Guess what I'm eating right now? Octopus. It's actually pretty good....especially in soy sauce. The food options here are actually pretty broad, though, so there's plenty to choose from. Curiosity just got the best of me!
The gym here is great....minus the facilities. The great part is that I've met so may people here...the American/Korean couple I wrote about (I think?) that I've been out with several times, the owner of the place and his assistant (both my age), and a few Koreans. We're all having a get-together over here tomorrow so that should be fun! They've all been really friendly so far and it's interesting how the Korean culture is SO much about sharing and returning favors. I said I was going to have people over, so within the next time minutes, half of them came back to invite me to their house later on and I'm sure the others that didn't were thinking about it. Also, when we go out to eat, they always offer to pay for the meal, but what ends up happening is that one person pays the whole bill, and then the next person at the next place until everyone has paid for a meal, then it starts over.....and the food is always shared. People don't even have their own plates half the time....you have a ton of food in the center that everyone grabs with their chopsticks while they talk and eat. It's a very respectful, social culture.
In another note of just as much if not more interest, I haven't taken that trip to the elevator yet to zap the mosquitoes, but I think I will soon....
Monday, August 31, 2009
Yep, the kids looove the stickers. Good thing I have about three pounds of them haha. It's definitely an age range....the younger kids can be REALLY challenging to teach. They really only know the most basic of the basic....hello, goodbye, a few colors, and their favorite animals. Like I say, lots of gesturing and making up ways to get my idea across to them. It takes quite a bit of energy to teach them and by the end of the day I'm pretty pooped, but still manage to go to the weight room (just joined one a few days back) and then go back home, talk online for a bit, then go to bed.
A/C here has been sooo nice to have. Without it, it would be more than a little hot and stuffy here. As far as the bug situation, it's really not bad. For some reason, though, there are always a bunch of mosquitoes in my apartments elevator, but that's the only place so far that I've seen them anywhere in Korea. Weird, huh? I used my bug zapper once in my room, but that was it....and man, did it kill that mosquito. Not just like zzzz and dead.....it was like BANG! The thing made this big spark and then burned up on the metal. I was impressed. I'm thinking about taking a bug-zapping expedition to the elevator, though. Do everyone in the apartment a favor and have a little fun haha.
A/C here has been sooo nice to have. Without it, it would be more than a little hot and stuffy here. As far as the bug situation, it's really not bad. For some reason, though, there are always a bunch of mosquitoes in my apartments elevator, but that's the only place so far that I've seen them anywhere in Korea. Weird, huh? I used my bug zapper once in my room, but that was it....and man, did it kill that mosquito. Not just like zzzz and dead.....it was like BANG! The thing made this big spark and then burned up on the metal. I was impressed. I'm thinking about taking a bug-zapping expedition to the elevator, though. Do everyone in the apartment a favor and have a little fun haha.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Post #2 (creative name, huh?)
Hey guys!
So again, this is just stolen from a few emails to my mom (you guys think I have enough motivation to write messages solely for this blog?! Psha!)
My place is pretty cool! It's only about a 5 minute walk from the school, too. Because of that i don't know if I'll get a scooter or not. Probably eventually since I'll want to travel out to other parts of the island and the city is big enough where walking to the other end would take wayy too long walking.
The flight was pretty good because it didn't seem like it was as long as I thought it was. I didn't get to sit next to sarah (ok, gotta tell the background on this one: craziest random happening ever; my friend Sarah from high school was by chance going to Korea the same day I was, but the coincidence doesn't stop there.....we were on the same airline, the same flights, and even sat next to eachother for the first flight!), but sat next to some other english teachers going to Seoul and we talked for a while. The language tapes helped a bit too. And they gave us plenty of food on the plane (one snack and two full-size meals) that was probably the best food I've ever had on a plane before.
So backtracking a bit....when I first got to my apartment it was around 10 PM korean time. The temperature was about 80 and very humid even at night...so if feels really warm, especially in the day. I haven't found out where really anything is yet other than my school, but I'm going to do all of that soon. So far I've found out where two grocery stores are, the cell phone place where I got my phone, my school, and downtown. The city is pretty good sized, though, so there's a lot more to see.
On a side note:
I'm reallllly excited that favre is a viking! I've been following it really closely....sounds like he's other blown others away with what he can do in practice! It's the same system he used for 16 years in green bay, so he said it's like he's really back in his element and that after his recovery from his shoulder surgery, his arm feels better than it has for a year at least....so I'm thinking we'll see big things from him. With him, a good offensive line, a much better receiving core than last year, and the best running game in football (not to mention a good defense as well) I think we have a legitimate chance of going really far this year. I can't wait! Hopefully I get the games here. Andrew, if you're reading this, send the message to your team, (favre's former team coincidentally).....watch out!
