I'd just gotten back yesterday from a 22-day endeavor in Los Baños, Laguna. I was there as an English teacher to Korean students ranging from 10-15 years old (or something like that) on their summer break. This really long blog entry features my non-detailed diary that I kept throughout the duration of the camp. I'll also be talking about some extra stuff that I didn't include in my diary. All regular text is stuff written in my diary, and all text in italics are the stuff I added for the blog.

So here we go!


Day 1 (July 20)
We'd just arrived and realized that it isn't going to be a vacation like we'd previously expected. Without our Korean students here yet, we're treated pretty poorly as teachers. I can't say much else but I have to note that this is one of the hottest [most humid] places in the world.

I woke up at 6 AM despite sleeping at around 2 AM. I always have a hard time sleeping before a big trip like this. The trip on the way was fun, but leaving the Manila proper and seeing the "cities" of other places makes you feel that the Philippines really isn't as developed yet.


Day 2 (July 21)
The Koreans had just arrived. We face problem after problem, including one where I almost end up having no place to stay and no food to eat. But by the grace of God, stuff happened behind the scenes, and I got myself some fun and loveable students. The welcome party bought me the children's affection. I'm so happy.

Additionally, I felt really nervous when I saw the students get off the bus for the first time.


Day 3 (July 22)
The students were working on decorating their room. My kids were so serious and sincere, but came up with something looking not-so-great. Despite the sheer ugliness of their work, though, they're convinced that they're going to win the room decoration contest. They worked so hard. I hope they get some kind of prize. One of the Korean teachers here is really cute too. She reminds me of Kaori-sensei, a Japanese teacher that I knew before. Also it's fun to watch Animax when I can. It's the first time I'm seeing Animax since we moved to our new house about 17 months ago.

In case you're reading this, I'm talking about you, Juwean.


Day 4 (July 23)
This is the first day of classes. I actually forgot to write a diary entry on this day.

My first time teaching. My students were very nervous, but I'd had experience teaching one-on-one before, so I was doing alright. One of my students was wrongly placed in level 3, meaning she should've been able to carry out simple conversations at least. But it was clear that she had no working knowledge of English, as she couldn't understand even simple instructions in English (like those in the level 3 book), hence I bumped her down to level 2. She started to have an easier time but she was so shy that I couldn't tell if she was understanding me or just nodding to be polite.


Day 5 (July 24)
Turns out one of the students I bumped down to level 2 may actually be a level 1. So I feel a little bad, but I have to make her work a little harder than normal. And she's just a little girl. I also had a lot of fun watching the kids in self-study session in the conference hall. I think pretty much all the kids like me by now.


Day 6 (July 25)
The little girl I teach one-on-one is doing a lot better, but unfortunately I also gave her a lot more homework. I hope she hangs in there. My other one-on-one student is doing well too. Again, more fun watching students in self-study. I also got to teach a few kids b-boying during activity period. My ankles hurt so much from jogging while wearing boots since my rubber shoes aren't in good condition, but otherwise I'm okay.


Day 7 (July 26)
Was a rainy day today. Didn't do much. Didn't even get to do self-study with the students in the conference hall. I did get to scare my roommates a little though. But I want to scare them more. Tomorrow is the big weekly test for them. I hope my one-on-one students do well.

I'm really missing home by now.


Day 8 (July 27)
The students had a test and it seems both my students did well. I got transferred to another room temporarily because one of the teachers had to go home for the weekend. Then we teachers went swimming after the students had gone to bed. But I may have spent too much time in the hot pool.

I got sick that night. I'm not sure if it's the pool's fault or not, but all I know is that I was already feeling a little sick when I was still in the pool.


Day 9 (July 28)
The days are going by so slowly. I was sick since last night, but I had to chaperon a field trip to Batangas to go snorkeling. A few students got stung by jellyfish though. By nighttime I was so sick that I felt like I was delirious. Nothing mattered anymore as long as I got some sleep.

By this time I was sleeping in a room with four hyper-active young boys, which made my life difficult. I was falling asleep, though, despite their noise.


Day 10 (July 29)
The boys that treated me poorly want me back. o_o I have to talk to the Korean teachers about it. I still feel crummy but it's better than yesterday. The meds are kicking in. And I got to go to the tiny Robinson's Los Baños, to get a haircut. Other than that, I spent most of the day resting.

It's worth it to note that I spent over P200 on medicines anti-flu and for pain relief the day before.


Day 11 (July 30)
We started on book 2 of the lessons. It felt kinda empty because I got too used to teaching book 1. I spent a lot of the previous week reviewing book 1 lessons, since my student was having a hard time with it. But it ended up alright anyway. Today also featured one of the hardest rains I've seen in a while, though it only lasted several minutes. It became cool in the afternoon, but obviously not anymore towards the evening. Additionally, they implemented new STRICTER rules. Students are not allowed to speak Korean.

This was when we were ordered to issue more yellow cards. The card system features punishments for yellow and red cards, and rewards for green cards and blue cards. Green cards are given to students who study well, find favor in their teachers, and especially speak English all the time. Yellow cards are given to students who are disobedient, disrespectful, or those who speak Korean. It takes 5 green cards to make a blue card, which has awesome rewards, and 5 yellow cards to make a red card, which has severe punishment.


Day 12 (July 31)
Went back to my old room. Lots of stuff happened, but nothing really major enough to write about, except that we had a snack party with a lot of the Filipino and Korean teachers. It was a lot of fun, and we learned a lot of Korean games for parties.


