Hiking in Deokcheon

The last time I remember hiking up a mountain I believe I was about 12 years old.  Maybe I have since then, but obviously it didn’t leave an impression on me.  Back to the story, though. I was wearing flip-flops and drinking pop.  My family was on vacation in Montana visiting my mom’s best friend, my Aunt Laura.  Just so you know, this hike was NOT planned.  My mom just wanted go check it out on our way back from somewhere—“it” being the mountain I guess.  But how do you just go check it out without actually planning on hiking?!  This mountain wasn’t anything too big or crazy, but I was so angry and we have this awful picture to prove it.  I think it’s of my mom, sister, and me?  They are smiling and I am crying, my face is all red, and I look like I hate the world.  Looking at it now, it’s quite funny.  But really?  Who would want to go hiking wearing flip-flops and drinking pop?  Can you guess who was the first one down the mountain?  I pretty much ran out of there.

For a while (and by that I mean for some years of my life) I didn’t like doing outdoorsy type things.  I’m not saying that hiking experience caused this; it just wasn’t my thing.  I do quite like being outside now, though.  Of course I love running outside, especially in the country.  So when I was invited to go hiking here the other weekend, I was so excited!  I really was looking forward to it all week.  Then of course I started feeling sick on Thursday and Friday.  There was no way that was going to get in the way of my hike.  I was determined.

                                         With Katrina towards the beginning of the hike.

Saturday morning a group of maybe twenty or so of us met at the subway stop in Deokcheon—just two stops from where I live.  We made our way to the trail not at all expecting how difficult this was going to be!   Our one big group pretty quickly started spreading out as we began to go at our own pace.  I was fine until about halfway up.  It was so steep!  This is when our breaks became pretty frequent.  And finally we took a break to eat our snacks.  I was so hungry.  I have never had a pb&j that has tasted as good as the one I had on that mountain top!  So glad I packed that in my book bag.

                              Making our way up.

                                          View from where I took my pb&j break.

It wasn’t too long after our snack time that we made it to the top.  The view of course was amazing.  There wasn’t a whole lot of space up there, though, with the big group we had.  We still stayed there for a little while, ate some more, and enjoyed the view.  As everyone started heading down, there were a few others who wanted to continue hiking because there was actually another peak just a bit higher.  Of course I joined them when Katrina asked if I wanted to go.  It was only about another 10 minutes, if that.  Not bad at all.  And the view was even more amazing.

    The view from the top--well, the first place we stopped.

         

                                          Now this was at the top.  The girls who made it to the second peak!

         Amazing view of Busan!

Remember I was sick?  Yeah.  I was fine during the whole hike but definitely think I overdid it.  Once we made it back down, I tried to get back to my apartment as quickly as I could.  My head hurt so bad I wanted to cry.  I missed out on the St. Patrick’s Day hang outs that night and took a nap from 7-9:30 p.m.  Who takes a nap at that time of the day?  Or should I say night?  Really I just wanted some of my mom’s homemade chicken noodle soup.

So glad I made it on the hike, though.  It was nice to be away from the city for a few hours and just enjoy being outside.

It's the Little Things

I have some happiness to add to that somewhat of a bummer post yesterday.  And it's Monday--that's got to tell you it was a good day.

I had some peace and quiet this morning!  Remember the English Cafe?  I went to work this morning and my main co-teacher (the one who helped me get all settled with my apartment, bank account, etc.) said that I'm welcome to go do my work in the English Cafe.  Actually it was the vice-principal's idea.  He told her Friday that it's okay for me to go there.  My desk is right next to one of the doors to the office, so there is always so much traffic and just a lot going on around there.  I had actually thought about going to this classroom before, but I didn't want to seem anti-social or however you want to describe it, especially since they're all about community and doing things together here.  This classroom is opened most of the day unlike all the other rooms, so I can go there whenever I would like to as long as there isn't a class.  I certainly won't be hiding away in there all the time--it's on the fifth floor away from everything in the school--but I will take advantage of some quiet time when I really need to get something done.  Definitely did that this morning as I still needed to plan my lesson for fourth period...oops!  I was too busy hiking up a mountain this weekend to worry about that one (new blog post there coming soon!).  So thankful to know I can now have that quiet time when I need it.

