English Summer Camp – Week 2

Quick Injury Report:
My toe has been getting better after resting it all day on Tuesday. I couldn’t go to school so I stayed at home and rested. My medicine has been drinking mango juice, sleeping a lot, hardly moving my left foot, and I applied my miracle medicine - Vicks (no people, I did not put it on the wound but around it to reduce the pain). Well, my special medicine clearly worked because I am able to apply pressure again, walk up and down the school mountain, and today I walked around Nampo-Dong area for over 4 hours.

On Monday, I took my students to go watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 at the theatres. It was 5,000 wons per person but the school paid for the entire experience, including Ye Jin’s and my ticket. A total of 8 tickets were purchased along with popcorn – caramel flavoured! On Tuesday, I wasn’t able to attend school as noted earlier. Wednesday, I had the students create Harry Potter wands, and masks, which was really fun.

Thursday, the students learned science words such as gravity, force, hypothesis, scientific process, and scientific design. Basically, it was a science day. All these terms were important because they were creating a parachute design to protect an egg from breaking! I even got the students to do the work on time, take effort, and actually care about the camp by saying few magical words: You will get a Hello Kitty prize! The student who kept their egg from breaking received a Hello Kitty prize, and they got to choose from a bunch of random accessories (pencil case, fan, notebook, and a notepad), which I bought right after the camp ended. Seomyeon’s Alpha Stationery store is a life saver if you ask me, and they had bunch of souvenirs that I bought too, so that I can send back home to my friends and family as gifts. I was bored of walking so I called Jay to hang out. We met up and had dinner! I tried Duck Galbi! This is the first time eating duck in almost 5 years, maybe. Last time I had it, I thought it tasted undercooked but this one was superb. Finally, another meat I can eat without getting an allergic reaction! Duck, Turkey and Chicken!

The students had to do a presentation about their family and history, and had a scavenger hunt on Friday. The first person to find all the clues got a prize. Yes, you guessed correctly, a Hello Kitty item! The notebook was gone because the Egg Drop winner decided to take it, so the next best item, the notepad was a hot item. They seemed more comfortable to talk to me, and engage in conversations in English, which is more important in my opinion than just repeating everything I say to them. Conversations are very important for their development as English speakers and I am so happy that Hello Kitty, along with stickers (another useful item) are getting them to do well in the camp.

After camp, I decided I better get more Hello Kitty prizes for the students so I went to Nampo-Dong area. However, I decide to check out the Lotte Department store. Check out the pictures for yourself to witness what I have found. My students would faint if they saw all these Hello Kitty items!


I also found some teddy bear items, for those who love teddy bears a lot. Afterwards, I headed to the SkyPark which was awesome. I took some pictures of that too but the experience itself was better than the pictures. The sky was clear so the pictures turned out well. Maybe 30 minutes later, Jay came to Nampo-Dong to hang out as well. We walked around for 2 hours buying whatever is cheap, and useful. I ended up buying two pairs of Hello Kitty socks so I can give as prizes as well. Overall, the week was a success in terms of getting the students to speak English.





Oh, on a side note, I finally got my cellphone! It’s not like my iPhone. Texting is difficult but at least now I can socialize with people and I don’t have to be sitting in front of my computer or aimlessly arranging a place to meet up with Nav or other friends. I will end this post with a song that I am stuck listening on repeat for the last hour or so. Surprisingly it was not a K-Pop song but a Bollywood hit track from the movie Ra-One featuring SRK, Kareena, and Akon. Yes, Akon! Crazy song, check it out everyone. Song is called, Chammak Challo! Enjoy eh!