May is a great month for teachers in Korea!

May is a good month because there are a lot of holidays and there are also special events at school. Two weeks my school had Sports day. Every school in Korea holds this event once a year. At my school every grade practiced one special event like circle tug-o-war, relay races, jump rope, dancing and running. For weeks before the event the classes would practice. The classes would also practice marching. The teachers began to stress out and I didn’t understand why. I just thought it was going to be a fun relaxing day like a jog-a-thon or something. It was fun for me. They would cancel classes, so they could practice. And once the day came, I understood what all the commotion was about. All the students wore matching gym outfits. All the teachers wore matching gym outfits (even me). There were tents set up along the perimeter. Flags hung all around. And there was a head table for the principal, the vice principal and top district big wigs. All the teachers were praying for a smooth event because all the eyes were on them and their class. There was an opening ceremony with flag waving, songs, speeches and choreographed exercises. And then, finally the games began. It was a long day and only my pictures can describe the rest. The teachers are much more relaxed because the event is over.

Last week my school had their birthday on Tuesday, so there was no school. On Wednesday it was Children’s Day, so there was no school. Children’s Day is a day where kids get presents, and a day off school. Some businesses are also closed for this holiday. Since we had the day off, we went to Haeundae Beach in Busan. The weather was perfect! Good friends, good Frisbee, and you are even allowed to enjoy a drink or two on the beach. I should have worn a little more sunscreen though. Ouch!

Today is Midterms, so I don’t teach. On Thursday and Friday we are going to a conference about 1 hour away. Next Friday is Buddha’s Birthday, so no school. We are going to Deok Jeok Do for that 3 day weekend. It is a private island near Seoul. About 60 English teachers will attend. There are sleeping facilities, but we have to bring our own food. So, it’s kinda like camping on the beach. Bring on the SUN! So, in conclusion (haha), May is a great month for teachers in Korea!

Korea in the month of April

Since we don’t want to spend time in our small apartment box, we explore as much as possible. Sometimes we feel like we are living college life again. We spend many late nights in bars or dance clubs hanging out with friends until 3am. Last weekend we ventured to Busan. After enjoying a delicious Mexican meal we followed our friends through the subway system to foreigner row. Ok, not really foreigner row, but once we arrived there were so many English speakin folk, that it didn’t feel like we were in a foreign country. We were able to share our teaching experiences withe each other and then we got our dance on! I love my space to dance and I get a little crazy sometimes. The few Koreans that were there didn’t know what to think. Their dance club style involves bouncing and step tapping. It was fun!

Once we were tired we wanted to take a taxi adventure back to Ulsan (little did we know how adventuress it would be). Ulsan is about 45 minutes away from Busan. At 3am there are no buses or trains running. So, we bargained with a taxi driver to drive us home for about $60. Everything was fine until he missed the exit! Apparently, highways in Korea have no turn offs once you’re on them. For miles we were stuck on this highway with no exits. Then we turned around, had to pay a toll booth. The taxi driver asked how to get to our location. He got directions and went. Then he got lost again. We ended up turing around 4 times, hitting 4 toll booths and adding 25 minutes to our 3am adventure. Once, we were on the correct road, the taxi driver was running red lights and kept on saying “sorry.” We were so happy to see our apartment and no to mention our toilet (boy did we have to pee).

Although our weekends can be crazy, we also take time to enjoy the outdoors. We love our bikes. We biked along the Taehwa River. We enjoyed a peaceful ride with beautiful flowers surrounding us. I also attended a wedding last weekend. Korean weddings are very different from American weddings. The wedding was at this huge facility where many weddings are held in huge decorated conference rooms. They just shuffle the weddings through. When we first arrived we entered a room where we took pictures with the bride. After 20 minutes the wedding began. The room was generically decorated for any wedding. People were talking during the ceremony. I had no idea what was said, but it was pretty short. There were two dressed up kids that walked down the aisle in the middle of the ceremony. I don’t know the purpose. There were no bridesmaids or groomsmen. There was an announcer and a priest. It was very cute when the groom sang to the bride. Lets just say he will not be a singer when he grows up, but his effort was very adorable. After the ceremony we went to a buffet. The bride and the groom did not attend because they had their traditional wedding with immediate family. There are no presents or cards, just money. I decided to exercise my American and I gave the bride and groom a good ‘ol fashioned hand written card. They liked it!