________________________

I was having a chat with one of my co-teachers (also the head teacher of the English Dept.) about how things are going.  So glad she shared this with me:  "A student came up to me and said your class was perfect!"  So simple a statement but it makes such a difference.  Definitely helped change my attitude a bit.  It's good to know I'm managing to do well in the middle of all that craziness that came from the first couple weeks and the unexpected "Oh, I already taught this to them" moments from my co-teachers.

What a good Monday!

Hwashin Middle School

Now for a post all about my job!  After all, this is what brought me to Korea right?  I’m working at Hwashin Middle School—grades 7, 8, and 9.   My school is about a 12 minute walk from my apartment—all depending on if I hit the crosswalks at the right time!  I work 8:30-4:30 Monday-Friday.  I’m only teaching grades 8 and 9 this semester, but I have every single student!  600 students.  Let me explain.

                               Hwashin Middle School

My school has six English teachers aside from me.  I’m considered the Guest English Teacher (GET).  They bring in native English speakers to co-teach with the English staff.  I only meet with each class once a week, which explains why I have time to have so many students.  The kids have English class outside of my class too, though, where they just meet with their Korean English teachers.  We are brought in mainly to help with their conversational skills, but of course every GET’s experience is going to be a little different.

Here’s my situation:  As I already mentioned, we have six other English teachers at my school, which means I have six co-teachers.  On average based on what I've heard, other GET’s have 2-3 co-teachers.  Yes, I’m a bit jealous.  It’s going to take time to get used to working so closely with each of them because they are all expecting different things from me.  They also are all very different from each other, so I’m still learning the best way to just approach each of them.  There have already been situations where that lack of communication I talked about has thrown the whole class off.

We’re supposed to be co-teaching right?  Yes, but not in my case.  This is part of the reason the first couple days were so rough.  They still hadn’t informed me that’s not how it works there.  I teach the whole class and my “co-teacher” is in the room to translate if it’s needed.  On one hand, I was like “what?!?!” Then on the other hand, I’m thinking this may be better, causing less miscommunication to worry about when it comes to planning.  We’ll see how that goes, though.

There is a listening, speaking, reading, and writing section in each chapter of the textbook.  My job is to teach listening one week and then speaking the next with Grade 8 and speaking one week and writing the next with Grade 9.  Simple enough to follow right?  It sure is for me.  For my co-teachers?  You’ll see below what happened in one of the classes.  Each grade is divided into different levels as well; there are high, middle, and low level classes.  I like this because then I can adjust the lessons to best fit their abilities.

How are the students?  They really make my day.  Everywhere I go, I hear “Hi teacher! Hi teacher!" Then a lot of them even bow.  Don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.  They are all pretty good in class as well—nothing too major to worry about at the moment.  A couple of my classes are actually too quiet!  I need more energy from those ones.  It can be quite lonely in the staff office without many people there that speak English or enough English to really talk to me, so I love all of the little visits from my students.

Speaking of the staff office, we have one room where every teacher has a desk.  Not my ideal situation.  I didn’t expect to have my own classroom, but I also didn’t expect this.  The teachers don’t have their own classrooms; they all travel to different rooms throughout the day.  Just like I do.  I’m getting used to the office, but I miss having a quiet space at some point during the day.  Basically the only time I’m ever alone is when I stop by the restroom.  I do have my own desk and computer, though, so I am thankful for my own space there.

                               My space.

I may not sound as excited explaining my job as I had hoped for, but I do believe there’s a reason I’m at this school.  I may not know what it is, but I trust that this is where I'm supposed to be.  Even though there are a lot of factors that are not my ideal situations, I am certainly learning from them and starting to get used to them.  If the kids continue to make me smile and they continue to learn more English, then that’s all that matters.  Week one was rough.  Week two was better.  Week three starts tomorrow!

