Rugby in Changwon

So two weekends ago I went to Changwon with some friends to watch Rugby. A lot of the guys we've met here play so a bunch of us made the trip out to see them and hang out that night. I didn't take that many pictures but you can see some of the guys below.

The trip there took about an hour and half, the farthest we'd travel since getting to Gwang yang. That was an adventure.. Pete drives like a maniac. :) I don't want to give too many pointless details, so let's just say it was a scary drive. Once we got to the field, it was ridiculously HOT! I felt soooo bad for the guys playing. We were sitting under tents in the shade but even that was hot. We were there at least a few hours and then we went to a hotel to shower and nap before dinner.

We ate at this foreigner bar where we had some Indian curry dish. It was spicy but good. We left the bar for a few hours to drink in one of the hotel rooms we got and then we went back down to the bar when it was cheaper. It was a fun night. I discovered that night that McDonald's delivers.. even at 6am, and right to the hotel room. :) Too bad we don't have one in Gwang yang.

Kindergarten and My Birthday

I know it's been a while since my last post, so I'm going to try my best to update everyone on what I've done in the last couple of weeks. As you know, my birthday was on the 18th. It was a Wednesday this year so I worked a full day, 9-7 and taught all of my classes, including Kindergarten. I don't think I've said much about Kindergarten yet so I'll do that now.

For the month of August, our we had 3 students the first week and then 4 the second. So not like home- I know. Anyway, the first week we had two girls, Sarah and Sally, and a boy, Peter. Peter is an asshole. That's all that needs to be said. He's gotten better the more I see and work with him, but... I'll keep you updated. The second week, this past week, we had one other student, May, the bosses daughter.

During August, Ivy, the Korean teacher, would teach Language Arts first thing each day, starting at 10am (for 35 minutes and then a 5 minute break). Then Kate taught Math. I taught Art everyday after that.. why you need art everyday, I don't know. Then it was time for lunch. After lunch, Kate "taught" a class called Board Games. Wonder what that means? Well it means exactly what you think. She literally just played a board game with them for 35 minutes everyday. This next class alternated between the three of us. Monday I taught Manners during this time, Tuesday Kate had P.E., Wednesday I had International Day, And Thursday and Friday were Ivy's classes. After that there was snack time and then I taught Yoga.

I know I know.. "Ashley, you teach yoga?" I've been getting that a lot.. haha I do, or did, everyday and it's AWESOME!! It's my favorite part of each day, aside from lunch when Kate and I eat quickly so we can go in the Teacher's Room for piece and quiet. Yoga even calms down Peter. And where did I learn the moves? Wii Fit Plus, which I played almost every day in the summer before I moved out here and.. YouTube. :D But that's enough about teaching for now..

This post is really about my birthday. Before we sent the Kindergartners home, Ivy called me into the Cook Room... totally oblivious, I sighed and followed her. I step in and the kids are sitting around the table with a lit up cake! It was the cutest thing! The school took pictures and I'll see if I can get a hold of them. My work is pretty great. That night after work Kate and I went back to our apartments and I made dinner and took a nap. Then we went out to String.

We went early, you know with it being a Wednesday and all but there were already quiet a few people there. It was Kerry and Nikki's last night :( So everyone came out to support them and send them off. I'm not really sure what to say about my birthday except that it was pretty great. I knew at that point that I had already met some wonderful people, but I had no idea how sweet everyone was- and I do mean everyone. I drank more than I should have, and was surprised with a yummy birthday cake. Everyone sang to me. It was really fun, but I was responsible, as always, and left my own party first! Haha I worry too much and I wanted to make sure I got back early enough to shower and go to bed at a decent time.

So this is going to sound really corny, but this day made me appreciate everything I have over here and at home much more. I Skyped a lot with friends and family that whole day and was treated very well at work. Then with String and everyone I've met here, I just felt so special. It was an awesome way to spend a birthday. Thank you to everyone who was a part of it!

Norebong and Bars

A few nights ago, Kate and I went out to String, just like every other Friday night here. We got there around 11:30 and stayed until at least 2:30. From there, we went with a bunch of our friends to a norebong. What is norebong, might you ask? Well it's very much like karaoke back in the states, but instead of singing in front of a bunch of strangers in a bar, you rent a room with your friends and sing with them. There are tons of songs to choose from and it plays a video of Koreans singing it with the English lyrics below. They serve you snacks and drinks and there is a bathroom and fun party lights all in your room. It's a blast. I even sang a few songs!! We went home and slept then went out to Suncheon Saturday night. They have a foreigner bar there too called San Antonio's. They have a huge drink selection and I did not try it but I've heard that the food there is delicious and the closest to real Mexican food you'll get in Korea. I put a lot more picture up on Facebook and some video's from the night, so check those out if you want to!

String Bar

Norebong

Kate and I at San Antonio's in Suncheon

My Students

So I've been teaching for a few weeks and I keep forgetting to take the kids picture! I remembered before a couple of my "classes" which I say because they are so small!
In the after school program, the classes start at Basic Stater, then Basic 1, Basic 2, Basic 4, Intermediate 1, Spark 2 and Highest 1. They are placed in a class based on ability, not age and that's why there are so many levels.

This picture is from the Basic 2 class. From left to right it goes, Jacob, Starlyn, Patrick. Jacob says he's 7 years old, but since Korea starts counting at 1 instead of 0, and then adds another year after the first New Year, he is really 5. I'm not sure how old Starlyn is, but I'm guessing 6 or 7. She is adorable :) Then there is Patrick who says he's 11, so 9. I have a lot of fun with them.

