RAVING/HAPPY SH!T MEGATHREAD

I stayed up until 2 am trying to get videos in this powerpoint to work, and woke up at 6 am this morning to continue. Both my personal and work computer are little shits so by the time I left for camp I just put everything together along with the videos as separate files on my usb and prayed it would work on my coteacher's work computer which we're using for camp and.... it did! Truly a blessing from god. Because otherwise class would've sucked much harder.

First day of camp yesterday - and it went surprisingly well.  I feel I have finally honed the camp down to the bare essentials, and it's what it needs to be, and the kids were great, except for the complaining about not wanting to pop balloons because 'teacher, it's scary!'.  Sigh, kids.  but cute kids who are mostly happy to be at camp.  And that in itself is surprising.  Day two should be just as good.

Best part: 3 days of camp, weekend, 2 days of camp, finished!  Some may say they would prefer to get it over with in one go, but I like the break and the feeling of two short weeks. 

Other good part: Co-T was perhaps the best she has been all year, supportive, not intrusive, letting me lead and stepping in only when needed and just simply being helpful.  Finally!!

First day of camp yesterday - and it went surprisingly well.  I feel I have finally honed the camp down to the bare essentials, and it's what it needs to be, and the kids were great, except for the complaining about not wanting to pop balloons because 'teacher, it's scary!'.  Sigh, kids.  but cute kids who are mostly happy to be at camp.  And that in itself is surprising.  Day two should be just as good.

Best part: 3 days of camp, weekend, 2 days of camp, finished!  Some may say they would prefer to get it over with in one go, but I like the break and the feeling of two short weeks. 

Other good part: Co-T was perhaps the best she has been all year, supportive, not intrusive, letting me lead and stepping in only when needed and just simply being helpful.  Finally!!

Ha the balloon thing happened to me too. I had a game where they had to see who could pop the balloons a certain way and they flat out refused.

You only have 5 days of camp? That's nice. I have 10 days and I'm trying to make it fun but I'm worried the kids will just give up next week because they're sick of it.

My happy thing: Camp went really well today. I had thought the boys wouldn't like the hand print orchid craft but they liked it the most.

I was in the school by my self today and use the school "giant as all crap" printer to print my self out a wall poster of my country for my apartment (with the principals permission of course).

A couple of teachers helped me download the Korean Air app.  I used it to check in & get the boarding pass for my flight tomorrow morning.   

Last day of camp complete. Just 2 days of desk warming next week (they usually let me leave at lunch) and then holidays!

Last day of camp completed, made even better because the students made pizza. Now to start my 3 week vacation by visiting my home country after almost 3 years and a nice trip to Spain.

Camp's done. It was probably the  best camp I've had in the four and a half years I've been here. To make things even better, my school says I can "work from home" instead of deskwarming, so I'm going to have a nice, loooooon summer break.

Camp's done. It was probably the  best camp I've had in the four and a half years I've been here. To make things even better, my school says I can "work from home" instead of deskwarming, so I'm going to have a nice, loooooon summer break.

Congratulations!

Would love to know if it was your curriculum that made it so great or something else.

Thanks.

Camp's done. It was probably the  best camp I've had in the four and a half years I've been here. To make things even better, my school says I can "work from home" instead of deskwarming, so I'm going to have a nice, loooooon summer break.

Congratulations!

Would love to know if it was your curriculum that made it so great or something else.

Thanks.

It was a combination of the curriculum and the students themselves. For once, there were no slackers or troublemakers. Every student who came was one of the better students in his or her respective English classes. I didn't have to slow down for anyone, I didn't have discipline issues, and I didn't have re-teach any basic stuff any middle school student should already know.

It wasn't some miraculous high-speed curriculum, though. Don't get the wrong idea. 
I pretty much just did a week-long Let's Play of a PC game, teaching them relevant English vocab along the way and having them tell me where to go and what to do. They really got into it, especially part that involved designing and furnishing their own buildings. That ended up killing an entire day, haha.

A little under 3 hours until my 2 week summer vacation 

Due to the fact there's a Korean on Seattle's baseball team, I'm able to watch a live Cubs game.  I don't watch a lot of baseball on tv but having Korean players on teams other than the Dodgers makes watching MLB games I do catch much more enjoyable.

Just 6 more teaching days left in Korea and 2 more desk warming days! Then I'm out 

Due to the fact there's a Korean on Seattle's baseball team, I'm able to watch a live Cubs game.  I don't watch a lot of baseball on tv but having Korean players on teams other than the Dodgers makes watching MLB games I do catch much more enjoyable.

What a game to watch, too! Go, Cubbies!

Just 6 more teaching days left in Korea and 2 more desk warming days! Then I'm out 

I'm in the exact same boat as you. After 5 years here it's a good feeling. Will only get better as the days go on.

I've never been in Korea during vacation week but the sheer quietness that has befallen my villa, and the surrounding neighborhood for that matter, is simply amazing. 

My coteacher refuses to throw anything away. There is literal piles and piles of random shit in the drawers that have accumulated over the years. I found a framed certificate from 2006. WTF?!?!?

After lunch today I thought I would work off all the galbi mandu I ate clean up. I locked the doors rolled my sleeves up, made a playlist on youtube, and got to work. I filled two trash bags of crap. It's all broken,useless office supplies, yellowed papers, broken toys, and dirt.

She may be shocked when she returns but in the way hoarders are shocked when their interventions are staged. I am sure she will thank me in the end. I think over the years she just got really overwhelmed with all of it and possibly none of the NETs before me bothered to help purge.

3 hours later I am exhausted and very satisfied.

Only 1 more day of camp (which has gone fairly well but I'm so ready for it to be over) then I'm off to Japan for a week and China after that!

And just like that summer camp is officially over! HELLO 3 weeks of desk warming! :D *sarcasm*

Mostly happy though since I'm prepared to teach myself new skills and do a lot of fun reading.

Welp, I'm done. Toodles!