The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Viruses.  Students get you sick and then you get them sick.  It's a seemingly endless cycle.  I feel like I've had three viruses already. Right now I have a killer cold that has migrated into my sinuses.  Luckily, I'm not really feeling under the weather other than being goopy and congested.

We used to begin our new units on Thursdays, but this term began on Monday, so our weeks are on a more normal schedule now.  Today was our first Thursday without new material.  Ian said his day dragged on and on, but mine was okay other than having to blow my nose every ten or so seconds.  Nothing strange or even remotely interesting happened during my classes today, however today was the fourth day in a row that Ian's been brought kimbap.  He can count on someone bringing him food everyday, but I'm on my own so I pack apple slices.

Ian also figured out today that a Beginner 1 student that he thought was just moody or stubborn doesn't actually know the alphabet.  We just moved our Beginner 1 students to a book that is a little more difficult and involves more reading and writing and less repeating, so this poor kid is completely lost.  Ian called on him to read something today and he started crying.  Ian also has a student in Beginner 2 that is (literally) mentally handicapped.  He just smiles and grunts in class.  Ian talked to the principle about it and she simply agreed with him.  All the more proof that hagwons are for profit and not for providing actual education.

We changed around our morning routine and I think it's for the better.  By a lot.  We got up this morning and went running right away.  Then we came back and got ready for work.  That left us with a couple of hours to relax before we left for work.  We were getting up and waiting until ten to run (doing our relaxing first) which really chopped up our morning and inevitably left us rushing out the door.  Granted, I still missed my bus this morning, but that's only because we weren't paying attention to the clock.  So, if you're interested in catching us on Skype we'll be on between 10:30am and 1pm our time from now on.  We tend to have better luck catching you all later in the day, anyway.

Good night!