7-27
I guess it must be time for another update. I don’t really have much exciting going on at the moment. This week is vacation so a lot of people are gone. I have been enjoying relaxing and getting a bit more settled in. There are only two other teachers in town this week. One is Julie who has been here for about 2-3 months; the other is Kristin whom just got here 6 days ago. I enjoy both of their company, so we have spent some time together.
One day this week Julie and I went for a 4 hour walk around town. It helped me to get a bit more comfortable with my new home. We found a nice play ground near a stream. It was nice to act like one of my students for a few minuets. We also found a really nice coffee shop where I ran into an expat that I met from another school. I hadn’t realized how many people I’ve already met!
I have discovered a new love in my life; chicken korma with garlic nan. This is super delicious Indian food. I have had it 4 times since coming to Korea and twice this week alone. I have no words to describe it, other than it must be sent from heaven. This is by far the best food I’ve had in years, maybe my entire life…
I have spent quite a few hours this week arranging my apartment. I have cleaned, moved furniture down a crappy ladder, moved furniture up a crappy ladder and made my bed room/ loft more cave like. I am most excited about the cave-ness. My floor to ceiling, 13 foot windows face east and every morning I’m greeted by a face full of sunshine. Now, I have ghetto rigged a sheet of wall paper to shield me from the demonic, evil sun light.
I managed to go grocery shopping this week and get supplies to make a very tasty dinner. I made some really dank spaghetti with meat sauce. Of course it was made even better by tons of garlic and sautéed mushrooms. My entire apartment reeks of garlic and I couldn’t be happier!
I should be heading to Busan tomorrow and coming back on Thursday. Busan is the second largest city in Korea and is on the south-east coast. I’m excited to see a half a million people on one stretch of beach. Then, on Friday we are planning to head to Seoul to hang out with a few friends. It should be a nice vacation all in all.
I miss everyone back home very much! Please give all my little cousins, nephews and other children my love. I hope everyone is doing well!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Another amazing week!
7-18
Another week in South Korea has come and gone. I still love it here and can’t wait to explore some more. Next week is my vacation so I should be able to get a good look around. I think I’m going to a resort with a Korean girl named Adrian. She is the girlfriend of a foreigner that is friends with my friends. Wow, that was confusing…
Reuven, Denis, Andy, Martin and I went to Seoul this weekend. We did a bit of shopping and just hung out. We took the KTX which is a super fast train that gets us there in about a half an hour. The ride was super smooth and the seats were very comfy. We got to our hotel and dropped our things off. We stayed at a love motel, which are typically cheap. These are places were couples basically go to hook up. They can be very nice though. They have everything you could need, like shampoo, conditioner and condoms! After the hotel we found a place to buy electronics because Denis wanted a camera. We had dinner at a Russian restaurant and it was oh so tasty! We managed to eat our way through at least 12 plates of food and drank 5 bottles of vodka. Needless to say the next day is kinda rough.
Last weekend a bunch of people from work stayed at a hotel near the beach. Our boss paid for everything. The rooms had no beds and looked over some rice paddies. The beach was kinda gross and I didn’t go in the water. People in Korea go swimming fully clothed and then play soccer and get completely sandy. There were also a ton of tents and booths set up selling things. They sold everything from beer to fireworks. I must say that I do miss the beaches back home.
Sorry for the short blog, but I’m tired and feel like being lazy. I hope all is going well where ever you may be reading this from!
Another week in South Korea has come and gone. I still love it here and can’t wait to explore some more. Next week is my vacation so I should be able to get a good look around. I think I’m going to a resort with a Korean girl named Adrian. She is the girlfriend of a foreigner that is friends with my friends. Wow, that was confusing…
Reuven, Denis, Andy, Martin and I went to Seoul this weekend. We did a bit of shopping and just hung out. We took the KTX which is a super fast train that gets us there in about a half an hour. The ride was super smooth and the seats were very comfy. We got to our hotel and dropped our things off. We stayed at a love motel, which are typically cheap. These are places were couples basically go to hook up. They can be very nice though. They have everything you could need, like shampoo, conditioner and condoms! After the hotel we found a place to buy electronics because Denis wanted a camera. We had dinner at a Russian restaurant and it was oh so tasty! We managed to eat our way through at least 12 plates of food and drank 5 bottles of vodka. Needless to say the next day is kinda rough.
Last weekend a bunch of people from work stayed at a hotel near the beach. Our boss paid for everything. The rooms had no beds and looked over some rice paddies. The beach was kinda gross and I didn’t go in the water. People in Korea go swimming fully clothed and then play soccer and get completely sandy. There were also a ton of tents and booths set up selling things. They sold everything from beer to fireworks. I must say that I do miss the beaches back home.
