Education in Korea....it's different.

Week 4…completed….

I’ve had a few people as me about the school, so let me explain how the schooling works over here. Kids go to public school from about 8 am – 2 pm, they take classes like Math, Science, History, English, Korean, PE, Music, etc. Once they are done with public school many children go to private language schools, called Hagwons, which is where I teach. Hagwons are basically strictly English language schools, that parents pay to send their children too. Though at some hagwons they teach addition subjects like Science, Math, Cooking, etc, though they are taught strictly in English, which is not as easy as you would think. Education is so important here that these kids seem to be in school, private classes, hagwons or doing homework all day. My hagwons last class finishes at 6:30pm but there are some hagwons that are open until midnight. It is very common to see 1st and 2nd grade kids on the bus going home from a hagwon at 1 am.

I have discovered that these kids are very smart, book wise but trying to get these kids to be creative or use their imagination is close to impossible. Parents here want their children to learn English so badly to prepare them for the chance to go to the US for college and to work in the US workforce that their children are in school 12-16 hours a day. When I ask my students what they do on the weekends they tell me “homework” or “lessons.” In my short time here I find myself thinking that there has to be some sort of middle ground, between the US, who push creativity, imaginantion, extracurricular activities, sports, choir, band, etc and here in Korea where it seems that they are creating a robots. They are great kids though, sweet, outgoing, friendly kids. I have discovered that no matter where in the world you are kids are kids, they want to be loved, and accepted and they want someone acknowledge them.

The tough thing about hagwons in this country is that they are all individually owned and operated and they are very much a “business” so even though education is important it just as important if not more important that the kids have fun so they want to keep coming to the school, so that they will tell their friends and more parents will enroll their children.

This week was pretty uneventful at school. I’m getting more into the swing of things with my classes. I’m still struggling with my 6 year old class. I have two students, one who is a very bright little boy, and another who is a special needs little girl, who is mentally about 3. Up until this week the little girl was never actually in the class because she would just get up and walk out, but a few of the other kids noticed this and started copying her, so the director is now requiring her to stay in my class, which I understand…but it isn’t working very well. They are both great kids, but I’ve been having a really hard time teaching them because I feel like I need to give her all of my attention and the little boy is getting very moody and upset about it. I’m still working on how to provide both students with what they need and at the same time keep an eye on the little girl.

My other classes have been going pretty well. I’ve discovered that they love what they call “Teacher Says.” I lay all of the flash cards that we have been working on out on the table and then have the kids get up and I call out the card and they run around like crazy kids to find the right card, then they say the word, bring it up to the front of the class and write the word on the white board to get a point. It can easily take up the entire class.

I went to the Jinhae Wonderland on Friday to see their facility and to see how they run their activity days. We have two “activity days” a month, which are set up to act out American events/holidays/etc. For example this month one of the activity days is for Easter and the other is a traditional Western culture childrens birthday. We got to see how they did an activity day at the Jinhae school, they read a story about Easter to the kids, which in fact was a little advanced for me. Then the kids got to decorate eggs and have an Easter egg hunt. I really don’t know how much the kids actually understood but they had a lot of fun with it.

This week ended with my getting sick, I started coming down with something on Thursday and by Friday I couldn’t stop coughing, couldn’t hold anything down, and was running a nasty fever. I ended up running out of class sick on Friday, so they sent me home. I spent all Fri and Sat in bed and now it’s Sunday and I am still laying in bed not feeling very 100% but at least I have stoppped throwing up, though my body is sore and I’m tired.

I am trying to find out if they have chiropractors and massauses here…I’m sure they do, but I just have to figure out where, but as soon as I find one…I am getting a massage.

Next weekend I am going to be going to spend the weekend with Stacy in Jinhae. I am looking forward to seeing the Cherry Blossom Festival and taking lots of pictures! I'll be sure to have lots of pictures to post next week.

Week 3 - DONE

Time is simply flying by....before I left I kept telling myself that it was only a year, and that a year would go by quicker than I realized. I didn't realize just how right I was. It is Sunday evening and my third week of school and third weekend are done.

