Island School

Today, my school sent me to an "Island School" to spend about an hour with three (3) students! This is a big improvement on the last place they loaned me out to - where I had to play "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" then mime sports with forty-three (43) kindergarteners in one room while the principal, vice principal and various teachers sat in a row at the back and watched me make an ass of myself in the name of English education.

In the morning, I took the ferry to Gohado (where I'd been once before with Jen, Jens and Randi) with Mr Shin, the head teacher. The kids were wicked awesome - 2 girls and a boy - and it was really fun. I started reflecting on how my situation here is one that I've always wanted to be in: I really feel like I'm actually teaching something, to kids who want to learn. It might take me a few days to really formulate all that I want to communicate, so look for a deeper, more philosophical, blog in a few days. Anyway, this island is much bigger than I thought it was, and there is a big hill to hike on (something for me to look for on subsequent visits). My bad ferry karma continued to this trip too, with Mr Shin and I standing on the pier for about 45 minutes, waiting for the ferry back home. He decided to use the time to teach me how to (really) break someone's hand using a mix of Hapkido and TaeKwonDo), which is a cool thing to practice on your boss.

And here are two completely random pictures from the weekend - one of me joyfully pounding something or someone with a piece of bamboo (I'm supposed to look like I am doing Geum-do - Korean sword fighting) and another of me on my soon-to-be new motorbike. In the background, you'll note a group of my friends and the ferries to the islands.