I've realized that I don't post much about my daily life. Well...considering that work consumes most of my days, there isn't anything else to really post. However, I figure that I'll at least make one post about what I do outside of work. (This is going to be a short one).
Well for the first 2 weeks of my stay here, I've been living in Dongnae. Which is at least 40 minutes from work, on a good-the-trains-are-on-time-day. But last night, I finally moved closer to work. As it is, I am now a 20 minute down-hill walk from school. 30 minutes back up according to Kate (who I found out lives 30 seconds from me). So that's good. I'm not sure if I'm up to the walk back...all up hill. But I'll try it out.
Anyways, so...outside of work, I really don't do much. I visit PC cafes whenever I can, watch alot of TV...occassionally cook...and...that's about it. By the by...not sure I like the ritzier PC cafes (at one now), they cost double what I was paying in Dongnae.
I can say one thing though. Never drive in Korea. Yes...my third post was about my trip to the first apartment. However, I've gained a new appreciation for American drivers. Yes, we may be a bit crazy (dad), but still not as bad as here. For one thing, most drivers, I've noticed, don't like to drive with their headlights on at night. Another....the people with the little moped thingies don't really follow rules of the road. By that I mean, they'll drive on the sidewalk if they so please. Which is deadly...considering that you can't really hear them.
I've also realized that there are a ton of white people here. I won't say American, just cause I'm not really sure if they hail from the States/North America. However, where I work, there are a ton of them. Oh...and I finally have a shipping address. Check out my facebook for that. If you don't log in to that here it is:
Katy Mathieu
7th Floor SeJong World Building 1479-3
JaDong Haeundae Gu
Busan City, S. Korea
612-030
Hmm....I think that's all. I'll make another Bad Kids 1-3 post later. Need to run and meet my aunt and uncle with gifts of food and what not.
TTFN
Friday, November 28, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Don't Drink the Kool-aid
There has been a trend, if you haven't noticed, in my posts. Most of the kids that I have are bad. Very bad. I think I posted last about being the meanie in Patrick's class. Well...since then, there have been more problems that I'm sure made almost every one of my classes hate me for.
Monday:
What a horrible day. Well not as bad as today, but damn near it. First, Jade was giving me problems in the Panda kindergarten class. She was captain, but didn't hand out any of the books, or participate in class. She just kept giving me the stink-eye. I kinda figured that it would just be a bad day. I'll skip Kangaroo class, cause they're always good for me. Then came Bad Kids 1. I seriously don't know how Patrick (I think it was him who had the class before me) handled them. They started the class off bad, and didn't stop until the end of class. I swear. At least they answer questions for me now, in sentences no less.
After Bad Kids 1, there were the Newbies. They shall be upgraded to Bad Kids 3. They were making a huge uproar. After the whole Silvia/June episode, they thought they could push me around. And, I found out who the ring-leader in the class is. Ken. He wasn't there the first few times that I taught, but has been there since. He's the one that starts the talking and doesn't stop. So, after handing out a few check marks, I kinda had the situation under control. (just wait til today...it gets worse)
The rest of the day wasn't bad. Thankfully. Except that I had to take Mike's class, so I was stuck there until 7, instead of 5:30 when I normally get to leave.
Tuesday:
The kool-aid has been officially handed out. Jade was being her normal 'I hate the world and don't want to do anything' self. I've given up on her.
Now, Tuesday and Thursdays are normally nice, because I don't have Bad Kids 1. However, I guess June's been talking to them. Cause, he and Elliot were horrendous. I don't know what it was, but they would not stop playing with random things. By the middle of class (the first break, cause I have them for an hour and a half) I had obtained a silver chain, two large magnets, 4 Yu-Gi-Oh cards (some sort of card game that fell out in the States like 5 years ago), and a paper shurinkan (or throwing star). Even after that, and checking their names off, they wouldn't stop. I swear, I think I'm gonna loose my voice from all the yelling I have to do. Anyways, I got mad enough that for the last 5 minutes of class, they had to stand with their hands above their heads. How I wish I had buckets of water.
The rest of the day was rather dull, comparatively.
Today (Wednesday):
Ah, so the horrors continue. Well Bad Kids 1 were their usual selves. No use in trying to say anything more.
Newbies (Bad Kids 3) were completely outrageous. I guess before I came in, June and someone else were semi-fighting, which got the class started. The only reason why I know they were fighting was because June had a flesh wound on his hand. Within the first 5 minutes of class, I had everyone's names on the board with checks. Well all except Mike. A rather quiet kid. Ken, Tim and June just wouldn't shut up. June was the first to go stand against the wall. But he kept going at it, so I had him hold books above his head. This was for about 10 minutes. I kinda forgot about him. Soon after Tim and Ken joined him. The class quieted down from there.
However, I'm sure they hate me now. Seeing that I've never punished them before. Oh, and I held them after class. They kept making bell sounds (seeing that the bells still aren't working), and once I said they could go, they all bum-rushed the door. That was it. I slammed the door shut and made them all sit down. Then, 1 by 1 I called them so that they could walk from the room like reasonable human beings, not a pack of hyenas moving for their next meal.
The day only went downhill from there. N3 (I haven't decided on a nick-name for them yet) weren't horrible, but they weren't their normally OK selves. However, time did fly with them. I've figured out, if the kids are good, time goes by too fast. If they're horrible little bastards, then time stops, and you're stuck in Hell.
My next class....we'll call them Teacher-Time class (seeing that's all I hear from them) were....well they were Bad Kids 3 level. They too have a ring leader. Lina. Dear god, can she talk. Talk talk talk talk talk. It wasn't until I made her go and stand against the wall, did I have some quiet. And with all the talking, I barely had time to get my lesson in.
And the creme de resistance.
