Getting Our Teaching Certificates

The title says it all.  Zach and I are going back to school to get our teaching certificates.  We got e-mails this week saying that we are in: "Congratulations!  You have been accepted into the October 2013 TeacherReady®cohort."   We are going through TeacherReady which is a 9-month online certification program out of Florida.

About 3 weeks ago, some friends of ours (J & K) brought to our attention that they had applied for the program which starts the first week of October.  They mentioned that we could start in the February intake if we wanted.  We discussed it that night and decided that if we could get into the October intake, we would go for it.

You might be wondering why we are doing this.  Neither of us really had any intention of becoming teachers.  After being abroad and seeing what opportunities are open to us, we decided that getting teaching certificates was our best bet.  For a few months now, Zach and I have been planning with J & K to teach in the Middle East starting sometime in the Fall of 2014.  Having teaching certificates opens up many more jobs for us and pay would be a lot better.  We also talked about getting jobs with the DOD (Department of Defense) teaching abroad.  We would be employed by the U.S. government, working oversees.

I know for many friends and family, this is hard to news to hear.  I've already had several questions about being abroad:
1.  Are you EVER coming home?
2.  Don't you like us?
3.  What's wrong with the U.S.A.?

Short answer?  We love what we're doing and want to do it for as long as we can.

So it starts.  Classes begin on September 30th!  Wish us luck.

If you want more information about the program, click on the TeacherReady link above or visit their Facebook page.

Supper Club: BACON!

This month, it was our turn to host Supper Club.  I am so happy with our choice for a theme that I just have to share it with all of you.  Our theme was......BACON!

The appetizer was mini BLTs.  Danny and Eun Mi did a really wonderful job with these!

Josh and Kalie did the salad which was just delicious.  It was so much more than just a salad with bacon bits.

Zach and I made a cream pasta with....you guess it!  BACON!

For dessert, Jordan and Ferrin made caramel- and chocolate-covered apples with bacon sprinkled on top.  It definitely hit the spot!

There is always a specialty drink and this time was no exception.  In keeping with the theme, Zach and I served bacon infused vodka and mixed it with apple juice.  Since we are not going to find bacon vodka in Busan, we made it ourselves!  We fried up some bacon until it was pretty crispy and soaked it in vodka for a few days.  Then we drained it using coffee filters.  It was quite the experience but I don't know if we will be making it again.  It was ok, but I don't think I'll be craving it any time soon.

I love Supper Club and cannot wait to see what next month has in store for us!

Elementary School Is SO Different From Middle School

It's been a while since my last post.  Sorry about that!  Well, I have officially moved from middle school to elementary school.  I was terrified about the move.  In hagwon I taught elementary kids, but that was almost 3 years ago and it's completely different than public school.  I had heard some horror stories from friends who taught elementary school and was pretty nervous about going.  But, I am starting my 3rd week and can honestly say that I love it!  Below, I will give you an idea of what my week is like.  Please remember that this is MY experience in elementary school.  Each school is different; therefore, each elementary school experience is different.

3rd & 4th Grade
I have two 3rd grade classes and two 4th grade classes and I only see them once each week for 40 minutes.  At the beginning of each class, I greet the kids and ask them about what day it is and how the weather is.  My co-teacher and I check any homework they may have.  I then stand in the back of the classroom for 20-30 minutes while they practice key words and dialogue from the chapter with my co-teacher.  I am supposed to correct any speaking mistakes and make sure they are on the correct page in the book.  I get the last 10-15 minutes to do activities from the book or activities that I come up with.  My 3rd graders are still pretty excited about learning English and usually participate really well.  Getting my 4th graders to participate, or god forbid raise their hands, is like pulling teeth!  But, I think they are warming up to me.

5th & 6th Grade
I have two 5th grade classes and three 6th grade classes.  I see them twice each week for 40 minutes each.   [At the beginning of each class, I greet the kids and ask them about what day it is and how the weather is.  My co-teacher and I check any homework they may have.  I then stand in the back of the classroom for 20-30 minutes while they practice key words and dialogue from the chapter with my co-teacher.  I am supposed to correct any speaking mistakes and make sure they are on the correct page in the book.  I get the last 10-15 minutes to do activities from the book or activities that I come up with.]  Sound familiar??  Haha!  My 5th graders aren't too bad about participating.  My co-teacher gives me candy to bribe them to answer.  It works pretty well.  One of my 6th grade classes is full of trouble makers and students who don't want to study.  The other two 6th grade classes are really great about participating which is a little unusual from what I hear from my friends.

5th Grade & 6th Grade After School Classes
On Mondays, I have two 5th grade after school classes and on Tuesday I have two 6th grade after school classes.  They are called after school classes but they run from about 2:30 pm-4:00 pm.  During the first period, we learn a new idiom and draw a picture of it and write the definition in our idiom books.  Then, we spend about 10-15 minutes in the BEPA book.  The best thing I can relate it to is an I-STEP prep.  Whatever time is left over in that period and the next, we do a lesson.  These lessons are supplementary to their classroom lessons but I have a lot more flexibility and can go beyond the book.

