Thanksgiving Feast

November 29, 2010

Here are some updates. So my open class went very well! I was extremely satisfied with my performance and my co-teacher's performance. I think we knocked it out of the park! The observers also thought we did a pretty darn good job so that's definitely a relief. I can breathe now.

In honor of Thanksgiving, several of my friends and I decided to have a nice dinner with a turkey and all the other necessities that make up a typical Thanksgiving feast. We ordered a turkey package from Daegu Pockets for 100,000 won (equivalent to $100 which isn't that much when you split it between 13 people) that included the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and pumpkin pie. Everyone also brought food with them so we ended up with all of the above plus 3 small roasted chickens, pasta salad, regular salad, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, steamed carrots, dinner rolls, apple pie, 2 more pumpkin pies, fruit salad, and ice cream...it was DELICIOUS. The food was soooo good that almost everyone got seconds and even thirds. We all crowded around the table, sat on the floor, and just chilled out. I think it was a perfect alternative to having Thanksgiving at home. Sitting around with my new friends and having a good laugh with everyone.

I've recently found out that I will be able to take my 10 days off for winter vacation and I am actually going to Japan for the winter break! I'm super excited about that. Japan is a pretty expensive place to visit but my friend Gemma has a friend that is teaching there so we will have a free place to stay. This will most definitely help us save money for shopping and other activities! We're buying the tickets today so this is going to be set in stone here pretty soon!

My entire family decided not to do Christmas this year...kind of depressing BUT makes the most sense. So, my mother and I have talked it over and we came to the conclusion that since we're not going to give each other presents...the next best thing is to have some (lots) of soju and go sing at a karaoke bar...mind you this was not MY idea...ALL of this was my mother's idea. I'm definitely ready for this. She doesn't know this yet, but I'm going to take video...of her...intoxicated...and singing. Christmas, here we come! We're ready for ya!

Missin' the Music

November 12, 2010

Well, what’s new? A couple of things: I recently bought a guitar. Yes, a guitar. I’ve always wanted to learn and I figured, now’s the time to do it. I realized I was spending way too much money going out all the time so I need to channel my energy elsewhere. Music just so happened to be my chosen path. I didn’t think I would really miss my violin and piano but, I just gotta have music in my life. Mike and I went looking around this area where like EVERY store is a music store…literally you walk down the street and it’s like instrument central, 10 stores in a row along the street. Since I know NOTHING about guitars, Mike was definitely a big help. He basically went from shop to shop playing a bit on the guitars that he saw and I just watched him. We ended buying guitars from different stores because I was judging on the looks of the guitar and he was judging on the playability of the guitar. Lol, typical me. However, he did say that the guitar I picked was pretty darn good. I spent 200,000 won on it and the guitar came with a case, an extra set of strings, a pretty good tuner, a capo, and some picks. I think we did pretty well. Mike spent the same amount. SO, do I know how to play? Negative. Will I attempt to teach myself? Yes. We’ll see how long this shiny new toy will keep my interest. I hope it doesn’t end up in the corner of my apartment collecting dust. I mean, that was a pretty good amount of money for a pretty good quality guitar. Mike and I have decided that we will bring our guitars to school so that we can play after classes instead of just sitting at the computer doing nothing and falling asleep until we’re allowed to go home. We already had one mini jam session and I think I’m getting the hang of it. I’ve learned one song in pretty much one day. That’s pretty good right? It’s called “Giving Up” by Ingrid Michaelson. I’m even attempting to sing along…haha. Oh goodness. That’s a bit more difficult than I anticipated.

Ok, also, I’m going to get another tattoo. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I’m pretty much addicted to them now. I DID learn that tattoos are still ILLEGAL in Korea. Awesome. Of course they would be illegal when I actually want another one. Well, me and my friend Donny found a place called Tattoo Times Korea and they do tattoos for people; have been for quite a while. We saw their work and we were satisfied. Apparently, they are illegal and if the police hear about them they will be shut down…only to reopen at a different location shortly after. Ha. Ok. Anyways, so mine has been drawn up and I will see the final drawing sometime this weekend and probably get started towards the end of the month. It’s a bit different here because they will do the tattoo in 4-5 sittings! Back home, mine took about 2 and a half hours in one sitting. The worst part is…the price…are you ready? (Deep breath) 1.5 million won! I was a bit taken aback. HUH?! You’re going to charge me 1,000 dollars for this?! After I picked my jaw up off the ground, I realized that they are doing this illegally, they are going to take their time (I mean jeeze, 4-5 sittings at like 2-3 hours each?!) so…I’m going for it. Keep your fingers crossed. Also, it’s a large tattoo. It’s going to go from below my left hip bone and up to below my shoulder blade. I’m gonna be broke.

Last but not least. I have an open class scheduled for the 26^th of this month. An open class is where other foreign teachers and other co-teachers from different schools come to observe your teaching. They sit in on an entire lesson and make notes regarding your teaching style and how you engage the class. I’m a bit nervous, I have to tell ya. I always get nervous when anyone is observing anything I’m doing. Especially when I can see them making notes and writing stuff down. Since I teach 3^rd and 4^th grade I decided that I would like for my open class to be one of my 3^rd grade classes. I think this is the best choice because the 3^rd graders know my teaching style and I get more teaching time with them. My fourth grade co-teacher does not let me get very much face-time with the kids so I’m more comfortable teaching the 3^rd graders. My 3^rd grade co-teacher, at first, was completely against my decision to use one of our third grade classes because she said “but my English is not good.” I was like “what?! They’re gonna be observing ME! Not you!” I literally had to persuade her to let me use a 3^rd grade class…I was a bit upset because This is like super duper important to me and she was giving me some pushback. In the end…she agreed. Once again…keep your fingers crossed that none of the kids cry, scream, misbehave, or say cuss words. Two foreign teachers, my principal, my two vice principals, and two co-teachers from other schools will be evaluating…can you say STRESSFUL?!

Field Trips!

October 28, 2010

Yesterday I got the chance to go on a field trip with the fourth graders and teacher to Gyeongju (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongju). There are over 300 fourth graders so we had like 12 charter buses for the trip and it only took about an hour to get there. However, we were a little delayed because the bus drivers decided to go for an unannounced pitstop and the head teacher was pretty angry about it (I just found out about this today). But the kids were able to get a bit of a refresher for the early morning and got some snacks for their lunches for later on. One of the kids bought me a coffee drink! I was like "Oh! No it's ok, you have it!" and the kid was like "no, teacher, teacher, for you, I don't drink coffee!" lol. So freakin cute. Me and Yooree decided to get some roasted potatoes with salt...pretty freakin good for the rest of the bus ride. By the way, the kids were surprisingly quiet on the way there...I remember if me and my classmates ever went on a field trip we were freakin loud as crap...the kids here are a little more behaved...

(Loading the buses)

When we got there, me and Yooree decided to hang back behind the kids so we could have a little bit of peace and quiet while we explored. We were able to see the ancient buildings and the Buddha statues. I couldn't take pictures of the Buddha statues though :( they wouldn't allow it. It was kind of funny because before the kids went into the village they were given a worksheet to fill out while they visited and they were all running around trying to find the answers lol. I remember those days. After walking around for about an hour it was time for lunch...a picnic! The kids all had their mats laid out on the grass and all scattered across the lawn in the middle of the park. I sat with the teachers which was nice because I never get to see them since every time I come into their classrooms to teach, they leave and it's just me and Yooree. I didn't understand what they were saying but I was able to get a feel for their personalities.

