Just a Superstar kind of day…



In grand Korean style, my univeristy is hosting a number of recruitment events for highschool students. As part of the program, the English teachers have been asked to participate. “No problem”, thought I. …

My task was simple. I had to go up on stage; introduce myself; and give a quick, fun quiz. Reality was a little less unobtrusive. I found myself standing at the back of a dark, crowded auditorium, waiting (along with a Chinese exchange student) for our names to be called. When our names were finally called, the lights dimmed, a popular rock song started booming, and a spotlight followed us down the long aisle as hundreds of highschool students cheered. I felt like The Ultimate Warrior and Oprah all at the same time. Once we’d finished the proscribed quiz show (and the MC co-erced me into singing a few bars of Yesterday by the Beatles), we made our way back down the aisle as students reached out their arms to touch us/shake our hands. Afterwards, some of them approached us to get their pictures taken.

Just another day in the life of a foreigner.

4:42 pm Office. Have spent most of afternoon reading sequel to Briget Jone’s Diary (Briget Jones: Edge of Reason). As a result, have spent remainder of afternoon, and most likey evening, with disjointed (almost)30-something single woman dialogue running through my head. Even worse, it’s coming bereft of modifiers and aritcles AND in an unconvincing British accent. Next time, must remember to read something intelligent, containing properly constructed sentences.

4:58 pm. Still narrating own life with botched accent. Must stop, as am now starting to fear opening my mouth in case horrid mental narration becomes audible.

Well, I guess it’s time for an update…

… My plants are all still alive. None have been voted off yet. I’ve discarded the idea of plastic ones as that removes the challenge…and I’d have to dust them.

… I’m still going to Yoga class 2~3 times a week, and I like it even though my instructor tries to coax my limbs into the proper position then gives up muttering “impossible. impossible.”

… I got accepted for the Master’s of Applied Linguistics program at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia. I can do most (all?) of the coursework while I’m still living and working in Korea. I start next semester with “Grammar: Meaning and Discourse”. fun, eh?

… I wanted to spend the day taking pictures around campus (our leaves are still lovely colours) but of course, since it’s the weekend, it’s cloudy and gross.

That’s all.