I know I said that my next post would be a video showing our apartment. However, I've been just too lazy to do it. It is coming soon, though. I promise!
Today was my first day at school and in the classroom. It is summer camp time so I have 3 classes (45 minutes each) with the same 25 students for all 3 classes. Summer camp at my school runs for 2 weeks and the person I replaced already did a week. That means Friday will be my last day before summer break. I will have 2 weeks off before regular classes begin. I was told to teach about different countries. The person before me covered North America and I could pick which other countries I wanted to cover. This past weekend, I spent my time coming up with things to teach and to do with the students. I was also told that they would watch a movie during the last period of each day. So, I spent hours trying to find an appropriate movie with Korean subtitles. I settled on "Julie and Julia" because it was the only one I could find with Korean subtitles. I was still working into late Sunday night to get everything ready for my first day of school.
However, in true Korean fashion, I arrived at school and was told that everything I needed to teach the class was already on my computer in the classroom. That meant I had about 45 minutes to preview the lesson that was already made for me (even though my co-teacher told me I had to come up with my own lesson...). But, it all worked out in the end because now I don't have to plan for Tuesday!
I haven't taken any pictures of my school yet, but I plan to do that tomorrow. When we walk into the school, we are required to take off our shoes and put on slippers that have not been worn outside. The teachers' office is on the 2nd floor. I am pretty sure I am the only teacher who doesn't have a desk/area in the teachers' office. My office/classroom is on the 5th floor. I am the only classroom up there. However, my classroom is pretty awesome. It's huge! I'm excited for all of the activities that we can do!
My kids were pretty good. I am a little nervous about teaching in an all-boys middle school but I think it'll be a good year. There are several orphanages in our area and many of the boys at the school live in the orphanages. We also have several mentally handicapped children. As I was leaving school with my co-teacher, a boy yelled out, "Sam". (The "short" word for 'teacher' in Korean is - Sam. I always think kids are talking to me). Anyway, the boy then kept saying hi. I said hi back but he kept on yelling back at me. My co-teacher then informed me that he is mentally handicapped. His parents abandoned him when he was a baby and he now lives with his grandparents. They don't know where the parents are. To make money, the grandparents pick up cardboard around the area. The other kids make fun of him a lot and even throw trash at him. Needless to say, he doesn't have any friends. My co-teacher told me that he always wants to make friends with the new foreign teacher. I told her that I had no problem being his friend in school. She did tell me, however, to be careful. He can get really clingy.
I know that I am going to have some challenges this coming year. But, I hope this is an awesome year and that I grow into a better teacher and an even better person! I will keep you all updated on my progress.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Busan - Our New Home
Well, it's been one week since we moved to Busan to start the next chapter in our adventure. We left Iksan, South Korea on July 22nd and took the KTX to Busan, South Korea. We were nervous, not knowing what to expect, and sleep-deprived. Zach and I were the first of our orientation group to arrive at the hotel. We were given the keys to our rooms and told that, even though we were married, we would not be sharing the same room for the three nights we would be there. It all worked out in the end, though, because I got to know someone in my orientation group better than I would have if Zach and I shared a room.
As it turns out, there were 9 of us in our orientation group. It was kind of strange being the "seniors of the class". I mean, we were the only ones who had taught in Korea before. It was just kind of a weird feeling. Monday and Tuesday, we spent about 10-12 hours in orientation. At night, we all would go to the convenience store and bring alcohol back to the hotel room where we sat out on the balcony. It was a good way to get to know each other better. We were all pretty nervous about where we would live and where we would teach.
Orientation group
On Wednesday, we all met our co-teachers and went our separate ways. In a way, it was kind of sad to say "goodbye" to each other. Of course, it wasn't a real goodbye; we are all going to be in the same city for at least the next 13 months. We were told during orientation that we were going to to see our school and meet our vice-principals after we were picked up. That didn't happen for me and Zach. We were taken to our apartment where we dropped off our luggage. We were then taken to a jjimjilbang where we were to spend the night (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jjimjilbang).
