Ok like I promised, I am back to update more on what I've actually been up to since being here. I will be the first one to tell you that the first day after we got here and went out to walk around I almost went back to the room to cry! haha It was such a culture shock, I mean we go out and I can't read anything that's around us on buildings or signs, the food looks completely weird, and it kind of smelled funny!! Luckily that feeling really only lasted half that day and now I'm feeling much better about it all. So after spending the weekend getting moved in and settled I then started training/following Lauren around at school that Monday. The training was pretty easy and the kids were super friendly right away which made me feel a little tiny bit less nervous. At the end of the week, Friday Lauren invited us to go out for Galbi with her and a friend. Turns out Galbi, Korean BBQ, is awesome and I think one of my favorite things to eat here so far! It's so much fun too! The table has a big hole cut out of it and they bring over burning coals in like a cauldron type thing that fits in the whole. Then they lay a grate over it and bring out the raw meat, some seasoning, onions, and kimchi (pickled cabbage usually, not that great) and you cook everything yourself over the fire! Super fun and great to just relax with some friends and some beer while grilling! After the Galbi we then met up with a couple other foreign teachers over here and enjoyed a couple of beers before heading to what was called a room cafe, no that is not the technical name but that's the only thing in English on the sign. I have never been a fan of karaoke but this place was awesome! You get your own personal room with big plush couches and chairs, a big screen tv, crazy lights, and a ton of songs to choose from and of course microphones!! I had a blast! I even got dragged up to help sing girls just want to have fun and I think because we weren't in a huge bar I wasn't as mortified! haha I'm definitely making that a must for anyone that comes over to visit us!
Ok enough about that one night! After that weekend I actually ended up having a week off for summer vacation. We didn't end up doing anything partly because of lack of funds and partly because it's rainy season here and poured almost everyday except maybe 2! It was nice in a way because we were able to get more familiar with our area and all but also sucked because that meant I had a week off after only training for one week! What if I forgot everything? What if the kids forgot me or changed their minds about me?
By the time that next Monday rolled around I was freaking out on the inside for sure on the way to school!! Luckily I had Logan to walk me to school and tell me the whole way I was going to be ok and if I needed to cry he even pointed out the bathroom for me! haha That first day ended and I found that I only really wanted to cry a couple of times the whole day but never did so I called it a success. The kids remembered me for the most part and I remembered things once I started working. As the week continued it got better and better and I never cried once! I'm proud of myself on that one for sure considering how out of place I felt for awhile! My day consists of several different classes for either an hour or 30 mins. If I have an hour class I'm the art teacher, luckily we have the art projects already mapped out in a book they give you with supplies, and then the half hour I spend doing a class called Potato Pals. Potato Pals is with our 2 youngest classes, the youngest being about 3 or 4 and the second classes being about 5. They get a simple book that repeats basic sentences about things they do using potatoes as the characters. Our book right now is called In the Evening, so it says things like in the evening i come home, in the evening I do my homework, in the evening I walk the do and so on. This is BY FAR my least favorite class! The kids are so young they don't have a long attention span and they're constantly wanting to talk in Korean. This is definitely where I've learned the power of bribing with stickers, haha they LOVE them! Hey if it works why change it! These kids are at the school from 9:30-2:30 then in the afternoon we have elementary kids that come over. These classes aren't too hard except they like to talk so much its hard to get them to focus on work sometimes. The classes are 40mins each and I end up with 4 of them in the afternoon. Each class has its own English book that they work on and I go over with them, not too hard at all. I get a about 4 breaks the whole day where I'm able to relax or catch up on class work and I leave work at 6:30 M-Th and on Fri at 2:30!
Well it's getting late here and I have to get up early so I'm going to finish this up. Now that I'm getting used to it all its definitely not too bad at all and the kids are really starting to adjust to me and like me more so that makes it all even better! We haven't really done a ton more in the way of going out yet because we still haven't gotten paid and its been so rainy. We did make it out this past weekend to a pretty awesome place but honestly I think I'm going to have to save that for the next blog, I'm just getting to tired!!
I hope you're all doing well and I will write again soon about our latest going out event and to inform you all about War Drills! Yes I did just say war drills but before you freak out mom no we're not under attack and I promise its super safe here!! If the Koreans aren't freaking out no reason for us to! ;)
Love to you all!
Shawna
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