Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Home Sweet Home
I promised an organized post to catch you up on everything so that is what you shall get. Even if it is a little late. :]
Monday I got the package Lauren sent for my birthday. :] She sent a card, a Happy Birthday sign, and a keychain, just what I needed :]
This is the beautiful card and Happy Birthday sign she sent. The card made me cry, of course, which freaked out my teachers a little bit, but that's okay. I put them up on my desk for the first few days before I brought them home and I had the most attractive work space in the school. :] Now they decorate my wall at home and make me smile every time I see them. The happy birthday sign also has all sorts of wonderful things written on it. :]
This is the awesome keychain she sent. Both sides are holographic and the Florida side has a dolphin jumping, which was cool enough on it's own. Then I flipped it over expecting the other side to be blank and instead it has my name written in the sand. :] The waves go up and down when you move the keychain. She also ties a pretty blue ribbon to it which I have kept on it to make locating it in my mess of a bag a bit easier. :] I had been looking for a keychain since I got here since I just had the one key and the little tag it was attached to, which was exceedingly difficult to find in the bottom of my bag and resulted in me having to all but empty my bag every time I needed to find my key. It was very frustrating. So now I can either tie the ribbon to the handle of my bag and not even have to look for it, or if I do have to look for it, it's much easier to find. So, thanks Lauren (and Jeremy).
Now I think of you everyday. (Not like I didn't before but, you know. :])
So Tuesday I wore my glasses and my hair in a bun and all my students told me all day "Teacher smart. Teacher intelligent." haha. These kids crack me up. This culture is just so based on appearance that the smallest changes can totally change the way they see you, for the day at least. Maybe that means I should wear all black with my hair up and my glasses everyday for middle school? Nah, it probably wouldn't make a difference with those kids. But more about that later. I also had a student walk up to me after class on Tuesday and tell me "I like you." It was so sincere and cute. I smiled and told her I liked her too. Then, after lunch, Oeja told me that one of the 1st year (10th grade) girls came up to her and told her she really likes me and my class and she is so happy she can communicate with me. It's things like that that make me want to teach. :]
Unfortunately, not all the girls are like that. Most of my high schoolers are very well behaved and cooperative, even excited to learn English, except for this one group. Or rather, 80% of my second year students. And the middle schoolers aren't terrible, except for, well, first and second year. And the girls in those classes aren't bad or have bad attitudes outside of class so let's see what they have in common - OH, look. Mr. Pa is their English teacher/ my coteacher for those classes. This man is the worst. When's he's not sleeping my the back of my classroom (yes, he actually fell asleep in the back of the classroom while I was teaching) he's being overly harsh on the students about insignificant issues that aren't disrupting the class or causing any sort of problem, and completely passing over the students who are actually misbehaving and distracting from my teaching. Now, I understand the "Squash the small things and the big will follow." but not in this case. It is the second semester and these girls know him. They know what he will punish and what they can get away with, and they get away with murder. I'm just glad he isn't my main coteacher or this whole experience would be drastically different.
Anyhow, my classes that I do have trouble with are starting to fall in line a bit. I had to get tough with a few and raise my voice, which I think scared them a little because they've only seen me be nice and friendly and the fun English teacher but a few of the classes will see differently this week. I have 2 classes that will be writing sentences for at least a portion of the class. :] They're going to be mad. ha ha hahaha. :] I think it will serve as a nice wake up call that English class can be whatever I want it to be and that that decision will be directly related to their behavior in class. - ohh, I could show them that on a graph. :]
But, like I said, overall, school is good. Teaching is so fulfilling and despite having fought it all these years, I really love it.
So, after a good week of teaching, a smooth start to Friday, with a rough end, the weekend was finally upon me. I had plans to meet a friend from orientation in Daegu, which is a big city (3-4 million people) about 2 hours away. So, with no cell phone, and some directions and a huge leap of faith, I bought a bus ticket and began my weekend adventure. The main reason for going to Daegu, or at least the reason that prompted the trip, was meeting with the wonderful girl Jessica who gave me the newest addition to the Chinnery family, Switch.
World, meet Switch. Her name was originally going to be Domino. Like Domino Harvey if you've seen the movie. :] Yes, I like Kiera Knightley that much. However, upon meeting Switch and learning a bit about her, Domino became unacceptable and Switch evolved. And she has been rightly named let me assure you. She is the sweetest cat you will meet one second and the next she wants nothing to do with you. And not like a normal cat. More like if you try to touch her she backs up until she's out of reach with this completely indignant and horrified look on her previously precious face and if you persist, she will not hesitate to remind you that she has claws and they are quite sharp. Yay bipolar cats.
Okay but wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. She was the reason I went to Daegu but I still haven't told you what happened when I got there. So, I was supposed to meet this guy David that I met at orientation at the bus terminal because he lives there and I don't know where I'm going and I have no cell phone, etc. So I get to the bus terminal about 7:40 or so, and he's nowhere to be seen. I call him, he says he's sitting right outside of the bus terminal with a
guitar on his back, hard to miss. I check around everywhere, no luck, and call him back (on the payphone.) So basically we ascertain that we are at two different bus terminals, of course. And we know which one he's at, but not which one I'm at. So now I have to figure out how to get there. So after asking 7 or 8 different people, and being told I was already at DongTaegu Busuh Tuhminall (DongDaegu Bus Terminal in Korean), which is where he was and clearly I was not, a Korean military gentleman gave me directions, and told me it wasn't too far, just straight, the left around the corner, then straight a little more. So I set out. Well, I always continue to ask for directions as I'm walking, just to make sure I'm still going the right way and I haven't missed it etc. Just something I've always done, ask my mother about finding the bathroom at a camp ground :]. So I finally see this guy after I've been walking for about 4 or 5 minutes and ask which way DongDaegu bus terminal is. Now this is where things get really interesting. He tells me to turn around and walk back the way I just came from, then turn left when I get to the intersection and it's right there. So I turn around and follow his directions and they lead me back to the terminal I just came from. -___-
So I call David again, explain what I have just done and he suggests taking a taxi and telling them DongDaegu and they would take me right to it. So I did. The first taxi I asked to take me told me "Ani-yo" (no) and pointed to a taxi about 3 cars up. So I go to him, and get in, tell him, and off we go. Well turns out that was a great idea because it was a 7 or 8 minute taxi ride so 15 to 20 minute walk, and I never would have found it on my own. So, I get there, see David and things settle down a bit. The rest of the night contained riding my first subway, a rooftop party with friends from orientation, and finally sleep.
So David and I and some others were supposed to go to an art museum Saturday morning, then have lunch, then I was supposed to pick up the cat, and head home. Instead, we woke up at 11, got lunch at a Korean restaurant down the street, where we had chicken soup - read a whole boiled chicken served in boiling "soup" aka water with seasonings on top of the chicken and the chicken stuffed with rice. The chicken was good. The rice was rice. Overall a decent meal, especially considering what the possible alternatives are over here. Then David showed me around a bit before I hopped in a taxi to meet my new love.
Well, earlier that morning I realized I didn't have Jessica's phone number and we hadn't decided on a specific place as she was sure I would be able to find her. Well, after the previous nights' shenanigans with meeting, I sent her an email when I woke up about 11, hoping she would see it before she left asking for her phone number and more specifics. In addition to a lack of specificity, at one point we were meeting at the bus terminal, then it changed to the train station and as I often unintentionally call the bus terminal the train station, I was a bit worried. So the last few emails said train station, so I decided to go with that. Unfortunately, there are 7 train stations in Daegu and 2 major ones. So I went to the main one (DongDaegu) hoping she would be there and things would work out. Well, her train was supposed to come in at 2:30 and then she was wanting to take the train at 2:57 back to Daejon, where she lives. So I assumed that if I didn't meet her by 2:57, she would get on the train and head back home as she made it sound very important for her to be back home as soon as possible. So, when I hadn't found her by 2:45+ and I knew it would take a minimum of 10 minutes by subway (assuming I could successfully do the subway thing by myself without adding extra time), I decided I would head to my bus station and email her when I got home. So then I set out to find a way home. Well, I was right next to the DongDaegu bus terminal so I figured this would be pretty easy. But as I discovered the night before, DongDaegu is so large that it is split into 3 sections by city. So I searched for a bus to Pohang, the closest city to Yeongdeok (which most people don't know), to no avail, and finally lucked into finding an American girl and her English speaking Korean boyfriend (unfortunately not Jessica - the girl with the cat - although she is also an American girl with an English speaking Korean boyfriend) and was informed that buses to Pohang run out of Dongbu station. At which point I remember that David and I discovered that's where I was the night before because that's where all buses to and from Pohang, and surrounding areas go. So I grab a taxi (yeah, I'm practically pro at this now btw. That and buses :]) and make my happy way to Dongbu bus terminal catless, but glad to be headed home all the same. Big cities are not for me. Too many people and not enough open space. So I get to Dongbu, buy my ticket and sit down to start my 40 minute wait until the bus leaves. I met the two cutest little Korean boys, played some peek-a-boo, and broke the language barrier. :] Then I decided to pull out my Kindle and read a bit, when I remembered I can access the internet on it and wonder if it works in Korea. By this time it is 3:10, working on 3:15. Long story short, (or not so short...) I checked my email seconds after Jessica emailed me giving me her phone number, telling me she's still in town and to call her ASAP. This, is a God thing. So, I run to the payphone, tell her where I am, she tells the taxi driver, and 15 minutes later, I am the proud new owner of one adorable kitten. So, I run to the bus, which is about to leave now, ticket in hand, board, and everyone is on their way home. Also, it's a bit odd to think of my apartment in Yeongdeok as home when I've been here less than a month, but I suppose it's a good thing.
