Sorry we don't get to write more often! We don't have much free time and the only computers we have our the ones in the office that we take from the staff members!
We have now completed day four! We are so exhausted but really having a good time. The kids are adorable but have more energy than I have ever seen! We both have 11 year olds and it's like herding cats! They have to do a dance performance in front of everyone on Friday - teaching my 11 year old Koreans to dance is the hardest thing I have ever done - swear. Instead of making up my own dance, I'm teaching them well known dances that already have moves...like the macarena!! So classy!
A few funny stories:
1. My kids were asking me where I was from so I said America and the state of Kentucky. He says "tucky" and I say what? Tucky! Ummm...ok - sure, tucky. To get his point across he finally drew a flag. It was the Turkish flag! I laughed out loud!
2. We had to do a placement test on Monday and one of the questions was "what is a mouse" One of Tim's students wrote, "A small animal you can eat." hilarious!
3. My student pointed to me and said "teacher has small face."
4. Tim was attacked by the biggest spider I have ever seen!! I was too busy laughing to be scared. I've never seen a man dance around like I saw tim dance that night. Isn't he supposed to protect from spiders?!
5. I have a student that can't speak any english so I was surprised when he raised his hand to have a a turn. His English name is "Brown." Students are guessing letters and turns out his hangman word was "brown." Adorable.
We are headed to Seoul this weekend and are very excited! I want to actually see Korea! Hopefully there we will have better internet access and fill you all in on more details!
Love you all!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tim's Response
Ok... First of all, let's clear one thing up - mainly my snoring. Sorry that I have the uncanny ability to be able to sleep anywhere, anytime. Some people (Alaina) just weren't cut out for life on the road.
The work so far has been prety crazy. The first two days were each about 16 hours, jetlagged, and poorly fed. Alaina is right.. the food is pretty poor. I've lived in Asia before and this food is bad. However, the work keeps us very busy and we are grateful to be in this together.
We really appreciate all your emails and apologize ahead of time for not responding as much as we would like. Our time is pretty limited, but we really love hearing from all you. Thanks so much and we'll see you guys soon.
Tim
The work so far has been prety crazy. The first two days were each about 16 hours, jetlagged, and poorly fed. Alaina is right.. the food is pretty poor. I've lived in Asia before and this food is bad. However, the work keeps us very busy and we are grateful to be in this together.
We really appreciate all your emails and apologize ahead of time for not responding as much as we would like. Our time is pretty limited, but we really love hearing from all you. Thanks so much and we'll see you guys soon.
Tim
Firsy Day!
We've been in Korea now for two and a half days but it feels like a lifetime! The 13 hour time difference has been difficult to get over but I think we're finally adjusting.
The flight was pretty rough for me - mostly because Tim was snoring in my ear the whole time! I always get the window seat so I can curl up against the window - unfortunately, there was about two feet between my seat and the window! The positive aspect of international flights is the free alcohol. We decided that there was no better way to get sleepy than to have a glass of wine - so that's what we did. However, that only gave me peace for about three hours so I had ten left to listen to Tim snoring.
We arrived to a sign saying "Welcome to Korea Tim and Alaina." That was so great to see after traveling for nearly 20 hours! Our coordinator was waiting for us and has truly been very helpful and supportive.
Today is when the kids arrived and it's nearly impossible to explain in words! Tim definitely had the tougher of days because he volunteered Sunday night to help the coordinator before knowing what he would be doing. Turns out he had to leave the camp at 5:30am to drive to Seoul to ride a bus back with kids coming to the camp! He's a trooper. Since 10am, I've been surrounded by screaming Korean children. The English levels are so different which makes it difficult to really teach anything. The schedule is insanely hectic so you're really not teaching anway. Today we made chants and posters about our "country." I'm Finland and Tim is Spain. Finland is totally better.
My biggest problem thus far is the food. I hate the food - there's no other way to put it. On Sunday morning, after traveling 20 hours, all I wanted was a delicious Western breakfast. What did we get? Fish. That's right - FISH. And rice and black beans. Yuck. I felt bad so I asked Tim nicely to eat my fish - then I wanted to cry. Today though we had toast and cereal. Even though the toast was stale and it was whole milk, I have still never been so happy to see corn flakes. Thank you Mom for packing me snacks!!
We're off to Seoul this weekend and we can't wait! We need some peace and quiet :) This is a vacation, right?! Thank you all for reading this and we will do our best to keep it up!
Love you all!
Alaina and Tim
The flight was pretty rough for me - mostly because Tim was snoring in my ear the whole time! I always get the window seat so I can curl up against the window - unfortunately, there was about two feet between my seat and the window! The positive aspect of international flights is the free alcohol. We decided that there was no better way to get sleepy than to have a glass of wine - so that's what we did. However, that only gave me peace for about three hours so I had ten left to listen to Tim snoring.
We arrived to a sign saying "Welcome to Korea Tim and Alaina." That was so great to see after traveling for nearly 20 hours! Our coordinator was waiting for us and has truly been very helpful and supportive.
Today is when the kids arrived and it's nearly impossible to explain in words! Tim definitely had the tougher of days because he volunteered Sunday night to help the coordinator before knowing what he would be doing. Turns out he had to leave the camp at 5:30am to drive to Seoul to ride a bus back with kids coming to the camp! He's a trooper. Since 10am, I've been surrounded by screaming Korean children. The English levels are so different which makes it difficult to really teach anything. The schedule is insanely hectic so you're really not teaching anway. Today we made chants and posters about our "country." I'm Finland and Tim is Spain. Finland is totally better.
My biggest problem thus far is the food. I hate the food - there's no other way to put it. On Sunday morning, after traveling 20 hours, all I wanted was a delicious Western breakfast. What did we get? Fish. That's right - FISH. And rice and black beans. Yuck. I felt bad so I asked Tim nicely to eat my fish - then I wanted to cry. Today though we had toast and cereal. Even though the toast was stale and it was whole milk, I have still never been so happy to see corn flakes. Thank you Mom for packing me snacks!!
We're off to Seoul this weekend and we can't wait! We need some peace and quiet :) This is a vacation, right?! Thank you all for reading this and we will do our best to keep it up!
Love you all!
Alaina and Tim
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