I have not yet completed an entire week of teaching and I already feel as though I have been at this for weeks. A student was absent yesterday and I actually thought he was gone for days and made a big stink about him finally coming back today. Chalk it up to just another weird thing their slightly eccentric American teacher does.
This week has been one of the busiest, craziest, tiring, and most rewarding weeks I think I have ever had. Take a trip with me, friends into this wild world in which I live. I find myself in an elevator at 7:45 in the am listening to a Korean woman saying things I do not understand in a very high-pitched voice that rises and falls a lot more than one would think necessary for saying floor numbers. Once out into the big old world known as Seoul I walk to the bus, dodging cars left and right; the drivers here sure are different than they are in Vermont. The extremely crowded bus ride (where each time I am the only Caucasian....amazing) is about a half hour to the school, and luckily they repeat the names of the stops in English. I get dropped off by a McDonald's (they deliver. On mopeds.) and walk through a maze of apartment buildings to Canada International School, my mecca.
Once inside, there is a room full of cubbies to hold shoes as outdoor shoes are not worn indoors, which means I get to wear extremely comfy sandles all day. On Monday I arrived at 8:30am (school starts at 9:50am), got introduced, and given a quick run-down. I got the class schedule about 15 minutes before the students arrived, which is around 9:45. My classroom was BLEAK as the school was just flooded in a big landslide and everything had to be taken off of the walls to clean it up/do construction during their week of summer vacation.
I won't go into more detail about it all, but I will say that the expression 'fly by the seat of your pants' has taken on a whole new meaning for me. If this was a school in America, this shit would never fly, but as this is a private school in Korea all this lack of preparedness is not too much of a big deal. There are no standards to meet, no Adequate Yearly Progress, no tests (besides spelling), no grade books, no class lists. It's WILD. Basically we are expected to get through the books and workbooks, which is easy to fumble your way through if you happen to have no idea what the hell is going on. The parents like to see the books completely filled out and checked by the teacher, and if that occurs, everyone is happy. Our part, as committed American teachers, is to supplement this rote way of learning with fun activities, art projects, and games.
One amazing thing is that I teach all subjects, though it ends up being to three different groups of kids. I have a Kindergarten (Kindy) class M-F from 9:50 - 2:50, and two different second grade classes from 3 - 5:50pm, and those alternate M/W/F and T/Th. The funny thing about the Kindy class is that they are actually the age of American second graders...kind of. When a Korean is born they are automatically a year old so when I ask kids their age they say 'American or Korean?' It still doesn't make sense to me, but it's just another one to add to that long list of things that confuse me.
The days are long and exhausting, though some of that is due to still being jet-lagged. (Right now it's 9:40pm here and 8:40am at home.) Every other time I have taught I would go home around 3pm with the kids but now I am staying for another three hours, which is tough to get used to. I almost fell asleep standing up on the bus on the way home.
A lot of what was missing from my life in Burlington was all of this: working hard doing something I love. Nothing motivates me more than a classroom full of little kids, especially little Korean ones who love to learn, sing songs, listen to fairy tales, color pictures, and get excited with me about things other grown-ups would call silly.
More to come another time, friends. Thanks again for reading.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Here I Am
Well, well, well here I am in Seoul, South Korea! I left Factoryville, PA at 2:30am Friday morning (big thanks to UD for the ride to Newark!) and arrived in Seoul, SK at 3:30pm Saturday afternoon. What a trip!
As I waited in Chicago for the Seoul plane to board I looked around the waiting area and realized that I was the only white person, which made me feel inferior. Since I did not fit in, I felt that all the Asian folks around me were better because there were more of them; they looked similar, spoke the same language and probably had similar backgrounds. And this as a privileged white American woman! I can only imagine what former refugees feel when they come to America for the first time.
The plane ride to Seoul was 14 hours, but I was lucky enough to sit next to a Korean family. Well, it was lucky at first when the father filled me in about Seoul, but not so lucky when exhaustion hit and his 7-year-old son started asking me a million questions. Though I was psyched because his English was great and he thought I was cool because I had seen a hawk and a chipmunk.
When I arrived in Seoul I looked forward to finding the driver holding a sign with my name on it, slightly hoping to make a dramatic airport scene. As it turned out, I came out of the wrong gate and he ended up finding me, which was very anticlimactic. Se la vi. The organization on the part of the school, Canada International School (CIS), was amazing, and there were two fellow English speaking teachers waiting for me at my apartment. The two women who met me were Canadian and helped me move in, told me a little about CIS, and showed me the ropes. I am so thankful for their help!
I thought I would have a couple of days of training before teaching, but apparently I am just going to jump right in. This is halfway through the second semester, which is not the most ideal time to start teaching but the teacher I am taking over for, Mr. G, left before his contract was done for 'personal reasons.' The girls told me he was not the best teacher (he was one of those teachers who enjoyed being a 'bud', which equaled not a lot of work getting done) but all the kids loved him. Oh, and guess what? They just had a week break and don't know that Mr. G is not coming back. Surprise! Luckily another girl in my building took over the class (my class they kept saying, which made me tingle with happiness and anticipation) for a week and we're going to meet today so she can give me the low-down. Needless to say, Monday will be a roller coaster ride. But like the anticipation I felt before riding the Phoenix at Knobles for the first time, I am nervous excited and ready to rock it.
