Click on the link to my facebook pictures....
South Korea Album #2
New Officetel
Itaewon
Seodaemun Prison
Dongnimmum/Independace Park/Hall
crappy motel in Nokbeon
Nowon
Yeouido Park
largest church in the world
Korea Album #1
Snowboarding in Korea
meeting other ESL teachers
Korean Money-Won(KRW)
Christmas Eve with coworkers
All of my pictures so far are up now!!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Day 104
March 31 09 Tuesday
I got a package today from my mom! It had grits, mac and cheese and marshmellow eggs! I always get the marshmellow eggs for Easter!
I'm having trouble with my IBK card. It doesn't work in ATMs. I called customer service and they said that it should work. I think I'm going to the bank soon to ask them about it. I was going today, but I found out that I could use my foreign card at the ATM at GS25. I'm probably going to be charged a fee from wachovia but oh well. I withdrew 200,000. I'll probably withdraw more so I'll have money for my trip to Japan. I'll just have to dip into my American account for now until I get my atm card problem straightened out-hopefully tomorrow-if Im in town. I'll transfer money home soon to replace the money I took out.
100,000 won = $73.96 usd
I was looking at the exchange rate today between the won and the yen(japanese). If I take 200,000won to exchange at todays rate I will only get 14,000 yen. Thats not going to get anything. My visa costs 6,000 yen. Then I'm left with 8,000 yen for transportation, hotel, and eating. The hotel alone could be near 8,000. I think I'll have to take more.
The won is back up again. It went down to 1344 and now its up to 1395. Its so depressing! When I transferred at the beginning of Feb. 1.4 million won I only got 1,000 usd when the rate was 1399. I don't know what it will be when I plan to transfer around April 13 or so.
I can't wait till pay day! I need a few new outfits and a chair.
I got a text message the other day (the 26th) from KT saying I owed 24,000 for their stupid 001 charge. I didn't receive a paper bill so I didn't know how to pay it. Yesterday I got another text. Its always in Korean so I have to get someone to translate. It said that the payment was due today (the 31st). I asked her where I could pay it. She said the post office.
I went out to eat lunch with the korean teachers after 3pm. I had dunkas or how ever its spelled. Its pork. We were done around 3:55. (school starts at 4:10). I asked her "do we have time?". She said "you have to pay it today". So I went. When we got there we were 2nd in line but the person in front of us took forever! We didn't get to the counter till around 4:20. Then when we get to the counter they said I couldn't use my debit card. It had to be cash. I didn't bring any cash. So we sat there for 20 minutes for nothing. And I was late to school. I'll have to go to the bank tomorrow and pay it. Plus i need to find out why my card doesnt work in the atm.
My first class wanted to know why I was late. I was 20 minutes late! I told them I was at the post office. Then I got them to do an activity. They wrote about their hobbies and drew pictures in class.
In my 2nd class there are 5 girls and 1 boy-12 and 13 year olds. The girls asked me to wear shorts to school. I told them I don't wear shorts. Then they wanted me to wear a dress. I told them I would wear a dress sometime. I just hate that I'll have to show my ghost white legs. I brought 2 pairs of panty hose and both of those have runs in them. I know I can't find my size hose around here. I think I'll wear one on Thursday if I'm here. In this class we just did the activity for the whole time. We were done with the unit anyway.
Its really busy around my building (I'm on the 2nd floor). Home Plus express just opened on the 1st floor so there are a lot of people there. I haven't went to check it out. If its open at 9:30 I might go look.
I got a package today from my mom! It had grits, mac and cheese and marshmellow eggs! I always get the marshmellow eggs for Easter!
I'm having trouble with my IBK card. It doesn't work in ATMs. I called customer service and they said that it should work. I think I'm going to the bank soon to ask them about it. I was going today, but I found out that I could use my foreign card at the ATM at GS25. I'm probably going to be charged a fee from wachovia but oh well. I withdrew 200,000. I'll probably withdraw more so I'll have money for my trip to Japan. I'll just have to dip into my American account for now until I get my atm card problem straightened out-hopefully tomorrow-if Im in town. I'll transfer money home soon to replace the money I took out.
100,000 won = $73.96 usd
I was looking at the exchange rate today between the won and the yen(japanese). If I take 200,000won to exchange at todays rate I will only get 14,000 yen. Thats not going to get anything. My visa costs 6,000 yen. Then I'm left with 8,000 yen for transportation, hotel, and eating. The hotel alone could be near 8,000. I think I'll have to take more.
The won is back up again. It went down to 1344 and now its up to 1395. Its so depressing! When I transferred at the beginning of Feb. 1.4 million won I only got 1,000 usd when the rate was 1399. I don't know what it will be when I plan to transfer around April 13 or so.
I can't wait till pay day! I need a few new outfits and a chair.
I got a text message the other day (the 26th) from KT saying I owed 24,000 for their stupid 001 charge. I didn't receive a paper bill so I didn't know how to pay it. Yesterday I got another text. Its always in Korean so I have to get someone to translate. It said that the payment was due today (the 31st). I asked her where I could pay it. She said the post office.
I went out to eat lunch with the korean teachers after 3pm. I had dunkas or how ever its spelled. Its pork. We were done around 3:55. (school starts at 4:10). I asked her "do we have time?". She said "you have to pay it today". So I went. When we got there we were 2nd in line but the person in front of us took forever! We didn't get to the counter till around 4:20. Then when we get to the counter they said I couldn't use my debit card. It had to be cash. I didn't bring any cash. So we sat there for 20 minutes for nothing. And I was late to school. I'll have to go to the bank tomorrow and pay it. Plus i need to find out why my card doesnt work in the atm.
My first class wanted to know why I was late. I was 20 minutes late! I told them I was at the post office. Then I got them to do an activity. They wrote about their hobbies and drew pictures in class.
In my 2nd class there are 5 girls and 1 boy-12 and 13 year olds. The girls asked me to wear shorts to school. I told them I don't wear shorts. Then they wanted me to wear a dress. I told them I would wear a dress sometime. I just hate that I'll have to show my ghost white legs. I brought 2 pairs of panty hose and both of those have runs in them. I know I can't find my size hose around here. I think I'll wear one on Thursday if I'm here. In this class we just did the activity for the whole time. We were done with the unit anyway.
Its really busy around my building (I'm on the 2nd floor). Home Plus express just opened on the 1st floor so there are a lot of people there. I haven't went to check it out. If its open at 9:30 I might go look.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Day 103....I want to touch you
Day 103 Monday March 30, 2009
My cough isn't as bad today. I think its moved to a more nonproductive cough. I don't cough that often either. Maybe I can finally get over this.
I just started my fifth week teaching at the new school. I'll be in South Korea for 48 more weeks. Teaching 46 weeks.
I was on the subway this morn and I usually stand up since I only have to go about 4 stops. A man sitting in the "special seats"(for the handicapped, elderly, with child, and pregnant) said Hello. Then he wanted me to come sit beside him. He knew English and he talked to me until his stop. He wanted to know what my job was, where I was from, etc. I told him I was only staying a year and he is trying to convince me to stay longer. There were some women sitting in front of us and when they got off they all came by and touched me. He told me that "they thought I was pretty and they wanted to touch me."haha.
Today I had to give my students a project. They have to write a few sentences about a topic. These will be laminated and put up to decorate the walls of the classroom. It took my first class forever to finish. Their topic was "Introduce Yourself". They dont know where they live so I just wrote a sentence on the board "I live in South Korea". I had to explain what "grade" in school meant. They don't know what grade they are in. Last week I assigned a writing assignment for the class. No one brought it today.
In my second class they had to introduce themselves. This class actually used the colored pencils I brought in. I still had to explain everything. I gave them a writing assignment last week and only one person turned it in. The writing project took almost all of class so we only covered one page of material.
In my 3rd class we also did the writing project. His was "introduce your school". I didn't have to explain anything to him. I just wrote some ideas on the board of what he could write about. I gave him a writing assignment last Monday and he still hasn't done it yet.
I don't know why but my check card for IBK doesn't work in the ATM. one of the other teachers told me about an ATM in Bulwang for IBK bank so I stopped on the way home. I tried numerous times, but nothing was happening. I know I put in the right password. I'll have to go to Nokbeon tomorrow and see what is wrong. I'll try calling the customer service number first. If that doesnt work then I'll just go to Nokbeon and withdraw the money I need.
Am I going to Japan this week? I don't know. I'll probably know at the last minute. That's the way things go around here. Mk called and said he's waiting on my visa. He's waiting on the confirmation number so I can go. I don't know when I'll be going.
My cough isn't as bad today. I think its moved to a more nonproductive cough. I don't cough that often either. Maybe I can finally get over this.
I just started my fifth week teaching at the new school. I'll be in South Korea for 48 more weeks. Teaching 46 weeks.
I was on the subway this morn and I usually stand up since I only have to go about 4 stops. A man sitting in the "special seats"(for the handicapped, elderly, with child, and pregnant) said Hello. Then he wanted me to come sit beside him. He knew English and he talked to me until his stop. He wanted to know what my job was, where I was from, etc. I told him I was only staying a year and he is trying to convince me to stay longer. There were some women sitting in front of us and when they got off they all came by and touched me. He told me that "they thought I was pretty and they wanted to touch me."haha.
Today I had to give my students a project. They have to write a few sentences about a topic. These will be laminated and put up to decorate the walls of the classroom. It took my first class forever to finish. Their topic was "Introduce Yourself". They dont know where they live so I just wrote a sentence on the board "I live in South Korea". I had to explain what "grade" in school meant. They don't know what grade they are in. Last week I assigned a writing assignment for the class. No one brought it today.
In my second class they had to introduce themselves. This class actually used the colored pencils I brought in. I still had to explain everything. I gave them a writing assignment last week and only one person turned it in. The writing project took almost all of class so we only covered one page of material.
In my 3rd class we also did the writing project. His was "introduce your school". I didn't have to explain anything to him. I just wrote some ideas on the board of what he could write about. I gave him a writing assignment last Monday and he still hasn't done it yet.
I don't know why but my check card for IBK doesn't work in the ATM. one of the other teachers told me about an ATM in Bulwang for IBK bank so I stopped on the way home. I tried numerous times, but nothing was happening. I know I put in the right password. I'll have to go to Nokbeon tomorrow and see what is wrong. I'll try calling the customer service number first. If that doesnt work then I'll just go to Nokbeon and withdraw the money I need.
Am I going to Japan this week? I don't know. I'll probably know at the last minute. That's the way things go around here. Mk called and said he's waiting on my visa. He's waiting on the confirmation number so I can go. I don't know when I'll be going.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Day 102..
Day 102 March 29, 2009 Sunday
I just found out via Facebook that one of my friends from back home just got married. That was quick. I guess when you meet the right one you just know. I don't think they dated long. They made their relationship official on Facebook in December of 2008. He just got engaged at the beginning of March. and now he got married in Vegas this weekend. He was one of my friends that I met through a mutual friend 5 1/2 years ago.
So yesterday I was searching google for home remedies for coughing. I prefer to let things heal naturally without medicine. Anyway I read that grapes are good for coughs. They work as an expectorant. Which is what I need since I had a very productive cough. I drank a ton of grape juice. Plus its good for you. Anyway I think its helping. I haven't coughed that much. I'm going to wait it out and see what happens. At least its a natural remedy that I can stand. I like grape juice. All the other remedies sounded nasty!
Grapes are one of the most effective home remedies for the treatment of a cough. Grapes tone up the lungs and act as an expectorant, relieving a simple cold and cough in a couple of days.
I watched a lot of movies yesterday. I only left the officetel once. That was to go to E-mart. I went to Mcdonalds and got some bananas and grapes. Yesterday/today I've watched:
"Step Up 2"-good movie. I like dancing movies.
"Tuesdays With Morrie"--good movie. I'll probably get around to reading the book someday.
"Fireproof"--good movie.
and two episodes of "How I Met Your Mother". I'm already on the 3rd season. Episode 5 will be the next one I watch.
I also downloaded "Blind Dating" and "The Five People You Meet in Heaven".
I have no plans for today. I need to rest so I can get rid of this cold.
I just found out via Facebook that one of my friends from back home just got married. That was quick. I guess when you meet the right one you just know. I don't think they dated long. They made their relationship official on Facebook in December of 2008. He just got engaged at the beginning of March. and now he got married in Vegas this weekend. He was one of my friends that I met through a mutual friend 5 1/2 years ago.
So yesterday I was searching google for home remedies for coughing. I prefer to let things heal naturally without medicine. Anyway I read that grapes are good for coughs. They work as an expectorant. Which is what I need since I had a very productive cough. I drank a ton of grape juice. Plus its good for you. Anyway I think its helping. I haven't coughed that much. I'm going to wait it out and see what happens. At least its a natural remedy that I can stand. I like grape juice. All the other remedies sounded nasty!
Grapes are one of the most effective home remedies for the treatment of a cough. Grapes tone up the lungs and act as an expectorant, relieving a simple cold and cough in a couple of days.
I watched a lot of movies yesterday. I only left the officetel once. That was to go to E-mart. I went to Mcdonalds and got some bananas and grapes. Yesterday/today I've watched:
"Step Up 2"-good movie. I like dancing movies.
"Tuesdays With Morrie"--good movie. I'll probably get around to reading the book someday.
"Fireproof"--good movie.
and two episodes of "How I Met Your Mother". I'm already on the 3rd season. Episode 5 will be the next one I watch.
I also downloaded "Blind Dating" and "The Five People You Meet in Heaven".
I have no plans for today. I need to rest so I can get rid of this cold.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Day 100...part 2
Saturday March 28
I just woke up! I went to bed around 5:00am. I was up late after watching a movie. I've been wanting to see "Fireproof" for a while. So I downloaded it and watched it. Good movie. It was a 2 hour movie that I didn't mind watching for that long. Normally I hate long movies but this one kept my attention. And It was a good wholesome movie that anyone could watch. They talk about God a lot in the movie.
I woke up at 3:20pm. I slept through the whole morning without any interruptions. I love sleeping in! I was having strange dreams.
Right before I woke up I remember having a dream where I was taking a walk and I really needed to pee. It was dark so I was thinking of going out in the woods, but there was a cemetary so I didn't want to go there. Across the street was this building where you could see bathrooms on the outside but the only way to the bathrooms was by going inside. Then I found out it was a courthouse and people were waiting for their trials. I stood in line and found out that they wouldnt let me just go to the bathroom and there was no way out without going through the courtroom. These other 2 girls made a dash through to see if they could make it out so I decided to make a run for it too. Then I got caught. IT was this giant room and there were people sitting around at dining tables. I told them I didn't know what this building was. I just really had to use the bathroom and I saw their stalls from the outside. They weren't going to let me go. I saw people I recognized there. did they work there or were they waiting for their trial? One of the "criminals" came by me and said "a nice smile and a nice dress..classy".haha. Anyway I woke up after that. I'm always having weird dreams, but its very neat. I think the whole dreaming process is very neat. I think there's always some hidden meaning to why you dream a particular thing.
When I woke up my shoulder hurt really bad and my back too. I hate korean beds! They are hard! I'm really hoping my mattress topper works!!
Mk called and said that the director was busy tonight so we wouldnt be meeting. Mk asked me on Monday if I could meet on Saturday and now the director is busy. Then he asked about Sunday. Then I had the urge to let out one of my nasty coughs. Mk said he would tell the director I was sick. I have a bad cough. So now we are meeting next weekend. I wonder if the director will be busy then and we will just kept scheduling it for the next weekend. oh my.
Maybe I should go to the pharmacy today.
I just woke up! I went to bed around 5:00am. I was up late after watching a movie. I've been wanting to see "Fireproof" for a while. So I downloaded it and watched it. Good movie. It was a 2 hour movie that I didn't mind watching for that long. Normally I hate long movies but this one kept my attention. And It was a good wholesome movie that anyone could watch. They talk about God a lot in the movie.
I woke up at 3:20pm. I slept through the whole morning without any interruptions. I love sleeping in! I was having strange dreams.
Right before I woke up I remember having a dream where I was taking a walk and I really needed to pee. It was dark so I was thinking of going out in the woods, but there was a cemetary so I didn't want to go there. Across the street was this building where you could see bathrooms on the outside but the only way to the bathrooms was by going inside. Then I found out it was a courthouse and people were waiting for their trials. I stood in line and found out that they wouldnt let me just go to the bathroom and there was no way out without going through the courtroom. These other 2 girls made a dash through to see if they could make it out so I decided to make a run for it too. Then I got caught. IT was this giant room and there were people sitting around at dining tables. I told them I didn't know what this building was. I just really had to use the bathroom and I saw their stalls from the outside. They weren't going to let me go. I saw people I recognized there. did they work there or were they waiting for their trial? One of the "criminals" came by me and said "a nice smile and a nice dress..classy".haha. Anyway I woke up after that. I'm always having weird dreams, but its very neat. I think the whole dreaming process is very neat. I think there's always some hidden meaning to why you dream a particular thing.
When I woke up my shoulder hurt really bad and my back too. I hate korean beds! They are hard! I'm really hoping my mattress topper works!!
Mk called and said that the director was busy tonight so we wouldnt be meeting. Mk asked me on Monday if I could meet on Saturday and now the director is busy. Then he asked about Sunday. Then I had the urge to let out one of my nasty coughs. Mk said he would tell the director I was sick. I have a bad cough. So now we are meeting next weekend. I wonder if the director will be busy then and we will just kept scheduling it for the next weekend. oh my.
Maybe I should go to the pharmacy today.
day 101....
march 28 2009 saturday
Right now I am eating mac and cheese! yum! It was in my package from mom!! I could live off of Kraft-Mac and cheese! Its ranked up there with peanut butter (extra crunchy) and Grits. I can't live without mac and cheese, peanut butter, and grits.
If you ever want to send me something send kraft mac and cheese (the kind that you add milk to-tall skinny box) or instant grits (cheese or butter flavor).haha..
Mk was suppose to call me last night and tell me when and where the director wants to meet for lunch. He never called. I'll be staying up all night and sleeping all day. And if he calls and wants to do something Sunday I'll say no.
I got an email that my mattress topper was shipped on Thursday. I should get it within 4-7 days. I hope it comes before I leave for Japan. Maybe it will be here Monday or Tuesday along with another package from home.
I have a terrible cough. I think I need to get someone to go with me to the pharmacy. I need to check with my school to see if I have medical insurance yet. I dont have a medical card yet. I might need to go to the hospital.
I might look into getting a maid. I read that maids in Seoul start at 10,000 won an hour. That's great. Less than 10 bucks an hour to clean my officetel. I'd probably have them come once a week. I don't think it would take long to clean my officetel. I don't make a mess. I just don't like to clean. The only thing they'd actually have to do is sweep/mop the floor and clean the bathroom. The rest of my place is clean. Some of them even do laundry, but I prefer to do my own laundry.
Right now I am eating mac and cheese! yum! It was in my package from mom!! I could live off of Kraft-Mac and cheese! Its ranked up there with peanut butter (extra crunchy) and Grits. I can't live without mac and cheese, peanut butter, and grits.
If you ever want to send me something send kraft mac and cheese (the kind that you add milk to-tall skinny box) or instant grits (cheese or butter flavor).haha..
