8 Highlights from Today

8. All caught up with "Gossip Girl" and "GLEE." Just started watching "Modern Family," "Up All Night," and "Whitney." Gracias Sidereel.com! I very highly recommend "Modern Family."

Catch "Modern Family" on ABC! Check your local listings.

7. This is my 3rd month of teaching, and I have taught well over 100 classes.

6. At least 10 new students signed up for English class on November 1st. Now I teach approximately 85 students throughout the week. I'm either raking in good reviews or there's something in the water ...

5. How to exhaust rowdy kids: Make them do 4 different versions of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes" for 10 minutes. Let's just call it an early introduction to online workout videos. My 4th graders were dying.

First I start with this reaaallyyyy sloowwww version

I thought this video was stupid at first, but the kids love it

Everyone's least favorite version of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes"

I thought The Wiggles were popular!

The kids love this last one. It's fast, upbeat, and full of anime-like characters

By the end of this week,  I will have sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" at least 100 times. I kid you not. Witty and comedic American television keeps me sane.

4. The cafeteria served a side of cheesy spaghetti at lunch. I am 90% sure that I am going through dairy withdrawals.

3. Hannee helped me teach Kindergarten for the first time and made my job a million times easier.

2. A kid brought cotton candy to class.

1. The 2 sixth grade girls that I have been tutoring during lunch twice per week for the past two months *WON* the 영암 (Yeongam) English Speech Contest! 8 students (out of ~27) won the Grand Prize: An opportunity to travel abroad! I'm not sure if they are going to study or sight-see, but it's pretty exciting. I don't take credit for the girls' accomplishments because they actually do study really hard. I just facilitated some weekly review sessions. At only 13 years old, studying completely consumes their lives. One girl is taking Korean, Chinese, and English. She is the student body president and already knows that she wants to be a diplomat. (A what?) She also applied to a middle school in some far away town that has an International Relations concentration. The other girl wants to be a doctor. 

7 Highlights from Today

7. I got 9 hours of sleep last night and am feeling significantly less sick. I think I am just sleep deprived.


6. I caught a glimpse of the Western Republican Presidential Debate live from Las Vegas. It was actually really, really interesting. Never been so intrigued about politics in my life. Looking forward to following the election from Korea and voting in the 2012 election.


5. It's Wednesday. The younger kids always forget that class starts earlier and don't show up. Not my fault!

Hannee with the 1st grade girls who showed up

4. School ended 40 minutes earlier, so I used the extra hour (and the high-speed Internet at school) to watch an episode of GLEE.

3. My friend / co-teacher Hannee told a 3rd grader to run out and get us ice-cream cones before class started. This is the life.

Hannee Teacher eating ice-cream instead of teaching 3rd grade
nom nom nom nom

2. Justin Bieber released the music video for his new song, "Mistletoe."

1. I received a colossal 10lb package from mom & dad!!! This includes mashed potatoes, Mexican style rice, refried beans, M&Ms, lentil soup, split pea soup, dried fruit, nuts, refried beans, heaps of tea, garbanzo beans, hummus, pita chips, health bars, seasoning/spices, more socks, my new camera, refried beans, 3 Korean phrase books, and documents for my impending loans (yay). I was pretty overwhelmed by the size of the box. It's like Christmas in October! I can't wait to dig into the hummus and pita chips. nom nom nom nom. 

I half-expected a small person to jump out of this box

♥ Thank you Mom & Dad! ♥

#WINNING

DINNER
Fried rice with organic egg, organic baby tomatoes, organic garlic, wild parsley
Side of kale, swiss chard, & parsley with garlic
Fresh baby tomatoes & kimchi

*Care packages are officially highly encouraged*

;)