First month here: check; Enjoying myself: check; Teaching English to some adorable (and sometimes demonic) kids: check; Promises to upload to blog: ...um, I'm working on it now aren't I?

I have officially been here a bit over one month; and it has been awesome.

I have been through training, both before school started, and a bit since. Made some really cool friends; my apartment more habitable; eaten some REALLY good food (and some not so good); explored some parts of the city, and started teaching some really adorable kids (and some not so adorable, and quite evil ones).

Where should I begin?

Training/School/My Kids

So my school uses the Meysen system, which was developed in Meysen Academy in Japan to teach kids English. It was developed by Americans so it uses a lot of the songs that I grew up with... but with changes. Some All of them not good. "Itsy bitsy spider" now "Little bity spider" and they changed the tune... I cannot help but do it the way I learned it... I have tried to do it Meysen's way but I still end up doing it my way, and I think the kids like mine better. I know this because when we listen to the CD with the Meysen version and this song comes up my kids sing it my way OVER the CD. >.< opps. Anyways, so Meysen gives sells the school the class materials, which are big with pretty good pictures. This makes my like SOOOO much easier since I do not have to hunt up things to do in my classes. I just pick from the materials available. YAY! So it only takes me about 20 minutes to decide what I want to do, and if/what any questions will be about the material. For instance each unit (there are over 20; but I only teach 4 and 14) has vocabulary cards to flash to the kids before going over something. So if I want to do MacDonald's Farm, I will will flash: cow, pig, cat, and chicken/chick. I can then ask where these animals (or others we have done previously) are on the MacDonald's poster. At first I let the kids point to the animals one by one, but recently I started to have them TELL me where it is (one of the other vocab cards for that unit is near/far). So I will ask: "Is the cow near the chicken? No, it isn't. Is it near the sheep? Yes, it is. When my kids first did it right I felt like a champ. And I still do every time they get it.

So I teach 3.5 classes. I teach a 7 yr old (That's Korean age, subtract 1/2 yrs for American) kindergarten everyday from 10.20am - noon; a 2nd grade class Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri. from 3.55 - 5pm; and a 5th and 6th grade combination from 6pm - 6:40 on Mon., Wed., and Fri. That half class starts this week and its only 30 min on Wed., another 7 year old kindergarten class, but they are on a different system, which I will totally save for another post.

So my Kindy classes I teach Meysen Unit 4, and the 2nd grade Unit 14. The 5th/6th graders (who come to our English Academy for MORE English classes AFTER their regular school) I teach the curriculum from our sister school - A Class. I teach them mostly Speaking and Listening, with a smidgen of reading/writing. I also give them a vocab quiz on Wednesdays (our "Listening" day). Again, this curriculum is also set so I don't have to hunt for things to do with them, although I did make a presentation of vocab words they have been getting wrong regularly, they liked this so I will probably do it more regularly, and probably before we do quizzes so I have to correct less (work hard now to be lazy later is my new motto.) ^_^

My kindy kids are really cute, minus all the snot (gooey or crusty) and the constant open mouth coughing, usually ON ME. The older ones are cool since I can have a bit more of a conversation with them. They all are blown away when I say something Korean, or mention a K-pop group or an actor. It makes them giggly really, why? I have no clue.

I promise I will try to take some photos of my kids for you guys.

Friends

So I have one other foreign teacher at my school, if you follow me on FB you know Beau. He has been a godsend. He arrived a week before I did, so he kinda scoped out the area a bit before I even got here. He is from Chicago and he is only 2 years older than me. After work we sit on the patio (where I am now) and drink beer or soju, usually both, and unwind and talk about our day.

