Crash Diet Thursday

So it has come to this.

Once again, I have to slim down in x amount of days. Today is Thursday, and we're all going out on Saturday night. The dress code is to look FAF. Lana had the genius idea of going to a buffet beforehand, which means I will be squeezed into already tight clothes, and torn between maintaining dignity and self-control or eating my money's worth. Ah, what a dilemma.

Today will be spent studying Korean and being hungry.
Tomorrow will be spent playing basketball and being hungry.
Saturday will be spent exfoliating, beautifying, and being hungry.

Warm and humid rainy weather, coming soon to ruin your night out.

Seollal Vacation

As of 4:30 pm last Friday, I was officially on Seollal vacation, the Korean version of the lunar new year holiday. It was the weekend plus three days of paid holiday.

It was relaxation.
It was sleep.
It was productivity.
It was workout routines.
It was freedom.
It was loneliness.
How tragically pathetic.

How do you maintain a facade of dignity when you've been played?

You buy a quart of ice-cream from Baskin Robbins and binge at home. You don't go out unless you're meeting an army of good friends. You avoid the area in which they live.

I need more distractions.

Wednesday Afternoon Classes and Spaland Night

I taught Miss Marie's kids yesterday, and it went really well. I prepared different activities for each age group, and the kids didn't want to stop playing their games even though we were out of time.

For the first-graders, we played Family Feud, simplified version.

For the third-graders, we practiced numbers with this shopping game. Guessing the exact price of the item was worth two points; getting one up or one down was worth one point.

Afterwards, we still had almost ten minutes left, so I tested their vision with this Speedwriter game, where vocabulary they already knew flew, rolled, zoomed, and bounced their way across the screen in scrambled letters, and they had to tell me what the word was.

My fifth-graders played the quiz game show I Know Stuff where they got a bonus point for spelling the answer correctly on top of getting the question.

I went to Spaland with Hoda at night, and we spent 4 hours talking while using the baths and the saunas. I decided to get a body scrub, and I think the lady scrubbed off some freckles that have been on me since birth. It costs 15,000 won for entrance fee, and 25,000 won for a 20 min scrub. I also had a vinegar pomegranate drink, which was around 5000 won. Spaland is pricey, but it was still much cheaper than getting the 90 minute full body massage like I did last time with my mom. That costed around 360,000 won and my wallet is still sobbing uncontrollable tears.

Tonight's plans include Korean class, shopping for Krispy Kreme donuts, and going to Deb's place to get a copy of Cat In The Hat with Korean subtitles.

Right now I'm waiting for my co-teacher to come back, so I can tell her that I have to go back to Vancouver for a wedding in late March. Ho-hum...

Grade 5 Welcome Back Class

My fifth-graders watched my photo slideshow before they did a 2 Truths 1 Lie activity about their own winter vacations. We took turns reading the paper slips aloud and guessing who the writers were. They were on chapter 14: What Time Do You Get Up?, but I decided to skip the textbook that class and do the A Day In The Life segment from the Times For Kids website.

The students listened to me read aloud for information, and filled in this worksheet. The word bank is on the back so they could check for spelling.

Welcome Back Sixth Graders

Tuesday, 12:51 pm

First official day back at teaching. We started off with greetings, and I played 2 Truths, 1 Lie with them about my winter vacation before showing them my photo slideshow.

1. I celebrated my grandma's 100th birthday.
2. I sang karaoke with my family for 8 hours.
3. I joined a basketball team and play every week.


The first is false; my grandma is still at the youthful age of 83.

The students still have Lesson 13: Do You Know Anything About It? to cover, so we did some textbook work today. 

Excited for tomorrow when I'll be meeting H after school to go to Spaland at Shinsegae. I'm going to get scrubbed down by a strong ajumma. Also, I need to buy 2 dozen donuts for staff for Thursday to celebrate Seollal.

No school for 3 days next week woohoo!

Hong Kong Favourites

In third runner-up, oh Chinese food, how I've missed your glorious taste:

 Second runner-up, VLT deserves a category of its own. Irreplaceable taste indeed.

First runner-up, karaoke night with my parents, even though my dad and I sang while my mom mostly napped.

"Once more, with feeling." - Dr. Bob

In first place is spending quality time with my grandma:

Selfie on her birthday on Jan. 23, 2016~

She caught me going paparazzi on her.

She'll have her cake.

And eat it too.

Terrific trip. Twelve days went by so quickly, but I'll go back again next year with no time restraints when my contract ends for good.

Hong Kong Museum of History

I made my parents come with me to the Hong Kong Museum of History at Tsim Tsa Tsui in the afternoon of the first day. I'll never forget my dad, gazing around, curious and wide-eyed, saying "Wow, I never knew this existed in Hong Kong even though I've been here for decades", or my mom asking if we could take a break and go for a cup of coffee before we even made it through the entrance of the museum.

I don't think my obsession with museums, cultural and war history came from them.

A few snapshots:

The museum was separated into seven main sections, and by the time we got the last two, it was closing time. I wish we spent less time looking at rocks from prehistoric times, and spent more time in the Japanese Invasion and Hong Kong in the 70's Era sections. 

Next time I'll know better.

Museums are like buffets. Go for the good stuff first, and fill up on that.