Today was the first real rainy day I experienced in my time in Korea, which isn't saying much because it's only been a week.
One of the Korean teachers had her last day today and her replacement came for her first day. Imagine their surprise when I got to inform them that one of our youngest students had an accident. Hence the title of today's blog. For one, a final farewell to the dirtiest part of the job, and for the other, a surprise responsibility.
I had a good day. I finally got to try out using the audio equipment for my class that the director had observed and that was kind of fun. It reminded me of encountering a very similar thing in taking French classes where something was played over a stereo and I just didn't care. These students were actually quite clever at picked up the subtle sound difference between 'br' 'fr' and 'gr'.
Perhaps even more impress was my even older class in the afternoon, who breezed through the lesson, completed several round of hangman, even did a couple word scrambles, spelling corrections, and spelt words out loud. All of them were near perfect. The word scrambles weren't easy either, see if you can get them.
T R E N D O
L O D O R
G A E C
G H A T I R T S
Y C L U R
Like for a second language, pretty tough, right?
I had no class to teach for the last hour and a half of work which meant getting lots of things in order at my desk and planning out the schedule for next week. I'm sure I will get quicker at filling in my schedule but for now it takes me about an hour.
Tomorrow I will be going to the immigration office with the director to submit my application for my Alien Resident Card -so I can be an official alien.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
An American Textbook, Pokemon Go and All The Rice You Can Eat
Today was day two of properly teaching. I had the same kids and the same schedule as yesterday morning and that took me up until a tasty school lunch.
I had S1 -S for Special- for the first time today, I knew instantly I would like them.
I'm teaching social studies to them out of the most American textbook possible. It's embarrassing really, one poor girl had to read a part that talked about the Pledge of Allegiance. The first unit is on citizenship and what it means to be a good citizen. Very appropriate that I, majoring in this area, would be teaching them words like law, government, and president. When I introduced the first vocabulary word, citizen, I asked them if they knew what it was. "A person?" one student asked. I said yes, but they must belong to a country or state (that's word for word from the textbook, not my opinion). So I asked which country are you a citizen of? The really eager boy to my left goes "ANSAN!" and the student on my right go "No, Korea!!". Kind of neat, I told them I was a Canadian citizen and two of my students in that class used to study in Canada!
During an "Open Class" where I have no class to teach I marked some of the journals from one of my older classes. Their topic was to write on where they think would be a good destination for the next school field trip. My favourite response was from a new student. He wrote about going to Sokcho, known now as the only city in South Korea where you can play Pokemon Go. AND that is exactly what he wrote about...
He's pretty clever, he can handle some tough love if he really wants to be the very best, like no one ever was.
I was pleased to go out with the other teachers after class to get some dinner. Even better when the school director accompanied us and chose a new restaurant with this delicious soup! And if she hadn't gone with us we may have never figured out that there was unlimited rice (bap). So if I'm ever strapped for cash again I should just move in there and live off the rice.
I had S1 -S for Special- for the first time today, I knew instantly I would like them.
I'm teaching social studies to them out of the most American textbook possible. It's embarrassing really, one poor girl had to read a part that talked about the Pledge of Allegiance. The first unit is on citizenship and what it means to be a good citizen. Very appropriate that I, majoring in this area, would be teaching them words like law, government, and president. When I introduced the first vocabulary word, citizen, I asked them if they knew what it was. "A person?" one student asked. I said yes, but they must belong to a country or state (that's word for word from the textbook, not my opinion). So I asked which country are you a citizen of? The really eager boy to my left goes "ANSAN!" and the student on my right go "No, Korea!!". Kind of neat, I told them I was a Canadian citizen and two of my students in that class used to study in Canada!
During an "Open Class" where I have no class to teach I marked some of the journals from one of my older classes. Their topic was to write on where they think would be a good destination for the next school field trip. My favourite response was from a new student. He wrote about going to Sokcho, known now as the only city in South Korea where you can play Pokemon Go. AND that is exactly what he wrote about...