Cubbies for the staff right inside the doors of the school.  This is where we change our shoes.  We need to wear slippers or shoes that we haven't worn outside before.

The English Cafe.  This is where I have a few of my classes.  Definitely the best classroom.

                                The front of the room.

                                The back of the room.

Miscellaneous!

1.  Number one question from all of my classes:  How tall are you?

2.  Student:  What is your favorite food in America?

     Me:  Hamburgers!  (I just want a hamburger!  I’ve been craving one ever
     since I got here.)

     The whole class:  Gasps all around! With their mouths wide open.

     Co-teacher #4:  Ohhhhh.  They are shocked because their parents don’t let them eat  

     hamburgers.  They are too fatty.  But you are so slim???

3.  The school buildings here are freezing cold!  When I walk through the hallways, my hands start to turn blue.  Some of my co-workers have the cutest coats and they have so many.  They never take them off!  We could re-wear the same clothes and no one would know because we wear our coats so often.

4.  Student:  Your eyes are bery big.  I lobe it!

5.  Co-Teacher #5:  You know we have our class today.  I’m so nervous to be teaching with   
     you.  I’m afraid you will talk too fast for them.

--> Ummm thank you?!  Can you give me a chance first?

6.  All of the staff members eat the school lunch, so I eat the school lunch too.  I really try not to think about the fact that I don’t know what I’m eating half the time…

More about lunch, though.  I don’t like kimchi.  And they eat kimchi with everything here.  Even breakfast.  Kimchi is basically spicy fermented cabbage and other vegetables.  What was the menu last Wednesday you wonder?  One side of kimchi, another side of kimchi, kimchi fried rice, mystery soup, and another side dish (I did enjoy that one at least, even thought I'm not quite sure what to call it!).  Kimchi fried rice?  That came as a surprise to me.  We have white rice every day.  I know I can always count on my white rice!  Wondering if Thursday’s menu was better?  One side of kimchi, kimchi pancakes, and mystery soup.  Not as bad.  I actually didn’t mind the kimchi pancakes.  AND the white rice was back!  I do eat pretty well at lunch.  It was just a kimchi overload two days in a row.  I actually pass on eating the sides of kimchi, though.  I hope they don’t judge me for that.

7.  This past week I taught the listening lesson to the eighth graders.  I had two grade 8 high level classes with this co-teacher on Friday.  The first class was great.  Here’s what happen in the second class once I was started the same lesson:

Co-teacher #5:  They already did the listening part with me.

Me: Oh they did??

Co-teacher #5:  Yes.  Speaking part!  (That was her telling me to just move on to the  

speaking lesson.)

Me:  I just have the listening lesson.

Co-teacher #5:  Oh, you’re not prepared?!

Me:  I am prepared.  This week is listening for all of Grade 8.  Next week is speaking.    

(Remember my easy to follow schedule I mentioned earlier?!)

Then my co-teacher didn’t respond but continued to stare.  So I managed to save the class with some last-minute-thought-of-on-the-spot activities.  Thank goodness it was Friday!

Communication Barriers and Joy from a Simple Hello

As I’m trying to settle in to life here in Korea, I’ve hit some of the obstacles that I expected would come along with speaking another language—everything from trying so hard to understand my co-teacher’s English to searching up and down Lotte Mart for some butter!  Before I get into those stories, let me go back to the day all of us EPIK teachers were “adopted.”

Our last morning at Jeonju University, we all boarded our busses and headed off to the city or province we were placed in.  All of us here in Busan were taken to a middle school where our co-teachers were coming to pick us up.  We all lined the front of the school dressed to impress with our luggage scattered all over the place. We all joked that it was like we were being adopted—standing there with all of our belongings having no idea where we were about to go or what we were getting ourselves into.  Our names were called as our cars arrived. Two guys then ran over to grab our luggage, usher us into the car as quickly as possible, and then we waved to our new friends as we drove away.  It was quite funny, yet sad and nerve-wracking at the same time as we were anxious to finally see what it was we would be doing for the next year.

