Bringing up the Past... LSU French Studies

LSU in Ubaye Valley

What an interesting Friday: a definite other-than-ordinary for a day bringing me closer to my month-long February vacation. Yee-hah.

This evening, I met Ahsan at Yeungjin after a bit of weekend teaching preparations at the old work (photocopies and the like; definitely a fun way to spend my time with the big dawgs when I don't have to be there!) We hopped in Ahsan's purple beater and went over to pick up our travel tickets during, coincidentally, rush-hour traffic at the Manchon eMart--way across town. Loads of fun, I assure you. I have nothing but good things to say now about Korean crazy drivers: as of tonight, I have christened myself as a contribution to the daily dose of impetuous traffic art otherwise polluting the Korean roadscapes (kudos for the lingual forplay, there, Chels!)

As usual, I spent my day teaching from 9:30am until 12:30pm. Now, in a nutshell, Kids' Camp at Yeungjin is a little bit like attending a seminar English 101 class at a mid-sized college in the U.S.: You have your mixture of kids who wanna be there, those who don't, but overall, it's a clusterfudge of bees, books and chaos, and you--as well as the other foreign teachers--are the honey that glues everything together. Mind you, the glue is so very little, indeed, and is expected to perform miracles under great pressure. Leave of course, the worst part, that the bee-hive has very limited supplies, like a photo-copier that rarely works, with a disproportion of malcommunication, where the communication lines from the big-Momma (or Poppa bee, for those readers who lean towards patriarchal systems) trickle down like a new river downstream an impoverished, dry African village.

Now, seeing as I have one more week of Kids' Camp, I just hope that I keep my hair in-tact long enough to not have to express-order a wig from the local ajumma nylon shop, or be impelled to wear my cancer patient knitted hat. It truly wouldn't be a pretty picture.

After my daily kid-screaming dosage, I grabbed lunch with my fellow teacher and friend Marinel, who I recently find out is leaving us... a tragic but evident realization that Yeungjin has many kinks to work out. Hmmph. Then at 2, I flew over via taxi to attend my DELF preparation French class at KyungPook National University. Yes, I have to agree, pushing myself academically has been a great affair thus far (all 2 classes that I have attended); however, what lies ahead of me will be quite an arduous task~ that is, studying daily, French articles, reading response questions and digging deep into the cobwebs of my French studies know-how to prepare for this test---which I take just 4 days after I return from my vacation. Is this not dedication or what? Perhaps I don't reckon doing some studying while I check out the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, or while I make my way to a Pakistani Mosque... yeah, that wouldn't hurt.

And as I simmer down from my evening, having eaten some dok-yah-cheh-bok-um-bop (Chicken with fried rice and veggies) and watched the chick-flick While you were falling in love at the local DVD bong, I come to the realization that my travels have taken me to quite a number of places. In fact, while Ahsan sang to the sandman shortly after returning home, I decided to gander at a bit of history: my Alumni, LSU, and the Department of French Studies website. Interestingly enough, I decide to check out the Ubaye Valley Program which I attended after graduating, in summer of 2004... thereby coming across a marvelous picture of me (with short hair and all, slaving away at an internship making French pastries!) What a blast it was to dig up this history! I come to find as well, that LSU French Studies and Academic Programs Abroad department had put up, for the majority, my pictures that I had taken during the program! I guess I have Mrs. Roark to thank for that one! Great stuff, huh? Awesome pictures, indeed. Maybe I should have asked for royalties for the gems they're using to attract students to take the program! Hmm...

Which reminds me, it's about time I dig up some old pictures to put up on Flikr! Ah, but tomorrow is another busy day, and this history-making gal needs her beauty sleep. Stay tuned for nearly 10 more days of cram-packed posts leading up to my vacation. In the plans: packing for 30 days; buying souvenirs for my peeps in 2 countries and 3 states; attempting to move my apartment from the 7th to the 11th floor (I assure you, it'll be worth the hassle, and disgusting cleaning I have to endure to get into the new pad..) as well as, oh, a zillion trickles of sweat imagining how I'm going to attempt to do all of this. Amazing...

Lights out ~

Chels