So after a long two hour bus ride and a tense 15 minute walk home, formal introductions were made, Switch was named and started claiming space right away. A few quirks for your enjoyment - she is also a bag cat. Actually she's an anything I can get in or under cat. I don't know if this is common to all cats but at least her and Dani will have something in common besides their gender and color. Also, she follows me everywhere, but complains about it the whole way. Which brings to the fact that I have never heard a cat makes so many different noises. I'm trying to hide her from my landlord and she sounds like an infant learning to talk. At least they'll never guess she's a cat. :] To go with her mouth, she has one of the most expressive cat faces I've ever seen. And, for the first 6 or so hours she would only jump on the bed from one spot, onto one spot on the bed and it was where the pillow I lean against goes so she would stand there and look at me until I moved it, then jump up with a satisfactory face and lay down close to, but not touching me, and I would put the pillow back. I'm sure this was some sort of test to see how easy it was to manipulate me but whatever. It was her first day, I'll let it slide. :] So all is well here, with the exception of our first disagreement, as stated on facebook. She thought it would be a good idea to pee on my bed. I disagreed. We had our second disagreement when I decided she needed to be punished and she disagreed by painting ribbons on my arms and legs. I'm going to be learning how to cut cat toenails tomorrow. I know I wouldn't do Dani's but Switch's are just too sharp and she doesn't know how to control them yet and so I'm just going to have to man up and do it. Anyhow, that's all for now. We went on a school trip today with high 1st and 2nd years but it's after midnight so I'll write about that tomorrow at school after I do my lesson plans. :]
I miss you all and love you dearly.
♥ xoxo
Monday I got the package Lauren sent for my birthday. :] She sent a card, a Happy Birthday sign, and a keychain, just what I needed :]
This is the beautiful card and Happy Birthday sign she sent. The card made me cry, of course, which freaked out my teachers a little bit, but that's okay. I put them up on my desk for the first few days before I brought them home and I had the most attractive work space in the school. :] Now they decorate my wall at home and make me smile every time I see them. The happy birthday sign also has all sorts of wonderful things written on it. :]
Now I think of you everyday. (Not like I didn't before but, you know. :])So Tuesday I wore my glasses and my hair in a bun and all my students told me all day "Teacher smart. Teacher intelligent." haha. These kids crack me up. This culture is just so based on appearance that the smallest changes can totally change the way they see you, for the day at least. Maybe that means I should wear all black with my hair up and my glasses everyday for middle school? Nah, it probably wouldn't make a difference with those kids. But more about that later. I also had a student walk up to me after class on Tuesday and tell me "I like you." It was so sincere and cute. I smiled and told her I liked her too. Then, after lunch, Oeja told me that one of the 1st year (10th grade) girls came up to her and told her she really likes me and my class and she is so happy she can communicate with me. It's things like that that make me want to teach. :]
Unfortunately, not all the girls are like that. Most of my high schoolers are very well behaved and cooperative, even excited to learn English, except for this one group. Or rather, 80% of my second year students. And the middle schoolers aren't terrible, except for, well, first and second year. And the girls in those classes aren't bad or have bad attitudes outside of class so let's see what they have in common - OH, look. Mr. Pa is their English teacher/ my coteacher for those classes. This man is the worst. When's he's not sleeping my the back of my classroom (yes, he actually fell asleep in the back of the classroom while I was teaching) he's being overly harsh on the students about insignificant issues that aren't disrupting the class or causing any sort of problem, and completely passing over the students who are actually misbehaving and distracting from my teaching. Now, I understand the "Squash the small things and the big will follow." but not in this case. It is the second semester and these girls know him. They know what he will punish and what they can get away with, and they get away with murder. I'm just glad he isn't my main coteacher or this whole experience would be drastically different.
Anyhow, my classes that I do have trouble with are starting to fall in line a bit. I had to get tough with a few and raise my voice, which I think scared them a little because they've only seen me be nice and friendly and the fun English teacher but a few of the classes will see differently this week. I have 2 classes that will be writing sentences for at least a portion of the class. :] They're going to be mad. ha ha hahaha. :] I think it will serve as a nice wake up call that English class can be whatever I want it to be and that that decision will be directly related to their behavior in class. - ohh, I could show them that on a graph. :]
But, like I said, overall, school is good. Teaching is so fulfilling and despite having fought it all these years, I really love it.
So, after a good week of teaching, a smooth start to Friday, with a rough end, the weekend was finally upon me. I had plans to meet a friend from orientation in Daegu, which is a big city (3-4 million people) about 2 hours away. So, with no cell phone, and some directions and a huge leap of faith, I bought a bus ticket and began my weekend adventure. The main reason for going to Daegu, or at least the reason that prompted the trip, was meeting with the wonderful girl Jessica who gave me the newest addition to the Chinnery family, Switch.
Okay but wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. She was the reason I went to Daegu but I still haven't told you what happened when I got there. So, I was supposed to meet this guy David that I met at orientation at the bus terminal because he lives there and I don't know where I'm going and I have no cell phone, etc. So I get to the bus terminal about 7:40 or so, and he's nowhere to be seen. I call him, he says he's sitting right outside of the bus terminal with a
So I call David again, explain what I have just done and he suggests taking a taxi and telling them DongDaegu and they would take me right to it. So I did. The first taxi I asked to take me told me "Ani-yo" (no) and pointed to a taxi about 3 cars up. So I go to him, and get in, tell him, and off we go. Well turns out that was a great idea because it was a 7 or 8 minute taxi ride so 15 to 20 minute walk, and I never would have found it on my own. So, I get there, see David and things settle down a bit. The rest of the night contained riding my first subway, a rooftop party with friends from orientation, and finally sleep.
So David and I and some others were supposed to go to an art museum Saturday morning, then have lunch, then I was supposed to pick up the cat, and head home. Instead, we woke up at 11, got lunch at a Korean restaurant down the street, where we had chicken soup - read a whole boiled chicken served in boiling "soup" aka water with seasonings on top of the chicken and the chicken stuffed with rice. The chicken was good. The rice was rice. Overall a decent meal, especially considering what the possible alternatives are over here. Then David showed me around a bit before I hopped in a taxi to meet my new love.
