March in Korea

 

So the end of March is almost approaching and so much has happened. I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with talking about how teaching has been for me.

I teach 4 days a week Tuesday through Thursday for 15 hours. It's nice to have Mondays off and enjoy a long weekend. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I teach from 1:20-2:50--only 2 classes those days. I normally take the 11:42 bus to Imsil. It's about a 30 minute bus ride and costs about 5100 won one way. The bus ticket for my ride home is a bit cheaper for me at the gwanchon station. I'm so thankful that my co-teacher is always willing to drop me off there. Wednesdays, however, are long and busy days. I start teaching at 8:50 in the morning and teach 5 classes. I am usually up and ready by 7:30 because my mentor teacher will pick me up from my apartment and take me to school. Otherwise, I would be taking the 7:12 am bus which is super early. Wednesday is the only day my mentor teacher can take me to school because he is super busy. He is currently writing his thesis for his Ph.D degree and has many business trips. The bus stop is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment and the ticket master knows me already because I come in so often. Before, my co-teacher had written down what I should say in Korean to show him, but now he always gets the ticket out for me whenever he sees me. Once I'm in Imsil, I have about a 10 minute walk to Galdam Elementary School. Sometimes I will see random stray animals walking around the streets and they haven't bothered me so it's pretty safe.

Everyday I greet the principal, vice principal, and teachers at the school once I arrive. Some days I get to school around noon time which is lunch. The cafeteria food has been pretty good so far. However, one day fish was served and it had a really fishy taste. The cook approached me and asked if it was delicious. Of course I couldn't say no so I smiled and said "mashi soyyo" (it's delicious). She watched me as I ate so I had no choice but to eat it with a smile on my face. The faculty staff will usually sit together at a table during lunch, but sometimes I like to sit with the kids and chat with them. Every student has their own cup with a toothbrush to brush their teeth after lunch. I'm always asking my kids to check my teeth for food that might be stuck:P Lunch break is from 12:10-1:10 so if I finish early sometimes the teachers will invite me to have coffee and just have a chat with me to practice their English. The teacher's room in the school is like the lounge area where snacks are usually served and talk with one another. My principal always has a smile on his face whenever I'm around which is good because I was really intimated by him when I first met him. He loves asking me questions about myself in general. Like what my hobbies are, my family, etc. He seems to understand me just fine even though I'm gesturing most of the time and speaking slower. Last week I shared some of the korean phrases I learned/picked up from a drama I've been watching and he enjoyed teasing me about my pronunciation and got really excited that I was even attempting to speak Korean. I always get a handshake from him whenever I greet him and excuse myself from leaving. There are a few teachers in the school that are always trying to talk to me and are always willing to help me. The other teachers seem a bit more shy and I try to talk to them because I would like to build a good relationship the entire school staff. However, I understand that there is a language barrier that is holding them back from opening up and stepping out of their comfort zone.

Each grade is at a different level in terms of the English they know. So the first couple weeks of teaching, I did activities to find out how much and what they knew. For instance, my 1st & 2nd graders already knew the alphabet and could count up to 20. However, some of the kids had a hard time recognizing some single words. So I started working on phonics--the sounds of the letters and reading words that have those letters. My 1st & 2nd graders are combined into one class and their my biggest class--16 students. My 1st graders listen and behave really well. But my 2nd graders just cannot sit still and keep quiet. I used a sticker method of giving out stickers at the end of the day if they behave. But some naughty students just didn't seem to mind and continued to misbehave. So last week I showed them that I meant business and I wasn't fooling around. I crossed my arms and had a large frown on my face. I used a new method of writing a large X on the chalkboard. I explained that every X means 1 minute extra after class of sitting in silence. By the end of the class, there were four X's on the board, so the students had to stay 4 minutes extra. I allowed the first graders to leave because they behaved well during class. At the end of 4 minutes, I told the kids that I will continue to use this method from now on and if they would rather stay after class or listen during class. My new method seemed to work because the next couple of days they listened so well and I didn't have trouble throughout the activities I had planned for the class period.