The week flew by, partly because due to changes in schedule Thursday I only taught 4 classes and Friday was a field trip class for the little ones, so my week felt shorter.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty un eventful. Wednesday night I went out with Tessa for St. Paddy's Day. It was a nice night out. Thursday was my first day of cooking class....imagine this, 6 and 7 year olds making pork/tofu meat balls. They were disgusting, but the kids liked them and had fun, so that's what counts. :)

Friday we took the little ones on our first field trip, and they had a great time. We met with the Wonderland from Jinhae here in Changwon at a park for a play day. The kids had fun running around, playing soccer and learning American games. I have to tell you it was pretty funny to watch two Korean teachers try to explain what a three legged race and a sack race were, because they were trying to combined the two, tying the kids legs together and then trying to put the kids in sacks. No wonder people think American's are nuts. lol. But finally explained it and the kids started doing three legged races, which were quite funny. I got a chance to meet the three foreign teachers from the Jinhae Wonderland, Lorey, Todd and Shawn. They were all really nice people. It was great to talk to someone with similar education and background. I love meeting and getting to know people that are different from me, but it was nice to feel like I made a freind. Friday was an early night because we had to be up at 4:30 am on Sat to be on a train by 6 am to head to Seoul for a day long training. The training was good, but it was a lot of stuff that I did in my Masters, so it felt like a lot of repeat, but it was nice to at least see Seoul...which is really all that I was able to do, because we got off the train, went to the Hilton in Seoul and sat in a training for 7 hours and then got back on a train. :) I was pretty tired by the time we got home (almost 11pm) so I chose to not go out, and just spent a mellow night at home.

This morning I was able to talk with Mom, Dad, Savannah, Mark, Jen, and Ben on Skype. I love the fact that I can actually talk and see them, especially Ben and Alex, because I don't feel like I am missing watching them grow up, even though every week I swear they are getting bigger. When I woke up I saw that it was an absolute perfect day outside and it couldn't be wasted....so I put on my tennies, pulled on a hoodie and my backpack and went and caught the bus. Today was my first time on the bus by myself, and I will be honest I was a little bit nervous but I made it where I wanted to go. I went to City 7, which is like a big mall with movie theatre and shops, resturants, etc. I sat in a little cafe and had a smoothie and a bagel while I read my book. Then I decided to head off to another store that had been recommended, but I wasn't quite sure where it was so I just started walking. One thing that I have quickly gotten use to is the fact that most of the children and some of the adults here will just randomly walk up to you and say hello...so as I was walking I wasn't all that suprised to hear someone behind me say hello. I turned and smiled and said hello and was suprised to have the man say, "how are you? Are you lost?" I smiled and said that I was good and a little turned around, that I was looking for Home Plus and he offered to walk me to it, in the opposite direction I might add. *On a side note I have had many people, Korean and foreign offer to go out of their way to take me where I needed to go since I have gotten here and I have to say it is amazing to realize that there are still people out there that will put their day on hold to help out a total stranger.* He spent about 2 hours walking with me, showing me different places, I found out he had been here for 3 years from Pakistan and is here for work with a manufacturing company of medical something....he ended up taking me out to lunch and buying me an ice cream cone....then putting me on the right bus to head me back in my direction.

So all in all I spent my day today, wandering, shopping, making a new friend, and conquering the 103 bus. Next week....the world...or maybe the bus to Jinhae. :)

Pictures are downloaded every few days to this online album if anyone wants to see:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ewilder22/NotAllWhoWanderAreLost?authkey=Gv1sRgCIfoqOmMtZLUmgE&feat=directlink

MUCH LOVE!!

Pet peeve of the week....

In the US when you call pretty much anywhere you have sit through, press 1 for English, press 2 for Spanish, press 3 for Portugese, press 4 for Vietnemese, press 5 for Japanese, press 6 for French, press 7 for…..and so on and so forth…..

Now here I find myself in Korea, and I totally understand that Korean is their 1st language, but couldn’t they have essential things translated, at least in English?

This rant is started because I just got my washing machine installed yesterday, and of course all of the buttons are in Korean….which is a pain in the butt…but even the fricking owners manual is all in Korean, no translated section, pictures with English words…nadda…..hence the fact that I just managed to shrink my socks, because the water was on what I can only imagine was SUPER HOT….because my socks now look like they could fit a smurf.

Okay…now that I’m done bitching….about my last few days….which have been really good.

Sunday night I went with Tessa to the Vagina Monologues, she was in it. A group of about 20-25 women put together the first V-Day here in Changwon. It was AMAZING! The women were great, some parts of the performance were very emotional, which is the point of V-Day to help raise awareness and to stop violence against women and girls. They expected 30-50 people to attend and ended up turning away people at the door after selling 180 tickets. All of the proceeds went to a local women’s shelter. It was great!

