A typical scene at one of the train stations (the train is what I always take when I go out of town), an outdoor market in Seoul, and three of my students in our classroom:
I recently put together a book for some classes at our school. The students were supposed to look at a series of pictures and write a corresponding story in English. I got the idea to use wordless comic strips. This kind of thing is awfully difficult for our students. Here is one strip that I used, with sort of an answer key:
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- Calvin is hurrying to get to school.
- He dashes out the front door of his house.
- He realizes that he forgot his lunch, and he runs back to get it.
- Meanwhile, Calvin’s mom takes Calvin’s lunch to the bus stop.
- When Calvin gets home, he sees that his lunch is gone.
- When he sees his mom, the school bus leaves.
- Calvin and his mom argue with each other.
- Then, Calvin’s mom drives Calvin to school.
- They are both sulking in the car.
- After that, Calvin realizes that he forgot something else.
- He left his book on a desk at his house.
- When Calvin’s mom sees the book, she is furious.
I have had free internet at my apartment ever since I got to Korea, apparently thanks to a neighbor who has a wireless network. There have been occasional glitches, but considering it’s free, I don’t mind.
Until just this evening, when I got home from work, and I couldn’t seem to do anything to get on the internet. And I was getting a sinking feeling, wondering if I could get by without the internet at home or if I should pay for my own account, realizing maybe I’ve grown too dependent on the internet, reminding myself I always knew this might happen…
…and then it started working again.
And then, for some reason, I remembered it had been a long time since I posted here, and maybe now would be a good time to do so, as long as the internet was working.
So…
I’m 1/4 of the way through my 1-year contract. Soon after I got here, I found a really good English school for adults that was connected to a Mennonite ministry, and had a job opening for me. I told my boss at my first school that I was leaving and switching jobs. But unfortunately, my visa is not exactly tailored for switching jobs. I discovered (a little too late) that I would have to cancel my current visa, leave the country, and apply for a new one. This put me in the odd position of going back to my original boss and asking him if I could stay after all (I can).
Tomorrow’s the 4th of July. I might go to Songtan, where they’ll actually be doing something for the 4th. Next weekend, I go up to the North Korea border with a church group. That will basically be my first time out of the city since I got here. Then, in a few weeks, I have an entire week off of work. I’m not sure what I’m going to do then.
Now, I’m going to download about 130 online Korean lessons so I will still have them on my computer in case the internet ever stops working again.
Strange. I lived in Osan for almost two months without meeting a single westerner outside of work. Then yesterday I meet a middle-aged guy from California, and today I meet two British-sounding girls, all just down the street from where I live.
I went to Songtan (the US military base town) again today. Just outside the base is a shopping district where you see about as many westerners as Koreans, and you can expect most people to speak English. It’s nice. I visited a music shop there and found a cool guitar for $120. I really wanted to buy it (I didn’t take a guitar to Korea), but I’m trying really hard to save money right now. Hmm…maybe next Saturday.
Here are a few pictures: the apartment building where I live, and the neighborhood.
I’ve been in a rhythm of getting up at around 8:30 or 9 every morning (I don’t work mornings) which really gives me a lot more sleep than I need. This morning I resolved to pull myself out of bed earlier (7:49) and before long, I was bursting at the seams with energy. And I never feel like that. I know getting too much sleep is supposed to make you tired, but I didn’t expect it to make that much difference. I’ll have to see if I can keep it up. Anyway, to harness my energy, I walked to the train station, went to the neighboring town with a US military base and found a pretty good Thai Buffet for lunch. So after a big meal, the trip home, and a hot afternoon, I’m feeling more like my normal subdued self.
I have stayed close to home ever since I got here. The furthest I’ve been is Seoul, about 40 miles north, or 2 hours by subway (less than $3 round trip). Last week I had a few days off so I explored the city a little and stumbled onto the Korean War Memorial almost by accident. Between the statues of American soldiers and the airplanes, I felt sort of at home, in an odd way.
The classes at my school last one month, and there is a certain ammount of material I need to cover during that time. Beyond that, it’s mostly up to me how I do things (which is a little unnerving for someone like me who has never taught before). In some of my classes, we’re getting done ahead of time and I’m scrambling to find ways to use up the rest of the month. This week, I brought my laptop a couple times, and we watched parts of The Emporer’s New Groove. The kids couldn’t understand most of the lines, but that movie has a lot of visual action, so most of them payed attention, and they even laughed at some of the funny parts, which was a relief.
Of course I needed to justify watching a movie in class, so I gave them a spelling test on some of the words in the movie. When I was in elementary school, I used to doodle next to the words on my spelling tests. I never dreamed I would be doing the same thing as a teacher. These are the words I gave them from the first part of the movie:
Keep in mind I have to browse through grocery stores full of Korean labels, so there’s a certain feeling of accomplishment in finding enough food to have a balanced diet:
- gigantic green onions
- mandarin orange juice
- brown eggs
- milk
- some stuff that looks like birdseed, which you cook up and eat like rice (it must be healthy)
- Quaker oatmeal (left over by a previous occupant, thankfully)
- bacon
- wheat rolls
I have yet to try the mysterious striped yellow fruit, and the octopus legs.
So yes, I’m here in Korea. I made it through immigration and got all my bags and found someone at the airport to take me to my school, where I met my boss, who showed me my apartment, which was nice, until I discovered that the hot water wasn’t working (did you follow that?). That was solved last night, when a housekeeper who spoke absolutely no English came in, adjusted something, and explained something to me (I nodded and added an occasional “mmhmm”).
Osan appears to be a nice place to live. It is big enough to have all the amenities, but small enough to navigate by walking. My school is about a 10 minute walk from my apartment, and there are two large Walmart-type stores a few blocks further, as well as a Pizza Hut and Outback Steakhouse, and a lot of other places with unintelligible signs. Further on is the subway station, which I am going to attempt to find today.
Then there is my job, which I’ll write about later.
I was supposed to be somewhere over the Pacific Ocean now. Instead, I am at the airport hotel in Wichita, which has just been pummeled by an ice storm (Kansas doesn’t have four seasons in one year; it’s closer to forty). Thus, my flight out this morning was cancelled, and we decided to stay in Wichita until I leave early tomorrow morning. So I get to Korea a day later than planned, which means one precious day less of job training, I think. And a day at a hotel with nothing to do, which is not exactly thrilling when you expected to be travelling across the world, but I am getting by. 안녕히가세요.
(Does that come up as Korean on your computer, or just a bunch of symbols?)