I have not yet seen too much of Seoul, just some blocks around my new apartment. Said apartment is interesting and reminds me of a dorm with a little kitchen area. The bathroom is a decent size, however there is no shower stall. Yep. The shower head attaches above the sink and there is a drain on the floor. I guess if I want to have shower parties I'll have plenty of room, though there is no living room to hang out in afterward.
I found a grocery store today, which was a big victory. I am not too sure of everything I bought, case in point being the cereal I thought was Special K like and ended up being Frosted Flakes like. Good thing I like sugar. It definitely feels weird not to speak the language, but I am pretty committed to taking a class and learning it because I hate feeling like a stupid American.
It's raining here now, but my apartment is pretty much all set up so I feel good/excited/weird/confused/happy. Wide range. I'm thankful I have a cell phone all set up and internet so I'm not totally out of touch.
That's all for now.
Kam-sa-ham-ni-da (thank you) for reading.
As I waited in Chicago for the Seoul plane to board I looked around the waiting area and realized that I was the only white person, which made me feel inferior. Since I did not fit in, I felt that all the Asian folks around me were better because there were more of them; they looked similar, spoke the same language and probably had similar backgrounds. And this as a privileged white American woman! I can only imagine what former refugees feel when they come to America for the first time.
The plane ride to Seoul was 14 hours, but I was lucky enough to sit next to a Korean family. Well, it was lucky at first when the father filled me in about Seoul, but not so lucky when exhaustion hit and his 7-year-old son started asking me a million questions. Though I was psyched because his English was great and he thought I was cool because I had seen a hawk and a chipmunk.
When I arrived in Seoul I looked forward to finding the driver holding a sign with my name on it, slightly hoping to make a dramatic airport scene. As it turned out, I came out of the wrong gate and he ended up finding me, which was very anticlimactic. Se la vi. The organization on the part of the school, Canada International School (CIS), was amazing, and there were two fellow English speaking teachers waiting for me at my apartment. The two women who met me were Canadian and helped me move in, told me a little about CIS, and showed me the ropes. I am so thankful for their help!
I thought I would have a couple of days of training before teaching, but apparently I am just going to jump right in. This is halfway through the second semester, which is not the most ideal time to start teaching but the teacher I am taking over for, Mr. G, left before his contract was done for 'personal reasons.' The girls told me he was not the best teacher (he was one of those teachers who enjoyed being a 'bud', which equaled not a lot of work getting done) but all the kids loved him. Oh, and guess what? They just had a week break and don't know that Mr. G is not coming back. Surprise! Luckily another girl in my building took over the class (my class they kept saying, which made me tingle with happiness and anticipation) for a week and we're going to meet today so she can give me the low-down. Needless to say, Monday will be a roller coaster ride. But like the anticipation I felt before riding the Phoenix at Knobles for the first time, I am nervous excited and ready to rock it.
I have not yet seen too much of Seoul, just some blocks around my new apartment. Said apartment is interesting and reminds me of a dorm with a little kitchen area. The bathroom is a decent size, however there is no shower stall. Yep. The shower head attaches above the sink and there is a drain on the floor. I guess if I want to have shower parties I'll have plenty of room, though there is no living room to hang out in afterward.
I found a grocery store today, which was a big victory. I am not too sure of everything I bought, case in point being the cereal I thought was Special K like and ended up being Frosted Flakes like. Good thing I like sugar. It definitely feels weird not to speak the language, but I am pretty committed to taking a class and learning it because I hate feeling like a stupid American.
It's raining here now, but my apartment is pretty much all set up so I feel good/excited/weird/confused/happy. Wide range. I'm thankful I have a cell phone all set up and internet so I'm not totally out of touch.
That's all for now.
Kam-sa-ham-ni-da (thank you) for reading.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Gearing Up
I'm going to throw out a disclaimer before I begin; this is my first attempt at a blog so just bear with me. This seems to be the easiest way to keep in touch with all the glorious folks in my life so here it gooooooooooooes. Holla.
It has been a wild month of July getting ready for this adventure to South Korea, and now all those things I had planned before leaving are done. Lately, the song 'South Australia', with the words changed to 'South Korea', keeps running through my head. "If there is one thing I am excited about. Heave away, Haul away! It's to get this adventure started so I can shout. I am bound for South Korea!"