2nd Grade
I have one 2nd grade class once per week for 40 minutes.  This class is totally up to me.  It was suggested that I go over some key vocabulary, read a story and ask questions about the story, do worksheet or coloring sheets, and then review the ABCs.  My idea has been to have the theme be around the book that I'm reading that day.  I've had one class and that seemed to go over really well!

Kindergarten
I have two kindergarten classes.  I see each of them once per week for 30 minutes.  I have one class of 5 and 6 year-olds and one class of 7 year-olds.  I was absolutely terrified to teach these classes.  I had no idea what I was going to do with them.  However, I was told to just play with them.  I was also told that the kids in my school were mostly lower-level students.  So, in kindergarten, some of them can't even understand when the teachers speak to them in Korean.  This past week, I taught them for the first time.  I taught them 'stop' and 'go'.  Then, we went outside and played Red Light, Green Light.  They absolutely wore me out!  But, I am no longer scared of the class.  They are a ton of fun and playing with them will be easy!

Adult Classes
I have one adult class at 3:00 pm every Friday and it lasts for 40 minutes.  The adults who attend are teachers and staff from my school.  As with the kindergarten classes, I was terrified to teach this class.  This past Friday was the first class and it wasn't too bad.  Forty minutes actually goes by fairly fast.  I had eight students show up last Friday (this number will constantly fluctuate according to how busy they are).  The four women want to discuss practical English and the four men want to discuss news and things that are happening around the world.  I hope I can find a nice balance.

In total, I have 22 teaching hours per week.  Each 40 minute or 30 minute class counts as 1 hour.  The rest of the 18 "hours" is mine to plan for the classes.  I only have one co-teacher in elementary school compared to the five I had in middle school.

Once I feel a little more comfortable in school, I will have to take some pictures.  These kids are so cute!

Beach Season Ready

This post is more for people who live in Busan or are planning to visit Busan.  But, friends and family back home are more than welcome to read this too!  :)

The same friend who told me about laser hair removal also told me about a woman who does waxings.  I went to her last week and was very pleased with the results.  She is called Bewitched Busan and here is her website and Facebook page.  Her English is basically perfect.  She was super professional and I definitely plan on going back to her again.  All information can be found on her website (prices, directions, types of waxings, etc.)

If you have a question, just leave a comment at the bottom of this post and I will be sure to respond.

Video of New Apartment in Busan

Here is the video of our new apartment.  To see how we went about getting our apartment, click here.

Our Very Own Apartment

Believe it or not, today actually marks our 1-year anniversary of teaching in Busan.  But, since we are on 13-month contracts, we can't yet celebrate our contract completion until next month.  However, I can tell you that we've been out of the USA for a total of 533 days, or about 17 1/2 months.  That's hard to believe!

Well, as I've said in an earlier post, this new contract period is bringing a lot of changes to me and Zach.  First, we will be changing schools.  We will no longer be teaching middle school boys.  We will, starting at the end of August, be teaching in elementary schools with both boys and girls.  We found out the names and locations of our schools earlier this week.  Zach will teach at Changjin Elementary School and I will teach at Samduk Elementary School.  Our schools are very close to each other.  In fact, we are only one subway stop away from each other!  We can commute together - at least in the mornings.

Another big change is that we are moving.  In fact, I signed our lease today and we can start moving tomorrow.  We technically don't have to be out of our current apartment until August 26th, so that gives us plenty of time to move.

You may be a bit curious as to how we went about finding an apartment, so I will try to explain it to you, briefly.  Some friends of ours actually moved into their own apartment this last February so they were able to give us some great advice.  One of them actually went with me to look at apartments.  To look at apartments, you don't need to make an appointment.  There are realtors on every corner, especially if there are many apartment buildings in the area.  We just popped our heads in and asked if they spoke English.  Most spoke enough where we could get buy.  We saw a total of 9 apartments on Tuesday.

To rent an apartment, you need a down payment or what they call key money.  The average amount for key money (at least in the buildings we looked at) is 5,000,000 Won (~$5,000.00).  The more key money you put down, the cheaper your rent is every month.  To secure the apartment you want, you need to put down the key money as soon as possible.

While looking at the 9 apartments, I took video so Zach could see them too.  I narrowed my favorites list to 3 apartments.  When Zach got off work, we looked at my favorites.  We chose our apartment the same day and transferred our key money the next day.  Today, I went in and signed the contract and paid for our first-month's rent.  Since we have Supper Club/celebrating birthdays/saying goodbyes tonight, we won't start moving until tomorrow (Saturday).

If you have any specific questions about the process of renting an apartment in Korea, just post it in the comments section or shoot me an e-mail.

Also, if you want our new address and I haven't already sent it to you, just ask!

My Favorite Street Food

My favorite street food is called Hoddeok.  You can read about it here.  But basically, it's a pancake with something sweet inside with any combination of brown sugar, honey, and cinnamon.  It's a popular street food in the winter because it's prepared hot right in front of you.  For me, not eating hoddeok in summer because it's hot is like saying I don't eat ice cream in winter because it cold.  Yeah, right!  At my favorite place to get hoddeok, it only costs 900 Won (~$0.90).  What a great snack - delicious and cheap!  Below is a quick 30 sec video of a street vendor making hoddeok.