Day 357: Summer Classes & Things

August 07, 2012

Summer Classes

Summer classes started last week which will last 9 days over the next two weeks (interrupted by an island vacation to Jeju). I initially tried to get my students to create short videos thinking this was a fun alternative to just a conversation class but I was wrong! They've requested a conversation class, so that's what we'll do. In my second grade class (4 students) it's easy enough to just sit and find things to talk about for an hour but my first grade class (7 students) requires a bit more structure. So, I teach second grade from 3pm to 4pm, and first grade from 4pm to 5pm (Though I come in at 10am to warm my desk).

In the first class we played an introduction game where I had M&Ms and told students to take as many as they wanted. Afterward I explained that for each M&M, each colour represented something different. So, if they had four green M&Ms they had to tell me four things about them. If they had two yellow M&Ms they had to tell me two things about their family. Other colours represented things they like, places they have travelled or would like to travel... etc. It was a pretty good activity and actually worked out better and lasted longer than I thought it would.

As was the case with winter classes, I absolutely love the smaller classes that I am able to see each day and actually get to know. Again these students are those who mostly want to be there, or at least have some interest in English, so I am able to hold a conversation or at least get a response from them. 

Busan & Paragliding

Last weekend was a bit of a busy one. Contracts are winding down and everyone has different future plans and departure dates so it's been crazy to keep track of it all. Two girls who I initially came to Korea with (Erin, who I met while I was alone in the airport and imposed on her family time, and Sarah who I met as we were grabbing our luggage in Incheon) are heading different directions so we decided to devote one more day to spend together. What better way than on the busiest beach in Korea? We headed to Busan (Korea's second largest city which is maybe 4 hours from Mokpo. Matt and I visited but February wasn't beach season) early on Saturday morning, spent a gorgeous day at the beach, then headed back later that night.


I spent the night in Gwangju in order to meet the paragliding crew early the next morning. In order to celebrate a friend's 25th birthday, we suited up and jumped off the side of a mountain.

Soccer field / Landing pad


After a rather scary drive up the side of the mountain (the driver/tandem dude with a beer in hand which likely explained the events to come) we made it to the top!




 Suiting up... 


They sat me down and carried me around. Why do weird things happen to me?


Up... 


... and down she goes. The emergency chute was out which caused us to go down. Some trees broke
our fall.


Take two. Finally made it into the air. An amazing experience!


***

So, some recent developments in my life. For the past 2 months or so I've found myself really bummed about ending my adventure and heading home so soon. Long story short, I realized that I'm not yet ready to go back home. In two weeks I am heading to Canada where I will be free to spend time with family/friends before heading back here late October.

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