He's pretty clever, he can handle some tough love if he really wants to be the very best, like no one ever was.
I was pleased to go out with the other teachers after class to get some dinner. Even better when the school director accompanied us and chose a new restaurant with this delicious soup! And if she hadn't gone with us we may have never figured out that there was unlimited rice (bap). So if I'm ever strapped for cash again I should just move in there and live off the rice.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Eight Cool Things From Monday
A lot goes on in a day here -especially a weekday. So, I thought I would just picked eight cool things that stood out for me today.
1. This was the day of a new semester, a fresh start. No matter how prepared and eager I may be it doesn't change the fact that about a third of the students didn't have the new books. Ooooh boy.
2. Someone left a piece of blueberry cake on my desk. No idea who, it was amazing. Gomabseulnida!
3. One of my classes read a story today about what makes a pet perfect. The story was about a boy who wanted a dog, and he was very specific about what he wants in a dog. The dog he gets matches the description in every way but one, he's short. But that's because he's only a puppy, then he grows into a huge dog. We discussed which animals would make great pets my class came up with : a penguin, a tiger, a shark, a lion, a spider, an eagle, and a polar bear. What little bad asses!
4. My evening class was ahead on their curriculum so we had to slow things down. They had reading and writing, where we had already written the assignment together last Friday, and debate, where we had already discussed the topic. Knowing that they hadn't really done any formal debating I played them a couple youtube videos of formal debates while I marked and corrected the written assignments. We spent the rest of that class writing out what the would say about their debate topic, using more formal language. Each of the students would have to introduce herself and thank everyone for listening at the end. Since they had a lot of time to make sure their speech was well written they felt more comfortable speaking during the next class. As an experiment I asked them how long they thought it would take them to read what they had written, guesses ranged from 30 seconds to 12 minutes. They all spoke for just over a minute. Convenient since there was drilling being done in the other room that started right after the last one finished.
5. The director came into observe one of my classes. She liked how I walked around the room, spoke clearly, engaged everyone, and frequently referred to the pictures in the book. I guess I teach the way I like to learn. She wanted me to use some resources that were absent from the classroom: a clock to pace myself and a stereo for the CD component. I skipped over the CD parts or did them differently since I wasn't aware we had a CD player (to be fair, there only seems to be one for the whole school).
6. One student came up to me and gave me a biscuit in the shape of the Merlion. She was excited I recognised it from Singapore! It tasted like leechee nut.
7. I walked to work by myself today and totally got the route down pat.
8. I got my pay in advance from the director so I was able to have a nice dinner of Kimbap after work
I'm really enjoying keeping busy! I look forward to knowing the routine a little better though!
1. This was the day of a new semester, a fresh start. No matter how prepared and eager I may be it doesn't change the fact that about a third of the students didn't have the new books. Ooooh boy.
2. Someone left a piece of blueberry cake on my desk. No idea who, it was amazing. Gomabseulnida!
3. One of my classes read a story today about what makes a pet perfect. The story was about a boy who wanted a dog, and he was very specific about what he wants in a dog. The dog he gets matches the description in every way but one, he's short. But that's because he's only a puppy, then he grows into a huge dog. We discussed which animals would make great pets my class came up with : a penguin, a tiger, a shark, a lion, a spider, an eagle, and a polar bear. What little bad asses!
4. My evening class was ahead on their curriculum so we had to slow things down. They had reading and writing, where we had already written the assignment together last Friday, and debate, where we had already discussed the topic. Knowing that they hadn't really done any formal debating I played them a couple youtube videos of formal debates while I marked and corrected the written assignments. We spent the rest of that class writing out what the would say about their debate topic, using more formal language. Each of the students would have to introduce herself and thank everyone for listening at the end. Since they had a lot of time to make sure their speech was well written they felt more comfortable speaking during the next class. As an experiment I asked them how long they thought it would take them to read what they had written, guesses ranged from 30 seconds to 12 minutes. They all spoke for just over a minute. Convenient since there was drilling being done in the other room that started right after the last one finished.