Bad Kids 2. These kids seriously make me contemplate murder. Sometimes I wonder if the sentence for murder here is less severe than in the States. Max, the sweet one, was ok. He would talk when spoken to...and occassionally would gab with the other two. John and Harry just wouldn't shut up. I actually slipped a few times (okay, more than a few. It was about every five minutes) and told them to shut up...in English and Korean. However, it was Harry that drove me to fantisizing about strangulating a 9 year-old kid. He just wouldn't stop. He refused to take his test, even though on the ones he did answer, they were right. And then, he thought it was funny to give me lip when I handed out his daily vocab test.
That was the last straw. I went down and got Esther. She is the bane of existance for every student in the school. I can understand why, but still. They all fear/hate her. Hell even Bad Kids 2 John and Harry wrote in their books 'Esther Die'. I'm not kidding you. Anyways, Esther reemed Harry out for a good 10 minutes, and I was able to actually teach. Even John was being good for me.
However, after the reeming, Harry kept giving me dirty looks. Refused to take his homework, and stormed out of there. Bastard kid. I swear....I better not have this class next week. If I do...they may have to call the police for pre-meditated murder.
On a funnier side of things:
Most all of the classes have a daily vocab test. These are prepared and given to students before hand so that they can study off them. In the class I had to take over for Mike, Esther gave me theirs.
While they were taking their already studied test, I was reading over the one for the next day. On the bottom are a few sentences demonstrating how to use the words. And #2 blew me away. So much to the point where I had to leave class and show it to the other American teachers.
Here it is:
2) I'm (definately) going to kick his ass tomorrow.
Now...if you read this and don't understand why I find it so funny....just think. This sentence is to demonstrate how to use a word in every-day conversation. To 12 year-olds.....
That's right. We've just taught young, developing minds how to swear. Effectively too.
Another thing, though it wasn't in my class, a girl was rather creative with her essay assignment. Kate had her kids write an essay for if they were stranded on a desert island. Message in a bottle essentially. Well one girl took it literally, or was trying to get brownie points, cause she actually handed it in in a bottle. A soju bottle at that. Soju is Korean vodka btw. What was great was the message itself. She actually had a map drawn on it, with a danger spot (whirlpool) and where she would be on the island.
I don't know who this girl is, but she definately made my day better with that.
As is, that's all for now.
Monday:
What a horrible day. Well not as bad as today, but damn near it. First, Jade was giving me problems in the Panda kindergarten class. She was captain, but didn't hand out any of the books, or participate in class. She just kept giving me the stink-eye. I kinda figured that it would just be a bad day. I'll skip Kangaroo class, cause they're always good for me. Then came Bad Kids 1. I seriously don't know how Patrick (I think it was him who had the class before me) handled them. They started the class off bad, and didn't stop until the end of class. I swear. At least they answer questions for me now, in sentences no less.
After Bad Kids 1, there were the Newbies. They shall be upgraded to Bad Kids 3. They were making a huge uproar. After the whole Silvia/June episode, they thought they could push me around. And, I found out who the ring-leader in the class is. Ken. He wasn't there the first few times that I taught, but has been there since. He's the one that starts the talking and doesn't stop. So, after handing out a few check marks, I kinda had the situation under control. (just wait til today...it gets worse)
The rest of the day wasn't bad. Thankfully. Except that I had to take Mike's class, so I was stuck there until 7, instead of 5:30 when I normally get to leave.
Tuesday:
The kool-aid has been officially handed out. Jade was being her normal 'I hate the world and don't want to do anything' self. I've given up on her.
Now, Tuesday and Thursdays are normally nice, because I don't have Bad Kids 1. However, I guess June's been talking to them. Cause, he and Elliot were horrendous. I don't know what it was, but they would not stop playing with random things. By the middle of class (the first break, cause I have them for an hour and a half) I had obtained a silver chain, two large magnets, 4 Yu-Gi-Oh cards (some sort of card game that fell out in the States like 5 years ago), and a paper shurinkan (or throwing star). Even after that, and checking their names off, they wouldn't stop. I swear, I think I'm gonna loose my voice from all the yelling I have to do. Anyways, I got mad enough that for the last 5 minutes of class, they had to stand with their hands above their heads. How I wish I had buckets of water.
The rest of the day was rather dull, comparatively.
Today (Wednesday):
Ah, so the horrors continue. Well Bad Kids 1 were their usual selves. No use in trying to say anything more.
Newbies (Bad Kids 3) were completely outrageous. I guess before I came in, June and someone else were semi-fighting, which got the class started. The only reason why I know they were fighting was because June had a flesh wound on his hand. Within the first 5 minutes of class, I had everyone's names on the board with checks. Well all except Mike. A rather quiet kid. Ken, Tim and June just wouldn't shut up. June was the first to go stand against the wall. But he kept going at it, so I had him hold books above his head. This was for about 10 minutes. I kinda forgot about him. Soon after Tim and Ken joined him. The class quieted down from there.
However, I'm sure they hate me now. Seeing that I've never punished them before. Oh, and I held them after class. They kept making bell sounds (seeing that the bells still aren't working), and once I said they could go, they all bum-rushed the door. That was it. I slammed the door shut and made them all sit down. Then, 1 by 1 I called them so that they could walk from the room like reasonable human beings, not a pack of hyenas moving for their next meal.
The day only went downhill from there. N3 (I haven't decided on a nick-name for them yet) weren't horrible, but they weren't their normally OK selves. However, time did fly with them. I've figured out, if the kids are good, time goes by too fast. If they're horrible little bastards, then time stops, and you're stuck in Hell.
My next class....we'll call them Teacher-Time class (seeing that's all I hear from them) were....well they were Bad Kids 3 level. They too have a ring leader. Lina. Dear god, can she talk. Talk talk talk talk talk. It wasn't until I made her go and stand against the wall, did I have some quiet. And with all the talking, I barely had time to get my lesson in.
And the creme de resistance.
