Of Farms and Flurries…

Sometimes, Daegu University is referred to as “The Farm” for two reasons. 1 – we’re way out in the boonies. 2- we actually do have a barn and animals on the campus. My first class this morning was in the COW building ~ which, as you may guess, houses the Agriculture majors. The students are really nice, but have low level English and tend to be unmotivated. After all, if your prospective future is working on the farm in rural Korea, you don’t have a pressing desire to learn a foreign language. I enjoy teaching those classes, because my flair for acting comes in handy 🙂

As for the weather, it’s been cold, cold, cold here. A wet cold miserable rain, as well as some miserable cold snow flurries. However, we’ve been spared the freakish snowstorm they got in Daejeon and Seoul. Imagine a city with a climate similar to Victoria…and as ill prepared for snow…waking up to over 40cm of snow!!! It snowed heavily from 4am to 4pm nonstop. You can imagine the havoc and chaos reigning in the city. Buses skidded, and turned around so as to block all lanes of traffic, taxis were loading up with 6 or 8 passengers and people were simpling abandoning cars (by the hundreds) and walking home through knee-high drifts. I wish I was there to see it!!! Kim and one of her friends stood at the bottom of a hill cheering for cars as they attempted to reach the top, and groaning in dissapointment when the attempts failed. That amusement kept them occupied for an hour !

Hooray! I had students! My last class of the day had 2 girls in it. I gave them a syllabus, and sent them away. Tomorrow I have a 9am class in the Engineering building complex. It’s the most bizarre building I’ve ever had to navigate. I think it was designed by drunken space monkeys…or engineers. Either way, I’m about 80% sure I’m going to get lost.

In other news, I STILL have a cold, and continue to sound like Bea Arthur, although Chris has also likened me to Joan Rivers. I don’t want to sound like either one of them!!!

Well, my first day of classes has begun…so to speak. I showed up for my 9:00 am class – nervous, but ready. None of my students showed up. I guess that’s pretty common for the first day of the semester. So, I chatted with a Korean professor who could locate neither his class or his students. Then I wrote my name on the board, along with the course number, and went back to the office! Now I’m finished until 6:00 pm, when I’ll do the same thing over again! Whew.