Mk was suppose to call me last night and tell me when and where the director wants to meet for lunch. He never called. I'll be staying up all night and sleeping all day. And if he calls and wants to do something Sunday I'll say no.
I got an email that my mattress topper was shipped on Thursday. I should get it within 4-7 days. I hope it comes before I leave for Japan. Maybe it will be here Monday or Tuesday along with another package from home.
I have a terrible cough. I think I need to get someone to go with me to the pharmacy. I need to check with my school to see if I have medical insurance yet. I dont have a medical card yet. I might need to go to the hospital.
I might look into getting a maid. I read that maids in Seoul start at 10,000 won an hour. That's great. Less than 10 bucks an hour to clean my officetel. I'd probably have them come once a week. I don't think it would take long to clean my officetel. I don't make a mess. I just don't like to clean. The only thing they'd actually have to do is sweep/mop the floor and clean the bathroom. The rest of my place is clean. Some of them even do laundry, but I prefer to do my own laundry.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Day 100
Day 100 Friday March 27,2009
The won is down to 1333 today. 1333 won equals $1 usd. Thats picking up a little strength. I hope it keeps going down. I get paid in 2 weeks. I can go ahead and make a transfer home if it continues, but you never know. It could be 1400 tomorrow.
I brought some peeps to work. I'm going to let my coworkers try them.
I've got a cough that comes and goes. Sometimes I cough a lot and sometimes I just cough a little. Somedays its really bad.(maybe the yellow dust is making me sick. I've read a lot of posts about people being sick because of it)or this stupid cold spring weather. I really don't want to go to the hospital. I don't like medicine so I haven't been taking any. I took dayquil yesterday but it didnt really help.
I might be in Japan next week. I have to do a visa run to get a new visa. And I have to go alone. scary. oh my. mk said I might be going to Fukuoka, Japan on April 1st and 2nd, but I don't know for sure. I have to make sure he doesn't schedule my flight for too early in the morning. Its going to take time to get there by subway and I want to be there early. I'm going to be so confused! I'll have to do a lot of research on how to find everything and what all i need to bring. I think I have to pay for one night in a hotel. I might try to find a love motel.haha. They are cheaper than hotels and have more amenties. They are for couples but I want to check one out. I read about one in Fukuoka on dave's esl. Chapel Coconuts. I looked at the rooms on their website last night. I might see if its anywhere near where I need to be.
After I get my new visa I need to send my passport off to be renewed.
I got a package from home today. They delivered it to my door at noon. I had to sign for it. The man kept saying something to me in Korean but I don't know what he said. It contained all sorts of goodies from home. My mom just shipped it last week so it got here quick. It only took a week. All of the packages she's sent have taken a few days longer. What did I get in my package? Peeps, all sorts of candy, macaroni and cheese!, grits!, shampoo and body wash that I like but don't know where to find here.
Only 3 classes today. I dont think I'll get anything accomplished in my lower level classes. I have to give them 2 tests and an essay. Yesterday it took almost all class for my higher level so it will take longer for lower levels.
I having lunch with the director tomorrow in the afternoon. I'll find out tonight what time and where. mk called me today to tell me about it. When he called it sounded like he said he missed me(hasn't seen me in a week). I just said okay. (i prefer to see him less often).
Its four weeks into the new semester and I have a new student. Today his class was taking tests so he just sat around. I didn't have anything for him to do. I couldn't give him the tests. He hasn't learned anything in my class yet. Since it was his first clas I didn't assign him an essay. I assigned the essay in my 1st class. I don't know what kind of essays I will get. They don't even know how to write their age or what grade they are in school. I think the test was too hard for them. I didn't know how to make it any easier.
In my 2nd class they had a hard time with the test also. It took all class to do two tests and explain the answers. I didn't have enough time to go into much detail about how to do their essay. There were 3 boys sitting beside each other in class. I made the one in the middle move so they wouldn't be so close together during the test. He wanted to sit in the front of the room facing the class right beside where I stand to teach the class. I let him sit there. Then the other 2 boys moved closer to each other and I made them skip a desk between them so they couldn't cheat.
In both classes I had to explain the directions to the writing tests multiple times and they stil didn't understand. Giving writing tests to levels 2 and 3 is not good. If they don't have a writing class then why give them a writing test? No one is teaching them how to write. I only teach speaking for the lower levels.
I still have students who won't turn in their essays on time. The guy that said he was going to bring it today didnt bring his. Another guy didn't bring his. One of my students in my last class today did poorly on his test. I explained the directions but he was asking me questions about how to spell things that weren't on the test. I told him to make a sentence with the words on the test not his own words. He still wrote his own sentences. He made a 10 on the test. He got 4 out of 10 points on his test for speaking class. I gave them a word choice box and he still wrote down things that weren't in the word choice box.
The won is down to 1333 today. 1333 won equals $1 usd. Thats picking up a little strength. I hope it keeps going down. I get paid in 2 weeks. I can go ahead and make a transfer home if it continues, but you never know. It could be 1400 tomorrow.
I brought some peeps to work. I'm going to let my coworkers try them.
I've got a cough that comes and goes. Sometimes I cough a lot and sometimes I just cough a little. Somedays its really bad.(maybe the yellow dust is making me sick. I've read a lot of posts about people being sick because of it)or this stupid cold spring weather. I really don't want to go to the hospital. I don't like medicine so I haven't been taking any. I took dayquil yesterday but it didnt really help.
I might be in Japan next week. I have to do a visa run to get a new visa. And I have to go alone. scary. oh my. mk said I might be going to Fukuoka, Japan on April 1st and 2nd, but I don't know for sure. I have to make sure he doesn't schedule my flight for too early in the morning. Its going to take time to get there by subway and I want to be there early. I'm going to be so confused! I'll have to do a lot of research on how to find everything and what all i need to bring. I think I have to pay for one night in a hotel. I might try to find a love motel.haha. They are cheaper than hotels and have more amenties. They are for couples but I want to check one out. I read about one in Fukuoka on dave's esl. Chapel Coconuts. I looked at the rooms on their website last night. I might see if its anywhere near where I need to be.
After I get my new visa I need to send my passport off to be renewed.
I got a package from home today. They delivered it to my door at noon. I had to sign for it. The man kept saying something to me in Korean but I don't know what he said. It contained all sorts of goodies from home. My mom just shipped it last week so it got here quick. It only took a week. All of the packages she's sent have taken a few days longer. What did I get in my package? Peeps, all sorts of candy, macaroni and cheese!, grits!, shampoo and body wash that I like but don't know where to find here.
Only 3 classes today. I dont think I'll get anything accomplished in my lower level classes. I have to give them 2 tests and an essay. Yesterday it took almost all class for my higher level so it will take longer for lower levels.
I having lunch with the director tomorrow in the afternoon. I'll find out tonight what time and where. mk called me today to tell me about it. When he called it sounded like he said he missed me(hasn't seen me in a week). I just said okay. (i prefer to see him less often).
Its four weeks into the new semester and I have a new student. Today his class was taking tests so he just sat around. I didn't have anything for him to do. I couldn't give him the tests. He hasn't learned anything in my class yet. Since it was his first clas I didn't assign him an essay. I assigned the essay in my 1st class. I don't know what kind of essays I will get. They don't even know how to write their age or what grade they are in school. I think the test was too hard for them. I didn't know how to make it any easier.
In my 2nd class they had a hard time with the test also. It took all class to do two tests and explain the answers. I didn't have enough time to go into much detail about how to do their essay. There were 3 boys sitting beside each other in class. I made the one in the middle move so they wouldn't be so close together during the test. He wanted to sit in the front of the room facing the class right beside where I stand to teach the class. I let him sit there. Then the other 2 boys moved closer to each other and I made them skip a desk between them so they couldn't cheat.
In both classes I had to explain the directions to the writing tests multiple times and they stil didn't understand. Giving writing tests to levels 2 and 3 is not good. If they don't have a writing class then why give them a writing test? No one is teaching them how to write. I only teach speaking for the lower levels.
I still have students who won't turn in their essays on time. The guy that said he was going to bring it today didnt bring his. Another guy didn't bring his. One of my students in my last class today did poorly on his test. I explained the directions but he was asking me questions about how to spell things that weren't on the test. I told him to make a sentence with the words on the test not his own words. He still wrote his own sentences. He made a 10 on the test. He got 4 out of 10 points on his test for speaking class. I gave them a word choice box and he still wrote down things that weren't in the word choice box.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Day 99.....didn't get anything accomplished...
March 26, 2009 Thursday
So today I had to give 2 tests and assign essays in all my classes. Other than that we didn't get anything accomplished. We did get a few pages done in my writing class. I let one of my classes play a game because we were already ahead of schedule anyway. We played 3,6,9 and simon says. My other class wanted to play a game but we didn't have time. The tests and essay assigning took up the whole class.
I got the response that I thought I'd get from some of my classes. What's an essay? I didn't have time to go into too much detail. In one class I was giving them sample paragraphs and one of the boys was copying what I wrote. I told him to write about himself, not copy what I wrote.
Some of my students did really good on the tests. Others didn't do so good. I had to explain the directions a lot of times. That's why I didnt want to give a writing test to classes that I don't teach writing. I don't know what to put on the test. My format was writing a sentence with a mistake. They had to find the mistake and rewrite the sentence. Another part of the test was putting words into a sentence. The words were in the wrong order. They had to put them in order to make a sentence.
At least I am finished making tests for speaking and writing. I have to actually make the test. This week I had to make 18 different tests and come up with 5 different essay topics. I just have to give 2 tests in 3 classes tomorrow.
I wish there were pre made tests like at my old school. I wouldn't have to worry about making my own tests every week.
I have to assign essays to my 2 lowest levels. I'm scared to see what kind of essays I will get from levels 2-6 since I don't teach them writing and I got the response "What's an essay?" I assigned very short essays for my lower level classes. My higher level classes write a little bit more. I'm going to have a lot of correcting to do next week!
Some of my students don't turn in their essays on time. I ask them for their essays and they said they left them at home. Same problems as before. I tell them its due on Tuesday and Tuesday comes around and they don't bring it.
In my last class some of my students were asking me about korean foods that I like. One of the boys in the class told me he likes Kimchi and Soju. (Soju is an alcoholic drink). I asked him "you drink soju?". He didn't answer but kept saying how much he liked it. haha. He's 13 years old. Who is letting him drink soju?
North Korea is in the news again. They have their communications satelite/rocket/missle (whatever the heck it is) in place and they will launch it somewhere between April 4-8.
So today I had to give 2 tests and assign essays in all my classes. Other than that we didn't get anything accomplished. We did get a few pages done in my writing class. I let one of my classes play a game because we were already ahead of schedule anyway. We played 3,6,9 and simon says. My other class wanted to play a game but we didn't have time. The tests and essay assigning took up the whole class.
I got the response that I thought I'd get from some of my classes. What's an essay? I didn't have time to go into too much detail. In one class I was giving them sample paragraphs and one of the boys was copying what I wrote. I told him to write about himself, not copy what I wrote.
Some of my students did really good on the tests. Others didn't do so good. I had to explain the directions a lot of times. That's why I didnt want to give a writing test to classes that I don't teach writing. I don't know what to put on the test. My format was writing a sentence with a mistake. They had to find the mistake and rewrite the sentence. Another part of the test was putting words into a sentence. The words were in the wrong order. They had to put them in order to make a sentence.
At least I am finished making tests for speaking and writing. I have to actually make the test. This week I had to make 18 different tests and come up with 5 different essay topics. I just have to give 2 tests in 3 classes tomorrow.
I wish there were pre made tests like at my old school. I wouldn't have to worry about making my own tests every week.
I have to assign essays to my 2 lowest levels. I'm scared to see what kind of essays I will get from levels 2-6 since I don't teach them writing and I got the response "What's an essay?" I assigned very short essays for my lower level classes. My higher level classes write a little bit more. I'm going to have a lot of correcting to do next week!
Some of my students don't turn in their essays on time. I ask them for their essays and they said they left them at home. Same problems as before. I tell them its due on Tuesday and Tuesday comes around and they don't bring it.
In my last class some of my students were asking me about korean foods that I like. One of the boys in the class told me he likes Kimchi and Soju. (Soju is an alcoholic drink). I asked him "you drink soju?". He didn't answer but kept saying how much he liked it. haha. He's 13 years old. Who is letting him drink soju?
North Korea is in the news again. They have their communications satelite/rocket/missle (whatever the heck it is) in place and they will launch it somewhere between April 4-8.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Day 98...im tired of making so many tests!!
March 25,2009 Wednesday
Its really cold. This is not Spring weather! Today the high was 48 and the low was 28. That's winter weather!! The highest temp all week might be 55 degrees. When is it going to hit at least the 60 degree mark??
I only have 2 classes today.
I have been working non-stop for 3 hours making speaking tests and writing tests for all of my 9 classes. I've been using the Korean teacher's computer while she is in class. I've also had to come up with essay topics for my 5 levels that I don't teach writing to. I'm basicially going to give the other classes a topic that I used in another class. Something thats appropriate for their level. Am I suppose to take up class time to explain how to write an essay? I'm printing out so much stuff! I don't know why we have to assign so much. We are using a ton of paper!
I've been seeing signs up for Seoul Fashion week. They just posted signs in the subway so I'll write down the information. It starts tomorrow. I might try to see if I can go to one or two runway shows on Sunday. I've never been to one before so it should be neat. Tickets are only 7,000 won to each runway show. I might go to 2 shows. The ticket site isn't in English so I'll have to get someone to help me to make sure I dont buy the wrong ticket!
Classes were good today. In my highest level class I gave him a test for speaking class and a test for writing. He made a perfect score on both. He didn't turn in his essay today.
In my 2nd class 2 of my students were absent. One of the remaining three didn't turn in his essay. He wants to add a photo to the essay. Getting all creative on me. I told them they could draw a picture of their family if they wanted to, but he wants to put an actual picture. That should be cool. I noticed him sucking his thumb during class. He's the class clown of the class. Today he was putting his shirt over his head so you couldn't see his face. He was also rubbing a candy wrapper on his shirt and then it was sticking to his hand and it stuck to the wall. He also stuck it to a girls shirt.
Tomorrow is another busy day. I have to teach 3 speaking classes and 2 writing classes. I have to give 2 tests in all my classes-one for speaking and one for writing. I have to assign an essay for 3 of my classes and explain the topic to the kids since I don't teach them writing. Take up a final draft in 1 class. And assign a final draft in the other class.
Its really cold. This is not Spring weather! Today the high was 48 and the low was 28. That's winter weather!! The highest temp all week might be 55 degrees. When is it going to hit at least the 60 degree mark??
I only have 2 classes today.
I have been working non-stop for 3 hours making speaking tests and writing tests for all of my 9 classes. I've been using the Korean teacher's computer while she is in class. I've also had to come up with essay topics for my 5 levels that I don't teach writing to. I'm basicially going to give the other classes a topic that I used in another class. Something thats appropriate for their level. Am I suppose to take up class time to explain how to write an essay? I'm printing out so much stuff! I don't know why we have to assign so much. We are using a ton of paper!
I've been seeing signs up for Seoul Fashion week. They just posted signs in the subway so I'll write down the information. It starts tomorrow. I might try to see if I can go to one or two runway shows on Sunday. I've never been to one before so it should be neat. Tickets are only 7,000 won to each runway show. I might go to 2 shows. The ticket site isn't in English so I'll have to get someone to help me to make sure I dont buy the wrong ticket!
Classes were good today. In my highest level class I gave him a test for speaking class and a test for writing. He made a perfect score on both. He didn't turn in his essay today.
In my 2nd class 2 of my students were absent. One of the remaining three didn't turn in his essay. He wants to add a photo to the essay. Getting all creative on me. I told them they could draw a picture of their family if they wanted to, but he wants to put an actual picture. That should be cool. I noticed him sucking his thumb during class. He's the class clown of the class. Today he was putting his shirt over his head so you couldn't see his face. He was also rubbing a candy wrapper on his shirt and then it was sticking to his hand and it stuck to the wall. He also stuck it to a girls shirt.
Tomorrow is another busy day. I have to teach 3 speaking classes and 2 writing classes. I have to give 2 tests in all my classes-one for speaking and one for writing. I have to assign an essay for 3 of my classes and explain the topic to the kids since I don't teach them writing. Take up a final draft in 1 class. And assign a final draft in the other class.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Day 97 busy day
March 24 2009 Tuesday
Today is my busy day. I have 5 classes. Tomorrow is my easy day. only 2 classes and I dont start till 7:10.
I have a ton of work to do this week. I have to give my regular "tests" in my speaking classes. I have to make 9 of those. I've made 3 so far.
I also have to make monthly writing tests for 9 classes. I've got 6 of those made so far. I've got them typed up on word. I wonder if I have to input them into the format to make them look like they were made from the school with the logo. I only teach writing to my 4 highest levels, but I have to make a test for all 9 levels. I don't know what I should put on the writing tests for the lower levels but no one is watching so I can do whatever I want. It won't be too hard.
I also have to assign essays and correct mistakes on essays for all of my classes. They have to do one every month. I've already assigned an essay to my 4 highest classes. Now I have to assign one to my lowest levels. I dont know what to make them write about. I guess I will just make them write about something we have been learning about in our book. If I had trouble teaching writing to level 7 just think about what kind of essays I'm going to get from level 2 and 3. I'm only going to make them write a short essay with about 2 paragraphs.
I hate that the lessons are so short in my classes. In one class I used workbook exercises today so I wouldn't get too far ahead. In my 2nd class I'm further than I should be. I actually thingk I might be a little behind in my higher level classes. They have one day of writing and one day of speaking. The lower levels have 2 days a week of speaking and the lessons are really short.
All my classes were good today. The cd player didn't work in my 2nd class so we couldn't listen to the song so we just read it. My level 4 class got to draw today. We were learning about a few types of food. One of the exercises was to draw their lunch. Then they had to ask their classmates if they had a particular food. "Do you have a cookie?" "No, I don't" etc. My level 7 class is crazy! In one unit we were talking about illnesses like fever, headache, broken leg, etc. There was an exercise in the book that showed a picture of a boy in bed with a broken leg and a friend was visiting. Then they had to draw themselves visiting someone who had one of the illnesses we talked about in class. They had to say This is me and _____. He/she has a ________. One guy said This is me and____. He has a headache. THen they wanted to look at each other's pictures. I looked at his picture. The boy had a headache because he beat him in the head with a baseball bat. oh my. They love listening to the songs because they are so corny. They asked to listen to the song. I thought one of the boys asked me to play it again. He was saying "don't play it again."haha. I'll play it again when we get to that section in the book.
So so much work!I've written out most of my tests, but now I have to put them into the school's format. THey have a form I have to use. Thats going to take forever. And I have to use someone elses computer since I don't have one. I'll do it while she is in class tomorrow. I hate not having my own computer. I hate having to take my own! I still have to use hers though because mine wont connect to the network to connect to the printer.
Its really hard communicating with someone who doesn't speak much English. The girl that I met 2 weeks ago sends me text messages a lot. I can't understand some of them. I guess mk gave her my number because I didn't give it to her. Today I got one that said "how r u getting on in ur buth?" (What in the heck does that say?) I wrote her back and said "I dont understand". And "Handsome is that handsome does" (Huh?)
