Unfortunately a terrible cold, or something like it has been going around our school. Several teachers have been really sick and of course I got it too! Last weekend and the first couple days of this week it was all I could do to wake up and get through the day at school. Luckily i'm feeling a lot better now and can actually concentrate on teaching! Also, the rainy season as officially started. Supposedly it downpours every day for two months, and for the past week that's exactly what it's done. I live so close to the school but am still soaking wet by the time I get there, even carrying an umbrella! The natives are used to it but i'm sure not...it's going to take some getting used to!
Enough bad news! Everything else is great. I still love my school and my kids, and all of the teachers at my school get along really well. It's nice to have them around to talk to and go out with, and they can relate to exactly what you are going through. Teaching has fallen into a schedule and is a lot easier now, but the workload is still huge! We only get one break for lunch, and other than that the day is packed full of students and paper work.
Si got here last week and has been settling in. I can say I am officially jealous! While my apartment is barely big enough to stand in, with twin size bed and one wardrobe to put clothes in, his is like a pent house suite that's huge with a queen size bed, a full kitchen and enough room to store three times as many clothes as I brought with me. It is so nice and modern and right in the middle of a plaza...with all the action! There are pluses and minuses to every school...I guess housing is one of my minuses! Si's school is so much smaller than mine. We have ten English teachers and as many Korean staff, and Si's school only has four teachers. In my school, we have the same group of kids, called morning kinder, from 9:30 until almost 2:00, and the afternoon is split into two different classes. Si's school is set up more like a normal middle school or highschool, with about 7 classes that are each an hour long. He has a lot more kids than me and more agegroups. I like my small classes that I have more time with because I feel like I make more of a difference in their education. I've heard that all schools are so different, and again, there are positives and negatives to each one. For example, Si has breaks throughout the day while I don't, but he also has more kids to manage and more material to cover throughout the day. It's cool to hear about other schools and teachers experiences.
Every day I learn more about the culture here. One thing I learned recently is that it is looked down upon to be left handed. If children are born naturally left handed, their parents will make them work with their right hand until it becomes natural. Seems like it would be hard and awkward to accomplish this and it is one of those cultural differences that I don't understand.
For some exciting news, we have three big vacations. We have a week off at the end of July, 6 days off in September (during my birthday), and a week off in December. My friends and I are going to book all of our trips this weekend because everyone has told us that things fill up quickly. As of now, we are planning on going to JeJu Island, which is called the "Hawaii of Korea" for our week in July. We will take a train to the coast of Korea and then a ferry to the island. There are volcanoes and beaches and so many things to see and do. For our trip in September we are planning to go to Bejing, China. Brittany, one of my friends here, has a family friend that owns a condo in Bejing. He is letting us stay there for free and he is going to book all of our tours and activities for us before we go. That will definitely be a once in a lifetime opportunity! We aren't quite sure about our last trip in December, but it is narrowed down to Thailand or Vietnam. We have heard great things about both places so it will be a tough decision!
I have posted pictures of my apartment and Si's apartment as well so you can see them both. Continue to keep in touch and I miss you all!
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
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Hey guess what? I picked up my dry cleaning the other day and the girl handed my change back to me w/her hand over her forearm. So I asked her if she was from Korea and she was impressed that I knew that so I told her about you! It's funny how even after all those years in this country she still holds onto those same customs from Korea.
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