Well, earlier that morning I realized I didn't have Jessica's phone number and we hadn't decided on a specific place as she was sure I would be able to find her. Well, after the previous nights' shenanigans with meeting, I sent her an email when I woke up about 11, hoping she would see it before she left asking for her phone number and more specifics. In addition to a lack of specificity, at one point we were meeting at the bus terminal, then it changed to the train station and as I often unintentionally call the bus terminal the train station, I was a bit worried. So the last few emails said train station, so I decided to go with that. Unfortunately, there are 7 train stations in Daegu and 2 major ones. So I went to the main one (DongDaegu) hoping she would be there and things would work out. Well, her train was supposed to come in at 2:30 and then she was wanting to take the train at 2:57 back to Daejon, where she lives. So I assumed that if I didn't meet her by 2:57, she would get on the train and head back home as she made it sound very important for her to be back home as soon as possible. So, when I hadn't found her by 2:45+ and I knew it would take a minimum of 10 minutes by subway (assuming I could successfully do the subway thing by myself without adding extra time), I decided I would head to my bus station and email her when I got home. So then I set out to find a way home. Well, I was right next to the DongDaegu bus terminal so I figured this would be pretty easy. But as I discovered the night before, DongDaegu is so large that it is split into 3 sections by city. So I searched for a bus to Pohang, the closest city to Yeongdeok (which most people don't know), to no avail, and finally lucked into finding an American girl and her English speaking Korean boyfriend (unfortunately not Jessica - the girl with the cat - although she is also an American girl with an English speaking Korean boyfriend) and was informed that buses to Pohang run out of Dongbu station. At which point I remember that David and I discovered that's where I was the night before because that's where all buses to and from Pohang, and surrounding areas go. So I grab a taxi (yeah, I'm practically pro at this now btw. That and buses :]) and make my happy way to Dongbu bus terminal catless, but glad to be headed home all the same. Big cities are not for me. Too many people and not enough open space. So I get to Dongbu, buy my ticket and sit down to start my 40 minute wait until the bus leaves. I met the two cutest little Korean boys, played some peek-a-boo, and broke the language barrier. :] Then I decided to pull out my Kindle and read a bit, when I remembered I can access the internet on it and wonder if it works in Korea. By this time it is 3:10, working on 3:15. Long story short, (or not so short...) I checked my email seconds after Jessica emailed me giving me her phone number, telling me she's still in town and to call her ASAP. This, is a God thing. So, I run to the payphone, tell her where I am, she tells the taxi driver, and 15 minutes later, I am the proud new owner of one adorable kitten. So, I run to the bus, which is about to leave now, ticket in hand, board, and everyone is on their way home. Also, it's a bit odd to think of my apartment in Yeongdeok as home when I've been here less than a month, but I suppose it's a good thing.
So after a long two hour bus ride and a tense 15 minute walk home, formal introductions were made, Switch was named and started claiming space right away. A few quirks for your enjoyment - she is also a bag cat. Actually she's an anything I can get in or under cat. I don't know if this is common to all cats but at least her and Dani will have something in common besides their gender and color. Also, she follows me everywhere, but complains about it the whole way. Which brings to the fact that I have never heard a cat makes so many different noises. I'm trying to hide her from my landlord and she sounds like an infant learning to talk. At least they'll never guess she's a cat. :] To go with her mouth, she has one of the most expressive cat faces I've ever seen. And, for the first 6 or so hours she would only jump on the bed from one spot, onto one spot on the bed and it was where the pillow I lean against goes so she would stand there and look at me until I moved it, then jump up with a satisfactory face and lay down close to, but not touching me, and I would put the pillow back. I'm sure this was some sort of test to see how easy it was to manipulate me but whatever. It was her first day, I'll let it slide. :] So all is well here, with the exception of our first disagreement, as stated on facebook. She thought it would be a good idea to pee on my bed. I disagreed. We had our second disagreement when I decided she needed to be punished and she disagreed by painting ribbons on my arms and legs. I'm going to be learning how to cut cat toenails tomorrow. I know I wouldn't do Dani's but Switch's are just too sharp and she doesn't know how to control them yet and so I'm just going to have to man up and do it. Anyhow, that's all for now. We went on a school trip today with high 1st and 2nd years but it's after midnight so I'll write about that tomorrow at school after I do my lesson plans. :]
I miss you all and love you dearly.
♥ xoxo
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Memory.
Sometimes I forget where I am. Then I remember.
That's when homesickness hits the hardest...
♥
That's when homesickness hits the hardest...
♥
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
PS.
The last post may have been a little scattered - because that's my brain these days. When I get home tonight I will take the time to sort everything out and make a proper post which will actually make sense. Gah, my brain is scrambled. :/
I blame the homesickness...
I blame the homesickness...
Through the fog
Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Last week was filled with classes and planning and then the weekend came. My birthday was decent. Friday night I hung out with a guy that lives in my town, but he's from Scotland. He came over with EPIK in February. It was fun. We hung out at his place and had a few drinks. So the first hour of my birthday was good. Then, I had plans to go out to Pohang and stay over there for the weekend but the girl I was supposed to stay with broke up with her boyfriend Saturday morning so she canceled saying she didn't feel like going out and just wanted to be alone. Understandable I suppose but it sucked because then I had nowhere to stay and as the last bus back to to Yeongdeok runs at 11:30 and she canceled at 4 :/ Yeah. So I just stayed home and watched movies. Sunday I was going to walk around Yeongdeok to explore a little more and get out of my apartment but I didn't wake up until 2:30 so that didn't happen. It was raining all weekend though too so not really a good day for exploring anyhow. So I had another movie day. :]
Yesterday was Monday so it was back to work again. It was the second time I've had my high schoolers and the first real lesson. I taught Vacations which they learned pretty well. We focused on the phrases "On vacation, I would like to go to ________." "I would like to go there because __________." and "On vacation, I would like to ________." At the end of class I assigned them a project to plan a 3 day vacation with a minimum of one activity per day using the sentences we worked on, to be turned in next week. And I told them the 5 best vacations will get a prize. So we'll see how it works out. I only had one student class so that was easy. I had 2 teacher classes though. :/ The first one was a bit rough. I never know how much they understand and if they tell me they understand then I assume they do and I move on. So this group kept telling me they understood so I continued to move on. We covered way too much material. And apparently they didn't understand half the lesson. So yeah... Mr. Lee told me at the end that I covered too much and they didn't understand and that they wanted a written dialogue of whatever I cover that day in class so... the class wasn't exactly a success but at least they told me what they want so the classes in the future can be and not just be me standing up front talking for 50 minutes. :/ Overall, not a bad day. Oh, and at the end I was supposed to have my English teacher class, which got cut to once a week, fine with me :]. Instead, Oeja brought out a pizza and bottle of Coke and we had a "pizza party" haha. Apparently Mr. Pa told her that my favorite food is pizza - that's what my powerpoint said but that was more so that my favorite food would be something the kids knew and I could pretend we had common ground :/ - anyway, I do like pizza but... Korean pizza and American pizza are two very different ideas. Korean pizza has no tomato sauce (or red sauce at all for that matter), no meat, and no salt. Instead it has chunks of potato, something sweet and yellow (which may or may not be sweet peppers - they weren't even the tiniest bit spicy so I'm not sure), cheese, kernels of corn under the cheese, and some sort of white sweet, cream cheesey type of something between the cheese and the crust - where the delicious salty tomato sauce belongs. I guess I know why they call it "white pizza" now....
Anyhow, life is moving forward. Things are well. I'm going to get my kitten this weekend from Daegu so I'm thinking of going Friday night if I can find someplace to crash for the night and then getting the kitten and going home Saturday afternoon. That would be ideal. Welp, off to do a bit of planning and emailing. Love you all and miss you!!
♥
Yesterday was Monday so it was back to work again. It was the second time I've had my high schoolers and the first real lesson. I taught Vacations which they learned pretty well. We focused on the phrases "On vacation, I would like to go to ________." "I would like to go there because __________." and "On vacation, I would like to ________." At the end of class I assigned them a project to plan a 3 day vacation with a minimum of one activity per day using the sentences we worked on, to be turned in next week. And I told them the 5 best vacations will get a prize. So we'll see how it works out. I only had one student class so that was easy. I had 2 teacher classes though. :/ The first one was a bit rough. I never know how much they understand and if they tell me they understand then I assume they do and I move on. So this group kept telling me they understood so I continued to move on. We covered way too much material. And apparently they didn't understand half the lesson. So yeah... Mr. Lee told me at the end that I covered too much and they didn't understand and that they wanted a written dialogue of whatever I cover that day in class so... the class wasn't exactly a success but at least they told me what they want so the classes in the future can be and not just be me standing up front talking for 50 minutes. :/ Overall, not a bad day. Oh, and at the end I was supposed to have my English teacher class, which got cut to once a week, fine with me :]. Instead, Oeja brought out a pizza and bottle of Coke and we had a "pizza party" haha. Apparently Mr. Pa told her that my favorite food is pizza - that's what my powerpoint said but that was more so that my favorite food would be something the kids knew and I could pretend we had common ground :/ - anyway, I do like pizza but... Korean pizza and American pizza are two very different ideas. Korean pizza has no tomato sauce (or red sauce at all for that matter), no meat, and no salt. Instead it has chunks of potato, something sweet and yellow (which may or may not be sweet peppers - they weren't even the tiniest bit spicy so I'm not sure), cheese, kernels of corn under the cheese, and some sort of white sweet, cream cheesey type of something between the cheese and the crust - where the delicious salty tomato sauce belongs. I guess I know why they call it "white pizza" now....
