Sink or Swim

I have been in Korea for exactly two weeks now, and have been teaching about half of that time.

My time here has been short so far, but it feels like a long time because I have been so busy! On average I really am only at my home long enough to sleep and do some laundry. It has been great exploring Seoul, and getting to know the people I met during orientation.

I arrived on my school on Wednesday the 29th of August & was told I would be teaching 6th and 4th grade, and that I would need to prepare two lesson plans as I would start teaching on Monday. Okay, no big deal... except, I wasn't told the level of the students, or what they had been learning in previous lessons. Basically, I had to figure out on my own from a book that is mostly in Korean.

So without any direction, I managed to pull the lesson plans together and was ready to go when Monday morning came around. On Monday morning I found out that the school was having an assembly during which I would have to introduce myself to the staff and entire student body (which is roughly about 3,300 people).
That scenario went a little something like this:
-Principal: "yakyakyak yakity yak imnida yak yak yakyayak, migook yak yak"
awkward silence. now my co-teacher proceeds to take me by the arm and takes me to the podium where I was apparently supposed to have been standing all along.

So I introduced my self and probably said something along the lines of "I am from America, I'm very happy to be here, please take care of me blah blah" the moment went by very quickly!

The rest of the week consisted of me showing an introduction powerpoint to both fourth and sixth grades, then during the second half of the class I taught from the lesson plans I had prepared.

I'm really having a hard time figure out just exactly I should do to get these kids to learn and be entertained at the same time. My CT keeps telling me my lesson plans are boring and the kids won't participate because they are so bored, so the next class I tried doing more activities and less book work. Except, they couldn't understand how to play, we we weren't able to do that either.

This week I have been teaching the sixth graders on my own as my CT is on vacation until next Monday. It has been rough, I'm not going to lie. The language barrier is really difficult, and I've had an even harder time getting them to participate.

As far as life in my apartment, or "office-tel" as it is called in Korea, I have finally figured out how to use the water heater so this past weekend I enjoyed my first hot shower since moving in. I cried happy tears. I have it the way I want it more or less, I also have very limited space though so there isn't much I can do to it, except maybe buy a futon.

So in short, these last two weeks I was thrown into a completely different world. Everything and everyone moves at lightning fast speeds, and I am somehow, managing to stay afloat during it all.

Could definitely not be able to do it without the support of my friends, and family (both near and far).

Sorry this is so wordy and scattered, I hope to be able to post more often so that I don't have to cram so much into one post.

love,

xx