Lesson Plans, Birthdays, and A Whole Lot of Rain

 "Jenna Teacher"

 Last week was the first week of teaching.  The first day/s were a bit awkward since I didn't know anyone or what I am doing.  The school I am at is really big and I get a bit lost going from my teaching classroom to my office.  Everyone at the school is really nice and I definitely feel like a celebrity walking around the hall. "Jenna Teacher...Hello!, Hi Jenna Teacher!"  It is so very cute.  All of the kids just stare at me as I am only 1 of 2 westerners in the school, we are pretty well known.  I teach about 475 students in the school and there is no way that I can remember all of their names. There is just no way.  I teach 6th, 4th and 3rd grade classes.  I would say that the younger kids are my favorite.  The 6th graders are punks and don't do anything. All in all, the week went okay. Besides Thursday, this was the biggest pile of crap day so far.  I felt like I couldn't do anything right but I am so lucky that my co-teacher is so gracious with me and my lack of teaching experience.  I have been very blessed to have the co-teacher that I have despite some communication issues. Our biggest challenge right now is trying to figure out a way to motivate these 6th graders to learn.  We both feel a bit lost on the matter.

Friday Night Adventure

Sept. 7, 2012 The Start to Birthday Weekend

After a week of school I really wanted to get out and explore more of Seogwipo.  I get home from school earlier than the others that live in my building so I waited, and I waited until I just couldn't wit any longer.  I just had to go.  I started walking and I came upon some of the most wonderful places in Seogwipo so far. For example, this bridge that you see on the left.  This is a bridge that goes from Jeju Island to another island just off the shore.  It is a small island with only a walking trail.  it was so beautiful there. I will become a frequent visitor I think. This is also down by the harbor with all of the fishing boats and many restaurants. Such a neat place minus the smell of fish :)

U-do Surprise

So, last weekend was my birthday.  I wanted to do something really fun for my birthday, as most people do.  Some other teachers wanted to go camping on U-do Island (pronounces OOO-dow, not you-do).  I thought I would make it easy and add a map of where I went (the white arrows).  The black arrow is the city I live in. 
  We had to take a ferry out to the island and then we rented ATVs for a few hours.  The island is really small and we drove around it in about 30 min or so.  It is basically a farm community and I think it's a place for day trips.  I compare it to the Duluth of MN. Nice place to go and hangout for a wee while.  Below is a picture of the most wonderful island shoreline.  It was quite magical. I would go there again.  For dinner we went to this place the was pirate themed.  I mean this place was decked out with skulls and crossbones everywhere.  It is a family business and the kids were running around.  They were the most welcoming family I think I am ever met.  They even sang happy birthday to me in English and brought me a pumpkin with toothpicks stuck in it to look like a cake with candles.  It was very sweet.   It was a great day on Saturday, perfect birthday.  We camped on the beach that night. Then at 3am Sunday morning the rains came in. They were relentless. I was sleeping in a pool of water and decided that I couldn't take it anymore.  Another girl and I decided to go into the public restroom and camp-out in there the rest of the night.  I must say that I will never forget that night.  And never again do I want to spend a night in a bathroom, let alone a public one.  Real nasty.  This other girl is a real camper.  She brought a camp stove and so we made some tea to help keep us warm.  If we had to be wet we might as well try to be warm. 

The next ferry didn't go out until 7:30am. We didn't want to miss that boat. There wasn't one dry spot on anybody or anything.  We had to walk across the island in the rain to get to the boat.  We are all just dripping wet the whole way home and extremely tired from the lack of sleep.  We waited at the bus stop in the cold rain for about 45min before the bus came to take us back home.  The bus ride was about an hour and there is no way that those bus seats will ever be dry again.  I think that we each had 12 gallons of water soaked on our bodies:)  Finally, we made it back and I get to my apartment building and the elevator is broken. Walking up those 8 flights of stairs wet was the perfect ending to my trip to U-do.  One day I will go back and attempt to camp on U-do again.  I can't let the weather win!