School fun

So I thought I'd write a bit about my job, since that is what brought me over here!
I start everyday at the school at 8:25. If I have a first period class it starts at 9:10. There are six periods in a day. I teach mostly 3 or 4 periods a day and each period last 45 minutes. Lunch is an hour long.
I plan all my lessons, but I have a curriculum to follow for the 8-9th graders and I can do anything with the first level (7th graders). I teach at an all-girls middle school and I really think that I lucked out with that choice. Overall they are pretty well behaved. They often talk and whisper with each other in class, but the Korean co-teacher does most of the discipline.
I always teach with one of them in the room and they help me out most of the time. There are 6 English teachers at my school. Some know way more English than the others, it's kinda weird.
Between classes I often just sit in my office and surf the internet and plan lessons etc.
I teach the English co-teachers 3X a week and I have an extra reading club class with students on Friday afternoon as well as a class for non-English teachers who know some, but hardly any English. There are about 6 of them and really they are all at different parts of the spectrum, so that makes it difficult.
I'm done teaching at 3:30 but I have to stay everyday until four thirty. At 3:30 students come into our office and clean our desks and dishes and sweep and mop the floor. It's pretty sweet.

This week has been really fun. IT's the school festival week. On Monday was a performance day where girls displayed some talents and different cultural dances as well as dances that I think are pretty scandalous for 9th graders to be doing, but I guess it's normal here. Then in the afternoon we could wander to different classrooms for exhibits and playing games or making crafts.
Yesterday and half of today was sports day. I didn't do anything except cheer for a while and then I retreated to the office to do some work for my co-teacher.
Hope that gave you a little better glimpse into my days of teaching here in Korea!
A traditional dance and custumes from Korea done to drums. It was really tasteful and colourful!
Karen teacher with some students. They don't like to show their mouths in pictures. Haven't figured this one out yet!
This is one class performing their team dance to popular music.

Seoul weekend

Hello again!
I just talked to my family on the phone and it worked out really nicely. The first time we talked there was such a long delay between our conversation which was frustrating. If you would like to chat, my number is 011 82 10 7215 6543. I'd love to hear from any of you once in awhile - just remember that I'm 14 hours ahead, so try not to call when I'm sleeping! :)

This weekend we hung out with some other Redeemer Alumni - Nate and Maria (and Andrea and katy too!) The five of us made a fun group, but not for taxi rides - a little squishy!
We walked around a lot, but unfortunately I chose to wear shoes that have terrible support, so I have some blisters that will need healing! Oh well. I bought a nice pair of running shoes on the way home in a subway market for about $10. So I am much happier now. Buying shoes here is the hardest thing for a girl who wears size 10, so at least runners I can get even though they are mens...
This morning we went to the largest church in the world (well, that's what we were told!) I couldn't believe how many people there were. It was pretty surreal. We were able to listen to the service with a headset that translated the message into English. The choir was amazing and they even had an orchestra.

This week at school is a festival, so there will be performances and sports day and a field trip to a park - I only have to teach on Friday!!!!! YEAH!!! haha. Looking forward to the easier week and I've already prepared all my lessons for next week. It's great to be ahead of the game for once!

Inside the biggest church in the world!
A large gate, one of the first in Korea. Very historical monument, I think it was built in the 1300's. YIKES!

These are the pathetic excuses for shoes I wore for the weekend. Never again!

This is the group at Dunkin' Donuts enjoying some coffee drinks and bagels or donuts! We miss Tim Hortons! :)
Love to everyone back home reading this! Check out Katy's blog too, she has some more pics up from our weekend in Seoul.

A few pics

This is the view of some of Incheon from the peak.

I made it to the top! And I was in need of my inhaler for a small time, but we were all resting so I was able to breathe well again after the break. (That was for you mom!)
This is Katy showing off her amazing gymnastic abilities. They have these bars and exercise machines throughout the hike for people to stretch and do whatever....crazy! I'm thinking that hiking is enough exercise for me for one day!!

Busy weekend

This past weekend we undertook a few adventures...
First, I started my first Korean lesson. It is such a difficult language to learn and remember so I will be reviewing a lot this week to remember it all. I'm learning numbers to 10, the alphabet, and greetings. My lessons are every Saturday from 1:30-3:30 and they're free! There are about 8 of us in the class.

Second, was a huge fireworks show in Seoul. This was an incredible risk that we did not know we were undertaking. I have NEVER seen this many people in one place. I'm sure it would have broken numerous safety codes in North America. Anyways, once we got to Seoul and broke out of the crowd we decided to get something to eat. We asked someone what time the fireworks started and they said 7:30! We tried to grab something quickly (it was 7:00). But as we were heading back towards the park we heard fireworks starting to go off.
We started running really fast and finally got to the gates and ran down this sandy hill and sat to see the display. It really was the best set of fireworks I'll probably see in my life. They were done to music and there were about three sets that went for at least 10 minutes with breaks in between.

And Sunday afternoon we then had the chance to go on a hike. It was about time I had some fresh air and exercise. My lungs didn't like me very much, but it was really great. The view was pretty nice and at the end of the hike we stopped at a Buddhist temple ground. It was very cool to see.

I was going to post pictures, but the site won't let me upload any right now. So I'll try again tomorrow!

Thanksgiving

Well, I have to confess-I'm a terrible blogger. It's been awhile, and I'm sorry!
Things are going quite well. Last week I was able to plan and prepare for a few days because the girls had midterm exams so I had no classes. I did have to go with my co-teacher to monitor three different exams. It was so boring! Her and I just had to watch the girls to make sure they didn't cheat. I was definitely not needed! Oh well.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I saw some pictures from home and it looked so warm and beautiful there! Here it's been very warm too, but the last 2 days the temperature has dropped and it is starting to feel like fall.

Finally, for those of you who have been asking, Katy and I found an English speaking church! It's Presbyterian and a 1/2hour away, but we enjoyed it. We met another couple there that was at our orientation back in September, so that was really cool. It was their first time at a church in Korea too.
On Sunday night my friends Tommy, Dan, Shana and I were lucky enough to find a Canadian bar in Incheon that downloaded the Leafs/Habs game! So we had some poutine (yeah!) and enjoyed watching the blue and white beat the Habs in OT! SWEET! It was so fun. We had to take a taxi home though because the subways here close at 11:30 and it was just after 11 so we wouldn't have made it back. The pub was about 20-30 minutes away from our place and the taxi cost us 8,000W (around $8)!! This is a picture of where we watched the game - the pub is called "Canadian Buddy."



Well, I'm heading to bed now. We had a pretty good meal tonight. KAty and I attempted to do a Thanksgiving meal - without stuffing or turkey. We made mashed potatoes, broccoli, and chicken. We had buns and cheesecake too. I'm still stuffed! :) It was fun, but I did miss the meal from back home!
Hope you are all great!

Lots of love.