I got my hair cut, ok? So, I took some pictures... so? So, I wanted to show you my lovely locks... ok?!!

A man in a black sweater with gigantic white rhinestones all over the front of it cut my hair. He sprayed a little bit of water on my puffy hair and combed it out with a fine tooth comb... needless to say I was quite concerned about how it would all pan out. He kept cutting and cutting and not wetting it, other than the initial few sprays. He curled it a bit, with a flat iron of all things! It cost me 10,000 Won, which is about 11 dollars. So, hey, I can't complain.

I wanted to make sure that you guys really understand how nice he did my hair, so I have added some extra pictures for your appreciation.... when I went home and took about ohhh, I'd say 20 odd pictures of myself, it was because I had you people in mind... ok? It's all for you! Do you like my lovely locks? If anyone wants me to send them all 20 pictures, you just say the word man... say it! I dare you! I'll send them!

Little Pee Socks

Little pee socks... she's so cute... but so full of gas and pee.

A little girl in my morning class (who is 4 and a half years old) is such a cutie. Her name is Yoon Young. She has dimples and big brown eyes. Her tummy is round and her body really little. Her skirt always falls down, cause it slides down her round tummy and then right off her. She wears cool tights, with neat patterns on them. The kids all wear uniforms in the morning classes at the school. Plaid skirts (girls), plaid pants(boys) and matching sweaters and shirts (all). The tights are the biggest thing that differentiate them from each other, clothing wise I mean.

Anyways, how did sweet Yoon Young get the nick name Pee Socks from me you ask? Well, first let me say that I don't call her Pee Socks to her face, only among teachers when I am updating them on the latest incident. So, there she stood, against the toothbrush cupboard, all the other kids are in a circle on the carpet and all I hear is Yoon Young saying, "Teacher! Teacher!"
There she was, in a puddle... her socks soaked in pee... luckily Ina (my Korean partner teacher) was in the room with me and she lifted Pee Socks up and carried her out of there.

Later on, all changed up and in fresh clothes, in comes little Pee Socks. She sits on my leg for story time and then gets really excited and calls out an answer and lets out this big ripper! right on my leg! I instinctively jerk her off of me and screw up my face and say, "ewwww!" Then comes the smell... we make eye contact and she's grinning, almost embarrassed and I kinda smile and scrunch my nose up at her... Anyway, she ripped another one in class today, but I acted like I didn't hear it.

And that is the story of little Pee Socks.

New photos

As you will see to the right there is a link that says, "Palace in Seoul photos". If you click there you can check out some pics from our trip.

Ceanne came to town!

So, my good friend Ceanne came to town for 10 days and stayed at her sister, Chantel's place in Seoul and at my place for one night. We had a lot of fun and I got to see her about 4 different times or so. Here are some pics of our fun nights out!

Dan and Dan grooving out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOPDNIxtcco

Just when you think that you have had a long day at work, think again Batman!

So, I went into the Family Mart by my school today (which is a convenient store that is opened 24 hours) and I was talking to the friendly Korean owner. I asked him what time he gets off work and his response was, "I don't know, sometime tomorrow".

I said, "Tomorrow? What time did you start?"
He said, "umm, since 12 am."
"Midnight??! You've been working since midnight? That's like 17 hours that you have been working for already! And you're not off until tomorrow?"
Red eyed and still smiling he replies, "yes, that's right"
"Isn't there someone else who can come in and work for you? How many people do you have working here?"
"Two others, but they are busy with school and stuff, so they can't come in until sometime tomorrow."

Did I ever mention how hard working and diligent Koreans are? Well, in case I haven't, let me just say that I have never seen any group work such long days and put in so many hours as I have here in Korea. This is an extreme example, but it is a true example nonetheless. I can safely say that I will never be able to achieve their work ethic and I am not so sure that I would want to. Not that I don't admire it, but it is a little to extreme for me, personally. WOW! A nation full of worker bees, or beavers, or ants (the ants that work really hard)... good on them!

A little update.

We have started a new schedule at school as of last Friday and boy was this whole week a crazy one! Last Thursday I spent all day at the school decorating my new classroom... which is now filled with 5 year olds Mon-Fri from 9:40 am - 2:10 pm. I have 10 of them in my homeroom class. You wanna talk about classroom management? I am sooo tired from one week with them, I can't believe I have to do this everyday for the rest of my contract, never mind the rest of my classes that I have. Then for 80 minutes out of my morning I switch kids with another teacher and I have only 4 little ones, which is so nice and peaceful compared to the group of 10.

When the new semester started last Friday we were given very little instruction on what to do and how to do it, in spite of our 3 hour meeting Thursday full of useless information. Most of our classes were filled with new students that we hadn't had before. Most of us didn't have books for ourselves or the students for about half of the week. And we were told to just wing it basically. Along with all of this Dan and I had to correct all of our tests from last semester and put in several hours of report card writing and test correction.... not giving me any free time to sort out how I was going to "wing it" in all my classes. It was brutal and I wasn't afraid to tell my supervisor so. Now I have a head cold and we have today and tomorrow off. Dan, Will (the new teacher from England) and I are going to Seoul right away for some Indian food and to walk around. That is the latest from this side of the world.