Exams, Exams, Exams

Another week has come and gone here in South Korea. Last week was exam week. Middle School and High Schoolers had a round of exams, including English level exams. Poor elementary children were not exempt from English level tests, and unlike Middle School and High School teachers who got to desk warm last week, we lucky elementary teachers got to give the exams. It was not sooo bad. I got to sit at my desk while students lined up to recite random lines of "Your hair is longer than mine," "You're early," and other useful English phrases. A few students who were struggling at the beginning of the semester, starting out  at level five, had managed in one week to bring their English level exam scores up to a level two or one.

I finished off the week by avoiding a weekend teachers' workshop for all Korean teachers. I was kindly invited and it did sound fun with sushi, karaoke, spa, and hiking trip on the itinerary, but I just had a feeling that there would be lectures and team building exercises thrown in and since I cannot speak or understand Hangol... well... why give up a weekend? 

So instead, I headed to Cheong-Song to once again experience rural South Korean living. The mountain passes were snowy, but Cheong-Song was just too cold to get snow. I just barely made it back to Seoul with my ears--the wind off of the river is artic. We tried to be adventurous, but the cold constantly threw us back into the apartment and so we set about planning winter vacation. By the time our stomachs demanded food, it was 8:30 PM and all the kitchens were closed at restaurants and hofs. Oh rural life.

Sunday, thanks to M, we finally got our holiday tickets booked. We decided on flying to Hanoi, Vietnam, heading over toward Ha Long to see the piratey coast and then travel Vietnam via rail way. Stop into Da Nang and the beaches and touring to Ho Chi Minh City. From there take a boat or a bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. If time, we'll head on to the beaches, but if not we'll do a world wind sweep of the wats at Siem Reap and then fly back home to Seoul. Now I get to practice packing my back pack for a two week journey.

One more week of school, o boy! Then three weeks of winter camp. Then South East Asia!!!!