Vacation Time!

On Monday and Wednesday mornings, I teach a class of one: his name is Clinton, he's 12 years old, and he's the son of the director of my school. Clinton has two private classes back-to-back with me, and then one private class with Beth. In my two classes, I just teach him speaking. We go somewhere outside, and just sit and talk. It gives him a chance to practice his English. Today we walked over to McDonald's and had a conversation for over an hour. Our conversation drifted from ghosts, to scary movies, to soccer games, to family. Clinton is one of the best English-speaking students in the school, so carrying on a conversation with him is not difficult at all. Every now and then, I'll correct his English or help him out with a word he can't think of. It's a really great way to teach English, actually. It's natural speaking, rather than learning from a book. The conversations that take place are very practical and realistic. I'm hoping that with all the positive feedback from this class, more will be created for other students. We'll see...

I've learned something interesting since being in Korea. People are very open about "sharing" their families and watching out for them. It's not uncommon to see people asking to hold babies or a waitress at a restaurant wiping a child's nose. Today, I was crossing the street from the school, and I was waiting at the curb. A little girl, about 3 years old, came up beside me and just stood there. I looked around to see who she was with, but I didn't see anyone coming towards us. The light changed, and it signaled for us to walk. The little girl looked up at me and put her hands up in the air, wanting to be picked up. I looked around again, and made eye contact with a woman, pushing a stroller, obviously the little girl's mother. She smiled and just waved at me, signaling me to pick up the little girl. So, I picked her up and the crowd of us walked across the street. I was super excited that I got to hold a little girl, but her mom didn't think it was a big deal at all! I told Darren about it later, and he said that's common. He said everyone watches out for children here. I told him how crazy it would be in America for you to pick up a small child or ask to hold their baby. Things are just different :)

I have my first vacation coming up!! This Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I have a break from school. I thought at first that it was some sort of Korean holiday, but I learned differently today. Apparently, it's just a random break in the middle of the summer semester. The public schools are still in session, but all the private schools (hagwons) are out for those days. Works for me!! :) I'm not sure what I'm going to do quite yet, but I definitely want to take advantage of the long break. I'd like to travel somewhere, so we'll see.