I am now a videographer...

I am now a videographer. :-/ When I first came to Korea I was just an ordinary English teacher. But this experience has really helped me expand my horizons. I went from teaching English, to teaching Musical Theatre, to teaching Animation, and now to being a videographer. I have nothing against this because I constantly like to be challenged and I am forced to learn new things all the time. The video aspect of it happened this morning. As you recall I told you before that due to Swine Flu we were asked to hold our production on a much smaller stage. However, when I arrived to look at the stage it was taken up by a massive grand piano on one half. BIG PROBLEM. So I said, "well this is what we could do...." so now this week we are filming the production and then I will download it on the computer, put sub-titles, and credits and the credits. Never done it before, but I have an awesome program to do it with, and am a bit of a nerd that can learn things fast. Anyways, it should be fun. Oh yes, another kink - the tailor can't have all the skirts done, so I asked the school to give me all the red velvet curtains from one second floor classroom and I will go wild with a pair of scissors and start doing the Sound of Music thing making them. Good thing I watched that movie so many times. Should be fun though! :-) As usual I will keep you all posted.
Well, as of last night, I may be switching to the PROJECT RUNWAY method. My assistant left it too late and we are filming this coming Thursday night, and the costumes are still all in pieces. :-( So I am heading down to the art store to buy a load of straight pins and glue and create the costumes by hand. I am thinking that it should be a lot of fun. :-) By last night's practise though I was burnt. Traveling back and forth to the assembly for four days last week shouldered with practising every night this week just zonked me. I had to sit all the cast members down and tell them that "tonight is the night that you need to be especially good listeners and be good for me". I am usually super patient with the students but I just was so tired I knew I didn't have much left inside. I just explained that if they weren't there was a danger that they would see fire coming out my ears. Most of them understood. I really work hard at being patient with the teenagers because I know that child abuse happrens here and I often see kids in class with casted fingers, arms, and bruises. Much higher than a teacher would see in America or Canada. It is just accepted in Asia. After all this time I have become pretty good too at identifying the boys that are treated rough at home - it is in their demeanor also - so I give them jobs of responsiblity in the classes to try and build their esteem in other ways. Right now in my writing class I have the boys analyzing that chapter in the YOUNG PEOPLE ASK BOOK about teenage stress and how to solve problems. Reading what they write over their shoulders and their homelife and what causes them stress is very enlightening for me. I will tell you one story from this week that goes along with it. I was asked to write an article for the school newspaper coming out at the end of the month, so I thought instead of writing the same old boring stuff that teachers do all the time, I thought that I would write something uniquely Western - a Dear Abby (Dear Darci) type column. So I asked the boys in my writing class to submit questions for me. I told them that they could ask anything they want as they could sign them names like SLEEPLESS IN SUWON, or SAD IN SUSUNG or whatever. Well anyways, I hand out the paper and go sit by my desk and put a box at the back of the room for the boys to put their folded questions into. In a minute I see the Korean male teacher walking around the room looking at the boys writing! One boy turned to him, shielded his paper and told him it was confidential as teacher Darci had said. The Korean teacher was niffed at the boy so he took his paddle and hit him in the forehead, and then took him in the hallway and spanked the life out of him. When he brought him back I told the Korean teacher that he was not allowed to look at any more boys papers. I tell ya sometimes you have to have nerves of steel to stand up to some of the things that happen. In the end though when I opened up the box I got some awesome questions that I wrote all Biblical advice to for the newspaper. Now I will be surprized if it is printed. I will let you all know. Okay have a wonderful evening. Lots of love for everyone, d :-)