Korea's little quirks

Well its Sunday again, looks like another post comin at ya.
Well this week was less exciting than last week. The kids know me now, not that that makes them resent me any less, but at least they aren't wondering who the new intruder is. We are slowly moving into exam time for the children's regular school so that means for our English Academy numbers will be dropping this week while the students study for their regular school exam. See we aren't school so much as a learning additive. The kids go to their regular schools during the day and then at night they come to the academy for extra English. this means that we test them on things they learn at regular school and build on what is being taught in their regular courses, which is great i might add because this also means we do not have to do report cards or final testing. Or at least that's what I am assuming so far since nobody has mentioned anything. We have however found ourselves making lessons for the schools to share amongst themselves because thy are too cheap to buy books that are the proper length for a semester. It isn't all bad though, we get to choose what the lesson will be which gives us some flexibility to teach something that isn't so boring.
I have had to become the teacher kids love to hate but fear in a few of my classes, because the maturing girls feel school is a beauty parlor and the not yet mature boys think its a game room. So far I have confiscated mirrors, cellphones, exacto-knives (which they use in place of pencil sharpeners), and have made kids move against their will when I feel necessary. They try to refuse but I have a much louder yelling voice then they do, that and I really have noting better to do with my time while force feeding these children boring English.
Enough about school I guess. Outside of school this week, I did a bit of shopping. I went with Blake and one of my co-workers Jameson on Saturday to Myeong-dong, one of the shopping areas where we all got a few things for the winter. I picked up a few long sleeved t-shirts and a sweater for a pretty reasonable price. The sizing however is a little tricky over here. I usually need an XL due to my ganglyness, but even the XL over here in most stores is too small. It took a few stores before we found stuff that would fit but it all worked out in the end. After shopping Jameson and I came back to my place because the other teachers in my building are all form the states so they were having a Thanksgiving Feast. They went to the Costco here and bought a ton of food and prepared the best they could. It was really nice to be able to sit down with a bunch of people, some of whom were Canadians, and have a big home style dinner.
After dinner, we went back to meet up with Blake, Ryan, and our Korean friends Junk and Young-hoon in Gangnam for beers and the likes.
All in all it was an uneventful week topped off with a relaxing weekend.

As for Korea as a whole, what a wild place. A few little things before I go. The driving here is ridiculous. traffic lights are a mere suggestion, worse than any Quebec driving you've ever seen. You can and people do; cruise right on through red lights if you look both ways; do u-turns at any point you feel you can; squeeze 5 cars into a 3 lane street; and drive on the sidewalk both car and motorcycle. So at all times you have to be watching for traffic, but if you don't see them don't worry, using the horn is like breathing to these people. They will honk like there is no tomorrow for the slightest reason....repeatedly.....until they get to move. Back home this would seem crazy, but here its normal, and man is it ever annoying when you're walking around during rush hours. But what can you do.
Anyways I am going to wrap it up there. Hope all is well with everyone that is reading this and I will see you all again next Sunday.

My first full week

Well another week down, another post to be added. this was my first full week at the school teaching by myself and it went better than I had thought it might. However, I don't know who's going to go crazier, me or the kids. thew material we are teaching them is so boring and mundane that I want to kill myself after teaching it to up to 8 different classes, and half of the material is stuff that these kids will never use in the English world they may or may not end up a part of. As for the kids, they are on the fence of hatred and boredom it seems. There are some that get it and you know should be in a higher grade but testing only comes around every 4-5 months so if they happen to hurdle past their peers during the beginning of a semester they are pretty much stuck until they can test again. But hey what can you do. I'm just trying to set myself as the authority figure right now but after they understand I'm incharge I'm hoping to have some fun with them and actually teach them some useful stuff. It's a long race and I have just left the gates.
Well its been a full week and a few days since I got here and it is still la little unreal at times. I have picked up the alphabet already which is good cuz now I can start to learn the vocabulary I need to get through life. My buddies Blake and Will are helping me a lot which is awesome. We have study nights every week where we get together and go over words, grammar and the language and culture in general. I should be able to order food and get myself around pretty soon.
This weekend, we all got together (Willy, Ryan, Blake, Junk our Korean hook up, myself ,and my co-worker Jameson who needed to meet some people) on Friday for beers, which led to a all night wandering with beers mixed in here and there. It was good to just get out and hangout with some people who have been here for a while and who could share their tips with us. On Saturday everyone was feeling pretty beat, so Will and I met up with one of his friends and we went for dinner then to a PCbong (PCroom) to play video games before meeting up with Ryan. After that we went to see the movie "Sleuth", and be forewarned it's terrible after the first half. After being disappointed with the movie we all decided it was bedtime. I stayed at Will's place so that I didn't have to take a cab home cuz the subway closes at 1230 and it was 3. We got up Sunday and decided to make the best of the day and we went to Gyeongbokgung, one of the temples/royal courtyards in Seoul. It was a pretty awesome place and beside it was the presidents house/palace but we never got a chance to see it so there will have be a return trip in the near future. Then we met up with Blake, had some dinner and called it a night so we could all get some things done.
So all in all its been a pretty eventful first week, and I'm looking forward to the next few weekends cuz there are some big plans flying around the table.
TTYL

Well here it is my second post. Its a crazy town full of crazy things. I've been to work for a couple days and shadowed the guy I'm replacing. It doesn't seem like a very hard job but I'm sure it won't be a cake walk either. I'm slowly getting my bearings and wandering around more and more to see whats in my neighbourhood and the neighbourhoods around me. The subway system in pretty huge and can be quite confusing the first time around I learned, but it's all trial and error right now. This weekend, being my first weekend here I hooked up with Blake and we went out with his Korean friend Junk and his friends. We got drunk on Soju, a Korean liquor, rice beer and Korean beer. It was a good time and we all felt the effects of the booze Sunday morning. They are a very social bunch of people around here, and everyone is interested in getting to know more people and helping you out anyway they can. That all being said, I'm looking forward to getting down to some actual teaching this week and working on my vocabulary and reading so that I'm not so lost all the time. I've got some shopping to do still for some apartment things, but other than that its all coming together nicely. Next I have to get out my camera and start taking some pictures to get up for everyone to see.
Until next time

Korea Arrival

Hey everybody, I was hoping to get this post up and running before I left the country but since that didn't happen I'll do a combination post now. So it started a while back when i made the decision to try teaching in Korea. You know get out and see the world while getting paid to do something i wold like to make my future occupation. Months went by and paperwork was done, and redone. Finally all was good and I was given my working visa and a plane ticket to the other side of the world.
Well on the 11th of November I set off to Korea. I arrived here late on the 12th, met my driver at the airport and came straight to the apartment I am going to be calling my home for the next year or so. It isn't very big, about 15x15 but it will do. I'm only one man after all. Everything outside is pretty crazy. Neon signs everywhere and a language that I don't understand yet, but it will all come together in time. I have met my neighbour across the hall and he is pretty cool, and has been here for months so hopefully he can catch me up to speed when Blake, Will and Ryan aren't around.
So to everyone who is reading this, take it easy and keep checking for updates. I'll talk to you all again soon.