Sorry for the short blog, but I’m tired and feel like being lazy. I hope all is going well where ever you may be reading this from!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
7-14 Teaching
7-14
I’m sitting here at work in between classes on my second break of the day. Its 7:15pm here. My day has actually been a pretty good one. Most of my kids have been good and only two kids cried. Not too bad! I guess I should attempt to explain a bit about what I’m doing for work over here.
I have a special kinder class on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I do something called song and chant two days a week. I play a story on the over head projector, then a really bad rap song, and then we play a game and finish with coloring. These kids are about 6 years old and are a ton of fun. I also teach a science class on Fridays. This is my favorite special class, even though the experiments don’t usually work.
Every day I have two classes back to back that are the exact same. These are my everyday classes (surprising, I know!). These are New Hi Kids classes and are pretty easy to teach, even if the kids sometime aren’t!
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I have 5 other classes with two fifty minute breaks. Most of these go smoothly but my oldest class drives me insane. It is my last class and I can’t do much to control them. They are slowing improving, very slowly.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have two classes after my everyday classes and then a 4 hour break at the end of the day. It is my first week having that long of a break. We finally got all of our teachers in and I had a class taken away, yay! Though, now I don’t know what to do with myself for 4 hours…
That’s my schedule and it’s pretty easy to navigate. We do have a rewards program that we give out stickers. Once every few months the kids can turn in the stickers and get “SLP money” to but things at “Market Day”. The stickers work well for most kids and keeps them under control.
Some kids like to come in the teacher’s room when I first get to work. I must say this is my favorite part of the day. I have a few girls that come by and sit in my lap and just chill for a few minuets. This makes me feel so warm on the inside. It also makes me miss my family
Some of the kids are too funny and like to point out all sorts of flaws. I have been told many times that I’m “big”, “strong” and “fat”. Some students like to suck up and call me pretty and smart. They usually get a good response from that. The kids here love to talk about death. I have had many classes revolve only around death and going to jail. I don’t care as long as they use what we learned that day. “What will you be doing in 5 years?” “I will be shooting Tim in 5 years.” “Very good!”
For every class that I teach, a Korean teacher also teaches the same class. This is kinda nice because it makes it so I have someone to discuss my students with. I have had a few classes tell me that they don’t like the Korean teacher, but love me. What can I say? It makes me happy.
That’s about all I got for now. I have class in ten minuets and still need to post this. I hope all is well where ever you’re reading this from!
I’m sitting here at work in between classes on my second break of the day. Its 7:15pm here. My day has actually been a pretty good one. Most of my kids have been good and only two kids cried. Not too bad! I guess I should attempt to explain a bit about what I’m doing for work over here.
I have a special kinder class on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I do something called song and chant two days a week. I play a story on the over head projector, then a really bad rap song, and then we play a game and finish with coloring. These kids are about 6 years old and are a ton of fun. I also teach a science class on Fridays. This is my favorite special class, even though the experiments don’t usually work.
Every day I have two classes back to back that are the exact same. These are my everyday classes (surprising, I know!). These are New Hi Kids classes and are pretty easy to teach, even if the kids sometime aren’t!
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I have 5 other classes with two fifty minute breaks. Most of these go smoothly but my oldest class drives me insane. It is my last class and I can’t do much to control them. They are slowing improving, very slowly.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have two classes after my everyday classes and then a 4 hour break at the end of the day. It is my first week having that long of a break. We finally got all of our teachers in and I had a class taken away, yay! Though, now I don’t know what to do with myself for 4 hours…
That’s my schedule and it’s pretty easy to navigate. We do have a rewards program that we give out stickers. Once every few months the kids can turn in the stickers and get “SLP money” to but things at “Market Day”. The stickers work well for most kids and keeps them under control.
Some kids like to come in the teacher’s room when I first get to work. I must say this is my favorite part of the day. I have a few girls that come by and sit in my lap and just chill for a few minuets. This makes me feel so warm on the inside. It also makes me miss my family
Some of the kids are too funny and like to point out all sorts of flaws. I have been told many times that I’m “big”, “strong” and “fat”. Some students like to suck up and call me pretty and smart. They usually get a good response from that. The kids here love to talk about death. I have had many classes revolve only around death and going to jail. I don’t care as long as they use what we learned that day. “What will you be doing in 5 years?” “I will be shooting Tim in 5 years.” “Very good!”
For every class that I teach, a Korean teacher also teaches the same class. This is kinda nice because it makes it so I have someone to discuss my students with. I have had a few classes tell me that they don’t like the Korean teacher, but love me. What can I say? It makes me happy.
