I have been in Korea for a month and a half now and this week I will ring in my 25th birthday here. It seems like my life in the states is a world away, but I still feel fresh here as well. The last month has been filled with new adventures, confusion, excitement, and incredible amounts of kindness from Korean strangers. I think about how lucky I am to be here every single day.
I am becoming much more comfortable at both of my schools and I'm starting to enjoy teaching a lot more. My kids are sweet most of the time and we have started to move past the point where they are scared to speak English in front of me. I still have my days where my classes go horribly and I have zero patience for the problems that the kids throw at me. Overall, I feel so much happier with this job than I did serving tables for hours on end. The hours aren't too bad either... leave in the morning between 7:30 and 8 and get home as early as 2:30 or as late as 3:45 in the afternoon.
At BongSeo, my large school, I have finally gotten through the process of giving the first and second grade students English names and getting them to make name tags. This helps immensely. Most of them get excited about the notion of choosing their very own English name and the English names are MUCH easier to pronounce than the Korean names. Once they all really learn their English names and take to using them, I can hold them accountable for their behavior! This will make controlling and disciplining my classes infinitely easier. The funny part is that many of the students are named after my friends and family. A constant reminder that pieces of those I love are not far away.
YongJin, my smaller school, is lovely as always. The mothers in my adult class have proved to be some of the most wonderful people in my life in Korea. The staff and the parents at YoungJin continue to make me feel incredibly welcome. I am supposed to be taking the bus home from school everyday and I have yet to take it. Either a parent or a staff member (or complete stranger sometimes) happens to pick me up on my way to the bus stop or at the bus stop. Last week I was told that I would not be teaching my adult class, but we would be having a school barbecue instead. The parents all came and grilled Samgyeopsal (Korean name for thin cut strips of pork) which we put in lettuce wraps along with kimchi and a chili and garlic spiced soybean paste. So delicious! It was great to spend time with all of my classes outside of class as well. While the language barrier can make it hard to really connect with the kids, I think that it also makes the connections that you do make even more special.
My third grade class from YongJin cheesing it up for the camera.
Mothers grilling up the Samgyeopsal.
Part of my sixth grade class.
Sai, another foreign teacher through the TALK (Teach and Learn in Korea) program, and one of her sweet first graders.
To address the small aside from the last paragraph, the first ride from a complete stranger was actually kind of an accident. It was two or three weeks into my time in Korea and I was waiting at the bus stop and a very sweet lady pulled up and told me to get in her car, she pointed to the city and said "Jeonju, go?" I of course assumed that she was a parent, but after we started talking in broken English, it was clear that she was just passing by and that she just wanted to offer me a ride and practice her English. This has become a common theme for my life in Korea, and I am perfectly happy with that! We exchanged emails and I told her that we could get together another time to practice English. On Friday, I also recieved a ride another ride from a stranger! A very nice young farm worker picked me up and drove me to the bus stop in town. He spolke very basic English, but he told me that he really liked to sing and that he was very open minded and happy. He said he was very glad to meet me and he even tried to help me look up bus times to get back to my apartment. I felt very safe the entire time I was in the car and I got out of the car feeling much happier from his positive energy.
Other than school, I have been traveling a few of the weekends, and going out in Jeonju other weekends. I have started learning/practicing Hangul, the alphabet, and I am picking up basic Korean. It is actually really easy to live here even with the language barrier. It can be frustrating sometimes, but overall, it could be much worse!
Last Thursday, the mothers from my adult class presented me with multiple tupperware containers of kimchi. I have mentioned kimchi in previous posts... but I will revisit. Kimchi is served with every single meal in Korea. It is commonly made with varying types of vegetables (mostly cabbages, radishes, and scallions), chili spices, and brine. Kimchi can be served fresh or fermented. Many Koreans have separate refrigerators specifically for their kimchi! I was given two fresh kimchis, one made with napa cabbage and one with radish, and one fermented kimchi. Kimchi has a very distinct taste, one that I have grown to really like. I eat it at every meal that involves Korean food.
Tomorrow, I do not go into school until 1! The children have rehearsal for a talent show coming up on Friday, so I am free to sleep in and finally sit down and write some blogs on all the traveling that I have done! Look for a few blogs on Namhae Island, Seoraksan National Park, rock climbing, and my trip to Seoul this past weekend.
Lots of happy thoughts and hugs to everyone back in the states!
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