Tuesday 12th October 2010

Day 3 Another big day - I'm absolutely exhausted! They say the first week of any new job is tiring, which is true, and add to that how every interaction is a battle to understand what the other person is saying and speak slowly enough that they can understand me...its no wonder I'm wrecked! Tired...but happy! I woke up this morning and had less to do than usual - I was booked in to have my medical at 9am so I wasnt allowed to eat anything after midnight - a water only diet...something I am definitely not used to! So I pottered around the apartment, cleaned up a few bits, and spent some quality time with my internet... yes I am a facebook and skype addict and I am happy to admit this - do you think they will start setting up self help groups like facebook anonymous?

 Eventually i wandered down to the school and was again greeted by a chorus of hello's and a few students rushed over to talk to me. They really are very sweet and very welcoming! I wandered up to my office and got stuck into some lesson planning - the bonus with my classes is that because I see 22 different groups at three levels (grade 1, grade 2 and grade 3) I really only have to write 3 lesson plans per week! This will really cut down on my workload and allow me to make sure that I am giving 100% in every lesson - not to mention the extra-curricular stuff I am planning, and the stuff I have already been asked to do!

When Yun came in we went to collect one of the other teachers who had a car and headed for the hospital, its only a 10 minute walk but Yun has a broken bone in her leg so driving was the best option. The hospital was amazing, really clean, and the uniforms the nurses wore were so cute! Like white scrubs with pink all around the edges! We waited for a while while Yun sorted everything out on my behalf and then I was left to go through the process with a nurse who spoke enough English that we could manage. I was weighed and had my measurements taken, including height, bust, waist an hips (god only knows what they need that for... wonder if I could get them to fit me for a nurses uniform??) I had my eyesight checked, and my hearing, blood etc taken and then I was sent off for an x-ray. I am convinced the guy that did the x-ray didnt like me... he didnt speak a word of English and was very impatient with my lack of understanding... maybe it was more that it took so long to get all my jewelery off! It was difficult with gestures to understand what he wanted me to do...but having been x-rayed before I assumed the underwire in my bra would pose a problem so I got on with it and put one of these little fabric hospital shirt-things on - which seemed to be what I was supposed to do.

I came out from behind the curtain and he grabbed me by the arm and led me toward the x-ray - I am assuming he had given up on gestures by that point and figured it was easier just to push me around! Dressed again and all but pushed out the door I went back to the room I had started in to find the nurse - trying to get all of my jewelery back on as I went - when I found her she ushered me into another room to see a doctor...who spoke English! She asked me a few questions - more about whether or not I was enjoying Korea and liked the food than any medical questions! But she was really lovely and after that I was out of there! I knew my first class wasn't till 1:30 (the half day thing...Im making the most of it!) so I asked Yun if it would be alright if I went home quickly to get a bite to eat, which she said was fine, so I got home threw on some lunch and chilled out in front of some youtube clips of Carl Barron which had me in fits of laughter. Have I mentioned I really love having the internet?!

I had three classes this afternoon, for kids who are all between the ages of 14 and 16 they are so unbelievably different! I had two groups of 3rd graders (the 16 year olds) followed by a group of second graders - the second and third graders are definietly more fun to teach than the first graders because they speak up more and are less afraid of using their English. In the first class there were a couple of kids that were very noisy - and when one of the boys asked me my age the whole class started cheering and clapping - I looked at the other teacher a little confused - and she explained that I was close enough in age to them to be fun - they consider me young whereas anyone over 30 is old...lol. It also apparently means the boys can think of me the way they do the band "Girls Generation" - a korean band made up of about 9 of the most gorgeous Korean girls...lol - I didnt know whether to be horrified or flattered.

Shortly after that I realised that this reactionw as nothing compared to what was coming...lol. One of the boys got on his knees in front of me and said "You are so beautiful. I love you!" haha...how exactly are you supposed to respond to that?! I had also set a task where I asked them to fold a little name card to sit on their tables and write their name on it - in my explanation I said it could be their Korean name or their English name but it had to be written in English characters rather than Hangul - the Korean alphabet. I said (and here was my mistake) your Korean or English name, whatever you want me to call you. A few of the boys (6 or 7) wrote things like "honey", "baby" and "darling"... which is what they wanted me to call them... as if I would!! Still you have to give them credit for trying!!