So my kids really like stickers. Good thing I brought like three pounds of them haha. The lesson plans I use are really basic...I have kids that are as young as 5 years old, so for them it's more like babysitting than anything else. Even my older kids are probably only 15 at the oldest, so they're not too advanced. The average age, though, is probably around 11 or so. We usually practice basic words with themes like "around town" or "in the house" so they can learn about fire men, stoves, and basic words like that. The older kids start to work on grammar and senteces (which is a nice relief because then I feel I can actually speak like a real person instead of in slow robot talk).
It's kinda tough sometimes because for the most part, their english really isn't that good. Communicating can be tough so I have to get creative with lots of pointing, drawing, etc. I'm excited for this week to be over, though, so that I can start with new books next month. Every month we change books, and for some reason some classes are way behind in their books while others are caught up, so it's a real pain teaching those who are behind because we have to rush so much and I look forward to making my own schedule where we can move at a more even pace.
Maybe the hardest part about teaching, at least at first, was that there's no AC in there! By the end of my first day I probably looked like I finished working out or something because it gets pretty hot, and without AC, it's tough. BUT, there is a fan, so yesterday (my second day teaching) I moved that in there and pointed it directly at me. The students didn't seem to get bothered by the heat, so it worked out well that I had my own constant air flow. It was MUCH more comfortable. There's AC in my apartment though....it has everything from AC to a rice maker....it even came with a bug zapper and video door entry system. So thats nice.
My next week pretty much just holds teaching....I'm going to try to find a gym nearby, also, but other than that i don't really have much going (I don't really plan things though, it's more of a day by day approach). My new phone number is 010 3822 8231 if anyone wants to try to call me....I wonder if it will work. Probably via skype calling....guess we'll find out! Adios!
So again, this is just stolen from a few emails to my mom (you guys think I have enough motivation to write messages solely for this blog?! Psha!)
My place is pretty cool! It's only about a 5 minute walk from the school, too. Because of that i don't know if I'll get a scooter or not. Probably eventually since I'll want to travel out to other parts of the island and the city is big enough where walking to the other end would take wayy too long walking.
The flight was pretty good because it didn't seem like it was as long as I thought it was. I didn't get to sit next to sarah (ok, gotta tell the background on this one: craziest random happening ever; my friend Sarah from high school was by chance going to Korea the same day I was, but the coincidence doesn't stop there.....we were on the same airline, the same flights, and even sat next to eachother for the first flight!), but sat next to some other english teachers going to Seoul and we talked for a while. The language tapes helped a bit too. And they gave us plenty of food on the plane (one snack and two full-size meals) that was probably the best food I've ever had on a plane before.
So backtracking a bit....when I first got to my apartment it was around 10 PM korean time. The temperature was about 80 and very humid even at night...so if feels really warm, especially in the day. I haven't found out where really anything is yet other than my school, but I'm going to do all of that soon. So far I've found out where two grocery stores are, the cell phone place where I got my phone, my school, and downtown. The city is pretty good sized, though, so there's a lot more to see.
On a side note:
I'm reallllly excited that favre is a viking! I've been following it really closely....sounds like he's other blown others away with what he can do in practice! It's the same system he used for 16 years in green bay, so he said it's like he's really back in his element and that after his recovery from his shoulder surgery, his arm feels better than it has for a year at least....so I'm thinking we'll see big things from him. With him, a good offensive line, a much better receiving core than last year, and the best running game in football (not to mention a good defense as well) I think we have a legitimate chance of going really far this year. I can't wait! Hopefully I get the games here. Andrew, if you're reading this, send the message to your team, (favre's former team coincidentally).....watch out!
So my kids really like stickers. Good thing I brought like three pounds of them haha. The lesson plans I use are really basic...I have kids that are as young as 5 years old, so for them it's more like babysitting than anything else. Even my older kids are probably only 15 at the oldest, so they're not too advanced. The average age, though, is probably around 11 or so. We usually practice basic words with themes like "around town" or "in the house" so they can learn about fire men, stoves, and basic words like that. The older kids start to work on grammar and senteces (which is a nice relief because then I feel I can actually speak like a real person instead of in slow robot talk).
It's kinda tough sometimes because for the most part, their english really isn't that good. Communicating can be tough so I have to get creative with lots of pointing, drawing, etc. I'm excited for this week to be over, though, so that I can start with new books next month. Every month we change books, and for some reason some classes are way behind in their books while others are caught up, so it's a real pain teaching those who are behind because we have to rush so much and I look forward to making my own schedule where we can move at a more even pace.
Maybe the hardest part about teaching, at least at first, was that there's no AC in there! By the end of my first day I probably looked like I finished working out or something because it gets pretty hot, and without AC, it's tough. BUT, there is a fan, so yesterday (my second day teaching) I moved that in there and pointed it directly at me. The students didn't seem to get bothered by the heat, so it worked out well that I had my own constant air flow. It was MUCH more comfortable. There's AC in my apartment though....it has everything from AC to a rice maker....it even came with a bug zapper and video door entry system. So thats nice.
