first day of school...

9.3.2012
kam mul (감물) elementary

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The bus comes in the wee hours of the morning..... 6:55 a.m. Ok maybe not the wee hours, but for a girl who loves her sleep and isn't fond of mornings - waking up at 6:15 a.m. is rough. Chris, Sarah and I as well as the landlord all take the same bus, which is nice. It also picks us up literally outside our apartment. The bus ride is pretty brutal, about an 1.5 hours of stop go, jerk, slamming of breaks. However, it is nice because Koreans are quiet on public transportation so sleeping is fairly easy. There is one transfer and then we are home free or school free - haha. The landlady pointed out a man who worked at my school, so I followed him. I had to walk past rice and corn fields and also a couple of cows to get to my school, I truly felt at home. 

I was met by my mentor teacher (Jang Heon Gul), who looked excited to see me, like he was just glad I actually made it to the school. This was my only goal for the day... to make it there. Accomplished. I was shuffled in, took off my shoes and put on my slippers (not the kind of you think of, refer to the picture.) Then there was a meeting to welcome the new principal. Great. No idea what was going on. Then, all of a sudden they gestured for me to go the front. I thought I was supposed to bow to the principal. So, I awkwardly starred at him waiting for assurance. Nothing. Then my mentor teacher said no, turn around say something. As speech really? .. about what? I said I was glad to be there and I was looking forward to getting to know them. That's all. I was so caught off guard. Within the first 5 minutes of being in a building I had never been in with people I had just met I had to speak to them in a language they don't really understand. It gets better..... I was also chewing gum - which is rude in Korea I guess. Ug, fail at the good first impression thing.

... my school slippers - they are mens I believe.
 all the ladies at my school have super cute ones,
 but they also have 'woman' sized feet. 

After I went to my room to see it, then the phone rings. We have to go he tells me. So I go down to the cafeteria where all the kids are sitting. He makes me stand off to the side and says you will speak to them. What? Another speech. After the principal spoke I had to speak to the 68 children in the school and the 8-10 teachers/principal/vice principal. My mentor teacher translated. Again, no idea what to say. I said I was glad to be in Korea and that the school reminded me a lot of my small home town. ug. fail again. I wish I would have had a warning about these speeches. I learned the hard way things are last minute and kind of unplanned in Korea - so there will be many more of these experiences. 

By lunch time I didn't even know my schedule for the day let alone the rest of the week. I went down to the lunch room, where I got stares from all the kids. Of course we had rice, some form of spicy meat thing, kimchi and then FRUIT. Oh my gosh fruit.. how I love fruit and it is another gold item here since it is super expensive. I hope to make friends with the lunch ladies who control the portions of these golden items. I am learning how to say more please (ka ka ju say yo) .. or something to that affect! I learned my schedule at lunch from my mentor teacher and also that I wouldn't get Tuesdays off (like I had been told) instead I would just have Thursdays off. - still better than no days I guess!

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First class.

my korean co-scholar, tina.

My co-teacher arrived. We talked for a bit, since I had never met her. We were actually late to our first class because my mentor teacher was talking to us and was also trying to fix and figure out my phone. 

[side note:] I got an iPhone!!!!!!!!! -- I am in love with it especially an app called Instagram, where I can take pictures and post them for others to see! I had to move to Korea to move up in the world and have a smart phone. I might just be ruined. I don't know if I'll be able to go back -- or so I have heard.

my english classroom.

                                                                

So our first class was 1st graders. I prepared a slideshow about me and showed the kids pictures ect. Their favorite slide was me petting baby lions in Africa. So in that class I have a kid named Tony - who is from Latin America (I think) and is basically fluent in English and Spanish and now knows Korean as well - since he has been living/going to school in Korea for a few months! This will be a challenge, but I am thankful he is in the class to help me out.

Then was 6th grade and then 5th grade. They were good.. nothing too exciting. The older kids are bit like.. 'lady for realz you are making us learn something'. They seemed to understand more of what I was saying, but still not really in to what I was saying as much. I took pictures of both groups of them. Some of them were super excited about it and I ended up taking multiple pictures of a few of them. Others however, were more reserved and were not as happy about the fact I was sticking a lens in their face. I also allowed them to ask questions about me in Korean and Tina would translate. The two they asked were 'how old are you?' and 'do you have a boyfriend?' -- my response was I left them in America. haha I later learned these are the 2 big questions in Korea. They get personal much faster than in America. (even with hand holding - muggling as we like to call it. Apparently it is not unusual to see guys holding hands in clubs or bars - I have yet to witness this!) 

The end of the day I said good-bye and walked to the bus with Tina.. then rode the almost 2 hours home. I got back to my place and wanted to die. I was sooo exhausted. I was thinking can I really do this for 6 months? I was/am thinking I might extend for a year but after that first day I was thinking I don't know if I can do this....

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Summary & a few deets.  

(Overall the day went fairly well. I am glad I had put a slideshow about me together and was also thankful the scholar before me gave the kids english names and also made them name tags. I am glad Tina was there as well... she kept me sane. This was a decent beginning to the start of my life here in Korea!)

I will be teaching all kids in the school - so all 68 of them. I teach every day except for Thursdays. I will have a co-scholar on Mondays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I also have to co-teach a couple of classes with some of the teachers - including my mentor teacher (3rd grade). That is interesting and will be a little challenging since I don't speak Korean. (I feel like I will use/hear that phrase a lot!) I will also be playing Volleyball on Fridays.