Typhoon Mindulle

I made it back to Korean class yesterday. I went to the normal place near the Hyundai factory, then rode with the teacher and a new student to the clubhouse at the foreigners' compound, where we're meeting now. Not enough people signed up for the advanced class, so the Hyundai place wouldn't give us a classroom to meet in. Since Wen-loo lives in the foreigners' compound, he can use the building.

The day was so incredibly hot, but I was dressed for the weather--I think only the second time I've worn shorts this summer. That's not because it hasn't been hot, but because they're not appropriate in many situations. The three guys wore pants, so they turned the A/C on as high as it could go, and two hours later I was freezing. The teacher drove me back to Taehwa-dong with her A/C on high, so I continued to freeze, then because it was starting to rain I took the bus home, which was also cold. My body is used to the 85 degree school--it gets rid of heat very efficiently. It doesn't know how to stay warm when it's 65 degrees inside!

Before class I spent some time doing some heavy cleaning and laundry. I had a few minutes of panic when I couldn't find my bankbook last week, so figured it was time to tidy up. Things are more organized chaos now.

I was home by about 6 PM, just before it started pouring. I went to bed at midnight, pretty early for me, and slept straight through until almost 10 AM. The rain helped me sleep by blocking out all the noises from the street, and the clouds hid the sun that normally shines in my window. It was wonderful.

I found out that the rain is actually the remains of Typhoon Mindulle, which means dandelion in Korean. It's officially a tropical depression now. After church Holly, Jody, Paul, and I went to Lotte Cinema. We were going to take a taxi, but the wind was horribly strong so we jumped on a passing bus instead. The winds were (by my estimate) 40 MPH--walking was difficult, my umbrella broke, and while trying to wrestle my umbrella into submission I cut my finger. Typhoons are dangerous!

We arrived at 2:45. Instead of taking a number and waiting until it was our turn to buy tickets, Paul played the part of "stupid foreigner" and simply walked up to the counter. The employee sold tickets to him despite the many people waiting with numbers-in-hand. Even with the cheating, we only barely got tickets for the 4:45 show--in row B (row A is the front row). We then went to Pizza Hut, where we were told it would be a 40 minute wait. So down to Java Coffee, where we had to add a chair from the cafeteria area to our table. That whole complex is a busy place on the weekends. Then back up to Pizza Hut for lunch, then a quick trip back to the first floor for Holly to look at clothes and the boys to play an arcade game, then the movie--Spiderman 2. Over lunch they gave me a summary of the first movie, then after the movie I asked Paul a few questions. It was good--nothing earth-shattering, but good.

Holly and Jody took a taxi back to Mugeo-dong, but I felt like the slower method of the bus--you can see more things that way. The wind had died down a little (it was nearly 7 PM by then) and only a misting rain was falling, so Paul and I walked the half-hour to Gongeotap Rotary. As usual, the conversation was deep and fascinating. He thinks about things in a different way than most people.

At home I experimented with the pictures on the disk Dave gave me. What's the problem?! The CD has nearly 200 pictures that he has taken at various church functions, but the files are all HUGE. By emailing them to myself I shrunk them considerably, but they still won't load onto the website. I'll try again when I have fewer things hanging over my head.

I brought a backpack full of books home to do stuff this weekend, but hadn't done anything until tonight. Tonight I wrote my report for the work meeting and found a couple of good articles on the internet to print out and reproduce for everyone. Tomorrow I'll look through Sandra's TESOL book and try to find some more info. My first time leading a teachers' meeting--I want to be as overprepared as I can be. I also still have the adult test to write. I know they'll ask me about it first thing tomorrow. I'm tempted to use the test at the end of the workbook, but I think I'll make questions similar to those, add a few more listening questions, and add a writing section. I don't think I can do a speaking test because most of them wouldn't do well.

On Friday the adults were complaining to Miro again about having to take a test. They told her that I have two options: make the test a take-home test, or not have a test, but have a party instead. They wanted to have a party on Wednesday (when I normally don't teach them) because I don't have to teach until 3 PM on that day. Uh, NO!! I have other things to do besides hang out with them. We're having a website meeting that morning, and even if we weren't, I'm not going to come to work when I don't have to! I've told them, repeatedly, that MR. KIM SAID WE HAVE TO HAVE A TEST. Yes, they're the ones paying for their class so in principle should be able to decide whether they want a test or not, but I'm doing what my boss told me to do.