My next week pretty much just holds teaching....I'm going to try to find a gym nearby, also, but other than that i don't really have much going (I don't really plan things though, it's more of a day by day approach). My new phone number is 010 3822 8231 if anyone wants to try to call me....I wonder if it will work. Probably via skype calling....guess we'll find out! Adios!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Alright! The first post! This is actually just a rough copy/paste job from an email I wrote to my mom, but it sums up the first day pretty well.
So the hour here is different from what I thought...instead of having your 1 AM be my 2 PM like I thought it would be, it would be your 1 AM to my 3 PM. Surprisingly enough, I haven't felt any jet lag. Well either that, or like I was hoping, my strange sleep schedule from back home is paying off haha.
Aaaaanyways, things here so far have been really good. The apartment wasn't the same one they showed me in pics, but it seems that that was probably better because I guess that was actually community housing and there were TWO people in the huge apartment. So instead of just being the only english teacher in korea with a two bedroom place, I have a one bedroom, but it's kind of nice to have that privacy. Also, this place is brand new and so has just about everything in it. And they really stocked the place, too. I've got everything from the basic appliances, TV, A/C, etc. to a rice maker, coffee pot, and video intercom system to let people in from outside. But the BEST part about it is the view. I'm on top of a hill where I look down at most of the city and the ocean beyond that. It's really neat at night to see all of the neon lighting down below....bummer you guys can't be here to see it with me!
All the people are super friendly...any time I start a conversation with somebody (which is always in broken english....seems everybody knows the basics very well, but beyond that its not very good. Even my fellow english teachers who are local have pretty shaky english past basic, formal stuff) it lasts for much longer than I plan because they're so interested and love to talk. I haven't had a single bus, plane, or car ride without constant talk with a local or somebody from my program. So yeah! Everything here is good. I'm starting to learn the ropes after going around the city a bit. I went to the hospital today to get checked for swine flu because the koreans are really paranoid about it, and also saw and entered my school where I met the rest of the faculty and got my lesson plan. It's MUCH different than anything you'd get in the US as far as how they go about it. No materials can be taken home (so I'm forced to prepare at the school), and the "orientation" is what I did in about 20 minutes....meeting the other faculty, glancing at the facilities and seeing the schedule. Nothing more. Oh, I was given a brief chance to ask questions. So we'll see how things go tomorrow!
Also, the food is good. Contrary to my prior fears, there are quite a few options, the fish is good, and even kimchi (a strange fermented cabbage dish) wasn't bad. Good thing I'm not shy when it comes to food, I guess.
So the hour here is different from what I thought...instead of having your 1 AM be my 2 PM like I thought it would be, it would be your 1 AM to my 3 PM. Surprisingly enough, I haven't felt any jet lag. Well either that, or like I was hoping, my strange sleep schedule from back home is paying off haha.
Aaaaanyways, things here so far have been really good. The apartment wasn't the same one they showed me in pics, but it seems that that was probably better because I guess that was actually community housing and there were TWO people in the huge apartment. So instead of just being the only english teacher in korea with a two bedroom place, I have a one bedroom, but it's kind of nice to have that privacy. Also, this place is brand new and so has just about everything in it. And they really stocked the place, too. I've got everything from the basic appliances, TV, A/C, etc. to a rice maker, coffee pot, and video intercom system to let people in from outside. But the BEST part about it is the view. I'm on top of a hill where I look down at most of the city and the ocean beyond that. It's really neat at night to see all of the neon lighting down below....bummer you guys can't be here to see it with me!
All the people are super friendly...any time I start a conversation with somebody (which is always in broken english....seems everybody knows the basics very well, but beyond that its not very good. Even my fellow english teachers who are local have pretty shaky english past basic, formal stuff) it lasts for much longer than I plan because they're so interested and love to talk. I haven't had a single bus, plane, or car ride without constant talk with a local or somebody from my program. So yeah! Everything here is good. I'm starting to learn the ropes after going around the city a bit. I went to the hospital today to get checked for swine flu because the koreans are really paranoid about it, and also saw and entered my school where I met the rest of the faculty and got my lesson plan. It's MUCH different than anything you'd get in the US as far as how they go about it. No materials can be taken home (so I'm forced to prepare at the school), and the "orientation" is what I did in about 20 minutes....meeting the other faculty, glancing at the facilities and seeing the schedule. Nothing more. Oh, I was given a brief chance to ask questions. So we'll see how things go tomorrow!
Also, the food is good. Contrary to my prior fears, there are quite a few options, the fish is good, and even kimchi (a strange fermented cabbage dish) wasn't bad. Good thing I'm not shy when it comes to food, I guess.
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