WE DO WHAT WE DO

I think last night was the first weeknight I haven’t posted. Why is that? I guess I wasn’t really in the mood or I didn’t have much to say. Maybe I’m getting burned out from all the writing. Maybe I’m getting depressed. Who knows? Not me.

Saturday was a quiet and boring day but I liked it. I was awoken at 8AM by a phone call that lasted over 2 hours. It’s amazing how the time can fly on the phone. If I’m going to have a 2 hour conversation, getting up for it is a good thing. After that I cleaned the apartment and decided I want a cleaning woman. I’m old and lazy when I choose to be, and when it comes to cleaning I’m old and lazy. So, I’ll be checking into the cleaning woman idea. There are just too many glass windows for me to handle.

The rest of my day was spent reading and then watching 3 movies. I was only going to watch 2, but you can watch 3 when you have no plans. I saw “Lonesome Jim” which I don’t think is out on DVD yet. It was one of my “streets of Seoul” purchases. It was pretty good and directed by Steve Buschemi. I thought Mary Kay Place was most excellent. I’ve been carrying the torch for her for over 30 years and she’s developed into one fine actress. After that it was Bogart and Bacall in “Dark Passage”. You can’t go wrong with an old Bogart movie. Granted, it wasn’t his best effort but it was an enjoyable time waster. Lastly it was “The Ice Harvest” with John Cusack and Billy Bob Thorton. That one gets a big “eh”. It was okay and nothing more and not really worth talking about.

Sunday morning I ventured into Ilsan where I had a morning coffee in Starbucks (of course). From there I went to the supermarket to pick up a couple of things. I think I’m turning into my mother. My couple of things quickly turned into $70. It’s amazing what you can decide you need once you’re roaming the aisles.

The rest of my day was spent either just sitting at the computer or reading. My life is lacking a certain excitement at the moment. The loneliness is bothering me more than it has since I moved here. This isn’t good and I hope it passes. It preys on my mind.

Monday it was back to work. I saw no kids being hit so I suppose that’s a good day. This camp thing is beginning to worry me. I’m not sure what goals they have for the camp, but I don’t think the powers that be have given it much thought. I would say that more than half the kids are below average. They want 20 kids from each grade. That would still mean a huge range in abilities. If you want the camp to be the same crap as teaching classes, then 20 is fine. If your objective is take the best kids and give them an enrichment experience, you need to cut down the numbers. I’m trying to convince Min Kyung. She probably is but I think she’s afraid of the principal. We are trying to work a compromise on the numbers and then she says she’ll talk to him. I asked if I could be part of the meeting and she said that I don’t speak Korean. Doh, I know that. I just think it shows my interest and commitment if I’m there, and if any questions come up, I can answer them. If I’m excluded, I’m just a nobody.

They will select the kids in two ways. First, the child has to apply. Second, they will use the highest test scores to select from the applicants. I told Min Kyung that I wanted to be part of the selection process, and test scores were worthless. There are plenty of kids who write a fine test and can speak minimal English. There are kids who speak fine, but their written skills stink. These tests don’t take speaking into account. So I have to convince her that this is not the way to select students. I hate this having to go through a 3rd party thing.

Mee Kyung (the former substitute English teacher) called me last night and we chatted for about 30 minutes. She likes to talk and she barely complained about her lousy English. I was surprised to hear from her just to chat. She either likes talking to me or she’s bored. Who knows? We made plans to meet next Monday after school. It will be good to get out.

I finished my speaking test this morning with the 3rd year students. How bloody depressing. “Is it important to learn English” and the answer is a blank stare. This is their 7th year of taking English. It’s sad and I don’t know how I can miraculously give them the knowledge they need. It can be depressing.

Next week are exams so I have no classes from Monday to Thursday. I still have to be here to pick my nose for 8 hours so it should be quite unexciting. I’d rather be teaching. Min Kyung told me yesterday that after the exam she’d give me more classes because she’ll be finished the text book with her 2nd year classes. It’s all about finishing the textbook. It doesn’t matter if the kids know nothing, it’s just matters that they’ve rushed through the text book. She said the kids would rather be with me and would get more from me than her. That’s probably true and I’m happy to have more classes.

So that’s it’s for now. My first daytime post from school. See how busy I am.