A week of colds and poo..

I know the title sounds a little weird but stick with me here. The beginning of the week was like any other, classes and the gym. I'm down to about 158 -160 lbs here and I like that weight, unfortunately all my clothes don't fit anymore. Classes were all the same, kids being kids and me trying to teach them something. My wildlife background comes in handy here, I teach the children a new animal everyday from the narwhal to the hammerhead shark (ocean unit right now). I try to get them to learn different terms from 'pectoral fin', to 'fluke' and all that and some of them retain the information. I'm so impressed by them. My two new girls, Annie and Rose are just perfect for the class. Rose is sweet and intelligent, a moderator between the children and Annie's brilliant and quite assertive, never backing down from our dominant boys. She's putting them in their places, it's kind of funny to watch. My older students still continue to impress me, it's amazing what children can think of..especially in a foreign language. The children are silly, and I'm silly with them. We have a great laugh and I'm now 'spaghettie hair teacher' or 'ramen head', like the ramen noodles. Annie was calling another student 'ramen head' like she does with me and he started to cry..haha, the little boys and girls here both get perms to give some 'volume' into their hair. So I had to explain to Annie that only I'm 'ramen head'.

How Rose signs her work



Us doing a crossword on whales



Looks pretty right? It's pesticide! Spraying beside a playground....lovely


And now all the students are becoming sick, and most of the teachers. I have a small cold that seems to be fleeting..thanks to my vitamin C!

We made a venture to the Madu Library where we all got our photos taken then went in for a tour and a reading. The library/art gallery was quite nice but the story the woman decided to read to us was quite interesting. She kept repeating the word 'deung' or something like that and I asked Sarah (my teaching partner..who's my life saver here) what she kept saying. Sarah replied...she's saying 'poo'...we giggled and snickered for a few moments. Turns out the story the woman decided to read us was called something like 'Thunder Poo' and it was about a storm that dropped a mountain of poo on this village. Yeah, great choice lady...better yet..who writes that?!



See that mountain? That's poo...



Sarah, my kids and I


Annie


Maple bear, Ilsan



My walk to work



Some folk figures in Seoul.



Some singers

On Friday, I was off to Asim and Etaf's for supper and to do some work for Asims travel photography website. We didn't get any work done on the website but I had a greaaat dinner of South East Asian cooking then watched some slides of Asim's photography. After that Asim introduced me to the herb 'Kava Kava'. This tea, drank in small amounts, helps calms anxiety and gets you ready to sleep. Apparently it causes dry mouth too! Well it really calmed me down and allowed me to sleep, but I think I'm allergic to it.



See those four little specks? That's the amount of Kava you drink in your tea. It packs a punch

On Saturday, Asim and I went off to Namhamsanseong...say that three times fast. It's a village in the mountains south east of Seoul. It's a walled fortress and kind of reminds me of the Great Wall of China..on a smaller scale. It was great weather for the walk, but too bright for photography. So we sat up by a temple and had some great cheese, tomatoe and cucumber sandwiches on baguettes. Then chocolate, crackers and more food! It was like we were going away for days, but it was a welcome lunch! Cheese! Real cheese!
















Sunday, I went to Seoul again trying to keep busy and went into Chungmoro. This is my favourite place in Seoul..camera shops galore! Realy camera shops! With the likes of Leica, Mamiya and Hasselblad...everywhere! Unfortunately, all the places were closed except for one or two. I was able to buy some photo gear this weekend and a girl in one of the shops was trying to ask if she could take my picture for her photography class. She had to get photos of a foreigner, a 'Weguk' (sp?) in Seoul, so I happily obliged. Then back to Asim and Etaf's for more supper, what good food! Spinach and potatoes in a real 'curry like' flavour. They dont actually have curry down there, that's just s blend of spices that westerners have labelled. But I know it was damn good. Asim was toting the power of lentils and I know Shannon's mentioned them a few times to me and how they're nutrional power houses. But apparently spinach and lentils in the same meal is a little too much fibre, and yes..it was hahah



Subway In Seoul, packed tight



Little one playing with the pigeons







Chungmoro, charming no?