That’s about all I got for now. I have class in ten minuets and still need to post this. I hope all is well where ever you’re reading this from!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
First outings in Korea
6-28
I finally got more than 4 hours of sleep, hoo raw! I passed out last night at 8pm and woke up today at 9:30 am. This is all thanks to my dear friend, Nyquil. I haven’t been sleeping all that well since I arrived so a good night’s sleep should help a lot with the jet lag.
7-4
I think today I shall tell about my adventures, instead of telling about my job. The first night in my apartment the boys took me out. There are three single boys; Andy, Denis, and Ruven. They all like to drink and shoot the shit, so we get along great! The first night out we went to Wabar, which is close to my apartment. I met the owner and had fun learning the different customs. Koreans don’t pour their own drinks, but you pour for everyone else. Also, at the bars here you have a service button you press and the waitress comes right over. I think we need this back home.
I have been out almost every night since being here. Koreans really love to drink and are super friendly. One of my favorite spots is Boom Bar. The bar tenders name is Pooh and one of the waiters is Tigger. I really can’t make this up. Pooh and Tigger love to do shows like juggling bottles that are on fire and magic tricks. They also give out balloon animals. The bars here are so much fun!
Every place you go to gives you some sort of snack. Some places are normal and have popcorn, nachos, or nuts. Other bars have a bit stranger snacks. Last night is a good example. The gave us snails, sea weed, and we ordered ramen. The snails kind of tasted like cold, salty oysters.
Every thing here has bright neon signs that just blow me away. I look like such a dork standing on the side walk with my eyes as big as half dollars. Some places blast music, which is usually k-pop or American pop. The names of some shops are too funny not to laugh. I saw a place last night called “Skin Food”.
Koreans are really into karaoke. The have places that you go and get a room with a group of people and just sing as much as you want. These places never close so of course most people end up there after going to a bar, or six. I’m not a big fan of karaoke, but this concept is fascinating to me. You pay money to sit in a room and sing songs horribly, just to embarrass yourself in front of friends and co-workers. Wow…
Things are pretty cheap here, even taxis. Now, living in Florida I don’t ride in to many cabs. I love it here because it is so easy to grab a cab and go. I would not want to drive here; they drive almost as badly as Dominicans. A ten minute taxi ride here is only about 3 dollars. You just can’t beat that!
Sorry that it took me so long to post, but things have just been kinda crazy. I will have pictures soon and I will try and post about once a week, probably on Sundays. Happy Fourth of July!
I finally got more than 4 hours of sleep, hoo raw! I passed out last night at 8pm and woke up today at 9:30 am. This is all thanks to my dear friend, Nyquil. I haven’t been sleeping all that well since I arrived so a good night’s sleep should help a lot with the jet lag.
7-4
I think today I shall tell about my adventures, instead of telling about my job. The first night in my apartment the boys took me out. There are three single boys; Andy, Denis, and Ruven. They all like to drink and shoot the shit, so we get along great! The first night out we went to Wabar, which is close to my apartment. I met the owner and had fun learning the different customs. Koreans don’t pour their own drinks, but you pour for everyone else. Also, at the bars here you have a service button you press and the waitress comes right over. I think we need this back home.
I have been out almost every night since being here. Koreans really love to drink and are super friendly. One of my favorite spots is Boom Bar. The bar tenders name is Pooh and one of the waiters is Tigger. I really can’t make this up. Pooh and Tigger love to do shows like juggling bottles that are on fire and magic tricks. They also give out balloon animals. The bars here are so much fun!
Every place you go to gives you some sort of snack. Some places are normal and have popcorn, nachos, or nuts. Other bars have a bit stranger snacks. Last night is a good example. The gave us snails, sea weed, and we ordered ramen. The snails kind of tasted like cold, salty oysters.
Every thing here has bright neon signs that just blow me away. I look like such a dork standing on the side walk with my eyes as big as half dollars. Some places blast music, which is usually k-pop or American pop. The names of some shops are too funny not to laugh. I saw a place last night called “Skin Food”.
Koreans are really into karaoke. The have places that you go and get a room with a group of people and just sing as much as you want. These places never close so of course most people end up there after going to a bar, or six. I’m not a big fan of karaoke, but this concept is fascinating to me. You pay money to sit in a room and sing songs horribly, just to embarrass yourself in front of friends and co-workers. Wow…
Things are pretty cheap here, even taxis. Now, living in Florida I don’t ride in to many cabs. I love it here because it is so easy to grab a cab and go. I would not want to drive here; they drive almost as badly as Dominicans. A ten minute taxi ride here is only about 3 dollars. You just can’t beat that!
Sorry that it took me so long to post, but things have just been kinda crazy. I will have pictures soon and I will try and post about once a week, probably on Sundays. Happy Fourth of July!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)