The Daily Grind

So I can't really say there is a whole lot of excitement to my days at work. I arrive there at 1:20, stack up all my books and then find out if there is a question for the day.  Some days we give tests -- orally, then the other few minutes in class are spent grading them.  Other days we do some reading, or we spend time turning the kids into robots.  Each unit in our books comes with a few questions (lower level usually get one or two).  I seriously spend three days working on these questions.  Seriously all I feel I can do is teach the kids to memorize.  There are some times when I can help with pronunciation.  The classes begin at 2:20, and they last for thirty minutes a piece.  10-15 minutes is spent teaching the question or doing a reading activity (probably one done two or three days in a row).  Then the other 15-20 minutes is spent doing a game that reviews the questions.  Games usually should be fun, but we still have to keep the kids quiet at all times, or the Korean teacher that is in the room will usually yell at them.

So, every hour we get ten minute breaks.  Then at 8pm, we have a fifteen minute break for our two night classes.  My Monday nights end at 8.  Tuesdays, I have a break from 8 - 9:10, then I teach a night class from 9:10-10pm.  Those classes aren't as boring and I actually feel like I make a difference.  Wednesdays, I do both night classes 8:15- 9:05, 9:10-10.  Thursdays and Fridays, I do a night class from 8:15-9:05, and that's it.

I'll do my best to post a few more times this week.  It's 11:55 pm, and I'm heading to sleep.

Long Time No See

. . . . At least it seems that way here.  I hardly ever go a week without updates, but lately that's been the case.  It's 11:19 am on Tuesday, the 13th of September.  Yesterday was known as Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving holiday. It also has something to do with the eighth full moon of the year on the Lunar Calendar.  I kind of feel like I've done nothing but sleep during this holiday.

Let's start with Friday night.  After a long week of being repetitive (what this new job requires =( ), I had dinner with the ladies from work, Courtney, and Brittany.  Trace, Courtney's fiance joined us as well for a fun meal at one of the restaurants near our apartments. I declined an invitation after wards to go downtown, and instead took on a little project with my washing machine.

Ever since I had moved in to the apartment, the washing machine hose had been leaking whenever I turned the washer on.  So, I decided to take the hose apart and fix it. . . . and the one tool I had to rely on was a kitchen knife. The stupidity on my part was that I wasn't paying attention the whole time, and didn't put the pieces back the way they were supposed to go.  After taking a long break, I finally got the darn thing fixed at 2:15 in the morning, so I was able to finish the small load I had been working on.

Saturday morning, I sluggishly woke up to get to the bus station and travel to where Annie lives.  That was a little bit of a task being that it was a holiday weekend.  There was a ton of people traveling on Saturday at least, but traffic flowed pretty consistently. I arrived in Gongju (where I used to live) about 12:55pm (traffic slowed us down by about 15 minutes).  Annie and I some kind of full course meal for lunch which was alright.  It was raw fish, but not raw fish at its best.

We finished our lunch and took a 40 minute bus ride to a Buddhist temple.  Usually Buddhist temples are pretty cool sites to see in South Korea.  On this day, not so much.  It was raining off and on, and then the rain would get heavy at times.  The scenery around this place wasn't much to see, but it was quality time together.

The only downfall of not having my own transportation in this country is sometimes you have to wait for a bus, and sometimes that bus may not come for an hour (according to its schedule).  So we waited and waited and the bus arrived to take us back in town about an hour after we were finished with our tour of the Magoksa.  Sorry, but I didn't even get any pictures -- I'm kind of burned out by the similarities with most of the places -- though there are a few good ones, that I may have to revisit.

I'll return to finish this soon!!!  Soon shouldn't mean a week later, but that's the way it goes sometimes.  That weekend went over well, since last week we celebrated Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving).  I celebrated with my Korean family and watched the Ancestral Rites, something that I had seen previously during the Lunar New Year holiday.  I didn't feast like I normally do, but I enjoyed being around the Korean family (big and small people).

A Dead Person's Email Address

Really?? Now I find out that my school gave me a dead person's email address to use for a reference email before I came back to South Korea.  It really sucks that teachers at this school train kids to talk like robots as well.  At least this place will be helping me get a visa.  Then I'll give them 45 days notice or whatever, and actually find a decent job, or hope that Canadian place that all the Koreans want me to work for will be hiring again soon.

I need a melatonin and some sleep now.

Seriously???