I finally got some trash bags. Their trash system over here is complicated. You can't just go to Wal-mart and pick up a roll of glad bags. You can only get bags that are made for your district (a dong). Our bags are orange. If you put out a bag that doesn't belong to your district they won't pick it up. I told mk that I went to the store and couldnt find any. Well they keep them behind the counter so you can't see them. I asked him where do I find them. He told me to go in the (KOREAN) store and ask (in ENGLISH). Yeah I don't think that will work. I asked my Korean co-teacher to give me the korean word so I could ask. So I went to GS25 and asked with the korean word. And the girl at the counter asked me all kinds of stuff in Korean. I don't have a clue. You can't pay with your check card. I just happened to have 4,000 won in my backpack. I got 10 20 Liter bags for 4,000 won. Now I have to find out where to put them. Mk told me about a parking lot. I don't know where this parking lot is.
Today is my busy day. I have 5 classes. Tomorrow is my easy day. only 2 classes and I dont start till 7:10.
I have a ton of work to do this week. I have to give my regular "tests" in my speaking classes. I have to make 9 of those. I've made 3 so far.
I also have to make monthly writing tests for 9 classes. I've got 6 of those made so far. I've got them typed up on word. I wonder if I have to input them into the format to make them look like they were made from the school with the logo. I only teach writing to my 4 highest levels, but I have to make a test for all 9 levels. I don't know what I should put on the writing tests for the lower levels but no one is watching so I can do whatever I want. It won't be too hard.
I also have to assign essays and correct mistakes on essays for all of my classes. They have to do one every month. I've already assigned an essay to my 4 highest classes. Now I have to assign one to my lowest levels. I dont know what to make them write about. I guess I will just make them write about something we have been learning about in our book. If I had trouble teaching writing to level 7 just think about what kind of essays I'm going to get from level 2 and 3. I'm only going to make them write a short essay with about 2 paragraphs.
I hate that the lessons are so short in my classes. In one class I used workbook exercises today so I wouldn't get too far ahead. In my 2nd class I'm further than I should be. I actually thingk I might be a little behind in my higher level classes. They have one day of writing and one day of speaking. The lower levels have 2 days a week of speaking and the lessons are really short.
All my classes were good today. The cd player didn't work in my 2nd class so we couldn't listen to the song so we just read it. My level 4 class got to draw today. We were learning about a few types of food. One of the exercises was to draw their lunch. Then they had to ask their classmates if they had a particular food. "Do you have a cookie?" "No, I don't" etc. My level 7 class is crazy! In one unit we were talking about illnesses like fever, headache, broken leg, etc. There was an exercise in the book that showed a picture of a boy in bed with a broken leg and a friend was visiting. Then they had to draw themselves visiting someone who had one of the illnesses we talked about in class. They had to say This is me and _____. He/she has a ________. One guy said This is me and____. He has a headache. THen they wanted to look at each other's pictures. I looked at his picture. The boy had a headache because he beat him in the head with a baseball bat. oh my. They love listening to the songs because they are so corny. They asked to listen to the song. I thought one of the boys asked me to play it again. He was saying "don't play it again."haha. I'll play it again when we get to that section in the book.
So so much work!I've written out most of my tests, but now I have to put them into the school's format. THey have a form I have to use. Thats going to take forever. And I have to use someone elses computer since I don't have one. I'll do it while she is in class tomorrow. I hate not having my own computer. I hate having to take my own! I still have to use hers though because mine wont connect to the network to connect to the printer.
Its really hard communicating with someone who doesn't speak much English. The girl that I met 2 weeks ago sends me text messages a lot. I can't understand some of them. I guess mk gave her my number because I didn't give it to her. Today I got one that said "how r u getting on in ur buth?" (What in the heck does that say?) I wrote her back and said "I dont understand". And "Handsome is that handsome does" (Huh?)
I finally got some trash bags. Their trash system over here is complicated. You can't just go to Wal-mart and pick up a roll of glad bags. You can only get bags that are made for your district (a dong). Our bags are orange. If you put out a bag that doesn't belong to your district they won't pick it up. I told mk that I went to the store and couldnt find any. Well they keep them behind the counter so you can't see them. I asked him where do I find them. He told me to go in the (KOREAN) store and ask (in ENGLISH). Yeah I don't think that will work. I asked my Korean co-teacher to give me the korean word so I could ask. So I went to GS25 and asked with the korean word. And the girl at the counter asked me all kinds of stuff in Korean. I don't have a clue. You can't pay with your check card. I just happened to have 4,000 won in my backpack. I got 10 20 Liter bags for 4,000 won. Now I have to find out where to put them. Mk told me about a parking lot. I don't know where this parking lot is.
World's cheapest car....
If the won keeps tanking this is the only car I'll be able to afford. (Its being made in India..it doesn't meet US safety standards) $2,000
its an ugly car! How does it hold 5 people? 5 children? I have a mid-size and It can hold 5 normal size people. This is like a subcompact!
Yahoo news article: World's Cheapest Car
No radio
No Power steering
No air conditioner
only goes about 65mph
no electric windows
one windshield wiper
its an ugly car! How does it hold 5 people? 5 children? I have a mid-size and It can hold 5 normal size people. This is like a subcompact!
Yahoo news article: World's Cheapest Car
No radio
No Power steering
No air conditioner
only goes about 65mph
no electric windows
one windshield wiper
pictures.....more coming soon
Here are some of the albums that I have uploaded to photobucket-the link will take you to the album slideshow: (later I'll be switching to picassa and uploading straight to the blog)
Just click on the link
Avalon Gifts from Students
Avalon Coworkers
Avalon Winter 09 Students
Changgyeonggung Palace
First Apartment in South Korea
Han River South Korea
Jogyesa Buddhist Temple
Just click on the link
Avalon Gifts from Students
Avalon Coworkers
Avalon Winter 09 Students
Changgyeonggung Palace
First Apartment in South Korea
Han River South Korea
Jogyesa Buddhist Temple
Monday, March 23, 2009
Day 96 back to work after a relaxing weekend
March 23, 2009 Monday
Mk called today. The director wants to meet next Saturday in the evening. He didn't say why they didn't want to go yesterday.
I did have a relaxing weekend. Seriously I only left the aptartment twice and that was to go to Mcdonalds for dinner. I only ate one meal on both days. Its weird how on the weekends I can get by with only eating one meal a day. Other days I have 2 meals and sometimes a snack. I got tons of rest. I slept almost 9 hours one day and almost 12 hours the other day.
I checked my bank account and my refund check from taxes is in there. So I did some research on the internet to buy a mattress topper using my American account. I searched a lot of sites 95% of them didn't ship overseas. Ones that did costed over $100 plus about 80 for shipping. I found one at JCPenney for $45.00. The shipping costed more than the mattress topper. oh well. It will be worth the investment. The shipping was $95 for express which will be here in a week. I could have gotten it for $44 but it would take 2-4 weeks. I didnt want to wait that long. Now all my packages should be coming around the same time next week. So I paid $144 usd for a mattress topper. I'm glad I had that refund money.
I have 3 classes today. I'm done at 7:05 but I have to stay till 9:30pm.
1st class went good. 2 of my students were late. We just reviewed the unit the whole class time.
2nd class wasn't as good. 2 of my students were very late-about 10 minutes. The other 2 students were worried. They went out and told the teacher that 2 students were not in class. She went to find the boys. I told them they need to be in their seat at 5pm. Then they were misbehaving. 2 of them were talking during class and I had to beg them to do their work. They were asking me how to spell 'shut up'. they said "do you spell shut up 'sheet up' I said no. I didn't tell them how to spell it. I told them to use 'be quiet' because shut up wasn't nice. I think one of them said a curse word today. I'm not sure. The girl in the class told on the boys who were being mean and one of the Korean teachers scolded them. They said they wouldn't do it again.
3rd class was good. I only have one student and he is in the highes level. He always gets the answers right. I taught him writing today. I gave him an essay assignment so I'll see where he stands in terms of being able to write an essay. I asked him to write about an after school activity. I gave him a guide to help him with knowing what to write about.
I was upset today. I left a comment on a friend's wall and he took it the wrong way and sent me a mean email about how I was judging him and trying to tell him how to live. I didn't mean anything by the comment. I was seriously trying to hold back the tears at work while I was reading the email.
Mk called today. The director wants to meet next Saturday in the evening. He didn't say why they didn't want to go yesterday.
I did have a relaxing weekend. Seriously I only left the aptartment twice and that was to go to Mcdonalds for dinner. I only ate one meal on both days. Its weird how on the weekends I can get by with only eating one meal a day. Other days I have 2 meals and sometimes a snack. I got tons of rest. I slept almost 9 hours one day and almost 12 hours the other day.
I checked my bank account and my refund check from taxes is in there. So I did some research on the internet to buy a mattress topper using my American account. I searched a lot of sites 95% of them didn't ship overseas. Ones that did costed over $100 plus about 80 for shipping. I found one at JCPenney for $45.00. The shipping costed more than the mattress topper. oh well. It will be worth the investment. The shipping was $95 for express which will be here in a week. I could have gotten it for $44 but it would take 2-4 weeks. I didnt want to wait that long. Now all my packages should be coming around the same time next week. So I paid $144 usd for a mattress topper. I'm glad I had that refund money.
I have 3 classes today. I'm done at 7:05 but I have to stay till 9:30pm.
1st class went good. 2 of my students were late. We just reviewed the unit the whole class time.
2nd class wasn't as good. 2 of my students were very late-about 10 minutes. The other 2 students were worried. They went out and told the teacher that 2 students were not in class. She went to find the boys. I told them they need to be in their seat at 5pm. Then they were misbehaving. 2 of them were talking during class and I had to beg them to do their work. They were asking me how to spell 'shut up'. they said "do you spell shut up 'sheet up' I said no. I didn't tell them how to spell it. I told them to use 'be quiet' because shut up wasn't nice. I think one of them said a curse word today. I'm not sure. The girl in the class told on the boys who were being mean and one of the Korean teachers scolded them. They said they wouldn't do it again.
3rd class was good. I only have one student and he is in the highes level. He always gets the answers right. I taught him writing today. I gave him an essay assignment so I'll see where he stands in terms of being able to write an essay. I asked him to write about an after school activity. I gave him a guide to help him with knowing what to write about.
I was upset today. I left a comment on a friend's wall and he took it the wrong way and sent me a mean email about how I was judging him and trying to tell him how to live. I didn't mean anything by the comment. I was seriously trying to hold back the tears at work while I was reading the email.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
new blog picture
I really like my new blog picture.
Its overlooking the Han River in Seoul. The picture was taken from the roof of TechnoMart. TechnoMart is a huge electronics store. My camera has a great zoom. Pretty good detail for a 3x optical 10xdigital.
In the picture you can see how crowded everything is. There are tons of buildings in the background. Probably mostly apartments/businesses. Over here there are tons of businesses in one building-hagwons, gyms, restuarants,stores, pc cafes, photo studios-all of those could be in one large building with many floors. Almost everyone lives in apartments. They arent little apartment builings like the USA in little communities. They are just huge buildings that are everywhere. My officetel has 17 floors.(officetel=hotel + office)
South Korea is way overpopulated. Land area is 38,000 sq miles. There is a population of @49,540,367. There is a population density of 1,274 people per sq mile. That's 49,000,000 people living in an area thats almost half the size of florida.
I live in Seoul which has a land area of 233 sq miles. Its one of the largest cities in the world by population. In Seoul there is a population of 10,000,000(the metropolitan city)(there's 24,000,000 if you include the National capital area). Thats a population density of 44,000 people per sq mile. As a comparison-its smaller than Charlotte, NC. Could you imagine 10,000,000 people living in Charlotte??
Its overlooking the Han River in Seoul. The picture was taken from the roof of TechnoMart. TechnoMart is a huge electronics store. My camera has a great zoom. Pretty good detail for a 3x optical 10xdigital.
In the picture you can see how crowded everything is. There are tons of buildings in the background. Probably mostly apartments/businesses. Over here there are tons of businesses in one building-hagwons, gyms, restuarants,stores, pc cafes, photo studios-all of those could be in one large building with many floors. Almost everyone lives in apartments. They arent little apartment builings like the USA in little communities. They are just huge buildings that are everywhere. My officetel has 17 floors.(officetel=hotel + office)
South Korea is way overpopulated. Land area is 38,000 sq miles. There is a population of @49,540,367. There is a population density of 1,274 people per sq mile. That's 49,000,000 people living in an area thats almost half the size of florida.
I live in Seoul which has a land area of 233 sq miles. Its one of the largest cities in the world by population. In Seoul there is a population of 10,000,000(the metropolitan city)(there's 24,000,000 if you include the National capital area). Thats a population density of 44,000 people per sq mile. As a comparison-its smaller than Charlotte, NC. Could you imagine 10,000,000 people living in Charlotte??
Day 95
Sunday March 21 2009
Its finally Spring!! Im ready to put away the jacket! And I need to go clothes shopping once I get paid! I'm tired of wearing the same outfits all the time. I've got plenty of pants but I need more shirts.Once I get paid I'll also be getting a mattress topper, a firmer pillow, and a chair. I need comfort. I am so tired of having backaches everyday!
I have a little cold. This always happens around the season change. When the weather goes from hot in the day to cold in the night it bothers me and makes me a little sick. I just have a runny nose. And everyone keeps saying "are you taking medicine?". I say "no". I dont really like medicine plus I only have 4 more pills left of my dayquil. I could go to the pharmacy over here, but I like my american medicine.ha. They don't have OTC cold medicine in E-mart like we would have in Wal-mart. No cold medicine aisle. You have to go to a pharmacy and get it. I got 10 pills for coughing for 1500 won which is just over a dollar so that was pretty cheap. Here's a comparison:I read on the internet that over here you don't need a prescription for birth control and it only costs about 10,000 won a month (less than 10 bucks).
I need to take my 2 pairs of jeans to a tailor on Monday. I hate having to make a 20 minute walk to go there though but I want my pants fixed.
So what Am I suppose to do in this situation: I am suppose to go to lunch with the director at the school today. Mk was suppose to call me and tell me when and where, but he didn't. I did have a missed call on my phone yesterday, but its not my responsibility to call and see. If he couldn't reach me he could have left a text message or an email. I'm not the person who set up the meeting. So I think if he calls today and tells me "you have to meet at this time" then I will say "NO". He can't make me. You can't just tell someone the day of. I need advance notice. I think its time to quit being the little nice girl. I got to let him know that letting me know the day of is wrong. If he wants to get mad then I don't care. You have to make plans in advance. Its common courtesy.
On the other hand, its perfectly fine if one of my friends says "hey want to go somewhere tonight?" I make time for my friends. Im up for spontaneous things. Lunch with the director is not a spontaneous thing.
Update: 2:39pm--What a glorious day! I went to sleep around 5:30am and slept straight through to 2:23pm. No interruptions! And I keep dreaming about people/places in the usa. I do remember being in a bathroom in my church and all of a sudden this woman just runs in front of me, stands up to pee and leaves the door open and Im just standing behind her. Then I find out that you need 1200 won to flush the toilet. She didnt flush and neither did I. funny stuff.
Guess the director changed his mind-fine with me. Its almost 4pm and I still haven't gotten dressed. another lazy day. Mk never called to tell me when/where to meet the director for lunch.
Its finally Spring!! Im ready to put away the jacket! And I need to go clothes shopping once I get paid! I'm tired of wearing the same outfits all the time. I've got plenty of pants but I need more shirts.Once I get paid I'll also be getting a mattress topper, a firmer pillow, and a chair. I need comfort. I am so tired of having backaches everyday!
I have a little cold. This always happens around the season change. When the weather goes from hot in the day to cold in the night it bothers me and makes me a little sick. I just have a runny nose. And everyone keeps saying "are you taking medicine?". I say "no". I dont really like medicine plus I only have 4 more pills left of my dayquil. I could go to the pharmacy over here, but I like my american medicine.ha. They don't have OTC cold medicine in E-mart like we would have in Wal-mart. No cold medicine aisle. You have to go to a pharmacy and get it. I got 10 pills for coughing for 1500 won which is just over a dollar so that was pretty cheap. Here's a comparison:I read on the internet that over here you don't need a prescription for birth control and it only costs about 10,000 won a month (less than 10 bucks).
I need to take my 2 pairs of jeans to a tailor on Monday. I hate having to make a 20 minute walk to go there though but I want my pants fixed.
So what Am I suppose to do in this situation: I am suppose to go to lunch with the director at the school today. Mk was suppose to call me and tell me when and where, but he didn't. I did have a missed call on my phone yesterday, but its not my responsibility to call and see. If he couldn't reach me he could have left a text message or an email. I'm not the person who set up the meeting. So I think if he calls today and tells me "you have to meet at this time" then I will say "NO". He can't make me. You can't just tell someone the day of. I need advance notice. I think its time to quit being the little nice girl. I got to let him know that letting me know the day of is wrong. If he wants to get mad then I don't care. You have to make plans in advance. Its common courtesy.
On the other hand, its perfectly fine if one of my friends says "hey want to go somewhere tonight?" I make time for my friends. Im up for spontaneous things. Lunch with the director is not a spontaneous thing.
Update: 2:39pm--What a glorious day! I went to sleep around 5:30am and slept straight through to 2:23pm. No interruptions! And I keep dreaming about people/places in the usa. I do remember being in a bathroom in my church and all of a sudden this woman just runs in front of me, stands up to pee and leaves the door open and Im just standing behind her. Then I find out that you need 1200 won to flush the toilet. She didnt flush and neither did I. funny stuff.
Guess the director changed his mind-fine with me. Its almost 4pm and I still haven't gotten dressed. another lazy day. Mk never called to tell me when/where to meet the director for lunch.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Day 94
Saturday March 21
I turned down my sound on my phone so I wouldn't be disturbed. I was going to sleep as long as I could. I can sleep for long periods of time.
So this morning I stayed up till at least 4:30am. Then I was sleeping good. I heard a noise around 7:35am. It sounded like a doorbell but it wasnt. I went to my door to see if someone was there but no one was there. Maybe I heard someone else's doorbell and it woke me up. I went back to sleep. I finally woke up at 4pm. yes 4pm!
I looked at my phone. I had 3 missed text messages and 1 missed call. There were people who would have disturbed my sleep. One of the text messages was from 7:53am. Who is up at 7:53 am? It was the girl I met on Sunday(mk's coworker). She sent a message to say "good morning".
I've just been resting all day. I haven't done much. I watched some shows on BBC and now I've watched 3 episodes of "how I met your mother" on foxlife. Too bad its episodes from the 1st season that i've already seen. I'm currently on the 2nd season episode 13.
Every once and a while a lazy saturday is good. The day is almost over and I haven't done anything productive. I haven't even eaten or gotten dressed.
THe only thing I have planned for Sunday is lunch with the director. I'll just have another day of rest.
I was invited out to go to Itaewon tonight, but I turned it down. I'm staying in to rest. Plus I didn't want to see one person that was going to be there. haha.
