Sunday, September 25, 2011

just a little...

a few photos here from some weekend adventures.

adventure #1: trip to muuido island. the shortest ferry ride EVER. great people, lovely summery day. random korean drama set. frisbee on the beach. 

adventure #2: trip to sin-do, mo-do and some other-do islands. went with a meet-up group of random foreigners (plus some koreans). hilariously small fold-up bike made it a bit different than expected, but overall it was refreshing. it's nice to get out of the city and i caught whiffs of grapes growing nearby as i rode. random korean drama sets. frisbee on the beach (sounding at all familiar?)

success.

wth moment #1: on the drive back from the islands (saturday night), the traffic was pretty heavy, stop-and-go. but there was, no kidding, a man selling his wares between the middle lanes of the freeway.

my-students-don't-understand-my-fit-of-laughter #42: monday night, ended up playing soccer with some students. around 8 pm, we got kicked off the field because of a korean aerobics class starting up. as they stretched out their necks, BSB's "As Long As You Love Me" came blasting out the speakers.

so yeah. i'm in a groove.

i was given 12th grade social studies and they took away my 8-1 conversation which has been one of the surprise switches that has worked very well so far. the curriculum they have is really strange: one book is about self-image, family, education; another about politics; another about the history of judaism. but with the schizophrenic subjects, i'm more likely to stay on my toes.

otherwise, i'm falling into a routine (for better or worse). i'm getting to know my students and the new teachers - a lot of joy. some hard days and hard classes, but otherwise totally worth it.

<-- so thankful to have a washing machine, even if it is under my stove top. stove top, as in singular, which is another learning curve. i got a pot that has a vegetable steamer so i can cook noodles and veggies at the same time. beating the system. ;) and getting creative with storage options, since it is quite limited. hence the utensils all over the walls.















i'm not really sure what you are interested in hearing about, so feel free to leave questions in the comments!

happy one month anniversary to Korea and I!

here's the song that's been in my head...the video isn't much but the lyrics...give me strength (just a little) :)

Saturday, September 3, 2011

this time around...

and we're back!

it's honestly hard to believe i'm doing this again...same school, same city.
everything is so familiar. but it feels so foreign.

i have been here a bit over a week and am slowly adjusting. i think i've been through all the stages of culture shock already. heck, i went through them all the first day of school. extreme highs and lows. but i know once i get back into the groove things will level out and become "normal" again.

the reunions (with co-workers and students) have been wonderful. and surreal. a lot of fantastic people are still around and i couldn't be more grateful for that. there are MANY students who have moved on, however, and i hope to see a lot of them in the coming months.

mind-playing-tricks-like-a-boss #1: i think i have PSS - phantom student syndrome. i think i see a student from two years back roaming the hallways, but before i call out their name, realize it's someone else. from the back, high school kids in uniform can do that to you, i guess.

as for classes, i am teaching 9-3 writing and grammar, 8-2 speech, 8-1 conversation (an ACTUAL esl class...weird), 7-2 debate, and (as of yesterday) 12th grade after school ACT reading (so they won't fail their ACT test in august). it's a weird mix of english-y things. i really miss teaching geography already because i grew to love the subject, but this will be a new and good challenge. so far, things have gone smoothly and my TESOL class is sure coming in handy. i also have significantly less teaching hours than before (from 25 a week to 16) so my at-school time is less, leaving opportunity for more korea-seeing this year. i'm excited about that.


however, this week they made me go to their hagwon - after school english program - so i worked from 8-730 everyday. so this week has been interesting.



mind-playing-tricks-like-a-boss #2: everyday when i go home and everything is silent, i get these daymares of deafening korean phrases in my head. it's basically a jumble of the oft-heard korean that is around me everyday, but since i don't know what it means it's really strange. and really loud. and i can't make it stop. so i turn on some music. that helps.

my thoughts are somewhat scattered but i hope to keep this blog at about the same pace as before - once every week or two.

i hope to keep in touch with you as well! i'm on skype at karikut - if you have a calling card you can even call my cell here. i also love penpals:

382-3 Songnae-dong Sosa-gu
Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
South Korea 422-040