Brief highlights from a good day

Mondays are not generally known for being awesome, but mine was fairly so. That's why I want to share what happened! I'll be brief, though.

• This morning, I went completely nuts in Korean language classes. We're in the middle of a unit on shopping, so we were learning about things like colors, counters, clothes, and fruits. Teacher Kim was drawing fruits on the board, and they were all really cute-looking. But when she drew a watermelon, it looked really... odd. Soon, who was sitting next to me, remarked quietly that it looked like bacon on a plate. And that just struck an unbelievably funny chord in me that I couldn't stop laughing for like ten minutes. I tried everything: focusing on my textbook, thinking sad thoughts, and laughing as quietly as I could into my hand, but to no avail. In the end, I was laughing so uncontrollably that I was tearing up and really embarrassed, and I had to leave the room.
• Unrelated: apparently, watermelon bacon salad is a thing. (I was Google image searching for a clip art of watermelon that would help make sense of why I went briefly insane this morning, but nothing beats the bacon plate that Teacher Kim drew on the blackboard.
• Also, my classmates have begun calling me 수박 (subak - watermelon) 씨. Great.
• I had my second go at practice teaching today! Most of the lesson was spent playing Telephone Pictionary with my students, who were of in the high-advanced level class. The game was a hit! I wish I'd taken some photos of some of their stories: the sentences and drawings were simple, but they loved it. I also taught them how to respond to less-than-fascinating situations by shrugging their shoulders and saying, "Meh." Best of all, I got mostly positive feedback from the students and my CI observer.
• In an afternoon lull, I decided to kill time by playing guitar with Caden, our RA. He picked up the guitar (기타) recently but learns really fast. Katelyn and I taught him Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am". It was a lovely half-hour.

• In taekwondo class, we've been learning kicks: low front kick, high front kick, and roundhouse kick. In class today, we learned something called the "axe kick". But after Master Choi first demonstrated it -- we were in awe -- and told us what it was, it sounded a lot like he said this move was called the "ass kick". He also joked that it'd be useful to learn this kick if we wanted to kill someone. I repeat, just a 농담 (nongdam - joke)!
• We also played dodgeball at the end of class, and my team won! Liam swore we'd rematch.
• At dinner afterward, Master Choi surprised us by joining us, and I managed some light conversation with him in Korean about the ETAs' placements, his actual job (an administrator of some sort at Jungwon), and his haircut. Yeah, progress!
• I finished my third lesson plan!
• Weekly Bible study tonight was a good refresher. We studied John 15 (Vine and the Branches) and talked about how being far from home might feel like a painful pruning, but the cutting away of comforts and spiritual idols is in fact a good thing that will help us, as branches, bear more fruit.

Good Monday! To commemorate it, here is a photo of me with a lighted replica of the Eiffel Tower in one of the weirdest museums in all of South Korea.

Weird, weird museum. We visited during the Donghae weekend. Ask me more about it if you get the chance!