I turned down my sound on my phone so I wouldn't be disturbed. I was going to sleep as long as I could. I can sleep for long periods of time.
So this morning I stayed up till at least 4:30am. Then I was sleeping good. I heard a noise around 7:35am. It sounded like a doorbell but it wasnt. I went to my door to see if someone was there but no one was there. Maybe I heard someone else's doorbell and it woke me up. I went back to sleep. I finally woke up at 4pm. yes 4pm!
I looked at my phone. I had 3 missed text messages and 1 missed call. There were people who would have disturbed my sleep. One of the text messages was from 7:53am. Who is up at 7:53 am? It was the girl I met on Sunday(mk's coworker). She sent a message to say "good morning".
I've just been resting all day. I haven't done much. I watched some shows on BBC and now I've watched 3 episodes of "how I met your mother" on foxlife. Too bad its episodes from the 1st season that i've already seen. I'm currently on the 2nd season episode 13.
Every once and a while a lazy saturday is good. The day is almost over and I haven't done anything productive. I haven't even eaten or gotten dressed.
THe only thing I have planned for Sunday is lunch with the director. I'll just have another day of rest.
I was invited out to go to Itaewon tonight, but I turned it down. I'm staying in to rest. Plus I didn't want to see one person that was going to be there. haha.
Day 93
Friday March 20
1st class good. We talked about animals.
2nd class wasn't so good. 2 of my students came in late. They had went to the store to get a snack. Then all the students just got up and went to get water. It was time for class to start. Then it took a while for class to start. The boys kept talking to one another so I made one of them move. One of the students took my tape out of the tape player. I made him give it back. Another student took my chalk. Then one student went to go get a piece of chalk and then they finally gave the chalk back while he was gone. We only got through 2 pages. They are always wanting me to say things in Korean. They think this is "teach the teacher korean class". One of the students was getting mad because I wouldn't say something in korean. I said "this is english class."
3rd class was good. We went over writing exercises. I went through the proper format of a letter and gave them writing tips. Then I gave them their assignment. Their assignment was to write a letter about their family. They had an example in their book.
Class was over at 7:55 and I had to sit around till 9:30. I made 3 of my writing tests while I was waiting. I just used exercises out of the book.
I have no plans for Saturday. I can finally sleep in! I'm going to turn down the ringer on my phone so I cant be disturbed because I know someone will try to text me or call me early in the morn.
I got a call from mk. The director wants to have lunch with me on Sunday. He will call me to tell me when and where.
My computer is getting low on memory. I have a 45GB harddrive and I don't know what is taking up all the space. I try to delete things all the time. Problem is that I delete things then I add more things. I need everything thats on my computer right now. Then there are things that I don't know what they are but im scared if I delete them something won't work right. I should have about $900 in my american bank account soon from my tax refund. I'm debating on whether I want a new laptop. My current one is 2 years old. I could still keep my old one. I want to get a smaller laptop. I've been looking at the dell mini laptops. The one I like has a 9 inch screen and only weighs just over 2 pounds. It would be a lot easier to carry around since I carry it to school everyday. The mini starts at about $400 bucks. I don't even want to know what shipping would cost from the US to South Korea. But I do need to save my money. I want to save up for a new car. I thought that by coming here that I'd be able to live cheaply and save a lot of money. But the stupid tanking won isn't helping! I might be stuck with my 1997 car for longer than I expected. NO!! So the question is get a laptop or save the money?
I have 2 packages coming soon! I can't believe it costs so much. My mom said the 2 pound package was $29 and the 7 pound package was $57. I know she's sending me some things I like from America like GRITS!!! I think she's sending Easter candy also. I think she is sending body wash and shampoo also.
49 more weeks. 47 weeks of actual teaching.
1st class good. We talked about animals.
2nd class wasn't so good. 2 of my students came in late. They had went to the store to get a snack. Then all the students just got up and went to get water. It was time for class to start. Then it took a while for class to start. The boys kept talking to one another so I made one of them move. One of the students took my tape out of the tape player. I made him give it back. Another student took my chalk. Then one student went to go get a piece of chalk and then they finally gave the chalk back while he was gone. We only got through 2 pages. They are always wanting me to say things in Korean. They think this is "teach the teacher korean class". One of the students was getting mad because I wouldn't say something in korean. I said "this is english class."
3rd class was good. We went over writing exercises. I went through the proper format of a letter and gave them writing tips. Then I gave them their assignment. Their assignment was to write a letter about their family. They had an example in their book.
Class was over at 7:55 and I had to sit around till 9:30. I made 3 of my writing tests while I was waiting. I just used exercises out of the book.
I have no plans for Saturday. I can finally sleep in! I'm going to turn down the ringer on my phone so I cant be disturbed because I know someone will try to text me or call me early in the morn.
I got a call from mk. The director wants to have lunch with me on Sunday. He will call me to tell me when and where.
My computer is getting low on memory. I have a 45GB harddrive and I don't know what is taking up all the space. I try to delete things all the time. Problem is that I delete things then I add more things. I need everything thats on my computer right now. Then there are things that I don't know what they are but im scared if I delete them something won't work right. I should have about $900 in my american bank account soon from my tax refund. I'm debating on whether I want a new laptop. My current one is 2 years old. I could still keep my old one. I want to get a smaller laptop. I've been looking at the dell mini laptops. The one I like has a 9 inch screen and only weighs just over 2 pounds. It would be a lot easier to carry around since I carry it to school everyday. The mini starts at about $400 bucks. I don't even want to know what shipping would cost from the US to South Korea. But I do need to save my money. I want to save up for a new car. I thought that by coming here that I'd be able to live cheaply and save a lot of money. But the stupid tanking won isn't helping! I might be stuck with my 1997 car for longer than I expected. NO!! So the question is get a laptop or save the money?
I have 2 packages coming soon! I can't believe it costs so much. My mom said the 2 pound package was $29 and the 7 pound package was $57. I know she's sending me some things I like from America like GRITS!!! I think she's sending Easter candy also. I think she is sending body wash and shampoo also.
49 more weeks. 47 weeks of actual teaching.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Pictures coming soon.....
I post all my pictures on facebook, but there are some of my readers who aren't on facebook and can't access my pictures.
So Im in the process of uploading all my pictures. Photobucket has a feature to share your albums on blogger. I've already uploaded about 200 photos. Now I have to organize them, put them into albums and add captions. It might take all weekend to do that.
So Im in the process of uploading all my pictures. Photobucket has a feature to share your albums on blogger. I've already uploaded about 200 photos. Now I have to organize them, put them into albums and add captions. It might take all weekend to do that.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Day 92
March 19 Thursday
I actually got out of bed at 11:20am. I went to bed earlier although I didn't fall alsleep any earlier. I went to bed at 2am and was still awake at 2:40am. Dont know why.
I wake up every morning with a terrible backache. How do koreans sleep on these beds that are hard as a rock? I can't wait till I can't afford to buy a mattress topper! I'm willing to pay for comfort! I'm also going to get a firmer pillow.
I made it out to the post office today. I went in and I didn't have a clue which form to use. I picked up about 5 different forms and just stared at them. I hate not knowing what Im doing. I cant read them! I finally just chose one. Then I was standing around looking like an idiot looking for the number machine. At the post office you don't just get in line. You go to the machine, get your number, and wait for your number. The post office was pretty empty when I went so I got in line quickly. I had the right type of form, but I chose the wrong one.So I had to fill out another form. The package weighed 1154 grams which is @2.5 pounds. It costed 23,400 which is about 16.75. I actually got an English speaking person helping me.She asked if I wanted to send it by air or surface. I wanted to know which was cheaper. Surface was cheaper but it would take 3 months. WOW. I chose air mail which takes about 2 weeks.
I hate that they are on a different system on everything. grams instead of pounds. Kilograms instead of pounds. celcius instead of fahrenheit. won instead of dollars. korean instead of english. you get my point.
Then I had to go to Nokbeon for a teachers workshop with Rocky. He was talking to all of the teachers. Giving us tips. I agree with his philosophy that tests are bad. Students hate tests. I also agree with not giving much homework. I don't give much homework. Today we talked about the 24 rules of human relations. Things like give praise, show appreciation, don't argue,etc. Then we talked about personality types. I read over the descriptions and I think Im Analytical. Next week we will talk about what other people think of our choice. Sometimes we think we are one type and other people think we are another type.
The characteristics for Analytical: Critical, Indecisive, Stuffy, Exacting, Moralistic, industrious, persistant, serious, viligant, and orderly
Andrew showed me a drycleaner/tailor today. Now I can get my pants hemmed and my clothes drycleaned/pressed soon.
I had to make a new resume today to send to immigration. I have to have 2 months of experience so I can get a new visa. So I redid my resume and added in my job from Avalon because mk only had my american resume. no one ever asked me to submit a new resume so they still had my old one. I should be going to Japan around the 1st of April.
Im loving the warmer weather!
So today I had 5 classes. busy day. I had 3 speaking classes. My first class was asking me about words. How to pronounce different words. They wanted to know what the difference was between sun and son. They both sound the same. Then we listened to a story then we read it. Afterwards I asked comprehension questions. I don't think they understood the comprehension questions. I had to basically point out the answer to them. In my 2nd class we talked about sports. 3rd class we reviewed the unit about days of the week and weather. One of my kids is funny. We had a song about weather and he was dancing to it. some of the students seem to like the corny songs on the cds. Some of them are hilarious and we laugh the whole way through.After class all 3 students wanted to take pictures of me with their cellphones.
I had 2 writing classes today. In the first class we were talking about letters. They read their letters that they wrote from an exercise in the book. Then I gave them tips on how to write a letter. Then their classwork/homework was to write a letter about their family. They have to turn it in on Tuesday. In my last class I was explaining how to write an essay. I went over all the steps one by one with sample paragraphs. Then I told them to write an essay. After I spent all that time telling them how to write they looked at me like I was crazy. So all that time I was explaining/giving detailed instructions on the board they weren't really listening. Its really frustrating teaching people to write! Their speaking is good but they need a lot of help writing! So I let them write in class and I helped them while they were writing. I helped with what to write about, how to make a correct sentence, etc. I'm going to give them back their essay on Tuesday with corrections and a final draft will be due on Thursday. I think I will give them a sample essay so they can see what one looks like. I think level 7 has the best writing book. I like the format. I like how it lays out the whole format of the essay. In paragraph one write this. In paragraph 2 write this. Although even with it all laid out my students still don't understand. This is going to be a long semester!
I have to give the students one essay assignment a month. I'll choose one of the topics out of the book. I've already given an essay assignment to levels 7 and 9. Tomorrow I will give an assignment to level 8. Monday I will give an assignment to level 10. I need to ask if I'm suppose to give writing assignments to the lower level classes that don't have a writing class. If teaching writing to level 7 was hard just think about teaching writing to 2nd graders in level 2 and 3. oh my.
In addition to the weekly tests for speaking class I also have to give a monthly writing test.
Today's Exchange: (as of 11:45 pm) 1396 won=$1 usd....down a few points from yesterday. its looking better will it strengthen more? or will it be back up to 1420 tomorrow?
I actually got out of bed at 11:20am. I went to bed earlier although I didn't fall alsleep any earlier. I went to bed at 2am and was still awake at 2:40am. Dont know why.
I wake up every morning with a terrible backache. How do koreans sleep on these beds that are hard as a rock? I can't wait till I can't afford to buy a mattress topper! I'm willing to pay for comfort! I'm also going to get a firmer pillow.
I made it out to the post office today. I went in and I didn't have a clue which form to use. I picked up about 5 different forms and just stared at them. I hate not knowing what Im doing. I cant read them! I finally just chose one. Then I was standing around looking like an idiot looking for the number machine. At the post office you don't just get in line. You go to the machine, get your number, and wait for your number. The post office was pretty empty when I went so I got in line quickly. I had the right type of form, but I chose the wrong one.So I had to fill out another form. The package weighed 1154 grams which is @2.5 pounds. It costed 23,400 which is about 16.75. I actually got an English speaking person helping me.She asked if I wanted to send it by air or surface. I wanted to know which was cheaper. Surface was cheaper but it would take 3 months. WOW. I chose air mail which takes about 2 weeks.
I hate that they are on a different system on everything. grams instead of pounds. Kilograms instead of pounds. celcius instead of fahrenheit. won instead of dollars. korean instead of english. you get my point.
Then I had to go to Nokbeon for a teachers workshop with Rocky. He was talking to all of the teachers. Giving us tips. I agree with his philosophy that tests are bad. Students hate tests. I also agree with not giving much homework. I don't give much homework. Today we talked about the 24 rules of human relations. Things like give praise, show appreciation, don't argue,etc. Then we talked about personality types. I read over the descriptions and I think Im Analytical. Next week we will talk about what other people think of our choice. Sometimes we think we are one type and other people think we are another type.
The characteristics for Analytical: Critical, Indecisive, Stuffy, Exacting, Moralistic, industrious, persistant, serious, viligant, and orderly
Andrew showed me a drycleaner/tailor today. Now I can get my pants hemmed and my clothes drycleaned/pressed soon.
I had to make a new resume today to send to immigration. I have to have 2 months of experience so I can get a new visa. So I redid my resume and added in my job from Avalon because mk only had my american resume. no one ever asked me to submit a new resume so they still had my old one. I should be going to Japan around the 1st of April.
Im loving the warmer weather!
So today I had 5 classes. busy day. I had 3 speaking classes. My first class was asking me about words. How to pronounce different words. They wanted to know what the difference was between sun and son. They both sound the same. Then we listened to a story then we read it. Afterwards I asked comprehension questions. I don't think they understood the comprehension questions. I had to basically point out the answer to them. In my 2nd class we talked about sports. 3rd class we reviewed the unit about days of the week and weather. One of my kids is funny. We had a song about weather and he was dancing to it. some of the students seem to like the corny songs on the cds. Some of them are hilarious and we laugh the whole way through.After class all 3 students wanted to take pictures of me with their cellphones.
I had 2 writing classes today. In the first class we were talking about letters. They read their letters that they wrote from an exercise in the book. Then I gave them tips on how to write a letter. Then their classwork/homework was to write a letter about their family. They have to turn it in on Tuesday. In my last class I was explaining how to write an essay. I went over all the steps one by one with sample paragraphs. Then I told them to write an essay. After I spent all that time telling them how to write they looked at me like I was crazy. So all that time I was explaining/giving detailed instructions on the board they weren't really listening. Its really frustrating teaching people to write! Their speaking is good but they need a lot of help writing! So I let them write in class and I helped them while they were writing. I helped with what to write about, how to make a correct sentence, etc. I'm going to give them back their essay on Tuesday with corrections and a final draft will be due on Thursday. I think I will give them a sample essay so they can see what one looks like. I think level 7 has the best writing book. I like the format. I like how it lays out the whole format of the essay. In paragraph one write this. In paragraph 2 write this. Although even with it all laid out my students still don't understand. This is going to be a long semester!
I have to give the students one essay assignment a month. I'll choose one of the topics out of the book. I've already given an essay assignment to levels 7 and 9. Tomorrow I will give an assignment to level 8. Monday I will give an assignment to level 10. I need to ask if I'm suppose to give writing assignments to the lower level classes that don't have a writing class. If teaching writing to level 7 was hard just think about teaching writing to 2nd graders in level 2 and 3. oh my.
In addition to the weekly tests for speaking class I also have to give a monthly writing test.
Today's Exchange: (as of 11:45 pm) 1396 won=$1 usd....down a few points from yesterday. its looking better will it strengthen more? or will it be back up to 1420 tomorrow?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Day 91
March 18 Wednesday
I've been here 13 weeks. wow.
Nothing interesting to report today.
The guy wearing the suit wore flip flops again. Its just not a good combination.
Today I only had 2 classes. The first one started at 7:10pm. I have to be at school at 2pm. The majority of my day was spent playing on my computer.
It was a normal day. Both of my classes today are pretty quiet. One class has one student. He does very well in my class. He made a perfect score on the 2 tests he's taken so far which cover important stuff that we've learned so far. Today's test focused on when to use was, were, weren't, wasn't. His speaking is good. He's in the highest level-level 10. My other class has 5 students. They never talk unless I ask them to. They always participate. Today we learned about different kinds of stores-pet store, clothing store, sports store, etc.
I ate some noodles for supper. I like the kind that one of the korean teachers introduced to me. I can't remember the name. I went down to the conveinent store and got one. They only cost 1,000 won which is 70 cents in usd. I might eat that more often. Its cheap, quick, easy and healthier than big macs. THe noodles come in a bowl. You add hot water. wait 4 minutes. add seasoning. then eat.
current exchange rate: 1420 krw=$1 usd
i love the automatic save on blogger! Sometimes i accidentally press the wrong key and my page goes somewhere else!
I'm going to try to set up albums with picassa so I can post my photos. It's going to take a while. I have a lot of photos! I wish there was some way to just move them over from facebook but I dont know how.
I have got to get in bed earlier! I never want to get up when the alarm rings. Maybe I'll be in bed by 2am instead of 3am.
I've been here 13 weeks. wow.
Nothing interesting to report today.
The guy wearing the suit wore flip flops again. Its just not a good combination.
Today I only had 2 classes. The first one started at 7:10pm. I have to be at school at 2pm. The majority of my day was spent playing on my computer.
It was a normal day. Both of my classes today are pretty quiet. One class has one student. He does very well in my class. He made a perfect score on the 2 tests he's taken so far which cover important stuff that we've learned so far. Today's test focused on when to use was, were, weren't, wasn't. His speaking is good. He's in the highest level-level 10. My other class has 5 students. They never talk unless I ask them to. They always participate. Today we learned about different kinds of stores-pet store, clothing store, sports store, etc.
I ate some noodles for supper. I like the kind that one of the korean teachers introduced to me. I can't remember the name. I went down to the conveinent store and got one. They only cost 1,000 won which is 70 cents in usd. I might eat that more often. Its cheap, quick, easy and healthier than big macs. THe noodles come in a bowl. You add hot water. wait 4 minutes. add seasoning. then eat.
current exchange rate: 1420 krw=$1 usd
i love the automatic save on blogger! Sometimes i accidentally press the wrong key and my page goes somewhere else!
I'm going to try to set up albums with picassa so I can post my photos. It's going to take a while. I have a lot of photos! I wish there was some way to just move them over from facebook but I dont know how.
I have got to get in bed earlier! I never want to get up when the alarm rings. Maybe I'll be in bed by 2am instead of 3am.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Day 90--unexpected evaluation and criticism
March 17 Tuesday
I got mail today! At least now I know that the address I gave my mom was good enough to make it get to Seoul.
My new address:
111-1 beon ji Songwon ha lee bon officetel 302ho
Eung-am 1dong Eunpyung-ku Seoul South Korea 120 910
About an hour before class I was asked "did you know sunny was coming today?". I didn't know. She was coming to evaluate my classes. I hate being evaluated. I'm not a profesional teacher, but I do the best I can. I know that I don't know what I'm doing! I wish I would have taken some kind of course before coming. But this was a spontaneous decision so there wasnt any time.
Said she’s heard some good things about me. Students like me. Some parents have given praise. Said Im nice to the students.
