The past two weeks have been a bit of a let down.  My days at work absolutely crawl due to the fact that my 3rd years were preparing for their final exams.  They finished them on Friday, much to their utter joy and the teachers' pure horror.  In the back of my mind, I keep asking myself what I'll do with my 3rd years this week, but I keep pushing the thoughts away, telling myself in super Scarlet O'Hara manner, "I'll think about it tomorrow."

My demo class was, thankfully, before the finals rush.  My co-teacher and I decided to push the date forward so that the kids would be more focused.  We just knew that, if we waited until after exams, even the best classes would be insane and unmanageable.  My co-teacher and I prepared our parts (she had the intro, I had the closing) the day before the demo, which is virtually unheard of for this kind of thing.  I popped into her classroom after lunch on Friday--our big day--and we chatted about the expectations and such.  Again, we weren't nervous in the traditional sense--we were only a little nervous because we weren't feeling nervous.  It was strange.

The demo class went...amazing.  Most demos are huge, with maybe 30+ teachers attending, as well as the district super and her assistants.  It just so happened that the super was busy that day, and my school only had to invite three nearby schools to watch (I have no idea how they wriggled their way out of not having to invite all the schools in the district).  There were only FOUR outsiders, then, and my principal, VP, and other co-teachers came to watch.  So immediately, I knew I wouldn't be as stressed. 

The kids behaved themselves very well, so much so that it made me uneasy.  The class we were working with for that period--309--is not the best class but they're not the worst class, either.  I guess they'd be the 3rd or 4th best?   But the kids were cheerful, polite, and listened well.  During the demo, I noticed a teacher at a nearby school (he's also my friend and my district rep) frowning as he looked around the room.  I wondered, "Does everyone hate this lesson?  Are they weirded out that we're not actually teaching them traditionally?  Do they think this is stupid?"  Even Dean (his school was invited, since he works so nearby) had a deep frown on his face.  So halfway through the lesson, I started having the first pangs of serious doubt. 

At the end, though, both Dean and the other teachers said that they were completely blown away with this style of teaching and want to try to implement it in their own lessons!  My co-teacher and I were thrilled and relieved.  We were finished, we wouldn't have to do it again, and...we had to immediately go change clothes because it was time for Teachers' Sports Day.

This isn't as big as it sounds.  Once a year, the teachers have a big game of kickball, dividing up all the teachers into what they hope are fair teams.  Some students stick around to watch and keep score.  The winning team wins toothpaste and anti-bacterial gel, while the losers only win toothpaste.  This year, my team won!  It was a pretty good time.  Err...okay, I'm not being honest.  It was hilarious.  Most of the female teachers absolutely SUCKED (as in they screamed and ran away when someone pitched the ball to them), but it was still pretty funny in a vaguely pathetic way.  Dean was forced to play (my cheerful co-workers roped him in) and we both scored points for our team.  In the big speech in the teachers' dining hall afterward, the captain of the other team announced that he'd had a great time today, even if the foreigner teacher caused his team to lose. 

We stuck around for a while, eating bossam and drinking soju and beer with the other teachers before we walked home.  The one annoying thing was that all the male teachers were sitting at one table, and as Dean and I were about to leave, they called to us and asked Dean if he would take some shots with him.  Being a good sport, he agreed and they all had two rounds.  It was just annoying because...it really reminded me that Korea is still very much segregated by gender.  It was a big "boys club" kind of thing with Dean.  I'd worked at that school for over two years, gone to countless functions with them, and they'd never once offered to drink with me.  But as soon as I bring my "man", they're all offering him drinks and slapping him on the back and treating him so well. 

The kickball game ended up being the hightlight of the weekend, sadly enough.  After the game, we came home, showered, had some drinks and pork-stuffed, deep fried peppers at a famous dive in Sinsa, and then went to Club Heaven in Cheongdam.  We had organized a table with some friends but it developed into a mess, of course.  The number of people wanting to get in on the table suddenly doubled once we arrived, and the waiters said that, with our number of people at the table, we had to buy two sets, not just one.  So instead of paying $60 or $70 for the table, it was suddenly about $130 per person.  For a chair.  And a few shots.  And some fruit.  Ugh. 

The night was further driven into disaster when two of our friends (they dated briefly not too long ago before having a massive fallout) came and engaged in a club fight of epic proportions.  Glasses were thrown.  Strangulation was attempted.  Cigarettes were almost burned into skulls.  It was not pretty, but it was exciting in this whole, "I can't believe this is happening someone restrain her oh god but maybe he's asking for it I don't know the whole story and I don't know if I want to oh screw it I really want to know the whole story gooooddddd this is so messed up" kind of way.  In the end, he walked away to her screaming, "And get off the f*cking 2nd floor because you aren't a f*cking VIP" to his retreating back.

