School

I mentioned how much I love my school, right? Everyone is so great to me. If I ever need help finding or buying something, my co-teachers are right there to guide me. One of my co-workers, Em teacher, will take my dad and I to see a painter and/or art gallery in Ansan after school today. Tomorrow, she will take us to see a folk village in another city outside of the Seoul Subway. Last Wednesday, the day before my dad came, the six grade teachers went out after lunch for dinner and a movie. We watched Robin Hood at a local theater nearby Jungwang station. Lucky for me, the movie was in English, but there was Korean subtitles for my co-workers. Many of my co-workers can speak some English, some quite well, and others not-so-much. But my co-teacher, Min Chan Teacher, speaks well enough to translate. I feel quite sorry for him, as he is always translating what I say in Korean to others, and what others say in English to me. He must go with me to buy furniture, activate my cell phone, or drop off my health check reciept at immigration. Without him, I would not be able to communicate with others all that well. He is very helpful to me. The principle of our school is also very kind and welcoming to me. Dad met him this morning for coffee and tea.

In Korea, all of the public schools are designed to look the same because they are government buildings. In fact, all of the lessons are designed the same as well. Everyone teaching English to six graders this year will teach out of the same book and follow the same lesson plans. While I think this provides uniformity and consistancy for the students, it does leave little wiggle room for personal touches. There are ten six-grade classes, each consisting of about 30-35 students. Min Chan and I teach in the English Classroom, so the students come to us. We teach four periods a day, each forty minutes long. These are the hours I am paid for. All of the students and teachers have lunch about 12pm. There are designated students from each classroom that go to get lunch from the cafeteria and serve it to their class. Each lunch cart is on wheels contains enough rice, soup, kimchee, and meat for the whole classroom. So students serve themselves lunch while teachers eat in the teacher's lounge. Each grade has it's own teacher's lounge, so I eat with the six grade teachers. After lunch, we "take a rest" (which is a common phrase used in Korea I think), plan some lessons, and relax. I should be at school at 8:40am everyday for a zix grade teacher's meeting, coffee, tea, and snack prior to class at 9am. I leave school at 4:40pm everyday. Comparing Public School to ECC is like comparing day to night.

I have met some really great Koreans on the subway at church, but also some great Foreigners as well. Once I get my alien card from immigration, I can get a cell phone, which will make communication much easier than it is now. I feel as though in Uijeongbu, I didn't need to call people to communicate with them, because I could just knock on their door, or see them at school. But in Jeongwang-dong, I am quite far from SooMan (Bucheon), JinYoung (Ansan), Hyeji (Busan), Jeena (Hywha), Chorong (Gojan), Beth (Uijeongbu), Katelyn (Uijeonbu), Anlee (Ansan), and others, so a cell phone seems more conveinent than just the computer. Even though Jungwang is quite far from Seoul and my friends, I think it is a peaceful and good place for me to be right now.