Dream Forest

This last week was so very long. I was ready for my Friday off by the end of Monday. Ugh. Sooo long. Classes seemed to take forever, kids were either WAY too full of energy (bouncing off the walls, talkingtalkingTALKING!!) or falling asleep. I had to use a lot of energy that I just didn't have to get their attention.

Lucky for me, the kids think I'm funny, so, yeah. I had that going for me. I'm teaching Korean middle schoolers sarcasm. I'm sure their parents are happy.

I made Friday a pajama day so I would be in a better mood for my Saturday classes (which I was) and then buckled down Saturday evening to write tests so I would have less work for Sunday/Monday. Didn't do too well. Oh well. I finished the tests Monday/Tuesday morning. Oops. That's life, I guess.

Sunday ended up being nice and relaxing as well. I met up with Chris and we went to the Dream Forest. It is the fourth largest park... thing in Seoul. And it was lovely.

Chris brought along one of his fancy cameras for me to use! Oooo... it was like being able to use the fancy camera from Creative Services, but this time for fun! Chris still hasn't emailed me the pictures I took, so I don't have any to post just yet, but as soon as I get them, I will put them up.

I rode a public bus for the first time here. Yay! I really dislike buses. I get lost easily (remember?) and you kind of need to know where you are so you can press the button for the driver to stop. I was glad to have Chris along who knew what to do and where to go so I didn't have to worry about it.

The Dream Forest is really just a big park with lots of wooded trails, a visitors' center, a few little cafes, an arts exhibit/theater. We wandered, took pictures, watched kids playing, and pretty much just enjoyed the fantastic weather and quiet park place.

Of course, the one time that he let me pick the trail to take, I ended up getting us onto a non-trail that never took us to any of the waterfalls that the sign promised. *sigh* We eventually found the waterfall, but it sooo was not in the direction the sign was pointing.

We wandered around to this big building with an awesome inclined elevator. I was way impressed. Not as impressed as one of the Korean girls, she was holding on for dear life and looked like she was not really sure that the elevator was actually going to make it up...

Fortunately, we made it to the top and got to look out over the whole green park. It was great.

That was pretty much the highlight of my week. We're in the last two weeks of the term at Chungdahm and the kids are going nuts because none of the grades really matter here on out! Hooray for whoever thought of THAT one! D:

In other news, keep your fingers crossed for me, okay? My voice is getting seedy again. *insert explicit language here* I don't want to go BACK to the hospital, because all they will say is, "Rest your voice. Take insane amounts of medication."

My boss even offered me her tutoring position. It sounded awesome (paid more than what I make at school... and it was one little kid!), but I would need to cut back even more at work if I took it. I had to explain to her it wasn't just teaching talking but ANY talking that puts strain on my voice. She is so nice. I love my boss. She is definitely one of the things I'll miss when I leave.

She also gave me some tea that is supposed to be good for healing sore throats. I figured, "What the heck. It can't be any worse than gargling salt water." (Thanks for that tip, btw, LaFawn. That was probably worse than the camera up the nose. Eew.) The tea wasn't as bad as salt water, but it wasn't much better. It tasted like hot potato water. Bleck! It also didn't do much better at making my throat feel batter than the herbal tea I've been scarfing. So, thanks for the thought, Helen, but I think I will stick with my pomegranate tea. Potato water... is just not for me.