Bad Kids 2. These kids seriously make me contemplate murder. Sometimes I wonder if the sentence for murder here is less severe than in the States. Max, the sweet one, was ok. He would talk when spoken to...and occassionally would gab with the other two. John and Harry just wouldn't shut up. I actually slipped a few times (okay, more than a few. It was about every five minutes) and told them to shut up...in English and Korean. However, it was Harry that drove me to fantisizing about strangulating a 9 year-old kid. He just wouldn't stop. He refused to take his test, even though on the ones he did answer, they were right. And then, he thought it was funny to give me lip when I handed out his daily vocab test.
That was the last straw. I went down and got Esther. She is the bane of existance for every student in the school. I can understand why, but still. They all fear/hate her. Hell even Bad Kids 2 John and Harry wrote in their books 'Esther Die'. I'm not kidding you. Anyways, Esther reemed Harry out for a good 10 minutes, and I was able to actually teach. Even John was being good for me.
However, after the reeming, Harry kept giving me dirty looks. Refused to take his homework, and stormed out of there. Bastard kid. I swear....I better not have this class next week. If I do...they may have to call the police for pre-meditated murder.
On a funnier side of things:
Most all of the classes have a daily vocab test. These are prepared and given to students before hand so that they can study off them. In the class I had to take over for Mike, Esther gave me theirs.
While they were taking their already studied test, I was reading over the one for the next day. On the bottom are a few sentences demonstrating how to use the words. And #2 blew me away. So much to the point where I had to leave class and show it to the other American teachers.
Here it is:
2) I'm (definately) going to kick his ass tomorrow.
Now...if you read this and don't understand why I find it so funny....just think. This sentence is to demonstrate how to use a word in every-day conversation. To 12 year-olds.....
That's right. We've just taught young, developing minds how to swear. Effectively too.
Another thing, though it wasn't in my class, a girl was rather creative with her essay assignment. Kate had her kids write an essay for if they were stranded on a desert island. Message in a bottle essentially. Well one girl took it literally, or was trying to get brownie points, cause she actually handed it in in a bottle. A soju bottle at that. Soju is Korean vodka btw. What was great was the message itself. She actually had a map drawn on it, with a danger spot (whirlpool) and where she would be on the island.
I don't know who this girl is, but she definately made my day better with that.
As is, that's all for now.
Friday, November 21, 2008
The Scourge of the School
As I promised.....here's my update.
I last left off at Bad Kids 2. Well luckily, I didn't have them again this week. Which saved my sanity. As it is, the last few days have been killer. I start off on Thursday.
Not much happened there, aside from the Mini-Olympics that was held for the kindergartners. Essentially, it's gym day. But, because of the construction going on (I guess Eddie sold the other half of the school and it's now being re-modeled), there's no gym. So...for the first bit of the day we watched Mr. Bean's Holiday....which the kids seemed to love. Honestly, I think Bean transcends all cultures. Then, after snack, we took them out to a little playground near the school where they spent the rest of the time until lunch.
I can't tell you what happened after lunch, seeing that I sat in my office and read until the afternoon classes started. Now, those weren't too bad. For the most part, my kids listened to me and did what they were told. However, on Tuesdays and Thursdays I sit in on Patrick's (he's from Texas I found out) advanced English class. Now...these girls are horrible. For those of you who know my cousin Bethany, imagine her at their whiniest. Then multiply it by.....100. That's these girls. For those of you who don't know my little cousin, think of the most annoying, whiny person you know and do the same. Yes, a grimace is fully acceptable here.
However, I guess that Patrick's been playing me up. Telling these girls how mean I was to my other classes, and what not. Trying to put the fear in them I suppose. And it worked. On Thursday, these girls were bbbbaaaaaaadddddd. I mean, I know I have some problems with Bad Kids 1 and 2, but...man. These girls could probably teach them some thing. The first 10 minutes of class was them whining about how they didn't like science and wanted to do spelling, even though they have a science test on Tuesday.
So, not having any of it, Patrick warned them that if they didn't stop complaining and start doing their work, he would have me step in. All during this, I was giving them my best pissed-off/you don't want to mess with me look (per request of Patrick). His threat held for all of two seconds. Five seconds later, I stepped in. One good yelling was all that it took to shut these girls up and get them to read. It was great. In all honesty, I don't think I've ever heard this class be so.....silent.
Now, hopefully, they'll be good for the poor Texan, or else they might just get me when he leaves (even though that won't happen cause they're merging the class with another in December....but they don't know that :D).
Now on to yesterday. I missed my first two classes due to the fact that the metro takes frickin forever, and I lost track of time. However, once that was over and what not, I got back into the swing of things. Yes, I had Bad Kids 1. And, they were at their worst. Sure, occassionally they would pay attention to what I was asking them, but Tony, Perry and Stevey kept on going at it. To the point where I had to start doling out checks. However, they weren't as bad as the next class. Who, on a normal basis is pretty good.
June (normally a sweet boy) thought it would be great to sit next to his crush, Silvia. Silvia, is a super sweet girl and one of the brightest in the class. This, though, caused a huge uproar. All of the other kids (who happen to be all boys) in the class started making hooting sounds and teasing both June and Silvia. It honestly got so bad that Angela (another teacher, who I will be taking over for when she leaves on Weds) came in and yelled at them. It didn't work. After she left, they started up again.
They only quieted down once I started writing their names on the board and threatening to put checks down. June got two. Just because he wouldn't shut up no matter how many times I told him to. On a side note, I found out that Silvia doesn't like June. In fact, she likes Tim. Which is hilarious to me, cause there's a love triangle going on in my class, which will make Valentine's day interesting.
So after that class, I had a few more mundane classes where I'm certain that the kids either hate me or think that I'm a moron. I'm leaning more towards the moron side. But then, I got to my last class of the day. G2. Which means that they're pretty advanced. And....can spell a whole hell of alot better than I can. I was going over the topic of summaries with the group and couldn't spell interest. I blame it on not eating all day. I kept spelling it as intrest. So...I had to be corrected by my studends. Maybe I should have listened to my dad and bought a dictionary. At least then I would be able to spell things.