(some of the 4th grade teachers)

Also, I found it interesting that the parents for each class actually pack the lunches for the teachers! I mean, they literally brought no food and all of the food they had was from parents. It was AWESOME too. Kimbop, sushi rolls, loads of fruit and cherry tomatoes...mmm, mmm, good! And then, the kids kept coming up to me and giving me a taste of their food! I was like "no, no, it's ok, I'm ok, I'm full!" but they shoved it in my hands and ran away! ...It was freakin good though! Once the other students saw one student come and give me some food of theirs, all the other students ran up to me just to give me something of their own! Even if it was just a chip lol. Sooo cute! I then started trying to hand out some candies to them for halloween...major disaster. I could only get through 3 different classes before my bag broke because the student bombarded me! So...tomorrow I will bring the candy in a different bag and go one by one to the students lol.

Beautiful Busan and Halloween Candy

October 26, 2010

So, this past weekend, several of the foreign teachers decided to attend the Internation Fireworks Festival in Busan. Many of our friends decided to go on the Friday but a handful of us didn't make it down until Saturday. It was about 5:00PM by the time we got there and we met our friends on the beach where the fireworks were going to be displayed. Let me tell you, the show wasn't supposed to start until 8:00PM (we got there three hours before that) and there were already tons of people on the beach. You couldn't even see sand because people were camped out with their blankets on the beach. Thankfully our friends already reserved their spot and it was a big enough area for the rest of us to snuggle in.

For the next three hours we just chilled with soju and beer until it got dark. The fireworks were absolutely awesome. No other word for it. They did like an "around the world" type o theme so they had a different firework set for the countries. Needless to say...America's was the best. LOL. The finally was amazing. They had these fireworks that looked like birds flying over the crowd (I think you can see them in the video that I posted on Facebook), so we were like "whoa that's awesome," but then the bird things started spewing out sparklers...freakin awesome. I think what made the show even better was the fact that they utilized the bridge for a lot of the show and at one point it looked like there was a waterfall coming out of the bridge. Unreal. This video does not do it enough justice but you can get an idea of how cool this fireworks display was. After the show we all went out on the town for some standard shenanigans.

In the spirit of Halloween, I brought my kids some candy to class. I had smarties, jolly ranchers, and dum dums shipped from home to here so that I could give the kids some candy from the U.S. and they LOVED the smarties (thanks to Cale who shipped them over for me!) I literally ran out of smarties within the first two classes. They were all about some smarties. I'll remember that for Christmas time. Also, I forgot that I teach/see about 700 students...ran out of candy the first day (yesterday/Monday). Good job Nancy. So I went to Home Plus after school and I was a little upset that the candies like tootsie pops, tootsie rolls, snickers, etc. were pretty darn expensive. Yeah...and the amount that I bought was JUST enough for one more day. Just great. I will have to go to Home Plus AGAIN tonight. However, it's totally worth it. The kids love it soooo much because they usually just get stickers for being good and winning a game. The kids were super excited not only to get candy but by the fact that it was from/imported from America. 

Catching up on growing up

October 18, 2010

Well goodness gracious it's certainly has been quite a while since I've updated my blog. I simply cannot believe it's already towards the end of October. I'm losing track of my days. On October ninth me along with several other foreign teachers decided to go to Global Gathering. It was held in Seoul, South Korea but it didn't take very long for the people located in Daegu to get there by train...maybe like three hours. Mike, Gems, Donnie, and I all arrived there about 1:00PM-ish and met up with others to eat before the concert.

 
I was honestly not exactly pumped about being at global gathering because the music they were going to be playing was techno, which I have never been interested in. My group of friends back home never listened to techno so this was definitely going to be an experience. Once we got there it reminded me of Vans Warped Tour that I went to many, many years ago in the way that the venue was laid out. There were three different stages that featured different electronic bands. It was a perfect day do have an outdoor concert like this...just beautiful. I have to say...I had a pretty darn good time. Mostly because I was in great company and several of my friends were there but also because the music is just fun to jump around to! I mean, literally you could really just jump around without a care in the world listening to the music and letting your body move to the rhythms. Pretty darn awesome. Fatboy Slim was the only band I'd heard of before this concert but the best ones were Armin Van Buuren and Justice...apparently they're pretty popular as well. I really liked their music, a new-found interest I'd say. The concert ended at 4:00am and our train was leaving at 6:30AMish so we all just stayed up, hung around the park until we had to make our way to the train station. By the time we got home it was about 9:00AM and I ended up just crashing at Gems because we were both extremely exhausted. Yes, we stayed up for a full day, 24 hours. I'm pretty proud of myself.

The next Tuesday, we decided to have a girls night out and see a ballet, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Now, because of my interests in music, dance, and performances I thought I would be really enthused about this ballet. It was good but I expected to like it more. I think I prefer to watch performances with dialogue and a storyline that is cut and dry instead of having to figure out what/who the characters were. I'm sure it would've helped had I done a tad bit of research on A Midsummer Night's Dream before actually seeing it...but either way...I think I would prefer different types of performances. It was a good show though, I think. It was a tad bit awkward at the curtain call, however, because the audience did not cease their clapping so the performers bowed literally like ten times. Typically the main performers will come out on the stage, bow, then they will give the others a turn at their bows...then all together come to the front of the stage, the entire cast will bow together, curtains close. Well, because the audience kept clapping...the performers ran through that sequence 10 times. It was very awkward...so we left and they were still clapping (I don't think they really knew what to do and the dancers were also confused as the looks on their faces clearly displayed). Then we figured out that it was something with the lighting as well...the dancers did not get their cue to go off stage lol. Oh goodness.

Since then nothing too interesting. Since my mother moved out (yes, she was living with me in my shoebox apartment...) I really feel like an independent woman. It's very strange. Today I cleaned my entire apartment while doing two loads of laundry...who is this person? I'm glad we've decided to meet! Twenty-three years it took me to do my own laundry and clean. How insane is that? I have learned I'm not as dirty of a person as I (and my mother/sisters) thought I was. I don't like dirt on the floor or seeing dust bunnies anywhere in my apartment. When I was taking a shower, I even went so far as to take a dirty toothbrush and scrub some spots that I just couldn't look at anymore. So strange. I'm also quite comfortable with sitting in silence when I'm on the computer and such. I actually cooked some mandu today as well. Now, mind you, all I had to do was put a little cooking oil in the pan and throw those bad boys in...that's a MAJOR step forward for me. I DON'T cook. I kind of like not having someone do it for me for a change, I can do it myself and I'm completely fine with it. At least I know now that I will not live in a pigsty when I move back. Thank goodness.

Other than the fact that I've recently had to make a very difficult decision regarding my personal life (let's not get into the nitty-gritty details), everything is just grand. Life here moves a million miles an hour and I'm along for the ride. This next weekend several of us are going to the National Fireworks Festival in Busan and I'm pretty darn excited about that...maybe I'll get a new camera by then...

Also, I'm sick once again...yippee! :(

Light bulb!

