My first week of teaching was . . . well, let's just start off by saying that it's over. I survived, and I believe that in the end, I succeeded by God's grace.
Most of my stress centered on the first day. I didn't know what to expect or what to do. My coordinator said to skip Day 1 in the schedule and just play some ice-breaker games with the students. Easier said than done. I like to plan and be prepared, and I had no clue what to do, but in the end, everything came together. I did the normal class routine for about 20 minutes and then separated the students into pairs to talk with each other. I switched the pairs 2-3 times and ended by handing out a Getting to Know You questionnaire for my own benefit. I talked with some of the Korean Junior teachers the day before to find out what they expected of me as well. On the first day, I worked from 7:00 a.m. to 8:35 p.m. 'Twas a very long day . . . and such will be the next two months before my schedule changes.
I am teaching three adult English Level 3 classes (There are 6 levels), one religion class, and six Junior English classes. One of them is only two days a week, thankfully. That is with a small group of middle-schoolers who barely know any English and are simply not interested in learning. However, they do listen to me and show me respect, and for that I am thankful. I actually had an idea about how to encourage them to learn: I have several friends in the States who are teachers. Why not establish a pen-pal or video correspondence system with our students? I've contacted some, and they have really liked the idea. The Korean teachers have as well. So next week, I'm going to start working on the videos! I'm excited, but not sure how I'm going to fit that into my schedule . . .
My favorite class, I believe, is my adult English class consisting solely of housewives. They have such cute personalities, and we have a lot of fun together! The juniors are fun, but mainly just funny. :) I've had a few girls, who are probably 10 or 11 years old, sneak up behind me, touch my hair, giggle, and then run away.
You see, Korea is not like the United States. The USA is a melting pot of many nations, while Korea is mainly a teapot of Koreans. There are a few other Asian citizens, but very few Westerners. Since Koreans are fascinated with Western culture and people, they are making every attempt to be Western-like: they dye their hair, get perms, wear short shorts and skirts, invest in plastic surgery (over 70% of the women my age have had plastic surgery already), and do even more to look "beautiful." I've already been told by many women that I'm beautiful. "Why?" I wondered aloud once. My roommate told me: 1) You're from the USA. 2) You have lighter skin. 3) You have curly hair that has not been permed. 4) You have a long nose. 5) You have a narrow face. 6) You are thin. 7) You speak English. Essentially, I am the Korean girl's dream all in one free package. This bothers me. In my eyes, many girls here are beautiful. But when you tell the women that, or even tell their husbands privately that their wives are beautiful, they say, "No. I'm not," or "No, she's not." It saddens me that the Western world has made such a negative impact on this society. But now I will step off of my soapbox.
The rest of the week went well. I feel like I improved as a teacher each day. I learned many of my students' names and had some brief conversations with some of them outside of class. My housemate and I have gotten along so well that I feel like I've known her for much longer than one week. She is from South Africa, and we have very similar personalities. I am very blessed.
Each day, God has had a word of encouragement for me in a book called
Promises and Prayers for Teachers. I have needed those words every day.
Today was Sabbath, and I so enjoyed getting a rest from the regular routine and also having a nice, small church service with the other teachers.
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A note about Friday: I went to Costco for the first time. I felt like I had stepped into my homeland for an hour, and I relished every minute of it. I bought way too much food, but it will last me a long time. I found pasta, beans, peanut butter, olives, fruits . . . Western food described in English!!! I was so overwhelmed with joy that I almost cried. You have to understand, I've only eaten rice, noodles, and spicy vegetables for the last three weeks, so a change in the menu was much needed. Vickey and Pastor Lee had taken me there. It was the most amazing place I've ever been. There were stair-less escalators to take you and your cart from floor to floor and a special elevator to send you and your cart to the parking deck. Craziness. But I loved it! The only negative was that when we got to the checkout and I handed them my bankcard, they started yelling at me in Korean. I asked the pastor to come over and translate for me, and he said that they only accepted cash or a Samsung card. I didn't have enough cash on hand for my large purchase, so he kindly paid my bill, and I later went to the ATM to get the money to pay him back. Now I know . . . when in Korea, carry cash--at least if you're planning to go to Costco.
