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| New Teachers & Staff |
Last night, we had a dedication service for all of the new teachers. We sang, listened to a thoughtful message, participated in a candle-lighting ceremony, and learned where each of us would be teaching. I am praising God that my friend Sarah and I are both in Seoul and within an hour (probably less) of each other byway of the subway. I will definitely be visiting her whenever I get a good chance!
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| Orientation Roommates (We had a lot of fun!) |
This morning we all finished packing, ate breakfast and had worship together, and then said our goodbyes as pastors came to pick us up and take us to our local institutes. My pastor is very nice. He just returned from the mission field in Taiwan, where he has been serving for six years. He drove me to the language school where I saw my classroom, and then he took me to my apartment where I met my housemate from South Africa and the teacher whose place I would be taking. She is from New Zealand! I wish I could have spent more time with her.
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| My classroom!!! :D |
After getting settled, my housemate Vickey took me into town and tried to orient me. She also told me a lot of valuable information, like the best place to go grocery shopping and the best market in which to buy produce. We went to a local "fast food" place to get kimbap, which was very good, and then once she took me back to the institute, she let me on my own to do the things I needed to do.
All I really needed to do immediately was buy groceries. I didn't have anything, so I went to the grocery store and searched. That was the strangest experience I've had yet. Fish is everywhere--iced or dried. And it's not pre-cut. It's just the fish . . . lying there. :P Anyway, nearly everything was in Korean so I struggled to figure out what certain items were by recognition only. I found all that I would need to make a spaghetti dinner and to make my own bread. I also bought some soy milk, cereal, peanut butter, and strawberry jam. I found it fascinating that the two items that were entirely in English were Skippy peanut butter and Prego pasta sauce. Checking out was almost as complicated as shopping had been. The cashier didn't know a single word of English, and my "hello, please, and thank you" weren't enough to get me along. Some of the produce items I apparently was supposed to get a lady to weigh and price for me. Also, plastic bags cost about $0.35 each, so I had to buy three. I need to get a backpack soon!
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| The results of much effort. |
I bought way too much food for the first trip, especially considering that my apartment building is practically at the top of a mountain. (Ok, so I exaggerated a little, but it is quite the walk!) I could only carry the bags so far out of the subway station (the shop was in the subway station), and when I got outside again, I could not figure out which direction I needed to go. I set my things down near the road, and thankfully a taxi driver pulled over for me.
Vickey had given me the address of our apartment in Hangul, along with her cell phone to use for the afternoon. I handed the driver the paper, and he had so much trouble finding the place that he pulled over to ask some policemen. None of them could speak English, though one of the policemen knew some. While they were trying to figure out the address, I called the local English institute where I will be teaching and asked Sophie if she knew my address and could explain it to them. I handed them the phone, and everything was taken care of. The driver took me home and laughed. He was a good sport about the whole thing.
I refuse to leave my room again until my housemate can direct me. It's going to take this small town girl a while to learn how to navigate the big city. But Vickey is from a small town as well, so I have hope that I can learn, too. :)
My classes begin on Monday, and I'm excited! However, I learned that I will be teaching level three English classes here, and I have only been trained to teach levels one and two. This will be interesting. . . The junior classes will be using different textbooks from those that I learned as well, but that's ok. Additionally, I learned that since my school is small, I will be teaching the ABC schedule. (For those who don't know, that means that I will be teaching from the early morning to the late evening with a short break in the afternoon.) Welcome, positive learning and growing experience!
Vickey told me something surprising today. One of the other girls from our orientation group was actually scheduled to come here, but Pastor Choi changed us out at the last minute. I happen to know that that girl wanted to come here very badly, and I didn't have a preference. I wonder why I was chosen . . .
Sounds like quite an experience at the grocery store. I know what you mean about all the fish, Korean-labeled items, and checking out. Jonathan and I always brought our backpacks, not to save money on bags, but because we could stuff more things into them and have an easier time carrying things home again after. Hopefully you get one soon. I'm sure you'll do fine teaching level three. Jonathan taught it his first term, too, and he hadn't even had any orientation. He did fine and I know you will, too! Sorry about the ABC schedule. We had that in our smaller institute, too. I think it's more common in the smaller schools since there are fewer teachers to cover the times. I'm pretty sure most of the teachers at Seoul Main also had ABC schedules, too, even though the director said each new term that he'd try not to do that... Very interesting about the other girl who wanted to go to Seongbuk institute. I'll never understand how the admin decides things, but I am sure that God has a plan.
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