The girl who I replaced left a folder in the apartment where I am now living.  It contains her birth certificate, social security card, copies of her passport, and diploma too.  First of all, one doesn't need their social security or birth certificate to teach in Korea (just a bunch of other stuff).  I would not have found this stuff, had Brittany (one of my co-workers) not been over here picking out books from what was left behind.  Anyway, this girl left all kinds of stuff behind to say the least.  There are a few boxes of clothes, plenty of shampoo and conditioner to last me a few months, laundry detergent, and numerous other things as well.

I was going to be meeting Miss Annie's parents for this coming Korean Thanksgiving holiday (Sep. 11-13), but it seems that her mom and dad are now taking a trip to some island instead.  So I have a few days off, after only being back at work for ten, which is fine with me .

Happy Labor Day back home folks.

One of the coolest parts about teaching

. . . . naming the kids.

What I mean is, sometimes you have kids in your class that do not have English names. So what happens when you have this occurrence? Well, you get to name the kids yourself.  One of my new co-workers, Sean, named one of his students Conway, as in Mr. Twitty.  I've named some Rhett, and Scarlett.  There have been some family names such as Scarlett, Michael, Nora, and Anna. Others I have named good after friends like Tim, or Jeff, or even Hollywood stars, such as Leo, or Keira (Miss Knightley).  I may have even named a few after country singers, like Garth, or Willie.  I do recall having a Tony, Dale, and Richard, in one of my classes also.

I'll keep you all posted if I get to name some kids sometime soon.  The best I could think of yesterday was an Alvin (like Alvin and the Chipmunks).

Have a good Friday.

So many stories

. . . . but, we'll have to do them post by post, and probably not finish them today, since I am at the family's house in another part of town.  I am living in a motel for a few days, and there isn't even any internet there.  Tomorrow though, I will move into my apartment at 9:30 am.

 Observation Day
Yesterday, (Tuesday), was observation day for me.  Well, half of it was at least observation day. Every other class I observed one of two teacher, and the other classes I taught, while being observed. Let's just say that all that hard work I put into getting a teaching certificate through a tough online course, will not be used so much this year.  I was totally confused and a little uninformed when I was trying to prepare at first for the classes yesterday. The Korean teacher that helps us plan the days, decided to tell the manager I had a poor attitude, and that I was doing other things instead of planning for the classes. Sadly enough, I was informed by this same lady to take in the observations and after watching them I could plan better.

Today the manager told me how unprofessional I was, though she lets her foreign employees wear t-shirts and shorts to work.  That's one thing I will never do, unless it is at a camp job.  If I'm passionate about something, you bet that I am going to be professional.  One teacher that observed me said that I had no control of the students and that I was not able to keep them quiet.  What the heck lady? That's one thing that my girlfriend really liked about me when we worked together, was how I commanded respect from the students.  Then again when you bring a lot of energy into a classroom, the students need to be loud, and excited (according to my energy levels they should!!).

I am sitting in the house right now, waiting for Little Sis (as I call her), to come home so we can have a family dinner, before my official first day of work tomorrow.  My school is  a good thirty minutes (by subway) from where I used to live in this city. I have already had a wonderful Korean style home cooked meal this morning.  This afternoon I worked out at my old fitness club, where the owner's daughter told me to just come and go as I please without paying.

2011 IAAF World Championships
This week is a very big week for this city.  Daegu is hosting the World Track and Field Championships this year.  Besides the World Cup back in 2002, it's probably the biggest event ever held in this city.  It's great to see all the people here taking in the culture, and supporting their respective countries as well. One of my friends has been an interpreter for the Jamaican track and field team. She said Usain Bolt (World's fastest man, so they say), is a very selfish and arrogant man.  He was even DQ'ed from his event, due to a false start. Another Jamaican ended up winning and Sue said he's a very friendly fellow.

I'll add a few more things sometime tomorrow. I miss my little lady, and my old job a little bit too.  I'll just walk into work tomorrow energized, with a big grin, just raring to go.  As I like to say "kill 'em with kindness". 

One Reason

My hometown is problems with racism -- Certain people wreaking of booze at a gas station on a Sunday morning, praising the LORD with lies about having no gasoline in their vehicles (that don't exist), with kids, and the wife, and an uncle (that all don't exist), begging you for money.  Sure I watched part a movie called The Grace Card yesterday with my boy Jeff and his mom.  Still, I sometimes can't help but develop certain opinions about people after my morning starts like that.  Anyway, I have to quit my bitchin' and get in a first class seat in a few minutes.  The joys of flying so many times in one year with Delta and their friends.  Sky Priority here fools. See ya on the other side of the world.