For those of you who know about Alex, one of my Kindergartner's from Student Teaching, I have a feeling Jacob will be his replacement. Back home, Alex always got in trouble for being rough with other kids and saying "no" a lot but he was really smart and I loved that kid! Jacob is just like that, so I hope he starts behaving better for me.. He did say "Teacher Ashley pretty" the other day, so I think we might be on the right track! haha

In this picture, you will notice there is only one child. Well, that is because he is the only student I have in my Spark 2/My Writing class. His name is Mike and he is really smart. I think he is Korean 11, so 9. He is still pretty shy with me, which is understandable since it's just us, but he's getting a lot better!

When I'm with him, basically just tutoring, I have him read out loud and write a lot. I even made him stand in front of the class to introduce me to the empty room! :)

We start teaching Kindergarten on Monday. There aren't many kids then either, so we split up the subjects. I'll let you know how that goes!

Namhae Beach

So Kate and I went to Namhae Beach this past weekend. We were communicating with people through a Facebook message, since we still don't have a cell phone. Many of the people in the message thread were people we had not met yet, including Rob, who was sort of facilitating directions, Ian, our driver, and Lizzie, his girlfriend. Rob told us to meet at String Bar at noon on Saturday and Ian ad Lizzie would take us to Home Plus and then to the beach. We got there right around 12:00, at least a few minutes early and we sat on the curb and waited and waited....

Finally, after a light rain shower and thinking we got stood up, we recognize some people from their Facebook pictures. Relieved, we meet them and after about another 20 minutes, we head to Home Plus to buy food and alcohol.

The ride to the beach was an adventure in itself because Lizzie and Ian had their rescue dog, Walter (read it with an English accent, Walta). Plus, we experienced our first non Korean driver in Korea. Ian is from Australia but he's been all over and he, I assume, has his licence here and a car. Their traffic rules still confound me with stopping at red lights being optional and having no real stop signs. However, we arrived to our destination safely, read: in one piece, and in a very timely manner- at least twenty minutes earlier than we should have.

Once In Namhae, we had to park before actually walking to the beach. There were Korean men charging people to park and Ian just blew past the guy like he didn't know what he was supposed to do. Ian has been here 2 years, speaks decent Korean and parking was less than $5, so he definitely knew what was going on. He ended up having to drop us off, leave the parking area, go back around, pay and then park.

When we finally walked onto the beach, into the gorgeous sand, I was immediately taken aback by the beauty of the land. You can see for yourself. We met up with the rest of our group, about 25 other people, and began to relax. Someone in our group brought a giant 8 person circular raft that stuck out like a sore thumb and people were on it drinking and goofing off. They went out too far and came back with jellyfish stings all over them. I wish I would have taken a picture of the jellyfish because they were so tiny and completely clear- very easy to miss. There were easily hundreds washed up on the beach.

There was a lot of drinking that night including a cooler full of what Ian called Jungle Juice, but not the American college version. This Jungle Juice consisted of a lot of wine, Sangria and fresh fruit, not a random mix of vodka and juices. They also had a lot of Soju which they called Korean beer, but it tastes like Vodka and Soju translates to "burned liquor" so I'm not really sure what it is.

We stayed in something called a Mimbok, or something like that.. I tried to find it on Google and it took me to some Russian thing.. Anyway it's just a small room where you lay on a blanket and small pillow. It was really uncomfortable but luckily ours had A/C so it wasn't completely unbearable, and it was ridiculously cheap.

Well I think that's all for now. I'm sitting here at work on Tuesday morning and this is all I have to show for it :)

I'll try to start taking more pictures, with myself and people I've met!! Some people are leaving really soon!!

Finally Started to Teach!!

So yesterday Kate and I finally began teaching. We each had three classes of kids in an after school program. As I think I mentioned, this school is brand new, so for the after school program there is a total of about 18 kids. These kids range from about a 1st grade English level to 4th grade. Kate has the lowest level with one student. Then I have the next two levels (Basic 1 and 2). Kate teaches Basic 4 and I teach Spark 2, which is more of a writing intensive class.

My Basic 1 class is supposed to have 3 students, but one wasn't there. So I had two students. When they learn English, they are given or get to pick an English name. Neither of these students had an English name yet so I got to name them both. I named the boy Jacob and the boy Amy. They were both pretty shy but they did understand at least a lot of the vocabulary I was throwing at them and they were able to repeat it all with pretty good pronunciation.

In my Basic 2 class there were three students, all at about a 3rd of 4th grade level. All three of them had English names already- Jacob, Patrick, and Starlyn. The Jacob in this class was very different from the first Jacob I had. He was a trouble maker.. broke the pencil he had so he couldn't do his work, spoke in Korean when he knew he was supposed to speak only English, etc. The thing is, he is really smart and I think he thinks this stuff is too easy for him. Every time I asked a question, he answered in a full, detailed sentence, so we'll see how that goes. He reminds me of one of the Kindergartners I taught this year and he ended up being my favorite.. not that I have those.. Haha

Today (Tuesday), is a "planning" day so Kate and I do not teach again until tomorrow. Hopefully Jacob and I do better tomorrow.

We finally get to teach today!!! I'll let you all know how it goes when I get home later tonight! Kate and I are very excited.. but a little nervous.. Wish us luck! :D