Day 17 of Living in Korea-Busy week!

Well, so much for keeping up the blog...to be fair, it's not entirely my fault! My internet decided it didn't want to be wireless anymore this weekend. I still have no idea what happened or even how I fixed it, but as of late Sunday night, it's now going 100% of the time. My TV also conked out (I fixed that) and my Windows Media Player decided it didn't want to play How I Met Your Mother anymore. My first inclination was to throw my computer across the room, but fortunately I started doing some digging and managed to fix that as well. Crisis averted.


Last week was...well, I'm not sure how to describe it. All of the students in the school are taking final tests this week. Since I'm fairly new to the school and because they can review a lot faster, most of my co-teachers canceled their class with me, leaving me to teach at most 3 classes a day, when I usually have four. So the school day wasn't as busy as it usually is, although I was informed that I needed to have summer camp ready to go sometime in the first week of July. Summer camp is 1 or 2 weeks during August when students who want to do extra English work sign up and come to school during summer vacation. I know it sounds crazy, but they usually have between 12-15 kids. Anyway, they each get a booklet that I prepare and all of that material is due in one week. So I've been working on that a lot. I had the option of only doing one week, but I chose to do two, and I am SO glad that I did. It's only the first day of being here by myself, bored to tears and I'm already going nuts. The first week we'll be reviewing some things, doing some fun activities, and watching a movie. The second week, if I can pull it off, will be a travel themed week. We'll "visit" a different English speaking country each day and also learn essential travel vocabulary. Each student will put together a 3-4 day trip to an English speaking city of their choice and present it on the last day of camp. Then I get a two week vacation-YAY!

In the evenings, I've been doing a lot of walking and exploring, as well as studying Korean. It gets really frustrating to not be able to talk to some of your co-workers. But it's also difficult trying to figure out where to start...it's a complex language and it's very overwhelming. So I started from the bottom: I taught myself how to read Korean! Reading it is actually not too difficult. However, 98% of the time I have no idea what I'm reading. I can say it, but I don't know what it means. I'm working on that though. I also learned how to count. I can go all the way up to 99 now! I think. Maybe I'll prove it if you ask me.

On Friday, I had my first experience with a Korean hospital! Don't worry, everything's ok! In order to receive my alien registration card, I had to go through a series of medical tests. I had a chest X ray, blood work done, ECG, a urine test, and a few other things. The main thing they're looking for is drug use and HIV/AIDS. Fortunately neither one of those are a part of my life, although until Friday when we get the results, nothing's official. ;-) After that, all I have to do is go to the immigration office, buy some sort of stamp, and then VOILA! I am a registered alien! I'm hoping that by this time next week, I'll be able to have a cell phone. That's the main thing that I'm missing right now. I was lucky and already had internet at home, so I haven't had to wait for that.

I have taken several more pictures and will post them on here or on FB once I get home (I'm at school for 55 more minutes...not that I'm counting or anything!) Some of the pictures I've taken are of the fountain next to Guri Station. It's one of those fountains that sprays up at different times, different heights, and in different patterns. The kids LOVE to play in it! I'll also post some pictures of the market that I've been shopping in. I'm finding more and more if there's anything I need at all, I can find it in this market. Especially if I need dead fish. There's a LOT of dead fish. Be thankful that technology hasn't granted you with the gift of smell through pictures-it's quite fragrant.

A while back, I talked a little bit about corporal punishment. Somebody pointed out to me that it sounds like I'm obsessed with it-I'm not. I just find it interesting. I did find out that a lot of teachers are starting to move away from it here. After 6th period, there are always three or four students in the office with us. Some of them are being chewed out quietly and calmly. Others have a rather large bamboo stick coming in the direction of their posterior. It can get really awkward in here for me during that time. I don't want to stare, but it's hard when one of the teachers is REALLY yelling and speaking a pasquillion miles a minute in Korean. The kids' reactions are always different too. Some of them laugh about it, some of them cry a bit, and others quietly rub their wounds and pretend it didn't affect them as much as it did. One of the Korean teachers that I've gotten to be friends with carries a plastic samurai sword into class with her. One day, my main co-teacher and I were sitting in the office and we heard WHACK! coming from the attached classroom. The teacher was walking around the room and WHACKING the tables to scold the kids. She explained to them that she didn't want to hit them, but they weren't leaving her much choice. I don't think she did hit anybody, but like I told her, those whacks were enough to scare me!

On a final note, I was thinking about something pretty serious the other day. If I were ever sentenced to death, Cheerios would totally be a part of my last meal.