Anyways, the topic of summaries went well with the exception of Frodo. Yes, that is his 'English' name. Some cruel teacher who probably thought it was hilarious back in the day, gave him that name and it kept. So, Frodo, who either hates me because I took over for Mike or just doesn't give a rat's ass about learning English, didn't want to do them. And...when reading, I wasn't sure if I had gone deaf or not. I swear, if it wasn't for the other kids in the class reading along, I would have assumed that I had. His lips were moving, but there was no sound. I had to lean in and get right next to his head in order to hear him reading the sentences that I gave him. It got to the point that I just took over reading for him. We would have been there all night if I hadn't.
So now, as it is, I have a class who hates/fears me that isn't mine, another class that thinks I'm a moron and all my other classes (except kindergarten, they love me) who hate me. I can't wait til I get some new blood. XD
That's all for now.
I last left off at Bad Kids 2. Well luckily, I didn't have them again this week. Which saved my sanity. As it is, the last few days have been killer. I start off on Thursday.
Not much happened there, aside from the Mini-Olympics that was held for the kindergartners. Essentially, it's gym day. But, because of the construction going on (I guess Eddie sold the other half of the school and it's now being re-modeled), there's no gym. So...for the first bit of the day we watched Mr. Bean's Holiday....which the kids seemed to love. Honestly, I think Bean transcends all cultures. Then, after snack, we took them out to a little playground near the school where they spent the rest of the time until lunch.
I can't tell you what happened after lunch, seeing that I sat in my office and read until the afternoon classes started. Now, those weren't too bad. For the most part, my kids listened to me and did what they were told. However, on Tuesdays and Thursdays I sit in on Patrick's (he's from Texas I found out) advanced English class. Now...these girls are horrible. For those of you who know my cousin Bethany, imagine her at their whiniest. Then multiply it by.....100. That's these girls. For those of you who don't know my little cousin, think of the most annoying, whiny person you know and do the same. Yes, a grimace is fully acceptable here.
However, I guess that Patrick's been playing me up. Telling these girls how mean I was to my other classes, and what not. Trying to put the fear in them I suppose. And it worked. On Thursday, these girls were bbbbaaaaaaadddddd. I mean, I know I have some problems with Bad Kids 1 and 2, but...man. These girls could probably teach them some thing. The first 10 minutes of class was them whining about how they didn't like science and wanted to do spelling, even though they have a science test on Tuesday.
So, not having any of it, Patrick warned them that if they didn't stop complaining and start doing their work, he would have me step in. All during this, I was giving them my best pissed-off/you don't want to mess with me look (per request of Patrick). His threat held for all of two seconds. Five seconds later, I stepped in. One good yelling was all that it took to shut these girls up and get them to read. It was great. In all honesty, I don't think I've ever heard this class be so.....silent.
Now, hopefully, they'll be good for the poor Texan, or else they might just get me when he leaves (even though that won't happen cause they're merging the class with another in December....but they don't know that :D).
Now on to yesterday. I missed my first two classes due to the fact that the metro takes frickin forever, and I lost track of time. However, once that was over and what not, I got back into the swing of things. Yes, I had Bad Kids 1. And, they were at their worst. Sure, occassionally they would pay attention to what I was asking them, but Tony, Perry and Stevey kept on going at it. To the point where I had to start doling out checks. However, they weren't as bad as the next class. Who, on a normal basis is pretty good.
June (normally a sweet boy) thought it would be great to sit next to his crush, Silvia. Silvia, is a super sweet girl and one of the brightest in the class. This, though, caused a huge uproar. All of the other kids (who happen to be all boys) in the class started making hooting sounds and teasing both June and Silvia. It honestly got so bad that Angela (another teacher, who I will be taking over for when she leaves on Weds) came in and yelled at them. It didn't work. After she left, they started up again.
They only quieted down once I started writing their names on the board and threatening to put checks down. June got two. Just because he wouldn't shut up no matter how many times I told him to. On a side note, I found out that Silvia doesn't like June. In fact, she likes Tim. Which is hilarious to me, cause there's a love triangle going on in my class, which will make Valentine's day interesting.
So after that class, I had a few more mundane classes where I'm certain that the kids either hate me or think that I'm a moron. I'm leaning more towards the moron side. But then, I got to my last class of the day. G2. Which means that they're pretty advanced. And....can spell a whole hell of alot better than I can. I was going over the topic of summaries with the group and couldn't spell interest. I blame it on not eating all day. I kept spelling it as intrest. So...I had to be corrected by my studends. Maybe I should have listened to my dad and bought a dictionary. At least then I would be able to spell things.
Anyways, the topic of summaries went well with the exception of Frodo. Yes, that is his 'English' name. Some cruel teacher who probably thought it was hilarious back in the day, gave him that name and it kept. So, Frodo, who either hates me because I took over for Mike or just doesn't give a rat's ass about learning English, didn't want to do them. And...when reading, I wasn't sure if I had gone deaf or not. I swear, if it wasn't for the other kids in the class reading along, I would have assumed that I had. His lips were moving, but there was no sound. I had to lean in and get right next to his head in order to hear him reading the sentences that I gave him. It got to the point that I just took over reading for him. We would have been there all night if I hadn't.
So now, as it is, I have a class who hates/fears me that isn't mine, another class that thinks I'm a moron and all my other classes (except kindergarten, they love me) who hate me. I can't wait til I get some new blood. XD
That's all for now.
Dead in the Water
Right...so I'm sure that all of you are eagerly awaiting a post informing you of how bad these kids can reallly get. And I assure you, they're getting worse by the day.
However, as it is....I'm dead in the water. For the last few days I've been tired and not really willing to walk the 10 minutes to get to the PC cafe and type a blog that requires me to actually remember what happened in the days before.
