Massive catch up..sorry!!

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Hey guys, SO SORRY i haven't been blogging for ages.. 2 months in fact!! Gosh i cant believe it has been that long, just read my last blog and so much has happened since then!
I wont remember it all in order so i will just throw things out and see if you can make sense of any of it!!
Where do i start?
Well school i suppose... its getting better, there have been moments when i have been told i was a crap teacher and that's kinda upsetting.. but i think this school (like so many others) is fickle, its just a business and they aren't really all that interesting in the kids actually learning they just want the kids to enjoy it enough to keep coming so they get the money. For example i have one class that are extremely young but come in the afternoon, the whole lesson has to be about entertaining them and trying to slip in some English without them noticing. I had 3 of their mothers complaining because they didn't get the same scores in their tests... well that's normal right? They won't all get the same score cos some are better than others but apparently that doesn't matter. I have to give them the same scores next time or there will be hell to pay.
We had an open day last week which was a nightmare. We had a cooking class with the 5yr olds and as you can imagine having their parents there next to them was a bit of excitement for them and when asked a question in English they completely clammed up! But it went ok and we got good feed back.
For the winter holidays (gov schools not hagwons) we have extra lessons in place to entice the parents to keep their kids on for the next year. Means i lose out on one of my long lunches and its only going ot get worse. One of our teachers is leaving because she is pregnant and us foreign teachers are being used to wrap up the kindergarten lessons and then us girls are being used as free advertising for the school. We have to put all the kids on the buses and speak as much English to them in loud voices so that passers by will see white faces with the kids and realize that the school has foreign teachers! Its so annoying, now instead of having a 2 hour gap between kindergarten and elementary we now have barely 1, So we are in at 9:15 till 7:30 most days, doesn't sound like much but when compared to other schools we have crappy hours!! Some we know only teach 3/4 hours a day starting after lunch! If i do a second year I'm getting one of those jobs, that way i can actually do stuff during my weekdays rather than being tired all the time.
We also have a new teacher in the afternoons who is a breath of fresh air, she converses with us and its not hard at all to get her to understand what it is we actually want and she gives us help on places to go and whats going on in Seoul and the surrounding area, she is great!
hmm what else, my mind has gone blank. We have been sightseeing, most wkends we try and get out to do something different. We still haven't been up the tower though which is prob the first touristy thing most people do.
I love going round Seoul just looking at different areas and meeting new people. We are due for a new intake of teachers in February so that should liven things up a bit. Hopefully there will be some Southern English in that lot because Im feeling a little lonely with all these Northerners around me!
Making plans to go to Busan in the Spring/Summer and we definately have to get out to the islands around us, i have seen so many pictures of them, they look lovely.
Ohh and now the North/South Korean border is back open again to tours we will def be heading up that way! Seems silly to be so close and not get into one of the most secret countries around!!

So that's about it, i know i have missed out so much but that's what you get for going so long without blogging... bad memory!
Will try and be better in the new year!!!

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Photos

1st Halloween party
This was my unexpected Halloween party...rubbish outfit... ahh well was saving myself for the BIG thing in Seoul!

Proper Halloween coustume!
Here is the final effort - fire angel... kinda!

UR Seoul
ahh our delightful Brian and the rest of the band... all lovely boys.

Halloween costume hunt
on a mission to find a costume.. these ones didn't cut it!