I'd been told on Monday that we had a national holiday on Wednesday and that I would be getting the day off. Tuesday morning I made plans with Shawn and Ashley to go hiking at Namhansanseong the next day. I was pretty stoked about a) hiking and b) getting to explore more of Korea with some of my American friends.
The morning followed a pretty normal routine. By the time I'd walked down to the gas station and climbed into the back of Mrs. Yoon's car, I felt like I knew what to expect from the day. On the way to work, Mrs. Yoon invited me to go fishing with on Wednesday with her family and some friends. Upon further inquiry, I found that this meant that they would go to a stream with a net and try to scoop up fish who were swimming in it. This actually sounded pretty fun and I kind of wanted to do it, but I had already made plans with Ashley and Shawn and I really wanted to go hiking, too. I was unsure of how to respond, because turning down an offer can be very insulting to Koreans. I decided to tell her about my plans that I'd made the next day and see how she reacted. She seemed to understand that I had plans, but suggested that I could also invite my friends. She said that whatever I decided to do would be okay with her, so I considered the possibility of going hiking and then going fishing. I had options to think about for the rest of the day.
Justine was still playing Norah Jones songs in the office, and it still made me happy. While making lesson plans for the day, I overheard Justine say that it would be her last day at the school. This took me by surprise, as she had not shown any obvious signs that she would be leaving. From what I could tell she had been treating every day as another day at the office and had been working just as hard as any other day. I did not ask about the conditions of her leaving, but from what I could tell she was retiring and leaving on good terms. I also found out that Jane was there to replace her. I jokingly told Jane to go away because I wanted Justine to stay. Luckily, she understood that I was joking and didn't seem to get offended.
Before the children arrived, we had lunch in one of the classrooms. For her final day, Justine had brought in ramen noodle takpokki and gimbap to share with everyone. She joked that she should have brought takanjeong for me. What a sweet lady. While eating, Justine told us that she'd been working at that particular hagwon since 1996. (except for a brief hiatus, where she'd gone to New Zealand...I think with her daughter) I thought about the things that I'd been doing in the year of 1996 while Justine had been working at the school, like riding the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia, leaving elementary school, beginning middle school, discovering alternative music, buying a Nintendo 64, and graduating from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts. It felt like a lifetime ago, and at the same time it felt like it had all been only yesterday. I wondered what it felt like to work in one place for that long.
After lunch, we went back into the office to finish planning our lessons. Some of the kids started arriving and going into the computer lab for their self-study. Some of them kept coming into the office to ask questions and search for mischief. Pictures!
This is actually a photo from Monday. Jenny and Jake are working together to give me a massage.
Jenny and me. Jake was playing with my phone.
These 2 girls spend about every waking moment together. They say that they're not best friends, though. Here they are in the office. I found out that taking pictures of them is a good way to get them to leave.
Oop! There they go!
Thank you, Jake, for yet another flattering photograph.
Oh Jake. How can you not love this kid?
Class was pretty standard. I tried to get a couple of pictures of one of my favorite classes, but they weren't really having it. I had to settle for these.
More hiding
The little girl with the glasses is really funny. She can be very excitable. After I took this picture, she screamed "Teacher! Why you take picture?!"
After class, I filled out the rest of my paperwork while Jake downloaded Angry Birds onto my phone. We spent the rest of the day playing it, trading off on levels. It was pretty fun.
Mr. Lee drove me home after work. The roads were very cluttered, due to the holiday the next day. I thought about Mrs. Yoon's offer to go fishing and decided that the best course of action would be to go ahead and go hiking, because it was likely that I would be finished by the time that they left to go fishing. That way I could do both things!
Tuesday night was pretty uneventful. I noticed that it started raining that night and hoped that it would not interfere with my plans for the following day.
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