First Week and Neighborhood Adventures

My first week of teaching is behind me and while I still feel like a fish out of water, I am beginning to get the hang of things. The school is pretty regimented, but that works in my advantage because everything is laid out for me. The kids are still cute and I definitely have my favorites, but I do like all of them for the most part. Some of them are just more of a challenge and I'll just have to work harder with them. I gave my first test today and I have three to give next week. These kids are pretty smart for the most part, but nobody fails. The worst grade a kid can get is a C+. I suppose thats good since this is an enrichment sort of deal, but still does a kid deserve to pass if she/he is really failing?

I'd like to take a moment to comment on the fashion I've seen this week. Let me just say that my emotions range anywhere from envious to perplexed all in one block. I've seen women dressed very nicely for work, with heels and then I've seen extremely short mini skirts with ridiculously high heels. The women who make me shake my head the most are the ones who can pull it off and most of them can. English on shirts is VERY popular here, but sometimes I wonder if they know what it is actually saying. My favorite female fashion? Socks with heels. The men in Korea are very sharp dressers (at least Monday-Friday in Gangnam). The most popular item is a pair of metallic pants, but pewter seems to be the only color. Men aren't afraid to carry purses (they aren't bags, I assure you that they are indeed purses). The men dress up for their day jobs and then loosen their ties while they sit outdoors and proceed to drink their faces off. I've read that this is a Korean tradition.

I have a few pictures to post! They are mainly of the side streets near my apartment and if it looks like people are walking in the street, don't fret. Sidewalks only exist on 8 lane streets. Scooters drive where they please and people park on what sidewalks do exits, double parking and middle of the road parking is not uncommon in fact, it is the norm. These pictures are from my walk around the neighborhood this afternoon in search of pens, a notebook and batteries. They were all successfully purchased. Also, on the side bar is a link to my Flickr page for more pictures.


Street about a block from my apartment

Mr. Pizza on a very busy Gangnam street

Birthday Parties, Grocery Stores and English TV

Today we celebrated the birthdays of two of our kindergarteners. It was quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. The two little girls (Analise and Jessica) were showered by gifts from the other kids and we had cake (the kids had chocolate we got yellow with green tea frosting) bananas, orange juice and cream soda (I just had cake and orange juice). The kids also got bags with candy and other goodies in them, thank goodness it was after I had them for class. This morning my first kinder class was out of control. I was teaching them social studies, in the form of a time line thing, but they can't focus longer than 2 seconds. They are the same age as all the other kinders, but their English isn't as good so it seems like they are younger. It's hard for me to control them and want to teach them, I don't have the patience. I love the other kinder classes though. They understand more English than some of my grade 1 and 2s. I had to get blood work done today so that I could get my Alien Registration Card. I'm pretty sure I'm clean, no diseases or drugs for me.

The last two days I've gone down to the grocery mart in my school building to grab lunch, but I think I am going to start walking home for lunch. I get an hour and it only takes about 10 minutes to get to school. I went to the grocery store (Everyday Mart) yesterday to buy some food, but didn't buy too much because I don't have a microwave (still debating if I should buy one) and most of the food, for ready to eat needs to be microwaved. Although, ramen just needs hot water so this weekend I'll buy some ramen. Yesterday I bought skim milk, apple juice (which is chocked full of sugar, I need to find an alternative), pasta and kiwi fruit. I enjoy the grocery because its fun to look at things, things I am used to seeing in English are in Korean, but I can recognize it (name brands). They have a lot of things over here like Powerade and Gatorade, Lay's, all candy, (Korean novelty candy is way cooler), Sun Chips and a ton more. However, I really want to go to Homever to grocery shop, but I assume it'll be more expensive.

I saw a lady wearing a Wisconsin shirt today, but on the back it said something about Hawaii. I'm not sure what that implied/meant, but I smiled when I saw Wisconsin. I brought my camera along today, but totally forgot about it until I got home. I will take a gazillion pictures this weekend and work on getting them on Flickr/linking them to the blog. Well, I am going to finish Law and Order (on one of the 5 English channels) and go to bed.

