Work this past week went well. Monday marked the official beginning of my training at the school. As I've mentioned, I am teaching kindergarten class in the morning alongside a native Korean teacher and the have my own 3 classes in the afternoon. In the morning I work more as a teacher's aide to my co-teacher and starting tomorrow I will actually begin teaching some of the classes lessons myself. The portion that I will be teaching is called Smart Kids and it's basically an introduction to the names, places, and objects that the children use in their everyday life. This class has already learned how to speak all the sounds and combinations of the the alphabet, so now I will just playfully introduce their new vocabulary. In the afternoon, I teach phonics to 2 of my own (smaller sized) kindergarten class and I am introducing them to all the vowels and consonants from scratch. These classes are easy on 'good days' because the children are really eager to learn. BUT...when the kids aren't so interested in learning, they tend to get up and start playing and because they don't know hardly any English and I don't know very much Korean, it can be hard to maintain focus and control over the class. But I hear this is common with foreign teachers when they are working with such low level english speaking students and that as the year progresses it gets better due to their english getting better as well. I do find that the best way is to just make a fool of myself by dancing, singing, acting, and entertaining them by making myself look silly. My other class in the afternoon is my 9 year old class, which I LOVE!!! Every day is pretty much a new discussion type topic and we just kinda hang out and they are learning english/doing worksheets without even realizing they are doing homework.
All in all last week at work was fun and I hope this week I hope will be just as good or better!
My social life bumped up a notch as well this past week! Monday and Tuesday not much happened, but Wednesday and Thursday night I went out with my coworkers. The other 3 teachers and I had dinner both nights out. Wednesday I had traditional Korean style food (bimbimbap, kimchi, and a soju cocktail) but on Thursday night I had Italian. It was WONDERFUL! not only did I eat my whole plate of Cheesy Pasta, but also downed some garlic bread and a slice of my friend's pizza. I hadn't realized how much I missed 'home' type food until I had it. The next day I went grocery shopping, and actually bought the Korean version of American foods. I figured I could eat American when I'm at home and Korean when I go out...after all they probably cook Korean better food than I could!
Saturday night was the highlight of my week tho. My fellow foreign coworker who has been here for a year already took my to Seoul for the International St. Patrick's Day festival. After a 30 minute bus ride and 15 minute train ride, I was in the center of Seoul and the festival was awesome! The festival was pretty self contained in an amphitheater and we joked about how they were keeping us from disturbing their city. There was a stage for line dancing and classic celtic music and rock band performances. There was also green beer vendors, face painters, and foreigners galore. I met all sorts of my coworkers friends as well as new people she didn't know from the U.S, england, Australia, China, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, and I'm sure other countries as well...I just can't remember too many details after sundown :)
After the festival, we actually soldiered on to Itaewon, the foreign district of Seoul. Walking through the crowded streets of Itaewon was like walking through the streets if chicago. People of every culture were evrywhere. There were dance clubs, Irish pubs, pool halls, Western Bars, Middle Eastern street vendors, and so many more elements that made me feel like I was back in the states. We hung out at an Irish pub to start, then wound up at a hole in the wall country line dancing bar...and that's when I really had flashbacks to Iroquois county (where I grew up).
It was a fun night and all, but next time I venture to Seoul I definitely want to go early morning and stay for the daytime so I can see and explore the more 'korean' part of Seoul rather than the party scene.
After a wild night, sunday was very chill. I did some additional grocery shopping and took a few short walks, meandering through new streets that I hadn't explored yet.
Another big highlight of this week - I GOT MY APARTMENT!! YAYYY! It's super tiny....the smallest place I've lived since I was in a dorm, but it all completely brand new, has a nice view, and I don't plan on spending too much time 'lying around the house'. Because after all, I may only have this year to get out and see Korea.... but this first year may evolve into a 2 year stay. Time will tell!
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