September 27th, 2010

Well today was definitely a little difficult because we just came back from a one week vacation...all of the teachers and students were noticeably tired...we all had "a case of the Mondays," (thanks Office Space). However, I was very proud of myself because I thought like a teacher and offered a great idea for the classroom lesson. The Monday before our holiday break (September 20th) my co-teacher and I were planning for today's lesson which is called "It's cold." There is a portion of the lesson designated for a game but the game provided in the book is very bland and quite frankly...well, boring. So she asked that I think of another activity/game that the kids can partake in with a little more excitement. There is a website that a lot of foreign teachers use for ideas called waygook.org; this website is great for sharing ideas with other foreign teachers that are teaching the same lessons. I visited this site to get some ideas but didn't really like any of the games. At the last minute I thought it would be great to use a variation of the "pin the tail on the donkey" game that most of us are familiar with. My co-teacher had never heard of this game so I explained the basics and showed her a demonstration. Instead of a donkey we would utilize the picture of the girl in the text book, enlarge the picture and have articles of clothing that needed to be 'pinned' on the girl. There was a sweater, pants, gloves, and shoes. The class would be divided into two teams and one person from each team would have to be blindfolded, turn around three times, and try their best to pin the selected article of clothing on the girl. One person at a time will attempt and whoever is the closest to the correct spot wins/get's one point. So, today we tested my idea and it worked so well! The kids really got into it and really enjoyed it. We divided each class by boys and girls. Although it got pretty loud at times...it was a major success and I have to say, I was very proud of myself. I'm starting to think like a teacher :)

I've got Seoul but I'm not a Seouldier

September 24, 2010

Well we made it to Seoul on Wednesday and that night we went to experience some of the downtown life. It was fun and there are a lot of different types of bars. We did see plenty of army men which seriously felt like I was right back in Columbus, Ga. The next day we went to this park called Ttukseom Resort? It was pretty neat and there was this little maze for kids. It was also a PERFECT day to visit anything outdoors; it was sunny but a nice breeze and cool. We ended up going to a little family mart shop, bought some $1 ramen noodles, sat on the grass in front of a river and started people watching. It was the most beautiful day I've seen since I've been in Korea. It was amazingly relaxing and it would've been more perfect if I would've just brought a book... but the conversation and company with Max, Chelsea, and Gems was nice. I ended up just laying down on the grass and closing my eyes...  took a little nappy poo. Just an awesome, stress free day.

In the nighttime we wanted to head to the tower that allows you to see an awesome view of Seoul and apparently it's really beautiful at night. So we walk around a bit trying to figure out how to get up there... we ended up taking a taxi. Well, the taxi took us to the wrong entrance so we walked up this hill for good bit and we arrived at some stairs... these stairs stretched for one mile... up hill. We debated walking up the stairs and came to a mutual decision... "screw the tower." There was no way we were going to make it up these stairs... there will be plenty of other chances to make it to the top of this tower and to make it to the correct entrance to take the elevator. Instead, we ate at some chicken place, went home, and watched TV.

Today we just went out to do some shopping and we found that the marketplaces we went to were way too touristy. Next time we will have to do a little more research to find the good stuff. We met up with one of our EPIK group leaders and ate dinner with her; we got some cocktails afterwards. The bar that we got some cocktails was totally a "sex and the city" bar. It was very upscale and modern looking. It just so happened that Chigan loved Sex and the City... lol, awesome. Tomorrow our train leaves around 2:30PM so we're thinking about visiting city hall before our train leaves and just chill there for a couple of hours.

The Seoul trip was not exactly what I expected only because we didn't get to make it to the tower (which was a mishap on the taxi's behalf lol) and because we didn't get to visit the market that I remembered from several years ago when I visited Korea with my family. However, the company and my friends made the trip satisfactory and would go anywhere with them. It's not even like I would've been able to buy many things because we just got paid today... but not in full so I'm technically broke. We'll see how this goes but another trip to Seoul is definitely coming again soon. ;)

My heart and Seoul

September 20, 2010

So, today I’m desk warming…the students are here and have classes but the English teachers don’t teach today so we’re all just sitting in the office doing our own thing. My co-teacher is watching TV on her computer…we have to be here until 4:40PM…we all got here at 8:40AM. Awesome. Starting tomorrow we are all on vacation for Chuseok (the Korean Thanksgiving). Michael and I decided to bring presents to the school for our co-teachers and the principle/vice principals. Our principals cracked a smile when we brought in our presents and seemed pretty impressed that we got them gifts. Our co-teachers were pleasantly surprised and expressed that we are the first co-teachers to buy/give them any type of presents! So that definitely made us feel pretty darn awesome and we were so happy that they liked them. We ended up getting our women co-teachers this lotion set; each co-teacher got a different scent. The male co-teacher got alcoholic beverages in a gift set…we figured out early on that he likes to drink! J They were very thankful and they felt so bad that they didn’t get us anything but we told ‘no worries!’ we did not expect or even want you to give us anything! I told them that it was not only a gift for Chuseok but also as a “thank you” for everything they have done for us since we arrived. I mean from helping us get a phone and internet all the way to taking me to the doctor several times to cure me of that horrible illness…they deserved some sort of gift!

Because it’s Chuseok we have from tomorrow to Sunday off soooo…I’m totally going to Seoul with my friend Gemma; wahoo! I’m extremely excited and cannot wait to shop! (I am, however, very broke because our first paycheck since we arrived in Korea will not be in my account until the 25^th L that’s no good.) Who cares? I’m going to Seoul and I refuse to let my lack of funds take away from this! I just simply refuse! I will bargain my way through this week and I’ll be damn good at it! I will definitely take pictures of our adventures and our site seeing! Dear Seoul, I am very sorry I do not have the proper amount of money to spend on you, however, I do plan to see a lot of you during these next few days so please welcome me with open arms. Thank you. Love always, Nancy.

Should I be getting paid for this??

September 14, 2010

So, because my co-teacher is not here today they decided that it would be best for me not to teach by myself since I don't know Korean at all. If I taught fifth and sixth grade I don't think it would be that big of an issue because the older students know more English and can understand more. In third and fourth grade, the teachers use more Korean in the classroom so that kids can follow along and not be completely lost. So, with that being said, I now basically sit here until 4:45PM with absolutely nothing to do. I got to school at 8:30AM...and have to stay until 4:45PM...goodness gracious. I feel completely useless and like I should be doing something productive...but I've got nothing. Thank goodness for facebook chat...

To teach or not to teach...that is the question...

September 13, 2010

Oh goodness. Well today went by a little slow and I’m extremely tired. I still feel a little worn out from this past Saturday. We went out to downtown Daegu. We were supposed to go to this theme park Woobang Tower Land…look…it looks pretty freakin’ cool http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/175 . When we met up in downtown, it was raining and had been raining all morning so we all decided not to go and just hang out instead. We at lunch/dinner at this diner place that served pretty darn good burgers…and that’s also when the drinking began (which happened to be around 3:00 or 4:00pm). Then we headed to this nice bar with high-top tables and in the middle of each table there was an array of chilled beers set lower into the tables. There was like a dry ice effect going on too with white smoke spilling over. It looked awesome! Our table didn’t have cold beers, though, so we just ordered whatever we wanted.

 The next bar was an upscale bar with chilled cup holders built into the table and a dial on the side of each table to control the temperature of your cup holders. They also served beers in these large glasses (they pretty much looked like bongs) but they had different sizes like queen, king, ace, etc. The ace was ridiculously huge and unfortunately, they didn’t have any of those for the night that we went (what a pity).

Next we went to this bar that offered a deal that required a one time payment of 15,000 won (like $15) and then all you can drink! There were certain drinks on that ‘all you can drink’ menu but anyone could’ve found something they liked. Then the dance club that was packed full…actually I’m pretty sure they were over the maximum people they were allowed to have because we could barely move. But apparently that didn’t stop me from dancing…one of my friends said I danced like my life depended on it…wow. All in all, fun night with friends and a little…ok a lot of alcohol.

