School is NOT out for Summer

It is now 10 pm and I have just finished my first  day of Summer camp and what a great success it was. Most schools in Korea run a Summer camp during vacation time . Mine no doubt falls into that catergory. My school also falls into the very academic and hard working catergory and as a result   , despite the fact it is Summer vacation which usually implies school holidays , my students are still attending classes like on any other normal school day which runs from 9am until 10 pm . However for a select few students Summer School isn't so terrible as they get to partcipate in Summer camp activities which I have to run . This is a time where the students are able to learn english in a  fun and less academic way. I feel this is a time where I can really get the girls to engage in the lessons as im doing activties that they are actuallly interested in.

What is the deelio with Summer Camp?

Each school in Korea runs their camps differently. Mine seems to be a particulary unique case and im not complaning.  First off I only have to teach 8 days of camp . Many of my friend  will be teaching 2 or 3 weeks worth of camps . I am running the camps for grade one and two. Grade three simply do not have the time to  waste doing activities  . Most of my teaching friends are doing their summer camps in the morning  but me , Im getting to sleep in until 12 pm. My school has decided to run our Summer camp from 4  in the afternoon until 9 at night. Lucky me gets everyday off until 4 pm . No desk warming for me. Thank goodness.

Summer camp program

As this is the  one of the few occasions where my students are not subjected  to academic hell I have decided to do activities that  encourage creativity and will keep the girls engaged.

Day 1

Today the students made friendship bracelets. Thanks to a very generous Summer camp budget I was able to buy beautiful assorted beads for the activity. The girls had to design a bracelet , give it a name " The bracelet of ....." and then they had to give it to someone in their group. I was highly impressed with the girls creativity and time they spent on the activity. It just proves that if you give students something that they enjoy they will be far more engaged and responsive in the lesson.

Day2

My students seem to adore Glee . Totally convenient when you are quite the fan yourself.  I have decided to show the episode where Rachel wants a nose job. Plstic surgery in Korea ranks  amongst  the highest in the world. Its all about image here and as a result the amount of pressure placed on   korean females is huge. I am hoping that the Gleeks can get through to my girls. After the episode they will be required to make a poster that illsutrates what the episode was about. I shall end the lesson with a quiz based on the Glee
episode.

Day 3

Students will make a fruit salad recipe and then each group will evaluate another groups fruit salad.

Day 4

Ive realised that the one area of english that seems rather unknown to my girls is the area of board
games. I really believe this is a fantastic\  and fun way to encourage my students to speak english. So thanks to the large budget I bought the game Twister , the classic party hit game ,  "Guess who" which is great for practicing adjectives and descriptions and lastly monopoly , a game that I feel every person should know how to play.

I am  now  exhausted , hot and ready for bed. Bring on dy two of Camp with the Gleeks
.

Friday Freedom exams are over!!!

Music videos being played at top volume from the classrooms, screaming in the hallways ,doing their makeup and straightening their hair in the classrooms .Thats when you know exams are over! Time for my students  to go have some fun in downtown.
Its been four very intense stressful days for my darling girls. Bed time averaging 3 am in the morning  and coming to school looking like a zombie. My girls are beyond exhausted. ' I HAVE FREEDOM TEACHER I HAVE FREEDOM! " this is what many of the girls have been telling me today. But , that freedom will only  last until tonight . Tomorrow morning they will once again walk through the school gates and  spend their saturday studying in their desks until 5pm. Yes exams are over but it doesn't mean that the  studying stops. Its a difficult thing to comprehend isn't it? I remember my school years. When exams were over that meant no more work for the term  Not at my convent in Korea though . It is now 3 :30 pm and I think im the only teacher left at school. Time to get outta here and enjoy my Friday Freedom!!!

One night in a Jimjilbang

Sweaty , hot and tired from a crazy night in Daegu .We board the 4 am train that will take us back to the lovely small area of Waegwan where we had double beds and couches waiting for us.  A chilled 20 minute jounery to Waegwan and we ll be home. We decide to have a power nap ....... 40 minutes later and ...... " We have arrived in Gumi" says the speaker in the train.  EPIC FAIL . We had crashed so heavily on the train that we had missed our stop in Waegwan. 5am in the morning  and batteries dead . Where does one go when  faced with such a situation.... a JimJilbang of course aka " a large  gender segregated public bathhouse/ sleeping house. It is very popular amongst koreans .

I have heard very funny stories about these places and I can't say it ranks highly on my " Must do " list  of things to do in Korea . However at 5 am in the morning I was not going to be fussy about accomodation. So embracing my " Open heart , open mind" attitude   we went inside. I can see why Jimjilbangs are so appealing for a grand total of 9000 won you get :

Some very sexy pajamas which  resemble something similar to prison clothes.

 A towel which is so small it wouldnt even fit around the circumference of an anorexics body .

Free access to use the facilities which includes the bath room , showers , sauna , ice room and a sleeping area . ( I ll explain more about that in a bit ) 

An example of a sauna

After we paid I was separated from the boys and shown to the womens section whilst the boys were shown to the mens section. Let me set the scene. I walked in and what was a greeted with ? Lots of naked bodies !Bodies of all shapes and sizes. Old wrinkly korean women walking around ever so freely . " Open mind open mind" I kept reminding myself. There were rows and rows of lockers . Pretty much like a gym . Although my clothes that were going into the locker smelt of clubs , smoke and soju. Beyond  excited to get  out of my smelly clothes I stripped down , attempted to put the microscopic towel around my body ( epic fail)  and went into the bathing house area. 



I could't resist. This really portrays what it is like inside a Jimjilbang



  A large room filled with various sized heated pools . Many women splashing around naked having a grand time with their friends and even washing each other. If there was ever a moment to feel awkward , this would be it. Now im all for making friends and ive been doing pretty well so far. However , I was not going to jump naked into a bath with some random korean ladies and strike up a conversation . So I looked around for a shower where I wouldnt have to deal with a view of wrinkly old ladies. Eventually I found one. Being clean is never something I will take for granted again.



My very sexy Pj's for the night

 Next step was to find the sleeping area. I opened the door , and I honestly thought I had stepped into a scene from the movie the Island. You know that movie with all the cloned people. Eventhough the sleeping area is for both men and women everyone looked exactly the same as we were all in identical clothes. Attempting to find the boys was not going to happen. So I attempted to find somewhere to sleep. The options were endless. Do I sleep in the middle of the room with a bunch of other koreans on a paper thin matress, do i go sleep in a cave like area ( they are literally these  little dome shaped caves with a matress inside it ) do I go keep cool in the ice room, (like a sauna but cold ) or do I settle for  a lovely comfy massaging chair ( yes they have those too). I settled for the dome shaped cave. It was dark and the only place where I would get some vague privacy. Two hours later and I was still awake.

Another example of a sleeping area

We left soon after that and managed to not miss our stop back to Gyeongju .

So that was my first experience in  jimjilbang. Was it terrible ? No , I loved it and it exceeded my expectations . Will I go back to another one ? Hells yes ! At 5 am in the morning you wont find a better , cheaper more entertaining deal. :)

I was unable to take pictures inside so the pictures used are examples of what you could expect to find.