make myself understandable to the headmaster and the English teacher. I want them to only list Seon Gap. This way, I will have no trouble... I don't understand this anyway, I don't expect any money here, but they insist.
They told me they will give me 60 000 Won(~32,84€) per week, which would be great, but that Seon Gap will only get 30 000 Won. I told him that I want it split in 45 000 Won (~24,63€) for each one of us. I think this is also in his favour.
Anyway, I was pretty shaken up, because I'm not a teacher and I don't want to do work that I can't do. And then the English teacher told me he wanted to sit in our class again and that we should have more dialogue... all in all I was so nervous. But fortunately, he left us alone.
After the class, we were invited to the weekly teacher's „party“ that wasn't so much party, than more like dinner. They had monster chicken (Seon Gap told me, in the city they're calling the countryside chicken 'dragon' because of it's size) and then chicken soup. It was good, but a lot. And they gave me Korean raspberry wine, that tasted very good; not so bitter like grape wine. Oh yes, and they were asking me what I would drink.... I said, I don't drink much, but sometimes a little beer with mixed in coke or another soft drink. I can't tell them I'm a hardcore drinker, can I.... besides, I don't want to drink so much anymore anyways. I'd talked about this to Seon Gap before though, and he was grinning through the conversation with the teachers. And stuffing himself with the dragon. Gosh, the guy can eat...
授業
Gave the MS some vocabs for their mid term exams on monday and sang the song again. The lesson was pretty short somehow, but I think they found it ok.
Here, the other MS group did well with my story too. I'm glad.
I planned a lot with Seon Gap right now. Our plan is as follows:
for the middle school (twice a week):
-1 topic per week (e.g. sickness, shopping)
-have a dialogue (we will act, then clear the vocabs)
-clear the grammar
-do an exercise (from his book)
-do a fun thing! (song, tell something interesting...)
-if there's time left: have a short discussion (what's the best medicine for...)
for MS here (twice a week):
-1 text per week (I will write it)
-some grammar
-exercises for grammar (look through all books)
-something special. (make them write a short text..)
for ES here (3 or 4 times a week):
-steal from Kathrin's notes :D
Friday will be special day! We will sing a song or watch a short movie together.
Tomorrow, we will have the topic „the body“ with the ES, and teach the MS how to use a dictionary. Next week, we'll start with the picked topics.
Day 6 Monday
This morning we went to Taeungbojon, a Buddhist temple around 30 minutes away. The site was really beautiful, with a river and forest, and then the temple(s) that just fit in naturally with the nature. Before going to the temple they took me to have a look at the local market, that was taking place today. There was live fish! All kinds of fish! And crab, and squid and jellyfish.. I was kind of only staring at the seafood, because even though I've seen markets before (rural ones) I've never seen one where the fish was actually still breathing, without ice. Samonim bought yellow peaches (in an incredible size) and Kam, which are persimmones, that are delicious. I'd only known them as very soft and sweet, but these were like not-so-ripe peach. She also gave me some jujube, that is really tasty as well. I'd only known it as dried „Dattel“!
On the way to the temple we stopped at a grape field and Samonim bought some grapes. The dark grapes here almost taste like real wine. It's such a huge difference to the green ones! And I've already been mentioning the size, right? They're very big.
授業
At the school, we started off with a short introduction of ourselves. Mine was pretty short, partly because the English teacher was watching me the whole time, and partly because I tried to interact with the students, but they didn't respond. Seon Gap talked a lot in Korean, but he got his point across a lot better. He played a song on his guitar (amazing) and that kind of broke the ice, I guess. We asked the kids to introduce themselves with the keywords name, where are you from, what's your hobby, what's your favourite drink and teacher, which was basically a good idea, because we could talk a little more (what does the teacher teach, how many people like orange juice..) but the boys started to be really noisy after a third. I repeatedly told them to be quiet. But all in all the lesson went ok, and the time was over really fast.
In the evening, the lesson with the 5 middle schoolers here started 15 minutes late, because the girl who lives in the house next to this one was late. She's also really quiet, but for a balance there's this one really noisy boy too. I made them show Germany on the map and gave them some snacks I had brought along (gone in a minute) and then tried to ask them some things, like where they would like to go. But they weren't so cooperative, and they sticked a lot to the same schemata.
So Seon Gap told them to use „I would like to go to“ and „I want to go to“ and did some exercise, and then I told them about „Have you ever (been in)“ and made them use this expression a few times. Then Seon Gap got his book (because at that point in time, the noisy boy was really getting on my nerves, playing around with all the stuff on the table) and made them exercise past, present and future expressions („I wanted to/ want to/ will want to“).
I thought about making a vocab mind map the next time, and then teaching them other expressions like that. .... I have no idea, if what we're doing is right or not.