There is also Natalie, Ann, Hailee, Kenny, Ryan, Jay and the main boss (we call her wangjangnim - elem. school principle) and her husband (both whose name's I don't know). Natalie and Ann teach English with us... their English is REALLY fluent (before you ask). They are 24 and 27, respectively. Hailee and Kenny are the head teachers, but they also teach English, and yes they are fluent. Hailee is about my age, and Kenny is 39. Ryan and Jay are both wangjangnim's sons. They help out a lot, Ryan was the one to pick me up from the airport both times, and Jay drove me to training before school started. There are two other ladies whose names I have no clue about, but they both are really nice, and don't speak English. >.< They work in the office. There are other teachers at the schools, but they are the homeroom teachers, and don't hangout with us too much. Except Su Jong - she is my saving grace with the 7 yr old kindy kids, since she hangs out during class to help keep the kids in line when I am at a loss to what they are asking for (usually in Korean). During my last training I met Nick, who is the tall kid (you see on FB) Beau and I went to Itaewon and Rodeo Street with, he is really goofy and funny. He is half Korean, half American and grew up in the States. He is also a teacher, and lives about 10-15 min walk from us. He has introduced to a lot of stuff and is wicked awesome. Last week I sent an email to my recruiter asking her if she knew any girl that live in my area. Because lets be honest, Beau and Nick are fab; but as a girl, I need girls to talk to every once in awhile. So she introduced me to Angela and Katy (whom you may also have seen on FB). Unfortunately, Angela left this weekend for Hawaii, and Katy leaves in May. They only were/are here for a year. However, last weekend Angela convinced me to go to her church with her. She promised me it was cool, service is in English and everyone who attends speaks English, and is either American or Korean-American. It was cool. I met a lot of people, I even went to dinner with three of them: Betsy, Cecelia, and Felix. So I will probably go back next weekend (I'm not feeling too hot this weekend).

My Apartment

Where to begin... it is TINY. It is only about 300 sq. ft. And there is no separate shower, which I have come to appreciate since I can clean my bathroom while my conditioner sets in my hair. 2 for 1!! DAEBAK! I will be uploading better (since you can see parts of it in the photos I have/will be uploading) pics of it when I get some additional wardrobe space and some drawers/storage. Seriously, I brought 5 bags of clothes with me (I know, I know - too much) 2 of them are still FULL of clothes... well, one is full of spring/summer clothes, the other is my sock drawer. ^_^

Food

Oh my gods, where do I even begin.... It is all sooooooo good. I'm even eating fish and tofu on a regular basis, something I would never dream of in the States. Samgyeopsal, omelets, kimchi of all kinds, seaweed (although straight up seaweed soup at first was tough to choke down a bit, I can now drink all the broth though!), ho tteok (호떡) (oh gods, ho tteok... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sooooo good and warm), mandu soup with octopus (mandu, 만두 = dumplings) quail eggs, potato pancakes (Gamjajeon, 감자전), and a whole host of other dishes I have no idea what they are called. ^^ If a plate of it is put in front of me, I will eat it. And not cause I am poor, even though I am (YAY first payday tomorrow!); but because why not? I'm in a new country, I will obviously be fed new foods - I am here to experience new things, not doing so would be dumb.

The City

This place is HUGE. When I had training before school started ____ (Hailee's hubby) drove me over to the training since he worked a couple of buildings down in Pyeongchon. It was a 30ish minute drive. After training I would take the subway, the fastest and most efficient one I have ever seen - sorry London/NYC; it took me 2.5 hours to get home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To get to city center takes about 30-45 min. I have explored Cheonho, and seen a bit of Sindorim, Sinchon, and of course Itaewon. Where is that you say?? GET A MAP!!! ^3^

*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧
So overall, I am honestly happier than a pig in sh!t.

A friend back in the States (you know who you are) wrote to me & asked 2 things so I thought I would answer them here, so everyone else gets the info too:

What's your favorite part so far about teaching? And what's been your favorite thing about South Korea so far?

My fave part of teaching (besides the kids themselves) is when I ask a question and they answer it in a full sentence, grammatically correct, and it is something they learned from me. That TOTALLY makes my day.

My fave part of Korea so far.... well, this one is a toughie. I could say the food, or the people I work with, but that would be an easy (although true) cop out. I really like the atmosphere here. People are polite for the most part. Not that anyone has been rude to me or anything, but I've seen teenagers and adults sit on the subway when an ancient old lady is being forced to stand, and no one bats an eye... I have stood up for older people only to have people younger than me THEN get up to offer ME their seat, when they had no intention of doing it for the older person. But people smile a lot, and they city has this atmosphere that people are happy, and I like that. Although it may be my own personal feelings giving me rosy glasses. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Not complaining.

That's it for me today. I promise I will try to update more frequently now that I am more settled in and have an established routine.

KOREAN LESSON

맛있었어요 - ma-shi-sos-yo - It was delicious. (I say this a LOT)

*After a scrumpcious bowl/plate of anything* - to the cook/hostess/waiter/anyone who will listen: 맛있었어요!