Yesterday I decided that it was high time I dusted off my poor camera who has been waiting patiently to be used since I moved to this city. I realized that I hadn't used it once since I'd been in Korea and so Saturday became, "get some good pictures of this city" day. Which turned into a…
Newton's third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And it occurred to me tonight, as I sit here at 10:00pm utterly exhausted from a long Monday with an hour or two of lesson planning still ahead of me, that the same principle applies to teaching.…
So the protocol here is that all of the native English teachers have another Korean English teacher from the school in the room when we are doing our lessons. Their degree of involvement from any point after that completely depends on your situation. I feel incredibly lucky to have the co-teachers that I have,…
As of March 12th I have officially been in Korea for 1 month. And as of two days ago I have been at my job for three weeks. In the grand scheme of my Korean experience this is almost nothing. But you know how they say that a persons first 5 years are the most…
It finally happened. Some how or another I have managed to go almost a month now living in this country and I haven't gotten properly lost. This is thanks of course to Korea's fabulous transportation infrastructure, and the fact that I can read Korean. But last night it finally happened. I walked out of my…
Breaking into a new culture in the workplace is not an easy task. Every job, and office, and company, or any group for that matter always operates under different social expectations even in our home countries. If I started a new teaching job in America it would be much of the same, but easier…
(Warning, this is more just a stream of consciousness that found its way out of my brain rather than a cohesive thought.) In a very bizarre turn of events my culture shock in Korea hasn't been from the food or the language. Most of what has happened, has happened somewhat according to my expectations. I…
My second day of teaching went a lot like the first. Except I didn't have to worry about figuring out how to walk to school, how to get to the office, where my desk was, or who my co-teachers were. So I could actually focus on noticing things about the school and the students.…
I did it. I officially survived my first week of teaching middle school in South Korea. Luckily for me that week was only two full days, but regardless I survived. I’m sitting here on Friday night writing this, thoroughly exhausted, and feeling very happy. I’m not on a mountain top, and I’m not in a…
Continue reading ➞ First Day of Teaching Middle School in South Korea
After a week of cafe hopping in Seoul, another 8 days of EPIK orientation, and generally way too long living out of my two messy suitcases, I am finally settled into my new apartment! But let me back track just a little bit. About this time four days ago I was frantically preparing my lesson…
Hours and Miles 