My 6th graders are at the most advanced level of English. They can read and write full sentences and even understand the meaning of the sentences. I have so much fun with my 6th grade class because they are so eager to learn and love playing the games that I prepare for them to practice their pronunciation and learn new expressions that relate to American culture. Last week,  I played a game known as the fly swatter game with the 6th graders. They absolutely loved and enjoyed it. I wrote the key expressions they learned scattered across the chalkboard and divided the class into 2 teams. Each team received a pointer stick and one member from each team would come up to the chalkboard to compete in finding the key expression I called out. The students enjoy games that involve competition and really get into it. I also noticed that every grade level loves the game Bingo, which is a nice way to practice and review vocabulary. Usually each week I will pick a topic and during the week I will work on teaching each grade level the key expressions through activities/games. Sometimes I can spend two weeks on the same key expressions until the students have gotten the expressions down. So I am doing a lot of repeating and reviewing and practice to enhance the material I am teaching. I am enduring in patience with my kids as I see the gradual progress they are making. To see a shy and quiet student raise their hand and participate puts the biggest smile on my face. I am always trying to find new and different ways to be the best teacher I can to my students. It's definitely a challenge, but I am encouraged to see these children succeed in learning English. I'm Fighting!!!:)

I am currently hooked on the K-drama Boys Over Flowers. The actress is just too cute and the main actors of the F4 group are really handsome. The kids and I enjoy talking about the drama. I told them that my favorite actor was Lee Min Ho (Goo Jun Pyo). I saw a poster and some small stickers of the actors from the drama. One of my students saw how excited I was and how much I liked the actors. So she gave me a sticker of Lee Min Ho as a gift and asked if he was my boyfriend. Haha. I told her no, but I like him a lot. She also asked if I loved him and put her arms into the shape of a heart. Whenever I have time, I will usually be watching the drama on my laptop. It's a fairly short drama with only 25 episodes and I am currently on Episode 23. I'll have to ask my kids about recommendations for which drama I should watch next (preferably one with Lee Min Ho..haha:P:);)).

In terms of living in Korea, I am facing a lot of new and daily experiences on my own. Being independent is nice but a lot of responsibility comes along with it. Back in Michigan, I live at home and even though I do my own things its easy for me to get help if needed. Here it takes time for me to figure out how to accomplish a simple task such as doing laundry. I gave up on trying to figure out how to work my laundry machine the first couple weeks and just hand washed my clothes. But after getting help from a friend, I can finally wash my clothes. I don't have the luxury of popping my clothes into a dryer and warm dry clothes in an hour. Instead, all my clothes need to be hang dried and their usually stiff and wrinkly. Good thing I have an iron. However, the heated floor system does come in handy at times when I need the clothes to dry faster. Another new thing I am still trying to get used to is the fact that the entire bathroom is my shower. There is a sink, toilet, a small cabinet, and a drain for the water. The shower hose is attached to the sink and there is a knob I need to turn if I want the water to come out of the shower hose. Sometimes I forget to turn the knob to switch it back to the faucet so I've gotten soaked a couple times. I even have to press a button to turn the hot water on and shut it off when I'm done. I also have to keep my place clean and take out my trash. As for cooking, I am mostly cooking plain noodles and just adding packages of different sauces over the noodles. I use sauces such as jia jiang myun sauce (it's like a black bean sauce) and curry. I bought some packages of dumplings the other day at a store nearby my apartment. I will also go out to eat with friends as well because it's sometimes more cheaper to eat out than buy groceries and prepare food. I still have to check out the big market 15 minutes away from my apartment. I hear they have cheap fresh fruit there. As for food, I'm all set. There are plenty of restaurants around my area and I live next to a major University dormitory. My co-teacher actually attends the National University of Education and lives next to me. Many of the teachers at my school graduated from that University and got their teaching degree there.