In a jjimjilbang
Since it's summer break, some schools have 2- to 3-week summer camps. On Thursday, my class went to the movie theater to watch "The Dark Knight Rises". When the movie ended at noon, I was free to go home. On Friday, we visited a high school and the whole lecture was in Korean so I don't really know what was actually said. The school gave all of the teachers a little gift (pencil box and hand towel). Again, I got home around 1pm.
Gift from the high school
Zach is not as fortunate as me and has to stay at his school until 4:30pm everyday. I am glad that I've had that time to unpack and clean around the apartment. (The previous renters were not clean people - at all!)
Zach and I both teach at all-boys middle schools. I am a little nervous teaching in an all-boys school - it's a little intimidating. I think that once I see my school and see the kids, that uneasiness will subside a little...I hope! That will all happen on Monday for me. I will teach for one week, then I will be on vacation for two weeks before school actually starts again. Zach will teach for two weeks and then will have one week off.
In the next few days, I hope to do a video tour of our apartment and post it on here. Keep tuned in!
As it turns out, there were 9 of us in our orientation group. It was kind of strange being the "seniors of the class". I mean, we were the only ones who had taught in Korea before. It was just kind of a weird feeling. Monday and Tuesday, we spent about 10-12 hours in orientation. At night, we all would go to the convenience store and bring alcohol back to the hotel room where we sat out on the balcony. It was a good way to get to know each other better. We were all pretty nervous about where we would live and where we would teach.
On Wednesday, we all met our co-teachers and went our separate ways. In a way, it was kind of sad to say "goodbye" to each other. Of course, it wasn't a real goodbye; we are all going to be in the same city for at least the next 13 months. We were told during orientation that we were going to to see our school and meet our vice-principals after we were picked up. That didn't happen for me and Zach. We were taken to our apartment where we dropped off our luggage. We were then taken to a jjimjilbang where we were to spend the night (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jjimjilbang).
Since it's summer break, some schools have 2- to 3-week summer camps. On Thursday, my class went to the movie theater to watch "The Dark Knight Rises". When the movie ended at noon, I was free to go home. On Friday, we visited a high school and the whole lecture was in Korean so I don't really know what was actually said. The school gave all of the teachers a little gift (pencil box and hand towel). Again, I got home around 1pm.
Zach is not as fortunate as me and has to stay at his school until 4:30pm everyday. I am glad that I've had that time to unpack and clean around the apartment. (The previous renters were not clean people - at all!)
Zach and I both teach at all-boys middle schools. I am a little nervous teaching in an all-boys school - it's a little intimidating. I think that once I see my school and see the kids, that uneasiness will subside a little...I hope! That will all happen on Monday for me. I will teach for one week, then I will be on vacation for two weeks before school actually starts again. Zach will teach for two weeks and then will have one week off.
In the next few days, I hope to do a video tour of our apartment and post it on here. Keep tuned in!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Visa Run to Fukuoka, Japan
In order to teach in Korea, you need to have an E2 visa. Since we are already in Korea on a tourist visa (good for 90 days), we needed to leave the country to get our E2 visa. The easiest way to do that was to take a ferry from Busan, South Korea to Fukuoka, Japan. For more information about this process please check out the following two websites. They helped us out tremendously.
1. http://esl-teaching-resources.blogspot.ca/2010/07/2010-fukuoka-visa-run.html
2. http://wiki.galbijim.com/Fukuoka_visa_run#Korean_Consulate_in_Fukuoka
We started our trip on Wednesday at 7:13am aboard the KTX train from Iksan to Busan. We had to meet at the Busan Office of Education at 1:30pm to pick up documents. When we got to Busan, we took the subway to the Office of Education. It was pouring down rain - it is monsoon. Walking to and from the Office of Education was like swimming with shoes on. Once we got our paperwork, we headed to the ferry station. We didn't pre-arrange our travel so we shouldn't have been too shocked when we were told that all of the ferries returning on Friday were completely booked. We had to wait until Saturday. Too bad we only had enough clothes for 2 days instead of 3....
