update time perhaps?

Ok so i figure im due for a bit of an update, ive been putting up pictures to hold you over until the written one.

So I guess ill start with the drama festival. it was at the end of february and the week leading up to it was chaos. the kids were doing soo many different things that it was just impossible to get enough rehearsal time in between all the teachers. we did it at the church on the 3rd floor of the school and were supposed to have rehearsed there a few times before the show on saturday but since all the church stuff was still set up until friday night, it was didnt exactly work out (contrary to what justine and i were told which was the we would be rehearsing there from wed-fri with costumes). the costumes arrived saturday morning. as you saw from the pictures i posted they had about 15 different costumes changes so not having practiced with them didnt really help the situation. also, they didnt know where to stand or how to use the mic. all in all though it didnt turn out too badly. theres a dvd of it so im gonna try to burn it and then send it home..or take it back with me. so since most of the kids 'graduated' there werent any kinder classes the next week. this was nice although we still had to come in. and were the only teachers in in the morning for some strange reason the 2 korean teachers were not there. since it was the end of the month there were elementary tests on thurs/fri so at least it gave us time to prep for those and re-do the boards in each class since they were still christmas/winter themed.

last week was the start of the new kids (kinder and elementary). most of the elementary kids were the same except they all switched classes but the kinder kids who had graduated were now starting e-classes and there were some actual newbies too. so that made things interesting and also we didnt have books for most of the week for a few of the classes (no books =s nothing to teach to the kids for 40mins). and that was just elementary. there were 30 new kinder kids starting on monday too. let me tell you i have never seen so many kids cry in my life on that day. there were 7 returning kids (in rabbit class, the oldest and most advanced kinder class) so man i was thankful to have some familiar faces. also, the 2 korean teachers who taught kinder with us up until the drama festival left so there were 3 new korean kinder teachers starting monday as well. none of which had any experience teaching kindergarden. and us with 4 months of teaching experience. so i bet by now you can imagine how fun that was. also, since theres 37 kids now, we have 5 classes instead of 4. the 5th class is 4 four year olds. so monday we taught to 2 of them since one was sleeping in the reception area because he was exhausted from crying so much, and the other after 2 hrs of crying went home with his dad. so that class is pretty much a write off and im not really sure why they even have books and expect any of us to teach them anything when its more like babysitting. for example, today an a week and a half into classes i watched them run around the classroom and hide under the table. they dont listen and have no interest at all in colouring which is usually the 'safe bet' if you cant get kids to do anything else. and all these kids know absolutely zero english so it is a bit challenging trying to explain to them things like break time, bathroom, water, lunch...so last week was interesting to say the least.
oh but kinda good news is that apparently there is 25 person waiting list to get into elementary classes at our school. which i guess means weve been doing something right. but the bad part of that is that all the classes are jam packed with students and i have an extra class on mon/wed/fri again ..so im into overtime. which technically i can refuse to take but im just gonna try to stick out minus the exhautedness and no preptimeness .

on the weekend it was the big 2-4. thanks everyone for the cards and gifts :)
so saturday was pretty chill just went to ilsan to get my hair done (which took foorever) and it was gorgeous out so the plan was to shop outside for a bit but it was night by the time i finshed and cold again so no dice. saturday night we headed to monkey beach and that was lots of fun as usual. sunday was pretty chill too, we wanted to go to itaweon for some bfast but decided to just go to ilsan instead ..went to see 27 dresses and loooved it. then just major brain storming and prepping for monday since the books were in and we had to start teaching them to the new kinder kids.

this week has been okay, still adjusting obviously ..and i dont have the books for 2 of my classes still but things are relatively normal. last night and tonight we were at work late working on the monthly evalutions for the elementary kids. tomorrow is a teachers dinner because there are 4 new teachers (in kinder and elementary). and then the weekend plan is to do some outdoor shopping because it is definitely spring here. it was 16 here today!! soo nice out, no jacket needed.

so i think thats about all i can think of to update you all on. ill put up some pics of stuff that i may have missed.

miss you and love you all
meg
xoxo