So..you're just gonna have to wait until I'm full rested and ready to post again. Which....should be tomorrow (yay! the weekend!) I'll be sure to post a nice long story about how I'm the scourge of one class (that isn't mine) and how most of my students probably hate me...and how others probably think I'm a complete idiot.
Until then!
X.x
However, as it is....I'm dead in the water. For the last few days I've been tired and not really willing to walk the 10 minutes to get to the PC cafe and type a blog that requires me to actually remember what happened in the days before.
So..you're just gonna have to wait until I'm full rested and ready to post again. Which....should be tomorrow (yay! the weekend!) I'll be sure to post a nice long story about how I'm the scourge of one class (that isn't mine) and how most of my students probably hate me...and how others probably think I'm a complete idiot.
Until then!
X.x
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
What was one is now two.....
So. Here it is. I've been officially teaching for 3 days now. As it is, I still love my kindergarden class. The Kangaroos are the best ever. I never actually have to teach, cause they all do it. Esther seems to really want to be the star in the class cause she answers all the questions even before I ask them. I love smart kids.
However, I was dreading the afternoon classes. Because today I had Bad Kids class (plus a whole bunch of new classes where I didn't know any of the names). Anyways, Bad Kids class was first. Tofay, though, it wasn't so bad. All the boys, seeing that Kelly was missing, actually listened to me and didn't act up.......
Though, thanks to Perry, my ass was saved from Stevey trying to Kancho me. (if you don't know what Kancho is....just imagine a little Asian kid taking their two index fingers and ramming them up your ass. Not a pleasant feeling.) And here, I thought I was safe.
The other afternoon classes weren't so bad. That is, until I got to my last one. This class, I shall dub...Bad Kids No. 2. Only three boys in this class, and two of them made me seriously want to do bodily harm. I guess it was because I was a new teacher that they thought that they could get away with things....but I quickly made them re-consider that. First off, they're worse than Bad Kids class. Harry and John make Perry, Stevey and Tony look like little angels. The two brats wouldn't shut up while I was teaching, even after I yelled at them and smacked both of them on the head with my flash poster. John kept reading his comic book while Harry kept talking and laughing so loud, I was fairly certain that his voice would be gone by tomorrow. And Max, the other kid in my class, was trying to read and do his work. I love him. He's so sweet.
Anyways, so after about an hour (the class is an hour and a half), and two checks later (3 checks means a talk with parents), I sent them out into the hall to make them stand against the wall with their arms held above their heads. If I had some, I would have made them hold buckets full of water. But, alas, I didn't.
It was great for the next 20 minutes. Max and I were able to get some learning done, and Eddie, the owner/principle of the school, came by and reemed the two boys out.
So now, they should know that I'm not some push-over that they can destroy. Buwahahaha! I have a Korean mother. I know how to deal with bad little kids. *insert evil grin here*
Oh, I've also found out a few things that I hate about Pusan. One is the mosquitos. I don't know if I've posted this or not....but the damn bloodsuckers are still out. After getting here, I think that I've been fed upon at least 10 times. And those are the ones that I can see/scratch. Another is that there doesn't happen to be a subway station near me. In order to get to work now, I need to take a taxi to get to the subway station, then take 3 different trains to get to work. All in all it takes about 40 or so minutes.
That's all the updates that I have.
However, I was dreading the afternoon classes. Because today I had Bad Kids class (plus a whole bunch of new classes where I didn't know any of the names). Anyways, Bad Kids class was first. Tofay, though, it wasn't so bad. All the boys, seeing that Kelly was missing, actually listened to me and didn't act up.......
Though, thanks to Perry, my ass was saved from Stevey trying to Kancho me. (if you don't know what Kancho is....just imagine a little Asian kid taking their two index fingers and ramming them up your ass. Not a pleasant feeling.) And here, I thought I was safe.
The other afternoon classes weren't so bad. That is, until I got to my last one. This class, I shall dub...Bad Kids No. 2. Only three boys in this class, and two of them made me seriously want to do bodily harm. I guess it was because I was a new teacher that they thought that they could get away with things....but I quickly made them re-consider that. First off, they're worse than Bad Kids class. Harry and John make Perry, Stevey and Tony look like little angels. The two brats wouldn't shut up while I was teaching, even after I yelled at them and smacked both of them on the head with my flash poster. John kept reading his comic book while Harry kept talking and laughing so loud, I was fairly certain that his voice would be gone by tomorrow. And Max, the other kid in my class, was trying to read and do his work. I love him. He's so sweet.
Anyways, so after about an hour (the class is an hour and a half), and two checks later (3 checks means a talk with parents), I sent them out into the hall to make them stand against the wall with their arms held above their heads. If I had some, I would have made them hold buckets full of water. But, alas, I didn't.
It was great for the next 20 minutes. Max and I were able to get some learning done, and Eddie, the owner/principle of the school, came by and reemed the two boys out.
So now, they should know that I'm not some push-over that they can destroy. Buwahahaha! I have a Korean mother. I know how to deal with bad little kids. *insert evil grin here*
Oh, I've also found out a few things that I hate about Pusan. One is the mosquitos. I don't know if I've posted this or not....but the damn bloodsuckers are still out. After getting here, I think that I've been fed upon at least 10 times. And those are the ones that I can see/scratch. Another is that there doesn't happen to be a subway station near me. In order to get to work now, I need to take a taxi to get to the subway station, then take 3 different trains to get to work. All in all it takes about 40 or so minutes.
That's all the updates that I have.
Monday, November 17, 2008
First Day of School
I believe I left you all off at me leaving for Japan....
Well I survived the boat trip there. Though it wasn't at all horrible. The ride there was nice and sunny until I got to Japan where it was raining :(. But...I almost missed my ferry. I arrive at the port about 2 hours before it left. Thought I had plenty of time...so I started to read the book that I had brought along. After a while...I was wondering why the ticket window wasn't open....
