Headaches, especially when teaching. I have to do report cards and I feel confused because I can't think. "Eric is a good student. Go Eric!" "Grace is nice. She does her homework." These are some examples of my extensive criticism.
In one of my new classes, the kids cry a lot because I'm not like Jaron teacher. They're not a bunch of hellraisers like the other kindergartens I had, so I don't know how to approach them, I don't want to yell at them, they're too nice, but they don't listen! I'm going to take their stickers away. That'll get them on their toes. And it'll make them cry. Damn you, Jaron teacher! Damn my head!
My new computer kicks ass. It has a scanner. I can send you prints of my butt.
27 October 2005
19 October 2005
Seoraksan: a big, beautiful mountain park
I climbed a mountain last weekend. The leaves are starting to change color, so it was very pretty. I looked at a poster of the animals that supposedly live in the park. Lemurs were the first animal. That would've been AWESOME. But, no cuddly big-eyed lemurs, only a couple of stupid chipmunks.
Field Trip today! I have to make sure my kids don't get hurt or die. Fun.
Taster's Choice coffee sucks, and that's all they have here. I miss Caribou.
I told the kids in my problem class yesterday that they'd have a new teacher next week. They smiled and whispered to each other in excitement upon the news of my departure. Sean is from Edina, Minnesota, and he's worked with autistic kids. The problem class is meant for him more than for me.
The air doesn't stink as much now that it's colder.
Field Trip today! I have to make sure my kids don't get hurt or die. Fun.
Taster's Choice coffee sucks, and that's all they have here. I miss Caribou.
I told the kids in my problem class yesterday that they'd have a new teacher next week. They smiled and whispered to each other in excitement upon the news of my departure. Sean is from Edina, Minnesota, and he's worked with autistic kids. The problem class is meant for him more than for me.
The air doesn't stink as much now that it's colder.
10 October 2005
'twas a fight 'n turds
Yesterday, I did a pronunciation exercise with my kindergarteners. The tool I used is like a rolodex with three changable parts. Each part has letters, example: [k] [or] [t] = kids say "court." Flip the last part to "s," "cores." Get it?
The very first letters in the rolodex are [t] [er], "tur." Guess what letter I picked to finish it off? I had my kids say "turd" individually. They had no idea. I laughed each time. After the first two kids, I left my class unattended, went to Josh's class, interrupted them, and showed Josh. He laughed, too, and I returned to hear and correct the pronunciation of the next five kids.
After that, I had them play chalkboard team wordsearch: two teams, board divided in two, same words on both sides, I say the word, team member on each side tries to find it, first team there gets a point. They got really competitive, and the bell rang. Two kids from the losing team jacked two kids from the winning team. I'm late for my break time, and I have to get two kids to stop crying and get the other two to say they're sorry, as well as yell at them. The kids were still crying a little when I left the room, but I needed my breaktime!
Josh and I saw another fight in the street last night. Three old men. I still get very uncomfortable when I see people fighting. Two guys were fighting one guy with glasses. One of the duo grabbed the solo guy and the other Duo guy banged solo guy's head against a streetpole, shattering his glasses. I went into a convenience store and bought an icecream, and when I got back outside, the other two guys were restraining the third. They weren't beating him down, just holding him. I don't know what was going on, and I walked off with my icecream.
The very first letters in the rolodex are [t] [er], "tur." Guess what letter I picked to finish it off? I had my kids say "turd" individually. They had no idea. I laughed each time. After the first two kids, I left my class unattended, went to Josh's class, interrupted them, and showed Josh. He laughed, too, and I returned to hear and correct the pronunciation of the next five kids.
After that, I had them play chalkboard team wordsearch: two teams, board divided in two, same words on both sides, I say the word, team member on each side tries to find it, first team there gets a point. They got really competitive, and the bell rang. Two kids from the losing team jacked two kids from the winning team. I'm late for my break time, and I have to get two kids to stop crying and get the other two to say they're sorry, as well as yell at them. The kids were still crying a little when I left the room, but I needed my breaktime!
Josh and I saw another fight in the street last night. Three old men. I still get very uncomfortable when I see people fighting. Two guys were fighting one guy with glasses. One of the duo grabbed the solo guy and the other Duo guy banged solo guy's head against a streetpole, shattering his glasses. I went into a convenience store and bought an icecream, and when I got back outside, the other two guys were restraining the third. They weren't beating him down, just holding him. I don't know what was going on, and I walked off with my icecream.
09 October 2005
Gim-Chee
I returned to Cheonpung Land (bungee) with Josh, and we braught along the rest of the Wonderland crew plus Amber and Kate. This time, I came as a spectator only. My stomach was in knots after a night of wolfing down red-hot cabbage at a Korean barbeque. A glass of wine, a couple shots of soju, one Manhattan and two Long Islands (thank you New York), and a tall dark beer may have assisted the Gimchi in ravaging my tum-tum on Saturday.
I took lots of pictures of my buddies jumping off of a 63 meter structure with big blue elastic cords attached to their ankles. They also went on this really tall group swing. Four people at a time do this - they strap you into a superman position side-by-side, then raise ya'll up, then one of the four pulls a release cord, and the rest of us watch the four scream as they all drop down and swing back up, back and forth for a few times.
