Demonstrate This, You SOB!
I hate the English education program here. In case you didn't know.

Erin: Hey! No, you're not a bad friend, you just live half a world away from me at the moment. You can email me (emily.christopherson@gmail.com) or you can call my parents and have them give me your phone and address info. I trust you remember the phone number!

Dad: I saw some pics (Father's Day or close to it) and in them you were wearing your taeguki shirt (Korean flag shirt). I noticed that on the back is some Korean writing. You may be interested in knowing what it says. It says, "Dae Han Min Guk" (pr. Day Hahn Mean Gook). Which pretty much means The Republic of Korea and is the title of my last blog entry. I'm currently hearing it chanted all the time because of the World Cup mania. Korea is very patriotic. Speaking of Father's Day, "Happy Belated Father's Day!" If it makes you feel better, I also forgot about Mother's Day. I'm a bad child, apparently.

So, my demo was interesting. I thought it went ok, although I definitely would not have chosen the activity that we did (my co-teacher planned everything). The people who came to see it from other schools seemed to really like it. However, after it was over the vice-principal was pretty much yelling at my co-teacher. At the time I didn't know what about because it was all in Korean. Then the principal gave a long speech about it to all the people who came. Again, I had no idea what he said. But I later learned from my co-teacher that the vice-principal hated it and the principal pretty much said that he considered it a failure. Ouch.

I don't really care because I'm leaving and don't care at this point what they think of me. Also, I don't think they had a problem with me and my teaching. My vp thought that the Korean teacher didn't talk enough and when she did she was too quiet. And both the vp and the p (I think) were just pissed that it wasn't a completely choreographed presentation. That's pretty much what these demo classes are. I hate them and find them absolutely pointless. You take like a month to plan one lesson and make all these materials and practice the class beforehand, etc. It in no way represents what an actual class could ever possibly be like. But Koreans are all about appearances. Don't you love all the blanket statements I'm making about the entire Korean population? Anyway, we didn't completely choreograph the whole class, so it was a bit more 'real'...even thought there were obviously things that took more planning than you could normally do. But like I said, the other people thought it was good and I think contradicted what the vp and p said was bad about it.

I got a lot of compliments about my 'performance.' Like last time, I got a lot of, "You are like an actress! Wow!" I also got some, "You have a beautiful voice!" Thanks. They also said I was beautiful, which I pretty much have determined they say to everyone who's not Korean. I also got a few, "If you have friends who want to teach let us know! We need a native English teacher!" Yeah, so I'm glad that's over. I'm not going to even get into the whole room debacle (what a friggin' hassle, I'll tell you that).

So way back in the beginning of May I wanted to transfer a bunch of money from my Korean bank account to my UW Credit Union account. In order to do that, I needed my school to give me pay stubs from all the months I've worked (they don't just give them to me...even though I asked when I first got here). In order to transfer money you need proof that you earned it legally and paid taxes and all that jazz. So in early May the exchange rate was really good, like almost 920 won per $1. Anyway, it took them until a few weeks ago to finally get them to me. By that time the exchange rate had risen to about 940 won per $1. Still not bad, but sucks it wasn't still 920. The next 2 weeks were super hectic due to the demo class, so I was never able to get to the bank to do it (banks are only open M-F 9-4:30...all times I have to be at work, so I have to leave school to go to the bank or post office). Throughout those 2 weeks I'd check the exchange rate every day, and everyday it got worse. Then I started to wonder if I should wait it out and see if it falls again, or if I should do it ASAP before it gets way worse. I consulted my friend who knows about stuff like that and she told me I should do it ASAP because she thought it'd get worse because the Chinese are revaluing their money or some shit like that. I don't know, I don't get it. So anyway, I went in and did it yesterday (it took 9000 years to do) and ended up getting an exchange rate of a bit under 970. Boo. But when I first came it was 1,000 and the previous year it was 1200, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. It was very nerve-wracking deciding if I should transfer or wait...it was like I was 'playing' the stock market. I looked today and the exchange rate was below 960. Dammit. If it keeps going down I'll be pissed. Then again, I'll have to transer all my money on a few months, so I hope it's good then. That was a long paragraph on something that was potentially really boring.

I have received more glowing commendations on Ewan McGregor's documentary called "Long Way Round." So everyone should all go out and rent it. Now. I mean it.

All classrooms at school have signs that say what room it is. It says it in Korean and English. For instance, the sign outside my room says, "Yeongeo Shil (but in Korean writing)" and also "English Classroom" Anyway, I noticed a funny sign the other day. There are 2 signs outside the Nurses office. One says, "Health Center" and the other says, "Sexual Problem Counseling Center." For some reason I think there has to be a better translation than that.

Most of the people at my school now know that I don't really like Korean food and that I'm not that happy. Which I have to say is a relief, because it takes a lot of energy to put up a happy front. So now I pretty much act how I feel and it's much easier. I'm definitely getting into the "I don't care what they think of me" mode. And I enjoy it.

Still not sure what I'm doing for my summer break. I want to have it at a certain date, but I don't know if they'll let me because I may have to teach an English camp for a week at a school that doesn't have their own native English teacher. Which I will absolutely HATE. I'm going to try my hardest not to. I'm gonna whip out my contract and see if I can confuse them into thinking I'm not allowed to. Anyway, I might go to Japan with one of my friends here (Jaclyn). But that is extremely tentative. She's going to India after she finishes her contract so she has to check her finances first to see if she can afford it. Japan is very expensive, so that doesn't bode well. I am petrified of traveling alone. So with my luck, I will end up staying in Korea my whole break. Shoot me now.

The last Korea World Cup game was vs. France and it started at 4am here on a Sunday (or Monday morning, actually). Of course, everyone was watching it. I was awakened at not much past 4 when France scored a goal. I was awakened again later on when Korea scored a goal. Since I was never awakened again (aside from by my alarm clock) I assumed it ended a tie. Which it did. 1-1. Speaking of 1-1 ties and World Cup, how hilarious was the last USA match vs. Italy? I didn't watch it, but I did read about it. Our one goal came from Italy kicking it into their own net. Man, that's great. It reminds me of elementary school when one kid gets all excited about having the and proceeds run to the wrong side and scores a goal for the wrong team. Also, the only goal we've got so far in this tournament wasn't even by us. Do we suck or something? I do have to give us credit for not allowing Italy to score the second half even though we were one man short. So I read. Oh, this picture is of downtown Seoul during a game. I guess there's more than 300,000 people there. Also, there's a World Cup stadium in Suwon (Korea hosted it in 2002). I guess the stadium fills up completely on game day to watch a game that's only on tv.

I saw X-Men 3 on Sunday. It wasn't bad. At least it was all spoken in English so I didn't have issues like I did when I went to The DaVinci Code.

What a dumb entry. I'm sorry.