Hello everyone! I had hoped to blog sooner, but training has kept me busy non-stop. I spent the first few weeks in Jochiwon at a satellite campus of Korea University. Even though it was full of training, I still enjoyed it because of the good company. There were about 350 of us training to teach English here in SK. I have met some great people from all walks of life around the world and have made great friendships. We spent every waking moment together and then some: eating, taking classes, getting lost in subways, noraebang and even as small as going to a Home Plus (grocery store) for the very first time here. We bonded by experiencing what it’s like to be foreigners together and made great memories. We also got a chance to do an English camp together in Pyeongchang, just west of Seoul. There we spent almost a week with a South Korean child of our very own. It was quite an experience and in my opinion it is a lot harder to teach a child one on and one and try to be sane throughout it. My child was a seven year old boy. I gave him the name Jack-Jack after the baby from Disney’s The Incredibles. He was quite a handful to say the least J.
A day after English camp was finished; all 350 of us were separated to go to our provincial training. Lucky for me there were about 50 people in my group. Unfortunately I can’t really tell you where we went. We weren’t allowed to go off campus for about a week…so basically all I needed to know was that in order to go class (basically from 8:40AM until 8PM) and to the cafeteria that I had to go downhill from our dorms. It was quite a workout since it was very steep! That’s the thing about SK….it’s full of mountains. I never imagined that Korea would have mountains everywhere I turn. Think of Colorado…make all the mountains green and take out all the flat land and you’ve got South Korea.
South Korea is such a beautiful country and it’s definitely a country where I think that people should be proud to say that they are from here. Though the economy is not as wealthy as the United States, it is a country that going full speed towards the future. Little things here and there surprise me when it comes to the technology here:
Most cell phones have antennas that allow people to watch TV on their phones
My apartment floor has a feature that makes it a heated floor during winter
The locks are digital depending on where you are (hotels or dorms) and you cannot turn on the lights without putting your keycard on this thing on the wall
All the cars have GPS systems
My classroom has a touch screen that allows me to show movies and make things interactive for my students
Alas, I am currently sitting in my very own apartment. I have been here for 2 whole days now. It’s so weird going from being part of 350 people, then 50, then just down to 1. I have 5 other TaLK program scholars here with me in Boryeong, but since most of us do not have cell phones and internet at the moment, it’s very hard to get in touch with them to find out where they are so we can hang out. I did, however, get the chance to get on facebook on Friday and I spoke to one of the guys in my program and somehow managed to arrange to meet up this morning at the bus terminal to explore the city and find maps and such. We did that for a couple of hours and though it wasn’t very long, it was nice to see a familiar face in a city of 100,000 people in a foreign country. I also went for a 2 ½ hour walk today around the city just to explore by myself. I tried to go to the beach but it was getting dark and I didn’t know how much further it was going to be down the road. Tomorrow I am planning on taking a cab to the beach and probably just lay around and relax and read a book. Apparently I am only about 10 minutes from the biggest beach in Korea. It’s weird being the foreigner, but it’s quite exciting trying to figure things out on my own.
On another note, I will not have a Korean TaLK scholar at my school of 1,400 students. Instead, my mentor teacher will be helping me with my students. I have got to say that I am very blessed to have a mentor teacher that cares a lot about me even though we just met. She came to speak at my provincial orientation, but I was so sick that I opted out of the last full day and had to be taken to the hospital and she couldn’t find me during our lunch break. I contracted a cold and was coughing so hard that I coughed up some blood, but definitely better now J Apparently everyone goes to the hospital here for anything because it is so inexpensive. My trip to the hospital was fast and it only cost me 15,000 Korean Won---which is about $14 American dollars and another 15,000 for medication. Mrs. Nam (my mentor) was so sweet that when she found out that I had to go to the hospital, she came to my room when she was done with instructing. She has been nothing short of a very sweet person since the moment I met her. After she picked me up the next day to move to Boryeong, she made sure that her and the other English teacher and their husbands took me to Home Plus so I could get all the necessities I need for my apartment and even took me out to dinner for my favorite Korean food (sum gyup ssal..sp?). I cannot say enough about her and the other English teacher. They are just such kind people and their English is great even though they don’t think so. I’ve met a lot of people whose second language is English and I don’t think any of them can compare to the level of English of Mrs. Nam and Mrs. Star. I feel that I can be very open with them and can learn so much from them. Some other scholars have mentors that can barely speak English and for me to have a mentor whose English level is quite high is just a blessing. School starts on August 30th, but since I picked out a textbook for my students and Mrs. Nam wants to send out a letter to the parents…I will not start teaching until September 6. Until then I will just have to show up to school 3 hours a day to report to my VPs, Principal and mentor and basically surf the internet until 5PM in order to meet my requirement of 15 hours a week.No complaining here J Also, I am only about a 2 minute walk from my school! I was so excited to learn that I was very close to it and to learn that I am about a 5 minute walk from Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robins and other stores. I think I’m literally in the downtown area so it’s very easy for me to motivated to go walk around and get some exercise.
Anywho, that is it for now. I shall try and post more soon. There’s so much to tell, but I feel like I’ve written quite a lot and I don’t want to bore anyone. Until next time loves…hope things are going great for everyone back home and everywhere else around the world. Oh and if anyone wants to come visit, you all are more than welcome to come and stay with me. Love ya’ll!
P.S. Here is a video tour of my place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wmBK7_wAbo
