Triple Treat!

Well, let me begin by telling you that today is November 11, 2011 [11-11-11], considered perhaps the luckiest day for the year 2011. Also, today is the famous Pepero Day in Korea, so many students were giving us Peperos. They’re [straight] pretzels coated with chocolate, nuts or both. I was lucky enough to have received 2 Peperos coated with chocolate and almond bits. Tastes really good!

Pepero for Sir Larry and not for me...

Tradition has it that the company, Lotte, introduced the exchange of Peperos to Koreans. Some Japanese know about this special day in Korea but they seldom or perhaps never practice this good gesture of giving.

Giving Peperos is most especially common among couples— to express their love for one another. However, anyone can buy and give Pepero to whomever the person pleases. Some students say that this celebration has a commercial agendum and that is tricking Koreans into buying Peperos to increase the company’s sales.

In my personal opinion, I don’t think it would cost one a lot to buy even just a box of Pepero just to make someone else happy and feel a little bit important. I think that this activity is a form of a stress reliever for some, and it helps people slow down for a while and think about others more instead of thinking only about themselves and about their work.

That's me and Teacher L.A.

Teachers Desiree, L.A. and Sandy

Desiree, L.A., Sandy, Kim, Erl and Hannah

Need I mention? Make way for the beauties! Haha. Kidding.

Oh! That's Teacher Clara. She bagged the Best Teacher award
during our Halloween Party last month.

Anyway, today we had visitors from Korea, Japan and Vietnam to visit (of course!) and take a closer look at NEO. I had the chance to take a look at their kits and I was thrilled to have known that some of them were working for certain newspapers in the above-mentioned countries. It’s like an accreditation process. They were given the chance to take a tour around the school and observe classes to know more about the standards of the language center and the kind of curriculum we have at NEO.

I didn’t have a class at 10AM and so I became a part of the welcoming committee. We were so nervous when the door to the van was pulled open. There were maybe more or less ten of them. Some, I have guessed, were writers because they religiously took down notes, and took photos of almost everything important.

When the clock struck 11AM we all headed for our cubicles, making sure we arrived earlier than our students. And the rest was my daily routine of dealing with my students and chit chatting with co-teachers once in a while.

By the way, there are 2 students I am very fond of, Richard and Allen. I admire Richard for being such an intelligent student. He is an engineer and is married. It’s just too bad his wife did not come with him to study at NEO.

The other student that I like is Allen. I like to play jokes with him because he often smiles and jokes with other teachers. He is very inquisitive and likes to learn new words, which he uses to make Ellie, his female batch mate, angry. Ellie thinks that Allen is back biting him but the truth is that Allen is just using words which are very deep for Ellie to understand. Simply put… highfalutin words.

Also, I don’t want this post to end without telling you how much at home I feel at NEO. The teachers are very friendly and kind. I most especially like teachers Hannah, Jed, Erl and Larry. When I’m with them, I feel very happy, very well entertained [if you know what I mean] and stress-free.

Well that’s all for now. I’m really enjoying my stay at NEO.