Of course, I didn't ask anyone about it. I just kept reading, figuring that it would open....
But it didn't.
So after one more check to my cell phone (that only serves as an alarm clock and 14 hour-off clock), I realized that I had about 10 minutes before I had to board the boat. So...it was finally time to ask someone. Found out that I had to be upstairs to check in. With all that rushing, I made it onto my boat with no problems.
Now, the short time I spent in Japan was fun. A bit mundane at first, seeing that I sat around Colleen's apartment for a few hours while she was working....but once we got out it was a blast. First we had dinner with a few of her friends. I was surprised at some of the English words that they knew....most of them are colorful enough to not mention in this post....but regardless..
Her b-day party (which we were late to) was awesome as well. She rented out a small club for her friends, and it turns out that she knows a ton of people. There had to be at least 80 people who showed up throughout the night. There were 4 Wii's set up with various games and Nomihodai, which is all you can drink for the non-Japanese folk. Of course, I didn't take advantage of this as I am not that big of a drinker. But there were plenty of people who did...inlcuding Colleen, even though she had to be up by 5 am to make it to Osaka for an interview. My sister is a trooper to say the least.
But as the night progress, the party ended and club opened for the public. Which was interesting in itself. I mean to say is that I have never seen soooo many Asians trying to be Ghetto and Gangsta in a really long time. It was absolutely hilarious. Imagine short little Japanese men, dressed in whatever is the latest rapper-fashion, leaning against walls in dark sunglasses, nodding their head to whatever bass-riden music is playing. It was great.
But Colleen and I had a blast.
The trip back to Korea was almost as uneventful as the trip to Japan. There were a few moments on the ferry where I thought we might capsize....but it never happened. If it had, I would have been pissed. Not because I would have been stranded some where in the Sea of Japan, but rather because I had to get to work the next day. Yes, I know, my priorities are so set. Once on land, I caught a taxi back to my apartment. Or at least I thought I did. It seemed that my cab driver had no idea where I lived, even though it was plainly stated on the piece of paper that I had given him. Instead, the driver decided to call it quits, pulled over....and put me in another cab.
Now, this cabby seemed to know where he was going. He moved in and out along the streets with all the confidence in the world...that is until he got lost. 3 times he had to stop someone walking on the street and ask where something was (later I found out that it was the store that's on the corner of my street). 10 minutes later, I see one of the stores near my apartment. So, I started yelling 'Yogi yogi!', which in essence means 'here, here', and pointing to the store.
So, finally I had made it home and was able to fall asleep while watching the Biggest Loser.
And now....we get to the piece de resistance. My first day working. Well I didn't really, actually do a full's day worth of teaching, but it was close enough for me.
The first class I had was with the Calvert Kindergarden class. One of the classes I thought I would have a problem with. Just because there's one girl, Jade, who doesn't necessarily like to participate when asked things. But today went off without a hitch. Jade was active and seemed rather happy to participate. She needed a little help making sentences, but aside from that, she was a perfect student.
I love the class after that. The kids in it are so well trained by my co-worker Kate that they basically told me what they had to do, did it and were so enthused. Made my job about a thousand times easier.
However...after the nice morning came the class I like to call the Bad Kid class. It's not that all the kids in it are bad....but the majority of them are. The majority of them being 3 (there's only 5 in the class). Now these three boys, (Perry, Steve, Tony) enjoy talking non-stop during class and not answering questions when asked. Or...even better, completely ignoring the teacher when they're talking. Luckily, with my mom yelling at me in Korean all these years, I was finally able to put some of my shotty Korean to use. At least Willy, a sweet little boy, does all his work and listens to me.
The class after that was even worse than the Bad Kid class. I found out today that classes are devided up into sections that eventually will spell out 'ENGLISH'. E is the most basic class, and so forth. I had E2. Now, I figure that because they were a bit older than my kindergardeners, that they would know some things about the English language. Nope. I should learn not to assume things. These kids started to ask me where Mike-teacher was, if I was their new teacher, if I was Korean or American, and something else, but I didn't get it cause all questions were directed to me in Korean. After a good five minutes of yelling at them to speak English, I realized that they couldn't. SO.....I improvised my lesson. I began to point to the flash cards (more like posters) that I had and asked simple questions like: What color is this, or What is he/she doing. That only got me so far, and I had 40 more minutes to go. Then, I asked what sound a bird made, and they didn't know...which lead off into defining the word sound and asking them what things do make noise and don't. Then numbers, they seemed extremely impressed with one million and billion.
I've also found out how to take the metro to get me home. It still involves a taxi, but on the days that I get out early (like today) I won't have to wait around for Eddie to drive me home.
So, that's all for now. More work ahead of me, need to do some planning for the Bad Kid class and the E2 (which I shall dub the Newbies) so that they can at least learn some English.
Until the next update on my new (and not-so-exciting life)....TTFN. Ta Ta For Now.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
In the Motherland
So....it's just after 10 in the morning here in Korea. Alot has happened since I last posted. Well not really, but it's somewhat interesting to read about.
I left off in my last post complaining about having to go back to Chicago to get my passport. Well obviously I did, seeing that I am now sitting in a semi-busy PC cafe with a whole bunch of gamer Koreans who like to play WoW.
Anyways, well while on the way to Chicago...my dad and I were closely monitoring the battery gague to ny truck to watch as it would drop then rise back up. Needless to say the trip to Chicago was a long one. That, and try as he might, my dad nearly gave me a heart attack with the way he drove. Half of the trip I spent with my eyes closed and my toes curled.
However, we made it about half an hour after the consulate opened. Making my way up to the 27th floor, I wondered if they would even be ready with the thing. Nope. As I asked about it, the lady got a bit miffed with me and told me that I had to give them at least 2 days to process the thing. Which meant that I had to come back at 3 pm. SO......there was a good 5 hour gap to fill. Which didn't make either me or my dad happy. We proceded to drive around the area to kill some time, getting lost a bit because I realized that I couldn't read a map as well as I thought.