Ms. Molly

I survived my first day teaching! I will say this, the kids are adorable and they all have English names. I think I'll be ok learning what to teach the kids and what to assign them, it's all pretty structured and they know what they are supposed to do each day as far as homework and everything. All students get homework, even the kindergarten kids and they were practically begging for it. I work with 7-13 year olds, 7 is kindergarten 8 is grade 1 and so on and so forth. However, there are 3 classes of each with 3-12 students. They are placed in a class based on skill level. So throughout the day, I can have the very low level kinder class to the highest level grade 4s. The only class I don't teach is math, but I'm doing social studies, reading and science. The kids, as mention before, are freaking adorable! One little boy had a shirt on today that said "100% All American Girl," I about died. This morning, before class, the little kinders introduced themselves to me and they all can say my last name (as did and can the other classes). I think however, that they prefer to call me "teacher" or "Ms. Molly." They were all curious about me and I them, but I think (and not to jump to conclusions or say it won't be difficult at times) this will be a great year. My most advanced kinder class all wanted my autograph. I felt like a celeb...haha and they put on a huge greeting for me and they compared me to a dinosaur (which we are reading about) because I am so tall...they are my favorite class so far.

The teachers I work with seem splendid. One is married, has a kid and I think leaving the school soon. The other two are engaged to each other, more my age and seem to be pretty awesome. I'm really excited to learn more about them (all Canadian) and spend some time with them. They will be my greatest resources since it'll take some time to get the hang of things, hopefully by the end of the week I'll have a better grasp on the routine and establish one of my own. I do get my first week off in 3 weeks. That'll be nice, but it would be better if I had some money to travel a bit, but it will give me a chance to explore Seoul.

First Night

I promised an update, so here we go. I got into Seoul (after the driver picked me up from the airport) around 7-ish. When I got here, I was taken to my apartment and then to BIS. I start teaching today, and the school director will be here in just a few minutes to take me to orientation. Anyway, the school is really nice, small, but good. I have my own classroom and I will be teaching Social Studies, Science, Math and English, so basically I am just like an elementary teacher back home. I'll learn more about my duties as today progresses.

After seeing BIS the school director (Mr. Kim) took me to dinner at a Japanese restaurant where he proceeded to laugh at my lack of chopstick skills. I was slightly embarrassed, but it serves me right for not practicing at home. Then I finally got to come back to my apartment (around 8:30). I decided not to do any unpacking because I was pretty tired, but I did take some pictures of my apartment and did a little on the computer. I will post the pictures on Flicker later today.

Here are some things I saw yesterday: a Milwaukee Brewers hat, a LSU shirt and a man selling socks on the side of a busy street. Also, they have a YMCA not too far from my apartment (I have a gym in the basement here though) and Starbucks on my corner.

Well, I need to finish getting ready for my first day. I am kind of nervous because I don't really know what I'll be teaching today. I have an idea for an icebreaker and getting to know the names of my students, we'll see.

I'm in Korea!

Well, I made it. I'm settling into my apartment. More tomorrow.

Visas

Last Wednesday my dad and I went to Chicago for the day to do my visa paperwork. To teach in South Korea you have to have an interview, it takes about 5 minutes and they ask you what you know about Korea and make sure you aren't a criminal. It was pretty easy. Getting to and from Chicago was easy too, we took a train from Kenosha and it was way cheaper and less of a hassle than driving. I made sure to get an envelope with overnight postage because I wasn't sure how long it would take to process my visa (I knew it would be 2-3 days). Well, I got the visa on Saturday so I will for sure be leaving on July 5th. I started packing today! More later, my computer is about to die.

18 days

I leave for Korea in 18 days! I can't believe it. I called and made my visa appointment yesterday and I go next Wednesday. My dad and I are taking the train to Chicago to avoid traffic and high gas costs, it should be pretty fun. I have also opted to make a return trip the following week, probably Monday or Tuesday to pick it up. I can have it mailed, but being a worry wort, I want to make sure I have it in my possession because the week I'd get it in the mail/pick it up, is the week I leave. I still feel really unprepared because I haven't thought about it much. Work takes a lot of my time and when I come home I have other things to do (workout, help my mom with housework, etc) that I don't think about packing or trying to learn Korean. However, I have been reading various books about culture and history so I can feel a bit more prepared. I have a 14 hour plane ride, plus about 8 more hours of waiting/transport to and from the airport so I have time to read and learn Korean. I got a Nintendo DS for my birthday and it will be very nice to occupy some time on the plane. One can only watch so many movies.

We are having a garage sale next weekend because I have so much crap to get rid of and making a little cash would be nice. Whatever I don't sell will be donated to Goodwill because I don't need it and someone else might. I have to work on getting all of that together too and, ahhhh so much to do before I leave! I have more to write, but it will have to wait, I'm exhausted.