Monday, January 08, 2007

Between trips

We are home for the next 36 hours. As Jeremy may have told you, we came back on Sunday from a very thirsty camp. How eloquent his explanation was of the nutritional end of life there! I would like to add that by the second day I had an idea about how governments condition people at special camps. Nothing will alter your mood quite as quickly as a bad/good meal! Nuf said!

Traveling to an area where there is a specific purpose in a culture like a camp, is always a new experience, of course. In Korea we had Membership Training (MT's) which shed new light on social interactions between student-student relations as well as student-teacher relations. It was more fun than I expected. At this camp, the same can be said about observing the culture especially since I have had few interactions with kids here in general. My class was incredibly mixed as far as ability went, but by trying to keep the class upbeat, we played enough games, I think, we both felt satisfied in our fun0meters by the time Jeremy and I left. It was interesting to watch the kids with one another. I learned they are not very different from US kids, teasing, chatting, laughing. One thing I noticed is the touch element is more prevalent good or bad as it may be. Girls love hooking arms or holding hands and many would do the same to the teachers, but on the flip side, several kids also had no problem smacking each other when a joke or tease went too far. It was usually ignored and ended quickly on its own, but I didn't like seeing it since it made me think of the impending abuse that awaits many Russian brides in the future. Domestic abuse is commonplace and barely talked about, but as I have read countless times in our folktales book, it an unblinking truth. Please don't think the folktales book is my only source of proof though. I could go on, but I don't want to get too dark with this post!

Anyway, I loved being with the kids and we had fun, but I don't think I could go through another one. There are several reasons, the strongest being the food and the second being that it was my last obligation to a certain person and now I am done giving her the opportunity to use me. We are off to Turkey- ya ya. See you later!

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