Yesterday was beautiful; all my lessons went from start to finish and 'problems'.... they did not exist. What made it extra special was that my co-teacher was not in (as he is PROPER ill) so surviving a Monday without him was quite spectacular.

I left school, didn't bother changing so I was still in me shirt and trousers and began cycling home. It is ALL down hill so I had the wind blowing in me face on an empty road completely dwarfed by trees.

Some clouds pulled a shifty maneuvre so that light began spilling out onto the ocean and the boats and then onto the island giving a PROPER good representation to the end of the day.

AND THEN

I begin to hear many little voices which are getting louder, I turn around and a whole car full of kids are scrambling to try and get thier heads out of the car window screaming 'SIMON! SIMON! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! SIMON! SIMON!'

They had maybe 2 seconds of this and the car full of waving hands and screams over-took infront of me and after 5 more seconds it was so far ahead that it joined in with the ocean, the boats, the trees and the rest of the island in the evening light to create the

MOST PERFECT

end of the day feeling. If only it was a Friday!!

Have managed to do me lesson plans a whole HALF HOUR before the lesson starts so am just writing this real quick (am starting to realise that being organised is saving me so much time).

Last week I had a map on the board of Antarctica and asked the kids if they could pronounce a few of the labelled countires around it.

Who knows what country this is?!

'AUUUS-TRAAA-RIA'

YES! Well done, how about this one?

'South America!!!!'

AMAZING!!! How about this one?? Oh this one is hard!!

'fffff--fffaaah--fffffaahcklaa. fahckland? FAAAAHCKLAND!! FAHCKLAND ISLAND!!!' (Falkland Islands)

It knocked me off course quite badly. I was blinded as to what the lesson was about after that... I couldn't even laugh at it so did a sort of broken 'NO.... FORLK-LAND, FORLK-LAND-------- well done----- SO this country....'

I know I have a lot to catch up on but for this moment I only have 10minutes so it's not so good to start just yet. The picture with the rocks is a monument to the ingenuity of the wall builders around here. Most walls are built so that the wind can blow through them (i.e. they have holes in them).

On the beach there must have been maybe 50 of these small towers which are right on the beach front, surviving typhoons aplenty. There truely is a skill to balance apparently :D.

The picture of the beach at the top is Heopjae Beach... the really popular one 4mins cycle away from our house ;P!! the day was hot and the water warm and not one person was in the sea swimming. Koreans do have quite an odd attitude to the sun and sea.


This weekend we're heading up to Seoul for a 'TEFL Conference' which will involve one of the companies upsetting 11pm curfews. We tried to extend the flight so we could stay one extra night in Seoul and fly back on Monday morning for school but it was a no-go area.

MEANT TO SAY on Wednesday last week I had twelve 5th graders!!! Normally I have between 4 and 6... something good must be occuring here!?! Although saying that they did demand soccer, so we reached a compromise that the first 25mins will be English and the last 15mins would be football ONLY on condition that everytime they kicked the football they had to say an English word so it didn't look like a free lesson to the other teachers.

Ma bad for not writing anything in a long time.

This guy here is a thief who had been caught. I think this is why there is hardly any crime in Korea. There were water pistols by the side of him so anyone could squirt him if they wanted and he had SOOOOO much crap rubbed into his hair. Later on one of his shoes went missing aswell. He seemed to be having a thoroughly good time!!

I went for a meal at me co-teachers house yesterday and really was blown back by the food. Jay's (me co-teacher) mum had spent the best part of the day preparing the food for 4 of us to eat and the crazy thing was she didn't even sit down and eat it with us.

We had two huge plates of meat and, maybe 6 side-dishes and in the middle was a huge plate with EVERYTHING on. In the middle were sliced radishes (the radishes here are about the same size as a marrow... or courgette?? The bigger one out of the two) and around the radishes were slices of carrot, cucumber, red, green and orange peppers, sliced prawns, sea-food sticks, slices of radish, thin crispy beef and a load of other veggies I don't know. So the deal was that you get yourself a round piece of radish, fill it with a load of veggies and make a pancake style thing out of it and eat it in one.

