My life so far

School:

It’s been a long time since I last wrote here. My classes have been going well. On Monday we start the next session (number 8). This is the last session until we start over again. My classes range just like they did at home. Some classes are like pulling teeth, trying to get the students to answer questions and such. Other classes are noisy and talkative, which I much prefer. The school is pretty nice and my manager seems nice as well. I teach Story Presentation where students have to memorize poem like paragraphs and then present them in class. The idea is to get them to memorize phrases and such. The next class is Workbook, it’s exactly as it sounds, it’s for little kids and beginners. There’s also Reading, which is self-explanatory. Listening, where we have to use possessed CD players to play small conversations and then ask questions about it. Wednesdays are completely different; it’s more low key and shorter classes. Overall I’m having a good time; the classes are all idiot proof and explained out. All I have to do is manage the students and create questions and also figure out how to make the lessons fun!

Life:

It’s been a whirlwind of an adventure so far. Last Friday I went out with Angie (Rachel’s and now my friend). We went down town to a Mexican bar. We were joined by a girl named Michelle from South Africa. Then we met up with Yun Jung, such a sweet girl! I loved hanging out with them all. The bar/food was pretty good, and we all shared a pitcher of Mojitos. By the time we left there it was about 1am. We went over to a bar called FB (Friendly Bar? Or something). I had two beers and we just talked and talked and talked. By the time we left the bar it was 3am. We got some really tasty dumplings for “breakfast” then took a cab home. By the time I got into bed it was around 5am. I was SOOO tired but it was well worth it.

Downtown

I’ve gone out to dinner a lot with the gang from work so I’ve been able to experience a ton of foods from many places. I went to the market today and bought grapes, carrots and tomatoes. I didn’t spend a whole lot. Maybe one day I’ll tackle fish and sea food dinners but not for a while. I’m not sure what I’m doing this weekend. I was going to Busan this weekend but I think I’ll stay in Daegu instead and try to find more cool places and temples etc. I’ll post pictures and such later.

Cold Noodle Soup

"Nasty Guys"

I see what you're going for there dude. Yeah no.

Medical Tests

Went to my doctors appointment this morning. Cost $90!! Language barrier meant I thought $19...thank goodness for plastic! That could have been horrible. The tests were reuitine except that I got a chest x-ray. I presume they were checking for terberculosis. Blood work, height, weight, family history, BP, urine test (no drugs there!). The doctor said, and it was kind of hard to understand, that I was anemic. Well that's what happens when you eat poorly the first four days. I'm not too worried about it. Once the test results are in then one of the Reinforcement Team (about 10 guys) will go and pick up my tests and translate it for me if need be. Fun times.

My training today is only going to be an hour?! But that means that I can go home grab some Kimbap and maybe run over to e-mart for a comforter. I plan on sleeping in a squishy bed tonight! I'm going to head into work early in the hopes of actually getting my books for my classes. What a thought. I start teaching tomorrow. EEEEEEE! I'm sure it'll be fine. The guys I went out with last night said that they don't expect you to get anything near what you're supposed to get done in the first week or two. So that takes some presure off. So tonight it's either me running over to the E-mart or just going home, making dinner and figuring out my classes.

My house

Home Sweet Home. My apartment is the third floor on the right.

First few days

It's Saturday here and I have finish my first two out of three days of training. I'm hoping that they give me my books on Monday! Otherwise my first classes on Tuesday are going to be very hard! The classes are all repetition, repetition, repetition. Coral reading with round robins, teacher say, students repeat etc. There are a lot of classes to learn the structure for so that it going to be the hardest thing. I have my doctors appointment on Monday and then more training and then observing in the afternoon till 8:50pm.

I'm nervous about Tuesday but anyone would be upon entering a class like this. The hardest thing is that while I've been training and before they've had substitute teachers. So I have to break them of habits and such. Onto more exciting things...

I found my way home last night from my school which was a miracle. I asked a few people where the Siji E-mart was and got pointed in the right direction (it was about a block away). This morning the reinforcement guy came to fix my shower. Now I have a shiny new shower head and hose. :D Then I just went for a walk. Found out that my debit card does not work at the ATM for NH Bank. Maybe it'll work at a bigger one. I went shopping and decided to buy only the amount of food and such that I had cash for and then try to buy it with my credit card. My credit card worked so I "checked" my food bag unstairs then ran down stairs to grab a fan. Operation: Not Dying of the Heat has commenced.

Last night as I was walking home I heard, "Misse, Misse!!" You have to say Miss-eu. Anyway. He ran over and introduced himself and asked if he could walk me home. At first I was hesitant but then we got to talking. He just likes to talk to English speakers to improve his own. He offered to buy me a coffee to continue our conversation but I told him I was too tired. Not to mention hungry. He was really nice and explained a lot about random bits of Korean facts.

So all in all I'm having a great time despite the heat. I'm sure I'll have more to say later!

Arriving in Daegu

Today is my first day in Daegu. Last night I got settled and took a shower which was interesting. The shower and the bathroom, as I had been told, is the same thing. The shower connector is a little broken so it’s like having two shower heads. This morning I woke up, had breakfast and just hung out for a while talking to Mom and Susie. The Moon School provided me with some basic food stuff like milk, OJ, water, bread, nutella and frosted flakes. After trying to get my brain to function I went out for a walk.

During this lovely walk I got many strange looks and have come to realize that unless the person you pass has delt first hand with Westerns they will get unnerved with you smiling all the time. I am going to be the odd one out on this, I smile too much. People did seem friendly and I had a fun moment with an older woman because I was trying to get a picture of this giant bug. It makes a very, very loud buzzing sound. She walked closer to see what I was interested in. I pointed to the bug and said, “It’s so loud!” I proceeded to make a short loud bzzzz noise and laugh. The woman understanding laughed as well and shook her head walking away.

It is so hot outside that I wish I could spend all day indoors with my AC. It’s about 90 here and that’s average/high for this time of year. I didn’t want to venture too far so I decided to just go “around the block.” Bad idea. I got lost. Luckily for me I can remember signs and images well so I eventually turned around and followed my meandering path home. As a reward for actually finding my house, I bought myself an ice cream and lunch. Now I’m waiting till 1:30pm to get picked up to go to training. I really need to remember to take a photo of my house so if I get lost again I can ask for directions! More later.

Thanks Susan K.

Stolen shamelessly from: http://dearkoreacomic.com/2011/03/dear-korea-009/