Last week concluded my first semester as an English teacher and while I was sad to see some of my kids go (we all have our favorites), I was excited to get a new batch and mix up my routine a bit. I found out that I would be teaching for JA classes, the highest of the middle level, a GI class, the middle of the highest level, and AO, which is pretty much for the down right geniuses of Avalon. The first paper the students write for me in AO is essentially on Utilitarianism, a principle I didn't learn about until my freshman year of college. And, one of the students (it's a class of four) is in fourth grade. For this AO class students are required to complete their Reading Book, prepare an essay, and prepare for a debate on the topic of my choosing. This is all in addition to whatever else the Korean teacher might assign as well as the other foreign teacher.
I am a week into the new semester and so far, so good. The first week is usually the most difficult because the kids have to get used to your teaching style. Additionally, we have a new structure and procedure in each of our classrooms so the kids are taking some time adjusting to that. I got the first bonus of my entire life! I won't say how much it was but it was definitely a nice gesture and appreciated.
Last Friday night, since our Head Instructor was leaving as well as a teacher from the Middle School, we decided to do a night on the town. Needless to say, it was everything I expected it would be, which is why I have only done it once the three months I have been here. After work, Avalon took all the Elementary School teachers out for dinner and we got a few drinks. Then, a couple of us sat outside Family Mart and drank a few beers. Interesting fact - Korea has no law against open containers nor does it have any laws against public urination. After Family Mart we took a taxi to Suwon Station and headed first for the Lao Bar. Nice place, good music, free pool and darts. Beers were about $7 a piece. Then, we ended up going to the Tao Bar, a dance club. We paid $20 for VIP service which got the group two bottles of Jack, two bottles of champagne, two fruit trays, and two snack trays. It was what it was.
We left when the sun was rising and got back to the apartments around 7 am. On the way back, a co-worker and myself both realized we didn't have our keys so we decided to crash at Spenser's place. This was by far the highlight of the whole evening. We had to go back to Avalon at 9 am to look for our keys and Spenser had to leave for Seoul by 10 am to meet a friend. He wanted to sleep. We did not. Needless to say, Spenser got about 5 minutes of sleep. We did play a bit of a practical joke on him - moved his clock forward, moved a movie forward that he was watching, and told him it was close to 11 am when he woke up. He thought he missed his engagement. It was truly one of those moments "you had to be there."
Computer has not been officially put to rest but things are not looking good.
Skyping with my best-friend today, my 5 year old nephew, so that's exciting. I'm not sure what else is on the agenda for the weekend. Katrina and I might try to go to the Korean War Memorial or Museum at some point this weekend. Then again, we may not.
It has been a hectic two weeks. I will try to update a bit more often in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment