Abba obsession.

There are lots of small quirky things that happen over here I never think to write about, but they definitely make the experience more interesting. The Koreans' obsession with Abba is one of them. I have no idea why they are so popular out here. When I was in high school, I saw Mama Mia! on Broadway, and have really loved their music ever since. The play was just so much fun. But, no one else my age really cares about Abba, and I don't know why they would had they not seen the play. 

Out here, they looove the movie, and our AD (assistant director), will just randomly start singing the songs in the teachers' room sometimes. I've heard it in bars, in the train stations, in the mall yesterday and in restaurants. Other than the Wonder Girls and Big Bang, which are their versions of Britney Spears and N'Sync, I feel like I hear Abba the most. It's so random and so strange. No one can really tell me why they love it so much, but they most definitely love it out here. I find it amusing.

Three hours later... 

Today was our first day of intensives, and I think I'm really going to like it. On Fridays, I teach from 1-3:30 and then 6-8:30, so I have quite a big break to get things done. I wrote about Abba on my break earlier today. On Fridays, I teach the same class three times for the last block. This is really uncommon, because I have much more control over the students this way. I took it as a compliment towards my teaching ability that they are allowing me to do this, and it's much easier for me, because they are very high level students and we just kind of sit around and talk. I don't have to do much teaching. But, usually in that class I have three girls, today it was just one. The first thing she asked me when I walked into class was if I had seen Mama Mia! yet. I laughed out loud, because I had just finished writing the above. She talked about all the songs and told me which ones were her favorite; I even got her to sing a bit which I found highly entertaining.

In classes like that I usually sit down and have them teach me Korean, because we finish with the lesson so quickly. When I learn new words it usually puts me in a good mood, and today was really nice anyways because I had the long break. When I got back in the teachers' room after work, I started singing some of the songs (even though I know that they can hear how awful my voice is, I am much more bold about singing out here with the language barrier. I just assume since they can't understand me they can't tell how bad I am, which is not true at all...). All of the foreign girl teachers and our AD joined in. It was soo funny. Then they started singing songs from Sister Act. They were singing and our AD was dancing to Oh Happy Day and I Will Follow Him. It was a fun day at school. This was quite unusual entertainment, but I was happy to have it. Everyone has been really down and stressed out lately, so it was a fun change of pace. I couldn't believe how familiar they were with Sister Act. They even starting discussing whether the songs came from the first or second movie.