Friday, October 30, 2009

I have now been teaching at SLP for one month! The time has gone by so fast and I'm really loving my job! Teaching English is a lot different than teaching in a regular classroom in the US. All of my classes have a book that I teach from, and all of the kids I teach can already speak some English. A typical day for me begins at about 12:30 when I go in to get everything ready for the day and make sure I have all my lessons planned and all the materials I need. My first class is my Kindie (Kindergarten) class which is from 1:20-2:40. I have 3 kids: Dana, Billy and Nathan! They are the CUTEST little kids ever! They are about 4 years old and so soo tiny! Now I'm sure you can imagine, me being the tallest one in the school and having the smallest kids... well, I'm sure it looks pretty funny when come in to the class to give them hugs everyday! They are my favorite class to teach! My next classes range from about 9-12 or 13 year olds. I'm so impressed with how much they know and how fast all of these kids learn! They pick things up so fast and it's just so amazing! I love it!

The Kindie classes took a field trip to VIPS restaraunt last Friday! It's an all-you-can-eat buffet, and it was amazing! The kids got to make a cookie, color a mask, and then eat an amazing lunch! It was a lot of fun and I was really impressed with how well all the kids behaved!

Some things about teaching/things that have happened to me:
~Kids are not considerate when it comes to asking questions, and they expect an answer.
Examples: Are you married? How old are you? Do you have a baby?
~Kids will tell you what they think.
Examples: Teacher, you have a very long nose. It's very pointy!
~Kids will poke you in places they shouldn't and stick their hands up your shirt.
~Rock, Paper, Sissors is the ONLY way to settle an argument, decide who goes first or who's turn it really is.
~It is okay to give your students hugs!!! :)
Here are some pictures of a few of my kids

Friday, October 16, 2009

Tuna...

As most of you know, seafood is not really my favorite thing. Iowa doesn't really have an ample supply of seafood, but I've done my best to stay away from it. I like my dad's grilled fish every once in awhile, but anything more adventurous than that is just a little too much for me!

Apparently, there is a restaurant in the area called Tuna that a bunch of foreigners go to about once a month. Meredith and I were invited by one of our coworkers to attend the monthly event, so we decided that we might as well give it a try. Keep in mind that I have never, ever had tuna before in my life, so I am really going to just give it a try. Well, we went to the restaurant after school and were waiting around for a little while until everyone else came. As we were sitting and talking, I was asked how much I liked raw fish. Well, I have never had it, but I guess I am always up for trying something once was what I told them, while in my head thinking no way, no how! And that's when it all came crashing down and I realized... this restaurant is for eating RAW tuna! Now, the owner of the place was very friendly, maybe a little too friendly, and was really bragging up his tuna (his raw tuna!), so I figured I could give it a try.

The owner brought us the first slices of the night... prepared it for us, and literally stuffed it in our mouths, saying "Best.. Best!" It was, in fact, not the best. I nearly gagged! He brought out another cut and, again, shoved it in our mouths. The experience was the same, and I had to discretely spit it out in a napkin and put it in my purse until I could dispose of it later! I tried one more piece and still couldn't do it! When he saw us struggling a little, he said he would bring out some grilled tuna. This, on the other hand, was actually really good.

As I left Tuna, the only positive thing I could think of was the fact that I could now say that I have actually tried raw fish! Even though I will not be going back there for raw tuna again, I am glad that I went.

Until next time...

Monday, October 12, 2009

Two weekends of fun!

I know it's been awhile since my last post, so I will try to fill you all in on my past two weekends in Korea. Last weekend, I went hiking with Meredith and one of her friends that is teaching in Korea too. We went to Bukhansan Mountain, which is just north of Seoul. I haven't been hiking that many times, but my hiking experiences in Wales aren't really on the top of my favorites list, so I was just a little nervous as we started this adventure. Meredith, however, put my mind at ease saying she had heard that hiking in Korea was like taking a walk, paved stairs and everything. At the end of the day, I would have to say that Meredith was wrong, and it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be!