Anyhow, life is moving forward. Things are well. I'm going to get my kitten this weekend from Daegu so I'm thinking of going Friday night if I can find someplace to crash for the night and then getting the kitten and going home Saturday afternoon. That would be ideal. Welp, off to do a bit of planning and emailing. Love you all and miss you!!
♥
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Back to the Grind.
So Chuseok is over and it was back to the real world today.
Chuseok was good. Ended up not getting to go Daegu due to some planning misunderstandings and me not wanting to risk not being back in time for work this morning. But that's alright, there will be plenty of other opportunities. Pohang was great, will definitely be spending lots of weekends down there. :] Hopefully either sometime this week or this weekend I can head back down and get a bike. I looked at ones here in Yeongdeok and the cheapest I could find for what I want is 170,000 ($170) and that's more than I'm willing to pay when I can get one for 100,000-120,000 tops in Pohang. Then just ride it back.
So today was an easy day, just my two best classes of 10th graders this morning and then club this afternoon. I taught class by myself today because Mr. Ha had to go to Daegu for some test but it was fine. Honestly, I prefer being in the classroom by myself. I feel like it forces the kids to respect me more and recognize me only as the teacher instead of a sidekick. There was no class for middle school today which means tomorrow they're going to be even more challenging than normal because it'll be the first day back after a 5 day vacation. :/ Wish me luck...
At least I only have two classes tomorrow. And then I'm supposed to start my extra classes for conversation so that should be interesting.
Not much to say today. I did however make a map to show you all where everything is in my new home. So I'll give you that instead of a picture. :]
xoxo
View My Home! in a larger map
Chuseok was good. Ended up not getting to go Daegu due to some planning misunderstandings and me not wanting to risk not being back in time for work this morning. But that's alright, there will be plenty of other opportunities. Pohang was great, will definitely be spending lots of weekends down there. :] Hopefully either sometime this week or this weekend I can head back down and get a bike. I looked at ones here in Yeongdeok and the cheapest I could find for what I want is 170,000 ($170) and that's more than I'm willing to pay when I can get one for 100,000-120,000 tops in Pohang. Then just ride it back.
So today was an easy day, just my two best classes of 10th graders this morning and then club this afternoon. I taught class by myself today because Mr. Ha had to go to Daegu for some test but it was fine. Honestly, I prefer being in the classroom by myself. I feel like it forces the kids to respect me more and recognize me only as the teacher instead of a sidekick. There was no class for middle school today which means tomorrow they're going to be even more challenging than normal because it'll be the first day back after a 5 day vacation. :/ Wish me luck...
At least I only have two classes tomorrow. And then I'm supposed to start my extra classes for conversation so that should be interesting.
Not much to say today. I did however make a map to show you all where everything is in my new home. So I'll give you that instead of a picture. :]
xoxo
View My Home! in a larger map
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Giving Thanks.
I am loving Chuseok, Korean thanksgiving. I get a 4 day weekend, which had started out phenomenally, and get to do some out of town exploring.
Yesterday I headed out for Pohang about 2:30. Got to the bus station to buy my ticket and Mark comes walking in with his parents. They were going to Pohang too for the footbal (read soccer) game. So got to spend the 50 minute bus ride talking to him :] We split at the bus terminal in Pohang where I met Stephanie and he and his parents walked to the stadium. Stephanie was a little late so I was a little panicked but she came and then we went and grabbed some sandwiches and smoothies for a quick lunch and we were on our way too. At the game we met her friends Adrian and Guido. Adrian is a Polish Canadian and Guido (pronounced Gee-do - though everyone got a good kick out of calling him Gwi-do later in the night) is South African. So the game was great. It rained off and on all day Saturday but rain here is just misting so they still played and the stadium seats are covered so it was fine. Our team won 4-1 which started the night off well. Then we rode a bus downtown and went for dinner at a chicken place. After we took a taxi to Bukbu Beach and walked across the road to a restaurant/club/bar called TILT which was having a DJ competition last night. we got there at 9:10 and avoided the cover charge and then hung out til about 11 when the competition started. (It was posted to start at 9 but apparently they changed their minds :/) So we had a couple of rounds and hung out. The first DJ wasn't any good. The second was awesome, third okay, fourth no good, and we didn't stay for the fifth because he didn't start til 4 :/. So after a ton of dancing, a few drinks, and an all around fantastic night, we headed home. I stayed with Stephanie in Pohang since the last bus runs at 12:30 and the morning doesn't start until 5:30.
Woke up this morning about 10, hung out with Stephanie for a bit. Then we went to Homeplus and she helped me shop a bit. I finally got my toaster and chicken breasts (8 for 15,000 - not bad!) and some mugs, glasses, and other groceries. Then I got back on the bus to Yeongdeok and lugged my stuff home. Now I'm enjoying my lazy Sunday listening to music and playing Tetris. :]
I hope every weekend turns out this good. :]
Yesterday I headed out for Pohang about 2:30. Got to the bus station to buy my ticket and Mark comes walking in with his parents. They were going to Pohang too for the footbal (read soccer) game. So got to spend the 50 minute bus ride talking to him :] We split at the bus terminal in Pohang where I met Stephanie and he and his parents walked to the stadium. Stephanie was a little late so I was a little panicked but she came and then we went and grabbed some sandwiches and smoothies for a quick lunch and we were on our way too. At the game we met her friends Adrian and Guido. Adrian is a Polish Canadian and Guido (pronounced Gee-do - though everyone got a good kick out of calling him Gwi-do later in the night) is South African. So the game was great. It rained off and on all day Saturday but rain here is just misting so they still played and the stadium seats are covered so it was fine. Our team won 4-1 which started the night off well. Then we rode a bus downtown and went for dinner at a chicken place. After we took a taxi to Bukbu Beach and walked across the road to a restaurant/club/bar called TILT which was having a DJ competition last night. we got there at 9:10 and avoided the cover charge and then hung out til about 11 when the competition started. (It was posted to start at 9 but apparently they changed their minds :/) So we had a couple of rounds and hung out. The first DJ wasn't any good. The second was awesome, third okay, fourth no good, and we didn't stay for the fifth because he didn't start til 4 :/. So after a ton of dancing, a few drinks, and an all around fantastic night, we headed home. I stayed with Stephanie in Pohang since the last bus runs at 12:30 and the morning doesn't start until 5:30.
Woke up this morning about 10, hung out with Stephanie for a bit. Then we went to Homeplus and she helped me shop a bit. I finally got my toaster and chicken breasts (8 for 15,000 - not bad!) and some mugs, glasses, and other groceries. Then I got back on the bus to Yeongdeok and lugged my stuff home. Now I'm enjoying my lazy Sunday listening to music and playing Tetris. :]
I hope every weekend turns out this good. :]
 | ||
| The Haul :] The damage - 73,160 Toaster - 19,900 Chicken breast - 14,800 Shampoo and Conditioner (buy one get one free) (not in picture) - 11,200 4 coffee mugs - 5,000 100 packs of instant coffee (portioned like crystal light packs) - 9,900 Salsa - 5,300 Ketchup - 800 (like 80 cents!!) 2 glasses - 3,000 (1,500 each) Korean moonpies - 1,000 |
Friday, September 9, 2011
Hellooooo Weekend! :]
So finished my last two classes, they went surprising well. The biggest problem I had was with my coteacher. He stood up in the front of the class and talked to the students for the first 5 minutes of class in Korean, I have no idea what he said, though I think I caught my name a couple of times, and I know he said Florida at least once (part of my presentation was for the students to guess where I'm from. He knows this because he's seen my presentation 4 times....) and then told me, "Okay, go ahead." Yeah because that's totally going to inspire respect for me. Gah. I'm just so frustrated. And it sucks because the rest of my coteachers are so great. I guess I should just be happy I only have one stupid one. But still. It just makes the classes with him so hard. And he's super strict to the kids so they don't like him... He walks around with what looks like the skinny half of a pool cue, though I know it's not, and threatens the kids with it :o haha I don't speak Korean but I know when he's threatening them. And I think he must actually hit them with it in other classes because he walks over and raises it up and the kids flinch. I'm not against punishing the kids if they deserve it and are misbehaving, but he does it for the small stupid stuff and then doesn't do anything about the big stuff... I don't know. It's weird.
