How Many Feet Do I Have?

My latest fleet of boys in Muscial Theater probably have terrible blisters at the moment. There are two weeks left before production night and I am making them rehearse for hours on end. Dancing REALLY is the best exercise. :-/ My leg muscles are sooooo sore right now. We are finally getting control over our feet and brooms though - even though it feels like we all have one too many feet at times and someone still seems to get a good bonk on the head with a broom head. :-) I am sure boys are wondering what they got themselves into at this point as I must seem relentless to them..."yes teacha we know, agaaaiiiiinnnn"...I just figure if you're going to do something do it to your best ability. :-) So they are dancing and dancing and dancing and singing and singing and singing. HOWEVER, we have had some kinks. When I arrived back at school on Monday I was told that the school was afraid of putting everyone in the same auditorium due to Swine Flu. As you know we do have it in the school and I have a big bottle on alcohol stuff that I bathe myself in between classes of touching the boys or walking the hallways. I'll probably die from alcohol poisoning before I die from Swine Flu. Anyways, this means that now we have to learn to do everything on a much smaller stage where the play can be televised from. And the boys now have to learn to project their voices because of no mics. They are pretty much scared. The high point to this is that I can get the boys to carry the props a much shorter distance instead of across the soccer field to the gymnasium, and "items" around the school will be missing for a much shorter period of time before people notice they are gone. As you may recall me telling you previously, Koreans are obsessed with mirrors, so they have HUGE mirrors in the schools, all over the place. I have found these extremely handy for using as walls on the stage...and the plants and trees through the school I plan on building a forest with on one part of the stage. However, I am NOT going to ask anyone for permission. That would be opening a WHOLE can of worms for the Koreans - they would have to go find the oldest most authoratative person in the school to ask permission from (I keep telling them it's me) - the heiarchy thing. So basically I just tell my boys to take the things and then hope that nobody notices until we are finished or otherwise I will have someone ask "teacha Daci, where all da mirrorsa gone? An where you getta all da foresta stuff? someone noza you got it?" Anyways, it should be very interesting to see how it all comes together by next week. :-) ...after almost 3 years they know who to come looking for when something is missing. :-)

Here is a picture of my latest home project - brewing vinegar water. In Asia, for a refreshing summer drink we drink vinegar water. It is flavoured vinegar, very concentrated that one puts into a glass of water. I put about a tablesoon. Some people like it stronger, but basically I don't like curling my eyelids so I stick with a small amount. Since I was drinking it like no tomorrow I decided to search on the internet how to make the stuff. I found a good recipe and bought myself some fruit, mashed it in a sealed container and then covered it with apple cider vinegar and let it brew for about 10 days, after which I boiled it in my rice cooker to steralize the stuff, and walah I now have a long supply!

Well, I will run, I have about an hour left before the day ends and I have to punish some boys for being naughty. They know that I won't cane or beat them like the other teachers but I make them clean with me which seems to be a fate worse than death by the way they react. Korean kids aren't really that hard to control because they are controlled by family still and intense guilt about losing face for themselves and their families. You can tell them they are bringing shame on their family and they will pretty much hang their head. I am very colourful in class and remind them sometimes that if they ever put their head down on the desk or are naughty it will result in "certain death", and then if anyone is ever naughty all the other boys will start yelling, "teacha! he is interested in certain death! certain death!" - becomes like a scene from a Roman ampitheatre. But since they know I am fair and kind, in their minds they pretty much got it figured that "certain death" is associated with a bottle of windex and a cloth.

Okay, have an absolutely wonderful week! Lots of love,d :-)

Pics:

1. Pearl after she wakes me up at 5:30am. The best alarm clock in Korea. She is only faithful to that time though because she knows I will hop up and make her a little beef strip for breakfast.

2. Harvey the heavy sleeper.

3. Brenda and I went to Lotte World. Kind of like Vancouver Playland under a roof, except for this cool sculpture fountain area.

4. The brew. This one is grape vinegar but I am doing lemon next.

5. Here is a pic from the assembly. Sunday morning was a test of faith. It rained and rained and rained. Plastic EVERYWHERE.