The adventure continues

So to pick up where we left off...

Eric was super hungry. We settled our things into the hotel and decided to go out in search of food. Anything would suffice. We found a place just outside the hotel. We went in and found that no one spoke English. Our waitress was Chinese. She was studying Korean at school. She used her iphone to help her look up words to let us know what we could order. We ordered some food. This restaurant is what we now refer to as a meat restaurant. There are holes in the middle where hot coals and grills go for cooking your own meat. The waitress eventually had to show us what to do, but in the end the meat was amazing. We went back to our hotel and finally to sleep. The next day we slept in and then Eric went in search of food. While he was out the phone rang. It was the director of my school. He asked if we knew we were supposed to be picked up at one. I said no and that Eric had just gone out to get food. I said that we were told three. So he said that would be fine. We thought we were going to our apartment and so at three we grabbed all our luggage and went downstairs, still in the clothes we'd been traveling in all this time. We got downstairs to the surprise of my director who thought we'd been told that we were actually going to school. So the first day at our new schools we were sleepy, unwashed and kind of smelly I'm sure. Excellent. So that was Tuesday. At my school Tuesday, and Wednesday were final test days and absolute madness. Wednesday was the teacher-I-replaced's last day. Thursday was a holiday and the day we actually moved into our apartment. So we spent the day off settling in. Friday was my first day and it was pizza party day all day.

So the following Monday (last Monday) was the start of a new session at my school. I am slowly figuring out what to teach and how to handle my classes (they aren't all polite and eager to learn). Monday was confusing for everyone. This is apparently how all hagwons (private schools in Korea) work. There is mass disorganization and minimal communication. Tuesday I had a better grasp on what to do, and I was way more comfortable. I've been slowly progressing, and I'm getting a pretty solid idea of what to teach them and how and at what speed to go. I think I'm getting comfortable recognizing when they actually know, and when they are just saying yes so they aren't sitting silently with no answer. Its basically like I'm a real teacher.

One week after arrival in Korea I finally got my phone. I was really excited to finally be able to communicate with people again.

I've started keeping a log of my favorite thing that happens at school every day. This is because some times are really frustrating, and I get really depressed about it. Some of the younger classes are not interested at all, and very disrespectful to women. It is hard to convince 9 seven year olds to stop talking in Korean, if they don't know enough English to understand what they're being told. The first hour of my day, every day, is basically trying to do this, but it gets better. My classes progress from lowest level to highest level every day, so the days do get easier. Eric and I traveled to Daegu this past weekend. It was absolutely amazing! We met up with Dory and had tea, then met up with Nick and several of his friends for dinner and drinks. We met so many interesting people that night. The next day Dory and I hit up downtown Daegu for some shopping and I tried Paris Baguette (a popular cafe chain) for the first time. Life changing awesomeness.

So this is more or less the story of journey so far. I can guarantee there are many exciting things to come in the future.