The First 10 days

Well I have been here over 10 days now, the time has flown bye. The first few days of school were hard. I was jet lagged and there were a lot of new procedures and policies to learn. Teaching has been a challenge so far, but most of the students have a good basic understanding of English so it has been manageable. I teach writing and speaking/listening classes. The school is like an office building in the US, it has around 10 classrooms that vary in size but the largest will hold maybe 15 kids. I am going to try and figure out how to add pics to this blog soon, so you may be able to see what I'm talking about. My biggest complaint to date is that they don't turn on the air conditioning until people complain, but at least we have air and when it gets real hot they will have it on all the time. The kids are just like kids in the US, some are nice others are rotten. In general they seem more respectful of teachers than in the US but there are exceptions. I think I have been received fairly well by them, they seem to listen and do what I say most of the time. They listen more than the Special Ed kids I worked with in the US for sure. The curriculum that we use is fairly straight forward and with a few exceptions the text books are pretty easy to teach and straight forward for the kids to follow. I am glad that I signed on with a school that has a set curriculum and lesson plans, I would not be happy if I had to create my own right now. The school is in the middle of a commercial section of town, their are hundreds of stores,restaurants,schools,churches and Bars(called Hofs) within a 10 minute walk from the school. There are not any American chains within walking distance but there is a McDonald's and a Pizza Hut within a 5 minute cab ride.(I haven't been to either yet) There is a Lotteria (pronounced La Teria, I probably spelled it wrong but that's close),a Korean version of McDonald's about 100 feet away and also my 2 favorite restaurants to date, Suk Bong and a Korean Sushi Place with a name that's in Korean which I don't know and couldn't spell even if I did. The Suk Bong is a sandwich shop which makes egg sandwiches, its two pieces of toasted white bread, scrambled egg, cheese and toppings of your choice with a sweet sauce and hot sauce, its delicious. The Korean Sushi place makes Sushi Rolls, only there larger and contain cooked meats and fish instead of raw meats. It's not actually sushi but that's how we foreigners refer to it. Besides teaching I have gone out to several restaurants and Hofs. I went to VIP's an American style buffet place that's in downtown Gumi, its a lot fancier than a buffet place in the US, think Olive Garden Quality in a buffet and that should give you an idea, not great but sufficient. I also have been to a Korean Sashimi restaurant twice now, this does serve actual raw fish, its real Sashimi. I went to a place that they give you meat and you cook it yourself on flat top grills built into your table, since I'm an ovo/lacto/pesco(eggs,milk,fish in Latin) vegetarian I didn't eat the meat, but I was there and I got a veggie soup. Yesterday was a national holiday here in Korea, it was Buddha's Birthday, so we had the day off. 3 of my fellow teachers and I went to Daegu(the capital of the province I'm in) It's a large city with over a million people, its about a 25 minute train ride or drive away. We saw a Baseball Game, the Samsung Lions (my provinces team) verse SK(not sure what it means), the Lions won in a slug fest 9-6. Then we went to a commercial electronics store street that has around 50 electronics store next to each other, I bought an Olympus Digital Camera, it was about $80 dollars cheaper than in the US I figure and it included a free case, 1 gigabyte memory card and 2 batteries. I would say I saved around $125 US in total buying the camera in Korea. After that we went to Subway for subs and then to the movies to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The movie was the same cost as the US and subway was like $1 more expensive. The Baseball game was $8 for good seats and beers were only $2 per can and they give you the can unopened, which in Cleveland, where I'm from would mean that opposing players and bad officials would probably be stoned to death by full cans of beer, but Koreans are less violent than pissed off clevelanders.

Arrival

My 13 hour flight from Chicago to Seoul on Korean Airlines was the best of my 9 flights to Asia. Korean Air has great customer service and they provide you with lots of extras even in economy class. They fed me several times, gave me a toothbrush, hot towels, socks, lotion and more. They also have a lot of very attractive Korean flight attendants, which doesn't hurt. They wear 1950's outfits that are modernized. When I arrived I was greeted by Scott from ETN and he bought me a bus ticket to Gumi and took me to the bus. The bus ride took around 4 hours and I slept the entire way. When I arrived in Gumi I was met by the Director of my school, a Korean and Jackie, a Kiwi teacher(thats what people from New Zealand call themselves). They took me to the school so I could see it. Then I went to my apartment where I met 4 of the other English teachers. They were all very nice and Dan from Wisconsin even stocked my fridge for me with beer, water and juice! I also met Travis from Indiana and Robyn and Lisa two very attractive Canadians. We drank a few beers and then I unpacked and went to bed. My apartment was furnished and was bigger and nicer than I expected. Their are some differences from the US in apartments. Their is no stove just 2 burners(not a hot plate its a stove top). I have a washer but their is no drier(which I'm told is very common in Korea). I have floor heating(which is efficient and more advanced than my place in the US). My internet connection was already hooked up and its also faster than the US. I have a fridge lite(thats what we call them)its smaller than a US fridge, its somewhere in between a standard US fridge and a large college dorm fridge, it has a freezer on top(a real one). I have a video phone that has a camera to let me see who is at my door. Their is an air conditioner and toilet(some places just have holes in the ground). My shower is my entire bathroom and you have to turn on a switch to get hot water ,its not a different handle like the US, but the studio apartment is very modern and nice, its also larger than I expected. (20'x30' if I had to guess) So far I am very happy with my living conditions!!!

Leaving Today

I am sitting in the Cleveland Airport waiting for my flight to Chicago. Then I have a little less than a 2 hour layover at O'Hare. Then its a non-stop 13 hour flight to Seoul. I flew to Hong Kong 4 times for Business so this isn't my longest plane ride, but I am dreading it!!! Once I get to Seoul I will get a bus ticket from Scott of ETN and then its another 4 hours to Gumi, my final destination. I have so much luggage with me, I checked 2, 50 pound bags and I have a large backpack and laptop bag filled with heavy electronics, security was worried about me because I had so many batteries and suspicious devices, but once I told them why they were very friendly. I hate flying to Asia!!!!!!!!

Preparing for the Trip

One week until I leave on my year journey to Gumi, South Korea to teach English to children ages 8-17. I just received my visa, it was a fun process, it took about 3 weeks. I am glad that I used ETN(English Teachers Network) to obtain my employment, Scott form ETN made the process seem easy, he took care of all the details, all I had to do is interview, ask questions and prepare to leave my life in Cleveland for one year, which is enough. I'm glad I didn't have to deal with the technical stuff. Anyway leaving the country for a year has its own complications, it was nice to have someone else handle the paperwork and employment details.

If your interested in Teaching English in South Korea I recommend ETN, as long as you have a bachelors degree your all set. http://www.etnkorea.com/index.htm