So I just found out that my third grade co-teacher’s uncle has passed away and she will not be at school tomorrow. Which means that I have two options: teach 4 third grade classes by myself or postpone the classes until a later date (we’d have to stay on a Saturday and teach the missed lesson). I THINK I could teach by myself, the only problem is that the third grade students are on a lower level so I need assistance when I’m asking questions and when the students have questions. I honestly wouldn’t mind coming in on a Saturday but I wouldn’t want my co-teacher to feel obligated to come in on the weekend. I told her I think I can do it by myself I just may need some help from each one of the homeroom teachers. Typically, the homeroom teachers leave and go on a break when we come to teach the students. So it may take the efforts of several teachers to help make this a smooth day tomorrow…I guess we’ll see how it goes…wish me luck!

Dinner Date

September 10, 2010

I went to dinner with Sujin tonight and it was great! I was completely embarrassed thought because I freakin had NO money on me! Earlier today I gave my co-teacher 25,000 won (like $25) to order some pears that another teacher had grown on her parents farm...I'm trying to get on everyone's good side ;) So that was like all the money that I had on me, literally. So then Sujin asks me to dinner and I was like "Sure!" forgetting that I didn't have any money until after school when it was time to go to dinner with her. So I told her all I needed to do was to go to an ATM and get some money out of my account back home...much easier said than done. Since I have a foreign card (SunTrust Visa debit card) only a handful of ATMs will let me take money out for a fee and they'll do the conversions. Well, the ATM that we went to happened to not accept my card. COMPLETELY embarrassed. She said she would pay and that next time we go out I can pay. Well, at this point I was just feeling terrible so I told her I was really sorry and that I would pay her back on Monday at school. Just ridiculous, really, I HATE to have people pay for me, I feel like a bum :( She was super sweet about it, though. So we walk towards the city part of where we live and she took me to this pretty nice restaurant that served some sort of chicken that is boiled. It was really good. We bought the meal that included rice and several different side dishes, soup, and egg. MMMM, MMMM, GOOD! The meat was delicious!

The greatest part of the night was the conversation. She speaks English but it's kind of broken English and she had to refer to her translator on her cell phone some of the time for certain words. I learned that she has one younger brother that is one year older than me and he just got a job working for Samsung as an engineer but hasn't moved to the new location yet. He lives here near their mother who has Parkinson's disease. I was like "wow." Apparently her mother has been living with Parkinson's disease for about 16 years and has now gotten to the point where she is rapidly losing the ability to speak because she her mouth muscles can't move. She can write sometimes but even Sujin can't read the writing since she has limited mobility in her wrists and fingers. I think she said her mother now lives in a community with other Parkinson's patients so that's good. The doctors say that her mother is one of the more fortunate patients since the others have way less abilities than she does.
I also learned that she is leaving to Japan at the beginning of next month to get her masters in Japanese studies. She knows Korean, English, Japanese, and she taught herself how to speak Spanish. She loves languages and feels like learning different languages allows her to connect with that culture; fascinating! I couldn't believe it! She said that she is not really fluent in the languages but I got the sense that she definitely knew enough to get around if she were in a specific country that speaks those languages. She already spent one year in Japan and learned most of the language (like 90%) in 3 months. She also likes to read books about philosophy, Buddhism, medical explanations about meditation, and books about the brain and how it works. So, at this point I feel dumb. Really dumb. I told her that too, I said "wow, I feel dumb!" She laughed and laughed. I told her I like to read books about love and mysteries lol. She was so modest. I kept praising her and telling her that I admire her enthusiasm to learn new things and to follow her interests and she kept shying away and saying "no, no, no." She also told me that she took this class on Korean foods; there are two tests that she has to pass. One test is a written test about the course and what she's learned, which she's already passed. Then she has to take a cooking test! She said that she wants to do the same in Japan when she goes so that maybe after her Master's degree she can come back to Korea and teach people how to cook Japanese foods. I mean, who is this woman?! She does EVERYTHING! The envy was all on my side of the table. I was just fascinated by everything she was saying and talking about.

We went to get some coffee afterwards at this really nice cafe on the second floor of a building in the middle of town. I had a mocha latte...it was awesome. She was telling me that she had a Japanese boyfriend that currently is living in Japan. They've known each other for four years and have been dating for the last two years. She said that when they first met she barely knew any Japanese but they still kinda started seeing each other...that's when she learned Japanese within three months. After a while they broke it off and started seeing other people when she came back to Korea. She said she didn't like Korean men because they call and text ALL the time (so basically, Korean men are clingy). Her boyfriend then came to visit her in Korea and that's when they started dating again. She said she likes the distance because sometimes that's needed in a relationship but that she does get lonely and wants to see him sometimes when it's impossible. I told her I knew exactly how she felt because my boyfriend is back home and we used to see each other ALL the time; so going from all the time to communicating over skype was a difficult change to face.

We started talking about movies and she told me that her FAVORITE movie was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! "I've watched 5 times!" she said. She likes Pirates of the Caribbean and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. She told me that she doesn't like to watch Korean dramas because there's too much going on and too many conflicts between the characters...she likes the nicer, less complicated stories and dramas. Ok...so we decided to go and we were walking down the marble steps and she loses her stepping...slips down the stairs and slides down at least two of the steps! I was so shocked and afraid for her! I dropped my bags and dropped to the steps, "Oh my gosh are you ok?! Oh goodness, are you hurt?!" I could see that most of the damage was to her pride. I took her elbow, looked it over, looked at her ankles, looked at her arms; there was some redness on her arms from the impact but she said that nothing felt sprained. I just kept asking "Are you feeling ok? Are you ok?" She was about to get up and she said "just 5 minutes" and stayed seated with her hands over her face. I felt so horrible! She was really shaken and I think she was mostly embarrassed. I told her that I trip all the time and I told her the story about my falling in high school in front of almost ALL of my friends at the beginning of the school year. I told her several more stories of me falling in front of people as we sat on the steps for a while as she regained her composure. I'm sure her bum was hurting because it was a pretty hard fall. I helped her up and asked if it hurt to walk. She seemed fine and she didn't limp at all. I told her it's OK because I'm really "clumsy." She didn't know what it meant so I explained that it's when you have a lot of accidents, break things and fall all the time. Sujin said that's her story lol. What a sweetheart.

I had a great night with Sujin and I'm actually really sad that she's going to be leaving so soon after we've met. She's such a generous, kind, and interesting person! I hope I get the chance to hang out with her again before she leaves to Japan.

I can have yo digits??

September 3, 2010
Well, nothing too exciting today. I’m STILL sick, can you believe it?! I had to walk out of the classroom several times today so that I could cough up nasty stuff. Gross! I need a new body…do you know where I can get one that will not fail me? One of my kids (he’s one of the class clowns) asked me for my phone number today! Haha, he first asked me in Korean and I asked my co-teacher to translate because I thought he had a serious question. Yuri just gave him a look like “you better stop that.” Then he asked me in English and said “phone number?” while holding up a pen and a paper pad. I was like oh goodness gracious and said “no, sir” shaking my head. I wanted to tell him I was too old for him but I don’t think he would’ve understood what I was saying.

Today at lunch we had chop chae (clear noodles with veggies), some kind of warm soup, rice, and lotus root? Yeah, I was like huh? Lotus root? Well, I tried it and it was actually not that bad. It was kind of crunchy but soft at the same time…hard to explain and was shaped like a thick round slice of Swiss cheese except dark brown. I’m proud of myself for trying it! I mean…I wouldn’t choose to eat it on my own but it wasn’t really that bad.

After lunch I had to plan for next weeks lessons so that pretty much took up the whole time from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. During that time one of the 3rd grade homeroom teachers (Sujin, the one who gave me the Korean language books) texted me and asked if I would like to go to dinner or get some tea. I am EXTREMELY tired and really want a nap but I told her that would be great! Anytime I have a chance to get to know another teacher I’m going to take it willingly and will cancel any plans I have. Plus, she’s like the sweetest person ever! I’m not sure where we are going yet, but I told her somewhere around here would be fine. I really don’t want to go to downtown Daegu to eat…it’s a bit more expensive and I’d have to pay for a taxi. Everything here is within walking distance. More Korean food! Wahooo! Who needs Jenny Craig?! My bum is wasting away! My pants don’t really fit me anymore. I’m actually not too excited about losing my bum…I really don’t want to lose weight but it’s just happening on its own.

