Teacher's Day and Sports Day all rolled into one!

I was invited to renew my contract yesterday! I am so excited!!! It is not official yet because technically it was an application, buuuuuut I am sooo happy regardless. It will be so great to be here for another year.

I recently read a blog and it kind of bummed me out. I know that it is not wholly true, but there was truth in it and that made me a little sad. The blog brought to light the racism that exists in South Korea. I knew about it. I have witnessed it and been a victim, but it hadn’t completely reached my consciousness. Now I feel it much more and am trying to just let it fall of me. I understand that it is important to discuss. I have started a conversation with my students about it. I have been teaching a lesson on Apartheid with the hopes of showing my students that all over the world racism exists and people are working on healing. We talked about the United States and about South Korea. The racism we talked about in South Korea is about biracial families (the most commonly talked about example is of a Korean farmer in the country-side who marries a woman from South East Asia). The students also talked about prejudice towards people from the country-side in general.

I hate it when rose-colored glasses are removed because it can be just damn painful.

Today is sports day and teacher’s day. No classes. It has been so much fun. I have been dubbed queen of the chicken fight, which makes me nervous because I have never had a chicken fight before. It involved holding your ankle as one knee is folded over the other thigh. I am still a little confused by it. I am loving all of the little gifts I am receiving and the big one from the principal: 50,000 won to Lotte Department Store. Holler!

I am posting pictures from sports day, the fountain at our school, and a video about how the cafeteria works.

Next week I begin teaching night classes. I will be teaching first years. I will teach them 2 hours per week, so two more lesson plans/week. I think it will be fine in the end. It will be a nice intimate environment. I think I may start picking themes and get them discussing/debating and writing.

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