Another week gone by!
Just one more week of these classes. Next week we get new ones. I'm really hoping for older kids! Please? Good ones? Not lame ones?
So at the beginning of the week I was really homesick. In addition to being terribly campsick. Sigh... But I was over that after a while. Mostly. It's gone to the back burner, anyway. Actually I miss it a lot still. I'm past the halfway mark (I've been here 7 months tomorrow). And really, time's going by surprisingly fast.
I've been going back to planning my future, which is something I enjoy greatly, and it's kind of my method of cheap, portable enjoyment. When I get home, I will need a job. And a cell phone. Then a car. I've been looking at cars, houses, apartments, jobs, and of course pets, on Craigslist a lot lately. I intend to live at home until after camp, at which point I will get out of there, assuming I have a job that will finance that. I'm planning on starting to teach. And finish school... I spent a frustrating hour or two searching UMSL's website for the course catalog, and when I finally found it I e-mailed the professor who teaches the first class I need this summer. She referred me to the department head, a new one since I left... It's the same professor who made me hate life last spring. Argh!! So I e-mailed him, and of course he hasn't answered my question about whether or not I could possibly take the class online. That is because he is an ass. And I hate everything about him. And he sure won't win any teacher of the year awards either.
I've also been looking at gerbils online. They were fun to have. Maybe I'll get a few when I have my own place.
I had an incident in my bad class on Friday. The Korean teacher has them first, and she had lots of trouble with them... She came back on the break dragging the boy who can't keep his hands to himself, who apparently brought scissors to class. I can imagine the stabbing spree he would find hilarious... So that boy was in a bad mood when it was my turn. I was strict with him, and he ended up crying, but I don't think it was because of me. I've been much meaner to him, and he takes it well usually. My main issue was with a little girl with a nasty attitude. She decided it would be fun to be disrespectful (and also didn't do her homework), so I told her to stand up (a pretty common light punishment). She asked why repeatedly, and I kept telling her to stand. She understands most of what I say, and understood exactly why. But finally her neighbor decided to help me out, and told her in Korean, which she couldn't ignore. So I was going to just make her stand by the wall for a few minutes. But she likes to make a point (and make a scene), so she spent the whole class sulking by the wall. I asked her to sit down and do things a few times, but she refused, and that didn't really bother me! It wasn't worth a fight. She also thought she could run away after class, but I caught her and delivered her straight to the no-homework teacher. This is the same girl I had to pick up and carry across the room because she refused to stop talking or change seats a while ago. I'm not a fan.
Then after work, a couple of my older girls from last semester grabbed me (around the neck) to ask for money to get a snack from the convenience store. No luck! Then someone else gave them some money, and they forgot about me.
Yesterday I kept busy! I'm putting together a package (possibly multiple packages) to send to camp, and I went shopping for that and got some fun stuff. I also had lunch at the fish market. Two big rice balls full of vegetables and fish, soup, and about 10 little side dishes. I was full after about half of it. If anyone ever came to visit me here, I'd take them there. It's so delicious. Then I saw Angels and Demons. It was good, but the book was better.
Today I went for a short walk, but mostly I stayed in. I decided I've been spending too much money (that will stop once I've sent my package off, I swear). I'm making burritos for my meals this week, which I'm really excited about. I wish I could find a smaller pack of cilantro, but it's not worth buying a huge package of it when a lot of it would go bad before I could use it all. I do have a pack of taco seasoning that I brought from home. That sound be yummy! And I bought a package of fresh pineapple from Homeplus, which I opened today... It's actually quite gross, and starting to ferment. So I looked around for recipes, and I'm trying a fruit soup with pineapple, blended raspberries, lychee juice, etc. (because that's what I have at the moment). In the process my pot lid knob fell off, and I'm pretty sure the washer is boiling in the soup right now. I think I hear it in there, rattling at the bottom of the pot. I'll rescue it at some point.
I think I need a creative outlet. I haven't written in a while. I need to write something.
Hm. Next weekend there's a sand festival at the main beach in town that I want to go to. Lots of cool sand sculptures and such.
