I will start with the beginning of June when my friend asked me if I would like to go and help out at an orphanage with her. I have never really done a lot of volunteering, but I was willing to give it a go. So we travel to the end of the subway line and meet a girl who was co-organising this trip and another volunteer. It turns out we were taking the kids to watch a baseball game, with our local team the Samsung Lions. So we get to the orphanage and we don't really have the time to spend with the kids and so we are put in a car and taken to the game. When we get there is was packed and it was all a bit hectic. When we got in the stadium, we had lost the organiser who worked for the orphanage and the kids were leading the way, not really taking any notice of the strange foreigners that were following them. They all sat down in one place (there were no seat numbers or any indication where we were supposed to go on the ticket) and got all the food out. Then we got told we had to move to the 'free-seating' area, which we did and the kids again wandered off and sat down. The place was packed and we ended up standing at the back while the kids were sat at the front. In the end no time was spent with the kids, but we watched the baseball game which was good, but the day didn't turn out as charitable as I had expected. Still a good time was had by all, there was pizza and coke and the Lions won which was great. The atmosphere was really energetic, there were Mexican waves and even a hilarious slow-motion Mexican wave!!! There were these inflatable things that you bang together and it makes a considerable amount of noise! By the end of the game I sort of knew what was going on and we are hoping to go again for our friends leaving do, I am definitely going to get myself some bangers (that's what I have been calling the inflatable noisy things, although it either sounds like some sausages or some well placed plastic surgery!).On the evening we went to this lovely Indian restaurant called Maya. I do miss my Indian food and this place is delicious! It is owned by Indians and so the food is really authentic and the man is so friendly, whatever we ask he is like 'for you pretty ladies, I do'! We have now been back there a couple of times!
The next day we were off to Busan to the sand festival, which was a really good day out. We got there and there were loads of stalls and some amazing sand sculptures!!!
Of course as we are in Korea there was a Hello Kitty one!!! There was a place where you could make your own sand sculpture and there was a really good concert. It was lots of different Korean bands that did some songs, but then we realised it was also a competition to see who could do the best rendition of Poker Face, because every band sang it at some point. There was this fantastic band that also did a great version of Rolling In The Deep (although that song is on everywhere here, it was still nice to hear a different version).
While we were there we thought we would make the most of it and go to the aquarium; it was great, there were loads of crazy fish and we got to see the sharks and penguins get fed (separately obviously hahah).
There was also this boat ride you could do in the shark area; the boat had a glass bottom so you could see the sharks up close. This seemed a bit terrifying to me, but I was going to pluck up the courage and do it, but they said there was a long waiting list. I was a little relieved that there wasn't going to be another jaws situation but also a little bit sad that I had missed the experience. All in all it was a great day in Busan and had changed my mind about the place (if you remember me and Mum did not have a great time there), the weather definitely improves visits to the beach! |
| Busan fake robot! |
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| Busan shinanigans |
A couple of weeks ago we had to go and present ourselves in a meeting for potential students' parents. The boys had to wear suits and I had to make myself look a bit more presentable (haha) and we all filed in and stood in a room with a lot of parents looking at the foreigners. As I have probably mentioned, as foreigners get stared at a lot anyway, this was a bit like a zoo situation with organised staring. Anyway my boss, Mr Lee, was saying something in Korean and then said my name (I had been warned I would need to say a little something to the parents that won't understand what I am saying). So, I stepped forward and said I was from England and I teach speaking and writing, I have a degree and whatnot. After my colleague, who can speak Korean told me what introduction Mr Lee had given me; it consisted of me being the newest foreign teacher at Honors and that I had nice red hair!!! I thought this was an excellent reason for the parents to choose our hagwon!
The following weekend there was more charity work to be had. We went to the summer carnival which was held in a sports hall and there are different tables with different activities for the kids to do. So we go in and set up our table which was a name art station. Here kids can get their name translated into the English spelling and make a name plate for their door, we also tried to do a bit of origami but the kids turned out to be way better at it than us!!!!
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| One of the many concerts we have stumbled across |
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| Egs of our origami at an impromptu concert |
So after setting up we all sat down and the kids did a little dance for us which was so lovely! Then we all played that game where you have to get into a group with a certain amount of people in it and then sit down. The kids were so friendly!!!!! There was this adorable little boy who was loving hiding a pen and me pretending to look for it and then pulling it out from behind his back! There was also an older kid who liked to come up and scare me with vampire teeth in haha! The kids were all having a great time and it was amazing to see how happy it made them. There were loads of other stations like nail art, face painting, shooting basketball hoops and lots more. After we all sat together and had pizza and chicken. I met some really amazing people and some beautiful kids. |
| This was the cutest little boy! |
This day was followed by a variety of people all going for pork BBQ and having a night out leaving me not too healthy the next day!!!
I know I don't talk about things that happen at school a lot, but there are many funny or lovely things that do happen. One such event was that we were answering the questions who makes us happy, and one of my cheeky (naughty but adorable) elementary kids stopped messing around and looked like he was thinking hard. He slowly and carefully formed a PERFECT sentence ... 'teacher...you...make ...me ...happy'!!!!!! I was so happy (and obviously a little bit choked up). Some of the kids I teach are amazing and makes everything so worth it!!!
Love to England!!!!!!
