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Boeun at night
Testing out the new camera. Nice corner shop.Dear Blog Readers,
It’s been a quiet week in Boeun. Maybe the eeriness of Mokpo has rubbed off from last weekend. We only have a few channels that are in English, and our ‘usual’, Discovery has suddenly changed to Discovery Korea so our staple supply of Mythbusters at 7:30am has been changed to some Korean men shouting at each other as they try to do an assault course dressed as women. Consequently, as if Monday morning wasn’t bad enough for the average human being, we’ve had to resort to CNN.
Normally I’m choking on my cereal at the terrible reporting, the Cathay Pacific advert being played for the 20th time in as many minutes, Piers Morgan…well, just him being alive, and the ‘banter’ between the weather girl and the newsreader who clearly hate each other’s guts. Christie Lu Stout, the newsreader who sounds like R2D2 with a bad cold, asks the reporter in London:
R2D2: So how have the general British public taken to President Obama’s visit to the UK?
Reporter: Erm…well…they’ve sort of just gone about their daily business as usual.
I nearly choked on my cereal with laughter. She might as well have just said,
Laura
Laura climbing a tree sporting a playsuit. “They really couldn’t give a monkeys” and it would have sufficed.
This week has all been about trying to get our holidays booked and sorting out what we want to do before we go back to England. We’ve managed to get our vacation dates at the same time so Laura and I will be jetting off to the Philippines for just over a week at the end of July which is exciting. We’re also going to visit Jeju Island for a long weekend with our co-teachers which will be great.
The computers that we use in the classrooms are usually swarmed by middle school boys downloading everything imaginable and leave a slow virus-infected computer for us to try and put our presentations on…until now. The computer technician has put passwords on all the computers and only the teachers know them. I exploit this new-found knowledge to the maximum. I stood in front of 35 rowdy grade 3 students on Friday, raised my hand and said, “I will tell you the password.” 35 rowdy grade 3 students instantly turned to 70 eyes glued to me waiting in silence on my every word. I pick up the chalk slowly. Turn
Love
Yuni, Laura and Clare. to the board to begin my unveiling, “dgh37jsimonisgreathd7he.” Once again, brilliantly fooled.
The students, to be fair, had much bigger concerns on Friday than me tricking them with computer passwords – it was yearbook photo day. All were keen to make sure I had a photo taken so I’m sure they’ll all laugh at me when I’m gone. They said I looked like a model. I thought I looked like an idiot. They spent plenty of time making sure each strand of hair was perfectly in place. Weirdly, I knew the photographer. I’ve played tennis with him a few times. He introduced himself saying that he worked for the IT company in Boeun.
Yesterday, Clare and Laura went to Cheongju to go shopping. I feigned having the bubonic plague so I couldn’t make it unfortunately. I spent most of the afternoon weighing up which I would prefer. I had a lovely relaxing afternoon in front of the TV, going around Boeun on my bike and eating pizza. They arrived back with more shopping bags than could fit through the door. Thankfully, the fashion show only lasted a bearable amount of time so it turned out to be quite
Dongwang Elementary School
Laura's main school. Very fancy. a good day. Laura’s been buying these things called playsuits. They are ridiculous. It’s basically an all-in-one, so it takes about half an hour to get out of it and back into it again if you need to go to the toilet. They also look ridiculous. This conversation literally just took place:
Laura: They don’t look ridiculous! Do they? Did I look ridiculous today?
Me: Ooh. Tough question. There is definitely a right answer to this question. Give me it in the style of Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire.
Clare: A: Yes, B: No, C: Ask Clare, D: If you thought it looked good then that’s all that matters.
Me: Can I phone a friend? Damn. Erm, ok, final answer, A: Yes.
Laura: Correct answer!
Me: *Look of bemused confusion.
Laura: Oh, wait, what was the question again?
Today we had a lazy morning, I had a fry up and then we went for a walk up Samneonsamseong. The weather is brilliant at the moment, like a warm summer’s day. The walk was great and only spoilt by idiots with souped up cars driving loudly through the mean streets of Boeun – unfortunately, this breed of human
Boeun Middle School
Me in front of my main school. Very sandy. is universal,
Tink and Laura
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Tink's Mum
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70 pairs of eyes from 35 pupils?
OK I know my maths isn't brilliant, but even I spotted that maybe there were too many eyes riveted to your unveiling of the password (which I don't really understand except the simonisgreat bit in the middle!)