HOWEVER

Jay's mum had made this special type of sauce which was made up of crushed pinapple, peanuts, cider, mustard and something else which was dribbled on the pancake and quite literally I was eating until I could eat no more. It was quite possibly the best food I have ever had here. Apparently even Jay's mum commented that I ate a lot AND she is possibly the 5th Korean to say that I use chopsticks very well.... GET IN!!!! Soon I shall be proper native.

So on Wednesday last week it was 'Chuseok' which is a day when the dead are remembered (I think), and most places are closed and it is SERIOUS family time for Korea. It truely is a day for food as well. Meself and Paul went to the city as the plan was we go out in the night, wake up early in the morning and climb the volcano (didn't quite go to plan). So in the evening we went for a meal in a pork BBQ restaurant. Now I remember saying that I'd get some photographs of the food here so I took this picture before we got started. The hole in the middle of the table is where they put charcoals so you can cook the pork in the middle whilst eating other food... now maybe you see why I love this food so much??

Anyway, whilst we were cooking the last few pieces of meat, a big dribble of grease came out of the chimney onto the food and dripped onto the charcoals, creating a good amount of

greasy smoke. Two waitresses came along to try and sort it out by throwing some water on it. As soon as the water touched the fire, the grease spread everywhere and we had a nice fire burning in the restaurant. So what did the waitresses do next? Obviously they threw more water on it. And what was the result? About 8 waiters/waitresses around our table, people stopping on the street and looking in because so much smoke was pouring out and an evacuation of our immediate vicinity. I was laughing a lot, but then I felt as though I should have been embarressed and then I felt as though I should have been very serious because EVERYBODY else was. So that picture at the end of meal was black with water and grease all over it. I was quite upset but it was definitely a Chuseok to remember :D!!

Here is the man of Jeju. These guys are everywhere on the island because Jeju LOVES them!!

Here is the sea infront of our house. The wind was so strong that day; I was standing on the pier and thought I would actually fall into the sea... admittidly the weather does not look that crazy at this moment.

After the meal with Jay last night, we went out with his mates in the city and it was the first time when I was completely surrounded by Koreans and I was the only white guy. It really hit me after the third beverage because it seemed like such an odd situation that I was in Korea drinking with a load of Koreans, but then obviously it made total sense a moment after! All night they spoke English pretty much, even though two of them couldn't speak English at all. I felt quite bad, but was quite honoured by thier respect.

So, talking of respect, hierarchy is so important here. If there is somebody at your table drinking with you, and they are older, then you have to turn around so they can't see you drink (as it's disrespectful to blatently drink infront of them). Also when you 'CHEEERS' with your drinks, the top of your glass must tap the bottom of thiers, bowing is SO IMPORTANT here. You must bow to everybody if you are in thier company and they are older, you cannot burp or fart either (as I found out the other day :S). If somebody leaves, everybody stands up, bows and says goodbye. Also the way you sit is so important; never look relaxed... legs crossed, arms behind your head, sitting side-ways on all massive NO NO'S!! When you pour a drink, do it with two hands, when you recieve a drink, recieve it with two hands, NEVER shake hands with an older person unless the offer first. It is a lot to remember. Jay was saying that if he goes for a meal with his dad in a restaurant then he will not talk at all, until at least he has finished his food.

So with reference to matey here, I was lying and it was actually his birthday. He was not a thief by and standards!! I am never telling a Korean when my birthday is... accordingly this is a regular thing!! Also saw another fight last night and at the end of it the two guys were hugging like mother and child!!

PASSION!!

Possibly the most important thing I have learnt today!

I was feeling quite exhausted today after the last week so I put some activities together for the kids. I mustered some energy and the kids saw straight through it; they saw I was not interested in what was going on and so this resulted a fair ol bumpy day.

I figure it is a lot like an artist who sings a song and sings it, and an artist who covers the song to make money.

The passion in the voice can intensify the words ten times over and maybe even be more meaningful than the words themselves.

The artist covering won't know the full meaning of the words really and so wont do the song any justice.