Finding my way around Korea is starting to become easier for me now. At first, I would encounter people who didn't want to continue speaking to me once they realized I speak English. But for the most part, whenever I am lost or need help with something, someone will always be more than willing to help me out. Apparently I have a really confused or lost look on my face that makes people worry for me and want to help me. One of my co-teachers lives in a different city and we need to take a separate bus to get home. An older lady overheard my co-teacher explaining to me how I should get home. The lady told her that she was headed to the same place and said she could show me where to go and that she would pay for the taxi fare from the bus station. I learned how to say many thanks (ko-map-seum-ni-dah) because I was always in situations where people were going out of their way just to help me. On taxi rides, I learned how to ask how to get somewhere by saying the destination and then adding "ka-jusseyo". I am able to tell the taxi driver that I am an English teacher at Galdam Elementary School in Imsil and that I am Chinese. I then tell them Hangul (Korean) and put my pointer and thumb together to show them that I only know a little. I had a cab driver the other day who was telling me that China is very big and Korea is very small after I told him that I was Chinese. I'm not sure what he said during the rest of the ride, but I kept hearing the word China. haha. So far the people I've encountered can understand me when I speak Korean to them and I haven't gotten lost yet in Korea but I am managing on getting around places just fine.

There is a big shopping area known as Gaeksa about a 15 minute walk from where I live with reasonable prices on clothing, shoes, purses, etc. I am so tempted to buy many things I see but I set a limit for my spending budget even though I got my first paycheck this past Friday. The fashion is amazing and I'm trying to buy clothes to fit in as a Korean. I also live about 5 minutes away from a main tourist attraction in Jeonju called Hanok Village. Many festivals are held there during the spring and summer. I am looking forward to checking out those festivals when the days approach. Bukdae is another place that I pretty much visit every weekend to go out and eat and just spend time with friends. There is a big noraebang (karaoke) place in Bukdae that I still have to check out:) My co-teacher has not been to Bukdae before but she hears that it's a popular place to hangout so I promised I would show her around next weekend and we'll have lots of fun:)

This past weekend, I participated in a fundraiser event of an organization called Neighbourly, Neighborly. This organization visits orphanages once a month to spend time with the children through games and activities and to just devote their time to helping out around the community. I met up with two friends, Jenny and Alex, in Bukdae and the three of us took a taxi to a place called Radio Star. We had quite an adventurous cab ride. The driver literally swerved through the streets of Jeonju to drop us off at our destination. There were a few times where it looked like he was about to crash into another car but he never did. We all wore our seat belts for safety. haha. He even stopped the taxi cab in the middle of the street at one point and we thought we had arrived at Radio Star. Alex handed the cab driver some money and I opened the door to get ready to go out. But he motioned for me to close the door. Haha. It was quite funny because we were so confused. When we actually arrived at Radio Star, Alex accidentally steps on my shoe as I get out of the cab and it slips off. I go to reach for my shoe but I accidentally knock her glasses off and we pretty much stumbled out of the cab. LOL It was hilarious. The taxi driver laughed and looked at us like we were a crazy group of friends. Last Saturday, the group held a fundraiser at the mini-bar called Radio Star and all profits went towards the gifts for the children at the orphanage. There were many foreigners there that could speak English and I was pretty much the only Asian aside from the Korean students in the band. They served a variety of sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, beverages, and rice krispy treats--all for a good cause!!! Many high school music bands performed for free at the bar and my friends and I met some talented high school musicians.

We left Radio Star around 3 and headed to a baby orphanage that the head coordinator of the fundraiser had told us about. The taxi driver didn't drop us off right at the orphanage. Instead, he dropped us off at a castle looking place that we later found out was a Chinese restaurant once we reached the front door. We were thinking that it was too nice to be an orphanage and even started to take pictures in front of it for memory sake. haha. So we went into a store and asked a nice lady if she knew where the orphanage was and she pointed across the street from her store. When we walked in, a man from the main office welcomed us in and we explained that we were interested in volunteering. We motioned a gesture of holding a baby to him and he understood. A few seconds later, he tells us to follow him and we walk up a flight of stairs. Next thing we know there is a gate in front of a room with babies crawling everywhere. I walk in and a lady gives me a baby to hold and I start playing with the babies. My heart literally melted the instant I held the babies. They need the love and warmth from people who care about them. The babies would cry if you put them down even for a second because they thought you were going to leave them. There were about 3 ladies who were taking care of about 10 babies. So they really like and appreciate volunteers who come by to help. Jenny, Alex, and I stayed at the orphanage until 7. Our arms were sore from holding babies for 4 straight hours but I enjoyed and loved every moment I spent with the babies. I am actually going to visit the orphanage every Saturday at 3 to volunteer and play/help take care of the babies/and feed them. I look forward to seeing them next weekend:)

I was also told that starting in April I will be teaching Kindergarten for an extra 3 hours. I look forward to meeting the Kindergarten students:) On a side note, the students at my school are learning Chinese plus English from me. The kids are going to be multi-lingual. How awesome is that?!!

