OOO! a new post from WORK!

I can finally blog at school! Previous to this day, they (whoever they are) had been blocking this site. It was a sad state of affairs indeed.

now... what to blog about... hmmm.

This past weekend, Rob and myself went to the city of Daegu. I had some artwork up in a competition, so we went to go check it out the final day/closing party shindig. It was a lot of fun.

We met a couple of nice people, Reyna and Ahn Do. After the award ceremony (Ahn Do won first place in his category!) we went and chilled with them at

Reyna's hangout/coffeeshop/bar/guitarlesson place. We listened to some guitar playing and fabulous singing and talked about Canada.

This week is going okay so far... I'm preparing my students for their speaking test in two weeks. We'll see how that goes.

On Wednesday there is a meeting about Korean language classes. I'm glad that they are (finally) offering language classes here, but I am worried about the extra responsibilities that come with it. Rumour has it that if you take the class you must participate in a speaking competition. Last year some of the native english teachers (NET) took part in a speaking competition. For some of them it wasn't optional. Unfortunately, there was a TV crew there filming the event, and what ended up on TV afterwards was a little insulting to the poor NETs. If you've ever seen Korean TV they really like to make fun of people's mistakes. There was no sympathy at all, even though none of the NETs had been taking classes. So, a lot of the people here are burned and aren't at all interested. The other funny thing is that many of the NETs are taking part in the Dano Festival (something else that wasn't optional to some people). Leave it to the board of education to create two mandatory events, on the same day. sigh.

Anyway, It's finally HOT here and I am loving the weather. There are only about 5 weeks of actually teaching time until finals. Somewhere in there I will also teach 2 English camps. The, FINALLY I will go on VACATION!!!!! This summer's plans are to travel to the southern provinces of Korea, and visit Busan and Che-ju, then take the ferry over to Japan for a few days. Hopefully it will be a relaxed, go with da flow kind of vacation. I really dislike the visit 2 countries in a long weekend kind of travel like we did with Cambodia and Vietnam. It was way too fast, with too many bumpy/rickety modes of transportation.

that's it for now, I should probably get back to work. I have a whole TWO classes today. Yowza, my life is tough.

xo, Kat

p.s. just found out North Korea tested a nuclear bomb underground. awesome. and all the American NETs are freaking out.

Sang you berry kam sa

Sorry for not posting for awhile. I'm trying to shake off some lethargy that's come over me.
It seems I've hit a wall again here in Korea. I don't think realistically that me teaching 30 students in a class is at all helpful. Some students just don't care about what I'm trying to teach, some students just can't understand and most teachers think it's a waste of time. I'm contemplating asking if I can just teach the students who really want to learn, and teach smaller classes.

There are a lot of problems with this situation that I am in and I am powerless to change it, short of going home. I ask myself, "Why am I here?" and the answer is "Money". Which makes me more or less sick.

But on the other hand, I have had some good situations. I've been going away on weekends and seeing some cool stuff. A few weekends ago I went to Gangnueng and stayed in a traditional house for a night. We had a great tour guide who was really sweet! I learned how to play a really fun traditional Korean game, but I didn't buy the sticks, and now I have not been able to find them since. Luckily, if all else fails I can recreate the game on my own. It's pretty simple.

I've been to Seoul and partook in some Lotus Lantern festivities. I did some "wish" paintings and made lotus flowers from rice paper.

Yesterday I climbed a really steep mountain and overcame my fear of falling (for the moment anyway). Here is Shannon's tale of the climb:

Four Hours on all Fours in a Forest
It is May and the mood, weather and people are lovely again. I am more than 99% a spring person...just in my nature and everything seems to be tainted with a hippy-like love aura.

The azaleas are in bloom. The cherries are in bloom. The pines started producing little needles...the apples are even starting to blossom. Everywhere are bursts of color after a long brown winter. Green, white, pink, and blue sky everywhere.

In that spirit and with our elevated moods four of us girls planned a lovely "moderate" hike up a hill we had each visited but hadn't really gotten to know...without much thought we randomly made twists and turns into unknown territory. Four hours later, in the middle of a downpour we emerged several miles down road and almost out of the city...soaking wet and covered in mud and leaves. The ropes we had clung to (where there were ropes) had shredded our hands and the bruises from falling had begun to take on a purple/blue hue to add to the springtime color.

After emerging from that forest of unknown...we reflected on the numerous hours spent on all fours...trying to cling to small trees for a breather on our way up and then using similar trees to slow our downhill falls. Food and beer was on our mind and we quickly hailed a cab (after the first one gave us one look and sped away)...to the cheapest and closest food spot in town where most could gorge on BBQ style Korean meat and Kat and I could delve into our veggie dinners. We ate, we ate more and drank until the pain stopped. Delicious!

I have to say, for me, it wasn't that painful or random. I knew that we had to go up, so up we went.

I've read a couple of really good books about people living in different cultures. And I've had some conversations with people about their own difficulties living here.

I've had a short burst of creative energy. I'm working on some drawings and hope to get them into an art competition in Daegu.

But, today I seem to have wasted the day watching Battlestar Gallactica and Law and Order. What a waste, but an entertaining waste.

tomorrow I gotta get out of this house and DO SOMETHING!