Good morning?
But we did the logical thing and went for some breakfast, then headed home. I'm working on a World Cup post, so that's all on this for now. I don't have any excuses for the weekend before that, but I'll do my best now to make up for a post-less June.
I have been living in Seoul for 8 weeks now, and I think that's enough time to adjust, experience the city, and form some opinions. I live in Gangnam, a fairly wealthy district of Seoul, south of the Han River. There are towering buildings all around, lots of traffic, we have two metro stops nearby, and buses running frequently as well. The largest building is Kyobo Tower, which all cab drivers seem to know (very helpful at the end of the night). There aren't many trees or vegetation of any kind around us, but there is a very nice park along the river that's about a 20 minute walk away, and we found a public soccer field only 5 minutes away. We got in on a pick up game last week, that was a lot of fun; we're hoping to make it a regular thing through the summer.
Gangnam district within Seoul
In the basement of Kyobo Tower there is a large bookstore, with a huge selection of books in English. They have all the classics, contemporary fiction and nonfiction, and travel guides, of course. I bought a guide of Seoul for almost double the price I would have paid in the US, but serves me right for not coming prepared. There is another English bookstore we found called What The Book, which buys and sells used books, too. There are movie theaters a few blocks away; I saw Iron Man 2 a few weeks ago (mostly entertaining, not as good as the first, but who expected it to be, really). I am looking forward to seeing Toy Story 3 very soon, the reviews have been unbelievable. My internet connection is plenty fast, and on top of that the city's free wireless is accessible with my wireless extender. I still don't have a cell phone, but I could have had one for a few weeks now. I'll get on that eventually.
I never thought I'd miss a hand so much...
My apartment consists of a single room that is literally the size of a large walk-in closet. My bathroom door opens towards my bed, and opens maybe 35 degrees before it hits the frame of my bed. I have to go in and out sideways, which is annoying sometimes (like when I'm sick). I have a small kitchen area with a fridge, a microwave, a sink and a stove, no cabinets because of a slanted wall, and no oven (normal in Korea). A small desk for my computer, two closet compartments, and we have completed the tour of my apartment. I've gotten used to it mostly, it's not all bad. I do enjoy hosting people occasionally, though, and there is simply not enough room for that in here. Two of the teachers at my school are leaving in the next couple months, both of whom live in my building, so I'm going to ask if I can move into one of their (larger) apartments. I'm not sure if it will be an option, but we'll see.
That's as open as it gets
Teaching at GDA has been enjoyable overall. There are some troublemakers in most of my classes, which should be expected. Some of the kids are worse than I thought they would be, but I've been able to deal with them fine most days. Various reward/punishment systems are used at GDA, and I have the flexibility to use them as I see fit with my students. Every morning I have three 80 minute Intensive Kindergarten classes, two with my homeroom and one with another class. I teach math twice a week, and science, social studies and a science experiment once a week. I teach those lessons to both classrooms, then I have a reinforcement period with my homeroom, which rotates through arts and crafts, music, and orda (critical thinking games). They also have gym or cooking twice a week, so I get two breaks each week. The IK kids can be fun some days, but they are usually the most exhausting. These are the classes I have a Korean partner teacher for, and Julia is still amazing and making everything run smoothly.
My afternoon classes rotate, some MWF, some TuTh. Mondays and Fridays I have a group of five kids for two 45 minute periods right after IK, and that class has been fairly easy to teach so far. I teach them reading and grammar lessons, and all of them are very smart. They have the class on Wednesdays too, but with a Korean teacher, so I have a break then. After that class, I teach a group of four slightly older kids on MWF for one 45 minute period. They are not as advanced, but they understand how the workbooks are organized so they get through most lessons well enough. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Afternoon Kindergarten for two hours, with 5 year olds who speak very little English. We finished going through the alphabet with our phonics lessons, and we are working through sets of short words now. This may have been my favorite class for the first month, but for June the class increased to 10 kids, and even with a Korean teacher there it is very difficult to keep them under control. They have a 10 minute snack break, and a 30 minute activity in between phonics lessons, so I'm not teaching them English for the full two hours at least. We sing songs on our way to and from the bathroom, which is lots of fun. Tuesdays I have one 50 minute class after that, but it's with the two quietest kids in Korea, and for the most part I just play a listening exercise CD. I start teaching every day at 9:40am, and I get off at 5:15pm MWF, 5:45 Tuesdays, and 4:40 Thursdays. I'll post more about each class later on, with some pictures of my students.
The people in Korea are very friendly, and so helpful. Almost everyone loves that we have chosen to come to their country, and they seem happy that we are teaching English to their children. Our friend Ernest has been very helpful showing us around the city some, and especially with teaching us Hangul, the Korean written language. Ernest bought books for some of us to study with, and we have been making some progress. I have a long way to go, but I have mostly memorized this chart of characters, so I can read a lot of Korean words on signs and menus. Unfortunately, I don't know what most of them mean, it's exciting when I find a word I know, though.
Almost everyone walking around in Gangnam is dressed very well, in suits or designer clothing. If more than a few drops of rain start falling, 99% of people on the street open up their umbrellas, which they apparently always carry with them. Sharp umbrella spokes can be dangerous on a busy sidewalk, I have to duck and dodge frequently. Some stereotypes have held true; Koreans are generally shorter, quite skinny, and love throwing up peace signs for pictures. A significant number have admitted to being terrible at math, though. Most Koreans love spicy food, and I have found some very spicy dishes. They are often surprised when they see an American eating their spicy food, it's kind of funny. The Korean food has been delicious, but I do look for some variety at times. I've had Mexican food and pizza a couple times each, two or three burgers, and several Turkish kebabs. The local bakery has been good to me as well. I've been able to cook some meals I would have made at home, that has been nice.
Some hearty American meals
I plan on a few more posts covering food, for both eating out and cooking at home, with lots of pictures. More posts on weekend excursions will be in the works, too. Hopefully I haven't lost my readers (I'm pretty sure there were a couple) with this gap between posts, I might need some encouragement! Leave a comment or question if you have one, and thanks for reading!
Lastly, I created an album for pictures of Engrish I find in Korea, which I will be updating from time to time. I just added a few more pictures to the original set included in the album, so check them all out! If you don't know what I'm talking about with this "Engrish" nonsense, click here.
