6:30am and out for a run to my school and back. The weather this morning was really beautiful compared to the last four days of rain in Samchok and in Seoul. It's quite common, from my month of observation, for Korea to be cloudy and dismal looking in the morning, however, the sun poke out behind white marshmallowy clouds. Like Jochiwon it takes about a mile in any direction to go from city to absolute country. When I say country I mean a few houses, loads of mountains, fields of rice and visual beauty. The apartments buildings also dwindle in frequency past the mile or so mark out of the city. It took about 45 minutes to complete the 6 mile loop and other than the humidity and lack of shoulders or sidewalks to run on, Samchok is a nice place to run in. I have to get back into running my long runs 10+ up to 20 miles and have to find ways to overcome the lack of places to run. It'll just take a little bit of planning and a little repetition of running in the same areas to get those runs in.
After my run is where the adventure begins. I got ready by 8:30am and didn't have to be to school until 11am for many reasons. First impressions are important and the head teacher made it clear that the last scholar was sometimes late and she hoped I was on time and not hung over all the time. Hoping to catch the bus early I got out before 8:50am but didn't find the bus there. Waiting until 9:40 for the next one I found the 14 bus that goes by my stop. I got on the bus but the bus driver said he doesn't go to where I want to go. That's weird it says on the bus time table that he does. Maybe he didn't understand my Korean. Anyway I was a little bummed to wait until 10:10 for the next bus to show up, but a white guy in a taxi stopped by and asked where I was going. Now seeing another anglosaxon such as myself in Samchok is a rarity. I think there's maybe 10 white foreigners here though there could be more. He quickly noticed I was new and saw I might need help and let me catch a ride from him. I found out he is from Georgia and has been teaching in Korea for a couple of years and enjoys teaching out in the sticks. I finally made it to my school and got ready for my first class. Wait, I greeted a 할라버지 (grandpa aged guy) right next to my school and he asked me where I was going. I told him I'm going to Miro as I am the English teacher there. He was confused and told me my school was further away. I repeated myself a few times and he finally understood. He was cute.
I greeted my co-workers and the vice-principle as a good foreign teacher should and then started to prepare for my class. The previous scholar said he finished chapter 8 and I should pick up on 9. I got all prepared then met the students. There are only 8 (-1 for today) in the 3rd grade and they were really excited to see me. Herro teacher! You big! I was very thankful to have their home room teacher assisting me as he informed me the kids started on the second part of chapter 9 and I wasn't really prepared for that. It's also necessary to say that the book is mainly in Korean that I'm teaching out of so I was a tad confused, though I use a cd that is projected on the board. This is a regular class so I have to do that with all of the regular classes. The after school classes which are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are activities that I design. I'll also teach kindergarten kids on Tuesday which will be of my choosing. Watch out little kids you'll be doing a lot of songs with some guitar backing!
Other than finishing my introduction for my after school classes, I'll upload pictures from the weekend in Seoul and maybe take a stroll and take some photos of my running routes.
In rural areas, 할아버지, 할머니 are very nice and caring. They always try to help you out.
ReplyDeleteAll the students are so lucky to have you as a teacher!