Dongbu English Camp

I had my greatest teaching experience last week during a summer camp put on by the local board of education.
60 of the top grade 7 students, both boys and girls, attended this camp from all the middle schools in our area.
I was a little anxious to be doing this camp, worried that my lessons were too difficult or that I wouldn't be able to relate to the boys having taught girls the whole time I've been in Korea.


My co-teacher's name was Dan Hae, and she was amazing. She lived in England for 3 years, and she speaks almost perfect English. We had a lot of fun together!
And it was also a fun week because I got to work with my good friends Val and Ivan. The three of us all live in the same apartment building, so it was great to spend time together with them in a working environment, it made it much less stressful!


Well, turns out my worries were quite unnecessary. I had a such a great time. There were 5 homeroom classes. Each class had a Native English teacher and a Korean-English teacher. So throughout the day we were teaching by ourselves or co-teaching classes of 12-14 kids!!! What a nice change from the 40+ I'm used to.
On the last day, the students were able to spend all the fake money they'd earned throughout the week for answering questions/winning games etc. So Friday was 'Market Day' and each Native teacher had their own 'store' in which we sold all kinds of school supplies...haha. no candy or toys, just pens, notebooks, folders etc! Poor kids...


AND they were all incredibly intelligent, especially in the English language. So I could have GREAT conversations with many of them. I even had a great time teaching the boys.
I was so glad I had this opportunity to teach. I was a little emotional after Friday was finished...and I'd only known these kids for 5 days!!

Oh, and in case you're wondering why the boys are wearing bee costumes, it's because our homeroom was in charge of doing a musical...and I chose to do something I found on the internet that was the story of Rapunzel (it was like a 'rap'..get it? RAPunzel) from a the perspective of a hive of bees. And the boys totally got on board! I figured 'rapping' was better then getting these kids to acutally sing their way through a skit. And I think it worked pretty well! :) Wish you all could have seen it.. they were pretty cute, even for grade 7 students!

The end of classes

I can't believe I've reached the day where I can say that I'm done teaching. I still have a few camps left (the one I've been participating in this week has been amazing, and exhausting...more on that later). But I was sad to have to say goodbye to some of my students who were in my extra class. I absolutely loved teaching these classes of 10 or so students. I bonded with them so well. It made me so sad to say goodbye.






Also, there was a final dinner for the school year with all the teachers. Many of them are all so shy during the week to talk to me, but whenever we all go out for dinner they always say how much they love me and how sad they are that I'm leaving...it's a little confusing! :)

The last couple weeks

So, again, I've gone through a writing drought...

Two weekends ago, we had the amazing chance to go to the mud fest in Buryeong, South Korea. What a blast! Seriously, it's the most insane, hilarious and dangerous weekend!!
I'm sure you've read some of the other girls blogs, but yeah, being covered in mud and running around wrestling, swimming and trying not to slip on the ground that's covered in an inch of pure mud!
Here's some pictures curtesy of the other girls, I was too afraid to take my camera out for fear of getting sand in it again...




Last weekend was also a ton of fun, but a little more low-key. We were able to travel to Jeon-Ju and stay with our amazing friends Nick and Mel Bokma. All together there were 8 of us, all Redeemer Grads. We mostly played cards and chatted. The girls also went for some haircuts and a little shopping on Saturday. It was so fun to just relax and hang out with such quality people! :) I'm gonna miss this group!
On Sunday, before heading back to Incheon we all ate a late lunch together - bibimbap. It's a really great Korean dish of vegetable, rice and a little beef all mixed together. Jeon-Ju is famous for their bibimbap, and it really was DELICIOUS!

Bungee Jumping

Don't do it.

That's all I have to say! haha
I can't believe I bungee jumped yesterday. I didn't tell anyone back home I was going to do it, because I didn't really think I would. And I didn't want to worry you all!

But after being there and seeing everyone else do it, I knew there was no backing out. It was just terrifying though. It went against everything my body, mind and heart wanted to do.


I also don't really dive very well so when I jumped I ended up jumping feet-first.
Not a good idea. I really hurt my feet as the brace dug into my feet after the initial jerks. it was an incredible feeing though. At the end you're just spinning and spinning until the man in the boat catches you and tells you to sit on the boat.
So dizzy!!



I'm kinda proud that I did it though and am living to tell you all! haha
I still can't believe i did it, and I keep reliving it all in my mind. A little traumatizing!

Oh. Canada??

Many people here have gotten right in the spirit of Canada day. Even though many of them haven't been home for over 10 months!!



Celebrations started on Monday for me as I hosted a Canada day party of sorts. I brought back 2 cases of 12 of Mac and Cheese - something none of us have tasted since being in Korea!! It was SOOOO delicious. I ate WAY too much and there was so much left over!! But it was a really fun time...we chatted and watched lion attacks online - don't ask. I have weird friends. Oh, and Val mixes tuna with her KD...doesn't that sound GROSS???



Last night after school we got ready for the festivities by dressing in red and white and heading out to Canada Buddy a small bar a bit away from where we live. They serve great food from home like perogies, grilled cheese and what we all came for - pountine!! It's so good!! Not quite as good as home as the gravy here is a little watery - BUT I'm not gonna complain. We had a few drinks too. On the way to the bar, we saw some red sunglasses for sale for $5. I bought them to go over my glasses, and they were a HUGE hit! :) Everyone there tried them on I think! :) All in all, i think we did our country proud!