English Camp etc.

Well, I promised you pictures and pictures you will have! I finished up English Camp last Friday. Generally it was three weeks of fun. There were 4 classes per day. I was to teach the first 3 and a co-teacher taught the last one. Class started at 9:10 each morning and I was usually finished at 11:30 when a snack of bread and icecream arrived for everyone. At the end of the last class each day the students in typical Korean fashion cleaned up the classroom. During the regular school year during lunch hour a group of students clean up the whole school.

Each week I taught a different grade level from grade 4 to 6. Here are some pictures from each class...

Grade 4

Student holding a traditional Korean musical instrument.... a 'gayagum'.

Grade 5

Grade 6

Kids cleaning up after class

I started taking hapkido about 3 weeks ago. It's not easy. This old body isn't what it used to be, but it's coming along. The muscles still have some memory, and as some of you know, I can do the splits.

The hapkido school.

Last week the instructor presented me with this hapkido uniform. You can't see it, but my name is embroidered in gold thread at the bottom of the jacket. The name that's there is literally 'Pee taw' which is the closest most Koreans come to pronouncing it. I didn't realize that my name would be on it otherwise I would have told the instructor that a couple of months ago some grade 5 students gave me a Korean name, Kim Song Hun (pronounced Hoon). I like that name it's apparently the same as a famous Korean poet of long ago.

Sorry for the stupid expression. I wasn't relaxed. I took this myself using the self-timer on the camera, but it only gives me 2 seconds after I press the button to get into position. As I get better I'll take the camera to the school sometime and have someone take pictures of me doing something or other.

The Trip To China Is ON!
Today a friend took me to the Hanatour Agency in Masan to finalize the arrangements for my trip to Beijing, China next week. I'll be going for 3 nights and 4 days. It's only going to cost about C$800 for everything. The hotel in the package has been upgraded from a 4 star to a 5. And because I booked early I'm getting a discount of about $70. The package includes all the usual things in Beijing....Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Mao's Tomb, and The Forbidden City.

Best of all the package includes a whole body massage at the hotel. That sounds great!!!!!

The temple stay? Next week I'm going to China and the week after I need to rest and prepare for when classes resume on September 1. So, that leaves this week, but I have to be back Friday afternoon in time to pick up my visa for China and pay the balance of the trip. So, I think I'll do the temple stay from Wednesday to Friday and leave sometime Friday afternoon to get to Masan for the visa. That's not as long as I would have liked, but that's the way it is.

In case you don't know on August 27th the planet Mars is going to be closer to us than it's been in at least 5,000 years. This should really be something to see. Apparently, on that night in particular, Mars will look about the same size as a full moon, only red. This won't happen again in any of our lifetimes for at least another 5, 000 years while some say it could be as long as 60,000. Pretty academic. I'm not gonna worry either way.

Talk to you all when I'm back from China.
Take Care
Pierre