The Beetle - It takes 2 hours, 55 minutes from Busan to Fukuoka
We arrived in Japan at 7pm. And guess what? We didn't book our hotel in advance. So, we spent about an hour walking around looking for a hotel to stay in for 3 nights. We found a Toyoko Inn (Hakata-guchi Ekimae Gion). However, they only had rooms available for 2 nights (Wednesday and Thursday nights). We had been traveling all day and just wanted a place to rest so we took it. We were just going to have to find a different hotel on Friday.
We woke up early on Thursday morning to go to the Korean Consulate. Our paperwork had to be turned in before 11:30am to be processed by the next afternoon. We were there by 9:30am and spent no more than 5 minutes in the office. We went back to the hotel and were so exhausted from the previous day that we took a 4-hour nap.
When we woke up from the nap, we looked outside to see people lining the streets and men in "costumes" walking around. We didn't know what was going on so we decided to take video. As it turns out, a festival was going on: Hakata Gion Yamakasa. Here is the video we took: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9VZidXOKbw&feature=g-upl. For more information about the festival: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/attractions/event/traditionalevents/a32_fes_yamakasa.html.
We stayed in the rest of the evening and watched movies. The next morning, we checked out at 10am but our appointment to pick up our visas wasn't until 1:30pm. So we hung out at the mall across the street from the Korean Consulate. It was pouring down rain. After we picked up our passports, we needed to find another hotel to stay in that night. We went to 3 hotels (in the pouring rain) before we found one with a vacancy. It rained the rest of the night so we just stayed in the room watching Japanese television.
We woke up early the next morning to catch the ferry back to Busan. When we got to Busan, we went to the train station where we needed to buy tickets back to Iksan. This has never happened to us before, but apparently there are no trains (transfers or otherwise) from Busan to Iksan. The lady at the ticket window explained that we would take a train to one station. Get off the train and get in a taxi to travel about 20 minutes to another train station. We would get on the train at that station and end in Iksan. What a hassle! But, we finally made it back to Iksan.
Even though there were some snags during those 4 days, I really enjoyed the time away. We went to Japan but didn't do any sightseeing and spent more money than we were expecting to. Oh well! It was a pretty great experience just for a visa run! And with me being the type of person who freaks out if there are no plans, no hotels booked, etc., I really had a great time!
1. http://esl-teaching-resources.blogspot.ca/2010/07/2010-fukuoka-visa-run.html
2. http://wiki.galbijim.com/Fukuoka_visa_run#Korean_Consulate_in_Fukuoka
We started our trip on Wednesday at 7:13am aboard the KTX train from Iksan to Busan. We had to meet at the Busan Office of Education at 1:30pm to pick up documents. When we got to Busan, we took the subway to the Office of Education. It was pouring down rain - it is monsoon. Walking to and from the Office of Education was like swimming with shoes on. Once we got our paperwork, we headed to the ferry station. We didn't pre-arrange our travel so we shouldn't have been too shocked when we were told that all of the ferries returning on Friday were completely booked. We had to wait until Saturday. Too bad we only had enough clothes for 2 days instead of 3....
We arrived in Japan at 7pm. And guess what? We didn't book our hotel in advance. So, we spent about an hour walking around looking for a hotel to stay in for 3 nights. We found a Toyoko Inn (Hakata-guchi Ekimae Gion). However, they only had rooms available for 2 nights (Wednesday and Thursday nights). We had been traveling all day and just wanted a place to rest so we took it. We were just going to have to find a different hotel on Friday.
We woke up early on Thursday morning to go to the Korean Consulate. Our paperwork had to be turned in before 11:30am to be processed by the next afternoon. We were there by 9:30am and spent no more than 5 minutes in the office. We went back to the hotel and were so exhausted from the previous day that we took a 4-hour nap.
