12:30pm rolled around and I headed out to find some food before I had to report in for my first day of lessons. I strolled into a promising looking restaurant and I immediately realize that there is no picture menu. There are pictures in one place and words in another and I have no way to figure out what is what. Luckily they weren't too busy and the owner took the time to help me out. I just pointed at a picture in the row and said "Can I have that?" and he counts over "One, Two, Three?" (Third picture over?), I tell him no, fourth picture and he says "Udon!" so I repeat "Udon. One." and take my seat.
He brings over my udon and it is a bowl of noodle soup with some pickled vegetables on the side. I grab my chopsticks and start grabbing for the udon out of the bowl only to nearly sear my tongue from the heat of the soup. The owner comes over and tells me I'm eating it wrong. He gestures for me to put the noodles in a side bowl and mix it with the pickled vegetables so I do, embarrassed. The udon isn't bad. It's really thick and starchy...kind of like spaghetti but more filling and kind of squishy. It is extremely difficult to eat udon with chopsticks! It was sliding all over the place and when I slurped it the noodles smacked me in the face. I tried finishing it all, but it was extremely filling. I asked to pay and it ended up being 3000 Won for the whole meal (A little under $3). I'm going to eat there more often.
He brings over my udon and it is a bowl of noodle soup with some pickled vegetables on the side. I grab my chopsticks and start grabbing for the udon out of the bowl only to nearly sear my tongue from the heat of the soup. The owner comes over and tells me I'm eating it wrong. He gestures for me to put the noodles in a side bowl and mix it with the pickled vegetables so I do, embarrassed. The udon isn't bad. It's really thick and starchy...kind of like spaghetti but more filling and kind of squishy. It is extremely difficult to eat udon with chopsticks! It was sliding all over the place and when I slurped it the noodles smacked me in the face. I tried finishing it all, but it was extremely filling. I asked to pay and it ended up being 3000 Won for the whole meal (A little under $3). I'm going to eat there more often.
I leave with a bow and a "Kamsamnida!" and resume my walk to the school. I'm still extremely early so I walk past the school and further down the street to see what's on the other side. They have a Dunkin Donuts, a Baskin Robbins and even a Korean Hooters!
I saw a bunch of children in school uniforms walking around, so I took that as my cue to start heading back.
I saw a bunch of children in school uniforms walking around, so I took that as my cue to start heading back.
 |
| Korean Hooters |
I arrive at the school still early and meet with the other teachers as well as an American teach from California named Kimyn. She helped prep me for the lesson and lead the first few activities so I could get the hang of it. Around the third class, I was leading it by myself and it was quite a bit of fun. The difficult part is that I don't really get any knowledge of the course material in advance since I'm not the primary teacher and I have to make up games and exercises on the fly. For one class, we were learning about directions and hunting for treasure so we ended up running around the whole campus and causing a ruckus. They're very lax about that kind of stuff and it was fun for everyone. It's kind of nice that I get to be the "good cop" and my job is primarily just to make learning English fun.
We played this one game that was like team based tic-tac-toe but you had to spell the word correctly to get on the board. Girls v. Boys. The hardest part is that some of the children are shy and not confident int their ability so they don't speak up in class as much. Other kids take over. The middle classes (9-13) were the easiest to work with while the 8 year olds and 16 year olds were sometimes challenging because they were most self-conscious about their language skills.
We played this one game that was like team based tic-tac-toe but you had to spell the word correctly to get on the board. Girls v. Boys. The hardest part is that some of the children are shy and not confident int their ability so they don't speak up in class as much. Other kids take over. The middle classes (9-13) were the easiest to work with while the 8 year olds and 16 year olds were sometimes challenging because they were most self-conscious about their language skills.
 |
| Modified language tic-tac-toe |
Every student has their own English name that they choose and some are really adorable. One kid's name is Adonis and I asked him "Do you know Adonis is...God of Beauty?" (tried to simplify it as much as possible) and he said "Yes! I know!" haha.
In-between classes, I stopped at a water cooler and two girls were whispering by it. As I get my water, one girl says "Teacher?" to which I reply "yes?" and she gets all flustered, saying "You are....no...no...nevermind." I'm curious now, so I say "No, tell me! I am what?" and she said "very tall!" and then runs off embarrassed.
I go grab lunch witht he other teachers which turns out to be a home-cooked meal by my co-teacher Rachel and it is sooooooooooooo delicious! I also learn the word for delicious: Ma-Shi-Se-Yo! [but written like 맛았어요 (mas-iss-e-yo)]. Korean food is so filling! I feel bad getting full so fast when they make so much food. I want to eat it all to show how much I like it!
The teachers all talk at lunch about a girl Kelly who told one of the teachers she thought I was "Very handsome" and suddenly I am reminded of the little girl by the water cooler. I describe this girl to my co-teachers and they confirm it is her. So that's what she originally wanted to tell me. Haha.
Kelly is in my next class and when the students all ask me questions about myself she asks "do you have a girlfriend?" It was adorable. Girls named Kelly apparently have a thing for me because in my high school class, a girl named Kelly asked me the same question and then giggled and said "you are very handsome." I suppose it's good that I wore glasses today because everyone freaked out when they found out I had blue eyes. lol
I think tomorrow may be harder than today, because today was mostly just introductions. I need to start building a library of education games to whip out because I'm significantly lacking in the "fun AND educational" side of class for some of these lessons.
Kimyn shows me around town after classes and I now know where the grocery store is [I bought a bottle of soju (liquor) for 1000 Won...less than a dollar], the dry cleaners, and a big shopping area called City 7 right by my house. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but for now I'm really exhausted.
잘자!
Kelly is in my next class and when the students all ask me questions about myself she asks "do you have a girlfriend?" It was adorable. Girls named Kelly apparently have a thing for me because in my high school class, a girl named Kelly asked me the same question and then giggled and said "you are very handsome." I suppose it's good that I wore glasses today because everyone freaked out when they found out I had blue eyes. lol
I think tomorrow may be harder than today, because today was mostly just introductions. I need to start building a library of education games to whip out because I'm significantly lacking in the "fun AND educational" side of class for some of these lessons.
Kimyn shows me around town after classes and I now know where the grocery store is [I bought a bottle of soju (liquor) for 1000 Won...less than a dollar], the dry cleaners, and a big shopping area called City 7 right by my house. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but for now I'm really exhausted.
잘자!
No comments:
Post a Comment