Southern Hospitality

September 8, 2010

Oh goodness. Alrighty, well after school around 4:45PM one of the third grade teachers called the English teachers’ office and asked for me. Her name is Sujin and she is one of the younger third grade homeroom teachers. I’ve only talked to her a couple of times but she has a kind face and she knows enough English to converse with me with a little difficulty. The couple of times we talked we spoke about her studying Japanese language and culture. She told me that her friend is Japanese and when he came to Korea he had to learn the Korean language and that he found some really good books that helped him learn pretty quick. I told Sujin that I really wanted to learn Korean so she said she would ask her friend which books he used. Come to find out, she bought two sets of books, one set for me and the other for Michael. She called the English office today and asked if I could meet her on the first floor. She gave me the books and I was like “wait, tell me how much they were and I will pay you for these.” She kept saying “no, no, no, it’s a gift from me.” I was so surprised! I don’t even know her and she bought me these Korean work books so that I could learn the language. She said that she understands how it is to be in my situation in a completely different culture. She went to Japan for 1 year and she said that she understands how difficult and overwhelming it can be to be in a foreign place. Such a sweetheart! I kept pleading with her to let me give her some money but she wouldn’t have it. AND she told me that she was leaving our school to go back to Japan! So I don’t even have time to really get to know her. I told her that we need to go out before she leaves at the end of this month, at least ONE time before she leaves. I just couldn’t believe it; that was so incredibly sweet of her and I was very thankful to her.  I will be my own Korean language teacher! Bring it on!

 Michael and I were supposed to go out with some friends that live in the same district but plans were changed. Our co-teacher, Simon, said that his wife called and asked that we come over for dinner tonight. We gladly accepted his invitation (when we were at EPIK they told us that anytime your teacher invites you ANYWHERE, you go…no questions asked and if you have other plans you better cancel them) so we headed to his apartment after school.  His two little boys (ages 6 and 8) immediately greeted us as we were getting out of the car. They were adorable little boys and very energetic. His wife greeted us at the door and invited us in. Their apartment was very cozy and it was evident that two little boys occupied the living area because there were marker stains on the floor and the walls J. His wife had the table set up with lettuce, kimchi (two different types), Korean miso soup, different sauces, egg, sausage, and raw meat that was to be cooked on a hot plate thing. She had beef and duck! Man, it was delicious. I kept telling her that she was an amazing cook and that the sauces were amazing. I mean, finger-licking good. Between me, Michael, Simon, his wife, and Yuri, all of the food was eaten…it was amazing. Then afterwards we  had some coffee and fruit. The conversation flowed very well. Simon’s wife did not speak very much English at all but Simon and Yuri helped to include her in the conversation. It was a great night with our co-teachers and I felt honored to be invited into his home. I look forward to more invitations! J

"Is this" your blog?

September 8, 2010


Last night Michael and I took a taxi to downtown Daegu to meet up with some friends from EPIK and have some dinner. We were all supposed to meet up at the 9th gate of the subway station but the taxi driver dropped us off at the 24th gate. We didn’t even know that until we got out of the taxi and walked around above the subway for a little but and saw the gate number above us. We gave the taxi driver the correct place but for some reason he wanted to drop us off there…that happens a lot around here (on several occasions the taxi that was driving us to our destination had to stop and ask some random stranger on the side walk how to get the that specific place…). So, we just had to walk to the 9th gate and we’d be there right? Nope. We looked at the subway map and we knew which way we needed to go. We get to a sign that says Gate 9 and the arrow was pointing straight so we followed. Well after like 10 minutes of walking we end up at Gate 3. What just happened?! Apparently there are two different subway signs and are color coded. Uh…we didn’t leave this specific subway so how could there be different signs for the same freakin subway line? So we back tracked and we finally met up with one of Mike’s friends after 20 minutes of walking the entire freakin subway.

We went to this pretty nice pizza place that was on the second floor of a building. There pizzas looked good but I’m in Korea right? I’ve got to have something Korean. So I had some rice and bulgogi plate with really good sauce. It was like a $15 meal…haven’t spend that much on food for myself in a long time. It was really good to see some of our EPIK friends but it really blows that me and Michael are a 20-30 minute cab ride away from all of them. We need to figure out how to ride the bus to downtown because it’s way cheaper. The taxi was about $12 one way so split between me and Michael was only about $6. However, if Mike weren’t with me that would be $24 there and back. Pretty expensive and it will add up quick. On the buses it’s like half that cost but it takes a little longer to get there. We haven’t really figured out the bus system yet but I’m sure we’ll experiment one day when we have the entire day to waste. I think it’s going to take a while to figure it out because all of the signs are in Korean and there are two different bus lines that we can take. My co-teachers were saying to take the #2 on the red bus line so we’ll see.

Today I taught 2 third grade classes and 2 fourth grade classes. The classes were good for the most part but the fourth grade had some comprehension issues. They are now learning ‘may I…’ and ‘is this/that your____?’ It is difficult to ask questions about the video clips they watch when they don’t understand key words like “he, she, hear etc.” I always have to be conscious of the wording of my questions and constantly have to think on my toes in terms of rewording whatever it is I’m saying. I use a lot of hand motions and I have to speak very slow so they can pick up on main words and understand my questions. It’s really helpful that the co-teacher is there to help me if I get stuck with the students and they have blank looks on their faces and the whole room is in complete silence after a question. But, for the most part, they understood at the end of the lesson and with some practice using the words in phrases. My fourth grade co-teacher said that the students really listen to me and that she’s jealous because they don’t listen to her. I guess that’s a good thing that I can grab the attention of the classroom even when we’re not doing anything particularly interesting. But, honestly, I think it’s only because I’m a new face and because I’m a foreigner. It probably won’t last. After a couple of months they will probably be just as uninterested as my co-teacher claims they are now with her.

I realized that I needed some materials for this lesson because I wasted a lot of class time writing sentences on the bored and I will have to write them several more times. I printed off some sentences and laminated them so I can place them on the bored to save time. I also printed out pictures of the characters and pasted them on sticks to make it easier to ask questions about certain characters. We will see how well that works. I think any materials are good for the class…especially visuals no matter how simple they are. Hopefully the students will better understand what I’m asking of them. Cross your fingers! Tash, I have a true understanding of why you bring your work home with you. There are so many things involved with teaching and I only teach English! You do it all! So much to do in so little time. Goodness gracious I don't know how you have the energy to do what you do. I commend you!

By the way…my camera has no batteries because mine died and I haven’t gotten any new ones…sooo, I will get some ASAP!

Blood Addiction

September 6th
Today was kind of a long day. I stayed up to watch True Blood until 2:00AM. Yes, I know. True Blood? I've never even watched this show until a couple of days ago. One channel plays like 4 or 5 episodes in a row starting at 10:00PM and I stay up to watch ALL of the episodes they play. It truly is addicting. My mother was right there with me getting roped into this show. I don’t understand why I liked it because the episodes weren’t even part the first season. The shows were in the middle of the second season so I missed several details and I’m sure I missed out on a lot of character development. Still…I was sucked in. Now I’m going to wait until the next 4 or 5 episodes come on and stay up late again…didn’t think I would get hooked on any shows while I was in Korea.

