Winter Camp

Our street, after a little snow

According to Wikipedia:

"In South Korea, the school year is divided into two terms. The first term runs from early March to late August with the summer vacation from mid-July to mid-August. The second term usually resumes in late August and runs until mid-February. In the second term, there is a long winter break from mid-December to early February."

My last day of classes for the semester was December 23rd, 2009. The next three weeks (Dec. 28 - Jan. 15) would consist of "Winter Camp." Winter camp differs for every teacher in Korea. For me, it was three weeks long (14 actual teaching days). The contract asks for four hours of teaching per day, but my school asked me to teach six hours per day, resulting in overtime $$ for me! I taught three classes per day. I made up my own curriculum, and was asked to turn in lesson plans at my leisure. I had a great time with the kids. I tried to make it fun for them, since this technically was vacation time for them. January 15th was my last day of "teaching" winter camp. I popped in a movie and my co-teacher ordered Dominoes Pizza for us. (Side note-- Dominoes, and most pizza here, is super expensive! A large pizza is about $30 USD!)

The next week, we were on vacation! I requested 10 days off (which, with weekends turned out to me a 14 day vacation). We decided to go to Thailand and have a long layover in Hong Kong on the way back. It was wonderful to get out of the freezing cold here. Fun stuff!

Now we're back. My school is currently on what they call, "Spring Break." The 6th graders have graduated and I haven't taught since January 15th. I have been sitting in my office waiting for the new semester to start on March 2nd. I will try to write a little about our vacation, stay tuned!