Sadness is not the overarching emotion I am feeling as I gear up to leave, which surprises me because I thought I would be a weepy mess (thanks for those genes, mom.) Thankfulness and excitement are overtaking my heart these days as I reflect upon my three years in Burlington and think about what adventures await me in South Korea. Perhaps I'll get to eat kimchi everyday, and teach kids with bad breath and gas. Eeek. I'll get to be a part of another Quaker meeting (thank goodness meetings are silent so I don't have to worry about the whole 'I don't know any of your langauge...yet' thing.) I'll get to live in a city of over 10 million people, which may cut down on the Burlington phenomenon of everyone being inter-connected in some weird and magical way. I'll live in a city with culture that dates back to over 2,000 (not 200) years ago. Subways will be my main way of commuting, not only in Seoul but in cities surrounding it. I won't get lost in a group of people because my height will make me easy to find. There is a lot to look forward to, but still a lot to be quite nervous about. I won't go into that before leaving because it makes me feel like doing a quick vomit in the garbage can.
I want to end this first post by doing an ode of sorts to Burlington, my home for three years where I grew up in more ways than I thought imaginable. To Burlington! Where ....: I lived in my first apartment (with my favorite cuz.)....found that neighbors are nice folks you can hang with.....found that riding a bike and bus can get you most anywhere you need to go....the winters get so cold your eyes water and nostrils freeze together, but as long as you have friends to bitch about it with you're okay......found my spiritual home in Quaker meeting and officially joined a meeting for the first time, and got to also join committees and run Young Adult Friends....got to be F/friends with folks who were older and much wiser than I.....worked in an office setting for two years learning more of what I don't want to do with my life.....learned how culturally incompetent I am and ways to improve myself in that regard....realized that good coffee makes a difference.....got to learn how to see the world through the eyes of a 2-year-old....played on a great softball team.....spent time at/in/around Lake Champlain in all seasons and loved the changes....house-sat for many people who actually had money to make their homes in (often times) rural Vermont amazing....learned how to play the banjo....found how grand eating local and organic is, and how co-ops can make that happen (albeit priceily)....realized how I can be a better person in a multitude of ways. And finally, as Bill Staines said so well in the song River, "I've been to the city and back again, I've been moved by some things that I've learned. Met a lot of good people and I've called them friends, felt the change when the seasons turned. I've heard all the sonds that the children sing, and listened to love's melodies. I've felt my own music within me rise, like the wind in the autumn trees."
Thanks for reading.
Katie.
It has been a wild month of July getting ready for this adventure to South Korea, and now all those things I had planned before leaving are done. Lately, the song 'South Australia', with the words changed to 'South Korea', keeps running through my head. "If there is one thing I am excited about. Heave away, Haul away! It's to get this adventure started so I can shout. I am bound for South Korea!"
Sadness is not the overarching emotion I am feeling as I gear up to leave, which surprises me because I thought I would be a weepy mess (thanks for those genes, mom.) Thankfulness and excitement are overtaking my heart these days as I reflect upon my three years in Burlington and think about what adventures await me in South Korea. Perhaps I'll get to eat kimchi everyday, and teach kids with bad breath and gas. Eeek. I'll get to be a part of another Quaker meeting (thank goodness meetings are silent so I don't have to worry about the whole 'I don't know any of your langauge...yet' thing.) I'll get to live in a city of over 10 million people, which may cut down on the Burlington phenomenon of everyone being inter-connected in some weird and magical way. I'll live in a city with culture that dates back to over 2,000 (not 200) years ago. Subways will be my main way of commuting, not only in Seoul but in cities surrounding it. I won't get lost in a group of people because my height will make me easy to find. There is a lot to look forward to, but still a lot to be quite nervous about. I won't go into that before leaving because it makes me feel like doing a quick vomit in the garbage can.
I want to end this first post by doing an ode of sorts to Burlington, my home for three years where I grew up in more ways than I thought imaginable. To Burlington! Where ....: I lived in my first apartment (with my favorite cuz.)....found that neighbors are nice folks you can hang with.....found that riding a bike and bus can get you most anywhere you need to go....the winters get so cold your eyes water and nostrils freeze together, but as long as you have friends to bitch about it with you're okay......found my spiritual home in Quaker meeting and officially joined a meeting for the first time, and got to also join committees and run Young Adult Friends....got to be F/friends with folks who were older and much wiser than I.....worked in an office setting for two years learning more of what I don't want to do with my life.....learned how culturally incompetent I am and ways to improve myself in that regard....realized that good coffee makes a difference.....got to learn how to see the world through the eyes of a 2-year-old....played on a great softball team.....spent time at/in/around Lake Champlain in all seasons and loved the changes....house-sat for many people who actually had money to make their homes in (often times) rural Vermont amazing....learned how to play the banjo....found how grand eating local and organic is, and how co-ops can make that happen (albeit priceily)....realized how I can be a better person in a multitude of ways. And finally, as Bill Staines said so well in the song River, "I've been to the city and back again, I've been moved by some things that I've learned. Met a lot of good people and I've called them friends, felt the change when the seasons turned. I've heard all the sonds that the children sing, and listened to love's melodies. I've felt my own music within me rise, like the wind in the autumn trees."
Thanks for reading.
Katie.
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