Bad News

Oh goodness. Ok, so I just found out that the reason why my co-teacher (Simon, the one that hooked up our internet in HIS name and did like EVERYTHING he could to help us get settled in) has not been in school. I was messaging him on skype and he said his father is sick and has Alzheimer's. I felt so terrible! I wasn't prepared for that. He said his father is a couple of hours away in an emergency hospital. I'm not entirely sure how long he will be out of school but goodness gracious, I didn't know what to say! I just told him not to worry about me or Michael and that he should just focus on his family. He kept saying that he wishes he could make me and Michael happy and to take care of us but that his family is having problems now. I was just like no, no, no! Please don't worry about us, you've been wonderful and helped us with everything we needed! He's incredibly caring and very, very nice. I just feel horrible that his family is going through this. I'm thinking maybe I can buy a card and have the English teachers (maybe even the principle and vice principles) sign it then send it to his house. Just saying that we're thinking about him and that we miss him. Man, oh man, just sad times for him...and his family.  

Useless

September 2, 2010
Well, last night after school, 2 of our co-teachers were kind enough to take me to the doctor. Yuri (my 4th grade co-teacher) heard me coughing yesterday in class (extremely embarrassing) and after classes and said that I should definitely go to the doctor. I didn’t know of any doctors near where I live so the 5th grade co-teacher that teaches with Michael said she could drive me and Yuri to the doctor. When we got there, Yuri was talking to the women at the front desk and told them that we were English teachers at Haknam Elementary and that I needed some help for my throat. Well apparently the doctor was there too and we made a good impression so he said he would help me for a discount! Wahoo! He took me in his office to figure out what was going on with my throat and he listened to me breathe deep breaths with his stethoscope. He said that the upper respiratory infection sounded as if it was spreading to my lungs because he heard some wheezing as I breathed. Just perfect. The first week I start teaching I get the kind of sickness that prevents me from actually being able to teach.  How ridiculous is that? So they gave me a shot in my bum (this is the third shot in my bum that I’ve had…my ass is going to fall off) and they gave me 5 pills to take 3 times a day.

I was so tired when I got home that I took a shower and then went to sleep. I woke up at 10:00pm so that I could eat something and take my first round of pills then went right back to sleep. Since they gave me the shot my throat was a little more relaxed so that I was able to get a pretty good nights sleep. Finally!

Yuri said that I should save my voice and try to get better so I shouldn’t come to class today or tomorrow. So…I’m sitting in the office doing absolutely nothing. Michael is with me to keep me company because the 6th grade teacher is out with a family emergency and the new 5th grade teacher spends the most of the class going over her rules and such. I feel completely useless and I feel really terrible that I can’t actually be in the class. I kept telling Yuri that I was so sorry but she was so sweet and said that I just need to worry about getting better. Hopefully by next week I will be up and ready to teach and this sickness will be gone! Dear sickness, thank you for the visit but I think you have overstayed your welcome. Please leave in a timely fashion. Thank you.

Fourth Grade

September 1, 2010
First day of the month! It’s as hot as ever here…it’s really just the humidity that gets you. My classes don’t have air conditioning; well, if you can call 5 regular fans attached to the ceiling blowing hot air around in circles air conditioning then that’s what they have. By the time 12:30pm comes around, I’ve finished my classes but I’m exhausted because I’ve been so hot and sweaty in my classes! That’s no good.

Today I taught 2 third grade classes and 2 fourth grade classes. The third grade classes went smoothly because I’ve had some practice now but the fourth grade classes were a little different today. I created a PPT about myself with just like 4 slides about me, my hobbies, my home, and my family. I haven’t really taught with the fourth grade teacher Yuri so it was a little rough. We haven’t really worked out each other’s teaching style yet so that may take some time. I didn’t get to teach very much which was kind of disappointing but I’m hoping that today in the lesson planning I can maybe ask her about more teaching time with the kids. It was rough because the lesson/section I thought I was going to be teaching…well I didn’t get to because her classes are little behind and she teaches at a slower pace. When I was in the front of the class I would ask them to repeat what they heard but in the middle of me asking the question she would play the clip again so it confused the students. It’s all about learning the other co-teacher right? So I imagine it will take us a little time to get to know each other inside the classroom and out. Other than that, it was a successful day and I am about to go eat lunch with the other English teachers (lunch is totally free for us everyday woot woot).

Snow White

August 31, 2010


Yesterday I was able to meet some of my students…and I definitely mean SOME. There’s no way I can remember all of my students. Back home there might be like 3 third grade classes in the entire school. Yeah, well here there are 10 third grade classes and 12 fourth grade classes. Each class has about 30 students so if you do the math… that’s like 300 third graders and 360 fourth graders. I see about 700 students a WEEK! Goodness gracious. Mondays and Tuesdays I see 4 third grade classes and one fourth grade class. Right now the classes start a little earlier because it’s just too hot to teach any later in the day so I finish teaching classes about 12:30pm and have lunch with the other English teachers. Wednesdays I see two third grade classes and 2 fourth grade classes. Thursdays and Fridays I will teach 4 fourth grade classes each day.
Last night the principle of our school had a welcoming dinner for all of the new incoming teachers (including Michael and I) and most of the teachers showed up at this Japanese restaurant. Literally there was at least 60 of us there. When you walked into the restaurant (had to take off our shoes and sit on the floor) there was food galore! I mean I couldn’t eat most of it because it was raw fish everywhere…like really raw…and not in a sushi roll. But there were some dishes like cooked fish, soup, bi bim bop and so forth that I could eat and it was very delicious. We talked with some of the other English teachers for a bit and then on of the Physical Ed teachers sat next to me and Michael to talk for a while. He wanted to meet us and ask how old we were. He was 25 years old but when I first saw him I thought he was 21. He was very nice but me and Michael can’t remember what his name is! It is extremely difficult to remember the Korean names…I’ll need to work on that ASAP. He asked if we drink (alcoholic beverages), we both nodded and he suggested that we go out for dinner and drinks sometime soon. I can’t wait to start hanging out with my teachers outside of work!

I was super excited today because I was able to actually co-teach with one of my teachers today. Un Hyun is the third grade English teacher so I stuck with her all day. Typically I would teach with the fourth grade English teacher in the last period but 12 classes is too many for one teacher so the third grade English teacher (Un Hyun) teaches 2 fourth grade classes. I hope that makes sense. Anyway, today I taught the students how to write the letters “Aa, Bb, Cc” and then we did a role play. The textbooks are specifically designed to incorporate listening, speaking, writing, singing, and role-play into the lessons in order for the students to get as much exposure to the language as possible within 40 minutes. Un Hyun and I went back and forth teaching specific portions of the lesson. I was very surprised with eagerness of the students. You can tell that they want to learn English and they were very willing to guess the answers even if they were not entirely correct. The role-play did not go as well as intended with the 3rd grade because they did not really understand the instructions even when explained in Korean (the English classes are taught in both English and Korean; sometimes the teacher will ask what a certain English phrase means in Korean, etc.). Un Hyun and I decided that maybe the role-play could just be between me and the class as a whole. That worked much better in the later classes.

I was so excited with my last class of the day. It was a fourth grade class so they understood a little more vocabulary than the other classes because the others were third grade. The lesson went very smoothly; the Korean-English teacher and I worked very well with the tag-teaming and then the last portion of the lesson was role-play. They had to listen and watch a short animated video about snow white and the witch. Before the video I asked them if they could tell me who the princess was and who the old woman was. They answered “princess” and “witch.” They watched and listened to the clip and I asked them questions about what they heard. They recited many of the lines that were said and I asked them other questions for comprehension purposes. They were all right! After watching the video several more times and reciting the lines, my co-teacher and I split them into groups of four students and had them act out what they saw. After some practice, we asked for volunteers to perform in front of class. It was awesome! They did so well! I was so happy! I wish you could’ve seen it! They had some troubles with memorizing the lines (but it was kind of a long skit…I wouldn’t of been able to remember it all!). Overall, a very successful day!

