1 PM: Lunch done. Caught myself rushing through eating other food so I could get to the kimchi, which is a first.
Outside my dorm window, there's a building being torn down. The day we arrived, the building was whole, then they started tearing it down on Monday. On Wednesday, the building was half gone and by today, there's only a third of it left. I kind of hope they finish demolishing it by the time we leave on Monday, just for closure's sake. My roommate takes a picture of it every morning, documenting its steady downfall, and our view actually gets better with every passing day because there's a lake behind the demolished building, so the less wall there is, the more lake we see.
Finally did laundry. There are only a few machines in the dorm basement, so I had to wait for a late-night chance to wash my laundry and even then, there were no dryers free. This morning, the two normal dryers were taken, so I decided to put my clothes in the weird-looking dryer. It turns out, the weird dryer was also a washer, so I washed everything again by accident. By the time another hour was done, my laundry still wasn't dry, but it was extra, extra clean. Everything's dry now, though, and there's an ironing board calling my name.
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4:30 PM: Finished the rudimentary lesson-planning with my teaching partner! We (mostly she) put together a lesson outline, then we (mostly she) put together a rough PowerPoint for teaching "shopping" expressions to Korean 4th graders. My partner has traditional teaching experience, whereas I do not--I taught a college class, then taught writing and literature in a very open and free school environment that didn't require 2-page lesson plans. I spent a lot of time planning for my classes, I just didn't have to hand in my plans to a supervisor, which I'll have to do now. It'll be okay--it's just a new habit for me to form. I do feel dreadful for not doing more of the work on the lesson, but I plan to give my partner a chocolate present. For chocolate rights all wrongs.
Got some tasty gimbap and canned coffee at the convenience store for a snack before dinner. I'm not sure that I've had canned coffee before, but here there are more cans of sweet, refrigerated coffee drinks than there are bottles. And the cans are smaller than in America--you can buy large drinks, but small cans are the norm and there are more to choose from. I can't find diet coke anywhere--it's strictly coffee, water, juice, and regular soda in the convenience stores on campus.
Also, the little stores I've been to don't provide plastic bags, so you have to estimate how much you can carry home in your arms before making your purchase. Even at one of the nice museums in Seoul, I needed to pay about 50 cents to get a bag, so it's good info to file away for the future.
Our EPIK helpers are still amazing. I'm floored at how sweet, upbeat, and professional they are. The Korean girls who lead my group of 40 people are stunningly competent. They keep us from going crazy, and they never seem worried, no matter how difficult circumstances may be.
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