So the boring bit short, we finally found a Borders, where we bought some books to read and pass the time. By the by, never buy smokes in Chicago. Too bloody expensive. At about 1, we tried again at the consulate but I got the same thing...come back at three. Boo. However, as I was walking out of the building, I saw Jerry Springer! Haha. He looks sooo old without make-up on. Needless to say, at 3 I got my passport and we finally left Chicago.
Now, things were going great on the way back. My battery gague didn't drop once and we were making some good time. Once we got into MI, I started thinking of all the things that I still needed to pack and hoped to god that my laundry was done. Just when I thought that we would make it home in plenty of time, my dad let out a curse. The battery gague dropped and didn't come back up.
My alternater had died. Being who we were, we decided to ride it out and see how far it would take us before the truck actually died. That only happened to be about 3 miles. So, we pulled off and into the lot of a Denny's just off 94. My dad shut off the truck and tried to re-start it with no success. Which concluded in trying to find people to come and jump my truck so that we could essentially ride the thing back to Detroit, stopping only to charge the battery again. 20 minutes later Dan was heading on his way to get us, and we were going to order dinner.
It was in that time that I found out that I still had AAA road service. Which means that Dan didn't have to come and get me....and we got a free tow ride home. 80-something miles that we were stranded. Then it was the mad-dash to pack and try to get some sleep before I had to wake up for my flight.
Skipping a bunch of stuff that's not really important.....
Once I made it past security, I promptly went to the bar and got a bloody mary. Sure it was 10 in the morning when I ordered it....but it was night-time in Korea :D Plus I had forgotten my sleeping pills and the only way that I was going to be able to sleep was if it was alcohol induced.
The flight was rather boring, and did involve sleeping on my part thanks to the alcohol. Food was.......eh....I suppose as good as it could get for an airplane. Once in Japan....I realized that everyone must have thin blood because it was boiling in the airport. But...I was able to buy a carton of smokes for like $23. It was amazing.
The flight from Tokyo to Busan was un-eventful as well, but I will say that I got sucked into watching the American Girl's movie...
Now....I've realized that driving with my dad is much safer than driving with a Korean. I completely forgot on how horrifying a short trip can be. Seriously. The man who got me from the airport drove like he didn't care and owned the road. It reminded me of what Dan said. The lines are only a suggestion here. You don't really have to follow them. And well, this guy was doing just that. Occassionally he would drive between lanes, even though there were cars.....
Thank god I was too tired to actually fear for my life.
Now....here I am in Korea....got situated in my temporary apartment and found me an internet cafe. Now...you all must be thinking....temporary? Yes. Temporary. In 3 weeks, I'll be moving closer to the school to a better place. The place I'm at right now currently sports a bathroom and bedroom/kitchen/dining room/living room. It's about as big as my living room (for those of you who've ever been to my house) which isn't that big at all.
Now...I need to find some cheap food and hold out until after I get back from Japan with some money to buy groceries. If something new and interesting happens, I'll be sure to post it :D
For now...
That's all folks.
I left off in my last post complaining about having to go back to Chicago to get my passport. Well obviously I did, seeing that I am now sitting in a semi-busy PC cafe with a whole bunch of gamer Koreans who like to play WoW.
Anyways, well while on the way to Chicago...my dad and I were closely monitoring the battery gague to ny truck to watch as it would drop then rise back up. Needless to say the trip to Chicago was a long one. That, and try as he might, my dad nearly gave me a heart attack with the way he drove. Half of the trip I spent with my eyes closed and my toes curled.
However, we made it about half an hour after the consulate opened. Making my way up to the 27th floor, I wondered if they would even be ready with the thing. Nope. As I asked about it, the lady got a bit miffed with me and told me that I had to give them at least 2 days to process the thing. Which meant that I had to come back at 3 pm. SO......there was a good 5 hour gap to fill. Which didn't make either me or my dad happy. We proceded to drive around the area to kill some time, getting lost a bit because I realized that I couldn't read a map as well as I thought.
So the boring bit short, we finally found a Borders, where we bought some books to read and pass the time. By the by, never buy smokes in Chicago. Too bloody expensive. At about 1, we tried again at the consulate but I got the same thing...come back at three. Boo. However, as I was walking out of the building, I saw Jerry Springer! Haha. He looks sooo old without make-up on. Needless to say, at 3 I got my passport and we finally left Chicago.
Now, things were going great on the way back. My battery gague didn't drop once and we were making some good time. Once we got into MI, I started thinking of all the things that I still needed to pack and hoped to god that my laundry was done. Just when I thought that we would make it home in plenty of time, my dad let out a curse. The battery gague dropped and didn't come back up.
My alternater had died. Being who we were, we decided to ride it out and see how far it would take us before the truck actually died. That only happened to be about 3 miles. So, we pulled off and into the lot of a Denny's just off 94. My dad shut off the truck and tried to re-start it with no success. Which concluded in trying to find people to come and jump my truck so that we could essentially ride the thing back to Detroit, stopping only to charge the battery again. 20 minutes later Dan was heading on his way to get us, and we were going to order dinner.
It was in that time that I found out that I still had AAA road service. Which means that Dan didn't have to come and get me....and we got a free tow ride home. 80-something miles that we were stranded. Then it was the mad-dash to pack and try to get some sleep before I had to wake up for my flight.
Skipping a bunch of stuff that's not really important.....
Once I made it past security, I promptly went to the bar and got a bloody mary. Sure it was 10 in the morning when I ordered it....but it was night-time in Korea :D Plus I had forgotten my sleeping pills and the only way that I was going to be able to sleep was if it was alcohol induced.
