The air in Korea is quite interesting these days. Both in a figurative and literal way. First of all, we just had a bout of 'yellow dust' from China. This dust actually blows over from the Golbi desert in Mongolia, but for some reason they blame it on China. (Korea hates China) When this yellow dust comes a few times every spring the Korean's freak out, with fair reasoning actually. The yellow dust colors the air yellow giving Seoul a very eerie glow to it. It can also get into your lungs and nasal passage and cause all sorts of problems. Because of that people usually wear masks. Last year I didn't wear a mask and lost my voice for two weeks because of this dust. This year I have a mask, but I forgot to wear it on one of the dust days. Luckily I only got a cold combined with allergies...making my head feel huge and my nose just as snotty as ever. Better than losing my voice though.
The air has been interesting in a figurative sense because North Korea is about to launch a rocket satellite, which is actually believed to be a missile. Seoul has been running it's emergency sirens on tests just incase we are to be attacked. It's kinda scary though to hear those sirens and see all of the cars stopping in the streets. Who knows now when they run the sires if it's the real thing or just some more tests. I think North Korea is planning on launching this rocket thing on the 7th of April. According to South Korean sattelites, they set it up on Wednesday, but apparently it will take a while to fuel it. Otherwise, it's ready to go anytime. Luckily Korea, Japan and the states are monitering this situation very carefully. I will be very curious to see what happens though. I personally think that North Korea would think this is the perfect time to launch war on South Korea with Obama being president. North Korea probably didn't want to do anything like this with Bush as president because they knew he would just declare war on them, now with Obama though, I can see how North Korea would want to test the waters a bit. Let's just hope it's all a hoax on North Korea's part...otherwise, I could be toast (quite literaly). I must say though, it is a bit exciting to be in the middle of all this. Guess thats the journalist coming out in me. :)
Among lighter subjects I am moving again! Haha, yes...life is always a suitcase for me. My school is moving me to Jamsil, a nice neighborhood closer to the center of Seoul. The apartment is smaller, but it's only 2 minutes from school, within walking distance from Olympic Park, close to a lake with a great walking path, and so many other things. I am thrilled about this move...even if it's only for my last two months.
Which brings me to my next topic...going home! Yay! I never thought I would be so excited to go home, but I am. :) This year has been a wonderful and definitely growing experience for me, but I am ready to finish it up. I need some down time, some vacation time, some time to get my head together after this whirl wind of a year. I booked my plane ticket for the 31st of May. I'll be flying into Charlottesville where I will stay with my Dad and Doro... and apparently my big brother too, for two weeks. Then I'm heading off to Panama with Heather for a three week vacation. It will be interesting to go from living in Korea, to the States, to Panama. Talk about some weird culture shock. Then I'll head back to Charlottesville, Hburg, DC for the next few months. I am more than thrilled to see people, hang with my family, visit friends, sleep in, eat American food...etc.
Until then though, I will teach Kindergarten for two more months and try to learn as much as I can from these crazy kids. Life is a wonderful adventure! :)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Kindergarten
Wow, I can't believe it has been a year since I started the whole process to come to Korea. Since then I have gotten to Korea and have been teaching for 11 months. Wow! Time really does fly. So much has happened in the last year as well. Lately there have been more changes at school as well.
This time the changes at school have been for the better. Ha, for once! The school just hired two new foreign teachers. One guy is from the States, and the girl is from Australia. It's been fun to introduce them to Korea so far. I also have a new schedule. I am mainly a Kindergarten teacher now. I teach Kindergarten from 9am-12:30pm. Then I have a two hour lunch break and come back to teach elementary kids from 2:30pm-6pm. It's a long day but I was given a raise so that makes it a bit better. I may also move apartments again. (Yes, that will be my fifth time moving.) I enjoy my apartment now but I am commuting to school. Because I commute, my school is offering to move me to a closer location so that I can just walk to school. That would be nice because where I live now is at the very edge of the city. When I move I will be slightly closer to things. We'll see when that happens though...
