"Air raid, Ellen. No problem, no problem," she replied as she went about her work.
"AIR RAID?!"
"Yes, no problem."
"NO PROBLEM?!"
"Yes, yes. No problem. Test."
I breathed a big sigh of relief. It's amazing what a difference that little word "test" made in that conversation. The whole drill lasted about 10 minutes and then there was another siren signaling that it was over. Apparently, in some parts of Seoul, people saw military jets and helicopters overhead. The Korean government has air raid drills scheduled for the 15th (or thereabouts) of every month, but most of the time, they skip them. I hadn't heard one since I've been here. Apparently they put special flags out to let people know that they will be conducting the test. I didn't notice them today. I guess with all the news from North Korea this week, they decided it was a good time to start up again.
On Saturday, we took the first grade class on a field trip to the zoo. I don't generally teach that class, but their teacher didn't want to go, so I was asked to chaperone.
They had a worksheet paper divided into six different sections with the headings: eating, sleeping, swimming, flying, running, and playing. They had to make a list of what animals were doing what activity. Here are some students reporting that the flamingoes are sleeping:
When we arrived at the elephant habitat, one of the elephants was picking up dust and dropping it on its back. One of the students looked puzzled and then shouted, "ELEPHANT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" The elephant declined to comment.
It was a good day at the zoo. Everyone had fun, and it was great for the kids to use English outside of the classroom. Here are a few more pictures.
"Ellen-teacher" helping a student with his worksheet:
Here's the third photo from our zoo field trip. This is the first grade class, minus five students and plus three teachers and two little sisters. Note that I didn't get the memo about wearing a red hat. I have one, too!
Finally, here's one for the youth group and Janis!
3 comments:
Well, Ellen, a TEST air raid sounds cool. I guess it's just the upside of things...Anyway, the zoo sounds so AWESOME! You know how I love zoos. I recall going to the zoo in DC just after I had met Rummy (and I said that morning that I was going to meet him and everyone kept telling me to shut up, but I was right, we met him. People should thank me for that, anyway) and Shawna and I were with my mom and the two little girls. And so Shawna and I were very excited about the zoo, we were acting like two little girls, but we were really 15 and 16 years old. And one of the little girls said to me, "You're actually excited about going to the zoo?" Of course I am. There's a PANDA there, I responded. And she was like "Whatever." They weren't very happy. They thought Shawna and I were kinda dorky. Which I guess could be true. I'm a little dorky. Anyway, sounds like you're having an awesome time. (Ha, I used the word awesome. That reminds me of AWESOME TED)
Ummmm, Jane....sometime when it's the afternoon you should read that post again. Possible when it's not 4:08AM. haha, just kidding. Hope Korea and Mexico are treating you two well. And that there aren't any REAL air raids ever...
Hi Jane and Mike. Sorry, I missed your comments earlier. It's been a busy week. I hope you're both doing well. I'm still looking forward to the Mike-at-college blog. I can't really say that the air raid drill was cool. More like a reality check! It made me realize, though, how fortunate I am to have lived in a peaceful situation that this is the first time I'd heard something like that. Good to hear from both of you!
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