learning the colors in Korean

Hmm… I’m getting a little tired of the 50 something songs on my WMP playlist, which are consequently the same 50 songs I actually listen to on my MP3 player. At some point, I’ll have to revise the lists. At some point, I hope to have wireless so that I can download some new music, but you never know.

I just got off the phone with Amy, my roommate from Orientation. I have an impromptu two days off this week because DMS is going camping, so I’m planning on visiting Amy in Nonsan for Friday and Saturday. She has no native speakers in her town at all, and no one nearby, so I’m hoping to salvage her sanity. It should be fun. I’m going to force myself not to worry a lot about the details.

So I went jogging tonight. I’m pretty amazed myself. That means I’ve gone everyday since last Monday except for Saturday. I was actually planning on taking Wednesdays and Saturdays off, but last Wednesday I felt like going so I went. It’s blessedly started to cool off, at least in the mornings and evenings, so it’s been a lot better the last few days. For whatever reason, I enjoy jogging at night a lot more. Well, I enjoy the mornings too, but I usually get tired/miserable a lot sooner in the mornings than the evenings, for whatever reason. Tonight I definitely hit my stride a couple of times, when I caught myself thinking of something other than the pain from my legs and lungs, and although it didn’t last long, it was pretty amazing. I think, actually, that listening to MP3 player is bad, because it stops me from thinking about other things, and keeps me focused on every step. Maybe next week I’ll try without music.

My big plan, which I’m putting here mostly for my own reference, is to continue doing thirty minutes five times a week for all of September (running two songs, walking one). Then in October, I’ll still do thirty minutes five times a week, but I’ll run three songs, walk one, and run three more. Actually, no… I couldn’t do without my MP3 player, because it allows me to measure time a little, because I’m vaguely aware of how far along I am, but it keeps me from checking the time every five seconds, which is otherwise always a problem for me while exercising. So anyway, November I’m going to do forty minutes four times a week, running three and walking one. December, forty minutes four times a week, running four and walking one. January and February, 50 minutes three times a week. Then from then on I’ll run one hour three times a week. Actually, I’m going to try to do a long run every Sunday, increasing every month by ten minutes, until I get to an hour and a half.

But for the rest of September, I just have to worry about getting through thirty minutes five days a week. I think maybe I’d have become an avid jogger earlier if I didn’t live in Florida. Because I actually like it, and it’s not like I mind sweating—I just don’t like feeling like I’m going to drop dead from the heat, which is what happens if you run outside in Florida. And I suppose I’ll go ahead and put this goal out there too, and hope I don’t read it regretfully a few months from now.

I read that realistically you can lose a dress size in three months. So because I think I’m currently about a 14 and a half (it’s hard to tell because of Old Navy’s ridiculous sizing system), my goal is to be squarely in a size 12 by the end of December. And then in a size 8 by the time I leave Korea. I’m not actually sure I believe that me being in a size 8 is possible, but I’m certain a size 10 is, so we’ll see how that goes.

Other news of the day… teaching went pretty well. This time I had to teach “Why?... Because” to the third graders, which went better than I thought it would, but still wasn’t amazing. And on the way to school my woman-teacher sprung on me that she too wants me to teach out of her textbook for half of my class meetings, which just pisses me off. It’s annoying enough to me that I have to teach grammar for one meeting, but now I have to serve as a parrot and teaching repetition of dialogues for the other one? I don’t think so. So I think I’m going to go over the dialogues quickly, then always have a game or activity related to the lesson’s grammar point. She usually leaves part of the way through. But even if she’s there, I’ll do it. There’s no reason for me to teach from a CD that says the dialogues for the students. Fuck that.

And tomorrow I have just that to look forward to—another first grade class from the CD player, and two second grade classes from the CD player. Great. I had the first meeting of my after school club class today. I’m not sure how these students were chosen for the club, but most of them are relatively higher level than the average. But they’re also all girls. Don’t get me wrong, I like girls. The girls are really cute, and usually higher level than the boys. But I like my mixed classrooms (never thought I’d say that), because then I can play the boys and girls off of each other, and then I don’t have to listen to constant whining. Meghan will attest that all Korean females, when speaking Korean, sound like they’re whining. It’s pretty annoying in movies, but it’s not going to stop me from watching Whispering Corridors, Wednesday’s movie, whose Korean title directly translates to Girls’ High School Terrible Story. I foresee a lot of whining.

Anyway, I did a lesson on syllables that went… okay. I was hot, and tired, and they were hungry. But considering that situation, things were all right. I have another club class tomorrow, and I really just want to play a game. I told woman-teacher that I was going to teach poetry on Mondays and games on Tuesdays, rather than poetry on both days, and I don’t think she knew how to argue with me. I’ll make this language barrier work for me yet. Maybe tomorrow we will play ‘Two Truths and a Lie.’ I think so. I could prepare for it now, but instead I think I will wait until right before class tomorrow. Usually I become more inspired at crunch time. As always.

Frustratingly, my credit card account has been suspended. I don’t know why. Presumably it has something to do with me using it in South Korea, although I thought I called and warned them. But I don’t currently have Skype on any computers with internet, so I can’t call to resolve the situation. That’s on my to-do list to address on Thursday, when I don’t have class. And now, time to study a little Korean.

Take care!