Letter from Eun-Ju

On Monday, I came back from teaching my first two classes of the new semester (I think I am at the first High School in Korean history to be organized enough to have their NEST teaching on the first day back!) and found a letter on pretty stationery (Entitled "Rome Color Holic") on my desk. It was from Eun-Ju, a 3rd grade student who'd been assisting me with English book club at the beginning of the summer. This totally made my day.

"Dear Lisa teacher,

Hi ~ Lisa Do you remember me? My name is Heo Eun-Ju. During the summer vacation, though very short period, I helped you prepare the class of your book club. I'm sorry that I couldn't help you much because I'm poor at speaking English. But, I'm glad to give you a hand.

Frankly speaking, I was afraid of communicating with a foreigner. So, I had less confidence... but this experience gives me a chance to overcome my fear. You are very generous and considerate. You always smiled to me. Even when I made a mistake. Thank you for your kindness. <3

Do you remember the first time I participated your class?

That time, suddenly you let me introduce myself, and I showed you my poorer ability than I could. That moment, I saw your face and I was worried about that you might be disappointed me.

But, you didn't ignore me so I'm deeply grateful to you. I promise you. I will improve my ability of speaking English and visit you with my fluent English. Please remember me, and that day I want to be your friend. Sincerely, Eun-Ju"

Unremarkable day...

I overslept this morning. And struggled to wake up from a nightmarish dream about travelling, ice-tunnels caving in on us in the sewers of Italy (and nobody could help us because they didn't speak english), hippies stealing hemp hats from a eco-thrift store, accidentally smashing a patio-door I borrowed from someone (???) and movers ruining furniture (also borrowed from someone). I get anxiety nightmares before a major change happens. Leaving Korea in 6 weeks means they'll just keep getting weirder.

Today for lunch we had chop-chae sausage, egg and onion soup, spam fried rice and 3 kinds of kimchi, with unripe peach sections for dessert.

My classes went excellently. I'm still stunned by how well behaved my classes have been this week. Sometimes a simple lesson plan is the best lesson plan I guess.

It's been raining on and off all day. Right now, it's raining so hard outside that the rain itself is creating a breeze. I love it. But, it's a bad day to forget your umbrella at home (which I did).

Third Time's a Charm! Gayasan Hike Video

Ok, you have my mom to thank for this one. She wanted a link she could email to relatives of my video from hiking on Gayasan two weekends ago. The quality is better on my facebook page, but just in case you're not on there, here it is!

MUDFEST music video!

Two posts in one day?! Inconceivable!

Ok, here's another vid I did of our trip to Mudfest in Boreyoung last month. We had a fantastic time!

Video! Swimming with Sand Tiger Sharks!

I have been an absolutely terrible blogger. Completely fell off the wagon. I suppose partly its just that Korea has stopped feeling like a foreign place; now it's just the place where I live. So things in daily life don't seem as remarkable as they once did and its hard to believe anyone would still want to hear about it. But that being said, the last four months have definitely NOT been boring. There's always so much to do and see. So I'm going to post a few videos and photos to get caught up as best as I can. In just 7 weeks my Korean adventure will be over and I'll be returning to Canada, looking for my next one. I've really started to play with windows movie maker lately, I've been enjoying it alot! Here's my first attempt at syncing up music with video and photos, and lucky for you its of my "Shark Dive" experience at Busan Aquarium that I went to in mid-May of this year. We had a great time. I shot all the videos/photos myself. Quite exciting to be that close to the sharks!