the first week of school is done!

so this past week was the first week of school. kind of weird to get back in the swing of things. i have the same co-teacher as last year. she didn't want to teach english this year. she wanted to be a 4th grade homeroom teacher but she was denied. she actually threw a tantrum like a two year old which was pretty weird but hopefully she's gotten over it and won't be a horrible co-teacher...

the best part of the job this year is we have our own english classroom! we spent the first few days cleaning it and organizing it. it made me want to bring the wonderful invention of the 4 foot long broom to korea. all the brooms here are like 2 feet long and you have to bend over to sweep. and for some reason they don't use vacuums in schools so it takes FOREVER to clean the floors. they don't even bother mopping...

there's a desk at the front of the room which will be my co-teacher's desk and we'll use her computer for teaching the class. i have a desk at the back of the room and it took all week to hook up my computer and get the internet going. so needless to say i got a little restless. i cleaned, i read, i tried knitting but didn't like the yarn i was using, i slept, ate hershey's kisses and doodled.

finally i got internet on my computer thursday at 4pm and spent all day friday on it...making up for lost time i guess lol

i've tried talking to my co-teacher about this next year but she's not been very receptive. i made a rules sheet and then she acted like i had wasted my time. i suggested a punishment system and she avoided talking about it. i asked her what she wanted to do for discipline and she said she'd think about it and then never brought it up again. i told her what i would be willing to do for extra classes the next two months and she said the parents would decide (???), so i didn't bother telling her my ideas for classroom procedures or how we should teach. since she's been so resistant and i'm only there two more months i don't feel like pushing too hard. i have a feeling that even if i got everything set up wonderfully that once the new girl gets here my school/co-t would still do whatever they want. so whatever...

we have a new principal. i've seen him but haven't officially met him.

we're teaching 3rd and 6th this year. korean students start taking english in 3rd grade so they should be really easy. 6th graders on the other hand start out normal and then turn into little demons...glad i'm not gonna be here for the end of the semester/year lol

we've been talking to alex and kat about their schools. we're taking their jobs at the end of april. sounds like both schools are gonna be pretty awesome. alex has some new co-teachers and he says they're all pretty cool and kat has a new co-t who's a young girl so she's easy to work with. i'm hoping things go really well with these new jobs. i hope we want to stay two years. having the bigger apt. is gonna be great! i can't wait for that! :o) we're gonna have THREE bedrooms! freaking awesome!

friday night we had a little welcome back dinner with friends at the gamchatang restaurant and then song's beer. well after dinner a bunch of us went to ti amo and had coffee and ice cream before meeting up with the others at song's beer. it was fun :o)

yesterday jens and i chilled at the house and then alex and kat came over for dinner. i made irish stew and i have to say - it was amazing! lol i hadn't ever really made anything like that before - a dish you have to cook for a loooong time. it was soooo gooood :o)

then this morning there was a book swap at dunkin' donuts in hadang. it was the biggest one i had been to. lots of people showed up so that was cool. we weren't going to take any books but we couldn't help ourselves lol

after the swap some of us had lunch at little jakob's. then jens and i went home and took the dog for a walk. it was actually not freezing today! makes me think winter might actually end!

after that we came back to the apt. and jens played video games while i watched a movie. i watched american teen a movie which is a documentary about some real life teens. it was good! made me somewhat nostalgic for high school but also really glad i'm a lot wiser than i was in high school lol sometimes i wish i could go back as the person i am today...i think i'd have a lot more fun than i did back in the day!

the weekend went by really fast. i guess cuz we did so much. this next week we start teaching. the first lesson in every class will just be intro though so that'll be easy. teaching the book will be easy too but i'm a little apprehensive about it. i guess it's just cuz i haven't worked for soooo long. i'm out of the habit lol

i think this semster will go by really fast though because we're changing schools. i think i'm gonna volunteer at the orphanage too so i'll be busier. a bunch of my friends volunteer there and i'm looking forward to being involved in that.

jens met some guy at the book swap that has pretty much all the same music tastes as him and loves to perform music so i think they're gonna try to jam soon. jens said this guy wants to learn the drums so maybe that pressure will be off me now lol drums were fun but i don't think they're really my thing...

a friend of mine is talking about leading some yoga sessions on the weekends which i'm really excited about :o) jens and i have been pretty good about doing yoga on our own but i usually have to lead our sessions (unless we use a yoga video) and i really prefer following someone else. so i'm happy to hear there might be a class situation in the works! esp. in english!

anyhoo, that's about all for now. hope you all had a lovely weekend! peace, love and happiness to everyone!!