Its been raining hard here in Korea for the past night and day, and its scheduled to continue until Sunday. I've been told this is Korea's rainy season, but I remember it raining a lot in late August and early September when we first arrived in Korea. The rain is really beautiful, it keeps the sky dark and the clouds are continuously swirling above. I read on the weather report that the rain tomorrow will actually be from a tropical storm! The rain does make it a little more difficult to get around quickly and to keep dry, but its a nice change from the super hot and humid temperatures we had last week. Yesterday morning I had to walk to the bus stop to take the one hour ride to my country school. The bus stop is about a ten or 15 minute walk. Yesterday was quite the obstacle course though! I had to dodge hordes of students with umbrellas, puddles, cars and rain! By the time I got to the bus, my shoes and socks were compleatly soaked! Luckily there is a pair of sandals waiting for me at my country school, so I was able to let everything air out during the day. Some of the boy students did notice my less than fashionable shoes (they were lent to me by the school for the year) saying they were men's shoes. We all had a good laugh.
Other than the heat and the rain we've been doing very well lately. We haven't been up to much since Sokcho a few weekends ago, but the last few days of teaching are quickly approaching. We have one more week until final exams and then the majority of the school goes on summer break. I'll be teaching for two weeks of the break, two classes in the morning and one two hour conversation class in the afternoon, the same schedule I had over winter break. I'm pretty positive about the classes and am just planning on having some fun with the kids before I leave. I mean it is their summer break too, so why not make it a little fun? So far I'm planning on watching Shrek, Tangled and an episode of Glee. After each show we'll stop and do worksheets and talk about what we see. I also think I might do a photograph scavenger hunt and then make a slide show to show the kids. I also have a few fun lessons like "How to Survive a Zombie Attack" and how to make a PBJ sandwich, to which we will then make the sandwich in class. I just hope the students are easy to deal with. I know a few of the girls who signed up for the conversation class and they are really sweet.
Anyhow, like I said only a few weeks left of teaching! There are a lot of students I'm really going to miss! Remarkably I've had a few really open up to me, which is I guess what teachers say always keeps them coming back. One girl likes to talk with me about America, another told me she is a lesbian, one boy asked for advice on how to approach a girl he likes... warms my heart and makes me feel so proud of them and happy to be here! Oh course in the end I can say things like that, now that is over! I do think if I were staying a second year things would be much easier, but I also think I'd get more and more bored.
Last weekend Jason and I visited Daegu to see our friend Tim from UCI and Campus Tours. There are just so many of us in Korea! Daegu is a big city, like Busan, so there was a huge variety of shops and restaurants. We didn't do much but eat Mexican food and walk around, but it was a nice time. It would be such a different experience in a big city! Everywhere we went in the popular downtown Tim ran into foreigners he knew, they were just everywhere! Plus we went in two apartments and they were tiny and old, mine is 10x nicer! And while variety would be nice, a few bars and resturants wouldn't even take in foreigners because we would have just overan the place. I could totally understand the Korean's not wanting a loud group of foriegners crowding up their space. The city was really nice but I feel like I get a better "Korean" experience being in Wonju.
Also in Daegu we had our first experience with a taxi driver trying to rip us off. That never happens in Korea! Our friend Tim lives about a 10 minute drive outside of the center of Deegu, he takes taxis back late at night all the time and it always costs 15,000 won. We got in and drove a little and then the driver pointed to his meters saying something like "oh, no meter, its 25,000 won." Tim argued with him right away, "no 15,000," to which the driver replied, "no, 25,000." This went on for about a minute before Tim just had the taxi pull over and we got out to find a new one. By this time the fare had gone up to 3500, not much. But Tim said no way were we going to pay. We jumped out of the taxi and immediatly flagged down another one, quickly got in and told the man to go. But our original taxi had not left, and the driver was out of his car. He came over to the window where Tim was sitting and yelled at him, demanding money, Tim kept saying no and speaking English to him, but I think that helped, he was explaining why we wouldn't pay in an angry tone, even if the guy couldn't understand him. The two taxi drivers said a few words to each other. Tim finally said, "no, your service is bad!" and the guy said "good service!" Tim told the new driver how much the first one was going to charge and he scoffed, obviously knowing it was rip off! The original driver went as far as to open the passenger door where Tim was but then finally just walked away muttering under his breath. I was really proud of Tim for sticking to his guns! I would have given in long ago! Who did this guy think he was though, that was a huge overcharge! The new driver was really nice and agreed we were being overcharged, asked us if we were teachers and then pointed out that he lived near to Tim. Exciting times!
The only other update I have is that in August Amber, Jason and I will be going to Taiwan! We leave on a Saturday and return the following Sunday! Not a super long trip, but I think we can still do and see a lot! The flight is only 2 1/2 hours from Seoul, it will take us longer to get to the airport on the bus from Wonju. Should be really fun and we've got to get planning!
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