Ate lunch at home..had a ham sandwich, grape juice and strawberries. I was going to have a salad but my tomatoes that I bought aren’t that great. I need to go get some roma tomatoes. They don’t have a good selection here.sucks!.
I got a letter from my mom today. Now I know I have the right address or at least its good enough that my mail makes it here!
Also ate some with the Korean teachers. Pork cutlet, rice, tried kimbap (its okay), tried seewead (its okay), and radish (it was okay) just not stuff I’d eat on a regular basis.
I had five classes today.
1st class..im glad she wasn’t watching this class..we talked about how much/how many.On the tape the person telling one of the stories talked way too fast. We listened to it twice.I was going to give them 2 pages for homework but they said that their Korean teacher gives them a lot so I said only do one page. Then they all say thank you. And youre nice and all sorts of good things because I didnt give them much homework. I had a new student in this class so I made copies of the book. Then someone came and got him. He was in the wrong class. He was in my 2nd class.
THe woman from nokbeon watched my 2nd class. Then she gave me criticism afterwards. She said I was doing better. Said she liked my tone of my voice. Said there wasn’t enough speaking between students. Need to let students speak more. Didn’t do any teacher-student-student..let the students talk to each other..I hate that the lesson is too short. Today we didn’t learn anything new. We reviewed. We’ll finish review next time. Had a new student. She said he was having problems finding the right page.
She also evaluated my 3rd class. She had me to explain what some of the words meant like weekend, outside. I was asking one of my students what was the weather like outside. He didnt understand. She asked me to draw a picture. After class she said she liked my drawings. She gave me more tips. She told me to read the stories more than one time. She also said to get the students to listen to their cd and get their parents to sign saying that they listened to it. She left after that class. I'm glad she only evaluated 2 classes.
The same man was wearing a suit with flip flops again.
After school I went out to eat with one of the korean teachers. We went to a korean restuarant. I like what she ordered for me. It was beef, rice and some kind of noodles. So I tried a lot of new korean food today.
I only have 2 classes tomorrow!!
current exchange rate (as of 1:26am march 18th)--$1 usd = 1416 krw.(i get my rates from yahoo finance)..thats bad. When I first got here it was 1272. Ideally I'd like for it to be 1,000 or less but I dont know if that will happen. If it does Im sending money home quickly!
Current weather: 1am 15 celcius = 59 degrees F....
it felt great around 11pm. I'm loving the warmer weather!
I got mail today! At least now I know that the address I gave my mom was good enough to make it get to Seoul.
My new address:
111-1 beon ji Songwon ha lee bon officetel 302ho
Eung-am 1dong Eunpyung-ku Seoul South Korea 120 910
About an hour before class I was asked "did you know sunny was coming today?". I didn't know. She was coming to evaluate my classes. I hate being evaluated. I'm not a profesional teacher, but I do the best I can. I know that I don't know what I'm doing! I wish I would have taken some kind of course before coming. But this was a spontaneous decision so there wasnt any time.
Said she’s heard some good things about me. Students like me. Some parents have given praise. Said Im nice to the students.
Ate lunch at home..had a ham sandwich, grape juice and strawberries. I was going to have a salad but my tomatoes that I bought aren’t that great. I need to go get some roma tomatoes. They don’t have a good selection here.sucks!.
I got a letter from my mom today. Now I know I have the right address or at least its good enough that my mail makes it here!
Also ate some with the Korean teachers. Pork cutlet, rice, tried kimbap (its okay), tried seewead (its okay), and radish (it was okay) just not stuff I’d eat on a regular basis.
I had five classes today.
1st class..im glad she wasn’t watching this class..we talked about how much/how many.On the tape the person telling one of the stories talked way too fast. We listened to it twice.I was going to give them 2 pages for homework but they said that their Korean teacher gives them a lot so I said only do one page. Then they all say thank you. And youre nice and all sorts of good things because I didnt give them much homework. I had a new student in this class so I made copies of the book. Then someone came and got him. He was in the wrong class. He was in my 2nd class.
THe woman from nokbeon watched my 2nd class. Then she gave me criticism afterwards. She said I was doing better. Said she liked my tone of my voice. Said there wasn’t enough speaking between students. Need to let students speak more. Didn’t do any teacher-student-student..let the students talk to each other..I hate that the lesson is too short. Today we didn’t learn anything new. We reviewed. We’ll finish review next time. Had a new student. She said he was having problems finding the right page.
She also evaluated my 3rd class. She had me to explain what some of the words meant like weekend, outside. I was asking one of my students what was the weather like outside. He didnt understand. She asked me to draw a picture. After class she said she liked my drawings. She gave me more tips. She told me to read the stories more than one time. She also said to get the students to listen to their cd and get their parents to sign saying that they listened to it. She left after that class. I'm glad she only evaluated 2 classes.
The same man was wearing a suit with flip flops again.
After school I went out to eat with one of the korean teachers. We went to a korean restuarant. I like what she ordered for me. It was beef, rice and some kind of noodles. So I tried a lot of new korean food today.
I only have 2 classes tomorrow!!
current exchange rate (as of 1:26am march 18th)--$1 usd = 1416 krw.(i get my rates from yahoo finance)..thats bad. When I first got here it was 1272. Ideally I'd like for it to be 1,000 or less but I dont know if that will happen. If it does Im sending money home quickly!
Current weather: 1am 15 celcius = 59 degrees F....
it felt great around 11pm. I'm loving the warmer weather!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Day 89
March 16 Monday
Im finally caught up with my blogs!!
I was going to go to the post office today, but as always I stayed in bed till the last possible moment and then I didnt have time to go. I'll have to try to go tomorrow.
I layed down around 3:30am. There was a loud noise outside. Sounded like someone working. I could hear a truck and someone moving stuff around. I got up to see what it was. They were making a lot of noise getting the garbage. I still need to get trash bags and find out where the garbage goes.
Around 9:30am I heard someone talking over the intercom in my room. what the heck? It woke me up and I got up to see if someone was at my door. nope. why was someone talking over the intercom? why do I have an intercom in my room? I have no clue what they said. Then I went back to bed.
I was going to cook for myself today but I ended up just going to mcdonalds since I slept late.
I only had 3 classes today. All 3 of them went well. I taught 2 speaking classes and 1 writing class. I hate the tape player in my 2nd class. I couldn't get the tape to the right place. Its not like a regular tape player where you hit rewind and fast forward. I just gave up. There was a song to sing and the kids wanted to sing it but I couldnt get the tape to work. I'll have to find the right place using another tape player and play it next time.
I found out why I couldnt log on to the internet late at night. There was some program set up where you can set it up where kids can't logon after a certian time. You have to login to the website to change the settings. I didnt know how to login so one of the korean teachers called the customer service and got it fixed for me.
I tried another type of noodle today. One of the korean teachers gave it to me.I liked it. I'll have to see if I can find it at the grocery store. Its kinda like ramen in a cup. You put in hot water then wait 4 minutes then stir in the seasoning packet.
There was a korean guy today wearing a suit with flip flops. oh my. The suit looked nice but the flip flops ruined the look.
Mk kept calling me tonight. First he called and said that internet fee was 31,000 and cable was 25,000 then he called back later and said he made a mistake. Internet was 35,000. oh whatever.
Im finally caught up with my blogs!!
I was going to go to the post office today, but as always I stayed in bed till the last possible moment and then I didnt have time to go. I'll have to try to go tomorrow.
I layed down around 3:30am. There was a loud noise outside. Sounded like someone working. I could hear a truck and someone moving stuff around. I got up to see what it was. They were making a lot of noise getting the garbage. I still need to get trash bags and find out where the garbage goes.
Around 9:30am I heard someone talking over the intercom in my room. what the heck? It woke me up and I got up to see if someone was at my door. nope. why was someone talking over the intercom? why do I have an intercom in my room? I have no clue what they said. Then I went back to bed.
I was going to cook for myself today but I ended up just going to mcdonalds since I slept late.
I only had 3 classes today. All 3 of them went well. I taught 2 speaking classes and 1 writing class. I hate the tape player in my 2nd class. I couldn't get the tape to the right place. Its not like a regular tape player where you hit rewind and fast forward. I just gave up. There was a song to sing and the kids wanted to sing it but I couldnt get the tape to work. I'll have to find the right place using another tape player and play it next time.
I found out why I couldnt log on to the internet late at night. There was some program set up where you can set it up where kids can't logon after a certian time. You have to login to the website to change the settings. I didnt know how to login so one of the korean teachers called the customer service and got it fixed for me.
I tried another type of noodle today. One of the korean teachers gave it to me.I liked it. I'll have to see if I can find it at the grocery store. Its kinda like ramen in a cup. You put in hot water then wait 4 minutes then stir in the seasoning packet.
There was a korean guy today wearing a suit with flip flops. oh my. The suit looked nice but the flip flops ruined the look.
Mk kept calling me tonight. First he called and said that internet fee was 31,000 and cable was 25,000 then he called back later and said he made a mistake. Internet was 35,000. oh whatever.
day 88
sunday march 15
So today one of mk’s coworkers wanted to meet me for lunch.We were suppose to meet at the subway in itaewon at 3pm. We stood there till 3:10 then he said “guess she isn’t coming”.
We went to Geckos. After we sat down she called. He went out to meet her. They ordered a beer and I ate lunch. We sat there for a while talking. She doesn’t speak English that well. I think mk wants me to help her with her English. He mentioned something about teaching her English. My only problem is I don’t know how to teach an adult enlish.
They decided they wanted to see a movie. We got off at Mydong station on line 4. we walked around the street for a while then went to the movie theater. Lotte Cinema. I picked out “the accidental husband”. We got there at 5:40. The movie started at 6:40 so we had to sit around for an hour. We got some popcorn and ate it while we were waiting. She actually left early because she had a headache so just me and mk watched the movie. Then I headed home.
I went grocery shopping. When I shop for groceries I have no clue what to buy. I walk around aimlessly. I got some peanut butter, ham, lettuce, tomatoes, jam (disappointed that they dont have jelly!), strawberries, salad dressing, mayo, eggs, bread, and grape juice. I’m trying not to eat out so much and eat somewhat healthier things.
I think the internet doesn’t work after 1am..I haven’t been able to access it after 1am…
So today one of mk’s coworkers wanted to meet me for lunch.We were suppose to meet at the subway in itaewon at 3pm. We stood there till 3:10 then he said “guess she isn’t coming”.
We went to Geckos. After we sat down she called. He went out to meet her. They ordered a beer and I ate lunch. We sat there for a while talking. She doesn’t speak English that well. I think mk wants me to help her with her English. He mentioned something about teaching her English. My only problem is I don’t know how to teach an adult enlish.
They decided they wanted to see a movie. We got off at Mydong station on line 4. we walked around the street for a while then went to the movie theater. Lotte Cinema. I picked out “the accidental husband”. We got there at 5:40. The movie started at 6:40 so we had to sit around for an hour. We got some popcorn and ate it while we were waiting. She actually left early because she had a headache so just me and mk watched the movie. Then I headed home.
I went grocery shopping. When I shop for groceries I have no clue what to buy. I walk around aimlessly. I got some peanut butter, ham, lettuce, tomatoes, jam (disappointed that they dont have jelly!), strawberries, salad dressing, mayo, eggs, bread, and grape juice. I’m trying not to eat out so much and eat somewhat healthier things.
I think the internet doesn’t work after 1am..I haven’t been able to access it after 1am…
Day 87--White Day
Saturday March 14
Today was White day and of course I didn’t participate. There’s Valentines day where the woman gives the man candy. Then there is White day where the man gives the woman candy. I’ve heard there’s even a black day where single people “celebrate” together. Now there’s a holiday I have to celebrate.
I got up at 1pm. I love sleeping in.
The cable man and the internet man and MK came to my apartment today. They were all here at the same time. The cable was hooked up quickly but the internet took longer. He kept asking for my “protocol” and I had no clue what he was talking about so him and the cable guy were trying to set up the connection. We finally got it.
Internet--broadband--35,000 won per month----$23 usd with today's exchange..thats cheap for broadband!!
Cable--lots of channels--25,000 won per month--$15 uds a mont with today's exchange..also very cheap
The cable and internet are in the school's name for a one year contract.
I also have a landline phone. I called my cell phone from my home phone to get the number.
Im meeting Mk and his coworker tomorrow at 3pm in Itaewon. He wants all of us to see a movie too. I don’t know who is coworker is. It’s a girl but he keeps calling her a “he”. Its weird over here. They like to call everyone “he”. Even women. And the children can’t distinguish male and female names.
I went to Itaewon to eat lunch. I went to Gecko’s Terrace. They have a great cheeseburger. Pricey but good. $7 usd for a cheeseburger and fries but its worth it!
I was walking around looking for a tailor. There are tons of tailors in Itaewon. But I’m confused. What’s the difference between a custom tailor and a tailor? I've never been to a tailor on my own before so..I need to get my pants hemmed. I think its going to be hit or miss. I’ll go back next week. Hopefully I find one who speaks English!!
After I got off the subway there was this woman who was trying to talk to me. Her English was bad and I couldn’t understand. She followed me all the way to my officetel. She kept talking in Korean and I’d give her this blank stare of “I have no clue what you are saying”. She kept saying “church of god”. That’s all I could understand. People are crazy over here. I can't believe she followed me all the way to my officetel..its a 5 minute walk. Once I got to my building she told me bye.
I came back home and downloaded a lot of stuff on the internet. In the past week I’ve downloaded the whole first season of “How I Met Your Mother”. Its an American show. I’d never watched it before. Andrew is always talking about it so I thought I’d check it out. I like it.
I also downloaded a lot of music to add to my itunes library. I downloaded some songs by ABBA and Mano Chao. I also downloaded “The curious case of benjiman button”. Woah. Its 2 hours and 43 minutes. I started watching it and I don’t think I like it and I sure cant sit down for a whole 3 hours and watch it. I HATE long movies. 1 hour and 30 mins is long enough for a movie. I don’t think I’ll watch the whole movie.
So I tried logging into my internet around 2am and I couldn’t login. Maybe there is a time when you cant logon like really early in the morn. I don’t know. I’ll try again tomorrow.
I watched some shows on cable. They have a few English channels.I turned to this one channel and episodes from season 1 of “how I met your mother” were on tv. I saw a commercial for "Scrubs" but I dont know when its on. I also watched some music videos in Korean. There is this one song that I hear everywhere and I like it. I saw the music video. I finally know who sings it. His name is bobby kim. I found a version on youtube.
I’ve made it through 2 weeks of teaching at the new school. 50 weeks till I can come home! And only 48 weeks of teaching. Yes I’m already counting down. I’ve been counting down since the day I got here!!
I think this is going to be the worst year of my life. Seriously. I used to be a happy person, but I’ve changed. I’m lonely and most of the time I just feel like I want to be alone. People are driving me crazy and I’m a bad teacher. How do you make 2-3 pages last 45 minutes without making the students repeat one sentence 100 times?
I am so ready to be at home! I wish I could come home! I don’t want to be here! I’m screwed either way. America is in a recession and I know I wouldn’t be able to find a job. I had a lot of trouble after I got laid off in 2007. no one wants to hire me in America. I had to come all the way over here to get a job and now I’m not making much because the won is tanking. Why is the whole world in such bad shape?? I wanted to save up for a car, but if the economy doesn’t shape up then its not going to be a reality. I’ll have to get some piece of crap old car. I wanted a new car!
Today was White day and of course I didn’t participate. There’s Valentines day where the woman gives the man candy. Then there is White day where the man gives the woman candy. I’ve heard there’s even a black day where single people “celebrate” together. Now there’s a holiday I have to celebrate.
I got up at 1pm. I love sleeping in.
The cable man and the internet man and MK came to my apartment today. They were all here at the same time. The cable was hooked up quickly but the internet took longer. He kept asking for my “protocol” and I had no clue what he was talking about so him and the cable guy were trying to set up the connection. We finally got it.
Internet--broadband--35,000 won per month----$23 usd with today's exchange..thats cheap for broadband!!
Cable--lots of channels--25,000 won per month--$15 uds a mont with today's exchange..also very cheap
The cable and internet are in the school's name for a one year contract.
I also have a landline phone. I called my cell phone from my home phone to get the number.
Im meeting Mk and his coworker tomorrow at 3pm in Itaewon. He wants all of us to see a movie too. I don’t know who is coworker is. It’s a girl but he keeps calling her a “he”. Its weird over here. They like to call everyone “he”. Even women. And the children can’t distinguish male and female names.
I went to Itaewon to eat lunch. I went to Gecko’s Terrace. They have a great cheeseburger. Pricey but good. $7 usd for a cheeseburger and fries but its worth it!
I was walking around looking for a tailor. There are tons of tailors in Itaewon. But I’m confused. What’s the difference between a custom tailor and a tailor? I've never been to a tailor on my own before so..I need to get my pants hemmed. I think its going to be hit or miss. I’ll go back next week. Hopefully I find one who speaks English!!
After I got off the subway there was this woman who was trying to talk to me. Her English was bad and I couldn’t understand. She followed me all the way to my officetel. She kept talking in Korean and I’d give her this blank stare of “I have no clue what you are saying”. She kept saying “church of god”. That’s all I could understand. People are crazy over here. I can't believe she followed me all the way to my officetel..its a 5 minute walk. Once I got to my building she told me bye.
I came back home and downloaded a lot of stuff on the internet. In the past week I’ve downloaded the whole first season of “How I Met Your Mother”. Its an American show. I’d never watched it before. Andrew is always talking about it so I thought I’d check it out. I like it.
I also downloaded a lot of music to add to my itunes library. I downloaded some songs by ABBA and Mano Chao. I also downloaded “The curious case of benjiman button”. Woah. Its 2 hours and 43 minutes. I started watching it and I don’t think I like it and I sure cant sit down for a whole 3 hours and watch it. I HATE long movies. 1 hour and 30 mins is long enough for a movie. I don’t think I’ll watch the whole movie.
So I tried logging into my internet around 2am and I couldn’t login. Maybe there is a time when you cant logon like really early in the morn. I don’t know. I’ll try again tomorrow.
I watched some shows on cable. They have a few English channels.I turned to this one channel and episodes from season 1 of “how I met your mother” were on tv. I saw a commercial for "Scrubs" but I dont know when its on. I also watched some music videos in Korean. There is this one song that I hear everywhere and I like it. I saw the music video. I finally know who sings it. His name is bobby kim. I found a version on youtube.
I’ve made it through 2 weeks of teaching at the new school. 50 weeks till I can come home! And only 48 weeks of teaching. Yes I’m already counting down. I’ve been counting down since the day I got here!!
I think this is going to be the worst year of my life. Seriously. I used to be a happy person, but I’ve changed. I’m lonely and most of the time I just feel like I want to be alone. People are driving me crazy and I’m a bad teacher. How do you make 2-3 pages last 45 minutes without making the students repeat one sentence 100 times?
I am so ready to be at home! I wish I could come home! I don’t want to be here! I’m screwed either way. America is in a recession and I know I wouldn’t be able to find a job. I had a lot of trouble after I got laid off in 2007. no one wants to hire me in America. I had to come all the way over here to get a job and now I’m not making much because the won is tanking. Why is the whole world in such bad shape?? I wanted to save up for a car, but if the economy doesn’t shape up then its not going to be a reality. I’ll have to get some piece of crap old car. I wanted a new car!
