Carrying a rabbit's foot

I resumed classes this week only to find that there was another mock test scheduled for Thursday. The mock tests are preparation for the momentous college entrance exam that all third year high school students in Korea take in October, and which decides what university they will attend. I guess since the test isn't far away now the school is assigning them more frequently. That means no classes for me today, though I came in to do some lesson preparation. I sat in an empty classroom for about two and half hours watching some U.S. television that I'd taped before leaving Portland, and recording what was on it for possible lesson use in the future. Apparently a lot of Will and Grace gets played in the afternoons in Portland.

When I came back from watching the video, I found a container of kimbap (the Korean equivalent of a sushi roll) on my desk, from Mrs. Kim, the chemistry teacher here who wants me to tutor her daughter. I realized that though I'd told Mrs. Lee I'd do it (free of charge, as we're not allowed to get paid for anything outside of our Fulbright arrangement), we haven't discussed any other details, and felt a little guilty, wondering if Mrs. Kim thought I was having second thoughts.

Not too much is new. It looks like my trip to Maisan National Park to go hiking is canceled, because thunderstorms are predicted all weekend. Rachel and I decided to check out Gwanju instead, a fairly large city only about an hour away from me. As it stands now, Rachel's going to come to Suncheon on Friday afternoon and spend the night at my host family's house, and then we might head to Gwanju Saturday morning. There's a big art exhibit going on there, called the Gwanju Biennenial, I think, and some other ETAs plan to be there this Saturday as well. If Rachel comes, it will be nice to show her around Suncheon a little, maybe pay a visit to the 'expat bar' I got a look at last weekend.

Yesterday my three third years dropped by my desk to say hi. I was a little busy yesterday, so we didn't have much time to talk. One of them had given me an English newspaper the day before, asking me to read an article on female circumcision in Kenya that she had read, and wanted to discuss. From what I'd been told to expect from female students, in terms of sensitive subjects like this, I was surprised. I was happy to discuss the article (and I was impressed), but there wasn't time yesterday. Hopefully later.

I did try to explain to them what "Break a leg!" means, since they'd asked me before, and I'd found it in a book, "101 American Superstitions" that Brandon, the ETA last year, had left behind. When I showed it to them, they asked me about the facing page, which had the title "Carrying a rabbit's foot." I tried to explain that some Americans carry a rabbit's foot around for good luck. They looked utterly confused, so I tried to draw a picture of one, key chain and all, and explain "good luck charm." They were simply horrified. I don't know what I was expecting, really.

Been talking to my friend Amanda from Albany about seeing her this winter break. Looks like I'll probably be spending Christmas in Thailand. It will be really nice to see a friend from home.

Reading: Finished "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and the second and the third Harry Potter books. My host sister Seo In owns the latter. Harry Potter books are some of the few English-language books that are easy to find in Korea, so I'll probably end up reading the whole series (a little behind, I know).

Fiction written: no new pages recently, but revising on something I started for a novella class a few semesters ago.