Anyway, I'm excited it's the weekend and even more excited that's its a 4 day weekend. And I have plans :] So Saturday I am going to Pohang about 4 and meeting up with two really awesome girls for a football game, watching not playing :], then dinner, then a night of dancing and awesomeness at a club/bar called TILT. There's a DJ competition so it should be lots of fun. Then I'm staying in Pohang at one of the girl's hosues so I don't have to worry about catching the bus back at 12:30. Then I'm not sure what we'll do Sunday. Maybe I can get her to show me around and I can look around for a bike. Or not cause duh, it'll be Sunday and a holiday weekend to boot. But maybe some of the big COSCOs or something will be open and I can find some conditioner cheaper than 10. Maybe a toaster, and some cat food for the kitty I'm getting the 24th! :] And maybe a small trash can. :] Anyway, it should be fun.
And then Monday I'm just going to relax at home and Tuesday I have plans to go hiking up a mountain and see a temple with about 30 people in Daegu, which I think is about 3 hours south. So that should be fun. I will definitely have to take my camera and take lots of pictures.:]Then back to school on Wednesday! :[ It's a nice break though. And we get October 3 off for some reason so that'll be another 3 day weekend. So maybe I can go see some other things. :]
I'll leave you with a photo from the bundles now on my facebook :]
Anyway, I'm excited it's the weekend and even more excited that's its a 4 day weekend. And I have plans :] So Saturday I am going to Pohang about 4 and meeting up with two really awesome girls for a football game, watching not playing :], then dinner, then a night of dancing and awesomeness at a club/bar called TILT. There's a DJ competition so it should be lots of fun. Then I'm staying in Pohang at one of the girl's hosues so I don't have to worry about catching the bus back at 12:30. Then I'm not sure what we'll do Sunday. Maybe I can get her to show me around and I can look around for a bike. Or not cause duh, it'll be Sunday and a holiday weekend to boot. But maybe some of the big COSCOs or something will be open and I can find some conditioner cheaper than 10. Maybe a toaster, and some cat food for the kitty I'm getting the 24th! :] And maybe a small trash can. :] Anyway, it should be fun.
And then Monday I'm just going to relax at home and Tuesday I have plans to go hiking up a mountain and see a temple with about 30 people in Daegu, which I think is about 3 hours south. So that should be fun. I will definitely have to take my camera and take lots of pictures.:]Then back to school on Wednesday! :[ It's a nice break though. And we get October 3 off for some reason so that'll be another 3 day weekend. So maybe I can go see some other things. :]
I'll leave you with a photo from the bundles now on my facebook :]
Blegh. Middle School.
So I started teaching middle school yesterday... Let's just say Thursdays and Fridays are going to be the longest days of the week. Oh, and there's a reason I didn't want to teach middle school. Actually there's about 200. And I can't pronounce the names of any of them. :/
I think these children make it their goal everyday to drive me crazy.
Okay, so it's not really that horrible. But it's certainly not my favorite days of the week. I am however very glad that it is Friday and that means 4 day weekend. :] YAY Chuseok.
Not much has happened since my last blog. Just sort of settling into the swing of things. I have had all my high school classes, The ones on Wednesday are the best. It's the rest of my 10th graders. They're so great. They're quiet but responsive. :] Unlike my middle schoolers who are loud and unresponsive. Had 3rd grade yesterday (9th). I wanted to die. Thank goodness those are my only two students classes for the day. Wonder if they did that on purpose... Anyway, they were rough. They just don't want to learn. And then yesterday I had two teacher classes after my two student classes, but that was just for this week. Apparently the middle school teacher doesn't want me wasting time teaching the teachers so I'm going to have 2 extra student classes instead. Except I'm not sure when the second one will be because there's no room in the schedule. Anyway, I guess I'll find out next week. But those classes are conversation and the students had to apply. So it will only be students that want to be there and they'll be the highest level and its all conversation. So those should be easy classes.
Not sure what exactly I'm supposed to be teaching in my regular classes, I assume it's the same as high school where I'm not to follow the textbook but Mrs. Seong is the one helping me over here and her English just isn't that great. And Mr. Pa's English is very good, but he is the most unhelpful, unresponsive person. I really dislike teaching classes with him which sucks because I teach the most classes with him. :/ It's just hard because he won't let the students figure out what I'm saying, or let me explain until they get it. Instead, they know he's going to translate so they just wait and don't ask questions or anything. It's frustrating.
Oh man I'm so tired. Nap, class at 2:25, more update tonight.
♥
I think these children make it their goal everyday to drive me crazy.
Okay, so it's not really that horrible. But it's certainly not my favorite days of the week. I am however very glad that it is Friday and that means 4 day weekend. :] YAY Chuseok.
Not much has happened since my last blog. Just sort of settling into the swing of things. I have had all my high school classes, The ones on Wednesday are the best. It's the rest of my 10th graders. They're so great. They're quiet but responsive. :] Unlike my middle schoolers who are loud and unresponsive. Had 3rd grade yesterday (9th). I wanted to die. Thank goodness those are my only two students classes for the day. Wonder if they did that on purpose... Anyway, they were rough. They just don't want to learn. And then yesterday I had two teacher classes after my two student classes, but that was just for this week. Apparently the middle school teacher doesn't want me wasting time teaching the teachers so I'm going to have 2 extra student classes instead. Except I'm not sure when the second one will be because there's no room in the schedule. Anyway, I guess I'll find out next week. But those classes are conversation and the students had to apply. So it will only be students that want to be there and they'll be the highest level and its all conversation. So those should be easy classes.
Not sure what exactly I'm supposed to be teaching in my regular classes, I assume it's the same as high school where I'm not to follow the textbook but Mrs. Seong is the one helping me over here and her English just isn't that great. And Mr. Pa's English is very good, but he is the most unhelpful, unresponsive person. I really dislike teaching classes with him which sucks because I teach the most classes with him. :/ It's just hard because he won't let the students figure out what I'm saying, or let me explain until they get it. Instead, they know he's going to translate so they just wait and don't ask questions or anything. It's frustrating.
Oh man I'm so tired. Nap, class at 2:25, more update tonight.
♥
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Mmmm, tastes of home.
So I got my first care package today. Read - camera, ballet flats, and blueberry tea. So I am now sitting here listening to "Take A Back Road" drinking some blueberry tea with orange blossom honey in my customized mug stating "Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity" with my doors and windows open enjoying the autumn weather. :D Oh, and this great addition from Korea - (besides the weather :]) they put ceramic lids on their coffee mugs to keep the drinks hot!! I'm telling you, these people have thought of everything!
I had a great second day. I had my 2nd grade (11th grade) all day today and my two general teacher classes again. 2nd grade was a little more talkative and rambunctious than the 1st graders and less willing to participate and try but worked them a little and got 98% participation by the end which is great. I think it's going to be a really great year and I'm excited to start teaching real material instead of just introductions.
My teacher classes were much better today than yesterday. Had a bit more structure and I kind of got into a swing (with all my classes actually) so things went smoothly today. Tomorrow I have my other two 1st grade classes and my Club Activity class in which we are going to learn and perform Cinderella in front of the school at the school festival in November. And yes, we are going to perform. Oeja told me I got to be producer and actress, oh, lucky me :/ It should be fun though. It's just me and Oeja and 6 girls so I'm excited to get into it and get to know the girls. I think it's going to be a lot of fun and a great way for the girls to learn English.
<Just looked online for short Cinderella plays - because I don't have the time or desire to write one when I have the internet to do it for me :] >
So I found a really cute rhyming Cinderella, only thing is some of the vocabulary is a bit difficult. So I looked around and I found a rhyming Goldilocks (me obviously :]) on the same site with easier vocab but super cute. And perfect. So maybe I'll talk to Oeja about switching from Cinderella to Goldilocks.
Anywho, as I now have my camera, and microsd card adapter, I have a load of photo sorting, editing, and posting to do so I bid you farewell with the promise of photos to come. :]
♥♥
I had a great second day. I had my 2nd grade (11th grade) all day today and my two general teacher classes again. 2nd grade was a little more talkative and rambunctious than the 1st graders and less willing to participate and try but worked them a little and got 98% participation by the end which is great. I think it's going to be a really great year and I'm excited to start teaching real material instead of just introductions.
