February 4 - KTX

So right now I'm on the train from Seoul, heading to Daegu. Going to visit my lovely friend and indulge in girl talk for a few hours before heading home again tomorrow. Am writing this on my phone and I haven't figured out how to take and add pictures to my blog using the phone yet so I'm using one from the Internet. It's a map of my travels. I'm on the blue line traveling from Seoul to Dondaegu.

Talk to you again tomorrow. PS I know I missed out Feb 3, planning to do some time traveling when I get back to Seoul.

February 2 - Compliments, Speed Dating and Marshmallows.

Today was Fun Day at our Institute. Fun Day is an innovation of our Director to encourage the students to remember that English is fun and not all about drills. After all, I have to admit that while drills are very important for learning they are also boring!!!!

For our Fun Day we combined the classes at each hour together and they participated in various activities. 

First we had them play Bingo. Basically they had to introduce themselves to each other and then write their name and their first impression of the other person onto a blank square on the Bingo board the other person was carrying. Everybody wrote things like 'cute', 'pretty', 'handsome', and 'intelligent'. Is funny, from listening to students speak you would think that everybody in Korea is handsome or beautiful or cute and intelligent. Occasionally you get someone original who writes things like 'tall.' Once everybody had finished collecting compliments and their boards were filled they sat down and we began playing the actual bingo, the person who had collected a board full of compliments first called out whatever they had the most of and everybody who had that thing on their board crossed it out. Then the second person called out their most prolific compliment, then the third, etc. The first person to make three lines of compliments yelled Bingo and they were the winner!!

Speed Dating - Very Serious Business

After Bingo we played Speed Dating. Two lines of students facing each other, a sheet of prepared questions for each person and they have four minutes to talk before the line moves on. The twist was that every minute the teacher in charge would call out a random word and the students had to use that word in a sentence while still staying on topic. Some very interesting sentences when the question being answered was "Describe your ideal date." and the word is alligator.

Demonstrating Toasting Technique

Finally we finished up by teaching the students to toast marshmallows. Also highly amusing for me :-) But having demonstrated cooking technique 5 times today I am entirely sick of toasted Marshmallows!!!

February 1 - New Challenge, Korea Stories

My self appointed challenge for February is to post one or more of my photos from here in Korea with a quick - or not so quick explanation/story of the photo.

Given that today is the coldest day of winter so far - and tomorrow is predicted to be colder - I'm posting pictures of snow :-) Took them as I walked to and from work yesterday afternoon and evening.

Walking down the hill outside my apartment - somehow it doesn't look nearly as steep in this photo as it feels when I'm climbing back up it!!

One national pastime of Korean is sweeping!! In spring they sweep up flower petals, in summer they sweep up dust, in autumn they sweep up leaves and in winter they sweep up snow. I think there has not been a day since I arrived in Korea where I have not seen at least 1 someone (normally more like 10 someones) sweeping something,

People waiting for the bus outside my institute window, complete with umbrella's to protect them from the frozen rain.

I fought the urge, but the urge won. (Really I did try to resist the urge to draw in the snow on car windows but just before I got home last night it won.) Hope this person had a nice day today. ^^