So, today was... interesting.
For the first time I taught entirely without a coteacher, which was not as bad as it could have been. The girls didn't understand why they were doing what they were doing (they were "at a theatre" trying to find my friends), but they understood that it was their job to read descriptions of people and to find them on a picture that I provided. Maybe they didn't understand that the group in the picture were at a theatre, but they understood what mattered, and they practiced describing people a little more.
My knees are killing me. I bought really good shoes before coming here, because for some stupid reason I didn't realize I would be expected to take my shoes off everytime I entered a building, as has been the case. This includes the school. So, I have to wear slippers.
Now, don't have big feet by North American standards, but here, I have HUGE feet. So big I had to go to another town just to find slippers. I could not wear the school's guest slippers any longer, my toes hung over at one end, and my heel over the other. I found slippers, and bought them. The bad thing is that when you are so desperate that you have to buy immediately when you find your size, you can't discriminate for quality. I have really bad feet, with fallen arches and all, and I get shin splints when I run without supports in my shoes. Standing all day in poor quality slippers means that my knees are killing me by the end of the day.
Now I have sore knees and great shoes that are collecting dust in favour of the shoes that easily slip on and off, which I invariably wear every day. So today was interesting. As a final excerise in describing people, I had the class describe me. This went over really well in the boy's school, with boys speculating about third arms under my shirt and heart-covered thongs beneath my pants. It was really fun, and they had me laughing quite a lot. Today, at the girl's school, I tried again, and had similarly funny results.
Apparently, I have small ears. I know I don't have huge ears, but I would lean towards big before small. Also, medium sized "sexy" lips. And in three consecutive classes, thick, thin and bushy eyebrows. And my "whiskers" were a big hit, and they got to learn a new word (sideburns). I also kept a running tally on the side board of what they had described by drawing everything as they mentioned it ("You are a man" being the obvious exception). When the last class had mentioned only that I wore glasses after a few minutes of coaxing, I took off my glasses to imitate the disembodied, floating pair I had sketched on the board. Well, they clapped and applauded like I had just announced I was Jesus. Apparently, my Clark Kent to Superman transformation had just been solidified, ensuring that I would be forever be immortalized in Korean notebooks through the repetitive doodling of "I (heart) Matthew Teacher".
Also, that last class is my slowest. It is my fourth of four on Tuesdays, and probably the lowest level in effort, if not actually in ability. It takes a lot to coax them to do anything, so I took whatever I could get from descriptions, and filled in the blanks myself rather than trying to get them to self-correct. And then, in the middle of class, I was seized with a fit of the giggles. No reason, I just wanted to laugh so much. I was in a state of euphoria for about ten minutes, and I actually had to bite my hand at one point to stop laughing, because I was terrified that one of the girls would think I was laughing at their answers (which would not be unheard of).
Anyways, it was okay, because it meant that my description now included "I am smiling".
On Tuesdays, some girls in the music program here practice on their instruments in the broadcast room, which has been declared my "office" when I am at the girl's school. Today, I am really glad that I have been allowed to use my coteacher's desk and computer, because last week, my ears were ringing, and I had the worst headache when I finally left at the end of the day. Of course it hardly compares to the violin practice at the grade school two Fridays ago. Oh man. It was as though they were just bowing right across a nerve. Skereee!

Later (8:53 pm)

When I got home, Jessie was in the kitchen with a woman who appeared to be cleaning our kitchen vent. Jessie signalled that she had no idea what was going on. The woman began starting to talk to me in Korean. no response... more Korean... no response.
Best course of action? Call my coteacher!
Anyways, we asked her to find out if this woman was from the building or if she was a saleswoman. Anyways, they yelled at eachother on the phone (people talk really loudly here) for about five minutes, and then the woman just hung up and started asking for money. She didn't even give me a chance to talk to my coteacher!
Anyways, I called her back, and she didn't even know! So it was totally useless. Anyways, she had already taken apart our vent... we wound up paying. It was pretty disappointing, and I felt really taken... but it seemed like there was no option.
Lesson learned: No-one else gets into the apartment unless accompanied by the building manager.
I felt like crap, so I took a nap. Also, my knees hurt like crazy, and I felt sick.
Now I feel better. And I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and everything is good now.
Pictures are coming!