The School

Ok, so tomorrow is finally Friday, this has been the longest week ever, it feels like forever since I've had a weekend. This first week at school I have spent a lot of my time just feeling kind of useless and out of place, there has been training and observation, but I'm actually really looking forward to teaching a full load of classes next week.

So my typical day goes like this. In the morning someone from the school comes and picks us up in a van at our apartment complex. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but all 15 or 16 units in our complex are teachers at one of the three Jayeon schools. So 7 of us ride in the van every morning and 4 or 5 other foreign teachers get there on their own. So right now we have over 10 foreign teachers at my school, but I know at least two are leaving soon, because they are covering me and Hollis while we train. We get there at about 8:45, and first classes start around 9:10.

The school has a really large staff, there are probably around 15 or so Korean teachers (that is, Korean people who are teaching English). Then there are also a couple of Chinese teachers (teaching the kids Chinese), a music teacher, and I think there is also a swimming teacher, but I think they only do swimming classes in the summer (I asked, and the pool is not for use by the teachers). Then there are also at least 5 administrative people, two cooks, and a cleaning lady. And out of ALL of these people, there are only 4 dudes. Me, Hollis, and two guys from South Africa. I actually just noticed that today.

So, some of the Korean teachers teach English classes, but some of them are there just to help out the foreign teachers. Every day, for at least part of my class, one of the Korean teachers has sat in there with me. They're there for a few reasons: they will discipline the children in Korean if need be, they need to observe the children because every few weeks or so they have to call the parents and tell them how their child is doing, and I'm pretty sure they're also there to check on the teacher too. The foreign teacher manager, who is a guy from South Africa, told us that they were not there to do that, but I don't believe it. But I'm not too worried about it, I'm already pretty confident I'll do a good job. And they are also really helpful. They are always offering to help us with lesson prep. So far I have taught the short "u" sound and the short "i" sound (I got some bad information and accidentally skipped "i" and "o" on my first day). One of the girls printed out a bunch of pictures from the internet with those sounds and laminated them for me. It was great!

So as I alluded to when I mentioned short u's and i's, I am going to be teaching phonics. The foreign teachers are split and either teach phonics or "themes". There seems to be a prevailing attitude that themes are easier and more fun to teach, and other teachers have seemed to kind of feel sorry for me, or at least seem to expect me to complain about teaching phonics. I honestly don't see it that way. Let me explain what the theme teachers do. They spend two weeks on a certain theme. Examples of themes are: the sea, space, farm life, the hospital, the market, etc... And while I think that would certainly be fun, I appreciate the routine and rigidity of the phonics schedule. I think I'll be able to hit my stride a little bit more easily. And it's not like this is some hardcore boring phonics class. You teach them a sound, and then play games the whole class. The games are great, and the other teachers have given me so many ideas for games. They all drive home the lesson... it's not like we're just playing simon says or something (ok, sometimes we just play simon says). No, but honestly, there are a lot of creative games that can teach kids phonics while they're having fun and running around. It's really a lot of fun.

Since I mentioned the themes, I wanna show you guys the pictures of the "theme rooms" we have on the fourth floor. The teachers can take the kids up there to set the atmosphere for the lesson. Any teacher will admit that the theme rooms are mostly eye candy for the parents, and are simply there to drive up enrollment, but it is a business after all. I'll talk more about that later.















































So that's the: supermarket, pharmacy, space room, florist, broadcasting room, and sea room. There are a few others too, but you get the idea. And here are a couple pictures of my room.











It's one of the smaller rooms, but it's still pretty nice, and has everything I need. The tv is connected to the computer so you can show videos and stuff easily. Here is a picture of the Korean Montessori teacher's room. It's one of the nicer rooms, because the Montessori method allows the kids to just wander around and do whatever they want the whole class (at least that is my early impression). When you're not actually teaching, you need a lot to keep the kids occupied. (Sorry if the formatting got all screwed up with the pictures. I'm too tired to fix it, so hopefully you can figure out what I'm talking about.)

