Fall in Korea was brief but lovely. I come from a state where fall means that the weather might dip below 80 degrees and we can comfortably wear jeans outside. So proper fall, where the leaves change and the weather starts to take a nosedive towards freezing, was completely new for me. It admittedly didn't…
I have officially completed month 4 in Korea. It has been a pretty uneventful month in terms of traveling but a rather unusual month as far as school goes. About 4 weeks ago we started speaking tests with the kids and only recently had every student officially finished. It was a behemoth of a project…
One would think that after having the same conversation with 700 students, about the same topic from the same script, I would have pretty much heard every answer there is to hear. And while yes, there is not much by the way of variety, still out of the blue some of them surprise me. There…
Continue reading ➞ Korean Middle School English Speaking Tests
A Day in the Life of an English Middle School Teacher in South Korea Compared to recent posts from my trip to Tokyo, this is probably going to be incredibly boring. But this is reality, much more so than jetting off to Japan for the weekend. And while it's certainly not as exciting…
I think I said something a while ago about definitely not posting an update every month, but yet it's looking like that's going to happen. But I'm still not making any promises. Here we are, exactly three months to the day after I landed in Korea. Three months really does NOT sounds like a lot…
Continue reading ➞ Korea Month Three: Reality Check and Coming “Home” to Korea
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 