My teacher classes were much better today than yesterday. Had a bit more structure and I kind of got into a swing (with all my classes actually) so things went smoothly today. Tomorrow I have my other two 1st grade classes and my Club Activity class in which we are going to learn and perform Cinderella in front of the school at the school festival in November. And yes, we are going to perform. Oeja told me I got to be producer and actress, oh, lucky me :/ It should be fun though. It's just me and Oeja and 6 girls so I'm excited to get into it and get to know the girls. I think it's going to be a lot of fun and a great way for the girls to learn English.
<Just looked online for short Cinderella plays - because I don't have the time or desire to write one when I have the internet to do it for me :] >
So I found a really cute rhyming Cinderella, only thing is some of the vocabulary is a bit difficult. So I looked around and I found a rhyming Goldilocks (me obviously :]) on the same site with easier vocab but super cute. And perfect. So maybe I'll talk to Oeja about switching from Cinderella to Goldilocks.
Anywho, as I now have my camera, and microsd card adapter, I have a load of photo sorting, editing, and posting to do so I bid you farewell with the promise of photos to come. :]
♥♥
Monday, September 5, 2011
Mission.... Possible?
I have successfully completed my first day of teaching in Korea. However, the day did not start off smooth. Walked in this morning and sat down at my computer to finish up last minute lesson planning before my classes, pushed the power button and .... nothing. As in, nothing. The computer wouldn't turn on. At all. So after the teacher next to me trying the power button as well, to no avail, I waited patiently for Mr. Lee to come in and then told him. (Poor Mr. Lee...) He came over and messed with all the wires, double checked that everything was plugged in and the rest of it. Still nothing. So he tells me that he can't fix it, and it needs to be repaired. So luckily I saved everything on my USB Friday afternoon, just had a feeling it'd be a good idea... So I got on another teacher's computer and checked to make sure I had everything ready for my first two teacher classes and my first student class which were all back to back. Spent the rest of the time making notes on stuff I had printed out. Then headed up to my first teacher class. It went well. I definitely need to have more stuff prepared, which I knew I would, but figured the first week I could just kind of wing it :/ It went okay. Then had my second teacher class, which is lower, and that went well for the first 10 minutes until the laptop I was using for my presentation died. Yeah.... I wasn't even near it. I was writing words on the board on the other side of the room and then I turned around and it was just off. So I checked the cords, the power was plugged in, everything was still connected, nothing had changed except the computer just turned off and quit working...retarded. So one of the teachers in the class went out and came back with Mr. Lee (POOR MR. LEE) - my school is never going to let me touch computers again :/ - so he checks all the cords, etc, and eventually discovers that the outlet that the power cord is plugged into has apparently died... :/ so he changes it and the computer powers right up. I killed an outlet..... I was just glad I didn't kill another computer.... so we finished class, the rest went quite well. Oeja told me after that all the teachers really enjoyed the class and everyone was very impressed. Surprise to me, I felt like a blubbering idiot most of the time. So then I had my first student class with Mr. Ha, it was 1-1 (1st grade 1st class, so 10th grade, 1st class). It went really well. Just had one student that thought she was too cool for school but that'll be taken care of next week if it continues. The class was a little slow to warm up, but that was expected and after a little persuasion they did really well. Especially when I made a little competition. :D So overall really good classes. Then we had lunch, always an adventure. Had some sort of carmalized seafood shell medley today... not really sure because I didn't eat it... :/
So then I had 2 hours of planning during which the computer repair guy came, brought a brand new power supply with him - I assume they told him what the computer was doing, or wasn't doing rather.... So he plugged it in, nothing, messed with it a bit, nothing, took out some circuit boards, tried a few other things, everything resulting in nothing... So then he unplugs everything, picks up the whole tower, says some stuff in Korean to Mr. Lee and walks out the door.... Mr. Lee tells me that the guy couldn't fix it here and the computer needs to be repaired... :/ But really, they're never gonna let me touch a computer again. So hopefully the guy brings it back working tomorrow. It's really hard to plan and find/steal materials from waygook without a computer and internet. I was contemplating bringing my laptop tomorrow but it won't work with their internet so I'll just buy a notebook on the way to school tomorrow, I need to buy one for lesson planning anyway, and do it by hand.
So my last lesson of the day was English teachers' class. Which went really well. I think mostly we'll just have conversations about random stuff, maybe focused around a topic for day, and that will be our 50 minute class. Because these are people who studied English for 9 years in regular school, plus 4 more intense years in a University. I can teach them nothing except fluency and what we actually say. They've got me on the grammar front and they know all about textbook English, now it's just making it flow. So yeah. That went well. Then I walked home. Decided I was going to take a walk down to the stadium to walk the track for a bit, and then headed back home. Got a little lost on the way home but found my way which is good. They actually recommend doing it the first week just to explore and such but I think I'll just do it in small bits like I did tonight. Easier to actually get a map in my head that way. Anyway, it's almost midnight so off to bed for me. Early morning to review lesson plans before school and figure out what the heck I'm doing in my two teacher classes tomorrow!! Ahh!
Night!
♥
PS - I will get my camera tomorrow so ready yourselves for a plethora of photos!! :] (Though I make no promises because I don't know how my day will go tomorrow. Hopefully as well as or better than today!)
So then I had 2 hours of planning during which the computer repair guy came, brought a brand new power supply with him - I assume they told him what the computer was doing, or wasn't doing rather.... So he plugged it in, nothing, messed with it a bit, nothing, took out some circuit boards, tried a few other things, everything resulting in nothing... So then he unplugs everything, picks up the whole tower, says some stuff in Korean to Mr. Lee and walks out the door.... Mr. Lee tells me that the guy couldn't fix it here and the computer needs to be repaired... :/ But really, they're never gonna let me touch a computer again. So hopefully the guy brings it back working tomorrow. It's really hard to plan and find/steal materials from waygook without a computer and internet. I was contemplating bringing my laptop tomorrow but it won't work with their internet so I'll just buy a notebook on the way to school tomorrow, I need to buy one for lesson planning anyway, and do it by hand.
So my last lesson of the day was English teachers' class. Which went really well. I think mostly we'll just have conversations about random stuff, maybe focused around a topic for day, and that will be our 50 minute class. Because these are people who studied English for 9 years in regular school, plus 4 more intense years in a University. I can teach them nothing except fluency and what we actually say. They've got me on the grammar front and they know all about textbook English, now it's just making it flow. So yeah. That went well. Then I walked home. Decided I was going to take a walk down to the stadium to walk the track for a bit, and then headed back home. Got a little lost on the way home but found my way which is good. They actually recommend doing it the first week just to explore and such but I think I'll just do it in small bits like I did tonight. Easier to actually get a map in my head that way. Anyway, it's almost midnight so off to bed for me. Early morning to review lesson plans before school and figure out what the heck I'm doing in my two teacher classes tomorrow!! Ahh!
Night!
♥
PS - I will get my camera tomorrow so ready yourselves for a plethora of photos!! :] (Though I make no promises because I don't know how my day will go tomorrow. Hopefully as well as or better than today!)
Sunday, September 4, 2011
The adventure continues.
