Fall in Seoul

Sun-straining clouds, a breeze covers me, the chill of fall wraps me in its sharp arms. The sky rises, and then falls, looming ever closer, dropping from the heavens, I can almost touch it. I can taste it, the smell of it permeates my mind...Fall in the East, winter fast approaching, and I spin round and round, reveling in the coolness and crispness of the air. The skyscraping apartment towers, that always seem to be reaching so high to touch that which they were built to span the distance too, are floating magestically, not now having to reach for the sky. I think it must be God's favorite time of year, as never are his heavenly lands closer, than in the late months of September and October. All things good and beautiful on earth are at their fullest, right before the long sleep of winter...the ripest of their yearly time. Lushness, mixed with the coming frigid...so beautiful, brittle, but magnificent. It will snap any moment, and I appreciate this strange fragility, as I know it is all too quickly vanished, beneath snow and ice, and then it is gone, as the next time you see life, it will be new. The Fall, as death fast approaches; it is as if life defies that which is inevitable, throwing its most beautiful aspects out in an overwhelming display of the brilliance that is only shown in moderation the rest of the year...as though this effort will stun death into halting its ever-patient advance. Death does not stop, but you know that it appreciates that which life has sent to try and distract it. Fall, the end of the old, a neccessary passing for the creation of new life, but the old life makes you feel so rich, as you see what it is fully capable of being. The colors, the scents, the textures, all in the air, floating around you, filling the space between earth and heaven, combining the two, and being, momentarily, a unifier of the two.

Holy Crap! I Left My Apartment & Went Outside!

So, I actually left my apartment this weekend, and went out into the city! LOL! Yes, my homebody tendancies have been controlling me for the past two months, but, like everyone says, I should experience this place while I am here. Plus, I needed an adapter for the cordless phone Johnny brought me! LOL! Here are a couple of fun pics from the walk to the subway...these are all around Seokchon Hosu; the lake I live by!






Then, we took the subway to TechnoMart (huge store with a pleathora of different vendors all selling the same thing), and here is a picture of that behamouth! (It is the blue buiding.)



After we left TechnoMart, Johnny thought we should walk down and see the river, which we crossed directly before our subway stop getting to TechnoMart. So, I said ok, and we started walking, looking for a way down to the river. Check out these insane apartment buildings we passed!



A mile later, we still hadn't managed to find a way down, and we were at the Olympic Bridge. That is supposedly the Olympic Torch, from when the Olympic Games were here in Korea. And I took a quick shot of a couple of darling little Korean soldiers who walked past us going onto the bridge.





Here, Johnny says, "Let's walk across it!" He looks so proud of the idea, that I can't bear to tell him that I am really not a "walker," so I say "OK!"



So off we go. This f-ing bridge goes on FOREVER! It traverses the width of the Han River, so it is pretty cool to watch the ships, and we can see the other bridge, the one we came across on the subway on, so I feel like I have come very far. I got a nice close-up of the torch part too!




And then I see Lotte Castle, and realize how much farther I have to go. (The two matching gold buildings off in the distance...If you scroll back up and look at the second picture I posted, the one of the balloons, you will see part of it in the background...just to give oyu an idea of how far I have gone on foot!)



Freaking Hell! Anyways, we keep walking across and finally get to the other side, and then Johnny says, "Let's keep going. We are almost there!" Now, I absolutely adore this man, but seriously, I feel like my feet are about to jump off the bottoms of my legs and kick my own ass! Yes, they were that angry! So, I felt as though I must assert myself here and said, "Ok baby. If you want to!" Ahahahaha! I know, I am a sucker for a cute smile!



LONG story short, I lasted for an hour and a half before I sat down on a subway vent and said, "Get a cab, I am not going another step!" He was very sweet about it, and kept telling me how proud he was that I had gone so far (we had walked between 4 and 5 miles, over an hour and a half period) and promised me food and a nap when we got back to the apartment! This made me less grouchy, and a bit more philosophical about the whole situation. It had been a very nice walk, I had gotten some lovely pictures of the city, and I had gotten some exercise and fresh air. All in all, not a bad Saturday...

Now Sunday evening, when my leg muscles were on fire, I was ready to kill someone, but that is another story! LOL!

Addendum: The gentleman shown in this post no longer (as of 11/3) holds the coveted position of "My Boyfriend!" No, I am not heartbroken, and it was a fairly civil break. So, those of you who are secretly in love with me, and pine for my wonderfulness daily/hourly/continuously, you will be thrilled to know I am back in the single saddle! LOL!

World's Worst Teacher!