Side Note

I just still can't believe I actually did this. I mean, I'm actually in Korea for one WHOLE year. It still doesn't seem like reality. I need a pinch or something.

Momma

Sunday August 29th

My co-teacher came over this morning just to make sure I was OK and actually ended up making me some soup because I was coughing so bad and I hadn’t eaten breakfast. What a nice man! I lounged around for a bit and my mother actually made it to my apartment around 5:00pm. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to see her; especially being this sick, I just wanted my mom! We had to do some more shopping so we went to that Wal-Mart type store and bought some more food and some other necessities. We’re pretty settled in now except for the fact that my mother is still living out of suitcases since there’s only furniture for one. We’ll have to do some furniture shopping this week to help her get settled in. I will, unfortunately, have to wear a mask tomorrow in class because I’m still very, very sick and can’t get rid of this cough ☹ Hopefully it will go away real soon because I want to teach!

Lost and Found

Saturday August 28th

Nothing too exciting today....just still sick…of course. I pretty much stayed in for most of the day. I was able to sleep in so that felt really nice. Michael was planning to go into downtown Daegu to meet some other foreign teachers at the Holy Grill so I was planning on having and uneventful night in. Around 7:00pm Michael ended up coming over because he couldn’t figure out how to get to where he needed to be since none of the taxi drivers could speak English. Neither of us had eaten so we decided to walk somewhere and get some good Korean food. We made sure not to take too many turns because we would totally get lost. We walked for about 10-15 minutes into the town part of where we are and found a small restaurant along the street we were on. We the menu unfortunately didn’t have any English writing so we looked over at the table next to us and said we wanted what they were having. It was SOOOO good. It was some sort of chicken with really good sauce…so good. I couldn’t eat very much because my stomach wasn’t agreeing with me; sad times because it was really good. So we start walking only to realize that we have no idea how to get back home…every turn we made seemed as if we were going further away from where we were supposed to be going. We walked for about 30 minutes in all directions and we said if this corner is not familiar, we’ll get a taxi. Sure enough…we needed a taxi. Our co-teacher, Simon, was kind enough to write down our address in Korean earlier today just in case something like this were to happen. I haled down a cap (I felt like a New Yorker) and showed the driver the address…”I dunno” he said and drove off…WOW, we’re in trouble now. The freakin cab driver doesn’t even know where we live! Deep breaths. So we found our way back to the restaurant and carefully retraced our steps. With some patience and teamwork we found our way to some familiar streets and restaurants and we could tell we were definitely getting warmer. Thank goodness! We walked no more than 15 minutes and ended up getting lost for an hour! We seriously need to learn our way around this place and fast!

Haknam Elementary

Friday August 27th

Michael and I worked it out to where we will meet Monday-Friday mornings at 8:10AM in a mini-park right outside of my apartment so that we can walk to school together. This was the first day we tested out our plan and it worked perfectly. It only took like 7 minutes to walk to our school so we were a bit early. Before we set foot in the school, everyone has to take off their shoes and put on their slippers (no complaints here, I would love to stand all day in some comfortable slippers!). We met the principle and vice principles (2 vice principles) and they seemed very nice. We just said “hi” and sat around while they talked in Korean. They said I had a really kind face and they told Michael he was very handsome and that he looked like Matt Damon lol. They said I looked Korean and I told them about Mom. It took them a while to understand why I don’t speak Korean…took me a long time to understand why too! Lol. After our little chat we went upstairs to the fourth floor where our offices are. The English teachers share an office that is placed in the back of the 5th grade room. Pretty roomy and each teacher has a computer (except for me because I don’t think they knew with enough notice that they were getting two teachers).

At this point we were told that I would co-teach the 3rd and 5th grade and Michael would teach 4th and 6th grade. The 5th grade English teacher asked if I would like to observe and I said yes. I had to introduce myself in font of the class and the children were all very interested in me. After a quick intro, I stepped to the back and watched Mina teach. She is quite wonderful with the students. I could tell they respected her and when she needed their attention she would just be silent and stare until they directed their attention to her. The 5th and 6th grade teachers are supplied with a smart-board (Tash, I’m so sad I will not be able to utilize this! It looks so neat and totally handy in the classroom!). They have an English textbook for each grade and the English learning begins at grade 3. The book comes along with a CD for the teachers that includes different voice recordings and sing-a-longs for the children to partake in. As I was watching, I was getting really excited be I have several different ideas that I want to run by my co-teachers in the 3rd and 4th grades. I want to incorporate games and fun music so I’m totally ready to start lesson planning.

After a little discussion, our four co-teachers decided that it would be better and easier if I teach 3rd and 4th grade while Michael teaches 5th and 6th grade. I completely agreed because it just made more sense and each of the co-teachers would just have to plan with one of us rather than both me and Michael. So I will be working with Suri (she’s a newer teacher at the elementary school) and she teaches 4th grade. I was able to observe her class and she seemed like she was very positive and kept the attention of the children without a hitch. I’m really excited to teach with her because she expressed, right off the bat, that I am welcome to share ANY ideas I have about the lessons and she seems like she WANTS me to be there. That was a major relief because we heard some horror stories about some teachers who will not let you really teach. This should be a great partnership. As far as the 3rd grade teacher goes, she seems very nice and the other English teachers call her the “mother” of the teachers because she’s always looking out for everyone. I haven’t had a chance to observe her class but I’m sure I will this next coming week.

Apparently our day starts around 8:40AM and the teaching ends around 12:00PM. After that we eat lunch and then stay at school until about 4:00pm to lesson plan and such. So I will be working 40 hours but teaching only 22 hours…if that makes sense.

So I got even more sick this day and one of my co-teachers Simon, was so gracious and took me to the hospital to get a shot and some medication. This is now the 3rd time I’ve gotten sick…this is the sickness from HELL. I CAN’T get rid of it! ☹ This whole weekend I will have to be inside doing NOTHING, while everyone is out at the Body Painting Festival, which is all I’ve been talking about since the last week. Stupid sickness.

Sick of the Sickness

Tuesday-Thursday August 24-26

So I’ve been sick for the past several days off and on. I’m super bummed. It started Tuesday night and I can’t seem to get rid of it. Tuesday night a couple of the EPIK staff took me to the emergency room to try and lower my 103-degree fever. I ended up staying there until 6:00AM.  I made it back only to sleep for several hours and to wake up to the same fever. I had to miss my presentation (this presentation was pretty important…like everything we learned about lesson planning and so forth was all preparation for this presentation) so that the nurse could take me to a doctor’s office to get a shot and some more medication. They gave me a shot in my bum and then gave me some pills for the next three days. I made it back to the EPIK site Wednesday, in time to meet our POE’s of whom told us where we were going to be located and which school we were going to be teaching. I found out that I was going to be teaching at Haknam Elementary in Seobu Disctric Daegu. It is a newer part of Daegu that was recently built. I was able to sit through the farewell dinner that night and then made it back to my room to sleep while many other went out for the last night.