Impossible comparison maybe but I felt like a covering artist today and for this the kids lost faith I think.

As Bing Crosby once said 'It's all in the way you say it' :D.

I guess today I really did feel like someone who was being paid to occupy a bunch of kids.

First day of occurance and hopefully the last!

I have one day left of school now and then I'm on holiday for a week.... WOOHOO. In school last week I was talking to my Mentor Teacher about a few of the kids who were fighting in my class, crying or just proving to be a bit difficult. I mentioned one child to her and through her broken English she divulged 'Ah he is an orpan (orphan)... but he have father but his father does not (ummmmm) love him ... so he just want love... he (umm) want to love you and he want very much for you to love him, just love him and he be okay'.

He was throwing stuff and kicking the desk and chairs in class so my co-teacher kept him behind after the lesson to speak to him and he could'nt not stop crying all through it because he felt so bad (apparently) so he came over to me to apologise, and I said it was okay, gave him a HUGEEEE hug and since then, touch wood, he has been so attentive and non-aggressive :D. Unless hes just taking some sort of medication!?!?!




Picture at the top is the view from my window..... YEAH I'M BRAGGING..... RIGHT THERE :D....

The dog is one of two puppies who were on 'Udo Island' this weekend (took a small trip from an island to a smaller island) and they had so much emotion!! They were both tied up away from the house so when I went over they could not sit still; I picked them up and their hearts were beating so fast... so so fast.

Last picture is the ferry we took to get to the island. Pretty interesting eh?


I think I mentioned before that I'll go into school early for the lunch and put the lesson plans together. So if the English room is in use then I'll go into the library and try to learn a bit of Korean. One day I was in the library and I was stuck so I asked SpongeBob 2 if he could help me read a sentence (he is in grade 2 which is about 6yrs old I think) so he stood there correcting me, then his mate, SpongeBob 1 (I just call him SpongeBob) came over and helped aswell. SpongeBob 2 didn't take to this very well and they began arguing over who was gonna teach me to read. SpongeBob 2 won.

If they are in the library now when I walk in, they are to me like torpedos to a boat. First one to get to me teaches me. Also because of this, I've noticed that they are so much more receptive in class. SORTED :D!!

Got a few pictures from English camp (inclusive of my allocated kid for those 5 days.... Mr. Kim Woo Bin; possibly the most chilled out child ever... AND orientation.

Gravestones aren't really a common thing here, moreover a small patch of ground will be walled in (as below) and a huge mound of earth will represent where a peron is buried. These are everywhere; next to houses, in fields (mostly in fields actually), on the coast.... There is one day set aside for cleaning up and tidying the graves. I think it is actually a sort of holiday actually.

The chap with the smoke is a bug killer... on my ride to school a few days ago I saw the most beautiful butterflies dying on the road. They are huge here and everyone seems to be a different colour. When I say huge, generally they would cover the palm of your hand, unless you have really small hands which would make them so not big at all.

Another shot of the ladies... I'll try get thier faces so you can see how old they are. They are pretty shy though so may take me a while.

Yesterday the grade 3's were sort of out of control; it was the first day I felt like a proper teacher. Everytime I began talking and explaining something, they all turn around and start getting animated with each other (we were playing a game standing up with blindfolds and this was enough to get them giddy). So I kept saying 'quiet, look at me blah blah blah until they pushed it too far and I proper shouted 'EVERYBODY' and their was genuine fear in their eyes. SUCCESS!?! NO! they were attentive for 2, possibly 2 and a half minutes and began talking again.

Today I spend every lesson setting out rules of the classroom. Every lesson.

OH and in my grade 5 one kid apparently pulled a middle finger up to another kid. I asked him if he did it and he looked at me, looked at the floor, nodded his head and began laughing. I asked him in quite a serious voice,

"Are you laughing?"

I had a MASSIVE moment of reflection on myself and the seriousness of the situation made me start smiling (which I was trying so hard to keep back) and because I didn't want the kid to see it was a joke I kicked him outside for 5minutes. It worked perfectly.

Also I can now spell my name in Korean 사이몬 literally 'Saimon' :D.