Day 7 Tuesday
Getting up at 8o'clock every day is pretty hard, especially if you have to get up at half past 3 to talk to home for two hours.
Today we went to YMCA in Haenam City, which is a new building that's easy to the eye. I think Moksanim advertised Usuyeong a little. After that, we went to have lunch in an a little more stylish restaurant, where I ate small whole octopus for the first time in my life. They don't have much own taste, but chewing them feels odd. I am still struggling with the chopsticks.
In one and a half hours, we will have to entertain the elementary schoolers. I will go through some exercises now.
授業
The class with the elementary schoolers (ES from now on) was... alright? But they were very noisy and basically being little kids. But I guess that's normal?
Class with the second group of middle schoolers went really well, they're a cool bunch. Seon Gap had this lesson planned out well; he gave them a text about pingpong (a game they like a lot) and then I read it out to them and explained some vocabulary. They had to look up 4 words themselves, and I think that was good, because they don't seem to use a dictionary that often. Then Seon Gap explained every sentence to them, which was a little too long I think, but all in all it was really good. For next time, I'd like to show them some „5 second movies“ from YouTube and collect some vocabulary around it. In the end, I gave the last of my salt sticks to them, and they were the only ones to be polite and happy about it. The ES almost smashed their heads in while trying to stuff their faces as much as they could, and the first group of MS just chomped it down as well.
I'll see what tomorrow brings..
Day 8 Wednesday
We visited a green tea plantation today. I'd never been to a plantation, so this was a sight to behold. It really is something different. They told me this was Korea's biggest plantation for green tea and very famous, for example it appeared in some dramas. I drank a green tea shake – my new favourite drink. :)
I also had a conversation with Jibsanim, the woman who singlehandedly keeps everything in order in this house. Her English isn't so good, so I was talking more Korean, which was very good. To my surprise, we could talk pretty much (I feel so successful) and she told me to gurgle with a water with some salt to get rid of my throat ache (I caught a slight cold). I hope it'll help.
授業
At the school we wanted to talk about movies, and I wanted to show some „5 second movies“, but unfortunately, they didn't show the page. I think Seon Gap will be a good teacher.... if he doesn't have to teach English. He's got the spirit, but makes a lot of mistakes, that I don't want to correct in front of the pupils. I will have a „he/ she“ and a „the use of 'the' and 'a'“ exercise especially for him.
Tomorrow will be Hangman Day.
Day 9 Thursday
Seon Gap left to visit his army friends until sunday.
授業
Today was „Hangman Day“, and, with Seon Gap's words, „we lost“ to the ES today. They were just.... screaming me into the ground. I think I stood in a corner and looked very scared.
With the MS, it went a lot better. They actually played on their own, always trying to make up new words. I told them, to make it a little harder, they shouldn't only say the letter, but a word starting with it (e.g. instead of „b“ they should say „book“) and that went well.
I also typed a story today, basing on a fairy tale I read when I was young, and that is very frustrating for children. It's called „The Box“. It consists of 17 simple sentences, that I wrote underneath each other (with the very short ones next to each other) so that under each line the kids can write their translation. Then I put the English vocabs they might not know under it, with space for the Korean translation. I plan to read it out to them, then make them look up the vocabs, then let each of them read out one sentence and translate it. I will also explain some special points, for example, that stories are usually written in past tense, then „He started .....-ing“. I gave it to Seon Gap, and he said the kids should understand the text.
Day 10 Friday
This morning, Yujin came by (seems she gives class before lunch) and we had breakfast together at 9. At one o'clock, Moksanim, Samonim, their daughter and their eldest son, as well as his friend and me went to the cinema in Mokp'o. We took Yujin with us, since she lives there. We watched „Babylon A. D.“ and my Korean was far enough for me to notice, that there were some sentences left out or differently expressed („He's not dead!“-> „He's alive“). All in all, I think the movie was good. We were allowed to take food and drinks into the cinema with us (how great! Samonim said, it's because it's a small cinema) and they'd bought a lot beforehand (at least 6 packages of sweets)... and the kids finished it all! Oh my god. Moksanim didn't come to the cinema with us, as he had to console a person who had had an accident.
After that, we went to have early dinner at a very nice restaurant. It was very good. But I still can't use the chopsticks properly, argh. That was at around 5.
We went home afterwards and stopped at a gas station for a drink and ended up buying ice cream for everyone else. Una and me went into the shop (she's very quiet or maybe reserved? Anyway, I try to talk to her whenever I can) and bought 4 melon ice cream (700 Won each, ~1700 Won are 1€) that were huge and would cost at least 2€ in Germany, and a bottle of water(~3500 Won). For this small purchase, the clerk gave us two sushi rolls, that would cost (in a German supermarket) at least 2€ each too. The service here is great anyways; you get samples in the supermarket and so on... Wow.
