therefore, wander!: Weeks Fly By!

Long overdue post...but week one of real teaching is over and it's been a whirlwind. For the most part, things went incredibly well. I'm still getting a feel for how my co-teachers want to interact with me in the classroom, what my responsibilities are, etc etc, but beyond those bits, all of the classes are still intrigued enough by me to behave really well, which I'm savoring while I can.

The main thing that's happened since I've arrived is that I've eaten more seafood than I think I have in my entire life...I've had squid, shrimp, a few unidentified things (sea cucumber? anemone?)...the list goes on. It isn't as bad in reality as it is in principle for me...tentacles are just chewy, but don't taste particularly horrible. The worst part of eating fish here, honestly, is trying to de-bone it with chopsticks. I mean, if nothing else, at least it's comic gold.

Beyond classes, my week was also a success. I'm settling into my apartment quite nicely! I found a Daiso down the street which is kind of like an under 5,000 Won store and they have EVERYTHING. I get so excited every time I go in. So I've been buying little knick knacks that I need. I turned on my under floor heating for the first time this week and it was so great. I lay on my floor for like 10 minutes just enjoying the warmth.

This is my tiny tiny kitchen.

Yes, bathroom = shower

Alas, I only get 4 channels. All in Korean.

Wednesday of this week was a memorable day in so many ways...number 1: OBAMA. I sat in my office all morning refreshing the BBC news page and not breathing. My co-teacher was very sympathetic and kept telling me that she wanted Obama to win too. When they called the election for him, she looked it up on the Korean news site and she says "Oh, they have a picture of him and he is...tearing." He was crying in the picture, and we both laughed together and I took a deep breath and we went to lunch.

After class, I had my first one on one English lesson with the Principal, who has requested lessons 3 times a week with me to improve her conversational English. Social hierarchy is a big deal here and in a school, the Principal is top dog, so I was nervous because I have NO IDEA what that means in terms of my behavior, our conversation topics, or how much leeway I have to actually correct her. Her English is already relatively good, in fact...enough to carry on a simple conversation, but not good enough to catch my social faux pas's, thank goodness. We talked about our favorite sports, our families, and Korean customs and she seemed very pleased with the lesson! As I was leaving, she said "I feel very happy, and I feel very Thank You!" which seemed to be high praise.

That night, we had our first "teachers' dinner". Before we left our office to hitch a ride, my co-teacher explained to me that our Principal really likes to drink...which, in Korea, means everyone around her drinks as well. In Korean drinking culture, you must never have an empty glass at the table and if someone asks to drink with you, ESPECIALLY your boss, you drink. Apparently at the last teachers' dinner, all the teachers went home drunk and one female teacher threw up in front of the principal...crazy party, man. My co-teacher doesn't like to drink, in which case the best thing to do is just to pretend to take drinks and never actually empty your glass.

So, with all of this in mind, we hustled off to dinner at a traditional Korean restaurant (you guessed it, seafood) and sat on the floor. The principal (through my co-teacher--her English gets considerably less frequent when she's drinking) told me to drink as much beer and soju as I wanted and asked if I could drink a lot. I responded that yes, I can, and suddenly this smile beamed across her face like I'd never seen before. The meal began and they brought us HUGE plates of fish, bean sprouts, squid, dried fish, seaweed...etc. And of course, a whole lot of beer and soju. The meal consisted mostly of me focusing very intently on trying to debone my fish with chopsticks, often cursing silently to myself, periodically being encouraged by the table to drink more, and trying to simultaneously NOT think about what I was eating and listen for Korean words I actually understand (I got a few!). It is so unnerving, though, when I'm sitting with a group of people speaking Korean and assume that they're talking about something totally unrelated to me and suddenly hear "[koreankorean] Emily [koreankorean] *giggle giggle*". I just smile and assume they're singing my praises...

Dinner ended uncharacteristically early, apparently because the Principal had another event to get to, so I met up with some other foreign English teachers and we went to a bar that turned out to be owned by my current co-teacher's former foreign teacher! We had a nice chat and I had a few more beers...caught the last train home and went to bed later than I should have...but it was one of those days that's worth it.

Constant Daylight

This weekend, I visited the Arts District in Incheon with a few friends and was struck by how amazing fall actually is, as seasons go! It was a gorgeous day...cool and crisp and the leaves were all shades of red and yellow; it's the kind of fall that I've only heard about. We walked through a lovely little park, had all you can eat sushi, entertained a tiny Korean toddler for awhile with a chorus of "Hello!'s" and generally just explored. I grabbed a schedule for the giant theater in the Arts Center and have decided I'm going to go see Othello at the end of this month...I am still unsure of whether it'll be in Korean or English. In my mind, it's kind of blasphemy to translate Shakespeare, but I imagine it'll still be an educational experience nonetheless.

Look at all that color!

Homesickness has reared its head a few times this week...thinking about all the people I love who are merrily lounging in the warm weather at home, and the people that I wish I had with me! I also miss turkey sandwiches, bathtubs, night time drives, my cats, and snuggling with someone. None of those to be found here :(

But, more often than not, I'm quite happy here...and quite excited for what the rest of the year holds. I'm planning a trip to Thailand in January which I'm STOKED about, and I'm already making a list of everywhere I eventually want to go in the world. It's an exciting feeling to know it's all possible.