Well, September, you've really outdone yourself. Just keep up this beautiful weather for the next 29 days, and I'll be one very happy English teacher. Wait a second, I am one very happy English teacher! Well, just continue it anyway.
Tonight I had dinner with my cousin (I guess that's what's he is) Ian Gillies who has been here in Korea for the past two weeks training with the Army Reserves. I met him near the big army post in Seoul, and we went out for "bulgogi," a type of Korean barbecue. Excellent food, and it was fun to visit with him. I think the only other time I met him was at my grandfather's funeral about a year ago. We have plenty of family members in common to talk about, though. I wonder if any ears were ringing.
Someone told me that bus drivers in Korea are paid according to the number of circuits they make during their shift. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it does explain why they drive as fast as they can until the last possible second before stopping for the shortest possible amount of time before taking off at rocket speed once again. Sometimes the buses don't stop at all the stops. If someone isn't flagging the bus down at the bus stop and if someone inside the bus didn't push the button to signal the driver, the bus just keeps going, so you have to pay attention or you'll miss your bus or your stop. If you're one of the last people on the bus at a stop, you can bet that the bus will be at least to the next block before you've had a chance to find something to hold onto, let alone actually find a seat.
I was riding the bus earlier this week and thinking about this. There were so seats available, so I stood toward the front, holding onto a pole for dear life, while the driver went as fast as he could for a block and a half, then slammed on the breaks at the bus stop, and then repeated the pattern. At one point, I looked at the dashboard and realized that through all this speeding and stopping, speeding and stopping, the speedometer held at a constant 30 km/hr.
The next day I was standing at a crosswalk. When the light turned green, I hesitated for a second. Just then a bus barreled through the red light. Had I been in the crosswalk, I'm quite certain that all my theological questions would have been answered that day. I can hear Dad's voice saying "Look both ways before crossing the street" echoing in my head. I'm not going to need another reminder about that one.
The rest of the week went pretty well. I had a new girl join the princess class, and I started a new kindergarten class with three little boys. My advanced elementary class is a lot of fun. There are two 8-year-old students who are quite proficient, so there's a lot I can do with them. It's a big change from colors, numbers, and ABCs in kindergarten! I also sat in on a mothers' class which I'll start teaching next week. I’m still thinking about names for the two little girls.
I received a postcard from Uncle Dick Gillies from the Panama Canal. We now have Halifax (Canada) and the Panama Canal marked on our postcard map at school. The kids love it. We’re going to start a pen pal project soon, too.
No big outings this weekend. I really need to spend some time on my lesson plans, so I'm just going to stick around home tomorrow and get together with a friend for lunch. Then I'll have the usual church responsibilities on Sunday and probably come home and finish my lesson plans after that. Not every weekend can be an adventure, right?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Please don't get hit by a bus Ellen, i really don't think that is a good idea...just because i need to be able to say i know someone in Korea...
No need to worry, Sara! Being hit by a bus is so far down my list of things to do in life that numbers don't even go that high! Good to hear from you. How are you? What's the countdown to Knox? Go Prairie Fires!
What ever happened about the laundry problem? I seem to recall someone wanting to put a washing machine in your closet sized bathroom... Glad everything's going well!
Ah, yes, the laundry quandary. I suppose it really does deserve its own post. I was able to avoid a washing machine in my very small bathroom, thankfully. Instead, I take a load of laundry a week to a seamstress who has a very small washing machine. She'll run a load for $5. It takes 4 hours. She returns the wet clothes to me, and I have to hang them to dry in my apartment. I wash small things by hand in the sink.
Post a Comment