Some things I came across when in Korea:

- One thing I will have trouble getting used to is Korean conversation. The language barrier is really hard to deal with sometimes- during meetings, they will talk in Korean and look in my direction as if I understand. It also works the opposite way where they know you cannot understand them so all you hear is your name thrown into a conversation and them all talking about you. This has happened multiple times and sometimes it ends in laughing- I just laugh along because I'm not sure what else to do.

- I get mixed emotions from the students and teachers. Most/almost all of the students, when they see me- even if I'm on the opposite end of the hallway, will yell 'hello teacher!' A small handful of students act as if they don't see me when they are walking down the hallway. They look out the window as if something very interesting has caught their eye and they cannot stop looking at it. Some of the teachers just do not want to interact with me- maybe it's because they cannot speak any English and so they don't want to try and communicate- I am going to stick with this guess.

- I really like a lot of the teachers and helpers at the schools. If I worked in a Korean school, I wouldn't mind being the cleaning lady. Each school has one and I think to be one you have to have short, curly hair and be retired. The one at Uirang is very sweet and is always giving me treats or shooing me to go get in line early for lunch. One afternoon, I found myself sitting on the couches in the teacher's lounge as she walked in. We silently enjoyed drinkable yogurt and the crusted rice patties from the pot of rice served for lunch. They were both very good- and even though the cleaning lady and I don't speak the same language, I can still feel the warmth of her company. Anyways, I wouldn't mind being the cleaning lady because the ones at the schools I am at are never actually cleaning. I see them just walking around, talking to the students, eating lunch, or just hanging out in the teacher's lounge joking to the others teachers. It seems like a pretty easy job to me.

- At my first school, Janggi, there are some teachers there that think they have terrible English so they don't even try. Little to my knowledge, the assistant science teacher speaks amazing English. It was as if he was hiding it from me- but one day I asked,in a miming way, for some paper and he responded perfectly in English the directions on where to find some. On the other hand, there are teachers there that don't know any English but really try with it. The PE teacher is a really funny guy. Sometimes he will come up behind me and tap, or should I say pound, me on the shoulders to get my attention- and then walks away. Most of the time when he walks by me he will shout out random words in English like 'today!!!' and then walk away. I guess he is trying haha.

- Being in Korea has been a big self esteem booster. Everyone I meet tells me how beautiful I am which is always great to hear haha. The children, though, don't really understand what is appropriate and what isn't so the first day most of them told me I have big eyes. They also focus on other features like noses and body hair (since most Koreans don't have any arm hair). My principal from Uirang, when he first met me, told me I was beautiful and that I have 'special shape face' which I'm not sure if I was supposed to take as a complement or not.

- The Koreans, aside from hiking, LOVE volleyball. They all talk about playing constantly and all the teachers play every Wednesday. Most of the women teachers are not interested so they do anything possible to get out of it. I like volleyball but I hope my playing skills meet their expectations- we were supposed to play the last two weeks but I had to go to Daejeon the first week and there was a hiking trip last week.

- Different from Japan, Koreans don't just use chopsticks, they also use spoons. They almost always have rice, kimchi, and some sort of soup with a meal so they soup comes in handy for the rice and soup. I haven't been anywhere that the utensils are not made from metal- that's one thing Japan had, creativity with their utensils! One thing I am determined to master, is how the Koreans hold both their spoon and chopsticks in one hand- switching from one to the other when needed. One day I will have it down to an art!

Fridays

I have started to look forward to Fridays, not because it's the last day before the weekend but because it is when I teach the Kindergarteners at Uirang Elementary! I honestly think they are the cutest kids I have ever seen. They are all so attentive and interested in learning English.

It is a refreshing end to the day after having classes of kids that act up and want to just hit each other. I try to keep the troublemakers occupied but it is hard when you are trying to personally take care of them and then also make sure the rest of the class is paying attention. I know teaching will get easier but as of right now, even just teaching at one school, is a tough act. In my first school, I have 143 students- no more than 20 in a class and I have 55 students in my second school- 11 students being the biggest class. It's nice to have no more than 200 students all together.

This week seemed to be the week that I settled down more. I settled into my apartment, which might I add is on the small side. When I say small, I mean smaller than your average dorm room. There is not much space to store things so I'm glad I didn't pack anymore than I did. I have the smallest apartment that I've seen but on the good side everything is brand new- my entire apartment building was just recently built. I swear they were still building when I moved in!

(There is a video at the bottom of this post of my entire apartment)

I am 1 stop away from Jeremy on the bus and about an hour from our friend Steve and 3 hours by bus from our friend RJ by bus. Seoul seems like it's about 1 1/2 to 2 hours by train! We are planning on taking a trip up north but want to explore our own area first.

The city we are living in, Gongju, is a city that has about 150,000 people with a river dividing it. There are mountains that surround the city and a famous castle on a mountain overlooking the river. I have been told by some people that in the mountains there are hidden temples that many people hike to. Korea, as a whole, is very interested in hiking. That seems to be the most popular extracurricular activity. This is when I wish I had hiking shoes- but I must admit, it is a great work out.

