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Published: November 30th -0001
Champion
Volleyball Champion.Dear Blog Readers,
A pretty quiet week in Boeun and a sudden change in the seasons as Autumn settles in for the next couple of months bringing with it a 10 degree temperature drop - we were told the seasons were more extreme here before we came but we didn’t realise it would be this drastic!
On Monday I had one of my first crisis classes - I had spent (too much) time making a music lesson for my class at Wonnam on Sunday preparing music clips and a PowerPoint to go with it. Twenty minutes before the lesson is due to start my co-teacher, Jinny, breaks the news, “Ah…today, we have a problem. No computer. No TV.” Damn! The school is being completely renovated so pretty much every classroom was stripped bare and stuff was being moved into the Portacabins on the school yard. The only room that wasn’t touched was the music room with a piano so luckily I was able to spend the lesson playing all the clips I had prepared on the piano instead! Phew!
On Tuesday I had my third grade class who have a speaking test which I am marking next week
Norrebang
In the norrebang cubicle! so I’m hoping something out of the last couple of weeks has actually gone in so they can all pass! It’s difficult with third grade in middle school because English is very rarely a priority subject. The kids here get worked so hard it is crazy. They are normally in school from 8am-3pm and then go to private academies from 3-11pm normally. Consequently, if English is not one of the subjects which they will go onto do at High School then they use them as an opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep! It’s hard as a teacher where to draw the line - you don’t want them sleeping in your class but you understand that these kids are getting worked hard and if I was in their situation I would probably want some sleep! Consequently, you have the responsibility of trying to make that 40 minutes that you have with them to be the best 40 minutes of their week and something to look forward to!
In the evening I got a phone call from Laura who was out with her co-teachers for food after work with one word - norrebang. When I turned up I
Norrebang
Laura murdering another classic. was greeted to a shocking display of soju and beer induced norrebanging enthusiasm. The co-teachers made their excuses and got the bus back to Cheongju so it ended up with just Laura, Chris, Betty and I going to norrebang! However, it was absolutely brilliant and much needed practice for next time we have to impress somebody with our norrebanging skills!
Wednesday is my busiest day but normally one of the most rewarding. I work with Mr Shin for my 1st and 2nd grade and I work with Eun-bi for 3rd grade. I also have 2 extra classes with 4 really great kids who have great English. Hopefully these classes will give them a bit of a push to make sure that they carry on their English to a great standard at high school as it will really pay dividends in the future in Korea. On the way home, we stopped off at ‘Le Nouvelle’ (another tragic example of incorrect French grammar on display in Korea) Paris Baguette café in Boeun for a baguette. We had our first ‘BEST’ meeting which is the Boeun English Support Team where all the foreign teachers gather for a meeting each month. It’s headed
Duet
Betty and Laura blasting it out. by Lennord from next door and it’s a good opportunity to learn something new and also listen to how everybody is getting on. I think it’s a great idea! Afterwards, Chris, Betty, Laura, Julie and I went out for the best fried chicken in Boeun which was great but I suffered for it the day after - when will my guts ever settle down!?
On Thursday I work at Naebuk school which I love because it is in the middle of nowhere and the scenery around the school is spectacular - I’ll take my camera next week to show you! I get the bus and then have a bit of walk there which is an absolute pleasure on sunny days - although I’ll regret saying that when it’s horrifically cold in winter! On the way home I had one of those ‘only in Korea’ moments. We were on the bus home and we’d been travelling about 5 minutes when the bus driver spotted an old man waiting at the bus stop on the other side of the road. The bus slowed down before doing a U-turn in the middle of the road, picked up the old man and drove
Eminem
Chris tries a bit of Eminem with his backing vocalists. back in the opposite direction for 5 minutes to drop him off in the centre of the town! The man clearly had a lot of respect as he shook hands with everybody on the bus and respect takes you a long way in Korea! Even if it means getting your own personal bus ride home!
On Friday my classes went well and in the afternoon I had volleyball practice. Now this takes a bit of explaining. Basically, the Korean teachers assumed that because I was tall, that meant I was good at volleyball! I was really up for playing as I’ve been absolutely dying to do some sort of physical exercise whilst I’ve been here and it gave me a chance to get to know some of the teachers a bit better! Anyway, within a few minutes of practice my ‘three times in my life’ experience of volleyball made it perfectly clear I wasn’t the ‘spike’ they were hoping for. However, they were great and took me under their wing for the big tournament today.
This morning I woke with an air of excitement but also dread with the looming possibility of failure in front of a large
Volleyball
Still learning the rules. number of quite important people and colleagues. I arrived at the school at 11:30am for some lunch and we didn’t even start our first game until nearly 4pm! The whole day was great though, we ate some amazing pork, drank lots and chatted to Laura, Michelle and Eun-bi who had come down for support. In fact, nearly all the teachers and some students stayed and watched our games which was great. Luckily, I had spent about half an hour on Skype to Pete the night before who was explaining all the best tactics and actually how to play volleyball since he played to a good standard back in the day. In fact, I had his old knee pads here (for snowboarding) so I wore them to try and at least look the part!
Our first game was against teachers from a nearby High School. We were playing best of 3 sets and we lost the first set tragically 20-2! I was thinking that it was a sign of things to come! However, our play improved dramatically and we soon got into our stride. We managed to win the next two sets and win the game to go onto the
Spike
Seeing how its done. final! We were playing the Boeun Education Office in the final and they had some pretty awesome players. Luckily, our PE teacher was amazing and pretty much was winning the entire thing for us on his own! The support from the sidelines was amazing and we went on to win the final 2-1! So from absolutely nowhere I have become a volleyball champion in Boeun! It’s hardly the biggest claim to fame, and I will assure you that my contribution to the team was just above negligible! However, it’s the taking part that counts!
Sorry I don’t have any photos yet but I will upload some from the karaoke and from volleyball as soon as possible so keep checking back!
Tink and Laura
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anonymous
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Loving the volleyball action shots