Day 86
Friday March 13
Its Friday the 13th. Im not superstitious so its just another day to me.
So I was supposed to be getting internet today. MK calls me at school and says that they couldn’t connect it because they didn’t know my pass code. I was confused. I thought he meant that they couldn’t get in my door but when I came home there was a cable hooked to my computer I don’t know what he would have been talking about. I don’t have any special passwords once my computer is open. Anyway they are coming back on Saturday at 2pm.
I need to find a dry cleaner. My coat is dry clean only so I need to clean it. Plus I need to get some shirts pressed. I hate that the “dryer” doesn’t take out wrinkles. I have 4 shirts that are so wrinkled that the iron isn’t helping.
Classes were good today. I was so bored when I had a break between classes since I didn’t have my own computer. I used the Korean teacher’s computer some of the time. I’ve already made all of my tests for next week. I had too much free time!
I only had 3 classes today. 2 speaking classes and 1 writing class. I hate how the material in my 2 lower level classes is so little. There’s not enough stuff. One of my classes was trying to teach me Korean. They kept asking me to say stuff but they never told me what it meant. They asked me to play some game but I didn’t know what they were talking about. They are in one of the lowest levels so it’s a little harder to understand what they mean.
After school I went out to eat with the elementary teachers-3 young teachers and one older teacher. We had pork at a restaurant across the street from the school. I don’t know how to spell what we had but it was good! It was more like a pork chop but a lot softer. It’s a lot like the Korean bacon but it had a different flavor. Anyway I liked it. I also like the salad and the soup. The older woman paid for the meal. She’s a teacher, but I don’t know what she teaches. Her English isn’t that good so she wants me to help her.
One of Mk’s coworkers wants to have lunch with me on Sunday and he tells me on Friday. It’s a woman. And I don’t know who it is. Oh well. He was asking me what time was best. I told him 1pm was too early! So I told him 3pm. He’s suppose to call me and tell me where to meet the person and what time. I think he’s coming too cause he said he would see me on Sunday. WHY?
Its Friday the 13th. Im not superstitious so its just another day to me.
So I was supposed to be getting internet today. MK calls me at school and says that they couldn’t connect it because they didn’t know my pass code. I was confused. I thought he meant that they couldn’t get in my door but when I came home there was a cable hooked to my computer I don’t know what he would have been talking about. I don’t have any special passwords once my computer is open. Anyway they are coming back on Saturday at 2pm.
I need to find a dry cleaner. My coat is dry clean only so I need to clean it. Plus I need to get some shirts pressed. I hate that the “dryer” doesn’t take out wrinkles. I have 4 shirts that are so wrinkled that the iron isn’t helping.
Classes were good today. I was so bored when I had a break between classes since I didn’t have my own computer. I used the Korean teacher’s computer some of the time. I’ve already made all of my tests for next week. I had too much free time!
I only had 3 classes today. 2 speaking classes and 1 writing class. I hate how the material in my 2 lower level classes is so little. There’s not enough stuff. One of my classes was trying to teach me Korean. They kept asking me to say stuff but they never told me what it meant. They asked me to play some game but I didn’t know what they were talking about. They are in one of the lowest levels so it’s a little harder to understand what they mean.
After school I went out to eat with the elementary teachers-3 young teachers and one older teacher. We had pork at a restaurant across the street from the school. I don’t know how to spell what we had but it was good! It was more like a pork chop but a lot softer. It’s a lot like the Korean bacon but it had a different flavor. Anyway I liked it. I also like the salad and the soup. The older woman paid for the meal. She’s a teacher, but I don’t know what she teaches. Her English isn’t that good so she wants me to help her.
One of Mk’s coworkers wants to have lunch with me on Sunday and he tells me on Friday. It’s a woman. And I don’t know who it is. Oh well. He was asking me what time was best. I told him 1pm was too early! So I told him 3pm. He’s suppose to call me and tell me where to meet the person and what time. I think he’s coming too cause he said he would see me on Sunday. WHY?
Day 84/85
Wednesday March 11/Thurs March 12
I don’t even remember what happened Wednesday...nothing worth mentioning anyway.
My stove is so slow. It took 45 minutes to make rice and hotdogs. Way too slow! I don’t have that kind of time to waste.
Today I was eating my lunch when I got a phone call. It was the woman in charge of teachers at Nokbeon. She told me that our meeting was starting at 1:30. I told her that no one told me. She told me to get there as soon as possible. Great. Thanks for telling me that Im suppose to be there at 1:30. (yeah she actually called at 1:30). Someone failed to tell me. Oh well. Communication over here is terrible!! Its either last minute or not at all. I didn’t get there till 2pm. I wasn’t ready. If I knew that I was supposed to be there earlier then I would have been up earlier. One of the Korean teachers told me I didn’t miss anything anyway. They spent the first minutes of the meeting just introducing themselves. The meeting lasted till 2:30. it was taught by Rocky. After the meeting I was going to go back to my school with one of the other teachers. Then the director of teachers told me to stay and talk to Rocky. Rocky told me to go with the other teacher so I left. By the time I left she was already gone. I was going by subway and she went by bus so I missed her. I just headed on to school alone.
Classes were good today. I had 3 speaking classes and 2 writing classes.
I asked Mk about my cable/internet. He said they would come install it at 3pm on Friday. He told me not to take my laptop to school because it needed to be in my room to install the internet. That sucks!! I only have 3 classes tomorrow. I’ll be sitting around with nothing to do. At least when I have my computer I play on the internet.
Lately I’ve been downloading a lot of “how I met your mother”. Andrew likes it so I thought I’d check it out. Pretty neat show. I’ve downloaded the first season episodes 1-17.
I haven’t been able to find any of “Scrubs” season 3. that really sucks!! And I can’t find the bachelor finale or after the final rose.
I don’t even remember what happened Wednesday...nothing worth mentioning anyway.
My stove is so slow. It took 45 minutes to make rice and hotdogs. Way too slow! I don’t have that kind of time to waste.
Today I was eating my lunch when I got a phone call. It was the woman in charge of teachers at Nokbeon. She told me that our meeting was starting at 1:30. I told her that no one told me. She told me to get there as soon as possible. Great. Thanks for telling me that Im suppose to be there at 1:30. (yeah she actually called at 1:30). Someone failed to tell me. Oh well. Communication over here is terrible!! Its either last minute or not at all. I didn’t get there till 2pm. I wasn’t ready. If I knew that I was supposed to be there earlier then I would have been up earlier. One of the Korean teachers told me I didn’t miss anything anyway. They spent the first minutes of the meeting just introducing themselves. The meeting lasted till 2:30. it was taught by Rocky. After the meeting I was going to go back to my school with one of the other teachers. Then the director of teachers told me to stay and talk to Rocky. Rocky told me to go with the other teacher so I left. By the time I left she was already gone. I was going by subway and she went by bus so I missed her. I just headed on to school alone.
Classes were good today. I had 3 speaking classes and 2 writing classes.
I asked Mk about my cable/internet. He said they would come install it at 3pm on Friday. He told me not to take my laptop to school because it needed to be in my room to install the internet. That sucks!! I only have 3 classes tomorrow. I’ll be sitting around with nothing to do. At least when I have my computer I play on the internet.
Lately I’ve been downloading a lot of “how I met your mother”. Andrew likes it so I thought I’d check it out. Pretty neat show. I’ve downloaded the first season episodes 1-17.
I haven’t been able to find any of “Scrubs” season 3. that really sucks!! And I can’t find the bachelor finale or after the final rose.
Day 83
Tues March 10
I never want to get up in the mornings! I set my alarm for 11am and I didn’t end up getting up till 12:40 I think. I just love to snooze. I have got to stop it. Or start going to bed earlier. I hate going to bed early!
Ok so I got a text today from another teacher saying that we weren’t getting paid today. Something about tax issues. I don’t know. I haven’t even checked to see if I have got paid yet. I’ll look at my account tomorrow.
I’m not going to immigration till next week. I don’t know why they can’t make up their mind.
I had to go to Nokbeon today to learn from Rocky. I was there for about an hour. He was telling me some tips about teaching. I think what he told me will help me stretch the lessons out. He goes through the lessons slow. I think that’s what I’m going to do. I have to see him from 2-3 every day this week.
This morning something funny happened on the elevator. I got on at the 3rd floor. The elevator moved a little. I didn’t pay attention to what direction. I see Rocky in front of the elevator. I thought I was on the 1st floor but wondered why Rocky was there. Then I get off and realize it stopped on the 4th floor(that’s what floor he lives on). Then I got back on. I told him I didn’t know it went up. Haha. We talked briefly and went on our way. I was headed to get something to eat and he was headed to school I guess.
Classes were good today. I had 5 classes. In one of my classes we had a story to act out. I gave them parts and they read them. Then one of the boys wanted to be someone else. It was funny. In the story 2 children were fighting over who has to set the table. Then the mom gets mad and says “who buys the groceries, cleans your shoes, and cooks your dinner? I DO!” Then the kids say they are sorry and they set the table. One of the guys wanted to be mom and he really played the part in an angry voice.
I tried some kind of noodles today. It’s kind of like Raman in a bowl. It tasted okay. I had to eat it with chopsticks which wasn’t too hard since you just grab some noodles with the chopstick and stuff in it your mouth. I can not use chopsticks!
After school Andrew called me to see if I wanted to hangout with some of the other teachers. They were going out to eat. They started out at one place but they said that the food sucked so we went somewhere else. We walked to a bar and ate there. I don’t know what exactly we were eating but it was good. We sat there and talked about all sorts of stuff.
Then me and rocky walked home together and talked about various things along the way.He wanted to know what college I went to. I told him I went to Winthrop. He had a friend who went to Winthrop. His friend was from New Zealand like him and had a soccer scholarship to Winthrop. He said he used to tell people his favorite soccer team was Winthrop. Small world, indeed. I met a guy in South Korea who is from New Zealand who knows someone from New Zealand who went to Winthrop.
I never want to get up in the mornings! I set my alarm for 11am and I didn’t end up getting up till 12:40 I think. I just love to snooze. I have got to stop it. Or start going to bed earlier. I hate going to bed early!
Ok so I got a text today from another teacher saying that we weren’t getting paid today. Something about tax issues. I don’t know. I haven’t even checked to see if I have got paid yet. I’ll look at my account tomorrow.
I’m not going to immigration till next week. I don’t know why they can’t make up their mind.
I had to go to Nokbeon today to learn from Rocky. I was there for about an hour. He was telling me some tips about teaching. I think what he told me will help me stretch the lessons out. He goes through the lessons slow. I think that’s what I’m going to do. I have to see him from 2-3 every day this week.
This morning something funny happened on the elevator. I got on at the 3rd floor. The elevator moved a little. I didn’t pay attention to what direction. I see Rocky in front of the elevator. I thought I was on the 1st floor but wondered why Rocky was there. Then I get off and realize it stopped on the 4th floor(that’s what floor he lives on). Then I got back on. I told him I didn’t know it went up. Haha. We talked briefly and went on our way. I was headed to get something to eat and he was headed to school I guess.
Classes were good today. I had 5 classes. In one of my classes we had a story to act out. I gave them parts and they read them. Then one of the boys wanted to be someone else. It was funny. In the story 2 children were fighting over who has to set the table. Then the mom gets mad and says “who buys the groceries, cleans your shoes, and cooks your dinner? I DO!” Then the kids say they are sorry and they set the table. One of the guys wanted to be mom and he really played the part in an angry voice.
I tried some kind of noodles today. It’s kind of like Raman in a bowl. It tasted okay. I had to eat it with chopsticks which wasn’t too hard since you just grab some noodles with the chopstick and stuff in it your mouth. I can not use chopsticks!
After school Andrew called me to see if I wanted to hangout with some of the other teachers. They were going out to eat. They started out at one place but they said that the food sucked so we went somewhere else. We walked to a bar and ate there. I don’t know what exactly we were eating but it was good. We sat there and talked about all sorts of stuff.
Then me and rocky walked home together and talked about various things along the way.He wanted to know what college I went to. I told him I went to Winthrop. He had a friend who went to Winthrop. His friend was from New Zealand like him and had a soccer scholarship to Winthrop. He said he used to tell people his favorite soccer team was Winthrop. Small world, indeed. I met a guy in South Korea who is from New Zealand who knows someone from New Zealand who went to Winthrop.
Day 82
Monday March 9
I just did not want to get out of bed this morning! I set my alarm for 11am then I just kept pressing snooze over and over till at least 12:20 I think. I like to sleep.
I had to go to nokbeon to sign papers for my salary. I’ll get a little less than 400,000 for the 8 days that I’ve been with the school. I can live on that. I currently have almost 400,000 in my account and that will be plenty to last till next paycheck. They actually took out tax-3.3% but they didn’t take out medical or pension. I’ll have to ask about that. I also need to ask when I will get a medical card. I want to know that I have medical just in case I happen to need it.
I told mk to not forget to ask about cable/internet. I don’t know why he hasn’t asked yet. I’ve been here a week! He said he will ask this week. I asked him why I had to have the director’s approval. The school will have to put the account in their name because they don’t let foreigners have internet/cable accounts. I’m just tired of waiting!!! I’m bored and I don’t want pay to go to a PC café!!
I only had 3 classes today. I thought I was switching Mondays classes with Wednesday but I found out I’m teaching an extra class on Wednesday because we missed one last week because I didn’t start teaching on the first day.
All my classes went good. I taught 2 speaking classes and one writing class. In my 2nd class my students asked me a ton of questions. Do you like this? Do you like that? This was good since I didn’t need to cover too much material so I’ll have something to teach later!
Tomorrow through Friday I have to go to Nokbeon from 2-3 and be taught how to teach English. The guy that will be teaching me taught Koreans in Australia how to teach English to students. I wonder what I’ll be learning. I actually saw the guy at Mcdonalds for supper. I sat down with him and met one of his students that he taught in Australia.
I still don’t know when I’m supposed to go to Immigration to cancel my visa. First it was Tuesday then it was changed. Now I hear it may be Wednesday or Friday. Well they better let me know soon!!
I tried to change my address for Woori bank and it wouldn’t let me. I guess I’ll just go to the bank one day this week and get them to change it for me since I can’t do it online. I got one of the Korean teachers to type it in for me. She typed it in twice and each time there was an error.
I got a korean teacher to call LG telecom to change my address.
I just did not want to get out of bed this morning! I set my alarm for 11am then I just kept pressing snooze over and over till at least 12:20 I think. I like to sleep.
I had to go to nokbeon to sign papers for my salary. I’ll get a little less than 400,000 for the 8 days that I’ve been with the school. I can live on that. I currently have almost 400,000 in my account and that will be plenty to last till next paycheck. They actually took out tax-3.3% but they didn’t take out medical or pension. I’ll have to ask about that. I also need to ask when I will get a medical card. I want to know that I have medical just in case I happen to need it.
I told mk to not forget to ask about cable/internet. I don’t know why he hasn’t asked yet. I’ve been here a week! He said he will ask this week. I asked him why I had to have the director’s approval. The school will have to put the account in their name because they don’t let foreigners have internet/cable accounts. I’m just tired of waiting!!! I’m bored and I don’t want pay to go to a PC café!!
I only had 3 classes today. I thought I was switching Mondays classes with Wednesday but I found out I’m teaching an extra class on Wednesday because we missed one last week because I didn’t start teaching on the first day.
All my classes went good. I taught 2 speaking classes and one writing class. In my 2nd class my students asked me a ton of questions. Do you like this? Do you like that? This was good since I didn’t need to cover too much material so I’ll have something to teach later!
Tomorrow through Friday I have to go to Nokbeon from 2-3 and be taught how to teach English. The guy that will be teaching me taught Koreans in Australia how to teach English to students. I wonder what I’ll be learning. I actually saw the guy at Mcdonalds for supper. I sat down with him and met one of his students that he taught in Australia.
I still don’t know when I’m supposed to go to Immigration to cancel my visa. First it was Tuesday then it was changed. Now I hear it may be Wednesday or Friday. Well they better let me know soon!!
I tried to change my address for Woori bank and it wouldn’t let me. I guess I’ll just go to the bank one day this week and get them to change it for me since I can’t do it online. I got one of the Korean teachers to type it in for me. She typed it in twice and each time there was an error.
I got a korean teacher to call LG telecom to change my address.
Day 81--we don't observe daylight savings
Sunday March 8, 2009
March 8 Sunday
It’s my first time not observing daylight savings time…we don’t do it over here…
Got up at 11:20am…I didn’t go to bed till 5am so I really didn’t want to get up! If I could have slept late I would!! Why did I stay up till 5am? Just cause I wanted to. I like staying up late.
Met Mk in Hyehwa at 1pm. We ate at Subway then walked around. He showed me where he lived. Hyehwa is his hometown. Then he took me to the ChungGyeongGung Palace. Lots of pretty scenery. I liked going in the greenhouse. There were a lot of pretty plants. I took a lot of pictures. There were tons of different buildings at the palace. I took pictures of all of them. I'd take a picture of the building then MK would tell me to stand in front of it and he would take a picture of me. After about 2 times I told him I didn't need a picture of me in front of every building.
I told him I was ready to go home around 4pm then I headed back to Eugnam. I took some pictures down by the river. Then I found a PC café so I could upload all of my pictures.
So Mk was telling me about internet and cable. I can’t believe its taking so long! He knew last week that I wanted cable/internet. He says he will talk to his coworker tomorrow to see how much it is. Why is he just now going to ask his coworker?? He should have done that last week!
I have to meet him tomorrow at 2pm to sign papers so I will get paid for the week that I’ve been here so far since Tues is payday.
March 8 Sunday
It’s my first time not observing daylight savings time…we don’t do it over here…
Got up at 11:20am…I didn’t go to bed till 5am so I really didn’t want to get up! If I could have slept late I would!! Why did I stay up till 5am? Just cause I wanted to. I like staying up late.
Met Mk in Hyehwa at 1pm. We ate at Subway then walked around. He showed me where he lived. Hyehwa is his hometown. Then he took me to the ChungGyeongGung Palace. Lots of pretty scenery. I liked going in the greenhouse. There were a lot of pretty plants. I took a lot of pictures. There were tons of different buildings at the palace. I took pictures of all of them. I'd take a picture of the building then MK would tell me to stand in front of it and he would take a picture of me. After about 2 times I told him I didn't need a picture of me in front of every building.
I told him I was ready to go home around 4pm then I headed back to Eugnam. I took some pictures down by the river. Then I found a PC café so I could upload all of my pictures.
So Mk was telling me about internet and cable. I can’t believe its taking so long! He knew last week that I wanted cable/internet. He says he will talk to his coworker tomorrow to see how much it is. Why is he just now going to ask his coworker?? He should have done that last week!
I have to meet him tomorrow at 2pm to sign papers so I will get paid for the week that I’ve been here so far since Tues is payday.