This week, my first school, Janggi Elementary School, went hiking with two other schools. They all met at a mountain and hiked part of it which houses an army base - and permission to hike in the area is mandatory. A couple of the other teachers and I skipped out on the hiking part but met up with the hikers at a nearby restaurant for a delicious dinner. We had tofu and fish stew with vegetables, side dishes, rice, and rice soup for after dinner. The rice soup here tastes like toast. They cook it in a big, hot pot where the rice sticks to the sides and bottom and come out toasted. It's good but I wish it was a little sweeter, I have a feeling it would make it better.

At the dinner, I met another English teacher from a different elementary. She happens to live across the street from Jeremy so her and I hung out after the dinner and she showed me where she lived. I didn't really know this but there are about 80 foreigners (mostly English teachers) in the Gongju area. The city I live in is not very foreigner friendly with everything being in Korean and no real foreign places (which I'm not asking for at all, I really like the experience of not having a ton of foreigners- it would ruin the Korean atmosphere and I wouldn't learn Korean very fast). Speaking of learning Korean, my co-teacher knew I was interested in learning Korean so she set up a morning class for my Vice Principal and I on Monday-Wednesday mornings. I am guessing I will be taking Korean lessons...for free! I am very excited about this, especially since it is from someone who does not speak much English so I will really have to try hard- it is more on my load of daily work but I think it is worth it.

The first week in Korea

Being here has been a big handful of new experiences and so much already learned- even though it

has been just a little over 2 weeks, I feel like I have been here for at least a couple of months.
Backtracking to our arrival, I arrived in Korea with Jeremy and Steve (two other people who applied to the Chungnam program like I did) after a long flight from Dulles. The first flight was about 5 hours to San Francisco and then an hour layover before getting on the second flight....for 12 1/2 hours! (The picture is the view as we landed in San Fran)

It was a long trip but the

amazing service of Asiana Airlines a

nd personal T.V.s really

made the time FLY by- pun intended haha. The flight attendants started off the flight with warm towels, followed by (in no particular order) 2 full meals, snacks galore, drinks (alcohol for free), and slippers for the ride. I was amazed every time they came to deliver something- it seemed like the complementary services were never ending. I watched about 3 movies, one in Korean and two in English. With those, some bejeweled on my TV, and a nap, we arrived in Incheon- right outside of Seoul, Korea. When we arrived, I felt very loopy it since it was about 4 or 5 AM, eastern time. We tried to stay up so we could adjust to the time change and ended up going to bed around 9 after dinner and some exploring. Dinner was in a small restaurant by our hotel. We had to take our shoes

off (which is what you do in just about everywhere in Korea) and sit on the ground at small tables. There weren't any pictures on the menu so we just pointed and agreed that it was what we wanted. Little did we know that ordering in this fashion is how we would be doing our ordering almost everywhere we go. As of right now, we look for restaurants that have pictures so it is easy for both us and the wait staff but if they do not have it, we just pick one from the menu and hope it tastes good. The food we had that night was some sort of meat.. I think pork, in a sauce with vegetables which was pretty tasty for our first meal.
In Korea, when they serve food, they do not just give the main course. They also give multiple small side dishes, always including kimchi an

d rice, that you can eat during dinner and sometimes can put on your main dish. I like the concept a lot and it makes for more variety during dinner. For those of you who don't know what kimchi is, look it up- I'm pretty sure it's the national dish of Korea.

We spent the night in a "guest house" which is practically a small suite wih a very firm bed, a kitchenette, dresser, and bathroom. Even though the bed was tough, I slept soundly because we were all exhausted.
Day 2- We woke up in the morning and ate breakfast at a mini-mart on the corner before the taxi driver picked us up. Side note, there are mini-marts (like 7-11) on almost every corner. They had this in Japan as well. They serve the same things as they do in America except they also have meals like ramen or individually wrapped hamburgers. Back from side note, the taxi driver

picked us up and took us to our schools, which were about 3 hours away from Seoul, with traffic. We sat in the taxi talking most of the time among ourselves and tried to talk to they taxi driver but he did not speak much English at all. He pointed at some cities we passed and told us the names which was helpful in a tourist stance.

The first school we came to was Hyopo Elementary where we dropped off Jeremy. I was next and we drove about 20 minutes down the road until we arrived at Janggi Elementary. No one was there to greet us so the taxi driver knocked on one of the windows and a tiny Korean woman ran out. She introduced herself as the taxi driver drove away. Mrs. Chloe, my co-teacher (she told me her Korean name but I still have no clue what it is) showed me around the school, introduced me to some students, teachers, and admin, before introducin

g me to the principal. We entered into the principal's office and we both bowed while we waited for him to finish brushing his teeth. He tried speaking to me in Korean and Mrs. Chloe explained to him that I did not speak any at all, except for hello and thank you which I learned from the flight attendants. His office is definitely bigger than my apartment and he could probably live in it if he needed (more on my apartment in a second). He had his own sink, cup dryer, conference room seating (made up of big orange chairs), and I think he even had his own bathroom. I didn't really hear much about him until later in the week- from what I gather, he is very competitive and a sore loser. I, for one, think he is nice but I have not spoken a word to him yet besides 'hello' and 'thank you' in Korean of course.

