Spring Vacation?

Alright, in college, we had our spring vacation at the very end of February. But I just started my Korean spring vacation on the 15th! A little strange, honestly. We came back for one week of school that consisted of half-days and no real teaching, and now we're on a two week break again. The kids all had their graduation ceremonies, and one of my favorite students told me that has to transfer schools for next semester! It was actually pretty sad, considering she was one of the girls in my extra class that I've come to really respect. It's going to be strange having English classes without her for the rest of the year. :( She and her friend (who is also in the extra class) made me a huge box of chocolates for Valentine's day! They made a huge chocolate heart and used white chocolate to write " love J & D" for me and Dean. There was also an assortment of homemade white chocolates. It was a really, really cute gift.

One of my co-teachers is leaving! She and I used to talk about things like Sex and the City and Friends in class when our students were watching a movie or doing worksheets. Apparently, the new teacher has been teaching for about 30 years, so that dashed my hopes of having another young co-teacher. Also, 7 other Munsung teachers are transferring to new schools. In Korea, you work in a public school for 5 years and then the education department moves you to a different school. They're also moving our English department desks to a corner near the door, which is a huge relief to me. My desk has been the most central desk in the whole staff room, so every time a parent or a package delivery person comes through, they always stop and ask me where things are. Awkward.

Oh! So things are really changing with the English policies in the public schools. According to one of my co-teachers, they all got memos during their winter holidays that they will now be required to teach all of their English lessons fully in English. While this may not seem too huge to many people, it should be known that most kids coming into middle school really can't speak English. They just don't have enough support and good programs in their elementary schools. So the idea of teaching things like English grammar *in* English sounds insane. But the government is pretty serious about this change and they're going to be sending in people to watch every English class taught by a Korean. If they can't teach the whole class in English, the teacher will be forced to teach another subject. It doesn't affect me, but it's definitely stressing many, many English teachers out.

On Friday, some TLBU people met up with us CUA people, and we ended up running into some fellow SMOE guys! A typical night in Hongdae.


Today, Dean and I spent hours out in the city, just walking around and window shopping.






We also ended up down by the Han River




This picture is a bit blurry, unfortunately.






This was from the Teenie Weenie store in Myeongdong. They had these guys in top hats standing at the door to open it for you. Earlier, when it was sunny, one of them was just posing by this really tall, 1900s style bicycle. He just stood there and smiled like a gentleman. It was weird.