July, pt. 2 - Blogabond

Let's see...I was supposed to teach the summer session, but only one kid signed up (ha!) so now I don't have to. Only kind of. Now, instead of going into work at 9 a.m. like my boss was going to make me, I don't have to come in until 12:30. It's still an hour earlier than my previous schedule, but I am not yet so spoiled by this job as to be upset by that. I mean, it's still after noon. I am going to ask Master to move the hapkido time slot to an hour earlier as well, so I can keep going for this month. I am a much better person when I have a place in which to kick out the frustrations of hagwon teaching and being a stranger in this strange land. By the way, I am a blue belt now. That means that I am middle of the pack. I am definitely okay at hapkido. Next is brown, then red, then, if all goes well, black.

*sidenote: I have one of those Before I Die lists--a bucket list, if you prefer--which I have recently been motivated to revamp, after crossing several off the list the last few months (proficiency with chopsticks, live abroad, and very soon, ride an elephant). Getting a black belt has been a dream for years, which I thought was unattainable after being denied karate lessons as a child, but Korea has given me another chance. Three belts to go!**

In popular news, the summer blockbusters have hit Korea as hard as they have, undoubtedly, the U.S. My school has been buzzing about Transformers and Harry Potter. To the chagrin of some of the Korean teachers, I let my students choose their own English names, and one class of three recently changed their names to Megatron, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee. Which leads to me saying things like, "Megatron! Sit down and be quiet, or leave the classroom." Megatron was kind of a punk today, actually, which probably shouldn't surprise me. Also, today a child used the killing curse from Harry Potter on me. The kids swear all the time, but I generally don't do much about it. They don't know what they're saying, and I don't want to give those kinds of four-letter words power in my class. But today, my TTR class--aka the bane of my entire existence--was writing essays, and this one kid (Yoda) was being a total jerk about it. "Write your essay, Yoda," I said, as firmly as one can to a Jedi Master. "No." "Yes." "No." I sighed. "You have a choice, Yoda. You can write your essay now, or you can write it after class in A-classroom." That's our detention. He looked at me, surly, and picked up his pencil. I turned to help the other students, but stopped when I heard a muttering behind me. "Avada kedavra!" he hissed, pointing his pencil at me like a wand. What! He just used the KILLING CURSE on me! I did the only thing I could do. "Leviosa!" I said. Just as I did not die, he did not spontaneously levitate above the class and then drop harshly to the floor. Evidently, magic spells don't work in my classrooms. Lucky for us both.

That brings us up to this week. My mind is almost fully occupied with preparations for the upcoming trip to Cambodia, commencing this Sunday at dawn. I started taking my preventative malaria medicine this week, and on Sunday, I spent a pretty good chunk of my earnings on a new digital camera, since mine broke when I was hiking back in June. Or maybe it was at the beach. Regardless, I have also invested in a camera case this time. I also got a new backpack, and I am just enough of an outdoor geek to be smitten with it. For those that care (cough...that's you, Dad) it's an Osprey pack, 50 liter capacity, internal frame, with a detachable top pocket that converts into a day pack. Which essentially means I have a badass fanny pack!

Also, I found pancake syrup at my market yesterday, and will be having french toast for dinner tonight for the first time in six months. I am more than a little excited. It really is the little things that make life worth living!

written by

alli_ockinga on July 28, 2009 from Inch'on, South Korea

from the travel blog: I go Korea!

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