My first week
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2008
1
5
Trip End
Ongoing
Seoul,
Korea Rep.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
So I arrived in South Korea about a week ago, August 25th to be exact. I was put in my room that I will be living in for the rest of the year upon arrival. My first full day in Korea was spent observing teachers at my school teaching classes of 5-10 year olds English. The next 3 days were spent at orientation, which was supposed to prepare me to teach. After observing again on Monday, I started teaching my own classes on Tuesday. Today is Thursday and I have just finished my 3rd day of teaching. So far teaching has been my life, but it is getting easier and less stressful as the days go by.
As I said earlier, my first day in Korea was spent observing foreign teachers teach English to little kids. I sat in on about 8-9 classes at 40 minutes each. The school is about a 15 minute walk from my place. The kids were at all different levels of English some were still learning phonics, while others were working on conjugating verbs. The kids were so excited to meet the new teacher, "Teacher Marc". After work I went out to a traditional style Korean restaurant with a couple teachers. We ate Korean BBQ, meaning there is a little grill in the center of the table which we use to BBQ meat and eat. It was very good and the first time I have ever had it. This night was also the first night that I had soju, the Korean alcohol of choice. It tastes like watered down vodka at about 20% alcohol.
The next day I went to orientation via subway, which is a 15 minute walk from my place, opposite direction of the school. The subway is extremely efficient in both time and cost to get around the enormous city. There were 30 other newbies just like me that worked for the same company as me but a different branch, so I knew there had to be a couple people I could make friends with. Although there were lots of weird people, I did end up making friends with several people, one of which grew up in the Santa Cruz area, Emily. That night, Emily, another friend Raj, and I went to Itewon. This is a touristy part of Seoul, but we still had a great time. The next night after orientation we hung out in my area, Gagnam. The last night of orientation, Friday, I went out to dinner with my co teachers of my school and then proceeded to go out in Gagnam district. Gagnam is one of the prime places to party in Seoul, luckily it is only 10 minutes walk from my apartment. After going to a Korean bar, we went to a bar full of other teachers from around Seoul. From the inside, you would have no idea you were in Seoul other than the fact all the alcohol was Korean.
On Saturday, Raj, Megan, and I walked around a shopping district in Seoul. By this time I had gotten my Tmoney card, allowing me to pay for the subway automatically by RFID in my wallet. The shopping district was huge, level upon level of clothing, bags, and stuff. It was a good way to explore the city and find out what it was about. That night a group of about 8 teachers from around Seoul went to a soccer game at the World Cup Stadium. It was lots of fun, although the place was at about 10% capacity. We went out to some bars after the game, ending the night on a good note.
On Sunday I did not do much because I got lost on the subway on my way to meet people to do some touristy stuff. O well, I spent several hours wondering around and being lost on the subway.
On Monday I observed teachers again at my school. The kids had remembered me from the previous time I was there. They seem to really enjoy me and always say "hi" whenever they see me. The youngest kids, 4-5 years old, enjoyed touching my arm hair and big hands. As you can imagine neither of that is normal around here. That day I went home feeling good about my first day of classes.
My first day of classes was so Stressful!!! I was running around trying to prepare, while getting more work to do. By the end of the day I was already half bald. I am working about 7 classes a day / 5 days a week. Today is Thursday and things have cooled down a bit, but I am still working a lot. I will go into work at 9:15 and wont get out till after 8:00. If things keep getting easier, I will really enjoy it here in Korea. I am looking forward to the time when I am cool, calm, and relaxed at school.
There are several classes which I really enjoy. The kids really like me, as I like them too. We get along great and they are always eager to participate. My best classes have 5-6 kids, making it really enjoyable.
Anyways this has been a long post and other hopefully wont be the same. Hope to post soon.
