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Week 4- Y3(Apr 1st to Apr 7th) |
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Tuesday:
I started teaching one of my hagwon students privately
today: she's actually a piano major, but she's been
taking my masterclass with all the other singers for a
year. Because I'm doing this directly through her and
not through the hagwon, I've got to be a little
careful-- although Jae has always encouraged me to
take private students, this seems like a different
situation. Anyway, this student is very talented and
has a lot of potential, so it's a pleasure to work
with her on a more individual basis.
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Wednesday:
And the infamous MT trip is here! As some may recall
from last year, the MT trip is our school's annual
retreat, ie 3 days of insane drinking at a remote
resort in the woods or on the beach. Guaranteed
craziness, in other words. The point is for the
students to get to know eachother, and also for the
teachers to mix with the students (while attempting
not to appear ridiculously drunk as they pour you shot
after shot). Last year, the resort was about 4 hours
away, but fortunately this year, it was only about an
hour outside of Seoul at a ski resort in the
mountains. I got a ride down with Saoh around 7pm or
so, and believe it or not, we were the first teachers
there! Because I'm the only female professor, I had
this massive room all to myself-- huge living/dining
room, separate bedroom, 2 bathrooms. The hotel room
was 3 times the size of my whole apartment! Anyway,
Saoh and I had nothing to do but wait, so we went to
the hotel store and bought some beer and started
early. This is a problem for several reasons: a)
Saoh's English is not that good, and everyone knows
the state of my Korean speaking abilities . . . and b)
Saoh has a huge and not very well-hidden crush on me,
but he reveals it in that typical Korean way where
it's impossible for me to ignore, but without saying
anything direct enough that I can fully dissuade him.
At around 10, the other teachers started showing up
and we all gathered in one room for drinking and food.
Kenji wasn't yet there, so I was pretty bored--
everyone was speaking in Korean, and actually, there
were a few times when they were talking about me, but
I couldn't understand any of it. That was kind of
irritating. When Kenji and Chang Hyun finally got
there, Kenji and I did a little tour of the students'
rooms. Again, I can't get over the rock-star
treatment we always get from our students! They were
clapping and cheering and yelling for us to come sit
down with them. And of course once we did, our
glasses were kept constantly filled, and they lavished
attention on us. (The moment that had Kenji and I
cracking up for ages: Kenji made a joke about some
girls across the room not having enough fun, so
Kenji's student yelled at them in Korean to have more
fun! Classic!) At the end of the night, I went to my
gigantic room and enjoyed sleeping in luxury for once.
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Thursday:
I went back to Seoul this morning with Saoh.
Technically, I was supposed to stay until Friday, but
I wasn't really into doing it all over again for a
second night, especially considering my one English
ally was also back in Seoul (Ben is still in Canada
finishing off his masters). While I can't think of
any real reason that I would have had to stay (after
all, it is just a social trip), I'm hoping that Jae
won't be mad about it. Anyway, it's nice to enjoy
time off when I can actually walk!
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Saturday:
Because I missed my salsa class on Wednesday, I went
to the class tonight. It was really fun tonight! I
got to dance with the instructor for most of the class
(shortage of boys, so she was filling the gap), and
she complimented me a lot on my dancing. It's so much
easier to dance when my partner knows how to lead
properly! That said, I'm very unimpressed with the
guys in these classes-- today brought out more
unattractive, malodorous and wooden men. I'm now on a
personal mission to find a good dance partner . . .
After class, I walked about half an hour to
Annabelle's new apartment just outside of Itaewon for
her housewarming wine and cheese party (which is
slightly ironic, since it's impossible to find good
cheese, bread and wine here!) I'm really really
jealous of Annabelle's apartment-- it's about the same
size as mine, but cleaner, newer and with a better
layout. And she's paying the same price that I am. I
really wish that my foot hadn't been out of commission
when the topic of moving had come up-- I would have
looked really hard for myself and hopefully found an
awesome place. Anyway, Annabelle's place is perfect
for an intimate gathering, and we did manage to work
our way through many bottles of wine and several
blocks of surprisingly decent cheese, although I'm not
entirely sure where they came from. Hmm . . . maybe I
should have a wine and cheese sometime soon . . .
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