When we woke up from the nap, we looked outside to see people lining the streets and men in "costumes" walking around. We didn't know what was going on so we decided to take video. As it turns out, a festival was going on: Hakata Gion Yamakasa. Here is the video we took: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9VZidXOKbw&feature=g-upl. For more information about the festival: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/attractions/event/traditionalevents/a32_fes_yamakasa.html.
We stayed in the rest of the evening and watched movies. The next morning, we checked out at 10am but our appointment to pick up our visas wasn't until 1:30pm. So we hung out at the mall across the street from the Korean Consulate. It was pouring down rain. After we picked up our passports, we needed to find another hotel to stay in that night. We went to 3 hotels (in the pouring rain) before we found one with a vacancy. It rained the rest of the night so we just stayed in the room watching Japanese television.
We woke up early the next morning to catch the ferry back to Busan. When we got to Busan, we went to the train station where we needed to buy tickets back to Iksan. This has never happened to us before, but apparently there are no trains (transfers or otherwise) from Busan to Iksan. The lady at the ticket window explained that we would take a train to one station. Get off the train and get in a taxi to travel about 20 minutes to another train station. We would get on the train at that station and end in Iksan. What a hassle! But, we finally made it back to Iksan.
Even though there were some snags during those 4 days, I really enjoyed the time away. We went to Japan but didn't do any sightseeing and spent more money than we were expecting to. Oh well! It was a pretty great experience just for a visa run! And with me being the type of person who freaks out if there are no plans, no hotels booked, etc., I really had a great time!
Monday, July 2, 2012
Perspective
Now that I'm out of China, I feel completely safe writing this. Before we went to China, I was curious as to how it would feel living in a Communist country. At first, it was totally no big deal. Slowly, small things got really annoying. Certain websites were blocked. There were several news articles that I couldn't read or they were censored. Though these weren't life and death situations, it was still very annoying and I realized how much I have been taking for granted these little freedoms.
I never asked my co-workers about topics such as religion, politics, etc. When we went out with our boss and the other principals, we were asked about religion and what we believe but it was a very short conversation.
However, on our last weekend in China, we went to a co-worker's home. She started talking about life when she was a little girl. Her family was very poor. Her father drank a lot because (she says) life was very hard and they didn't have a lot of money. She will never forget that her father hit her twice when she was little. By the way she was talking, I think her father was abusive toward her mother as well. She was telling us that they didn't even have enough money to buy rice. She said she doesn't like thinking about her childhood because it was so terrible.
From her perspective, the people do not rebel against the government because of the quality of life right now. She said that she (and many, many other people) does not like the Chinese government but will not rebel because her life is so much better than it was just 20-30 years ago. People have more money to spend on non-essentials. Food is more abundant. People are happier (her father has quit drinking because life is better now). They are afraid to rebel because they are afraid the quality of life will go back to they way it was. That was a real eye-opener for me.
As an American, I am so happy for my freedom! And, being back in Korea, I am super excited to have Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, etc. without using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and for being able to read the news without being censored.
I never asked my co-workers about topics such as religion, politics, etc. When we went out with our boss and the other principals, we were asked about religion and what we believe but it was a very short conversation.
However, on our last weekend in China, we went to a co-worker's home. She started talking about life when she was a little girl. Her family was very poor. Her father drank a lot because (she says) life was very hard and they didn't have a lot of money. She will never forget that her father hit her twice when she was little. By the way she was talking, I think her father was abusive toward her mother as well. She was telling us that they didn't even have enough money to buy rice. She said she doesn't like thinking about her childhood because it was so terrible.
From her perspective, the people do not rebel against the government because of the quality of life right now. She said that she (and many, many other people) does not like the Chinese government but will not rebel because her life is so much better than it was just 20-30 years ago. People have more money to spend on non-essentials. Food is more abundant. People are happier (her father has quit drinking because life is better now). They are afraid to rebel because they are afraid the quality of life will go back to they way it was. That was a real eye-opener for me.
As an American, I am so happy for my freedom! And, being back in Korea, I am super excited to have Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, etc. without using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and for being able to read the news without being censored.
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