Sorry I haven't bee keeping this up to date, like I said I would, but work has kept me busy and I haven't had the energy to write much.
Let me tell you a little about my experience so far. To some of you, this might seem like I am covering some things over again, but this is what it's been like since the beginning.
Life I Korea has been awesome and I have learned a lot so far about the culture, the way of life and the people. Some good and some bad.
Let's start with my arrival. Here's a little of what I have been up to since I arrived and how my transition has been:
When I got here, the school set me up in a hostel for 2 weeks. I got here and started orientation before my apartment was ready. So the first two weeks were training at my Hagwan (a Hagwan is a private school). It is a school with 10 teachers and 6 were leaving and 6 were starting. When I got here, it was super cold and the ride from the airport was shocking. It was hard to believe I came here. Everything looked so foreign. The first thing I noticed were the crosses everywhere. Korea has a huge Christian population and there are churches everywhere marked by glowing red crosses. Everywhere I could see was a cross. It was a very comforting feeling. Here I was, completely on my own and yet, to my surprise, I felt comforted by His presence. I didn't imagine it would be like this.
After my first two weeks, I moved into my small studio apartment. Most apartments are small and mine is no exception. I have everything I need though. There are some things I miss (like a shower not in the middle of the bathroom) but I have gotten used to it. I live in an apartment building where all of my other teachers live. The school owns it, so it's nice being close to everyone. I don't feel like I am going through this alone.
On to work. My job consists of me working from 9:00 am till 6:30 and on Thursday i work till 7:00. I have kindergarten in the morning from 9:30 till 12:30. I have nine kids in my class, seven boys and 2 girls. They are second year kinder, so they have some foundation of English. They can read and write and speak a little. I don’t think I could have handled any younger than the seven year-olds I have. It is basically a normal kinder class. I do the calendar with them, the weather, shapes, colors, vocabulary, etc. I also work with them on Phonics, Math, Language, and a course called Orda (which is just puzzle solving). I have them until lunch at 12:30. From there, I have an hour break and I come back and teach a special activity. It’s an hour long and I teach art to all the other second year classes. After another break, I have a class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday that’s a special reading class for Kinder and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, another reading class. My late afternoon classes are for older kids, around 10-13 years-old. So that’s my work. I don’t do any of the planning, because they have a curriculum and lesson plan already established. I have a Korean partner teacher who takes care of all of that. Sometimes we don’t see eye-to-eye, and the Korean “ways” get to me, but we get along for the most part. It’s hard to describe how that is, but lets just say that they can be quite stubborn and set in their ways. I work long days, but my pay is worth it. I am one of the highest paying Hagwans in Seoul and it really helps with paying my bills back home.
Life her has been great outside of work. After work, I am usually pretty tired to do much. I try to find time during the week to get out a bit, but it’s been hard lately cause of the weather. I hope that will change as it gets warmer. On the weekends, it’s go, go, go. I try to do as much as I can and see as much as I can. The city is completely fascinating and there is always something to see. The pictures on my Facebook profile show a little of what I have been doing. I have also met some really cool Korean friends here, through an old college buddy, and we have become fast friends. They really show me how their lives here are. We do things like bowl, go to arcades, go to bars and play pool, darts etc. It’s just a lot of hanging out and talking. They have been great. This weekend they are taking me to a baseball game here and that should be fun.
I won’t lie, it’s really strange living here and it is taking some time to get used to. Some days I feel like I am dreaming and I am gonna wake up and this will all be some strange dream. When I see things like people eating pigs feet or silk-worm larva, I think to myself, “This can’t be real. I can’t really be here.” Never in my wildest dreams did I picture coming to a place like this. With that being said, I love it. I wouldn’t trade it in for the world. I look forward to the day when I can actually start my traveling and seeing more of Asia. At this point, I don’t think I will be heading home for good until I can see all I possibly can. I don’t know if I’ll ever get this opportunity again, and I would be dumb not to take advantage of it.
So, enough for now. It's late and I need to go to bed. Thank you all for your prayers and your kind words. I miss you all.
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