Day 80--Seodaemun Prison/Independence Park
Saturday March 7
I went to Seodaemun Prison first. They have an order that they want you to see the exhibits in. so there are arrows pointing that say 'this way' everywhere. I took a lot of pictures but some of the interesting stuff was off limits for picture taking. They were also doing repairs so in the pictures of the actual prison buildings all you can see is where they are doing repairs. It was interesting to walk through the prison. A lot of torture went on at that prison-water torture, beating, sexual torture. I read about all kinds of stuff. They had torture rooms, a leper house to house lepers and people with other diseases away from the general population (couldn't go inside), execution building (couldn't go inside or take pictures).
The Prison Hall is divided into the following rooms for visitors: Information Room, Special Exhibition Room, Material Room (library), National Resistance Room, Prison History Room, In-Prison Life Room, Temporary Detention Room, Torture Room, Underground Cells, Prison Building, Execution Building Corpse Removal Unit, Reverence Monument, and Walls and Watchtowers
Pictures:
https://plus.google.com/photos/106518880659515557565/albums/5451197692005684033
https://plus.google.com/photos/106518880659515557565/albums/5451186132385435633
Directions to Saedaemun Prison: Dongnimmun Station (Subway Line 3-Orange Line) exits 4 and 5
I wanted to go see Dongnimmun but half of the park is under renovations until July of 2009. I’ll have to go back when it’s complete. I did get to see some parts of the park like the exercise stations. They have exercise machines outside and a badminton court and basketball net. I also saw Independence Hall.
I went to Seodaemun Prison first. They have an order that they want you to see the exhibits in. so there are arrows pointing that say 'this way' everywhere. I took a lot of pictures but some of the interesting stuff was off limits for picture taking. They were also doing repairs so in the pictures of the actual prison buildings all you can see is where they are doing repairs. It was interesting to walk through the prison. A lot of torture went on at that prison-water torture, beating, sexual torture. I read about all kinds of stuff. They had torture rooms, a leper house to house lepers and people with other diseases away from the general population (couldn't go inside), execution building (couldn't go inside or take pictures).
The Prison Hall is divided into the following rooms for visitors: Information Room, Special Exhibition Room, Material Room (library), National Resistance Room, Prison History Room, In-Prison Life Room, Temporary Detention Room, Torture Room, Underground Cells, Prison Building, Execution Building Corpse Removal Unit, Reverence Monument, and Walls and Watchtowers
Pictures:
https://plus.google.com/photos/106518880659515557565/albums/5451197692005684033
https://plus.google.com/photos/106518880659515557565/albums/5451186132385435633
Directions to Saedaemun Prison: Dongnimmun Station (Subway Line 3-Orange Line) exits 4 and 5
Price: Adults1,500 won / Youths: 1,000 won / Children: 500 won
From Wikipedia:
Seodaemun Prison is a museum and former prison in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It was constructed beginning in 1907 while Korea was considered a protectorate of Japan. The prison was opened on October 21, 1908, under the name Gyeongseong Gamok. Its name was changed to Seodaemun Prison in 1923.
The prison was used during the Japanese rule of Korea to house anti-colonial activists, and could accommodate around 500 people. After the Japanese occupation ended in 1945, the prison was used by the South Korean government until 1987.Seven of the prison complex's original fifteen buildings are preserved as historical monuments.
I wanted to go see Dongnimmun but half of the park is under renovations until July of 2009. I’ll have to go back when it’s complete. I did get to see some parts of the park like the exercise stations. They have exercise machines outside and a badminton court and basketball net. I also saw Independence Hall.
How to get to Dongnimmun:
Subway Line 3 (Orange Line) Dongnimmun Station Exit No.4, walk 5 minutes.Day 79
March 6, 2009 Friday
Today was my first class with the 2 lower level classes.
The first class liked to laugh a lot.They were pretty quiet, but they participated. They don't have English names and they dont know how to spell their korean name. I'll just have to point to them when i want to ask a question. There were 4 people in the class.
There were 5 people in the 2nd class. 1st and 2nd graders. One of them looked a lot like a girl in another one of my classes. I found out they are twins. One goes to mwf classes and the other in tues/thurs clases. This class was exited to meet me. They asked me a lot of questions like where are you from, how old are you, do you speak korean, etc. They liked the song that we sang "The wheels on the bus". It was part of the lesson in the book.
I was walking down the hall and there was a group of middle school guys in the hall. One of them showed me his name on his shirt and then he asked me my name. Then he said "I love you". I thought I was being hit on by a middle schooler. Over here "I love you" is just thrown around basically meaning "you're cool". Students say it to teachers all the time. It doesn't always have the romantic connotation. After I read that on Dave's esl cafe I felt better.
Today was my first class with the 2 lower level classes.
The first class liked to laugh a lot.They were pretty quiet, but they participated. They don't have English names and they dont know how to spell their korean name. I'll just have to point to them when i want to ask a question. There were 4 people in the class.
There were 5 people in the 2nd class. 1st and 2nd graders. One of them looked a lot like a girl in another one of my classes. I found out they are twins. One goes to mwf classes and the other in tues/thurs clases. This class was exited to meet me. They asked me a lot of questions like where are you from, how old are you, do you speak korean, etc. They liked the song that we sang "The wheels on the bus". It was part of the lesson in the book.
I was walking down the hall and there was a group of middle school guys in the hall. One of them showed me his name on his shirt and then he asked me my name. Then he said "I love you". I thought I was being hit on by a middle schooler. Over here "I love you" is just thrown around basically meaning "you're cool". Students say it to teachers all the time. It doesn't always have the romantic connotation. After I read that on Dave's esl cafe I felt better.
Day 78
March 5th Thursday
I finally got my transformer back. At first, MK was saying he would bring it at 10:50pm. Then, he called about 10:40 and asked if he could bring it tomorrow. I told him I had to have it today (cause I did!). So he brought it by and he brought sheet for the bed.
MK wants to go out to lunch on Sunday.
Tomorrow I have to meet MK to make a bank account at IBK bank at 2pm. He is supposed to give me the English address to where I live tomorrow also.
I met another American in my officetel building tonight. I saw a white guy going into my building. He talked to me on the elevator. His name is Greg and he is from Maryland and teaches at a middle school. We didn’t talk long because I only had to go to the 3rd floor to get to my apartment. So I know 2 people in my building. A guy from Maryland and a guy from New Zealand. We are all English teachers.
Classes were good today. I taught speaking in 3 of my classes and writing in 2 classes. I’m going to have to prepare extra materials for classes this weekend. The lessons are really short!! Maybe I could find an article related to what we are studying or just bring something in that is “bonus” material.
I gave tests in my classes today. I think I made the tests too hard. I didn’t think they were hard. My last class did good and understood the directions. Some of my other classes had a hard time. One of my classes was completely confused. I wrote sentences straight from the book and left out a word and they had to fill in the blank. On the 2nd part they had to unscramble the words to make a sentence. Maybe I’ll try out different formats like true/false or give them a word bank to choose from.
Today I wrote out all my tests and then copied them. I’m not connected to the printer so I can’t print them. Someone tried to connect my computer to the network printer but I guess it wouldn’t work. Probably because I have Vista and they have another version. One of the Korean teachers said I could use her computer to print stuff. I need my own computer! One of the teachers asked about a computer for me and they said "2 people 1 computer". So basically--"you ain't getting one!"
All my classes are good so far. My biggest class so far has 9 students. My smallest class has one. All my students are well behaved.
I finally got my transformer back. At first, MK was saying he would bring it at 10:50pm. Then, he called about 10:40 and asked if he could bring it tomorrow. I told him I had to have it today (cause I did!). So he brought it by and he brought sheet for the bed.
MK wants to go out to lunch on Sunday.
Tomorrow I have to meet MK to make a bank account at IBK bank at 2pm. He is supposed to give me the English address to where I live tomorrow also.
I met another American in my officetel building tonight. I saw a white guy going into my building. He talked to me on the elevator. His name is Greg and he is from Maryland and teaches at a middle school. We didn’t talk long because I only had to go to the 3rd floor to get to my apartment. So I know 2 people in my building. A guy from Maryland and a guy from New Zealand. We are all English teachers.
Classes were good today. I taught speaking in 3 of my classes and writing in 2 classes. I’m going to have to prepare extra materials for classes this weekend. The lessons are really short!! Maybe I could find an article related to what we are studying or just bring something in that is “bonus” material.
I gave tests in my classes today. I think I made the tests too hard. I didn’t think they were hard. My last class did good and understood the directions. Some of my other classes had a hard time. One of my classes was completely confused. I wrote sentences straight from the book and left out a word and they had to fill in the blank. On the 2nd part they had to unscramble the words to make a sentence. Maybe I’ll try out different formats like true/false or give them a word bank to choose from.
Today I wrote out all my tests and then copied them. I’m not connected to the printer so I can’t print them. Someone tried to connect my computer to the network printer but I guess it wouldn’t work. Probably because I have Vista and they have another version. One of the Korean teachers said I could use her computer to print stuff. I need my own computer! One of the teachers asked about a computer for me and they said "2 people 1 computer". So basically--"you ain't getting one!"
All my classes are good so far. My biggest class so far has 9 students. My smallest class has one. All my students are well behaved.
Day 77 only 2 classes today! and I have a bed!
Day 77 March 4 Wednesday
11 weeks
Today was my first day taking a new way to school. I got on the subway at Eung-am staion on line 6 which is less than a 10 min walk from my officetel. I stayed on line 6 for about 4-5 stops then got off at my stop Gusan. I didn’t have to do any transfers! On the way home I go to the Gusan station and my stop, Eung-am is the next stop over.
I finally got a bed!! I have never been so happy to get a bed. Last night was painful! The bed will still be painful though because their beds are hard as a rock. As soon as I get paid I am getting a memory foam mattress pad. It will be worth the investment in the long run. I might also get a firmer pillow.
Now I’m still missing my transformer. Guess I’ll be going to school with dirty hair in a ponytail. I can’t dry my hair without my transformer (the hairdryer is 110 volts and I’m not buying a hair dryer). If he lost my transformer I’ll make him get me a new one because he and the other guy were the ones who were in charge of bring my luggage over to my apartment. MK said he will call his coworker and see if its at his house since he is the person who brought my stuff over in his car.
I went out to lunch with one of the Korean elementary teachers. We went to mcdonalds. Then she helped me get some medicine at the pharmacy. I’ve had a cough for the past 2 days. I got ten pills for 1,500 which is about one dollar. I have to take the pills with a meal. 2 pills 3 times a day. I’m not coughing as much so that’s good.
I have to meet MK in Nokbeon on Friday at 2pm to get a bank account. I already have one but schools around here are particular about what bank they want to use and they do direct deposit.
Next Tuesday March 10 I have to go to Uijeongbu at 1pm to cancel my Visa with Avalon. I don’t know what time I will get back to the school. I have class at 4:10. It’s a long distance to go from Eung-am to Uijeongbu. I don’t know how long the visa cancellation process will take. I wanted to do it earlier in the day but 1pm was the earliest they could do it. After I cancel it I can apply for another visa and I’ll have to go to Japan to get it. I just hate that I won’t be able to spend much money in Japan because I don’t have much. Yuck! I’ll just have to take lots of pictures and buy one souvenir.
Today was the day when I was only going to have 3 classes. Then I found out that one of the classes didn’t have any students so I wouldn’t be teaching it. I wonder if they will ever get any students in that class this semester. It’s the highest level. I only had 2 classes. I didn’t start teaching till 7:10 and I was done at 8:45. I like it! Next week I have to teach the classes I would have taught on Monday on Wednesday. So next Wednesday I will have 4 classes. Then the next week I’ll go back to 2 classes if they don’t get anyone in the highest level. So far I have 32 students. I teach every level. I haven’t met my students in 2 levels. I’ll meet them on Wednesday.
I had 6 students in all today. In my first class there was one boy. He’s in the 10th level which is the highest level right now. I don’t think he understood me when I asked him what grade he was in. He just looked at me. He does a good job of speaking and reading. He knew how to answer all the questions. After class the Korean teacher asked me how he was and I said that he did good. And she said “really?” I asked “Why do you think he is bad?” She said he was shy and wouldn’t talk in class. I told her he talked every time I asked him to. He answered the questions, read the passages and even got all the answers right. Maybe he is just shy in her class. I don’t know.
My last class was good. They all participated and grasped the concepts. There were 5 students and they were all in 6th grade. They are in the 8th level.
Tomorrow I will have 5 classes. I will teach speaking in 3 classes and writing in 2 classes. Same students that I saw on Tuesday.
My laundry is broken. That’s what MK calls it. I call it a washing machine. Anyway someone from maintenance is coming to fix it at 1pm tomorrow.
I went to Emart tonight to go shopping. Emart is literally right in front of my officetel. Very short walk. I like Emart. I think they have a bigger selection than home plus and I’ve heard the prices are better. They have 7 levels of shopping in Emart. You can get from one level to another by an escalator without stairs. They have B1-level 6. Everything you need is in Emart. It’s like Walmart except 10 times bigger. I found a 1.5 liter bottle of Mountain Dew at Emart. That’s the first place I’ve seen a bottle. Their bottles are 1.5 not 2 liters. I was curious. I tasted it when I got home. It doesn’t have the same sweet taste as back in America.
11 weeks
Today was my first day taking a new way to school. I got on the subway at Eung-am staion on line 6 which is less than a 10 min walk from my officetel. I stayed on line 6 for about 4-5 stops then got off at my stop Gusan. I didn’t have to do any transfers! On the way home I go to the Gusan station and my stop, Eung-am is the next stop over.
I finally got a bed!! I have never been so happy to get a bed. Last night was painful! The bed will still be painful though because their beds are hard as a rock. As soon as I get paid I am getting a memory foam mattress pad. It will be worth the investment in the long run. I might also get a firmer pillow.
Now I’m still missing my transformer. Guess I’ll be going to school with dirty hair in a ponytail. I can’t dry my hair without my transformer (the hairdryer is 110 volts and I’m not buying a hair dryer). If he lost my transformer I’ll make him get me a new one because he and the other guy were the ones who were in charge of bring my luggage over to my apartment. MK said he will call his coworker and see if its at his house since he is the person who brought my stuff over in his car.
I went out to lunch with one of the Korean elementary teachers. We went to mcdonalds. Then she helped me get some medicine at the pharmacy. I’ve had a cough for the past 2 days. I got ten pills for 1,500 which is about one dollar. I have to take the pills with a meal. 2 pills 3 times a day. I’m not coughing as much so that’s good.
I have to meet MK in Nokbeon on Friday at 2pm to get a bank account. I already have one but schools around here are particular about what bank they want to use and they do direct deposit.
Next Tuesday March 10 I have to go to Uijeongbu at 1pm to cancel my Visa with Avalon. I don’t know what time I will get back to the school. I have class at 4:10. It’s a long distance to go from Eung-am to Uijeongbu. I don’t know how long the visa cancellation process will take. I wanted to do it earlier in the day but 1pm was the earliest they could do it. After I cancel it I can apply for another visa and I’ll have to go to Japan to get it. I just hate that I won’t be able to spend much money in Japan because I don’t have much. Yuck! I’ll just have to take lots of pictures and buy one souvenir.
Today was the day when I was only going to have 3 classes. Then I found out that one of the classes didn’t have any students so I wouldn’t be teaching it. I wonder if they will ever get any students in that class this semester. It’s the highest level. I only had 2 classes. I didn’t start teaching till 7:10 and I was done at 8:45. I like it! Next week I have to teach the classes I would have taught on Monday on Wednesday. So next Wednesday I will have 4 classes. Then the next week I’ll go back to 2 classes if they don’t get anyone in the highest level. So far I have 32 students. I teach every level. I haven’t met my students in 2 levels. I’ll meet them on Wednesday.
I had 6 students in all today. In my first class there was one boy. He’s in the 10th level which is the highest level right now. I don’t think he understood me when I asked him what grade he was in. He just looked at me. He does a good job of speaking and reading. He knew how to answer all the questions. After class the Korean teacher asked me how he was and I said that he did good. And she said “really?” I asked “Why do you think he is bad?” She said he was shy and wouldn’t talk in class. I told her he talked every time I asked him to. He answered the questions, read the passages and even got all the answers right. Maybe he is just shy in her class. I don’t know.
My last class was good. They all participated and grasped the concepts. There were 5 students and they were all in 6th grade. They are in the 8th level.
Tomorrow I will have 5 classes. I will teach speaking in 3 classes and writing in 2 classes. Same students that I saw on Tuesday.
My laundry is broken. That’s what MK calls it. I call it a washing machine. Anyway someone from maintenance is coming to fix it at 1pm tomorrow.
I went to Emart tonight to go shopping. Emart is literally right in front of my officetel. Very short walk. I like Emart. I think they have a bigger selection than home plus and I’ve heard the prices are better. They have 7 levels of shopping in Emart. You can get from one level to another by an escalator without stairs. They have B1-level 6. Everything you need is in Emart. It’s like Walmart except 10 times bigger. I found a 1.5 liter bottle of Mountain Dew at Emart. That’s the first place I’ve seen a bottle. Their bottles are 1.5 not 2 liters. I was curious. I tasted it when I got home. It doesn’t have the same sweet taste as back in America.
Day 76 First day of teaching and no bed!
Day 76 March 3 2009 Tuesday
It just keeps getting better (NOT!)
I texted Mk in the morning twice. He finally got back to me after noon. Someone was at the school and would open the place where my luggage was and I could get what I needed. So I went there and got something to wear and other essentials. Then I went back to the hotel and got ready in less than an hour. Then put my stuff back in the room and headed to school. I took the subway to work. Took me 35 minutes in all with walking from my hotel to the subway and getting on line 3 and transferring to line 6. I got to the school at 2:05. I didn’t have any trouble finding it. Its right off of the Gusan subway exit. Then I asked one of the girls who are elem. Teachers if it was okay if I got lunch. I hadn’t had time since my whole luggage fiasco. So I found a mcdonalds right next to the school.
I unpacked my laptop and it took them forever to set up my connection to the internet network. I wish I didn’t have to take my laptop to school. Its really heavy! Why don’t I have a computer?
My classes were okay. I had 5 classes in all. 2 back to back and an hour break then 3 back to back. I counted that I have 26 students in all for Tues/Thursday. My biggest class had 9 students. My smallest class had 3 students. The material is short and goes by fast. I watched a teacher yesterday and I thought it wouldn’t be a problem making it last 45 minutes. In some of the classes I covered more than I probably should have. I don’t have a syllabus. I just know that Im suppose to cover 3 units in 4 weeks so I have freedom to do what I want. I’m going to have to find some games to fill up extra time.
My 4th class was hilarious. In a book called “twist and shout” there is a song for every lesson. We listened to the song and they were laughing the whole time. We listened to it 3 times and cracked up every single time. It was that cheesy. It was talking about Fanella the Fairy. Good times.
Today I had 5 classes.
First class had 9 students. About 5 of the students have English names. I don't know what to call the rest of the students. The attendance is in korean.2nd class had 5 students. All girls and they all have English names. 3rd class had 3 students. 2 of them have English names.4th class had 4 students. They all have English names. One of them is a really good speaker.5th class had 5 students.
I made it through my first day!
