Sorry to disappoint, but this catch up blog will have to be short (and boring). I am just wiped out from the past few days and haven't really had time to process much, and therefore have little to share with ya'all. I finally got to go to my school on Thursday and I watched a few teachers teach various classes. The system at the school seems quite complex, but at least its organized (not something private language schools here are known for). I am taking over for a guy named Steve. He's from Canada, of Indian descent, and a total blast. We totally hit it off and have spent a lot of time in the last two days laughing. One of my favorite things to laugh about has been how funny the students are about Steve being "brown". Some great stories to share there, but they will have to wait for another day. Anyways, I have a total of 14 classes of students, ranging from age 5 to 15 and each class has a different curriculum so there is a TON of stuff for me to learn right now. Luckily, this is not my first time teaching and I have no qualms with jumping right in. The kids are great, for the most part. There are a few kids that I have my eye on, total troublemakers. But overall, the kids are good. SO CUTE. Some of them I want to grab and hug, but that's not quite how Koreans roll. So I just smile, for now.
So Thursday night I observed, and then Steve and I walked back to our apartment complex (we live in the same complex a few blocks from the other teachers) and we ended up standing outside the building for hours talking. Yeah, he should have known better than to bring up religion. Man, talking about God just gets me going. And he has his own interesting story. So by the time I wandered into my apartment and got to sleep it was almost 2am. Not exactly the schedule I wanted to keep. Friday, I observed again and even helped teach a little. Today, Saturday, I met up with my friend Sunyoung and we had sushi for lunch before sitting in a coffee house for 4 hours talking about English and Korean. It's actually a great way for me to learn since I can talk mostly in English but practice my Korean. It's coming along well and though I am far from fluent, I think I know more than the other teachers who have been here for months.
So there you go Mom. Tomorrow, church at 10am with Sunyoung, then we're off to the new members class, then lunch. And then hopefully I'll be able to sneek off home before I head out to celebrate a fellow teacher's birthday with my co-workers. Did I mention that this fellow teacher, Erin, happens to know a handful of my friends back home? That's right, she knows a few of my friends from WTS and then a bunch of the people I went to Israel and India with. CRAZY! In anycase, not sure if I will get a chance to blog again tomorrow, but I am good, safe, and having fun.
So Thursday night I observed, and then Steve and I walked back to our apartment complex (we live in the same complex a few blocks from the other teachers) and we ended up standing outside the building for hours talking. Yeah, he should have known better than to bring up religion. Man, talking about God just gets me going. And he has his own interesting story. So by the time I wandered into my apartment and got to sleep it was almost 2am. Not exactly the schedule I wanted to keep. Friday, I observed again and even helped teach a little. Today, Saturday, I met up with my friend Sunyoung and we had sushi for lunch before sitting in a coffee house for 4 hours talking about English and Korean. It's actually a great way for me to learn since I can talk mostly in English but practice my Korean. It's coming along well and though I am far from fluent, I think I know more than the other teachers who have been here for months.
So there you go Mom. Tomorrow, church at 10am with Sunyoung, then we're off to the new members class, then lunch. And then hopefully I'll be able to sneek off home before I head out to celebrate a fellow teacher's birthday with my co-workers. Did I mention that this fellow teacher, Erin, happens to know a handful of my friends back home? That's right, she knows a few of my friends from WTS and then a bunch of the people I went to Israel and India with. CRAZY! In anycase, not sure if I will get a chance to blog again tomorrow, but I am good, safe, and having fun.
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