Day 13 (August 1)
I've begun to understand the problem with my other student (the "level 2"). She isn't actually interested in learning English, in my opinion. I hadn't really noticed before, but she doesn't understand English syntax at all. Hence, I've started to work on that. Unfortunately, this end-of-Wednesday means there's only four teaching days left.

I'll miss these kids when it's all over, but I miss home already now.


Day 14 (August 2)
The afternoon was one of the most humid ever. Many students are sick or became sick just because of the heat. I finished reading some fascinating Garfield comics compiled in a Merriam-Webster Dictionary. I remember how much I liked Garfield.


Day 15 (August 3)
Finally it's the weekend. No teaching or studying for days. We got time to rest, which is much needed for both teachers and students. In the afternoon we practiced a little for the IJMC (Infant Jesus Montessori Center) visit tomorrow, and the night was pretty much play time, except for a dry run of the practice in the conference hall.

The Romeo & Juliet mini-play/pseudo-pantomime was our most interesting act because it was so cute.


Day 16 (August 4)
IJMC came to visit us today. They spent the better part of a day hanging out with us. We played relay and party games, had an exchange of performances, and the kids from both countries went swimming together. By the time they had to leave, everybody had made a lot of new friends. At night our students had a film showing, and we watched Coach Carter. Busy busy day.

Most of the kids were too tired from the day's activities to enjoy the movie. But I enjoyed it, with a bag of microwave popcorn.


Day 17 (August 5)
A day of rest. In the morning we painted T-shirts, in the afternoon we had a little practice. In the evening a short performance with the kids, face-painted and all.

Teacher Juwean is so cute, as she displayed by trying to push me in the pool that night, but failing. :D

Also, apparently it's the 62nd anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. I watched a TV special on Discovery about it. It's the end of our last weekend at this camp, and tomorrow is the second-to-the-last day of teaching.


Day 18 (August 6)
Second-to-the-last day over. Rather uneventful really. I really have nothing to write. I'm just glad it's all almost over. Oh and I need to mention that it was rather windy today.


Day 19 (August 7)
Mom's Birthday! I called her and she was very happy.

Last teaching day too. And tomorrow we go shopping at MALL OF ASIA! The kids are all excited. Rather strong wind too.

It was also very rainy. It turns out there was a storm and a low pressure area around the Philippines, causing all the rain and wind.


Day 20 (August 8)
MALL OF ASIA! This is only the second time I've been here, and it's as huge as ever. The kids were surprised at just how big it really is. We spent a lot of the time buying snacks in the Hypermart grocery for some reason. Not my idea. The boys spent PhP1887 on snacks (I have the receipt with me).

I gave one of my boys a Parker pen with his name engraved into it. He gave me a Yankees bling necklace. It's all good.

A very tiring day, because of just how huge the mall was. A lot of running around. The time in the bus was also pretty good.


Day 21 (August 9)
The kids had a test today, and my students did well. This was the last full day of our stay. In the evening we had a teacher's night and farewell party. It was relatively fun. I had a short b-boy number, in which I did rather poorly because of the slippery floor and my lack of practice. We had spaghetti after.

Later we had a few drinks then I went night swimming with Juwean, Ginno and Hazel. We finished at 2:30 AM since it's our last night. I'm so happy.

Juwean was particularly cute here because she was learning to swim with my help.

I also forgot to mention in my diary that we went on the Giant Slides in Splash Mountain in the afternoon. It was fun going up and down the slides. The students all enjoyed it. I didn't go on the red killer slide, which was about 60 feet (or more) high, and featured a steep, sudden drop.

Still at the poolside of the slides, I got to talk to Juwean for a long time. We got to learn a lot about each other.


Day 22 (August 10)
This is our last day. In the morning we had a touching graduation ceremony. Students and teachers gave gifts and letters to each other. There was a lot of hugging and a few tears. I felt sad as I saw the students rolling their little bags to the waiting area. I felt even more sad as I watched their bus roll away. This may be the last time I see them. I tried my best to supress my tears, but it was hard.

Despite the tears, I was filled with a sense of accomplishment and contentment. I felt that I did a good job. I'll miss the students a lot.

I didn't go straight home afterward. I got to hang out with my sister and Art in Megamall for a few hours. I also bought a new 1 GB stick of RAM, so my computer now has 1.5 GB RAM on it. We ate at Sbarro's (my treat) and fooled around an Online Gaming and Internet Cafe convention at the Megatrade Hall.

It feels strange to be back in familiar grounds, particularly the Ortigas Area. When I was in Los Baños, I didn't feel like I was in the Philippines. We were outnumbered and surrounded by Koreans, so it felt more like we were in Korea. We joked constantly about that, and how when we got back to Ortigas, we'd finally returned to the Philippines.


- End


Thus ends my diary for the camp. I took the e-mail addresses of most of the students, and some of the Korean teachers, Juwean included of course. A lot of the students sent me e-mails already today, and so did Juwean, much to my joy.

If you're wondering, I keep mentioning Juwean's name because I gave her a link to this blog.

The camp was fun, despite the hardships. No matter how many complaints I had about it, it ended up being a fruitful and memorable time of my life. I also lost some weight over there. I need to continue my good eating habits for continual weight loss.

I hope I never forget everything I learned in the camp, both as a teacher and as a person.