Last year, we had quite a surprising and special April... Keith proposed to me on Easter! This year, we will still be celebrating the special occasion. To go along with the April theme of "achieving our dreams", I will be working hard with my semester goals.
Some goals I will be focusing on are:
-training for the Jeju June marathon!!
-practicing and playing in the Jeju ultimate frisbee tourney
-practicing for the May Jeju beach v-ball tourney
-improving my Korean
-always improving my teaching
-continuing with yoga (I take a class each Sunday and also do sports yoga in our apt. a few times a week)
School
This month, I will be starting my after-school reading class and after-school basketball class. The b-ball class is part of my required teaching hours; however, I will get paid extra for doing my reading class. In the after-school classes, I usually only have about 12 students and they are usually all really well-behaved. So I really enjoy having this time to get to know my students, help them individually and see them succeed.
Also, teaching in my regular classes is going great. The students all seem to have fun in my class but also show a lot of respect for me. I always have students saying hi to me in the hall, stopping by my office to say hello and for the most part, behaving well in my class. Since our school is a "model" school, we will be starting a new writing program this semester. Therefore, in 2 weeks I will start teaching writing to my students. I am interested as to how the students take this since usually my class is fun (lots of games, ppts and visuals) and conversational. However, from some experience already with the grade 1 students, they seem to be better behaved and quiet with writing lessons! I will keep you updated, but I'm excited if it's true that all my students will be more quiet during class because they will be writing.
Running
So far, the marathon training is going great! I started March 1st, so I am now one month into my training. Sundays are my long days, and this Sunday I will be running 14 miles, which will take me about 2 hours. It feels great to be taking baby steps towards my goal and I cannot believe I am already halfway there.
Getting ready to go on a run!
Korean
To improve my Korean, I am studying whenever I get the chance....on the bus (reading signs or studying my notes), in the taxi (great conversation practice), with my students (to impress them), at the office when I am not teaching (to keep me productive), with a grade 1 student who comes to visit me in my office after lunch, and also when I meet with my Korean friend, Eun Mi, once a week. We spend a few hours catching up in English and also working on my Korean. Right now, I am mostly focusing on writing and reading Hangul (the language), as well as learning some of the rules. Soon, I hope to learn more phrases/vocabulary to use in conversation. I have recently collected some "Korean Made Easy" books and a English-Korean dictionary so those are helping as well.
I hope to see improvements and I hope to achieve my goals this semester. Then, in June, after the marathon, I hope to alter my goals to new ones. I am thinking about taking a salsa dance class with Keith, and then in the fall start training for a possible tri-athlon. Therefore, I would be cycling, swimming and running for training. There is also a new Italian cooking school that just opened. It will be near our new home in September (in Seogwipo/ the south end of the island). So, maybe cooking classes will be a new hobby of ours. Guitar is also something that both Keith and I hope to learn sometime this year or next year. A friend of ours will be handing over one of his guitars to us. We cannot wait! I think life is all about trying new things, having new experiences and living life to its fullest. Why not keep life exciting by exploring all the options you have in life and seeing which ones truly make you the happiest?
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