Blogs from Taejon, South Korea, Asia - page 8

So things went a little better today. The students spoke a little more today, and less Korean because I threatened to give out yellow stickers. Seemed to work! We also switched classes for two periods, so I had another class to work with, and they were a lot less shy. We also worked on our entry for the Talent Show which is being put on Saturday afternoon. I decided that we could do a little mini-play about the arrival of the kids at camp. We ran through it this afternoon, and everyone got a part to play. Bill, my most talkative one, has the lead role, and I think he'll do okay if he just slows down when he speaks. He's trying to rush through and is having difficulty pronouncing all the words. I think we ... read more

Well, the onslaught of monsters happened today. The morning went pretty well -- the hall of the dorms was turned into a mock arrivals floor. The students arrived at the front door and received their passport and room assignment. They then had to go through the fake metal detectors and walk by the fake police with the fake metal-detecting wand. I felt bad for some of the kids because they really thought it was real! They looked a little scared, and didn't realize that the metal detector was made of foam and the fake police were actually ELTs (English Language Teacher). I was in charge of stamping passports with the entry stamp (which read "Departed -- KLC English Camp 2007"). Next they walked to the bank where they received one KLC camp dollar which they then ... read more

Well, we made it! After an excruciatingly long flight, where I got bumped no less than 17 times as I was sitting in an aisle seat, we arrived in Korea. I had a hard time sleeping, more due to the fact that it was cramped (as usual) and I couldn't get into a comfortable sleeping position. I slept a little on the bus ride to Daejon, but found the bus air conditioning a little too chilly. Oh well! We got our room assignments, and I have to say that cleanliness is not the staff's forte at this location. I will not be walking into the toilet room without shoes anytime soon; the floor is filthy and apparently the last people to use the room missed peeing into the toilet by a mile. :P Gross! After showering ... read more

Hi friends! We've just gotten back from our mission trip to Thailand, but I am waiting on some photos so in the meantime, here are some pictures of our students doing their stream restoration independent project for IB. They are put in groups with biologist, chemists and physisists (?) mixed together. They spent the morning doing tests on the stream, and then they have to process the results together and decide whether the stream is healthy and some strategies for improvement. You can see our school bus, and the pretty lab that I get to teach Chemistry in. If you are a jazz music fan, my very good friend Rob is playing bass for this amazing 13 year old Jazz singer with pipes like Ella Fitzgerald. You can check her out at www.nikkionline.ca. Its worth the ... read more

Hello one and all, We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas break! We are excited to head off to Thailand, singapore and Malaysia; especially to meet up with Sue's sister and her family. We had a nice quiet Christmas together, just the two of us. We opened gifts, went out for dinner and downtown to see the lights, and took in the new James Bond movie (not very Christmassy, but that's ok, there's no snow!). We are thinking of all of you fondly, especially this time of year. I hope you like the pictures! Love Sue and Steve... read more