wednesday, 13 october: "do you want to hear the fish death sound?"
almost two weeks ago, i had the chance to accompany the 6th grade on a three-day trip. since the 6th graders are my favorite students, i jumped at the opportunity. we went to 금산 [geumsan] which is a mountain three hours away from my school. [along the 금강 (geum river) which is apparently famous(??)].
i wasn't given a schedule for this trip, so i had no idea what to expect. it was much, much different from past school trips that i've attended in that, on those, we travelled from place to place to see museums and other national treasures. this trip was more like a camp. we stayed at the same place the entire time. there were counselors working at the facitility who were in charge of watching the kids, so the teachers went off and did their own thing.
the first day, i hung out with the other teachers. we went walking along the river and then hiking in search of chestnuts. as it turns out, i'm quite good at cracking open chestnuts with my feet. [i've got mad skills~~]
also, some of the teachers went fishing. since i have a [completely legitimate] fear of fish, i decided not to join them. however, i had no idea that they intended to catch fish for dinner. so i was completely surprised when a bucket full of fish was brought back to the room. apparently, a certain type of fish makes a "death sound". they happened to catch this fish, and all of the teachers held it up to their ears to listen. a coworker asked me if i'd like to hear it, but when i said no [and did the big "hand x"] she proceeded to shove the fish in my ear anyways.
congratulations coworker, i've been scarred for life.
thursday, 14 october: "teacher, you have a dolphin scream."
the other teachers decided to go hiking on thursday, but i wanted to spend time with my students so i hung with them for the day.
first, i was told that we would be going rafting. which i found out really only meant "row from one side of the river and back again." i shared a raft with some of my girls, and we were embarassingly lacking in directional skills. for some reason, we could only manage to go in a giant circle, and the counselor definitely yelled at us. oops.
next was archery. two years of working at a summer camp where i had to teach archery has let me know that i am completely untalented in this area. sooo, i didn't even make an attempt. instead, i talked to and played games with the kids that were waiting for their turn. one of the boys tried to throw a dragonfly at me, and when i screamed, other boys joined in by carrying grasshoppers and more dragonflies. so i screamed and ran away. [insects: another completely legitimate fear that i have.] when the boys had finally had their fun scaring the poor english teacher, they told me that i sounded like a dolphin when i screamed. excellent.
the camp had a huge zipline set up over the river, and i got to ride it! that was definitely the most fun thing i got to do that day. except that, at the end, i forgot to move the handles back and forth to brake, and i definitely ran into the counselor at the end. luckily, i shrieked a warning so he was prepared. oops.
also, i got to go with my students to "rec dance", and we learned the dance to bigbang's world cup song. yeah, i pretty much suck at dancing.
that night was the talent show [my students are sooo cute] and a bonfire. after the students went back to their rooms, i went on a walk with one of my fellow teachers, and we saw a shooting star!
friday, 15 october: crazy bus driver
i nearly lost my life on the bus ride home.
for real.
korea is infamous for crazy bus//taxi drivers, but this dude was BY FAR the worst [that i've ever ridden with, at least]. he was more concerned with changing the radio station than paying attention to the road. [and he kept the volume turned off, so i have absolutely no idea why he even bothered messing with the dial...] he also decided that he wanted to drive in the far-left lane, which was UNDER CONSTRUCTION, so he'd drive in there for a bit, and when he came to bulldozers or construction workers, he'd move back into the right lane. he definitely ran over at least 5 orange traffic cones by doing this.
his worst offense happened near the end of our journey. we were ON the INTERSTATE. he missed his exit. did he drive to the next one and turn around? of course not. instead he put the bus IN REVERSE. and BACKED UP. on the freaking INTERSTATE.
luckily, no people or vehicles were physically harmed during the duration of the bus ride.
pictures: 
