I had a rough start at work. The owners of the school wanted me to start teaching (5 year-olds) the very first day... so I didn't get trained like all the other teachers. My computer is in Korean, as is the printer and most other things at my school. This makes it really tough to function in the way I am used to. And oh man, I miss using my Mac. I have a PC in Korean to work with, which means I feel like a cave person! The school's just getting started so it doesn't have shoulders to stand on yet. I won't lie, it's been super stressful - something I had not anticipated in this whole mix. I never thought it was going to be easy, I knew it was going to be rough, but didn't consider it would be this rocky to start with. As I am getting to know the kids more and getting a routine down, it's gotten better; I am having fun at work being really silly with the kids. And seeing the kids progress is awesome! I finally got a little boy to use a "little a" and "little r" to spell his name instead of all capital letters! AWESOME!
I have explored on the weekends, mostly trying to figure out how to get household stuff and a dresser and the like. I got my arm stuck in a subway door the other day... you know in SF, if you set off the sensors of Bart doors (or any standard elevator doors) the doors open? Well, here in Seoul that is not the case. The train was so so crowded... I realized it was my stop (Chungjeongno) later than I should have, so I pushed through a bunch of people and dove for the door with my arm out. The doors slammed shut right on my arm. Then the train started to move!! OMG, what a stupid foreigner I was... Luckily, the people right in front of the door helped to pry the doors open just enough for me to squeeze my arm back in. Eeeekk. A frightening experience. Won't be doing that again. The subway is great, it runs all the time, and moves quickly so it's pretty simple to get around.
I eat lunch at my school everyday - a Korean meal! There's rice, kimchi and a brothy soup at every meal. One of my favorite side dishes so far has been raisins and sardines. Who knew? The other night I ate at a place that was so so tastey - probably my favorite meal in Korea so far. It was spicy (like most things) - a mix of chicken, sweet potato, noodles, rice noodle chunks (like the size of a mini-hot dog and solid, but chewy), cabbage, onions and cheese!!!
There are more foreigners and people who speak English than I had expected. Lots of teachers seem to be disenchanted with Korea and the Korean culture. Makes me sad to hear, and makes me wonder what my time here will be. Surprisingly, lots of foreigners I've met are picky about using forks instead of chop sticks, or eating certain kinds of Korean food. Fish and seafood are everywhere, so many of the markets, streets and restaurants smell like fish; how does one live here and not like seafood? Tomorrow I am going to eat* live octopus with Chris (*means I can't say I will be able to get it down. I like to think I am that cool... but, ya know... I might not be). That's it for now. Thanks for reading. Hope all is well.
Cheers!
Mel
