Today I'm feeling much better after a very sickly weekend. Mondays are always rough because I can never seem to wake my brain up in time for my body's arrival at school, but it caught up soon enough. Mondays can also be difficult because I have three 6th grade periods. Quite frankly, 6th graders are not always easy to motivate, but when we reach success, it is also the most rewarding out of all grade levels.Today happened to be a day where I was able to excite them with a pretty nifty speaking/bingo activity. What caught me off guard, though, wasn't that the 6th graders were enthusiastic for once, but that in the midst of everyone going gung-ho over trying to be the first winner, one student approached me and began sharing his aspirations to travel to America. As we continued talking, it was clear to me that his decision was anything but a childish fantasy- he will travel to America. When I was in 6th grade, I didn't even know where South Korea was and here I am now. I guess the point that I am trying to make is that so many of my students and even adults that I have encountered here in Korea are on a straight-lined path, there goal being visible to them from the starting point. It amazes me. I can't really say if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but just that it's different from what I see the America. Certainly it is respectable to make goals reality with the amount of hard work that I see surrounding me.
After a good end to the school day, I later found myself at the traditional Anyang Market, one of my favorite places in Anyang. Even before the beautiful scarves and ripe oranges that I have been craving since my arrival, my favorite sighting was the giant pumpkin-looking squash. With fall here, I'm seriously wanting to be on a pumkin patch. The one on Sauvies Island would be just perfect. But I'm pretty sure these squash will be the closest that I will get
Really makes Anyang seem a little more than just another small city outside Seoul. Thanks for sharing.
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