After school MK came to meet me to go to my apartment. We took a different subway stop this time so I could know how to get from my apartment to the school.I will walk to Enag-am (about 10 mins) and take the subway to Gusan. At least I won’t have to transfer. Both stops are on line 6 and I’ll have to go one stop over. I just hate that I’ll have to pay $1,800 won everyday to get to school. Oh well. We finally got to my apartment around 11pm. Mk told me he had been shopping all day but he didn’t get a bed. Wow this school just gets better everyday. Great. I have to sleep on the floor. Im going to be in a lot of pain.
I like the officetel. I’m on the 3rd floor. I was so glad there was an elevator! No carrying luggage up stairs! My apartment is right next to E-mart and about 10 mins from the subway. The room is huge. Way bigger than the one in Uijeongbu. I have a bidet in the bathroom. I’ve never used one before so that should be interesting. I have a microwave!! I have tons of closet space! That’s great. But as of now I have no bed and no chair. I have a desk, but no chair. I have a TV but no cable. It might be a week before I can get internet and cable. I have a washing machine in my room. I did 2 loads of laundry. At first they were telling me the laundry was broken because they couldn’t get the door open. I told them I HAVE to do laundry tonight! He showed me how to use the machine. The controls are in Korean. This machine has a drying function. It doesn’t get them completely dry. They are still damp.
They didn’t bring my transformer! I hope they find it or they will be getting me another one!
I didn’t get a chance to eat supper since I was in class and then I was waiting on Mk. I talked to my mom for a little while then I was going to head out to Mcdonalds at 11:50 pm (EMart closes at midnight). Mcdonalds was already closed. I ended up walking around and didn’t get anything to eat. There were a few places open but I was scared that they were all in Korean and I wouldn’t understand anyway. I ended up eating ramen noodles(from the USA) in my apartment around 2am.
Tomorrow I only have 3 classes and my 1st class is at 6:20. that will be nice. I’ll have plenty of time to plan. I know I’ll need extra material. Although 4 hours of planning and I’m going to be bored! I’ll probably spend some of that time on the internet.
I heard about The Bachelor. I haven’t watched it yet though. I can’t wait to see what happened. Hopefully someone will put it up on piratebay soon!
I think I might be going to Uijeongbu on Friday to cancel my Visa. MK said something about going there Friday, but he didn’t give me a time yet.
It just keeps getting better (NOT!)
I texted Mk in the morning twice. He finally got back to me after noon. Someone was at the school and would open the place where my luggage was and I could get what I needed. So I went there and got something to wear and other essentials. Then I went back to the hotel and got ready in less than an hour. Then put my stuff back in the room and headed to school. I took the subway to work. Took me 35 minutes in all with walking from my hotel to the subway and getting on line 3 and transferring to line 6. I got to the school at 2:05. I didn’t have any trouble finding it. Its right off of the Gusan subway exit. Then I asked one of the girls who are elem. Teachers if it was okay if I got lunch. I hadn’t had time since my whole luggage fiasco. So I found a mcdonalds right next to the school.
I unpacked my laptop and it took them forever to set up my connection to the internet network. I wish I didn’t have to take my laptop to school. Its really heavy! Why don’t I have a computer?
My classes were okay. I had 5 classes in all. 2 back to back and an hour break then 3 back to back. I counted that I have 26 students in all for Tues/Thursday. My biggest class had 9 students. My smallest class had 3 students. The material is short and goes by fast. I watched a teacher yesterday and I thought it wouldn’t be a problem making it last 45 minutes. In some of the classes I covered more than I probably should have. I don’t have a syllabus. I just know that Im suppose to cover 3 units in 4 weeks so I have freedom to do what I want. I’m going to have to find some games to fill up extra time.
My 4th class was hilarious. In a book called “twist and shout” there is a song for every lesson. We listened to the song and they were laughing the whole time. We listened to it 3 times and cracked up every single time. It was that cheesy. It was talking about Fanella the Fairy. Good times.
Today I had 5 classes.
First class had 9 students. About 5 of the students have English names. I don't know what to call the rest of the students. The attendance is in korean.2nd class had 5 students. All girls and they all have English names. 3rd class had 3 students. 2 of them have English names.4th class had 4 students. They all have English names. One of them is a really good speaker.5th class had 5 students.
I made it through my first day!
After school MK came to meet me to go to my apartment. We took a different subway stop this time so I could know how to get from my apartment to the school.I will walk to Enag-am (about 10 mins) and take the subway to Gusan. At least I won’t have to transfer. Both stops are on line 6 and I’ll have to go one stop over. I just hate that I’ll have to pay $1,800 won everyday to get to school. Oh well. We finally got to my apartment around 11pm. Mk told me he had been shopping all day but he didn’t get a bed. Wow this school just gets better everyday. Great. I have to sleep on the floor. Im going to be in a lot of pain.
I like the officetel. I’m on the 3rd floor. I was so glad there was an elevator! No carrying luggage up stairs! My apartment is right next to E-mart and about 10 mins from the subway. The room is huge. Way bigger than the one in Uijeongbu. I have a bidet in the bathroom. I’ve never used one before so that should be interesting. I have a microwave!! I have tons of closet space! That’s great. But as of now I have no bed and no chair. I have a desk, but no chair. I have a TV but no cable. It might be a week before I can get internet and cable. I have a washing machine in my room. I did 2 loads of laundry. At first they were telling me the laundry was broken because they couldn’t get the door open. I told them I HAVE to do laundry tonight! He showed me how to use the machine. The controls are in Korean. This machine has a drying function. It doesn’t get them completely dry. They are still damp.
They didn’t bring my transformer! I hope they find it or they will be getting me another one!
I didn’t get a chance to eat supper since I was in class and then I was waiting on Mk. I talked to my mom for a little while then I was going to head out to Mcdonalds at 11:50 pm (EMart closes at midnight). Mcdonalds was already closed. I ended up walking around and didn’t get anything to eat. There were a few places open but I was scared that they were all in Korean and I wouldn’t understand anyway. I ended up eating ramen noodles(from the USA) in my apartment around 2am.
Tomorrow I only have 3 classes and my 1st class is at 6:20. that will be nice. I’ll have plenty of time to plan. I know I’ll need extra material. Although 4 hours of planning and I’m going to be bored! I’ll probably spend some of that time on the internet.
I heard about The Bachelor. I haven’t watched it yet though. I can’t wait to see what happened. Hopefully someone will put it up on piratebay soon!
I think I might be going to Uijeongbu on Friday to cancel my Visa. MK said something about going there Friday, but he didn’t give me a time yet.
Day 75...staying in the hotel an extra night
Day 75 March 2nd 2009 Monday
things just keep getting better and better everyday..NOT!
So at 2pm mk and Andrew were at my door at the motel. They were coming to help me take all my stuff down to the school so I could move into my officetel today. They put all of my stuff in a classroom.
Then I went to Andrew's school. I met the other foreign teachers there. There's another Andrew from Georgia and Rocky from New Zealand.
I got a teacher's guide which isn't that great. Then I sat around for a long time. Went to another building and sat down then found out the person we were going to see was in a meeting so we went back to andrew's school.
Found out that I'll be working at the Gusan branch by myself. I'll be the only foreign teacher at my branch.
Today I had to watch Rocky's classes all day long. When I went into the first class the students said "girlfriend?" Then he introduced me to the class as a new teacher. The 2nd class asked if I was his "younger sister". haha. The other 2 classes didn't ask any strange questions.
I found out that my officel wasn't ready yet. The person hadn't moved out yet. I have to stay in that crappy motel for another night. yuck! Mk and this other guy took my luggage and sent me to the teacher's room. I thought they were taking it to the hotel for me.
Then we went out to eat togethers (yes thats how he says it). Another guy from the school came with us. Mk said the other guy was an engineer and does accounting. (he was super cute!) I don't think he speaks any English. I didn't hear any English coming from his mouth. One time he asked Mk something and then Mk translated. We ate at a korean restaurant. I had something like a pork cutlet. He called it "fatback". It wasn't fat back!
Then we went to dunkin donuts. Then we went back to the hotel to get the key to the room. I'd be staying in the same room that I had been in for 2 nights.
Me and Mk went to the school branch where I'll be teaching. He showed me how to get there by bus. I'd rather take the subway. Its only a few stops. I met my coworkers and got my schedule and books. I'll be teaching students on all levels. I saw where I'll be sitting in the teacher's room. I won't have my own computer. The korean teachers have their own but I won't so I'll be bringing my laptop.
I exchanged phone numbers with some of the coworkers. I met the other 2 korean english teachers--soon young and sue.
I start teaching tomorrow. I'll have 5 classes.
I took my books home so I could look at them.
Then I went to the PC room for 2 hours to check email and do other things.
When I got back to the hotel at 1:45am my luggage wasn't there. I freaked out! I didn't care that it was 1:45 am I texted Mk. I wanted to know where my luggage was. How was I suppose to be ready for my 1st day of school with no luggage? He said it was at the school. See when they sent me to the teachers room and they were moving my luggage I thought they were taking it to the hotel. They just moved it to another room at the school. He said he would call me in the morning.
This school is really causing me to stress out!
things just keep getting better and better everyday..NOT!
So at 2pm mk and Andrew were at my door at the motel. They were coming to help me take all my stuff down to the school so I could move into my officetel today. They put all of my stuff in a classroom.
Then I went to Andrew's school. I met the other foreign teachers there. There's another Andrew from Georgia and Rocky from New Zealand.
I got a teacher's guide which isn't that great. Then I sat around for a long time. Went to another building and sat down then found out the person we were going to see was in a meeting so we went back to andrew's school.
Found out that I'll be working at the Gusan branch by myself. I'll be the only foreign teacher at my branch.
Today I had to watch Rocky's classes all day long. When I went into the first class the students said "girlfriend?" Then he introduced me to the class as a new teacher. The 2nd class asked if I was his "younger sister". haha. The other 2 classes didn't ask any strange questions.
I found out that my officel wasn't ready yet. The person hadn't moved out yet. I have to stay in that crappy motel for another night. yuck! Mk and this other guy took my luggage and sent me to the teacher's room. I thought they were taking it to the hotel for me.
Then we went out to eat togethers (yes thats how he says it). Another guy from the school came with us. Mk said the other guy was an engineer and does accounting. (he was super cute!) I don't think he speaks any English. I didn't hear any English coming from his mouth. One time he asked Mk something and then Mk translated. We ate at a korean restaurant. I had something like a pork cutlet. He called it "fatback". It wasn't fat back!
Then we went to dunkin donuts. Then we went back to the hotel to get the key to the room. I'd be staying in the same room that I had been in for 2 nights.
Me and Mk went to the school branch where I'll be teaching. He showed me how to get there by bus. I'd rather take the subway. Its only a few stops. I met my coworkers and got my schedule and books. I'll be teaching students on all levels. I saw where I'll be sitting in the teacher's room. I won't have my own computer. The korean teachers have their own but I won't so I'll be bringing my laptop.
I exchanged phone numbers with some of the coworkers. I met the other 2 korean english teachers--soon young and sue.
I start teaching tomorrow. I'll have 5 classes.
I took my books home so I could look at them.
Then I went to the PC room for 2 hours to check email and do other things.
When I got back to the hotel at 1:45am my luggage wasn't there. I freaked out! I didn't care that it was 1:45 am I texted Mk. I wanted to know where my luggage was. How was I suppose to be ready for my 1st day of school with no luggage? He said it was at the school. See when they sent me to the teachers room and they were moving my luggage I thought they were taking it to the hotel. They just moved it to another room at the school. He said he would call me in the morning.
This school is really causing me to stress out!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
day 74--its definatly NOT a date!
Day 74 march 1 Sunday
I hate that I'm in a motel. I can't do laundry. If I would have known i was going to be in a hotel I would have done laundry at my old place.
I had a great night's sleep from 3am till 12pm. The bed was hard as a rock and it hurts if you sleep on one side for too long, but I still had a decent sleep. Why are all korean beds hard?? I still have my clock watching habit. I've got to stop that. I like to wake up to see what time it is. I have a distrust of alarms! I actually liked the pillows. 2 small but firm pillows. I like firm pillows. I dont like squishy pillows where you head sinks down into the pillow. I like support. The bed was warm. I had no clue how to work the heat in the room so I just turned on the heated pad on the bed. It was under the sheet and it felt good.
I was having weird dreams. I guess I was visiting the usa and I was looking for a specific person. In another episode I needed a shower before going to my job as a teacher in the usa. I was suppose to be there at 8am, but I couldnt get a shower. I don't know where I was. I went to a shower but it was broken. Then I just showered out in the open. (I see a common theme in a lot of my dreams--not having privacy--probably stems from my need for privacy and a fear of being exposed) Anyway I went to the school with my head wet and just threw on sloppy clothes. I got there at 8:30.No one at the office knew who I was. I told them I was a teacher and I was late. Then I realized "hey im not a teacher here". but they still wanted me to help with the class. weird.
The person in charge of foreigners (we'll call him mk from now on) wanted to go to the movies. I thought he was just trying to be nice to the new teacher at the school so I agreed. He gets on my nerves! Some of the other teachers have told me they don't like him. He keeps telling me that he "likes" me. I don't like that. I'm not into him.I don't show any interest at all. I hate it when guys won't give up.
We met at 2pm at Jogno 3 station exit 14. I wasn't trying to impress him. I wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants because I couldn't do laundry. We ate at burger king. A 4 story burger king. (I chose burger king) He paid. One time he called it a "date". Oh my goodness. It was not a date!! We were going to watch a movie but we checked 2 theaters and nothing good was playing.
He decided to go to a DVD room. I was looking through the selection and he picked out 2 choices-27 dresses or what happens in vegas. I chose what happens in vegas because I hadnt seen it yet. So you go in this small room about the size of an apartment bathroom. There is a screen that is similar to a big screen tv. The movie is played on the screen using a projector so its like your own private screening of movies that have already came to dvd. its usually something that couples do together. Then we walked around. There were tons of vendors on the sides of the streets and it was crowded. THere was a tour group that was on the streets too. We stopped by a temple. Jogyesa temple-a buddhist temple. I took some pictures. There's something in buddhism about bowing three times. Anyway he kept doing that. We stood at the window of the temple and watched the people inside. We didn't go in. There were people in there "praying" and bowing to Buddha. There were golden statues of Buddha.
Finally at 5:30 I was ready to go home so when we were near the subway I told him I was going home. I didn't want to spend that much time with him. He creeps me out when he keeps saying "i like you". I don't like him that way.
I didn't go straight home. I was just trying to get away from him. I went to Itaewon. I found a store that has plus size clothing. It was called OKBT. I went in and looked around. The woman at the store guessed my size. She was about right! She guessed one size smaller than I really am. I told her I was looking for a blazer. She reached in and pulled one out and the first one I tried on fit me. It was only 35,000 won (less than 30 dollars) so I bought it. Its not flattering but it will do. If they ever ask me to wear a suit at least I have a blazer. Im not wearing a whole suit.
I went to the foreign food market. They sell all sorts of foreign food. Their selection isn't that great. I didn't find anything I wanted.
Then I think I went up what is known as "Homo Hill". Itaewon is the center of the gay community in Seoul. There were some gay bars on that street.
Then I went by hooker hill. didnt see any hookers out but if you look in the doors of some clubs you can see scantily clad girls sitting near the door. you know what goes on there. I took pictures of the outsides of bars that I've been to. Almost all of the bars I've went to are located in Itaewon(I don't drink) and 75% of the bars i've been to are on hooker hill.
I hate that I'm in a motel. I can't do laundry. If I would have known i was going to be in a hotel I would have done laundry at my old place.
I had a great night's sleep from 3am till 12pm. The bed was hard as a rock and it hurts if you sleep on one side for too long, but I still had a decent sleep. Why are all korean beds hard?? I still have my clock watching habit. I've got to stop that. I like to wake up to see what time it is. I have a distrust of alarms! I actually liked the pillows. 2 small but firm pillows. I like firm pillows. I dont like squishy pillows where you head sinks down into the pillow. I like support. The bed was warm. I had no clue how to work the heat in the room so I just turned on the heated pad on the bed. It was under the sheet and it felt good.
I was having weird dreams. I guess I was visiting the usa and I was looking for a specific person. In another episode I needed a shower before going to my job as a teacher in the usa. I was suppose to be there at 8am, but I couldnt get a shower. I don't know where I was. I went to a shower but it was broken. Then I just showered out in the open. (I see a common theme in a lot of my dreams--not having privacy--probably stems from my need for privacy and a fear of being exposed) Anyway I went to the school with my head wet and just threw on sloppy clothes. I got there at 8:30.No one at the office knew who I was. I told them I was a teacher and I was late. Then I realized "hey im not a teacher here". but they still wanted me to help with the class. weird.
The person in charge of foreigners (we'll call him mk from now on) wanted to go to the movies. I thought he was just trying to be nice to the new teacher at the school so I agreed. He gets on my nerves! Some of the other teachers have told me they don't like him. He keeps telling me that he "likes" me. I don't like that. I'm not into him.I don't show any interest at all. I hate it when guys won't give up.
We met at 2pm at Jogno 3 station exit 14. I wasn't trying to impress him. I wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants because I couldn't do laundry. We ate at burger king. A 4 story burger king. (I chose burger king) He paid. One time he called it a "date". Oh my goodness. It was not a date!! We were going to watch a movie but we checked 2 theaters and nothing good was playing.
He decided to go to a DVD room. I was looking through the selection and he picked out 2 choices-27 dresses or what happens in vegas. I chose what happens in vegas because I hadnt seen it yet. So you go in this small room about the size of an apartment bathroom. There is a screen that is similar to a big screen tv. The movie is played on the screen using a projector so its like your own private screening of movies that have already came to dvd. its usually something that couples do together. Then we walked around. There were tons of vendors on the sides of the streets and it was crowded. THere was a tour group that was on the streets too. We stopped by a temple. Jogyesa temple-a buddhist temple. I took some pictures. There's something in buddhism about bowing three times. Anyway he kept doing that. We stood at the window of the temple and watched the people inside. We didn't go in. There were people in there "praying" and bowing to Buddha. There were golden statues of Buddha.
Finally at 5:30 I was ready to go home so when we were near the subway I told him I was going home. I didn't want to spend that much time with him. He creeps me out when he keeps saying "i like you". I don't like him that way.
I didn't go straight home. I was just trying to get away from him. I went to Itaewon. I found a store that has plus size clothing. It was called OKBT. I went in and looked around. The woman at the store guessed my size. She was about right! She guessed one size smaller than I really am. I told her I was looking for a blazer. She reached in and pulled one out and the first one I tried on fit me. It was only 35,000 won (less than 30 dollars) so I bought it. Its not flattering but it will do. If they ever ask me to wear a suit at least I have a blazer. Im not wearing a whole suit.
I went to the foreign food market. They sell all sorts of foreign food. Their selection isn't that great. I didn't find anything I wanted.
Then I think I went up what is known as "Homo Hill". Itaewon is the center of the gay community in Seoul. There were some gay bars on that street.
Then I went by hooker hill. didnt see any hookers out but if you look in the doors of some clubs you can see scantily clad girls sitting near the door. you know what goes on there. I took pictures of the outsides of bars that I've been to. Almost all of the bars I've went to are located in Itaewon(I don't drink) and 75% of the bars i've been to are on hooker hill.
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