5. The director came into observe one of my classes. She liked how I walked around the room, spoke clearly, engaged everyone, and frequently referred to the pictures in the book. I guess I teach the way I like to learn. She wanted me to use some resources that were absent from the classroom: a clock to pace myself and a stereo for the CD component. I skipped over the CD parts or did them differently since I wasn't aware we had a CD player (to be fair, there only seems to be one for the whole school).
6. One student came up to me and gave me a biscuit in the shape of the Merlion. She was excited I recognised it from Singapore! It tasted like leechee nut.
7. I walked to work by myself today and totally got the route down pat.
8. I got my pay in advance from the director so I was able to have a nice dinner of Kimbap after work
I'm really enjoying keeping busy! I look forward to knowing the routine a little better though!
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Day of Rest
The best part of the day was the first part where I finally got to sleep in. I slept for almost 12 hours. I'm finally well rested.
The main event for today was the adventure to the bank. After yesterdays ATM drama I was convinced this would be the solution to the problem. I navigated my way to Kookmin bank. The ATMs were much fancier than the ones I tried yesterday, or possibly ever before, come to thing of it.
But unfortunately there was an error message and it asked me to go see a teller. On a Sunday. So that wasn't going to happen.
I spent a little more money on two packages of instant noodles.
You know how when you really hungry everything tastes great? Those noodles were incredible.
Tomorrow I will be back a school. If I can't get a cash advance I can go to the bank with the error message. Either way, I will also have my delicious school lunch to fall back on. Hopefully it's as tasty as Friday's. Mmmmmm.
The main event for today was the adventure to the bank. After yesterdays ATM drama I was convinced this would be the solution to the problem. I navigated my way to Kookmin bank. The ATMs were much fancier than the ones I tried yesterday, or possibly ever before, come to thing of it.
But unfortunately there was an error message and it asked me to go see a teller. On a Sunday. So that wasn't going to happen.
I spent a little more money on two packages of instant noodles.
You know how when you really hungry everything tastes great? Those noodles were incredible.
Tomorrow I will be back a school. If I can't get a cash advance I can go to the bank with the error message. Either way, I will also have my delicious school lunch to fall back on. Hopefully it's as tasty as Friday's. Mmmmmm.
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Medical Check
The highlight of today had to be the visit to the hospital for my medical evaluation.
I met the director at 8:30am and we were at the hospital by 9:00, I was home by 10:30am. I mention this mostly because of the multitude of things we went there for and the speed at which it was completed.
Sometime was lost trying to find the right entrance. I told the director that had she not been there I would still be tried to use the first door. Once directed to the right place it was a take a number system. Once they found out why I was there we started with a self-assessment for mental health.
The director watched me fill it out and mentioned that teacher usually laugh at the questions. Beside the grammatical errors, the subject of the questions were most amusing -or scary.
They start simple by asking if you hear voices. You answer on a 0 to 5 scale, no explanation of it so I must assume 0 is no voices and 5 is like "these voices need to try using a talking stick". The number matters because your score is tallied up at the end, the higher the number than the ... well, whatever it is it would be really insensitive and not politically correct. Then the questions get weird. Number 6, was about the frequency in which you think about sex. Later, if you believed you would be punished for your sins. So whether you're hypersexual or fundamentally religious -there's a number for you!
Next was a quick blood pressure test. Then all my measurements were taken -yes, even belly and bust. Then I had my eyes tested, and then my ears. Next I spoke with a doctor about if I had any infectious diseases. Then I went to pay. Then I had my teeth checked and a chest X-ray.
The director was excited to take my picture next to my Korean name on the screen. Most importantly I'm wearing my x-ray robe for this momentous occasion
I met the director at 8:30am and we were at the hospital by 9:00, I was home by 10:30am. I mention this mostly because of the multitude of things we went there for and the speed at which it was completed.