One of the other great things about the school is the cafeteria. We get free breakfast and lunch every day! The breakfast thing just started after the holiday break. On Monday during the "welcome back" speech we were informed that we could request anything we want from the cooks and they would buy it and make it for us. This includes stuff like eggs and ketchup and cheese and all of those other things that Westerners love. Then on Tuesday at about 8:50 word spread like wildfire throughout the school that "they're making omeletes in the cafeteria!" We didn't have morning classes until Wednesday so every single foreign teacher went down there and ate. I had an omelete and about 3 fried eggs. It was ridiculous. I guess it is an extreme rarity to find a place that serves "western" breakfast anywhere in Korea. So this is a pretty big deal. Me, I just had eggs for breakfast on the flight over, so it's not like I was going through withdrawl or anything, but I can still appreciate it.

The only other pictures I have from the school are are these shots from the roof. Everywhere you look in Korea there are just endless rows of enormous apartment buildings. There are almost no houses anywhere. And as you can tell it is kinda smoggy. I got laughed at when I called those things behind the buildings "mountains". The teachers from more scenic parts of the world call them hills.

So, that's the basics of the school. Once I have my own regular classes and the kids are more used to me I'll take some pictures of them, because they really are the best part of the school. My class today was my best by far, I feel like they got the lesson, and had a ton of fun too. I was walking down the hall early this afternoon before my class and one of the kids said "Hi Teacher Mike!" - it was one of the best feelings. I can't wait until they all remember me and are used to me.

Other quick notes:
1) I just had my first "uh... i don't think this is chicken" experience with my takeout from the local chinese place. I'm not gonna lie though. Whatever it was, it was delicious.
2) The Discovery Channel is one of the only "all English, all the time" channels. And I thought that it was impossible to watch more Discovery Channel than I did with Dustin.
3) I found out that the rubber scraper thingy the girl left in the bathroom is most likely not for squeegy-ing the fog off of the mirror, but for pushing all the water into the drain after you shower. So no more wet socks.
4) 95% of the cars are Hyundai or Kia. I have seen ONE American car the entire time I've been here (and I've been looking). It was a Ford Taurus! And it was crazy! It looked like a luxury car. I can honestly say it was the second most pimp Ford Taurus I have seen in my life.
5) Here is what I bought on my most recent trip to the supermarket. Those are two beers on the left, Korean plum wine in the middle, and two bottles of soju on the right. Then some milk, hot sauce, toothpaste, and soap.

Alright, this might be my last entry for a couple days, who knows how the weekend will go. But I love reading all of your comments. It's made getting up really fun every morning to see who is reading.

My meeting with the Director...

This morning at school I was observing a class when one of the Korean teachers poked her head in and asked me to come with her. She told me that the Director wanted to meet with me. It was a little scary, just because she is the super big boss, even above the principal of the school. Up to this point my only encounter with the Director was when she gave a welcome speech to all of the teachers from all three Jayeon schools. The speech was given through an interpreter because apparently she doesn't speak any English. I think she knows a passable amount, but just doesn't want to say anything wrong, so just chooses to not speak any at all.

Anyway, the Korean teacher interpreted for us during the meeting. She asked how I was liking the school and how I was adjusting, and I responded with fine, fine... then we got past the pleasantries. The Director rambles on and on for about 30-45 seconds and the Korean teacher says to me, "Do you know about the bad world economy?" "Uh, yes." More Korean talking... "Enrollment is quite down because of the bad economy." "Oh, is that so?" Excruciatingly long break for more Korean talking. "The Director met with the principal from the franchise school you are supposed to go to, and they cannot afford to pay another teacher right now because there aren't enough students." "blank stare..." More talking... what is she talking about? Why do I only get 1 sentence of translation per 30 spoken in Korean??? "So we would like to know if you would be willing to stay here and teach for the full year." "relief."

So, I'm going to be staying in Suji! Which is what I've wanted ever since I got here. And apparently the Director is really happy because I'm being flexible, so - bonus! So I'm in a really good mood, and couldn't be happier with the way things are going so far. I'm also insanely tired right now, as I have been every night. And I'm only teaching one class a day. Starting Monday I have 6 classes MWF and 7 TuTh. I am so not ready for that schedule.

Since I'm going to be staying at the beautiful new Bojeong branch of the Jayeon ESOL school, I will dedicate a whole post to it next. Actually describing life at the school could be two posts. I think I really underestimated how much my life would be dominated by my job.