Afterwards there was an After Party at a local bar that the foreigners go to, called O’Brien’s Irish Pub. It’s a pretty tight group of foreign teachers from all over the world and a group of Navy guys from Jinhae base. They had a ton of fun games, raffles, and prizes, all of the proceeds also went to the Masan Women’s Shelter.

I am halfway thru week 3, which is amazing to me…how has the last three weeks passed so quickly?

I haven’t gotten out much, I have been looking for a travel buddy, and finally realized that I am the best travel buddy I am going to have, so I have decided that at least one weekend a month, hopefully two, I am going to go to the local bus station and get on a bus to a new location. I may not know anything about where I am going…but I want to experience this country while I am here. I don’t want to say that I spent a year in South Korea and never left my apartment or Changwon.

I am going to go see my friend Stacy in Jinhae the first weekend in April for the Cherry Blossom Festival. There are a couple of other people that I know through friends of friends (and online), Cali, April, and Pamela who are here in South Korea that I am hoping to travel to see them in Busan, Ulsan, and Dageu. I’m a little nervous but I am looking forward to getting on a bus and just going…taking pictures and wandering around this beautiful country. The weather is starting to get nicer, turning to Spring and I am eager to travel around and see the country.

Week 2 - Done

Well it is Sunday afternoon and I am getting ready to go with Tessa to see the V-Day Monologues. I'm curious to see how it is and how the Korean people respond to it. Should be interesting.

So, yesterday was a beautiful day so I went out and wandered around my neighborhood. Went and bought some stuff and then came home to have a mellow night in. I decided to take a shower and about 5 minutes into my shower, just after putting in my conditioner the water turned off...no hot, no cold, no nothing....since I don't have a phone there was really no one that I could call so I just dried off left my hair in a towel and went to bed.

I had told my director at school about my shower flooding my kitchen so the landlord showed up today to check on it. He is a very nice man, named Park, but he does not speak a word of English...so I spent about 30 minutes drawing pictures, asking about my water, when I will get a washing machine, what day the trash goes out, and the thermostat. If nothing else by the end of this year I am going to be a pro at charades and hopefully will be better at drawing.

Speaking of my drawing I was drawing pictures of things that start with the letter "C" I drew a pictue of a cat and the boys started laughing hysterically at me saying "teacher crazy cat." It wasn't intended to be a crazy cat, but whatever works.

There is a very interesting smell about Korea, the teachers at the school started laughing at me when I said that Korea smells like a cross between toilet water and fish....it is however a very accurate description. And if you know me you know I don't like the smell of fish....but I'm adapting.

First week in Korea

I left Reno airport on Monday moring (Mar 1st). Even as my parents drove me to the airport I was scared...at one point I even told my dad to turn around and take me home. Luckily he didn't listen. I knew all along that once I got on the plane I would be fine, it was just a matter of actually doing it.

I got to Seoul Tuesday evening and had to catch a bus because I had missed my connecting flight to Busan. After a 5 1/2 hour bus ride I finally got here to Changwon. It was almost 1 am (3/3) and no one was at the bus station to get me. I was a little nervous but figured it out, got a calling card and called my director to have them come and get me. They brought me to my apartment and I crashed.

The director picked me up and later in the afternoon and took me to the school. It's a nice facility, very clean and bright. It is a new school so the classes are still really small, my largest class has 5 kids in it.

I started teaching the next day and taught Thursday and Friday. It was good though I know it will take some time to get used to teaching kids that do not speak a word of English. It is a lot of repeating, drawing, playing, interacting....which I know sounds like it should be a piece of cake....but isn't as easy as it sounds, at least not for me, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Friday night I went out with Tessa, the other foreign teacher at my school with a group of foreign teachers, it was nice to be around people who spoke English. We went to dinner, bowling and then headed to a local foreign bar (an Irish Pub) to meet some more people.

Today, Saturday, I decided it was time to do some exploring and go in search of an electrical adaptor for my computer.

I spent 6 hours walking around Changwon it was a great day just to get out and explore and see the area. Walked around some really cool Farmers Market type places, had a lot of Korean kids shout "Hello" to me, and FOUND an electrical adaptor.

Now I think it's time for me to get some sleep.

I am going to try to post a blog once a week....but we'll see if that happens, for now here are some pictures of my apartment and my wanderings......