The Hills are Alive.....

For the past month or so, I've been working an institute ("hagwon") in Dong Song.  Basically, when the kids are done with their actual school, they come to "hagwons" to learn more.. (because god forbid they go outside and play).  At my hagwon in Seoul, I felt guilty about working there because I knew the kids resented it's entire existence.. I really felt bad that they had to come to me for an hour and a half after they spent a full day at school.   But in Cheorwon, it's a lot different.  Because it's a rural area, things are laid back in general.  Parents are much less intense, and this hagwon is a lot of fun.  It was brand new when I showed up, so I've gotten a lot of freedom do teach what I like.

Since the kids are officially on winter vacation (which lasts from mid-December until March), my boss decided to run an English camp the week between Christmas and New Years.  She used to be a producer, so she decided to make it a Musical Theater camp.  I thought this was a great idea, and I agreed to run the camp.  I figured she would do most of the dancing/singing teaching, and I'd take care of the English stuff.  Well, I was wrong.

I found out a few days before the camp that we would be doing the sound of music.... and I would be playing Maria.  Just because I'm blonde, I can sing.. right?  Actually, I'm tone deaf, I haven't taken dance lessons since I was in kindergarten, and I've never seen the Sound of Music.  And the icing on the cake... we had five days to learn three different scenes, complete with songs and dances.

After a stressful week and learning to dance and then teaching it, our show was a success!  I was really nervous that the kids weren't going to remember their lines/dance moves but everyone really pulled together and did a great job.  I sounded bad, but no one was covering their ears. Phew!  We sang Do Re Mi, My favorite things, and Edelweiss.  The families of all the kids came, and Matt was nice enough to come cheer me on (it also gave him something else to make fun of me for!)

Here are some photos from the show that Matt took.  No laughing!

Do Re Mi

My favorite things

Finale

The cast