Sometime was lost trying to find the right entrance. I told the director that had she not been there I would still be tried to use the first door. Once directed to the right place it was a take a number system. Once they found out why I was there we started with a self-assessment for mental health.
The director watched me fill it out and mentioned that teacher usually laugh at the questions. Beside the grammatical errors, the subject of the questions were most amusing -or scary.
They start simple by asking if you hear voices. You answer on a 0 to 5 scale, no explanation of it so I must assume 0 is no voices and 5 is like "these voices need to try using a talking stick". The number matters because your score is tallied up at the end, the higher the number than the ... well, whatever it is it would be really insensitive and not politically correct. Then the questions get weird. Number 6, was about the frequency in which you think about sex. Later, if you believed you would be punished for your sins. So whether you're hypersexual or fundamentally religious -there's a number for you!
Next was a quick blood pressure test. Then all my measurements were taken -yes, even belly and bust. Then I had my eyes tested, and then my ears. Next I spoke with a doctor about if I had any infectious diseases. Then I went to pay. Then I had my teeth checked and a chest X-ray.
The director was excited to take my picture next to my Korean name on the screen. Most importantly I'm wearing my x-ray robe for this momentous occasion
All the while the director and I briskly walking between departments to get this all done. We finally ended with a blood test and urine sample. The results will arrive on Monday and then the form can be submitted for my Alien Registration Card!
The card however won't be here for at least four weeks. These adventures in bureaucracy may never end! But I can't complain, not when I studied so hard to care about bureaucracy.
I will need the ID card to open a bank account. Not something that was too concerning when I gave all but 11,000 won (or 15$ AUD) to the hospital. But my afternoon adventures walking around the neighbourhood proved that my Vancity card doesn't seem to be compatible with the atms here.
I walked around and found 5 atms in my neighbourhood and I tried every combination to get some money out. In the end I bought some milk so that I could eat the cereal left for me in the apartment for dinner. I might try using my Australian cards tomorrow. I do have some food here, but not much.
On that note I used my rice cooker to make rice today. I figured out my washing machine just fine despite the lack of English instructions but I felt the rice cooker could be more difficult.
These are the instructions on the front panel of the rice cooker.
After careful translation I got this:
"Pleasure in Grain"
I found nice pleasure in this grain.
My neighbourhood stroll was quite fascinating. I was first struck by how many Christian churches appeared to be nearby. It's quite surprising when barely 30% of South Koreans are Christian. I'm talking multiple large churches spanning multiple blocks.
Perhaps more telling then that is the possible Jehovah's witnesses that interrupted my Skype date with mum. They left after we determined there was an unbreakable language barrier.
On the walk I also discovered lots of cafes, some great parks, and what I suspect is a university.
I plan on doing some more exploring tomorrow!
Friday, August 26, 2016
End of Semester
Even though it's only my second real day of teaching today was the last day of the semester for the students. Which involved a lot of work and a lot of play.
First things first, I have no idea if my two alarms didn't go off or if I actually slept through them going off right next to my head. I wasn't late but I had to rush and look spiffy to meet the parents who were coming to attend the presentation today.
I had breakfast of processed meat on a stick. No time to waste!
My first job was to keep the kids entertained while the other classes were being 'presented' to their parents to show how much they've learned. This involved a bit of talking but mostly watching videos like this, or this.
The play, known as Musical English, featured students in the kindergarten grades acting, singing and dancing for their parents. The younger class performed a version of the Jungle Book, which I'm sad to say I only saw the very end of.
The kindergarten classes are divided by names of birds. I will teach Sparrow, which are the same age as Blue Jay, and the group doing the Jungle Book is young and thus named Hummingbird. The Blue Jay class and Sparrow class worked together on a simplified version of Beauty and the Beast. From what I gather the Beast was a prince who was bad whenever he was tired and hungry, then got turned into a beast because he wouldn't share food with a beggar. The song lyrics for these two part went as follows:
First things first, I have no idea if my two alarms didn't go off or if I actually slept through them going off right next to my head. I wasn't late but I had to rush and look spiffy to meet the parents who were coming to attend the presentation today.