                                            Waiting to be "adopted!"

                                            Sad to leave my roomie!

Two of my co-teachers came to pick me up.  They took me straight to my apartment and then to Lotte Mart, which is sort of like Wal-Mart but much bigger.  We all get a $300 allowance from our schools when we arrive to buy things that we may need in our apartments.  Our apartments come furnished, but in my case, the kitchen was cleared out.  I didn’t have one plate or one pot or one spoon or anything. After shopping, we had an appointment to get internet set up in my apartment.   The guy was here for an hour but couldn’t do anything until I had a bank account here.  Thankfully all of that was taken care of the next day, along with finally stopping at my school for all of five minutes in the middle of running a bunch of errands with one of my co-teachers.  She has been an incredible help to me, but it’s been very hard for me to understand her English.  It’s almost tiring from concentrating so much while listening to her—barrier number one.  So thankful for her help, though!

My grocery shopping experience brings about barrier number two.  Not only did it take me FOREVER to shop for groceries from not being able to read labels that were all in Korean or wondering how the heck to cook something since I don’t have an oven, but I also could not find butter anywhere!  I searched the store three times for some butter.  I even tried asking two workers for some help.  They just looked confused but continued to speak to me in Korean.  I then motioned that it was okay and said “Gamsahamnida,” meaning thank you.  I was missing that butter tonight when I had bread with my spaghetti.  Who knew wanting to buy some butter would be so difficult. 

I bought so much at the store that there was no way I could carry it all to my apartment.  I somehow managed to take a taxi back.  Taxis are sitting there in front of Lotte Mart, so that was helpful at least!  I just pointed to my address on a piece of paper I had with me.  I made it back and then kicked the box of groceries onto the elevator (the taxi driver at least carried it to the elevator for me!) and I kicked it to my door as I carried a bag full of other groceries and my bag from work.  I was exhausted all from grocery shopping and just not being able to communicate.

Then today I went to my third day of work.  I’m working at Hwashin M.S.  I learned from subbing this year that I really love middle school, so I was very happy about my placement.  I wish that I could fast-forward a month, though, so that I may actually have a clue about what’s going on at work.  I didn’t have any classes on Monday or Tuesday this week.  I thought this would be the time I’d get all the details about my job and meet with my co-teachers.  Nope.  I didn’t get my schedule until Tuesday afternoon (with classes starting today).  This meant that I also didn’t know who all of my co-teachers were.  And in my case, I have six of them.  Holy crap it is going to take time to get into the swing of things with that.  I learned very quickly today that they are all going to expect different things from me, even though I’ll be teaching the same lessons within each grade.  I had to prepare a PowerPoint that I would use today to introduce myself to the students.  One co-teacher needed time in class to give announcements and whatnot, while the next wanted me to fill the entire 45 minutes, which I was not aware of beforehand.  Following that, another co-teacher spoke with her students only in Korean!  This is English class!  And I have no idea what you’re saying in Korean.  Not only are we working with two languages, but I realized very quickly that I’ll be working with a lack of communication—barrier number three.  I was warned about this and about things happening very last minute before I came, but I really just wanted to cry.  I am brand new to this school and to this country.  Do they expect me to walk in and automatically know how everything works there?

Little communication (from simple lack of communication and everyone speaking in Korean, obviously) can also make work lonely.  I need someone to talk to! This is why I love the little visits from my students.  We have one giant staff room at the school where every teacher has a desk.  The students have been coming by to say “Hello” and “Hi teacher” in English. They then start giggling and walk away.  It’s really cute.  Then I had a group of girls come by yesterday and say, “Ooohhh beautiful.  Ooohhh big eyes.  Big eyes.  Ooohhh beautiful.  Where are you from?” “The U.S.,” I replied.  “Ooohhh migook, migook!” Migook means American.  It made me smile.  I think these kids are going to help me get through any frustrations I have at work.  I keep reminding myself that they are why I’m here.  So thankful for their simple hellos that bring a smile to my face right when I need it.