Also coming up soon I will describe Suji a little more, describe the Korean people and my interactions with them, and talk more about Korean tv, because I love it. Also maybe more bathroom talk, since that seemed pretty popular.

Exploring Seoul

By the time the welcome crew left my apartment on Saturday night it was after midnight, and I was ready to go to bed forever. As many of you know I absolutely require the tv to be on while I sleep, so I was happy the cable was hooked up and ready to go. I would have been happy with watching some random Korean show, but I found that at any given time you can find 4 or 5 things in English. I found the Simpsons on a channel called Tooniverse and was pretty much as happy as I could be.

I slept until almost noon, and shortly after Hollis and I headed out to explore. Our neighborhood is really nice, it's pretty similar to any busy neighborhood in Chicago. There are restaurants, shops, and anything else you could need all in walking distance. We decided we wanted to see Seoul and went to a bus stop. Luckily Hollis can read Korean, because I would have had absolutely no idea where I was going. After about 40 mins we were in Itaewon which is the "foreigner" area of Seoul since it is right by the American military base. It was kind of overwhelming, there were a lot of great places to shop I'm sure, but I haven't been here long enough to figure out what I need.

After awhile we got on the subway and rode to Jamsil which is another great shopping area. One of the biggest things in Jamsil is Lotte World. When we got off of the subway, we actually found it difficult to get outside because right away you are in Lotte World which is this huge maze of shopping, movies, restaurants, and apparently there is an indoor/outdoor amusement park around there somewhere, although I didn't see it. Actually, pretty much everything in that area seemed to be "Lotte-something". We eventually made our way to Lotte Mart, which is an enormous department/grocery store. We even ate at Lotteria - the Korean McDonalds. To the left there is a picture of part of Lotte World.

During the day I had been looking for a camera (since I lost mine at some point during the "I don't remember anything for this four hours" part of my going away party), and after shopping some prices I found a good deal at Lotte Mart. Buying a camera in Korea isn't as easy as buying a soda or something. Up to this point I had pretty much been able to hand them what I wanted, hand them some money, and the transaction was over with no speaking (except perhaps me butchering a Korean thank you at the end.) The lady behind the counter was asking me all kinds of questions, apparently undeterred by the utterly vacant look in my eyes. At one point I thought they were trying to upsell me a tripod, extra memory card, and camera pouch. I pointed at all of that stuff and shook my head, and then pointed at the camera box and nodded my head. Then she said the magic word. She smiles and points at all of extra stuff and says "Service!". Luckily I had learned that service means "this is free". So I got a nice camera and a bunch of extra stuff for 179,000 won, which is probably the same as I would have paid in America, but I got a charger that actually works with the outlets here, and it was a fun experience.

We really had a good time wandering around that day. After we got to Jamsil we each made a "power-ju" which is just a big Powerade with a bottle of soju poured in. It was definitely key, because it loosened us up, and after awhile it felt like wandering around a foreign city with some guy I met the night before was the most natural thing ever.

Jamsil seemed to be a pretty upscale neighborhood, and I quickly noticed something. Korean dudes dress waaaay better than I do. And the girls all seem super classy and way out of my league. Koreans definitely know how to look good. One of my goals for this year is to develop a sense of Korean style. Step one seems to be get a pair of designer glasses. Step two is always wear a scarf. Step three is that your jeans have to be pretty much the opposite of the ones I wear. I tend to like the plain, not a lot of fade, no weird rips look. This may take some time because glasses and scarves are both really annoying, and I just can't get into that jacked-up jeans look.

On the way back we took the subway to the Migeum stop which is the closest one to us, and cabbed back to the apartment. On the wiki that I linked you will see how they refer to Migeum as "small" compared to it's neighbors. The picture to the right is of an intersection in Migeum. Small, clearly.

So we made it back in plenty of time to get tons of rest for our first day at work. I will get into what the school and the kids are like next time. Last nights episode of Gossip Girl just got done downloading, so that is pretty much all I've got in store for the rest of the night. Speaking of which, Gossip Girl is apparently on every morning at 8am, so the last two days I have watched the first half of it before I leave for work. Have there been any new episodes of any other shows I watch? Please let me know if so.