I had breakfast of processed meat on a stick. No time to waste!
My first job was to keep the kids entertained while the other classes were being 'presented' to their parents to show how much they've learned. This involved a bit of talking but mostly watching videos like this, or this.
The play, known as Musical English, featured students in the kindergarten grades acting, singing and dancing for their parents. The younger class performed a version of the Jungle Book, which I'm sad to say I only saw the very end of.
The kindergarten classes are divided by names of birds. I will teach Sparrow, which are the same age as Blue Jay, and the group doing the Jungle Book is young and thus named Hummingbird. The Blue Jay class and Sparrow class worked together on a simplified version of Beauty and the Beast. From what I gather the Beast was a prince who was bad whenever he was tired and hungry, then got turned into a beast because he wouldn't share food with a beggar. The song lyrics for these two part went as follows:
"when he is hungry and tired,
the prince is very bad, he's very bad"
and
"You are a beast now,
you're a beast now"
Beauty was kind of forced to live with the Beast for some reason. The teapot, the tea cup and the clock featured for one song.
"I am a teapot
I am a cute cup
And I am a clock"
Beauty runs away, the Beast saves her and calls her 'beautiful' and BAM! She's in love with the Beast and the spell is broken. I'm not really summarizing here, it was very simplified. Then it ended with 'Dancing Queen' with just added to the randomness. I clapped loudly, it was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. The parents went a step further and brought bouquets of flowers for their children.
I was supposed to be introduced to the parents but the director ran out of time. Which was no trouble because many of the parents came to greet me, and, more often, take a photo of me and their child.
After all the parents had gone home and we had a nice long lunch. The lunches here are outstanding. I was very impressed by todays lunch. The soup here has a clam base. There's some traditional kimchi, which will feature with most dishes here. That's shredded ginger beef on rice. At the back there is egg battered zucchini slices next toe a mix of quail eggs and whole roasted garlic cloves. Damn!
After we took the kids to the park down the road. All three classes holding hands making a big long snake. It did not move very efficiently but we didn't lose anyone. The kids and the teachers went wild on the playground with all kinds of games and running around. One woman came up to me smiling and asking me questions in Korean, I redirected her to the head teacher who discovered that she had seen us having so much fun and wanted to know which school we were with because she wants her grandchildren to have this experience. What great feedback!
The older kids in the afternoon were completely finished their workbooks so I got to keep them busy with MORE GAMES! We played Jenga and Memory. This was really good since it was the first fun time I got to spend with my regular class. In the next block we brought them into the library to play dodge ball.
I was really pleased teaching the eldest kids in the evening. We started with a bit of reading and writing and they all worked really well and got everything done to a pretty high standard. In the second block we did debate, which was not really a formal debate so much as a discussion. This time we were debating whether or not "Advertisements do more harm than good". Most of the students agreed with this statement but we discussed some good ads, like disaster relief funding or anti-smoking campaigns. Then we talked a bit about false advertising, annoying advertising. Then swung back to the benefits of advertising, like if you didn't see movie trailers you might miss out on watching a good movie. Or if websites and newspaper could sell ad space they might be very expensive. Probably the only point that made the debate controversial was the idea of paying to use Youtube if it didn't have ads -which everyone would hate. We talked about advertising for dangerous or addictive products and I told them a bit about Canada's regulations and Australia's proliferation of gambling ads. They told me about the sorts of ads they see in Korea. I enjoyed talking with them so much the time just flew by.
After work I went to, FINALLY, get a sim card. In terms of getting my life in order I'm going to the hospital tomorrow with the director to get my mandatory medical examination, and then I can get my alien resident card. That card will allow me to get a bank account so I can actually buy some groceries in case -god forbid I don't feel like eating out.
In short, today was really fun, tomorrow I will pee in a cup.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
My First Day of School
Today was my first proper full day of school.
