Seoul, South Korea

Haven't posted in a really long time, although I think most people that follow this blog know/knew that I was moving to Korea to teach. I got here about two weeks ago, but I'm still working on getting errthing figured out (in terms of getting internet at my apartment, getting a phone, and stuff).

I have some pictures, but with no internet at my place (until the 24th of September), I won't be able to upload them.

Some facts about where I'm at:

It takes a little over an hour for me to walk out my door to reach the absolute mecca center of Seoul. I usually go every weekend for either Saturday and Sunday, and sometimes meet up with friends during the week after school.

I'm working at a high school teaching English, and my school, students, coworkers and principals are absolutely amazing. All of my coworkers and especially my principals are incredibly happy/impressed that I've been learning Korean (and about my knowledge/interests in Korean culture). My principal has taken me out to lunch a bunch of times, including today, which was because he wanted to take me out to celebrate 추석 (Korean Thanksgiving). A few minutes ago he invited me into his office because he bought me a present for the holiday.

My vice-principal used to be a Korean teacher. I'm an English teacher. He wants to learn English, I want to learn Korean. Everyday for the past little while we've been meeting for an hour to teach each other. I'm going to suggest to him that this be a daily thing.

Everyday for lunch, my school has 급식, which is essentially cafeteria food, but it's amazing here. For the price of $2, I get a buffet lunch every day, but lunch is only an hour. If anybody knows me, that simply turns into a game of "how much food can I possibly put down my throat in an hour"

I haven't used a fork since I've gotten here. I've only used metal chopsticks, and spoons when I need to (soup, cereal, and stuff like that). I've been to places where they give you forks, but I've asked to have chopsticks instead.

I teach myself at least 10 Korean words everyday. Korean words are easy. Korean grammar is impossible.

To say that my students love me would be an understatement. To say that I love my students would be an understatement.

I teach 22 classes a week, and each time its a different class. So, I have 22 different classes that I teach the same lesson to. 40 students a class, which makes about 900 students. I teach every student in grade 1 and 2 (high school here is three grades, called grade 1, 2, and 3).

I introduced myself to each of my classes in English first, and then in Korean.

At the first staff meeting, I introduced myself to the entire staff (of 90 teachers) in a speech about a minute long - entirely in Korean. At first I thought this was the most amount of people I had ever spoken to, but then I remembered all my Human Kinetics presentations that I did in-front of 200 or so people. Either way, 90 people is the most amount of people I've ever spoken to in a language other than English. :P

I got a present at the bank today because when I talked to the teller, I spoke to her in Korean (poorly, probably). She was so happy she gave me a present - 2 new packages of bank-quality toothpaste. Which is perfect because I was running of out bank-quality toothpaste.

I'm essentially off for the next two weeks, which is unfortunate because I actually love teaching here. The days fly by because I always have so much fun with my students. If I had my passport (Immigration still has it), I'd be on my way to Russia (or something like that) tomorrow.

Sorry, long, boring, I know. No pictures. First post in a while. Just saying what's up.

김 한성