I think I need a vacation.
So at the beginning of the week I was really homesick. In addition to being terribly campsick. Sigh... But I was over that after a while. Mostly. It's gone to the back burner, anyway. Actually I miss it a lot still. I'm past the halfway mark (I've been here 7 months tomorrow). And really, time's going by surprisingly fast.
I've been going back to planning my future, which is something I enjoy greatly, and it's kind of my method of cheap, portable enjoyment. When I get home, I will need a job. And a cell phone. Then a car. I've been looking at cars, houses, apartments, jobs, and of course pets, on Craigslist a lot lately. I intend to live at home until after camp, at which point I will get out of there, assuming I have a job that will finance that. I'm planning on starting to teach. And finish school... I spent a frustrating hour or two searching UMSL's website for the course catalog, and when I finally found it I e-mailed the professor who teaches the first class I need this summer. She referred me to the department head, a new one since I left... It's the same professor who made me hate life last spring. Argh!! So I e-mailed him, and of course he hasn't answered my question about whether or not I could possibly take the class online. That is because he is an ass. And I hate everything about him. And he sure won't win any teacher of the year awards either.
I've also been looking at gerbils online. They were fun to have. Maybe I'll get a few when I have my own place.
I had an incident in my bad class on Friday. The Korean teacher has them first, and she had lots of trouble with them... She came back on the break dragging the boy who can't keep his hands to himself, who apparently brought scissors to class. I can imagine the stabbing spree he would find hilarious... So that boy was in a bad mood when it was my turn. I was strict with him, and he ended up crying, but I don't think it was because of me. I've been much meaner to him, and he takes it well usually. My main issue was with a little girl with a nasty attitude. She decided it would be fun to be disrespectful (and also didn't do her homework), so I told her to stand up (a pretty common light punishment). She asked why repeatedly, and I kept telling her to stand. She understands most of what I say, and understood exactly why. But finally her neighbor decided to help me out, and told her in Korean, which she couldn't ignore. So I was going to just make her stand by the wall for a few minutes. But she likes to make a point (and make a scene), so she spent the whole class sulking by the wall. I asked her to sit down and do things a few times, but she refused, and that didn't really bother me! It wasn't worth a fight. She also thought she could run away after class, but I caught her and delivered her straight to the no-homework teacher. This is the same girl I had to pick up and carry across the room because she refused to stop talking or change seats a while ago. I'm not a fan.
Then after work, a couple of my older girls from last semester grabbed me (around the neck) to ask for money to get a snack from the convenience store. No luck! Then someone else gave them some money, and they forgot about me.
Yesterday I kept busy! I'm putting together a package (possibly multiple packages) to send to camp, and I went shopping for that and got some fun stuff. I also had lunch at the fish market. Two big rice balls full of vegetables and fish, soup, and about 10 little side dishes. I was full after about half of it. If anyone ever came to visit me here, I'd take them there. It's so delicious. Then I saw Angels and Demons. It was good, but the book was better.
Today I went for a short walk, but mostly I stayed in. I decided I've been spending too much money (that will stop once I've sent my package off, I swear). I'm making burritos for my meals this week, which I'm really excited about. I wish I could find a smaller pack of cilantro, but it's not worth buying a huge package of it when a lot of it would go bad before I could use it all. I do have a pack of taco seasoning that I brought from home. That sound be yummy! And I bought a package of fresh pineapple from Homeplus, which I opened today... It's actually quite gross, and starting to ferment. So I looked around for recipes, and I'm trying a fruit soup with pineapple, blended raspberries, lychee juice, etc. (because that's what I have at the moment). In the process my pot lid knob fell off, and I'm pretty sure the washer is boiling in the soup right now. I think I hear it in there, rattling at the bottom of the pot. I'll rescue it at some point.
I think I need a creative outlet. I haven't written in a while. I need to write something.
Hm. Next weekend there's a sand festival at the main beach in town that I want to go to. Lots of cool sand sculptures and such.
I think I need a vacation.