During the week we teach, teach, teach and go to the gym. Last week I only went to the gym twice and they freaked out. I have made friends in my K pop aerobics class and now they expect me to attend class everyday. Well, at least they keep me motivated. K pop is really fun. There’s no instruction, they just turn on the music and go. The ladies know all the dances and I am stumbling two counts behind. After a few weeks, I finally have a few down.The ladies (all ages) come decked out in disco outfits. I mean neon, bellbottoms, booty shorts, fishnet, you name it. I just wear my given gym outfit and call it good. This weekend I went out with my new K pop friends. They do not speak English except for one girl. Except her Spanish is better then her English, so we speak spanish to each other. The instructor made sure my glass was full. We were hugging and laughing and taking pictures. We can’t speak to each other, but who needs language when you can dance;)

Although we miss home ALOT!!!!! This is an experience we will never forget and we challenge ourselves to go on as many adventures as we can. Seize the moment!

Busan/Orphanage/Soccer/Cherry Blossom Festival

We have been doing a lot of touristy stuff lately. We finally feel comfortable getting around, so each weekend we venture out more and more. The culture shock is starting to wear off. We have been here for almost two months and things are starting to feel natural. We love our new friends because every weekend is very eventful and we get to share it with them.

Last week we went to Busan. Busan is a city just south of Ulsan. It takes about an 1hour and 1/2 by train to get there. Jayson and I checked out Shinsegae, which is the biggest “department store” in the world. So, they say. It’s pretty big, but it reminds me more like a mall rather then a department store. There are a lot of stores, a movie theater, an ice skating rank, and a spa. Then we took a subway to Haeundae Beach. It was very beautiful. In the summer the beach will be filled with umbrellas and thousands of people. We met up with some friends ate Mexican food (it is the closes place to eat mexican, oh it was so amazing). We then went to a bar to drink and play pool. Good times. That day we took a train, a bus, the subway and a taxi.

This weekend I went with a church group and went to the Busan Orphanage. It was a lot of fun. It was explained to me that the kids are not adoptable because they have family near them (like aunts and uncles), but they cannot afford to take care of them. There are about 90 kids living at the orphanage ages form 2 to high school. The kids were really fun. We brought paper, pens and chalk for arts and crafts. Someone brought ingredients for no bake cookies. I ended up teaching a dance class, of course. The kids did not speak much English, but it doesn’t take much to share a game or draw with a child:) Very rewarding.

Jayson went with some friends to a soccer game. It was the Ulsan Tigers versus the Jeju Pride. The score was 1-0. They were the only group of foreigners. A stadium guy took a picture of them and put it on the jumbotron(sp?). During halftime they had people kick American footballs into the gaol. Why? We don’t know. Soccer is very popular and they had a great time.

Today we went to see Cherry Blossoms in Geyongju. They were so beautiful. The cherry blossoms will only last a few weeks, so even though the weather was questionable, we still went. We met up with our South African friend Melvin and took some beautiful pictures. We enjoyed some delicious Italian food in the cutest restaurant. Funny story: We were taking pictures of each other and all of a sudden a Korean man offers to take a picture of us. That was nice but then he proceeds to follow us for the next hour or so. He said he was at Geyongju to meet foreign english people. He wanted to be our tour guide and practice English with us. He was very nice, but hard to talk to. He did explain the tombs, fortress ruins, ancient ice house and various locations that we walked to. I think we will run into that a lot. There are a lot of Koreans that want to practice English with a foreigner. Pretty cool, I guess.

Anyway, my stories are not very interesting this time. So, take a look at the pics and enjoy:) Until next time....

Korean School System

Korean students and American students share a lot of similarities and differences. For the most part, if I ever hear an American student complain about too much school I will slap them silly (ok not really). This country is school crazy, but in a good way. Teachers care about their students success and parents push them even further. Although school is mainly academic driven they still go on field trips, have sports days and teach creative and inventive lessons. There are a lot of opportunities for students to become successful and everybody is pushing them every step of the way.

Ok, let’s start with elementary school (1st to 6th grade). Kids will attend school Monday though Friday from 9am to 2pm. They will also attend school 2 Saturdays a month. After 2pm, most students will attend a hogwon (Korean Private School). Or, some students will attend after school classes provided by their school. Some students will be in school as late as 10pm. After school classes and hogwons cover many subjects, but I think most student receive extra English instruction.

Middle school students (7th to 9th grade) will attend just as much school if not more. Some Middle school students will even live on campus during the week because they chose a school for a certain specialty (like sports or mechanics) that is far a away from their home. Their day schedule is very similar to Elementary students, but I believe they will attend more hours of school and the discipline is more intense. High school students (10th to 12th grade) most likely live on campus. High schools are aimed to a certain specialty like science, or math or language. Students will pick their high school accordingly and they also have to take an entrance exam. A lot of pressure. Their school days are long. They have regular classes from 9am to 4pm, then extra classes, then they have mandatory study time form 8pm to 10pm. The teachers observe them studying. And sometimes students will attend more class after that.