I am joining at an interesting time. It's the end of semester this week, and tomorrow the students present all that they've learned to their parents. Next week a new semester will start, so I do get to start fresh in a way.
The kindergartners come for the morning. This morning there would be a field trip and I got to come along to get to know the kids. I was originally told it would be a bit of a boring trip, all in Korean, about 'oriental medicine'. Imagine my surprise when the first topic was teeth cleaning. Teeth cleaning in the way that my grandparents (who are no doubt reading this) would know it -toothpaste, toothbrush, brush everywhere. Even more exciting: it was presented via an animated movie that was kind of like Hansel and Gretel except the candy was killing Hansel's teeth. But what do I know it was all in Korean!
The next video addressed the dangers of smoking. The cartoon features famous Korean characters, a boy, a man, a chicken, a crocodile, and a bus. I can make this up. I believed a bus lecturing on smoking seemed a bit hypocritical, but I'm told not to talk bad about Tayo.
Next we moved on to some instruments for grinding up traditional medicine. If you're me and you don't understand Korean (yet!) then this part look to be only a great photo op. The kids swarmed to play with all the equipment for a while. Later they got to smell some of the traditional medicine -which was not an effective advertisement. One student called it 'nose fire',
Next there was a brief demonstration of CPR. These kids are between 4 and 5, and I can decide what is more surprising -the don't smoke campaign or the thought that they could preform CPR. Suppose those things are both valuable to have in case someone offer them a cigarette and then has heart failure. IT COULD HAPPEN.
All and all I enjoyed my time with the young ones, held some hands, played some games, and learned many names. I even got to teach some of them for a while when the other teachers needed some time.
After a wonderful (FREE) lunch. We had some more teaching time then they went off. Next we had the older kids come in. These guys were a lot more calm, but maybe a little less fun because of that. These lessons were more about getting the more visible part of learning done -so workbooks.
I got the chance to speak to the director, who has a wonderful rapport with the teachers. We had a nice talk and she answered a lot of my questions. I know I will like her, she has a pet rabbit and 5 cats because she rescues strays.
We had another meal out, and I walked part way home by myself. I was excited to find my way bace since I had read a store name by my apartment that actually reads 'Hope'. I knew I was heading in the right direction when I literally found hope again.
I am joining at an interesting time. It's the end of semester this week, and tomorrow the students present all that they've learned to their parents. Next week a new semester will start, so I do get to start fresh in a way.
The kindergartners come for the morning. This morning there would be a field trip and I got to come along to get to know the kids. I was originally told it would be a bit of a boring trip, all in Korean, about 'oriental medicine'. Imagine my surprise when the first topic was teeth cleaning. Teeth cleaning in the way that my grandparents (who are no doubt reading this) would know it -toothpaste, toothbrush, brush everywhere. Even more exciting: it was presented via an animated movie that was kind of like Hansel and Gretel except the candy was killing Hansel's teeth. But what do I know it was all in Korean!
The next video addressed the dangers of smoking. The cartoon features famous Korean characters, a boy, a man, a chicken, a crocodile, and a bus. I can make this up. I believed a bus lecturing on smoking seemed a bit hypocritical, but I'm told not to talk bad about Tayo.
Next we moved on to some instruments for grinding up traditional medicine. If you're me and you don't understand Korean (yet!) then this part look to be only a great photo op. The kids swarmed to play with all the equipment for a while. Later they got to smell some of the traditional medicine -which was not an effective advertisement. One student called it 'nose fire',
Next there was a brief demonstration of CPR. These kids are between 4 and 5, and I can decide what is more surprising -the don't smoke campaign or the thought that they could preform CPR. Suppose those things are both valuable to have in case someone offer them a cigarette and then has heart failure. IT COULD HAPPEN.
All and all I enjoyed my time with the young ones, held some hands, played some games, and learned many names. I even got to teach some of them for a while when the other teachers needed some time.