My first kindergarten class is a 6 year old class. They are wonderful students. I'm pretty sure they're all geniuses. Everyone in that class learns really fast, they participate, speak English, and have good attitudes. Seriously, an angel class. My other kindergarten class though, is a different story. They are 4 and 5 years old. A bit young if you ask me. They have never spoken English before, never been around a foreigner before, and are used to spending their days with Mom. So on the first two days of this new class of mine all they did was cry. And I'm not talking about a little bit of pouting. I'm talking about full out wailing, tears flying, body convulsions...the works! Of course I don't have my own children and I'm not trained to teach first timers, or any children in fact, so I had no idea what to do. All the crying actually made me feel like I was going to cry too. It was an odd sensation to have. I'm glad I didn't cry though, otherwise the class truly would have been a mess. Instead, I just stood there with my hands up in the air. What do I do?!, I thought. So I tried singing, dancing, drawing pictures on the board, making faces...really I tried everything I could think of. Nothing worked! So I spend the rest of class going from student to student hugging them and saying nice things in hopes they would stop crying. Wow!
Kindergarten is getting better now though. My younger class has stopped crying and their personalities are beginning to show. I'm having a hard time controlling and teaching them though because first of all I just have no idea what I'm doing. Second of all, these kids have no experience with school, or teachers, or learning. Everything is brand new to them. So just getting them to sit down is a challenge for me. Teaching them English is a whole different ball park. I have no idea where to start. I guess I should start with the ABC's. Even that is hard though. We've spend all week on 'A' and they still don't understand it. I seriously need training for this job because I'm completely in the dark here. First year kindergartners are far more challenging than I could have ever guessed!
I only have three more months of this though, thankfully. I love teaching, but I am in serious need of a break. I just need to relax for a few months before I can even think about coming back here to teach some more.
This time the changes at school have been for the better. Ha, for once! The school just hired two new foreign teachers. One guy is from the States, and the girl is from Australia. It's been fun to introduce them to Korea so far. I also have a new schedule. I am mainly a Kindergarten teacher now. I teach Kindergarten from 9am-12:30pm. Then I have a two hour lunch break and come back to teach elementary kids from 2:30pm-6pm. It's a long day but I was given a raise so that makes it a bit better. I may also move apartments again. (Yes, that will be my fifth time moving.) I enjoy my apartment now but I am commuting to school. Because I commute, my school is offering to move me to a closer location so that I can just walk to school. That would be nice because where I live now is at the very edge of the city. When I move I will be slightly closer to things. We'll see when that happens though...
My first kindergarten class is a 6 year old class. They are wonderful students. I'm pretty sure they're all geniuses. Everyone in that class learns really fast, they participate, speak English, and have good attitudes. Seriously, an angel class. My other kindergarten class though, is a different story. They are 4 and 5 years old. A bit young if you ask me. They have never spoken English before, never been around a foreigner before, and are used to spending their days with Mom. So on the first two days of this new class of mine all they did was cry. And I'm not talking about a little bit of pouting. I'm talking about full out wailing, tears flying, body convulsions...the works! Of course I don't have my own children and I'm not trained to teach first timers, or any children in fact, so I had no idea what to do. All the crying actually made me feel like I was going to cry too. It was an odd sensation to have. I'm glad I didn't cry though, otherwise the class truly would have been a mess. Instead, I just stood there with my hands up in the air. What do I do?!, I thought. So I tried singing, dancing, drawing pictures on the board, making faces...really I tried everything I could think of. Nothing worked! So I spend the rest of class going from student to student hugging them and saying nice things in hopes they would stop crying. Wow!
Kindergarten is getting better now though. My younger class has stopped crying and their personalities are beginning to show. I'm having a hard time controlling and teaching them though because first of all I just have no idea what I'm doing. Second of all, these kids have no experience with school, or teachers, or learning. Everything is brand new to them. So just getting them to sit down is a challenge for me. Teaching them English is a whole different ball park. I have no idea where to start. I guess I should start with the ABC's. Even that is hard though. We've spend all week on 'A' and they still don't understand it. I seriously need training for this job because I'm completely in the dark here. First year kindergartners are far more challenging than I could have ever guessed!
I only have three more months of this though, thankfully. I love teaching, but I am in serious need of a break. I just need to relax for a few months before I can even think about coming back here to teach some more.
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