Back at home we talked a little about movies, then Moksanim sent me over to get some rest. I will try to watch some more Korean TV, I think. A) because it's fun, and B) because I'm starting to understand parts of what's going on.
This morning I started translating a children's book („The Robin's Nest Search“), but I didn't do this for a long time, so it took me 1 hour for one short page. (sigh)
授業
I talked to Una today, and asked her how long she'd been learning English. She said „6 years“. I thought about that. I've got my English books from Grade 9 and 10 with me, (6 and 7 years of learning English). Somehow the kids speak a lot less English than what seems to be expected in those books.... :/
Day 1+2
The first thing I noticed was probably the helpfulness of the people. Even if you don't ask they try to help you- in my case, people kept offering help with moving my suitcase. Something else that immediatly caught my eye was that every Korean (it seems) owns a cell phone, even on the countryside.
Arriving in Seoul went smoothly and the people at the IWO were really nice- just like everyone here, it seems. For me, coming from Germany, where it already felt like winter, it was very hot and especially humid in Korea. After a long journey, my partner and me arrived in Haenam.
On the first full day for me to be there, the two people in charge took us to some sightseeing in the beautiful landscape around here, and treated us to a formidable meal afterwards. There were a lot of things I had never seen before, and I tried to try most things... just sparing out the food that was trying to flee from me.
Day 3
Today we had breakfast at a traditional restaurant- and also lunch. I really like sitting on the floor, but my legs tend to fall asleep really quickly (but that's a problem I am suffering from very often). Unfortunately I can't remember all the names of the food. There are also always a lot of bowls on the table; and the Koreans seem to be in a rush while eating. I am usually the last to finish with the meal. Also, no one expects the bowls to actually get empty. At home, they just mix the remaining food together and give it to the dog (which would be sheer waste in my mother's eyes). I tried to talk to some kids, but the language barrier is effectively shutting me out. Just how did the volunteers, who didn't know any Korean, get along?
We also went to the local middle school, because they want us to teach some children there as well. The school is really clean and well equipped. I felt a little like in a movie, taking off my shoes at the entrance and getting slippers, and the classrooms with sliding doors... but all in all everything doesn't seem as strange to me as I would have expected.
Day 4 (saturday)
I am slowly getting used to warm breakfasts, even though I feel really full all the time. I am still dropping food with the chopsticks, but it is slowly getting better (I hope). Today, Moksanim took Seon Gap, me and a couple of children to Mokp'o, a larger city in the area. We basically just walked around and went to a supermarket to buy some things for tomorrow's breakfast. I offered to make „Eierkuchen“, a very simple German meal that I might be able to cook and that doesn't need so many ingredients. The flour was the hardest part, it turned out. In Germany, you usually only get one type of flour (or you have to look around to get some special type). Here I had to explain a few times, that I wanted to make something similar to cake or cookies before the helper in the supermarket pointed to a certain kind.
Today is a different schedule than before, the children aren't here for dinner it seems. I still have to figure out how it works.
They told me in my last week here I could travel or something. Even while I don't have enough money to do that, today Hyeyeon sent a mail to all of us volunteers that she could arrange a homestay in Seoul if we wanted- and I would really like to be in Seoul at least one day before my flight goes.
In the evening we watched a movie (English), „The light before her eyes“. It was... scary. I think I will have to think about it for some time. Uma Thurman is a great actress.
I'll have to remember to put the pictures I took on a CD before I leave, so that the others can look at them as well.
Day 5
Today two boys from Mokpo came by, and we tried to have an English conversation with them, but especially one of them was a little stubborn, so that I can't say it was a success. In the evening, I made Eierkuchen. I don't know how they really liked it, because they all seemed to be pretty full before the meal. Of course they said they liked it. I didn't make it so sweet, so I don't know...
Anyway. After that, Seon Gap and me planned a little ahead for class, and I think we had some pretty good ideas, making games and songs and pictures and poems....
Wow, I've been out of the internet world for such a long time. I guess everything started with my exams.. in June. Then I had to write my exam paper, organize my stay in South Korea, organize how to get my stuff back to my parents' house, organize a new flatmate for my flatmate and finally deal with my new boyfriend, who happened to take up damn much time.
But well, I eventually was able to do all of it. I even managed to find work for next year from Korea.
But the "holidays" I really needed and which, I hoped, I would get as a volunteer in Korea (because, come on, usually volunteers have a lot of free time) turned out to be quite a piece of work. All the time I was writing a journal... just not online. Why? Dunno. I'm going to post it here, just in case anyone is interested.
My three months here are almost over. In two weeks I'm going home. Have christmas. Have at least two weeks of doing nothing. Not eating any rice at all. Oh wow.
But I also feel very weird- it's the first time in my life not to be a student. The time here was kind of a time-out for me, not really being anything. Except maybe an insider.
-李守按
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optimistic
drained
annoyed
hungry
crazy