Classroom management is at a whole different level in Korea. I am a firm believer in positive reinforcement, but Korean teachers think otherwise. It also amazes me what Korean teachers decide what’s punishable and what they will look the other way on. I will see so many students (mainly boys) pushing, slapping, hitting, pinching, punching, you name it during break time and the teachers will do nothing. I will even catch it a few times in class and nothing. But if the student is disrespectful or not participating then that is when the punishment begins. Since I do not understand Korean language, I don’t always understand why the students are being punished, but I do understand that my Korean co teacher is frustrated. A lot of times the whole class will have to close their eyes and put their hands on top of their heads. She will begin to lecture them and then they will have to raise their hands straight up. Their hands get heavy and begin to shake. The teacher will lecture them for as long as she feels necessary, then they put their hands down and we continue instruction.

If one student or a few students are disrespectful then the punishment is more intense. Many times students will have to stand facing the corner during class time in humiliation. Other times students will have to write letters or sentences. Another time a few students did a series of push ups and squats until they could barely move. This is just elementary students. In Middle school the teachers walk around with a stick and use it as necessary. Some students will have to squat against the wall with their hands out for an extended period of time during class. Jayson has seen students completing work in the hall on their knees. If a student gets sent to the principal’s office, I hear it’s brutal. I don’t know much about high school, but I imagine it’s pretty similar. Since high schoolers have to earn their way into the school, I would imagine they behave a little better, but I don’t know.

Anyway, these are just generalizations and not facts. This is just a bunch of examples that I have witnessed in my school or heard from my friends. But still I find it all to be pretty interesting. I take it for what it is and try not to judge. This system works for Korea. So, if you are a teacher or a parent in the States and your kids are being little sh*!s you can share this story with them. Enjoy!

Pay day

So, payday finally came. We were barely scraping by for a few days, but now we are millionaires (in won). Since we got paid, we bought a few things that make life a little easier. First we bought a coffee pot. The coffee pot cost about $100! Everybody drinks instant coffee here. Yuck! It’s full of sugar and it has no pep. Now, we can start our day right. It was a good investment. Next, we bought bikes. They too cost about $100 each. Funny how a bike and a coffee maker costs about the same. Since we got the bikes, we have been all over town and we have discovered new stores and restaurants. Finally, we both got a gym membership. We’ll just say expensive, but worth it. There are group exercises, a big work out room, sauna, and bathing room. You check in by your finger print. They give you clothes to work out in and then you work out. Everyone wears the same outfit.

Korea is feeling more and more comfortable. I know very little Korean, so every time we want to do something (buy bikes or gym membership) there is a lot of pointing and sign language. It’s quite entertaining and everything takes a lot longer. Usually people talk to me and ignore Jayson. Someone told us once it’s because he is big and a male. The one guy who did actually talk to Jayson asked him to help him push his cart full of garbage up hill. I wish I had taken a picture. Again there was a lot of sign language, but Jayson understood and helped the guy. Ah, my prince charming:)

Teaching is still going good. We started after school classes, so we have long days, but the week flies by because we are so busy. During after school classes we do not teach with a korean co teacher. So, there is no one to translate, it’s all up to us. This is very difficult for my beginning class. I am teaching them phonics and the alphabet, but they know very little English. I teach like a clown. I act out a lot of things, use a lot of pictures and youtube is my best friend for videos and songs. Thank God for technology. California Schools need to get on it.

The funniest day of my life was when a boy brought a hamster in his pocket to school. I came around the corner to his group and saw him look inside his jacket and I saw a little rodent head pop out. I told my co teacher, “I think that kid has a mouse.” She freaked and said, “A mouse?” She talked to the boy. The rest of the class was playing a game we taught them and had no idea this was going on. My co teacher came back to me and said, “Oh, it’s just a hamster. He said he didn’t know it was in his pocket when he put on his jacket this morning.” I thought No Big Deal?!? I could not stop laughing. I had to turn away from the class, pull myself together and teach the class the next activity.

Like I always say, everyday is adventures!

Chungsol Elementary School

We have completed 2 weeks of school so far. My school day is 8:45am to 4:45 pm. I only have students from 9:10 to 1pm or 2pm. I teach 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade English classes. I see the 6th grade classes 2 times a week and the other grades I only see once a week. I have a Co- Korean teacher who speaks English teaching with me. I have 3 different Co-teachers that I have to plan lessons with. It will take me time to get use to teaching with another teacher in the classroom. Right now the co teacher leads the lesson, I explain directions or introduce dialogue in English. The Korean teacher can then translate if the kids need it. Next week I will start after school classes for extra money (I will make half of my salary extra, yahoo). After school classes will be from 4pm to 6pm Monday through Friday. These classes are for any students who want extra English instruction (or if their parents make them go).

