Update

Let me first apologize for my lack of blogs the past few weeks.  I am alive and well here in Korea.  During the past month I have become very comfortable with my life here as everyday activities have become much easier as I've adjusted to my new surroundings.  I will be taking my vacation in August and have after much deliberation, I have decided to spend 10 days island hopping in the Philippines.  Most of my friends are going to be backpacking in China or Japan, but I felt like 10 days in paradise lounging on white sand beaches would suit me just fine.  I will be spending 5 days in Bohol Island, more specifically Panglao Island, and 5 days in Boracay.   I have much to catch everyone up on so I will attempt to do that in this blog.

About two weeks ago we had "Teacher's Day" here in Korea. It is customary for students to bring their teachers gifts on that day. I received everything from balloons and candy to cards and incense. The cards are hilarious and I applaud their attempts at English but I couldn't help but get a good laugh from them. Most of the kids spelled my name wrong, which is okay since they don't pronounce my name correctly due to the lack of "R" sound in the Korean language. My personal favorite is the last one which is from a 6th grade girl, who asked what my blood type was, and also stated that she wonders about my body. Not quite sure where she is going with that. Some of them were written in Korean, but I will include some of my personal favorites of the English variety for your reading pleasure. Sorry some of them are sideways!

Every foreign English teacher has to have an "open class" each semester. This means that our principal, vice principal, head of faculty, Korean teachers from my school and other schools are all welcome to come view my class and I get evaluated by my administration. The Korean English teachers also have to have an open class so my co-teacher and I decided to combine ours and just have one big open class. For the past month my co-teacher has been preparing our lesson and for the most part had been a nervous wreck leading up to the actual class. She prepared all the activities, briefed the class we would be teaching and wrote a script for both of us to follow. Last Wednesday was the big day and I will just say that it couldn't have gone any better. In total, there were around 30 guests, included among them was the Head of English education for the Busan Office of Education. She gave me glowing reviews and asked if I would be willing to be featured on some upcoming English education CD's. A co-worker that was present took some pictures and I also have a video of it which is the most boring 40 minutes ever captured.

Last week I invited a couple of my 6th grade students to meet on Sunday at my school and play baseball. When I showed up I was met by 30 of my students with their bats and gloves in hand ready to play. Thankfully I had anticipated the turnout and brought enough snacks, drinks and watermelon for everyone. I split everyone into two teams and they played a 7 inning game while I umpired. A few of the boys were actually quite good. After we finished the game we sat down and enjoyed watermelon and other snacks. When I arrived at school on Monday I was bombarded with other kids that want to join the baseball group so it looks like this might turn into a regular deal.

Some of the baseball clan and I. The kid in the orange shirt and black hat is named Top, he is in 6th grade and is a very talented pitcher. The kid under my left arm is a phenomenal swimmer and is currently ranked in the top 10 swimmers in his age group in Korea.