Our hike started out pretty easy. There was a path/paved road for quite awhile. There were even some little restaurants and shops along the way. We stopped to eat some lunch at this little clearing where there were a lot of people taking a break. After lunch, we kept on going, getting lost only once or twice. Luckily for us, Koreans are very nice people and want to help you out in any way they can. We had a couple tell us to follow them... but we were just a bit slower than them, so we had to slow it down a little and find our own way after that! Towards the top is where it started getting a lot harder! Walking along the path turned to climbing up the rocks, and I started getting pretty nervous! From this point on, there were these rope cables staked into the ground that we had to use to pull ourselves up. I used these at ALL times for fear that I would slide down the mountain (which I thought was likely to happen at any point!) Anyway, thankfully we all made it to the top. The view was amazing! We could see most of Seoul and all the mountains surrounding it! Words cannot describe how beautiful it was. It made the whole 7 hour hike worth it!

This past weekend wasn't quite as adventurous. Friday was girls night! One of our friends had all the girls over to her apartment for some food and games! The girls that I've met are all so nice, and it was a great night just hanging out with all of them. Our game of Taboo got cut a little short when one of the neighbors knocked on the door telling us we were being too loud, so we had to move girls night somewhere else. It was a really fun, but very late night!

On Saturday, Meredith and I went to Dongdaemun with two other girls that we met here. Dongdaemun is one of the shopping districts in Seoul. I was looking for a new purse, but had to settle for a scarf! On our way back to Guri, we stumbled on a fashion show and a dance contest! We watched both for awhile. When we were at the dance contest, the MC looked over in our direction and says, "Foreigner... Hello! Nice to meet you!" I start looking around, and of course he's talking to me, the tallest one in the crowd with semi-blonde hair! He procedds to tell me that the dancer group that was just on are 19 with no girlfriends, and then asks me if I know the dance and if I want to come up on stage to dance! Had I known the dance, I probably would have gone on stage, but the girls that went on stage were so serious about their dance moves... I would have been booed off the stage in a heartbeat! It was a fun day, and I'm sure I'll be back there soon to do some more shopping!

I'm having a lot of fun, meeting a lot of new people, and learning a lot about the culture here. I hope everyone back home is doing great! I heard it snowed in Iowa this past weekend! Crazy! I hope you are all staying warm!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

My first blog post!

I'm sure most of you know that I have made it safely to Korea. It took me awhile to decide to do a blog, but I figured this would be a great way to document my journey in Korea... so read as much or as little as you want. I'm sure this will be an adventure of a lifetime.

I've been in Guri for about 2 weeks now, and I have just moved in to my new apartment for the year. Until now, I have been living in the famous Love Motel, which is about a 20 minuet walk from my school. I am now about a 1 minute walk from the school and live right next door to an amazing pizza place... this could be a big problem! But my apartment is pretty nice (I'll post pictures soon), and I think I will like living here for the next year!

I start teaching full time tomorrow!! I am so excited for that! I have been teaching 1 class everyday for the last 3 days, so tomorrow will be a big change. I will be teaching every day from about 1:20-7:30, which is nice in a way, but I always say good morning to people... and its not. A lot different from what I'm used to. I have a Kindergarten (Kinde) class that is from 1:20-2:40, and then about 5 other elementary classes throughout the rest of the day. I will be meeting my Kinde class for the first time tomorrow, and I have no idea if they speak any English at all. Tomorrow should be an interesting day!

Other than that, I have been meeting tons of new people, all of them are extremely nice. I've been to a palace, a waterpark, and even to my first nuraebang-a karaokee room that you rent with a group of friends. The nuraebang (could be spelling that wrong) was so much fun and I can't wait to go back!

I know this is kind of long, but I had quite a bit to say! Hope you are all doing well! Don't forget I want to hear from you too! Until next time....