A few more did the "ejection seat," where two people sit side by side in a little orb, two elastic cords connect to the sides of the orb, the cords tighten and stretch back, and then the orb catapults into the air, where it begins to tumble about, shaking up its screaming passengers.
On the subway ride back, a lady used my backpack as a pillow. I had to stand in the crampacked subway, and the lady had to stand, too. There were a couple of herky-jerky stops where she flew off of my back, I could feel the release of her weight and hear her grumbling and making startled gasps. I watched Jaron watching her when this was happening, unsuccessfully repressing his laughs. Once the train stopped, the lady would come back to my backpack and put her head back on it and fall asleep once again.
I'm going to go grocery shopping now. It's kind of funny, the play-by-play dude with the microphone who watches shoppers and tells them through the PA system what they should buy.
"Acne creme, lots and lots of acne creme," he says in Korean to the adolescent walking past the toiletries section. "Miracle bra, extra-enhancing," he says to the Korean women as they stroll past the underwear section of the grocery store.
I'm hilarious, and the Packers are 0-4, and I gotta go get some grub.
I took lots of pictures of my buddies jumping off of a 63 meter structure with big blue elastic cords attached to their ankles. They also went on this really tall group swing. Four people at a time do this - they strap you into a superman position side-by-side, then raise ya'll up, then one of the four pulls a release cord, and the rest of us watch the four scream as they all drop down and swing back up, back and forth for a few times.
A few more did the "ejection seat," where two people sit side by side in a little orb, two elastic cords connect to the sides of the orb, the cords tighten and stretch back, and then the orb catapults into the air, where it begins to tumble about, shaking up its screaming passengers.
On the subway ride back, a lady used my backpack as a pillow. I had to stand in the crampacked subway, and the lady had to stand, too. There were a couple of herky-jerky stops where she flew off of my back, I could feel the release of her weight and hear her grumbling and making startled gasps. I watched Jaron watching her when this was happening, unsuccessfully repressing his laughs. Once the train stopped, the lady would come back to my backpack and put her head back on it and fall asleep once again.
I'm going to go grocery shopping now. It's kind of funny, the play-by-play dude with the microphone who watches shoppers and tells them through the PA system what they should buy.
"Acne creme, lots and lots of acne creme," he says in Korean to the adolescent walking past the toiletries section. "Miracle bra, extra-enhancing," he says to the Korean women as they stroll past the underwear section of the grocery store.
I'm hilarious, and the Packers are 0-4, and I gotta go get some grub.
06 October 2005
Whitewater Rafting
Last weekend, Josh, Jaron, Amber and Kate joined me as we rafted down some river two hours from Seoul. (Everything we've done everywhere is two hours somewhere from Seoul). I forgot to take my cell phone out of my pocket until halfway through the trip. It still works. I got soaked. My wallet still works, too. It still has some dampness to it, as do the dollar bills. We had one guide, who's English name was "No Passing" she told us.
"No Passing" made us play games where we dumped each other into the cold water. I started shivering, and then she made us play "Titanic," where a male rafter holds a standing female rafter on the edge of the raft. The other rafters paddle the raft in circles until either the centripetal force conquers the standing rafters' centers of balance, or until Scrumplet pushes them overboard.
"No Passing," who my fellow rafters swear took a shine to me, had me hold her while the other rafters spun us. I finally lost my grip, she fell in, and I stayed in the raft, not jumping in after because I was cold and I'm an asshole. I warmed up quickly.
Our group of five conquered the rapids alongside two Korean groups of about twelve apiece. While alongside these other rafts full of people, our leader had us "attack." We splashed them a little with our paddles, and they returned the favor, soaking us. On the busride back to the changing rooms, the Koreans asked Josh to sing a pop song. He sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," thinking maybe he'd pulled a fast one with an American Kid's song. The Korean sang the Korean version for three seconds afterward and laughed.
We all packed dry clothes, so the busride home didn't give us hypothermia or pneumonia or influenza. We ate pizza later. There was corn on it, and carrots, along with the pepperoni and cheese and tomato sauce. It's good, regardless of the interesting toppings.
I hope my apartment doesn't smell like feces when I return tonight.
"No Passing" made us play games where we dumped each other into the cold water. I started shivering, and then she made us play "Titanic," where a male rafter holds a standing female rafter on the edge of the raft. The other rafters paddle the raft in circles until either the centripetal force conquers the standing rafters' centers of balance, or until Scrumplet pushes them overboard.
"No Passing," who my fellow rafters swear took a shine to me, had me hold her while the other rafters spun us. I finally lost my grip, she fell in, and I stayed in the raft, not jumping in after because I was cold and I'm an asshole. I warmed up quickly.
Our group of five conquered the rapids alongside two Korean groups of about twelve apiece. While alongside these other rafts full of people, our leader had us "attack." We splashed them a little with our paddles, and they returned the favor, soaking us. On the busride back to the changing rooms, the Koreans asked Josh to sing a pop song. He sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," thinking maybe he'd pulled a fast one with an American Kid's song. The Korean sang the Korean version for three seconds afterward and laughed.
We all packed dry clothes, so the busride home didn't give us hypothermia or pneumonia or influenza. We ate pizza later. There was corn on it, and carrots, along with the pepperoni and cheese and tomato sauce. It's good, regardless of the interesting toppings.
I hope my apartment doesn't smell like feces when I return tonight.
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