I survived my first week of school! I’ve been here a little over a week now since I landed in the middle of last week. My co-teacher and I are just now starting to move out of me just observing and into more defined roles. So basically he got to put the giant pile of homework that needed grading on my desk yesterday.
I still feel out of depth most days but I figure that’s normal. I’m thankful for my co-teacher who seems to be constantly concerned about how I’m doing and if I’m okay. Last weekend a typhoon went by Korea. It didn’t land here it was headed to Japan but we got some of the storms off of it. He was greatly concerned that I was okay after the typhoon. Honestly though we’ve had worse thunderstorms in Texas. It basically just poured rain until about noon and then stopped on a dime. So I just did what someone would do when they have no reason to get out, I stayed inside until the storm passed. After that it was a beautiful day and I spent it getting a mocha and borrowing WiFi from a cafe before wandering around town and getting a layout.
I also got to introduced to my entire school in an assembly by the principal and survived and then Wednesday I survived my first volleyball game with the staff. Apparently on Wednesdays we play volleyball. I’m still trying to get the hang of it, I haven’t played in so many years and I never played competitively. Thankfully my co-teacher isn’t super fantastic at it either so I feel like we have some solidarity there. But I made it through the experience and just did my best.
Right now for food I’ve been frequenting the convenience store for cold coffee and onigiri to eat before school, the chain restaurant Hansot for dinner because they’re the only place in town with pictures of their food, and I finally got brave and went back to the grocery store to actually buy some food. The last time I went in I only bought stuff for my apartment, the food just felt too overwhelming at the time. This time I took my time to browse and see if I could figure it out. It’s still a little bizarre since I don’t know what a lot of the food is or I don’t know how I would cook it or I can’t read the label. Also a lot of items need a microwave and I don’t have one. Turns out my co-teacher thought it was in my contract but since it’s not I only got the desk chair I was suppose to get. So as soon as I can order things online I’m debating a microwave or a toaster oven.
Right now I only have a tiny pot to cook with. It was the smallest thing the grocery here sold, everything else is like a giant wok that I don’t need, I don’t know how to use and I don’t have the space for. On my last visit I managed to find SPAGHETTI and SAUCE!! I also got some eggs and my mom is sending me a tiny skillet so I can cook those soon. But I also forgot to get, plates/bowls, and a colander. So I got resourceful and ended up using a clean plastic take out plate I had leftover to drain the noodles and to plate them. It actually worked really well. I’ll need to take another trip into town today for food/groceries because I already ate all my spaghetti which I did space it out for a few meals. I’m a little nervous to go this weekend because there’s a festival going on at the fortress up the road and it was crazy busy last night. There was 10x more traffic than usual, there were even police officers out directing traffic and the streets are getting jammed with vendors. So maybe I’ll go out and try some festival food? I haven’t decided yet. Part of me really wants to go and see what’s going on and the other part is nervous about all the crowds and traffic.
The school has been pretty good so far. Everyone seems really nice, although most of the other teachers don’t really talk to me but I don’t think most of them know much English or they might be like my co-teacher and think theirs isn’t very good so they’re nervous to try and speak with me. Also a lot of the other teachers that come sit at the lunch table are male so maybe there’s something with that. The Chinese teacher has been super sweet to me and tries to talk to me or tell me different Korean phrases. She usually sits with the nurse at lunch and sometimes the nurse will ask my co-teacher a question for me or a super simple English question. Like the other day she asked if I knew what I was eating for lunch (I didn’t, I don’t know what most of it is and sometimes I think that might be a good thing) but the other day I thought it might have been curry but I wasn’t sure. I told her ‘no’ and she was super excited to tell me and then they all seemed a little blown away I’d never had curry before. It was actually really good, it was a mild one so it was almost kind of sweet.
