apparently, i have a job here...

so, i came to korea for a job and i suppose i should explain a little about what i actually do with most of my time here. the school i work for is an international school called korea international christian school. the school is technically 3 schools in 1. there is the international school from 10 until 2:30, and then there is the esl school and the english school. the international school is grades 6-12 and has a standard american curriculum. there are after school courses available for the international students who want to take things like french or spanish or sat prep which is between 3 and 6. the esl school coincides with the international school during the day and it is basically just for students to learn english so they can take the toefl test. then there is the english school between 3 and 6 and it is basically 1st - 5th grade basic english courses with science and math. it is a christian school, so it is extremely conservative, which is a little different for me. luckily most of the other teachers are westerners and a bit more liberal, like myself. we do have to attend chapel services on mondays between 2:30 and 3:00, but it's all in korean so we don't have any idea what is going on. we mostly just sit there and look pretty and make sure the kids aren't goofing off or texting during the sermon (kids are kids anywhere).

for most of my day, i teach older students, so i am pretty much still in my element when it comes to teaching. the little kids at the end of the day are usually a lot of fun though, so i don't mind. they basically need to be there to be speaking in english so anything can be educational to them. i spend most of my time with the kids playing games and singing songs and making them repeat a lot of pronunciation.

like i said, the day school is the international school and i teach a lot of random things. i have a 6th grade reading class, a 7th grade life sciences class, an 8th grade space and earth science class, an esl grammar class, and 12th grade american history. as for why i am teaching so much science, the Lord only knows. i usually have no idea what i am talking about, so i have found that as long as i act excited about the class, the kids really like it. i personally think science is boring, but i fake it pretty well. my first day, i made the kids explain to me why i should care about science, and they had a really fun time with it. i spend most of the time in those classes breaking the concepts down into relavent things. i was teaching the scientific method to the 7th graders and my example was getting a date for friday night. so, identify the problem - daniel needs a date for friday night. do background research (eliminate bad choices) - rita has a boyfriend so he can't ask her. form a hypothesis - daniel will ask emma out on a date...i went through every step and acted it out and the kids just ate it up and had so much fun. the next day, i asked them who could tell me the steps of the scientific method and they could! they all told me they remembered because of the examples i gave them. it felt good to know that they actually learned something from me.

my favorite class to teach is the 12th grade american history class though. i love the content obviously, and i know it really well, so i don't have to prep that much for class. i teach it a lot like a college class where we just have a lot of discussion and the kids take notes, but the kids all really like it because i explain it in a really basic way and we discuss everything together, it isn't just me lecturing all day. i spend most of the time asking them questions and making them work it out through discussion. i gave them a pop quiz on friday and they were ready to have a nervous breakdown. if there is one thing about asians it is that they take school very seriously and stress a lot about grades. i told them to just relax and to think about what we had discussed during the week and they would do fine. when they had finished the quiz, we discussed what was on it and they were all amazed that they knew the material i had quizzed them on. one of the students, john, made a comment that all week it just felt like we talked and had conversations all hour. he was shocked to find out that what he felt like was this really relaxed conversation was him really learning the main points of the first chapter in the book! i graded the quizzes during my planning period and found that all the students did extremely well, so i was ecstatic!

there really isn't anything more pleasing than knowing your teaching is effective. i just kept thinking, 'wow, they really learned something!' i was on cloud nine friday after grading those quizzes. hopefully the rest of the year will be as rewarding!

one thing that i really am not a fan of is the fact that there is no technology whatsoever in the classrooms. i get a dry erase board and some markers and that's it. but, it think i am becoming a better teacher for it. it requires me to know the material. i can't rely on a power point or a video to entertain the kids. i am the entertainment and so far, i have been putting on a pretty good show. at the end of the day, i am utterly exhausted, but at the same time i am extremely satisfied. i know it sounds rediculous, but it's true. i absolutely love my job and wouldn't trade it for the world!

other than my job, there are a few things i wouldn't mind giving up here in korea. i'm not the biggest fan of the food. i can dig the bbq, but i miss american food more than anything. it's not that the food is bad. there is just only so much rice and kimchee a girl can eat, you know? so on my facebook, i started compiling a list of all the random stuff i can't get here in hopes that my friends and family back home (yah, that's you guys - the readers) can randomly send me so i don't starve to death...

another thing i could do without is the freaking electricity difference. they run on direct current here rather than alternating current like in the states, so appliances are a pain. i have to plug my stuff into a converter and then into a plug. the problem there is that i have to remember to flip the switch on the converter to the right setting or else i will fry whatever i am using. and, of course, being the retard that i am, i forgot to flip the converter switch before plugging in my chi hair straightener (steph, don't tell chelle, she would probably kill me for commiting such a horrendous crime!). i literally cried for like 20 minutes over that. so, thanks to stupid direct current, i blew up my 150 dollar hair straightener that has been like my child for the last 3 years. and now, for the next year, i am going to have rediculously wavy, frizzy, bad hair.

the most rediculous thing i could do without in korea is what is simply called "the squatter." it's pretty self explanitory if you think about it. i encountered it for the first time at the hospital when i had to go for my health check so i could apply for my alien registration card. so, the nurse gave me my cup and pointed to the bathroom to do my thing. when i went into the stall, the look on my face can only be described as completely puzzled. apparently western style toilets are not very common in most public places, with the exception of western public places like starbucks and mcdonalds. i hadn't really had to use a public restroom since i have been in korea so this was my first encounter. needless to say, it wasn't an encounter in which i was too thrilled about getting acquainted with. 'the squatter' is basically a porcelain bowl in the floor with normal toilet functions that you have to hover or 'squat' over to do your...er...business. so here i am in this stall in 3 inch heals and dress slacks thinking to myself...'how the hell do i do this without peeing on myself?' i seriously contemplated the physics of what i needed to accomplish for at least a minute. i'm pretty sure it was fairly rediculous. the entire time i was balancing and i was utterly terrified that i was going to fall over resulting in the most rediculous scenario possible. after all was said and done, and i made my peace the 'the squatter' i decided that we would never really be able to be friends. i figure 'the squatter' and i will be like those people who met once at a party and it was really awkward and we never hit it off so we just decided to try to avoid one another.

so, i will leave you all with the most rediculous mental image possible - 'the squatter.' enjoy! i know i will probably be laughing at it for years to come.