The next morning was pretty smooth. We all had to load our luggage onto these UHaul looking trucks according to which city we were going to. The bus ride took about 2.5-3 hours and we arrived at Daegu University. I was super nervous because this is where we were going to meet our co-teachers. This co-teacher was pretty much going to be our go-to person and we were going to be teaching with them in the classroom. It’s very important to establish a good relationship with this person right off the bat. Seobu district was called second and after a bit of confusion was sorted out we were all led to a room that was full of Korean teachers holding up signs with our names on them. I spotted a Korean man holding a sign with my name at the very front of this auditorium. (ok, Deep Breaths, remember to smile, have a friendly face, make a good impression.) I started walking towards the man but he started walking the opposite direction parallel to the stage at the front. I realized that there were TWO people he was there for. Huh? Only one foreign teacher was supposed to be assigned to each school. Sure enough, both me and Michael would be teaching at the same school. Our co-teacher’s name is Simon and we also met a woman who happened to be an administrator for our school. I didn’t know Michael very well while we were at EPIK because he was in a different class so I never really was near him. He seems very nice and I’m grateful that I will have someone who is going through the same thing I am in the same school.

In our lectures, the professors stressed that Koreans feel nervous if you don’t talk or make conversation because they think you are unhappy. So, me and Michael talked it up in the car with our co-teacher and the woman administrator. Our co-teacher’s name is Simon, he’s 40 years old and has 2 little boys; one is 8 years old and the other is 6 years old. Simon has been teaching for 10 years and before that he worked as a medic for the military after only 6 weeks of training. He is very nice and very funny. He was listening to Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton in his car (awesome).  We had to drop off the administrator at the school…wow, what a big school! Apparently it’s the largest elementary school in Daegu. 2,000 kids! Let me repeat that….TWO THOUSAND KIDS! In an elementary school! There are 70 teachers and 30 administrators…100 staff members. Goodness gracious! It looks like a small college! No joke! Oh man, the jitters started. But it was only Thursday so we had to do some other things and Friday we would actually go inside.

Our co-teacher took us to a Wal-mart type store in order for us to buy some essentials to get us through until our first paycheck. We were each given 300,000 won which works out to be a little under $300.  Pretty good deal. We had to buy things like a clothes rack (no dryers for clothes, only washing machines), bath towel, bottled water, dish soap, laundry detergent, fabric softener, hangers, trash bags (they separate their trash-there are like six different categories…haven’t figured all of them out yet), tooth paste, paper towels, sponges for dishes, sandwich meet, bread, mayo, fork, spoon, chopsticks, clock, and batteries. After this 2 hour shopping spree, me, Michael, and Simon were very tired but we needed to eat so Simon took us to a small restaurant to have some spicy noodles. This restaurant was the real deal…take off your shoes after you walk in and sit on the floor with a pillow under your bum. Welcome to Korea. We had some nice conversation with Simon. Turns out he really likes Soju J and so does his wife. He was making jokes about it the whole time; it was very funny. Michael and I decided to pay for Simon’s meal since he had done so much for us; Simon did not put up a fight lol.

After dinner Simon walked us around a little while to see the night life of where we were. It looked like a Koreanized New York. Very bright, a lot of lights, many vendors on the side of the street, little arcade games (basketball, the thing where you bop the heads) and such. There were a lot of karaoke bars and we passed a motel. Michael told Simon that he’d heard about the motels in Korea and Simon went on to explain that these type of motels were for “one night” lol. Of course. Lol. Simon drove us back home, my apartment was first. He walked me all the way up to make sure I could get into my apartment ok and we said goodnight; I was sure to thank him for everything. I was extremely tired so I didn’t bother to unpack and went to sleep. I had a lot of trouble sleeping but I got through it. 

My room is very cozy and nice, a lot more than I expected. Everything I need is here; I may need a couple of end tables for my bed but other than that I am very happy with my place. I have everything unpacked so it's feeling more and more like mine. I may also need to buy some decorations to make it more like my personality... 

 By the way...this shower is very hard to get used to. I typically take a shower with my back against the water but with this set up it's impossible so at all times I have to hold the shower hose. Also, the gas was not yet set up in my apartment and little did I know that you have to turn on a little button to use the hot water...so the first night I took an ice cold shower. 

The kitchen and the laundry room are one in the same. Not bad, not bad at all. For some reason I expected smaller.

No Internet

Ok so I'm totally going to be without internet for an unknown period of time. I have to get my ARC (alien registration card) before I can set up my internet and that takes a couple of weeks. I'm hoping that when my mother gets her F-4 visa, that will give her less limitations and she can set up the internet in her name. SO, my blog will be pretty lame for the next few weeks, bare with me. I'll post a blog as soon as I can. Wish me luck in my school!

wow

So...I just found out that I will probably be without internet for the first three weeks that I am at the final destination... I mean, ok, let me rephrase... I will be WITHOUT INTERNET FOR THREE WEEKS while I'm in the first weeks of my job. WOW that's really kind of a mess because I cannot register for the internet until I get my Alien Registration Card..which will that several weeks...oh my goodness what will I do. It's not only cutting into my time I have with teaching materials but also with family members that I currently have in Korea...what will happen? I have no clue.

I was finally able to call my mother...however, I happened to buy a 10,000 won calling card before doing so. Little did I know that a calling card was for international calls...my mother already had a phone for South Korea so I didn't need a calling card at all, all I needed was a phone! Silly me. My mother is doing well and just waiting for my placement to be finalized.

It was the last day of Korean Classes...I know not very much more than I did before starting the class because of the way she taught English. What a shame. I think I am going to buy Rosetta Stone for myself because apparently we only teach about 15 hours per semester...which takes into account the academic closes, any holidays that include your co teacher, she will let you know if you need anything. I'm fine...according to our age which will also be discussed once i get my results. I chose for Daegu or anywhere else in China. OK my eyes are closing so bad; i'll keep you posted.

Field Trip

August 23, 2010

So today we had a field trip where they took al the EPIK teachers to the JeonJu Hanok Village and the Keumsan Temple. We met this morning at 9:00AM and it took about 30 minutes to ride from the JeonJu University campus to the village. It was a pretty cool village…however, the weather was not so cool. I think I would’ve enjoyed myself much more if it were not a million degrees outside and if the humidity was not like 98%. I mean really…everyone…and I mean everyone was sweating in their baby blue EPIK polo shirts that they made us all wear. It was horrible, just wretched. The village was nice and very authentic but is was just too hot for anyone to enjoy themselves. But there were some highlights like the making of a traditional fan which ended up being like an arts and crafts session for one hour; Fun stuff! Then we watched the Samulnori Performance and it was really neat…I just couldn’t stop thinking about how extremely hot the performers had to have been with their outfits on! I mean just ridiculous! I could see the women’s faces melting off. It was so hot that we were supposed to have a guided tour throughout the Village but it was called off/cancelled because of how hot it was going to be! They made us go anyway… to explore on our own, in the heatstroke worthy heat. It was THAT bad.

We then arrived at the Keumsan Temple which was really pretty cool and just beautiful decorations. There was a fresh water stream that flowed through the grounds and it was really quite nice. After we explored through the temples, we relaxed in the stream (very cool water); took off our shoes and sat where our feet could sway in the water as we cooled off. It was very relaxing. Families were everywhere; it was wonderful; very family friendly.

I just got back from an outing with friends. We went to the same places but the first place was out of draught beer so we ate a plate of chicken and moved on to the next place that has the slushy soju. This time we brought a deck of cards with us and played drinking games with those. We had a great time and no one got really drunk; we just had a great time socializing, drinking, and laughing. I like all of the people in my class (we’ve been separated into classes depending on the city you will be teaching and I’m in class 3 for Daegu; Daegu has 3,4, and 5 because we’re the largest group). Everyone is very nice and extremely easy to get along with. I can’t wait until we’re actually placed into our schools and then get to hang out with each other on the weekends!