July 26th- WanJu English Camp

Started the afternoon with a cultural clash, not the best way to commence a new English camp. My blog is nascent, and showing signs of maturity, though a thorough proofreading is in order. My morning started off with sweat, as the A/C is turned off at around seven am. The Opening Ceremony was primarily spoken in Korean, so I just sat and listened to line after line of syllables align themselves like a DNA strand and go in one ear and quickly out the other. But what was rather daft of me is that I did not dress up for the ceremony. I did not receive the memo. Upon arriving I, and Josh, were asked to go and promptly change. Quite honestly, this surprised me, because in my mind I was looking good, whether I was sporting sandals or not. Scott had to race Josh and myself across campus to the dormitory to grab a change of clothes. I went in looking like a train wreck, and came out looking rather suave, I say all this without the slightest hint of pretentiousness. We were greeted by warm smiles and clapping, and whether they were in jest or not, I have yet to determine.

After my mishap, the afternoon commenced quite smoothly, and I was in my classroom by three. My class is filled with precious kids, who have seemed to respect me. We played a couple of games and I soon left the bevy of starry eyed students, and made down the hill in the blinding Korean sunlight. The sun was incredibly bright, scorching, and eating away at my skin with tiny mouthfuls of light. I had a couple of minutes to collect my thoughts and wait until the rally. The rally was superb, thereafter, the team and myself had a spontaneous dance. We cranked old nineties tunes and let our bodies groove- with the lights on, mind you. The night assisted in turning my attitude from pessimism toward optimism, and that has and will make all the difference in the outcome of the remainder of my trip.

My evening at WanJu English camp was spectacular. We played a version of rock-paper-scissors, where giants beat wizards, and wizards beat elves, but elves, being the sly little creatures that they are known to be, beat the giants. They do not accomplish this task by mere brute force, but rather with a tactical array of oppositional strategies. Both teams would dash toward each other and present their character, the loser would them sprint back to their wall, hoping not to get tagged. While we were in the propinquity of a work out station which was conveniently alfresco. I stripped down to my boxers along with two of the guys on my team and began the work out. We did an amalgam of workouts, including, push-ups, sit-ups, and a mix of other things. I got my workout in and headed back to the room.

I sit here in my extremely Air-conditioned room in a state of tranquility. I am reluctant to start the day tomorrow at eight am. Goodnight from JeonJu, South Korea

-David