Oh and also, why didn't anyone tell me that Chester dunked in the Michigan game!?! Can someone get me a video of that? I searched for awhile at work and couldn't find it. After those two road games I think 1-1 is a great Big Ten record. And things are going to be even better after we beat Indiana by 50 and then redeem ourselves against Michigan at home.

Ok bye everyone! I'll probably write again tomorrow.

Arriving / Adjusting

Hi everyone, I'm just finishing my second full day here in Korea. The flight was long but fairly uneventful, the only snags I had were having to pay $150 to check my overweight bag, and having to sprint through the Tokyo airport to make it onto my connecting flight to Seoul.

Once I got through customs and got my bags I got to an area where I saw a bunch of people holding up signs waiting for people. I started looking for my name, and eventually saw a guy holding a sign the says "Welcome to Korea Michael!". So I walk up to him, and say, "Michael Fitzgerald?" Then he said something in Korean, and at that point I realized we were not going to be able to communicate. I just happened to look at the sign again, and I realize there's a picture on there of a person that is not me. So I just walked away, assuming that he was welcoming a different Michael to Korea. About 10 minutes later I see him walking towards me again, and this time he's with a girl who has another sign that says, "Welcome to Korea Lima!". And it has a picture of me on it. Apparently they had the names and pictures switched of me and the other guy who was starting with me. So we found "Lima", whose name is actually Hollis Lima (he is still having trouble with people from the school calling him by his last name despite numerous corrections) and we hopped in a van and started heading off.

During the ride back I started talking with Hollis, and found out that he had taught in Korea last year too, so he was able to give me some good introductory information. Unfortunately, I didn't really know much about where I was going or what I was doing. I thought I was going to Bupyeong which is west of Seoul, but we found out we were both going to be living in the same apartment in Suji, which is southeast of Seoul. I think I have finally determined that that I am going to be training/observing here in Suji and then moving to Bupyeong at the end of January. The situation isn't ideal, because I'd like to just settle in here, get to know the neighborhood, and start adjusting. It's hard to get settled when you know you are moving in a month though.

When we arrived at my apartment I was really pleasantly surprised. I have a bedroom! And a full size bed! It's definitely small, but more than I was expecting. It was well furnished and stocked with stuff too. I knew there would be dishes and a tv, and a few other "essential" type things, but I was surprised at all the things that were already here. There were hangers, an iron and ironing board, a floor cleaning device, a rice cooker, a knife set, a water cooler (like an office one), a dvd player, a drying rack and a few other things that I didn't bring that are going to come in handy.

Probably the most interesting room is the bathroom. The whole bathroom is your shower. It's pretty strange, and I'm having a little trouble getting used to it. I've gotten over the fact that everytime you take a shower the toilet and washing machine are going to get all wet. But it's other little things that get on my nerves. There is no bathroom sink, so you have to brush your teeth and shave while showering. If you forget, your options are starting up the shower again or doing in the kitchen sink. And i have forgot, and neither of those options are really appealing to me. Another thing is that everything in the bathroom is always wet, and I don't have sandals yet. Right now it is 8:32pm, I took a shower at about 7:15am, and the floor is still wet. And I just had to go to the bathroom, so now my socks are wet.

Oh yeah, that reminds me, wearing shoes in doors is apparently a major no-no here. When we first arrived at the apartment there were about 4 Korean people from the school all milling around my place playing with the heat or something. I went in to join them and as I started to step in Hollis says to me "No shoes in the apartment!" I'm thinking to myself, "What? This is my aparment!" But then I look down and see that all the ladies had taken their shoes off. Then today at school, we all took our shoes off when we got there. And everyone - students, teachers, staff - all walk around in socks (or maybe slippers because it's cold) all day. It's kind of fun actually.

Ok, I haven't covered nearly everything I wanted to, but this is getting long and I'm tired. I will try to write a couple times a week. But it might be more at first since everything seems really "blog-worthy" right now. I'd love to hear your comments, because I miss you all dearly and am craving anything coming from America.

Coming next time: Korean tv, trip to Seoul, the amazing school, my first class, and the adorable kids.