Oh! My! God! I did it again! Another kid in one of my classes got hurt today, and it was pretty bad. My darling little Joey (the one who gives amazing hugs) tripped during a game today and slammed his head into the edge of a plastic bookcase in the classroom. There was blood EVERYWHERE! I was actually pretty proud of myself, because I stayed really calm and tried to keep him calm. And I didn't pass out, and I mean, there was blood everywhere. He opened maybe an inch and a half long gash right up under his hairline on the left side of his forehead. And he kept rubbing at it cause it hurt and stung and itched, I am sure. I had to make him stop, but he had blood all over his face and hands...it was horror film-like. I picked him up, and told the other students to stay put, then carried him up to the teacher's office. Several of the other teachers immediately helped me, and we got a shirt on his head to try and stop the bleeding, I had Laura get my Wet Wipes (courtesy of Taryn) out from my cabinet and wipe his hands clean, cause I am fairly sure the blood was terrifying him, and we got him calmed down...So I went and finished the last 20 minutes of my class, calmed the other kids down (the two little girls were pretty shaken up), then went upstairs by the pool and bawled...Blair Witch Project-style.



Update: I just got off the phone with Miss Lee, and Joey's mother! Both were assuring me that Joey is alright and that they do not blame me at all. I started crying, and they started laughing. Which I guess is ok, because I would rather they laugh at me than be mad at me or think I am a terrible person! So anyhow, Joey is my second kid in three months to get stitches. I hope this ends my streak in that particular field!

Update 2 (9/21/06): Saw Miss Lee on my way out last night. She told me that Joey is fine, but that he got 40 stitches, three layers deep. Lord! She and I are going to visit him at his house next week, so I need to find a gift for his mama. Something that says, "thank you for inviting me into your home, sorry I almost killed your child!" But Joey is ok, so that is all that matters. Poor baby!

Update 3 (9/22/06): So, I actually ended up going to Joey's house yesterday afternoon. We went, and I talked to Joey, met his mom, and helped him do his homework that he had missed, since he was gone yesterday (Thursday). Miss Lee had also bought two puzzles and gave me one to give to him, so that was nice. Anyways, his mom was incredibly nice, and she served us tea and doque (this weird Korean dessert that I actually hate, but Joey kept stealing my fork and stabbing me a new one, so I had to eat it. It was actually kind of cute...) and fruit. It was very nice. Joey was crazy and running around, showing off all his robots and such to me, doing flips on the couch, and stopping my heart several times! We stayed about an hour, and then I came back and finished my intensives, and went home. Today (Friday) Joey was back in full vigour, and was full of kisses and love. God, I adore that little boy! So, all's well that ends well.

K-5A

So I wanted to post some updated pictures of my students, as I have gotten some new classes, moved some kids up levels, and gotten new ones. I broke them up into posts by classes, so these are my K-5s. This is my newest class and they are all 4 years old, and are just about the cutest little things you have ever seen. This is their first English class, but they have English time in general kindergarten (I also teach this, but not their class) so they know a little. Right now we are working on "Hello, my name is..." and "Hello...! My name is..." It is fun; we have songs and games to play to learn the language item, so it is always a good time. We color in class, and play with flashcards, and they laugh ALL the time! I walk out of that class with a permanent grin on my face. Their giggles are infectious! Anyways, there are four of them, two girls and two boys, and i got to give three of them their English names...One of the little girls' mom wanted her name to be Chelsey, but the other girl I named Alli, and the boys I named Felix and Henry.

K-6A Conversation

These are my K-6s...they are about 5 and 6 years old. There are 8 of them, two girls, the rest boys! This is my FAVORITE class! We get to play and have snack time, and "talk" in English. They are so adorable, and each of them is a total character. We get to draw in class a lot, and now my apartment is covered in pictures they have drawn for me! Some of them are really good too. It brings a lot of color to my little personal space.

K-7D

This is my oldest class here at JM...oldest as in, it was the first class I got when I arrived. They are Korean age 7, which means they are about 6 American (in case I haven't mentioned it before, Koreans count the year at the New year, so if the kid was born in December, 2004, they would turn "1" in January, 2005). This is the class that James (my little king fu man) was in till two weeks ago. He and Sally got moved up, and I think this clas sis becoming a remedial level class. All three boys in the class are adorable and sweet (most of the time) but one of them has serious behavioural problems, one is a beginner (just started English classes a month ago), and one is, in my un-proffessional opinion, a little behind his peers. But they are all fun and loving and they rally seem to like class, so it is a lot of fun. A bit more stressful than my other classes, because they are everywhere constantly, always into mischief, but they are definately exciting! And they are little drama hounds...look how they ham it up for the camera...the one was giving me his best "stressed-out" look. He would smile as soon as the flash went off!