There’s been a few things that have reminded me of home. There was a watery mushroom/ celery soup that had a familiar taste, something beefy that tasted like a spicy version of ground beef stew back home, and the other day there was like a beefy soup with doughy pieces in it that reminded me of a lite, beef version of chicken and dumplings. There’s also been some more odd foods on my plate. Like the first day there was squid or something in a mildly spicy mixture, there were tiny little arms in it. It actually wasn’t bad, a little rubbery but not bad. I wondered if there were squid pieces in a veggie mix the other day because there were these big rubbery pieces in it but they were actually pretty tasty. I think at this point I’ve tried Kimchi, I’m not 100% that’s what it was but I think so. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t something I loved. It’ll take some getting accustomed too. There’s also been tofu a few times and it has some kind of sauce on top and it was really good. So school lunch is an adventure but so far it’s been pretty good, I can at least find a few items that I like and there’s always plenty of rice. On my first day the lunch ladies loaded my plate down. I don’t know how in the world one person was expected to eat that much. After that though maybe they saw how much I threw away or something but now they seem to give me the same portions they give the female teachers, which is perfect for me. They load the male teacher’s plates down. It was funny though because the lady that gives out the rice always checks that she’s given me enough and the other day even after I nodded she grabbed my tray back really quick and gave a tiny extra scoop. It was really sweet and yes I ate it all.
My students are all pretty good. You can tell the ones who are more engaged or interested than others but even then most of them don’t cause problems. There’s only been one “problem child” in my classes. I swear this kid wasn’t there on my first day, I would have remembered him. He’s one of my 5th graders so I get to see him 3 times a week when everything sticks to the schedule. School in Korea is a little bit different than in the US. Like I said in the previous super long post they talk all the time, they get up with out asking, etc. I don’t think it’s a bad thing it’s just very different from when I was in school. I wonder if the kid isn’t like ADD or ADHD or something because he’s always off the walls, not focusing or doing his work and distracting the other kids. My co-teacher is super mild mannered and soft spoken but he’s pulled the kid aside both classes I’ve seen him in and had to have a talk with him. The other day it was super long winded in the stairwell. There we’re also two of the 4th graders, I think, who got into a big argument at the end of yesterday’s class. He called it a fight but from American schools I wouldn’t call it a fight. They were arguing and halfheartedly kicking out at each other. It was another long winded talk in the hallway, the little boy looked sad and kept his head low and the little girl was tearing up a little. But seriously still totally mild in comparison to what I remember in school.
Other than that the kids have been pretty good, there’s a few that are already attaching to me. They love to come ask me questions, or be really goofy and make me laugh with them and there’s one of my 3rd graders, who’s absolutely adorable, who loves to come up and try and hug me. I’m always super awkward when she does because I’m not really sure what is allowed/appropriate. I don’t remember a lot of hugging teachers in school, I’m pretty sure that’s mostly not a thing in the US. The only kid I remember was this one that had attitude issues and problems with social cues always latching on to our 2nd grade teacher because he had a huge crush on her. The funny one was the other day one of my 6th graders who really likes asking me questions told me I have “good diction” while I was walking around the class checking their work. My co-teacher had been asking me to read more things that day. It was so hard not to bust out laughing. I feel like I’ve been over exaggerating my words when I read in the classroom or when I talk with the other teachers or students because I know my accent might be problematic for them to understand.
So I’m still trying to settle in. I haven’t been able to meet any of the other expats in the area yet. One of them has never responded/opened my last message, the other one who was going to show me Seosan postponed it until we make more solid plans and I just got into contact with someone who lives here and teaches at the University and has other expat friends who teach there but he and his wife are headed to Seoul this weekend. So I’m just going to enjoy a lazy weekend and maybe check out the local festival if I get brave enough. I at least have to get out and go get groceries for tonight. It’s also getting colder here and I’m nervous. This Texas girl might turn into an ice-cube come winter.
I haven’t taken a lot of pictures this week and the few that I have didn’t upload yet to my google photos account so have a picture I took last weekend on my walk around town. This was outside a plant store I found.
“Bloom where you are planted.” – Anonymous
Southern Meets South Korea 