The students are pretty well behaved. Some of the sixth grade students are over English class. The third grade students are so excited because it is their first year in English class. For the most part these students are better behaved then American students. If they act up in class, my co-teacher makes them stand in the corner facing the corner. Then she reprimands them after class and they are on the verge of tears. I’m glad I don’t have to be the bad guy:) My favorite part about Korean School is that the kids clean the school. Everyday there is a designated class to pick up trash, sweep, mop, and wipe every room. It is so funny to walk into a classroom and see a bunch of Korean kids working their butts off to make a class sparkle. I think American schools can learn something from this:)

I eat lunch in the cafeteria with the kids, but I sit at the teacher table. The food is pretty good. It is totally Korean. I have had as much rice these past two weeks as I have had for my whole life! The lunches are made fresh everyday with fresh (not frozen) ingredients! So, at least I am eating healthy. I eat very slow too because I am still getting use to chopsticks. Koreans don’t usually drink a beverage while they eat. They eat all of their food, clean their tray and go to the drinking station. I think that is why soup is served with every meal. I get quite thirsty when I eat, but I learned that drinking while you eat is bad for digestion. I don’t know if that is true or not, but that is what they believe:)

It is taking some time to get use to the school. It is hard to plan lessons with another teacher, but I am learning. The language barrier is very difficult too, it takes twice as long to communicate. The teachers at my school are strict during school hours, but off hours they have a lot of fun. Every Wednesday is Volleyball practice with the teachers. We even bought new uniforms. I guess there are tournaments against other Elementary school staff. I better practice:) Everyday is an adventure and this city is starting to feel more and more comfortable to me.

Our New Home

Well, we are in our new apartment. Finally! It is small, but it is new and clean. So, I am happy. I am at my school, but I will not start teaching until next week. The first day was very interesting. Once you walk into the building you take off your shoes and wear the slippers that are provided to you, I met my new Co-teacher. Her name is Jeong Jung. She is very nice, but I don’t think she knows what to do with me, so she makes me stay in the 6th grade teacher room while she runs around and sets up the classroom.

Since it was the first day of school for the year there was a Welcoming Assembly. So, I was called up in front of all the kids and introduced. I have no idea what the principal said about me, but I just smiled and noddedJ In the middle of the day there was a staff meeting. I had no idea what they said, and once again I had to stand up and be introduced. I said I was from California and they laughed. I said I was a teacher and they cheered. But when I said I was only staying for a year they grunted. The principal was saying things about me when I was standing there and everybody was laughing (I felt like I was in my awkward stages of middle school again).
After the meeting the school staff went out to lunch. We had spicy duck soup and other spicy side dishes. We sat on the floor. There was soju. The principal wanted to make sure I was drinking. Luckily my co teacher poured water into my shot glass when the principal was not looking. He said something and we cheered. Then the principal called me over to sit with him. He poured me a shot in his shot glass (there was no getting out of this one). I drank it. Then I was guided to pour him a shot and he drank it. He said, “Soju make you happy.” I guess it is a common Korean custom. It means we are friends now and we respect each other. I think???

Jayson actually had to teach the first day. On Friday his co teacher gave him the address to his school and told him to take a taxi there. This made him a little nervous, but he made it there alright. Soon he will learn the bus system or maybe even walk to or from school. For now he will stick with the Taxi. He has rowdy middle school boys. The old English teacher is still there, but he still made Jayson teach. Jayson did an introductory lesson about himself and made a game out of it. He quizzed the kids at the end of each class. Good Job Jayson. He ate cafeteria food. For the teachers it’s kinda like buffet style, where you get to pick what you want to eat. He liked the food, but we were both very hungry when we got home, so we had McDonalds. Bad bad bad.

Like I said our apartment is small. There is just one room for bedroom and living room. There is a very small kitchen, with a mini fridge/freezer and there is no oven. Koreans do not have ovens in their homes. The first day we had to share a twin size bed because they were in the process of getting a new one. So, yesterday they took the twin bed, but we didn’t get our new bed, so we had to sleep on the wood floor. Most Koreans sleep on the floor, so they didn’t see it as any problem. So, we just smiled and nodded. Hopefully we will get a bed today.

So, all is good and I think we have had some major culture shock. We will get use to it. I can’t wait to start teaching. I am so bored of staring at a computer all day. All in all, everyone we meet is very nice and helpful and it is a great experience!