So I've completely failed on taking anymore pictures so far... but I figured I should say something about the weekend. Friday night, Kate and I had plans with teachers from the town over to go to a bar for foreigners called String Bar. We were supposed to get there around 1o:30, but being the first week of work, and still not on a normal sleep schedule, we both fell asleep until about 11:30. Oops! :)
We ended up going to the bar a little after midnight. That was an adventure in itself. You see, Kate is night blind, so she can't see much except for brighter lights when it's dark out, so we walked arm in arm down the street, looking for a cab. Once we got to a busier road, we hopped in a cab and gave the driver a scrap of paper that said in Korean where we wanted to go (courtesy of our boss, Jasmine). He laughed at us and drove us there. He even gave us a discount, probably for being foreign and naive haha
Once we got to the bar, Kate, the girl we were meeting, bought us each a beer and the fun began... we ended up staying until about 4am and getting a cab ride with another scrap of paper to get us home. While at String, we met a lot of really cool people, some teachers, like Kate, Will, Kerry, Nikki, Pete and John (from Canada, England, Canada, Canada, England, and Canada respectively), and others like Mario, who's from Germany working at the steel factory here. Everyone was very friendly and nice. They were all amazed that it was our first week. Apparently most of them hadn't met other people foreign teachers for their first 3 months or so.
All in all, a good night.
On Saturday, we were invited by Kerry, Nikki, and Pete to go to a soccer game at the stadium on the island. Both teams were Posco teams, Posco being the big steel company, and at the end of the game, they gave away a Sonata, so there were 13.5K people in attendance, almost double what they are used to seeing. It was fun listening to the announcers and doing their little cheers- very high energy. However, the most entertaining thing to me was the 5 boys who would not leave Kerry alone. They were just being friendly but it was hilarious to see them talk to him in English and Korean. I just hadn't seen kids do that yet. It's getting me excited for Monday, where I'll teach 3 after school classes from about 1st-4th grade. I'll let you know how that goes. :)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
i-Sponge English School
So I work at a school called i-Sponge. It's not like i-pod. In Korean, "i" is another word for child so i-sponge means the child "sponges" or soaks up English. Yesterday at work (Tuesday) Kate and I took some pictures and a video of the school. You can see some of the pictures below. Side note: In Korea, image is an even bigger deal to people so they are all about competing for the best brands and names of everything. You will notice some of the names posted above classrooms are the same as big name schools and artists. That's just how it is over here. Things have to look nice. I hope you enjoy these pictures!
Cooking Room
Gym
Teacher's Room/Lounge
Kindergarten class~Disney, Picasso and Andersen are the other two
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| Pretty flowers |
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| Tiny toilet made just for kids! |
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| Kids tiny sink! |
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| My classroom, Harvard :) |
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| Kate's classroom, MIT |
Monday, July 26, 2010
My Apartment!
On Sunday, Jasmine came to our apartment around 10am so that the cable guy could fix my Internet and cable (not that I need cable when virtually everything is in Korean). Then she took Kate and I to this awesome store called Home Plus. The best way I can describe it is a cross between WalMart and Macy's. Weird- I know. They have all sorts of groceries, local and imported, as well as common household items but then there is this whole other section that is set up just like a department store with clothes, makeup and perfume. They even have a nice restaurant opening soon called Ashley. Guess who's going there. :D
At Home Plus, Kate and I looked like total idiots to the natives. Oh and you have to pay for the bags you use to bag your groceries.. who does that?? We were very happy to find some American products like Mt. Dew, Frosted Flakes, Pepsi, Cherry Coke. After paying (I don't know what we'll do if we ever have to go there on our own b/c the cashier was literally scared of us) we took everything back to our apartments, had lunch and unpacked. Then Jasmine left and Kate and I both feel asleep before dinner and did not get up until 5:30am today (Monday). We are clearly still jet lagged.
Monday was our first day of work and it was basically just a waste of time. The kids are off this week so Kate and I were given odds and end jobs to do like cut flashcards, print off monthly lesson plans, attempt to attach the alphabet to the 3 Kindergarten classrooms (I say attempt b/c the alphabet only stuck to one of the walls in one room the others kept falling off the wall) and things like that. We did get to meet the people we will be working and we chose the classrooms and work areas we want to have but overall it we did a lot of nothing. Oh one thing Kate and I decided we need to adopt back home- slippers at work. As soon as you step into the school, you have to take off our shoes and put on slippers. They rarely match what you're wearing but they are comfy and they help keep the floors clean. I haven't taken any pictures of the school yet but those will follow soon- maybe tomorrow. Until then.. enjoy! Please comment and let me know if there is something else you'd like to hear about!