After a wonderful (FREE) lunch. We had some more teaching time then they went off. Next we had the older kids come in. These guys were a lot more calm, but maybe a little less fun because of that. These lessons were more about getting the more visible part of learning done -so workbooks.
I got the chance to speak to the director, who has a wonderful rapport with the teachers. We had a nice talk and she answered a lot of my questions. I know I will like her, she has a pet rabbit and 5 cats because she rescues strays.
We had another meal out, and I walked part way home by myself. I was excited to find my way bace since I had read a store name by my apartment that actually reads 'Hope'. I knew I was heading in the right direction when I literally found hope again.
Welcome to Korea
I landed in Korea yesterday and responded to a sign reading 'Acole Andresen'
That's me, Acole Andresen.
I took a leap of faith with the driver who called up someone who spoke to me in english, welcoming me to Korea. We drove from the airport in Incheon across what is one of the world's longest bridges. We past clusters of apartment buildings surround by grassland. They do a similar thing in China. Canada, and I feel more so Australia, builds from the centre outward -meaning we get that urban sprawl. Here apartment building come in a cluster of similar buildings -between 3 and 10- that just grow like a cluster of hairs coming out of a mole. They look taller because there's nothing else around.
Now I have my own mole hair to call home, but that comes later.
We went directly to the school. Another leap of faith: taking all my bags and leaving the driver with the car just slightly confident in where I was going. Once I got in the elevator I saw the business were listed in Korean. I have spent the last week learning how to read Korean -very slowly- and by the time I got to the 5th floor I was positive I had just read the name of my school.
And there is was. People to greet me and everything.
While the first day felt like a bit of a sleepy blur my jet lag from Brisbane, a one hour time difference, could not compare to past English teachers coming from the UK and North America. So for that I am thankful.
After a bit of orientation we left to get dinner! Naturally my favourite part of going anywhere is the food, and Korea did not disappoint. The other teachers who took me out assured me that eating out is often cheaper than cooking for yourself. That being said the ordering was a bit messy to get across what we wanted -but in the end it all worked out.
Then we made our way through the neon signs to a mole. A chunk of land containing only apartments and we walked right through it, up a road, near an alley, to find our apartment. I had been forwarned it would be small and I'm pleased to report it is basically hotel room-sized which is completely agreeable. I did the minimum: shower and connect to the wifi.
Now it is home.
That's me, Acole Andresen.
I took a leap of faith with the driver who called up someone who spoke to me in english, welcoming me to Korea. We drove from the airport in Incheon across what is one of the world's longest bridges. We past clusters of apartment buildings surround by grassland. They do a similar thing in China. Canada, and I feel more so Australia, builds from the centre outward -meaning we get that urban sprawl. Here apartment building come in a cluster of similar buildings -between 3 and 10- that just grow like a cluster of hairs coming out of a mole. They look taller because there's nothing else around.
Now I have my own mole hair to call home, but that comes later.
We went directly to the school. Another leap of faith: taking all my bags and leaving the driver with the car just slightly confident in where I was going. Once I got in the elevator I saw the business were listed in Korean. I have spent the last week learning how to read Korean -very slowly- and by the time I got to the 5th floor I was positive I had just read the name of my school.
And there is was. People to greet me and everything.
While the first day felt like a bit of a sleepy blur my jet lag from Brisbane, a one hour time difference, could not compare to past English teachers coming from the UK and North America. So for that I am thankful.
After a bit of orientation we left to get dinner! Naturally my favourite part of going anywhere is the food, and Korea did not disappoint. The other teachers who took me out assured me that eating out is often cheaper than cooking for yourself. That being said the ordering was a bit messy to get across what we wanted -but in the end it all worked out.
Then we made our way through the neon signs to a mole. A chunk of land containing only apartments and we walked right through it, up a road, near an alley, to find our apartment. I had been forwarned it would be small and I'm pleased to report it is basically hotel room-sized which is completely agreeable. I did the minimum: shower and connect to the wifi.
Now it is home.
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