Observation for the week: they are very beauty conscious. Plastic surgery is very big here, especially getting the double eyelid surgery. I am very against plastic surgery so its hard to accept but when putting it in perspective, I am from the Midwest where it is rare to see anything more than an occasional Botox or breast lift procedure. If I lived in California it might be less surprising to see. Medical procedures are much cheaper here too.
My first week of school:
Was stressful. This was technically a training week so I had someone with me for most classes. My schedule is PACKED. We are short a teacher due to issues with her obtaining paperwork so we all have extra classes to teach. I have about 2 hours a day of preparation and 6 hours of classes. The girls said that previously they taught maybe 3-4 hours a day with the remainder of time as prep. I have been going in early and staying late already to make sure I feel prepared. I am also the kind of person that needs to feel prepared to feel confident. I am working this weekend and I will likely go in early tomorrow morning. I can't wait for the new teacher to arrive, but it sounds like we might have at least a month of this crazy schedule.
Tomorrow is my first day teaching alone and needless to see I am nervous.
The kids are adorable though. I teach 2 5's classes, an intensive 7 class (basically means the parents pay more for longer english lessons), a regular 7's class and 2 elementary age classes (9-10 years old). I was able to give English names to the 5 year old classes, which was fun. Now the challenge is getting them to understand what their English name is.
Korean knowledge for the day: When a child is born, they are already considered 1 years old. They still have birthdays, but it means that the kids I teach are a year younger in American standards. So the 5's classes are actually 4 years old in America. THEY ARE SO YOUNG!
It is nice to stay busy though because it keeps me distracted and therefore less homesick.
The one with the little red glasses I named Louie and he is about a head shorter than all the kids. I want to take him home with me
I also learned that if you say "Kimchi" to the kids, they will automatically strike a pose.
I have walked around the city a lot more. I'm starting to orient myself better. I found a map of Mokpo, which helped a lot and have been going out anytime someone else is. I am not confident enough to go by myself. But hey, it hasn't even been 2 weeks. I admit, I feel like I've been here for months already... Everyone I meet though says the time goes really fast once you get in a rhythm. I'm waiting for that to happen...
Yesterday we took a taxi to Yuldasan Mountain. The main forms of transportation if you don't have a car are buses, taxis, and walking. Yuldasan was about a 45 minute walk so we took a taxi- about $7. Taxis are cheap. I will repeat though- Korean drivers are crazy. They seriously do whatever they want. Its something you get used to because it somehow seems to work. The girls who have lived here longer say they have never seen a car accident. Another fact: Pedestrians do not have the right of way.
Yuldasan mountain is the biggest mountain in Mokpo and takes about 30 minutes to climb to the top. From there you can see all of Mokpo.
Finally, for everyone's entertainment I show you the passport picture that I had to take here when I first arrived. I didn't realize I was supposed to bring a passport picture for my alien registration card so I was taken to a portrait studio where they photoshopped my face to make me look like someone else. He made my eyes bigger, shoulders smaller, whitened my teeth and made my face smaller. He messed up my right eye too... It's really not very good.
(note the shadow is from me. I took a picture of the picture.)
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