I think I am off my rocker!

I have just signed up for a 10km race! Goodness gracious! And got my teacher to help me plan a 20 day running programme to get me in shape. He is a really good marathon runner, so lets hope I can do it! Here is the website of the race:

http://www.jinjumarathon.com/

I am not completed surprised by my irrational decision-considering the week I have been having!

Last week Thursday, my one boy in grade 5 managed to fall in one of my running games during a lesson, which resulted in a broken arm! It was rather awful! I just froze too! Didn't exactly know what to do...

Then, I managed to land myself on the front page of the "Soyang Special"-the new English paper of my Boys Middle School, along with a simple interview about South Africa. The days of Girls' High school newspaper springs to mind-except now I am that silly teacher posing awkwardly and saying ridiculously mature things! How did I grow up so fast?

Mime festival was next on the list of "off my rocker" as we stayed up both Friday and Saturday evening until 4am watching crazy cool shows, admiring enthralling mimes, listening to Spunky SKA bands playing, being bedazzled by the entertaining outfit changing Magician, dancing to trance music, eating melon ice-creams, roaring with laughter at a rather plump (to say the least) Japanese woman doing the full monty and much more! Good fun was had by all!

Sunday was spent at Nami Island-a little break-away paradise just outside from Chuncheon! It is a 6km circumference island near Gapyeong. There are beautiful gardens, cool random art pieces and much more-including a little train like the one I used to ride when I was a kid at Scottborough! Apparently the whole of Chuncheon thought it would be a good idea to go too, as the place was packed!I could have quite honestly spent the entire day there reading a book under a tree, but unfortunately another week at school was calling! A re-visit is in order!

I also ordered a whole lot of meat from the BILTONG GUYS ( South African boys who have capitalized on the lack of good SA meat here in Korea and are now selling as their name suggests BILTONG and other meat) for the Nanji Pre-World Cup Braai that is happening in Seoul this weekend! I still cannot believe I paid R120 for 250g of biltong! It better be damn good!

I manged on Monday to convince my teacher that a tournament soccer match should be played during my English lessons so that the boys get a true feel for the World Cup! I am so in the FIFA fever I have decided to dedicate 3 weeks of lessons to it! WHOOP WHOOP! I am going to love it and I'm sure kicking a ball around will be more than fine for the boys instead of a proper English class for a day!

And then last night in my mission mode to get fit, I ran out of my very cool apartment and as my hectic techno door closed behind me with a beeping noise- I realised I had locked my keys inside! Unfortunately, they have not yet made doors that remind owners to bring their very much needed keys along! Just as well, Christine my co-teacher had a spare one. So, an hour of car watching later, a melon ice-cream and a drink later, I was able to disengage my security- protected-cool-gizmo- way-too-techno door latch thing!

OH and as if that isn't enough, I get told today at school, my lesson will be filmed! EEK! I seemed ok with it, but my kids for some reason swallowed their voices as soon as they saw the cameras. So the lesson was spent painstakingly trying to get any kind of response from them.

oh well,I now am off to finish off more admin-banking,posting letters and having my haircut! Lets hope that turns out better than my week!

BISOUS

JO!

A mime festival - a metaphor for South Korea?

After North Korea has been found guilty of sinking the South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors, President Lee Myung-bak has responded fiercely. He made a statement on Monday in which he has denied any trade to North Korea, as well as disallowed North Korean ships from passing South Korean waters as punishment. His rather bold statements endorsed by the States, seems to have created much tension, resulting in North Korea declaring a "full out war" if South Korea makes any further moves. Soldiers are on guard and ready to fight! I am living in a war ZONE!!!

Check out this site for more details: http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100524/AS.SKorea.Ship.Sinks/

I think the most interesting side of this tale is indeed CHINA, which as this article suggests is "on the fence" - Check it out:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/world/asia/24china.html

One would think people in South Korea and Gangwon-do particularly might be in some kind of fear or at least minor worry about the situaion, but NOPE, not at all! Am I senial that I am a little afraid, that a country 40miles away has nuclear weapons to blow us all up in a matter of seconds?!?

Well, in Chuncheon-my little city- is to be blunt: unphased! I woke this morning to a loud speaker booming a tune of "Mary had a little lamb" and Frank Sinatra's " I did it my way" from the main intersection, as the local elections (or eRections, as my one teacher informed me) is underway! Women are hired for R300 a day to stand on the side of the road and dance-literally dance with actual moves to such above said songs for a specific politician. I could not help bursting out laughing as I crossed the road to my bus this morning-too classic! Added to that, the Annual Mime Festival is in full swing this week. We (Ashley, Sam & myself) watched a side walk fire exhibition and a dance-off, mime rendition, in which we got roped into joining-dancing like clowns. As foreigners, we also got randomly interviewed by a group of Middle School students about the currency of Korea and the culture behind it-nothing out of the ordinary! Then we went into a kitsch photo room where couples and friends were taking absurd photies and adding smilies and stars and hearts to create an even faker atmosphere of pure bliss. As sheep, we joined in and posed ridiculously for a count-down timer camera!

Life seems so peachy, so gregarious and so completely peaceful, yet we are in the midst of a "full out war". Referring to my title- I question whether this country I am living in has turned a blind eye to the current critical situation or rather placed a wonderful, colourful mask to hide the real issues with North Korea: the possible decline in the economy with any kind of reunification in the future or the broken families that have still not met after all these years since the Korean war or the selfishness of a nation that has deservedly prospered through shear hard work, but done so in such a bubble that it is oblivious to real world issues, such as starvation and disease just across the border. I do realise the counter-argument of the older generation that still have recollections of the Korean war in their not so distant memories and rather like to forget about it. I get that-repression is a successful coping mechanism in doing that. However, I do feel that the government has got to do some removing of masks and open discussions about the North Korean issue, otherwise the "Korean Company" (as my one teacher put it) will continue to make money, with a nation of "employees" (generally younger ones) that are wealthy, but oh so disillusioned.

Despite a relatively great day playing an auction game with my kids, it is tinged with a rather sweet and sour taste of how I am feeling right now about this whole situation! SO for the meantime, I will just pray to a higher power that we are not bombed in the night and I will continue to enjoy the Mime festival this week! Oh- and as an activist in my small way-I am doing a lesson with my after-school class about Politics and what they would do as president for the day!

Bisous

JO