The WorkPlace

Three days down and who knows how many to go. Honestly, after getting a handle on the minute details, the first three days of work flew by. The first few days were nice because the students had orientation for half the class. Therefore, I only had to teach half a lesson for my three classes on Monday and Tuesday. Also, since it was only half a class, the lessons went by rather quickly.

Today, the students received their newspapers. The students who come on Tuesday and Thursday get the same lesson as those on Monday and Friday. However, on Wednesday, students get to read out of an artificial newspaper created for their level. The students who attend the Wednesday classes generally tend to "level-up" due to the increased vocabulary learned from their Wednesday lessons. Today, we discussed the Shroud of Turin, soccer star Wayne Rooney, the necessity of homework, as well as a few other topics. Newspaper day is reserved for discussion. There is no particular goal to the class other than to get the students to communicate. Again, not that difficult considering the topic matter. One thing to keep in mind however is that these are elementary students. I never heard about the Shroud of Turin until I was in college. I must say, these students are rather intelligent.

Apart from work, I forgot to mention that the whole elementary school went to Korean BBQ on Friday after work. There are four other 'foreign teachers' not including myself and six Korean teachers. At the Korean BBQ we had pork, kim-chi, and all sorts of other food. The interesting part of the meal was the fact that the meat was brought to our table raw and I am not sure if you can tell or not, but there is a grill in the center of the table to cook it. Unlike any restaurant back in the states; however, I did have a similar experience in Japan. The big event was held for the one teacher whose place I took as well as three other Korean teachers who were leaving. All in all it was a delicious meal and on Avalon, so free.

At the moment, my big concern is moving in to the apartment. I need to do a deep clean. There is a very poignant odor coming from somewhere so that is the goal for tomorrow. Hopefully, after cleaning, it will disappear. I got some supplies from HomePlus (the Korean version of Wal-Mart) and tonight, I received some gifts from Avalon (towels, forks, pots and pans, bowls, glasses, a knife and cutting board, spatulas, and some zip-lock containers. A nice deal and now i can begin to purchase some groceries.

The kids are great and I am having a lot of fun. At times, they can be quite chatty but as long as they are talking in English it is no big deal. This weekend, Katrina and I are planning a trip to see a buddy from the A.T. who is also in Korea so that should be fun and hopefully, I will have some great pictures. We are taking a train and it is about an hour and a half ride. Cost - about $10 one way. Hope everyone is doing well and following their dreams, whatever they may be...

(Korean BBQ)

(Out of one of the windows)

(View of Avalon from the street - 8th floor, blue, white, and gray flags)