At Home Plus, Kate and I looked like total idiots to the natives. Oh and you have to pay for the bags you use to bag your groceries.. who does that?? We were very happy to find some American products like Mt. Dew, Frosted Flakes, Pepsi, Cherry Coke. After paying (I don't know what we'll do if we ever have to go there on our own b/c the cashier was literally scared of us) we took everything back to our apartments, had lunch and unpacked. Then Jasmine left and Kate and I both feel asleep before dinner and did not get up until 5:30am today (Monday). We are clearly still jet lagged.
Monday was our first day of work and it was basically just a waste of time. The kids are off this week so Kate and I were given odds and end jobs to do like cut flashcards, print off monthly lesson plans, attempt to attach the alphabet to the 3 Kindergarten classrooms (I say attempt b/c the alphabet only stuck to one of the walls in one room the others kept falling off the wall) and things like that. We did get to meet the people we will be working and we chose the classrooms and work areas we want to have but overall it we did a lot of nothing. Oh one thing Kate and I decided we need to adopt back home- slippers at work. As soon as you step into the school, you have to take off our shoes and put on slippers. They rarely match what you're wearing but they are comfy and they help keep the floors clean. I haven't taken any pictures of the school yet but those will follow soon- maybe tomorrow. Until then.. enjoy! Please comment and let me know if there is something else you'd like to hear about!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
So a lot has already happened. Kate and I flew from Detroit to Phoenix to L.A. to Seoul early Thursday morning. We arrived in Seoul around 6:10pm on Friday (There is a +13hr time difference). Then we checked into our hotel, Skyped and went to bed.
The next morning, we had an American breakfast and were picked up and taken to the i-Sponge headquarters for 6 hours of training. This was very boring and annoying because it was all stuff we already in Teacher's Ed, except for the books we will be using, but you get the idea.
We breaked for lunch and this was our first real Korean food experience. When we stepped into the restaurant, we had to take off our shoes and sit on the floor. We were served kimchi chigae which is a soup made of kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage, think spicy sauerkraut) as well as lots of sides (rice, kimchi, garlic, onions, greens, cooked pork, etc.). The main meal consisted of the soup and taking a lettuce leaf, stuffing it with meat, rice and whatever else you wanted, rolling it up and shoving the entire thing in your mouth at once. It was weird and awkward but surprisingly good.
After training, Kate and I were taking to the airport and we flew to Yeosu where we greeted by Jasmine, our boss, and two current English teachers from another school in South Korea (both from England- John and Rhia). They seem very nice and I hope we see more of them. We all went to Kate's and my aparments and unloaded then stopped by the school we will work in and then took off for dinner. We had all of the same sides plus seafood soup which is cold and the watery "broth" is very sweet like candy. The kimchi chigae was served in much smalled portions this time and the main meat was cooked on a barbecue in the center of our small table. It is called gobi and I believe that was pork too. It was delicious and it could be eaten on it's own, or in a leaf like with our lunch. After dinner, John and Rhia took us to the String Bar. Not long after arriving, we headed home (just a quick 5 min. drive) to sleep.
The next morning, we had an American breakfast and were picked up and taken to the i-Sponge headquarters for 6 hours of training. This was very boring and annoying because it was all stuff we already in Teacher's Ed, except for the books we will be using, but you get the idea.
We breaked for lunch and this was our first real Korean food experience. When we stepped into the restaurant, we had to take off our shoes and sit on the floor. We were served kimchi chigae which is a soup made of kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage, think spicy sauerkraut) as well as lots of sides (rice, kimchi, garlic, onions, greens, cooked pork, etc.). The main meal consisted of the soup and taking a lettuce leaf, stuffing it with meat, rice and whatever else you wanted, rolling it up and shoving the entire thing in your mouth at once. It was weird and awkward but surprisingly good.
After training, Kate and I were taking to the airport and we flew to Yeosu where we greeted by Jasmine, our boss, and two current English teachers from another school in South Korea (both from England- John and Rhia). They seem very nice and I hope we see more of them. We all went to Kate's and my aparments and unloaded then stopped by the school we will work in and then took off for dinner. We had all of the same sides plus seafood soup which is cold and the watery "broth" is very sweet like candy. The kimchi chigae was served in much smalled portions this time and the main meat was cooked on a barbecue in the center of our small table. It is called gobi and I believe that was pork too. It was delicious and it could be eaten on it's own, or in a leaf like with our lunch. After dinner, John and Rhia took us to the String Bar. Not long after arriving, we headed home (just a quick 5 min. drive) to sleep.
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