Meant to mention - our field trip to the DMZ was postponed. Despite Mary's insistence that we take the tour visiting Panmunjeon (or else why bother, really!), the agent stuck us on a different tour. So we'll try again in the Spring - will be nicer one it's warm and things are in bloom, anyway. It was actually a bit of good fortune - when I went to immigration to get my Alien Registration Card, they 'borrowed' my passport for a week, so I wouldn't have been able to go to anyway.
Since Saturday, which was a lovely day, overcast but around 13-14 degrees, the temperature has plummeted. Minus 7 on Monday and Tuesday with a vicious wind, and we've gotten about an inch of snow today! Coldest it's been since I arrived, by far. One might think Al Gore was in town. Hopefully it'll warm up by the weekend. We're (the teachers) all off to see a 'b-boy' show downtown. Think breakdancing. Lots and lots of breakdancing. Boss.
Finished V.S. Naipaul's "Half a Life" over the weekend - I highly recommed it. So went up to the Kyobo Bookstore (they claim 2.3 million volumes in stock; I counted 2.4 million Koreans trying to buy them) which has a great English-language section. Picked up Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" for about $6 which I've nearly zipped through already. It's a great little romp.
One more class to teach tonight and then it's home sweet home. Was marking journals earlier - you can really tell when a kid has been using a Korean-English dictionary. It's just not natural for a 9-year old to write about what he eats with sentences like this:
I eat nutrients to assimilate nutritious substances.
Or to write that one of his household chores involves "burnishing" the floor by "shove [sic] a cleanser". Of course, when a pizza joint on its front window promises a meal with "a satisfactory ending" (does that cost extra??), who can blame the sprogs. One girl's mother seems to have put her in charge of "footwear arrangement". Sanitary engineer, indeed.
And congratulations to April and Mark on the new addition to the Family Jones!
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2 comments:
I wore white today. I'm a bit late, but it was in celebration of your celebration. I also ate White Rice - I'm in the spirit.
Hello there!
Thanks for the congrats on the new family member... he is driving us insane and everyone keeps saying we are to expect this kind of behaviour for up to 12 months. Argh. However, he is being very cute right now, having fallen asleep on my feet!
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