Still Alive and Kicking

Sorry to all the people who were worrying. I had no connection to the outside world. No internet and my international phone had no service (still doesn’t).

My plane got in early to INC airport, but I ended up getting confused about where I was meeting the EPIK people. I finally got a hold of them by asking the information person to dial the phone (the payphone and I did not get along). The drive in was uneventful (not a crazy driver in sight) and our driver (there were other teachers in the car) started to rap. DMX, Enimem, Jay-Z, etc. Even Korean rap, lol. It was great.

The hotel was nice, but as I said before, no internet which is weird since South Korea is one of the most wired countries in the world. My room had no bed and rowing machines so I had to switch to another room for the night. The next day the rowing machines were moved and in its place, my bed. The rooms were nice and clean (a little worried about that). The orientation went smoothly. Everything they talked about, I’d already learned and applied in Taiwan. Almost everyone was first year teachers.

The big highlight was in the addition of the Ulsan teachers that had been teaching for one month. The story was that their schools wanted them to learn more so they sent them to the orientation. The groups broke down like this: old Ulsan teachers and new Ulsan teachers. The old teachers sat on the left while the new ones sat on the right, never mingling. The reason for this was because the old teachers were crazy. Their descriptions of their schools were out of this world, to the point that people walked around the orientation stating, “I am so glad I am not going to Ulsan” which I replied, “Thanks.”

The last night we were at the orientation, we went to see Nanta. It’s a live cooking and dancing show. It was awesome. I am so going to see it again, that’s how good it was. I headed there on a bus with old Ulsan teachers (what a ride) and when I got back to the hotel I exclaimed to my roommates that I had another 5 hour bus ride ahead of me with them. Those guys are truly wild, beyond Julia wild.

That bus ride wasn’t so bad. There were movies playing, people sleeping, and me with a box and an Ipod. It worked out well.

I met my co-teachers at the bus station and they drove me to my new apartment. It is so cute. It’s one room with a kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. It is very open, twice the size of my old room in Taiwan. There is plenty of room to walk around and soon I will have internet, yay. After they took me to the apartment to put my bags down, we headed to dinner at McDonalds. Not my pick, I just wanted to say that. I had the spicy chicken tenders, not smart. When something says spicy, it means spicy. I went through two bottles of water for four chicken tenders. Then I headed back to the apartment which is a 5 minute walk from my co=ed middle school. Daihyun Middle School (pictures coming soon).

Today was my first day. My co-teacher met me outside my apartment to walk me there in case I forgot the route, lol. The school is quite big and I have almost gotten lost twice. The teacher’s office is the size of half a football field length’s way (that maybe a slight exaggeration). Every teacher in the building is in this room so it is quite busy. I had to introduce myself (so embarrassed) to everyone. I turned bright red and I am wearing a pick shirt, not good. I have a desk, computer with internet, and a key that locks the desk. Good times.

I met my classes and the problem I am running into is that they have a low English level and bad behavior. They are like G8 boys from FuHsing, every class. I am of course taking notes on how they react to the situations I put them in and trying hard to find ways to keep them quiet and in their seats. Wild I tell you, wild.

I work from 8:30am to 4:30pm. The most classes I have falls on a Thursday again. I seemed doomed to do my most teaching on a Thursday, no matter what school I teach at. Most days I have four classes and they start at 8:50am and end at 3:10pm so I have a little more than an hour to wrap things up at the end of the day.

I have downloaded Skype to my work computer so I can receive messages during work time. I check almost every time I come back from class so use that until I get a phone here.

Side note: Everyone drinks coffee here, like big time. It’s like everyone smoking in Taiwan. I get weird looks from people when I tell them that I don’t drink coffee. So I decided I would say that coffee makes me ill. You would think that would derail their coffee attempts, but no. The answer: “Oh S.K. coffee, better.” Haha, Good Times.