April Fool's Day in Korea, and a trip to the Beauty Shop

Yesterday was April Fool's Day, but in Korea the kids call it "Lie Day" because they get to tell lies and play tricks and such. It was really kind of cute how good natured and really impressive how organized the kids were. When I went to my first class I noticed that all of the classroom numbers had been changed around, the students in each class were all doing something wrong, like the students had moved all of the desks to point the back of the classroom. In one of my classes the captain stood up and said "attention, bow" and all of the kids screamed at the top of their lungs. In another, a girl stood up to answer a question and instead faked a seizure and started screaming. The kids were hilarious. I'm really impressed by how good natured the whole thing was. No mean pranks at all. Nothing like an American school because it was so a) innocent and b) organized.

Today I went to get my haircut. What an adventure! I got a photo of Seeley Booth from "Bones" from the internet and had it on my iPod to show the hairdresser. I found a beauty shop and had a conversation sort of like this:

Me: (pointing to the photo) "Jeo geo juseyo?"
K-Barber: (grabbing my hair) "blablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla ok?"
Me: "Ne, ne chuayo!" (Yes, yes I'd like that) (No, I had no idea what I agreed to)
K-Barber: "Sit-uh"
Me: "Okay"

All of the sudden scissors were flying around my head at an AMAZINGLY fast rate. I'm not an expert on hair or anything, but she was using totally different techniques than American stylists use, and she worked very, very fast. I was honestly feeling a bit as if I might lose a portion of my ear because her blades were moving so fast. After a while her younger male apprentice came back and the following conversation happened:

K-Barber: "blablablablablablablablablablabla shamuh-poo?"
Me: "Ne, ne."
K-Barber: "Go. Go!"

Then the apprentice took me behind a wall and sat me down in this amazingly sophisticated shampoo chair. It electronically reclined and raised my feet like a la-z-boy. Then the shampooing began. Usually the shampoo is quick and easy, but I got a freaking full-on scalp massage. After the shampoo he styled my hair, and took my money. All 8,000W, which is all of maybe $7.50US. Crazy value, and the haircut didn't come out bad at all.

Dynamic Korea!

They call it Dynamic Korea for a reason, and for expats living here "Dynamic Korea" is a euphemism for "my schedule just got changed and nobody told me about it. It happened to me this morning. I walked into my classroom for first period and the students looked at me and said "Chal-lie teacher?" and I nodded and smiled, continuing to get my USB drive out ready to do my lesson, then one of the students said "Chal-lie teacher, we ah scheduled for math this period." And I said...really? Smiled, ran back to the office to check, and sure enough, Math! So I had the first hour off. Many of the expats here don't take kindly to this kind of unplanned schedule change, but I figure what the hell, when in Rome Daegu, do as the Romans Daegu Citizens do. It's really kind of fun because every day is a new adventure and you never know just what to expect.

I also found out that next month I'll have an after school class. I'm pretty excited about this as it's usually for the more advanced kids and I have complete academic freedom. I found out that this excitement means I want to start planning now, but I've run into a bit of a lesson planner's block. I want them to do a play, have a debate, or otherwise do something that will force them to speak a LOT and hopefully increase their fluency. I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Anyway, there's the muse of the day.