11 AM: First class went fine. 2-1, 2-2 was pretty chill. I just had one speaking exercise for them, so they had the last 15 minutes free.
I was hoping things would be good with Beomjoon since I yelled at him last week, and they were fine. He and Soonhyuk were having competitions for who could come up with the most ridiculous excuse for not doing their work. Soonhyuk: "My heart is sick." Beomjoon: "I have eye-ache". All this accompanied by violently clutching the body parts in question and moaning.
SG2 and I are planning to hang out on Sunday afternoon in Cheongju, with the first grade art teacher who is a lovely girl. I never get a chance to talk to her, so this should be a good bonding opportunity.
My Jeju vacation was quite good. I loved seeing all the scenery on the island--I'm really into nature and outdoorsiness in a way that I was not when I was young. To get to Jeju, I rode on the same type of ferry that was the center of the horrible tragedy in the spring, but there were no problems.
On Friday I rode a train 4 hours to Busan, then met my friend and waited 3 hours for the tour bus. Once on it, it was about 3.5 hours to Mokpo, then almost 3 hours on the ferry to Jeju, because they had to go around some fishing boats and nets.
And I learned that not only am I bad at sleeping on planes--I'm not real good at sleeping on trains, buses or ferries either. Basically, if I'm aboard anything that moves, unless a family member is driving it I'm almost assured of being awake for the whole voyage. When we finally got to Jeju and got past our first museum, I had to take a shower at the hotel just to stay awake until evening.
I met a lot of cool people on the trip (this was a trip for foreigners in Korea--everybody taught English somewhere), A nice Canadian married couple from Busan, two awesome girls teaching at a college in Masan, a whole crew of girls from Daegu who I joined for possibly the best noraebang session I've ever taken part of--2 and a half hours of mostly 80's/90's nostalgic songs.
While there are so many disadvantages to being part of a large tour (namely, the rowdy kids who act like it's spring break in Cancun not Thanksgiving in Jeju), but the advantages lie in having a neat schedule and having the opportunity to mix with folks you would not otherwise have met under any circumstances. I'm heavily considering another group tour if we have any long weekends after October, because my October short-vacation is committed to SG2.
On this trip I tried really hard to find people who needed help, either spiritual or practical. But to my dismay, there never seemed to be anybody who needed a shoulder to cry on or needed help carrying their bags or even Korean language help, the one area where I have a distinct advantage over many Americans.
Anyhow, I finally had to sit on the beach and tell God that I knew that he knew my heart. He knew I wanted to help somebody, although it didn't turn out the way I planned. My heart still leans toward helping, so I'll look for opportunities here at home, not just when I'm out on fun trips.
Ponyfish Minwoo came by for popcorn. I told him that he was looking very handsome lately because it's true; he's growing up from a little ponyfish into...into whatever comes next. A very mature Mustangfish, perhaps. He said a little woundedly, "Oh. Teacher make a joke." And I realized that though I had said it seriously, Minwoo didn't think it could be true, because he's always being teased about his weight. I assured him that I meant it, but I guess I'll just have to say it again.
Jaehyung and Byeongsu from the special needs room and Daehwan from 2-5, 2-6, who has been hanging out with them lately, followed me into the English room and read from the projector while I practiced my lesson. Nothing could be funnier than having Daehwan take over and instruct his peers in English.
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