In my powerpoint slideshow I also have a photo of mum and I - taken fairly recently - for those of you that have facebook its the one in Fremantle with mum wearing sunnies. The photo comes up with a few others and I walk over and point to it and say this is my mum. Family is very important in the Korean culture so I thought it would be a nice way for the kids to get to know me. Everytime I show the photo - 6 times so far (I have to repeat the same lesson 22 times...lol...I am getting good at it now!) the kids are shocked - they keep saying it can't be my mum because she is so young - and double checking that I don't mean my sister. Then they tell me that my mum is also very beautiful and I tell them that I will tell her that - which gets them laughing. I figure mum is not a bad advertisement for what I am going to look like in 20 years... (Love you mum!) I start the slideshow with a few picci's of me when I was little - younger than they are now - which always gets their attention - I figure its my way of saying I was your age too once! But its the photo's of me feeding the wallabies that seems to get the most attention and the one of the kangaroo looking directly into the camera - Kangaroo is a word they all know!

After school I went back up to the staff room and worked on my lesson plans for a bit - put together a game called "people bingo" with things that would be relavent to them - the idea is they have to find other people in the class who fit the descriptions on the bingo card, like "Can do 10 push ups", or "likes music", or "wears glasses" - and they have to do it in English. When they get a line full they yell out Bingo. A bit of a fun game that will get them moving around the classroom and using English for question and answer. I had just finished putting it together when Yun came to tell me that we were meeting the other teachers in the carpark in 5 minutes - they had arranged to take me out for a welcome dinner! So we bundled into a couple of cars - four women, one man and me - and went down to a restaurant close to the school for a Korean Barbeque!

Oh wow...so much food, so many different things to try, so many things I had never seen before - and sooooo good! They did all the ordering and then explained a few of the dishes and the way things were cooked - the meat was cooked on a little BBQ set in the middle of the table - a table desinged for it because there was a big circle that dropped away to allow for it. Then there were all the side dishes and sauces - something that was like Kimchi but made with mung beans, an onion salad in some kind of sweet vinegar, tofu covered with a sweet and very spicy chili sauce...and Korean pancakes which are very green - and absolutely delicious! I said how much I liked them and they said the idea was that if you had a favourite side dish you just asked for more - it was included with the meal - so they taught me how to order it in Korean and told me to puch a button on the end of the table which rang a bell and sent a server to us.

The server was so impressed that I was doing the ordering she bought two back and explained that if I cooked one on the BBQ it was a different taste.
I tried everything, and loved it all, Korean food is such a unique blend of spicy, salty and sweet, but it all fits together so well! They also ordered Korean beer (I never drink beer so this was probably the only time I hesitated to try anything!) and they poured us all a glass and made a traditional Korean toast and officially welcomed me to the country, to the school, and into their lives as a friend. The whole thing was so touching - I have been here only 4 days and I feel so welcome and so at home already! Two of the girls disappeared at one point and came back with grape and berry flavoured ice-cream which was also delicious and they asked if I had enjoyed my meal - at which point one of the older teachers commented proudly that I had said "yummy" so many times she had lost count. It was yummy!

They were all smiling and I think they really enjoyed that I was so excited to try new things and that I enjoyed their food and exploring their culture. Since I have been making such an effort to learn the language they have also started to make a concerted effort to teach me things - one of the teachers even dropped by my classroom today with some text books she said she would help me work through so it would be easier to learn!

Yun said that next time, one of the teachers who's name I can't remember but is possibly one of the nicest people I have ever met, her and I would go to the American Army base for dinner because we could get food drom all over the world - where everything in Osan is "korean style". So thats another thing to look forward to! After the meal they offered to drop me home but it was only 10 minutes so I said I was happy to walk...porbably needed to walk off all that food anyway! There was a man standing near the corner of my street that greeted me as I walked past, and I automatically responded, and then spent the rest of the walk home thinking about the fact that my automatic response had been in Korean - it just seemed to come so naturally - like I had been speaking it all my life. Crazy to think that in four days there are a few phrases that just come without me having to think about it - I even find myself thinking the phrase "thank you" in Korean. I am looking forward to adding to my vocabulary!

So...up and coming events that I have been invited to or that I am participating in; The school 'korean popstar' competition, the school carnival and sports day (2 days), the native english speaking teachers association trip to Seoul, dinner at the American Army base, dinner with the teacher from the phillipines (the one with the textbooks), possibly running dance classes as part of the after school program (which I get paid extra for) and all of this outside of my teaching hours! I promise I will pull the camera out for some of these events - and the kids and teachers love being in photo's so there will be lots to put up on facebook - and maybe even a few on here!