I went back to Janggi Elementary where I observed classes on Tuesday and Wednesday, meaning I introduced myself and then sat in the back of the classroom as the teachers taught in Korean. The highlight of the week was going to Daejeon. Daejeon is the next biggest city near my city Gongju. It takes about 30-40 minutes by car to get there, which in Korean is not far at all. I

took how close I was to everything for granted when I lived in America. I would dread having to drive 15 minutes to get to a friends house or the mall when here I travel a minimum 30 minutes to places I need to go sometimes. Back to Daejeon. Jeremy and I were driven by my co-teacher to apply for our Alien Registration Cards in Daejeon. We went and applied, which was a quick process, and then my co-teacher treated us and her daughter to dinner. One thing I wish I did was take pictures of the food we got for dinner. This night in Daejeon, we had an amazing feast. It seemed like the table was set for 10 people once they were done bringing out rice, 9 side dishes, 4 soups, and an after dinner rice soup and pumpkin/squash drink- and that was just for 2 people, my co-teacher and I shared one set of this and then Jeremy and my co-teacher's 60 lb. daughter shared the other set. It was a

ll very good and all vegetarian.

The last two days of the week, Thursday and Friday, I went to Uirang Elementary. This school is about a 20-25 minute bus ride away from my apartment. My co-teacher rode the bus with me to help find the school since neither of us knew. We got off the bus with help from some friendly women who rode it daily- they showed me what to look for to know when it was time to press the button for my stop. We arrived in Tesani (the town that the school is in) which is probably made up of 20 houses and farms. The smell of manure practically smacks you in the face as if a cow came up and pooped in your bag- trust me it's strong. And it smells like that everywhere. In Korean schools, or at least all of the ones I have been to, they leave the windows open all day. So, the smell of cow poo seeped into the hallways. I also noticed, the fear of bugs and wasps are non-existant. I think there are several wasps' nest in the windows of the classrooms.

When I got to Uirang, I had about 20 minutes before I started teaching my first class. Thank goodness I prepared earlier in the week! I taught

4 classes Thursday and 4 on Friday, finding out my best classes are definitely the kindergartners and the 6 graders. The rest of the classes have great kids but there are always one or two boys that are troublemakers who torment the entire class and make them all unruly.

Once school was out on Friday, we hopped on a bus to meet our friends RJ and Steve in RJ's city Chungju, about 3 1/2 hours away. It was a very bumpy ride but once we arrived, it was worth it. We hung out the first night and caught up on all of our first weeks at school while enjoying a traditional Korean meal called samgyeopsal. It is a ver yummy meal where the meat is cooked in front of you on a burner. After a couple of flips and the meat being completely done, you take it and place on a juicy lettuce leaf with leaks, garlic, and a semi-spicy sauce. The only problem I had with it was being able to fit the whole thing in your mouth- which is exactly what Koreans do, shovel it in their mouths all at once. I later l

earned to rip the leaves in half to make a smaller bite which helped tremendously.

The next day we went hiking in the mountains near RJ's school. We went into his school and met a bunch of his students before we started our trek.

We traveled down a long road before we even made it to the mountain where we got lunch before we started. The restaurant was another place that did not have pictures so we pointed at words and just hoped for the best. This is one of the only times the pointing method didn't work well. The waitress brought out a tofu stew and so

me bibimbap (mixed rice with vegetables). It was alright but not what we were expecting and came to the conclusion as we were leaving that the restaurant was vegetarian (which all of the boys were expecting to have some hearty meat before climbing).

We hiked for a little but were exhausted from the walk to and from the restaurant so we finished hiking a little early. (This is the view from behind RJ's school) We caught a bus back to Chungju which was about 45 minutes back into town. Just with our luck,right as we arrived, it started to pour. We ran home and changed before heading out to dinner. Dinner was the same thing from the first night- because it was that delicious. Afterwards, we went out that night to a sort of techno club, it was a lot of fun (but a little bit of a weird concept) and we stayed out very late dancing. In Korea, I don't think the bars ever close, if they do, I doubt it's before 6 AM.

Lunch on Sunday was Korean pizza- similar to American pizza, just always with onions and it is practically nuked- they don't have many ovens here so the pizza went through a conveyer belt stove- exactly like when Quizno's toasts your sub. I had sweet potato and the boys had pepperoni and bulgolgi (a sort of Korean beef). After lunch we packed up our stuff and headed home to Gongju to prepare for another week of school that would start the next day.