so today at lunch there was pink rice, and amongst the noise when i was trying to ask why it was pink i thought the teacher kept saying 'blood rice' so i hope it was not something i wasnt supposed to eat! also, kids are following me to homeplus after school calling my name and waving so might have to try going later after school. this week is national exams (nobody told me) so the class bells are all ringing 10 mins early while i am still in the middle of a class.

next week is the three day school trip mon-wed but the 2nd graders are not going so i have to stay behind to teach them. they have rearranged the classes so mon/tues i have no classes. i have to be here at 8.20am but have been told i can 'quietly' go home after. since i have no internet at home yet not so bad as i can do my stuf on the pc for a couple of hours. the following week is chuseuk (korean thanksgiving when they honour their dead relatives) so i only have to come monday then have tues-friday off.... now they have told me i am going on the field trip tuesday to an amusement park.

i only have one actual problem class but nothing i cant handle and i only see them once every two weeks. other times one kid decided to just stare at me with a stern look so i stared back at him with the same face and made him laugh. another one kept saying '****' to everything so i was ignoring it as i didnt want the other kids to pick up the word. occasionally kids may sleep during class or talking, so i just make them answer the next question if they are talking and leave the ones sleeping alone because they could be exhausted from after school classes. plus i move around the tables instead of just standing at the front. and i have the after school cleaning crew which i thought was a bunch of kids storming the room the first time, so i have to stay and supervise as they get rowdy and touch everything.

so the board is offering free korean classes but i have to teach the adults after school as well (which i'm looking forward to) and they may conflict on the same day. this weekend they are forecasting rain both days and i was planning to go up one of the mountains in a cable car. this might be the longest weekend with heavy rain, no tv or internet.

so my computer in the class is possessed by the devil. the cursor will keep jumping midway so i will go to click on something and its on the other end of the screen. or it will just keep shaking in one spot and wont respond. the other day the projector was not working so i had to improvise and start teaching from the book instead of cds. sometimes this computer will just freeze midway thru class and everyone is staring at me! (somekids just like to stare at me without cause!). a boy was wearing pink socks today which nobody seemed to notice except me. another odd thing is kids seem to stroll into and wander around the staffroom which never happens back home

another teacher was complaining she wants me to use the microphone but the sound system cant toggle between the mic and cds so i just use the cds. she just goes behind the wall at the back and marks papers anyway so i dont know why she was complaining? (i thought she went to take a nap the first time she did that before i peered over!). another thing they will do is adjust the windows, fans, and lights, when i have set them all up. or they will close everything and turn on the a/c which is no good to me as the vent is at the back where they sit.

so tried to go looking for the electronics market after school. i was in the right area but probably the wrong streets as all i saw were old tvs from 10 years ago and electrical cables and supplies for sale. then i managed to find the uzbekistan restaurant called samarkand after the famous city. their menus are in russian script not korean hangul. i thought i had explored downtown but turns out there is a whole other downtown a few blocks over wiht all the bars where the westerners hang out. also a shisha/hookah lounge there too.

friday was eid the muslim holiday but i didnt ask to take time off as i'm new in the job plus they were rearranging the classes friday as there are no classes mon/tues for the field trip. they asked me to write an article for the school english newspaper about myself and that the vice principal wants to win the contest. she is a nice lady and tries to make simple conversation. she is coming to my english classes when they start. today some kids were in the staffroom doing some sort of military salute to her and reminded me of the queen inspecting the troops!

saturday was raining all day so decided to take the bus to the national museum. its one bus from where i live in the northwest all the way to the museum in the south east, but it took forever going thru every neighbourhood. luckily it was free and still open when i got there. its not that big but had some good stuff in the pics. was trying to goto this gatehouse after but was totally going the wrong way in the rain. ended up getting in a metro station for the first time

maps in stations are odd, upside down or sideways, so make sure you figure out the right way to go! found a restaurant downtown that was selling seafood noodle soup, i didnt feel like rice as we get that at school everyday. guess what, it comes with rice anyway! they had the best kimchi i've had so far and there was this side dish of spice you are supposed to put in the soup for flavour. it was very rich in flavour like indian spices and really gave a kick and made it delicious.

found out there is going to be a mask dance festival end of sept so will try to arrange to go there after my big seoul trip sept 21-24. http://maskdance.com/english/main.asp in andong about 90 mins from daegu

coming up...
the wobbly foot bridge across the river
school day trip to amusement park
mount apsen hike