The flight was rather boring, and did involve sleeping on my part thanks to the alcohol. Food was.......eh....I suppose as good as it could get for an airplane. Once in Japan....I realized that everyone must have thin blood because it was boiling in the airport. But...I was able to buy a carton of smokes for like $23. It was amazing.
The flight from Tokyo to Busan was un-eventful as well, but I will say that I got sucked into watching the American Girl's movie...
Now....I've realized that driving with my dad is much safer than driving with a Korean. I completely forgot on how horrifying a short trip can be. Seriously. The man who got me from the airport drove like he didn't care and owned the road. It reminded me of what Dan said. The lines are only a suggestion here. You don't really have to follow them. And well, this guy was doing just that. Occassionally he would drive between lanes, even though there were cars.....
Thank god I was too tired to actually fear for my life.
Now....here I am in Korea....got situated in my temporary apartment and found me an internet cafe. Now...you all must be thinking....temporary? Yes. Temporary. In 3 weeks, I'll be moving closer to the school to a better place. The place I'm at right now currently sports a bathroom and bedroom/kitchen/dining room/living room. It's about as big as my living room (for those of you who've ever been to my house) which isn't that big at all.
Now...I need to find some cheap food and hold out until after I get back from Japan with some money to buy groceries. If something new and interesting happens, I'll be sure to post it :D
For now...
That's all folks.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Leaving on a Jet Plane.....
So as it is, I actually haven't left. There was a bit of a mix-up in communication between myself and the people I was going through in Korea. This screw-up cost me some time and alot of frustration. What had happened was that I thought that they would be scheduling an interview for me at the Korean Consulate, and they thought that I would be doing so. So....after alot of e-mails, I finally figured it out and had to schedule a last minute appointment.
Of course, this appointment was set for the day after I was supposed to leave. @.@ Talk about strain there. Thus ensued another bout of frantic e-mails to reschedule my flight. So now, I'll be leaving in 2 days.....and still haven't packed.
Now...the consulate part was a hassle as well. For one, I had only gotten about 2 hours of sleep before I had to wake up and drive 4 hours to get to Chicago in order to make it before my appointment. (here's where I forgot about Illinois being a whole hour behind MI). Once there, I decided that I didn't like the city for 2 reasons. 1) I spent about $15 on toll roads and 2) They drive worse than Michiganders.
Anyways...
After getting there an hour early, I managed to be completely frightened by a Subway. It wasn't that the store itself scared me, but rather the extremely loud alarm that had gone off once I entered the door. At first I thought that I had just broken into the place and the cops would be showing up to arrest me and completely screw over my plans. But luckily there was someone else in there that informed me the noise was to alert the workers that there was someone there. Personally I think that they should be out infront instead of doing whatever they were in the back.
Back to things....
The consulate was interesting. Found out it was in the same building that films Jerry Springer. It was almost tempting enough to crash a taping, but, alas, I didn't have the time. Now, I don't know why they called it an interview. In all honesty they asked me questions about if I wanted to make teaching in Korea my career and made sure that I could actually speak English (I partially thought that it was a screening to make sure that they weren't hiring any looneys to teach their kids whacked out ideas). During the interview, I found out a small snag in my plans. I wouldn't be getting my passport until Wednesday.....a day after I leave.
So what do I have to do? Tomorrow, I have to haul my ass right back down to Chicago to pick up my passport. Luckily, I won't have to drive. I'll have someone else to do it :D
Now...I'm begging to think of everything that I need to pack, making a list (probably will check it more than twice), getting things in order and dreading my 14 hour flight to Korea.
So there it is. In two days I'll be leaving everyone I know and love behind to pursue a career, however short it may be, in teaching. Hey...maybe I'll like it enough to keep doing it after. Never know.
For now....I'm still here, and who ever is reading this, will be the first to know what happens when I finally get settled in and start my new life.
Of course, this appointment was set for the day after I was supposed to leave. @.@ Talk about strain there. Thus ensued another bout of frantic e-mails to reschedule my flight. So now, I'll be leaving in 2 days.....and still haven't packed.
Now...the consulate part was a hassle as well. For one, I had only gotten about 2 hours of sleep before I had to wake up and drive 4 hours to get to Chicago in order to make it before my appointment. (here's where I forgot about Illinois being a whole hour behind MI). Once there, I decided that I didn't like the city for 2 reasons. 1) I spent about $15 on toll roads and 2) They drive worse than Michiganders.
Anyways...
After getting there an hour early, I managed to be completely frightened by a Subway. It wasn't that the store itself scared me, but rather the extremely loud alarm that had gone off once I entered the door. At first I thought that I had just broken into the place and the cops would be showing up to arrest me and completely screw over my plans. But luckily there was someone else in there that informed me the noise was to alert the workers that there was someone there. Personally I think that they should be out infront instead of doing whatever they were in the back.
Back to things....
The consulate was interesting. Found out it was in the same building that films Jerry Springer. It was almost tempting enough to crash a taping, but, alas, I didn't have the time. Now, I don't know why they called it an interview. In all honesty they asked me questions about if I wanted to make teaching in Korea my career and made sure that I could actually speak English (I partially thought that it was a screening to make sure that they weren't hiring any looneys to teach their kids whacked out ideas). During the interview, I found out a small snag in my plans. I wouldn't be getting my passport until Wednesday.....a day after I leave.
So what do I have to do? Tomorrow, I have to haul my ass right back down to Chicago to pick up my passport. Luckily, I won't have to drive. I'll have someone else to do it :D
Now...I'm begging to think of everything that I need to pack, making a list (probably will check it more than twice), getting things in order and dreading my 14 hour flight to Korea.
So there it is. In two days I'll be leaving everyone I know and love behind to pursue a career, however short it may be, in teaching. Hey...maybe I'll like it enough to keep doing it after. Never know.
For now....I'm still here, and who ever is reading this, will be the first to know what happens when I finally get settled in and start my new life.
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