Below are some pictures I posted of events, people, and things I've done throughout the month of March. 

Friends of my mentor teacher who are elementary school teachers. They are so sweet. We went to an art gallery together and chatted while enjoy a cup of hot chocolate:)

Salad Gimbap for dinner. So delicious!!!! I love it.

Galdam Elementary School!! This is my workplace for the next 4 months. My school has 60 students. The big open field in front of the school is where the kids will play soccer. 

My 5th graders working on their name tags for the English names they picked out. Their a shy and quiet group but their slowly starting to warm up to me and love saying hello to me in the hallway.

A picture with my 6th grade class. I had to take a separate picture with the boys and girls because the girls didn't want to stand with the boys.

My 4th graders:) There are quite a few 4th graders who can speak English really well and know more English.

Some of my 1st/2nd graders working on their name tags. Every class enjoyed decorating their name tags to personalize it. 

My lovely 3rd graders. Their my smallest class. Only 8 students. One of them was a little shy:)

The well-known market that is 10 minutes from my apartment. There is cheap and fresh fruit sold here.

The ticket stand I visit 3 days a week to purchase my ticket for the bus ride to school. It's about a 10 minute walk from my apartment.

These 6th grade girls were my hero one day when I had to take the bus home by myself. They helped me buy my ticket and even stayed with me to wait until the bus came. I bought the girls some ice cream since it was warm that day and a way of showing my appreciation for their help.

Gaeksa shopping center. This is a popular place to shop for cheaper but good quality items as opposed to the products in malls.

 

 I was so happy the day I got phone because I could finally communicate properly and more effectively. The cell phone charm was a gift from my friend Julie:)

 

 Went out for lunch with some friends after we did some shopping in Gaeksa:)

 The delicious box of Dove chocolate I received from my landlady for white day. So sweet of her:)

Miss Kang Seo Young--one of my co-teachers. She comes to school every Tuesday with me and helps me out in the classroom.

My 3rd graders playing bingo. They love it. Everyone in the class has a good and fun time.

A few of my 1st graders. They listen and behave so well:)

 I was finally able to get a group picture of all my 6th graders plus my other co-teacher Miss Kim Soo Jung:)

One of the many dinner outings I have with friends:) We ate wall nam ssam--a vietnamese dish where you take rice paper and wrap it with cooked meat and a variety of vegetables. So good!!!!

 

Met some friendly Korean University students.

I introduced a game called the fly swatter game and the 6th graders had so much fun with it. I took the key expressions I taught the students and wrote the phrases across the chalkboard. I divided the class into 2 teams and one student from each team would come up to the board and compete to find the phrase I called out. This game helps the students to visually recognize the key expressions.

 These two 6th graders of mine are like best buds. Always together.

A picture I found on my camera of one of my 6th graders with Mrs. Lilibeth (another co-teacher of mine) in the background.

Several pictures from the day I played Bingo with my 1st/2nd grade students. They had a lot of fun. One student got three bingo's.

I introduced a fun game to my 4th grade students. The students have been practicing the phrases: "What is your favorite fruit?" and "My favorite fruit is ____________". The students were assigned a fruit and one student will always be in the middle. All the students sitting in the circle will ask the student in the middle "What is your favorite fruit?" The student in the center will then respond with "My favorite fruit is ____________". If the student in the middle calls out one of the fruits that was named, the students who were assigned those fruits must switch seats. The student that didn't get a seat in time is the next to be in the center. The 4th graders went crazy with this game. 

A picture with the talented high school guitarist that performed at Radio Star for the fundraiser.

A high school beat boxer who also performed at Radio Star. He has skills.

 Boys Over Flowers. The Korean drama I am currently hooked on and watching. Only a few more episodes and I'm almost done with this drama.