We went home sober and out of sorts. 

I don't remember what we did the next day.  Maybe we did nothing.  I guess it wasn't too important.

This past week at school, my computer has been broken.  I feel bad that I haven't updated in so long, but I am going to just blame my crappy computer.  It's working again now (as of Friday afternoon), so I will be able to update once a week. 

So what I did I do with no computer and only eight classes to teach the entire week?  Well, I had Tuesday and Thursday off, so I went shopping Dongdaemun and bought a wig.  I wish I could wear wigs all the time because I would able to change my hair on a daily basis without damaging my hair.  While even I think wearing wigs for fun is a little weird, I kind of gave up caring.  They're fun, they're not too expensive, and they're low maintenance.  I wouldn't wear one to work, but I wore one out last night to the club and no one knew it was a wig, it was that believable. 

The rest of the time, I just hung out in my freezing cold classroom which DID having a working computer, but it's infuriatingly slow and buggy.  Wednesday was Pepero Day.  I bought a few boxes to give to kids that gave ME boxes.  I got about a dozen Pepero gifts, which is a respectable amount.  Two of my best girls, "Nana" and "Deedee" came in before first period, the former with a gift of Pepero and the latter without.  Nana's box had a small note attached to it, saying "Because I bought you this lovely gift, please treat me well in class!"  I read it and laughed, then looked over to narrow my eyes at Deedee, who was plastered awkwardly against the chalkboard, stealing comicly nervous glances over her shoulder.  Oh, Deedee, you're a funny, funny girl. 

Today, I did nothing.  I didn't go outside once.  I wrote a three line poem that is so short and vapid, it's been making me suspicious of my writing abilities every time I go back to look (without changing) at it. There was a "House" marathon on Story On, so I watched a lot of that.  I also watched at least two hours of Kim Yuna-related material.  By chance, I watched one of her recent performances and was so entranced that I ended up watching like...all of them.  Even though it bugged me that she was on EVERY damn commercial this past year, the girl is clearly very, very talented.  I know a lot of foreigners rag on Korea in their treatment of Yuna, complaining that Korea always has to obsess over their latest hot star, bragging and trying to push them too hard into the international spotlight.  But...doesn't every country do that with its national prize?  The US did it for years with Michelle Kwan and even though I wasn't in the country for the summer Olympics, I could *feel* the insane Michael Phelps love through the internet and other media outlets in the USA.  So...it may be annoying, but I get why Korea acts the way it does.  It's a small country that doesn't usually get a lot of international recognition, so when a little jewel like Kim Yuna proves that she has the goods to really be a global star, of course Korea is going to jump all over the issue. 


Alright, photo time.

I: FUNCTION

Our lovely friends at HSK had another Thursday party and we popped over for a bit. 
In these pictures: Daham, Robin, James, Carlos (of "Seoul Lust"), Jong Sun Kim (of "kaipaparazzi"), Dean, moi.


I express minor outrage and annoyance at someone's photo taking ability (could it be Dean??).
In these pictures: Robin, James, mi.


I forget the whole history and I sure as hell am not going to research it right now, but the party's theme revolved around this really old practice of drinking champagne from expensive...shoes.  The centerpiece of the evening was a sexy tease show that ended with scantically clad foreign females walking around the room, pouring champagne from glass heels into the mouths of random party people. 

II: HEAVEN

These were at Club Heaven.  Pictures of aforementioned strangulation and cigarette tossing not included.
In these pictures: Amy, Kiara, Dean, Ramy, Hosoon, Hospital Photography, me.

III: Wigs and Vanity

The top picture is my new wig.  I love it!  It has the perfect wave, it's super comfortable, and it's a good color.  You can't see in this picture, but it has two or three colors mixed in, so it looks pretty natural in person.  The second picture, I took in my classroom on a day I had nothing until 6th period.  I wore the bear hoodie to the club last night.  It was so comfortable.


These are my very, very Korean photos with another wig that I rarely wear in public because I feel really paranoid about it.  A lot of people stare and I am always certain they're thinking, "What's up with the girl in the wig?" 


This title is Gold Guns Girls by Metric


I remember when we were gambling to win
Everybody else said better luck next time
I don't wanna bend like the bad girls bend
I just wanna be your friend