I have been in Korea for 2 and a half weeks. 17 days. So far I spent the first 9 at orientation, 4 days at Mr. Lee's house, and tonight is my 6th night in my own apartment. Wow. It definitely doesn't feel like my 6th day here. I moved in Tuesday night though so it is. Monday night Oeja took me to Pohang to get my ARC. Tuesday was moving day. Wednesday was broken computer at work day. Thursday I just lesson planned then hung out at home. Got a little more settled. Friday I had plans to go out to Pohang to meet a friend I met at orientation. I talked to my mom on facebook for a while, then caught the bus to Pohang. That was an experience. I bought the ticket and everything fine and then had to wait about 30 minutes or so since after 5 the buses only run every 30 minutes or so. But I didn't know where I was supposed to be getting off. I mean, I had an idea, it was basically the stop after where I normally got off and on in Pohang. So with the help of some friendly Koreans, I figured out when to get off and made it in one piece. He was waiting for me at the bus terminal so that was good. Then we went out to a bar called Whistlers where all the westerners hang out. Really great place. They have all the best American drinks there, they play American music, they have pool tables, and a hookah area, and the bartenders all speak English really well. Plus all the people in there speak English. Which is a nice change :] There is a marine base in Pohang too so a lot of military guys hang out there. :] Only, they won't admit to being military, apparently they have some kind of reputation, who'da thought haha. So they always say they are English teachers - except no one looks like they look and isn't in the military when there's a military base close. So that was funny. Hung out with everyone. There were only 3 girls in the bar, and I was the only American so I was a little popular but it was a good time :]
So I missed the last bus, which ran at 11:30 - really gotta pay more attention to the time when there's a bus to catch :/ but it was okay because I just slept on the guy's couch. Then I caught the bus at 7 the next morning and well, that could've gone a little smoother. I got off one stop too early and then got really confused as to where the bus terminal was. (From his apartment I had to take a bus to get to the bus terminal, then take the main bus to get back to Yeongdeok. I got off before the bus terminal.) So after walking around a bit with no luck, I started asking Koreans how to get to the "bus tuhminall" (because that's how they say it and if you say "bus terminal" they won't understand). So I finally found my way there, came in the back of the terminal, had a little trouble finding the ticket counter since I cam in from the back, followed a Korean and found it, bought my ticket, asked a bus driver which bus was going to Yeongdeok, was told "ii" (good thing I know my Korean numbers so I knew that was 2) and got on the bus about 5 minutes before it left. I had to be home early because the internet guy was coming between 9-10 am Saturday morning. So the bus pulls into the terminal in Yeongdeok at 9:05, I hurry home and am in by 9:10 hoping desperately that he didn't already come and with nothing to do now but wait. I watched the rest of Soul Surfer, very good fyi, while I waited and he ended up showing up at 9:50, and took 45 minutes to set everything up but left without me having working internet. He did however call Oeja (she's my contact number for everything) and explain the situation so I talked to her on his cell phone and she said Mr Lee would come over after he finished classes about 12:40 and fix it for me. So he came over, brought a router, because apparently the internet company doesn't supply those :/, and spent 45 minutes fixing it for me :] Which is why I have internet at home now. YAY Mr. Lee!!
So the rest of Saturday I spent sleeping. I was supposed to meet up with some people in Pohang for an open mic night and general festivities but I was too tired from the night before so I just stayed in and slept. Talk to mom on skype some and then slept more.
This morning my plan for the day was to get up, get lost in Yeongdeok, find my way to the open market which is open the 4, and 9 of every month (so 4, 9, 14, 19, 24, and 29), then find the bike shop, possibly buy a bike if they weren't too expensive, go grocery shopping, and then just hang out. Instead I slept, got up about 12, got on the computer for a little while, got homesick and sad, slept, slept some more, and then about 6 finally got up and decided I had to go grocery shopping because I had no food and I was hungry. So I got dressed and did it. I spent 36, 940 won and got the following,
2 microfiber hand towels (all they sell here) - 1000 each = 2000
6 bananas - 2300
half a loaf of bread - 2000
18 little peach yogurt drinks (delicious!!) - 1800
smoked ham (that's really a cross between ham and spam but still very good) - 5650
1.5L grape juice - 3000
1.5L milk - 3500
qtips - 1000
a box of almond flakes cereal - 3450
strawberry jelly - 3200
2 packs of 5 hangers - 1300 each = 2600
a plastic bag to carry it all in - 40
and the most expensive thing I bought - a jar of peanut butter -6400
31491 taxable goods
+3149 tax
+2300 duty free goods
equals 36940 -> about 34.75 USD
Overall not too bad. Got a lot of stuff so I should be good for the week. I was going to buy some chicken and have chicken breast all the time but the only chicken I could find was chicken legs and whole chicken so... Yeah. I'll have to talk to Oeja and see if they sell it somewhere else. Or maybe I'll look at the other grocery store in town. There's one about five minutes from my house but it's more expensive so I go to the one 10 minutes away, right by the school, to save money. I definitely need to get a bike though. That walk with that bag was awful. The drinks made it so heavy. I was going to buy another bottle of water too but thought about having to carry that too and decided I would just grab it on the way home from school tomorrow.
Speaking of which - tomorrow is my first day of teaching! Eek! I have first period, 9:20-10:10 off, which is awesome, then my first general teacher class 10:20-11:10, then my other general teacher class 11:20-12:10, then my first student class, 1-1 (grade 1 class one, which is actually 10th grade class 1, but they do elementary school grades 1 through 6, middle school grade 1 through 3, (7, 8, 9) and high school grade 1 through 3 (10, 11, 12)). Anyway, I have that from 12:20-13:10 and that's my only student class for the day, which is nice. I have lunch 13:10-14:00 and then planning until my first english teacher class 16:00-16:50. Then I get my stuff and go home. I'm nervous but glad that I don't have all my classes on the same day. Tuesday I have 2 student classes and and my two general teacher classes again. Then Wednesday, my last two student classes for high school and my Club Activity class, which is just 6 girls, Oeja, and me, and we're going to do Cinderella and put on a play for the school at the school festival in November. :] Then Thursday and Friday I have middle school which is just 6 student classes, and hopefully no teacher classes :/. And then just my second english teacher class Friday afternoon and then I'm done for the week. Every other Saturday my school has classes but I won't be teaching any of those, per my contract :]. Overall it's a nice schedule. I get about 4 hours every day to plan, 5 on Wednesday, not sure about Thursday and Friday, with classes interspersed to break it up so I'm not sitting at my desk all day. I'm excited. And nervous of course.
Anyway, all in all things are going well. I've been having mood swings a little bit. I'm going to just bring my lesson planning so that way if I start getting down I can just keep busy. It's great here, it's just super hard being away from all of you. I miss everyone so much. And I think part of the hardest bit is knowing how long it will be before I get to see everyone again. Anyway, I'm just going to embrace it while I'm here because there's so much to enjoy, I just need to get out of my apartment and do it.
Love you all and miss you like crazy.
♥
Ps - pictures of my apartment!! Finally! :]
Sorry the pictures aren't the best. I had to take them with my laptop. I'm going to take better ones as soon as I get my camera (hopefully tomorrow) and then I'll post those on facebook. :]
So I missed the last bus, which ran at 11:30 - really gotta pay more attention to the time when there's a bus to catch :/ but it was okay because I just slept on the guy's couch. Then I caught the bus at 7 the next morning and well, that could've gone a little smoother. I got off one stop too early and then got really confused as to where the bus terminal was. (From his apartment I had to take a bus to get to the bus terminal, then take the main bus to get back to Yeongdeok. I got off before the bus terminal.) So after walking around a bit with no luck, I started asking Koreans how to get to the "bus tuhminall" (because that's how they say it and if you say "bus terminal" they won't understand). So I finally found my way there, came in the back of the terminal, had a little trouble finding the ticket counter since I cam in from the back, followed a Korean and found it, bought my ticket, asked a bus driver which bus was going to Yeongdeok, was told "ii" (good thing I know my Korean numbers so I knew that was 2) and got on the bus about 5 minutes before it left. I had to be home early because the internet guy was coming between 9-10 am Saturday morning. So the bus pulls into the terminal in Yeongdeok at 9:05, I hurry home and am in by 9:10 hoping desperately that he didn't already come and with nothing to do now but wait. I watched the rest of Soul Surfer, very good fyi, while I waited and he ended up showing up at 9:50, and took 45 minutes to set everything up but left without me having working internet. He did however call Oeja (she's my contact number for everything) and explain the situation so I talked to her on his cell phone and she said Mr Lee would come over after he finished classes about 12:40 and fix it for me. So he came over, brought a router, because apparently the internet company doesn't supply those :/, and spent 45 minutes fixing it for me :] Which is why I have internet at home now. YAY Mr. Lee!!
So the rest of Saturday I spent sleeping. I was supposed to meet up with some people in Pohang for an open mic night and general festivities but I was too tired from the night before so I just stayed in and slept. Talk to mom on skype some and then slept more.
This morning my plan for the day was to get up, get lost in Yeongdeok, find my way to the open market which is open the 4, and 9 of every month (so 4, 9, 14, 19, 24, and 29), then find the bike shop, possibly buy a bike if they weren't too expensive, go grocery shopping, and then just hang out. Instead I slept, got up about 12, got on the computer for a little while, got homesick and sad, slept, slept some more, and then about 6 finally got up and decided I had to go grocery shopping because I had no food and I was hungry. So I got dressed and did it. I spent 36, 940 won and got the following,
2 microfiber hand towels (all they sell here) - 1000 each = 2000
6 bananas - 2300
half a loaf of bread - 2000
18 little peach yogurt drinks (delicious!!) - 1800
smoked ham (that's really a cross between ham and spam but still very good) - 5650
1.5L grape juice - 3000
1.5L milk - 3500
qtips - 1000
a box of almond flakes cereal - 3450
strawberry jelly - 3200
2 packs of 5 hangers - 1300 each = 2600
a plastic bag to carry it all in - 40
and the most expensive thing I bought - a jar of peanut butter -6400
31491 taxable goods
+3149 tax
+2300 duty free goods
equals 36940 -> about 34.75 USD
Overall not too bad. Got a lot of stuff so I should be good for the week. I was going to buy some chicken and have chicken breast all the time but the only chicken I could find was chicken legs and whole chicken so... Yeah. I'll have to talk to Oeja and see if they sell it somewhere else. Or maybe I'll look at the other grocery store in town. There's one about five minutes from my house but it's more expensive so I go to the one 10 minutes away, right by the school, to save money. I definitely need to get a bike though. That walk with that bag was awful. The drinks made it so heavy. I was going to buy another bottle of water too but thought about having to carry that too and decided I would just grab it on the way home from school tomorrow.
Speaking of which - tomorrow is my first day of teaching! Eek! I have first period, 9:20-10:10 off, which is awesome, then my first general teacher class 10:20-11:10, then my other general teacher class 11:20-12:10, then my first student class, 1-1 (grade 1 class one, which is actually 10th grade class 1, but they do elementary school grades 1 through 6, middle school grade 1 through 3, (7, 8, 9) and high school grade 1 through 3 (10, 11, 12)). Anyway, I have that from 12:20-13:10 and that's my only student class for the day, which is nice. I have lunch 13:10-14:00 and then planning until my first english teacher class 16:00-16:50. Then I get my stuff and go home. I'm nervous but glad that I don't have all my classes on the same day. Tuesday I have 2 student classes and and my two general teacher classes again. Then Wednesday, my last two student classes for high school and my Club Activity class, which is just 6 girls, Oeja, and me, and we're going to do Cinderella and put on a play for the school at the school festival in November. :] Then Thursday and Friday I have middle school which is just 6 student classes, and hopefully no teacher classes :/. And then just my second english teacher class Friday afternoon and then I'm done for the week. Every other Saturday my school has classes but I won't be teaching any of those, per my contract :]. Overall it's a nice schedule. I get about 4 hours every day to plan, 5 on Wednesday, not sure about Thursday and Friday, with classes interspersed to break it up so I'm not sitting at my desk all day. I'm excited. And nervous of course.
Anyway, all in all things are going well. I've been having mood swings a little bit. I'm going to just bring my lesson planning so that way if I start getting down I can just keep busy. It's great here, it's just super hard being away from all of you. I miss everyone so much. And I think part of the hardest bit is knowing how long it will be before I get to see everyone again. Anyway, I'm just going to embrace it while I'm here because there's so much to enjoy, I just need to get out of my apartment and do it.
Love you all and miss you like crazy.
♥
Ps - pictures of my apartment!! Finally! :]
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| My bedroom! The thing on the right is to hang my clothes on. These were taken the first night so there's nothing hung up, but there is now :] |
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| My little dresser on the left. I have a mirror above it. And my (I think) queen bed on the right :] (Also, soooo glad I brought my blankets! Best idea ever!!) :] |
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| My living room and old TV. Good thing I don't watch it that much. Just the english channel on KPop stars in the morning so I can try to learn a little bit before I go to school every morning :] Oh, and on the right you can just see the edge of my two sliding doors to the balcony. |
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| My front door and window. |
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| From the other side of my living room. That's the TV and front door on the right, the closed door is the bathroom, and the kitchen is on the left. The open door on the far left is my bedroom. |
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| My kitchen. Which now has a big new refrigerator in it, I moved the table into the living room so I could watch TV. |
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| My tiny bathroom. Which now has a washing machine on the left side of the toilet. |
Blegh.
Sorry there haven't been more informative posts over the last few days. Things have been hectic and when they're not, I just haven't felt like posting. I've been putting off grocery shopping all week but I'm going to do it now so I actually have some food. When I get back I will fill you all in on everything that has been happening. Wish me luck!!!
Friday, September 2, 2011
It's a Hard Knock Life.
So the prompting of this post was the teacher that sits next to me in the teacher room (read lounge/office/workroom, etc) talks on the phone like this - (and 98% of his conversations go exactly like this, no exaggeration) Also, please read in a mumbled voice.
"Annyeonghaseyo. mmmmm, nnnnn, ah ah ah, mmm, ah, nnn, mmmmm mmmm mmm, mmm mm mm, ah ah. Ah ah, mmmm, mm." Hang up phone.
I don't know how that accomplishes anything. Like, at all. Totally at a loss. Oh, and Koreans don't say good bye on the phone. Ever. Weird.
This is also the guy that kicks his feet up and snores after lunch. And tried to teach me some Korean phrases yesterday but I already knew (they were very basic - hello, thank you, nice to meet you - Annyeonhaseyo, kamsamhamnida, bangapseumnida, respectively). But anyway, he makes phone calls like this at least twice an hour. If not more. It's so annoying...
More later.
"Annyeonghaseyo. mmmmm, nnnnn, ah ah ah, mmm, ah, nnn, mmmmm mmmm mmm, mmm mm mm, ah ah. Ah ah, mmmm, mm." Hang up phone.
I don't know how that accomplishes anything. Like, at all. Totally at a loss. Oh, and Koreans don't say good bye on the phone. Ever. Weird.
This is also the guy that kicks his feet up and snores after lunch. And tried to teach me some Korean phrases yesterday but I already knew (they were very basic - hello, thank you, nice to meet you - Annyeonhaseyo, kamsamhamnida, bangapseumnida, respectively). But anyway, he makes phone calls like this at least twice an hour. If not more. It's so annoying...
More later.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Mailing Address
This is the address of my school - but it's where my coteacher said I should get mail so here you go! :]
Yeongdeok Girls' High School, 106 Deokgok2-ri, Yeongdeok-eup, Yeongdeok-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South KOREA (766-803)
It's long but my home address is longer :/ Yeah.
Yeongdeok Girls' High School, 106 Deokgok2-ri, Yeongdeok-eup, Yeongdeok-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South KOREA (766-803)
It's long but my home address is longer :/ Yeah.
1 ticket for the crazy train please!
So I'm at the pc bang. On their computer because my laptop doesn't work in here :[
Today I got oil for my water heater/heater - for 255,000 won. It was supposed to be 270000 but apparently there was some in there. Cool. And that should last me at least 6 months. Especially since it's not cold yet and when I do get my washing machine (which I hope is soon because I have a LOT of laundry haha) I'll just wash everything with cold water. And a fan was waiting for me when I got home tonight. Which was nice :] I'm hoping maybe my washing machine and possibly a new refrigerator will be waiting for me when I get home tomorrow. Oh, and maybe the coffee pot they told me not to buy because the school will buy me one. I need to mention to Oeja tomorrow that I "need to buy" a toaster and see if maybe one of those will appear too. Definitely the up side to being adopted :].
That's all for now, don't want to rack up too much of a bill! I'll post more tomorrow at work with free internet!! :]
Ps - had to post this this morning - apparently pc bangs don't want me blogging :/
Today I got oil for my water heater/heater - for 255,000 won. It was supposed to be 270000 but apparently there was some in there. Cool. And that should last me at least 6 months. Especially since it's not cold yet and when I do get my washing machine (which I hope is soon because I have a LOT of laundry haha) I'll just wash everything with cold water. And a fan was waiting for me when I got home tonight. Which was nice :] I'm hoping maybe my washing machine and possibly a new refrigerator will be waiting for me when I get home tomorrow. Oh, and maybe the coffee pot they told me not to buy because the school will buy me one. I need to mention to Oeja tomorrow that I "need to buy" a toaster and see if maybe one of those will appear too. Definitely the up side to being adopted :].
That's all for now, don't want to rack up too much of a bill! I'll post more tomorrow at work with free internet!! :]
Ps - had to post this this morning - apparently pc bangs don't want me blogging :/
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