Saturday, March 30, 2013

One Month Already?

It's hard to believe I've been here a month already.  The first couple weeks were hell, but now that I'm settling into a routine (and we have all of the books,) things aren't too bad.  This week actually went by really quickly, surprisingly.  We're working on some April Fools pranks for the kids tomorrow, like switching teachers and giving them word searches with none of the words.  It should be a lot of fun!

Every Friday we're supposed to have a test for the kids, and it's our responsibility to come up with the tests (since every class could be at a different point and have covered different vocabulary.)  I've mostly done spelling tests with my first graders, though I'm experimenting a lot with my other classes right now.  I've done vocabulary definitions, story writing (use 5/10 of the 10/20 words to make a story,) story sequencing (put the events in order,) and reading comprehension questions.  Finding the right balance between too easy and too hard is tricky, of course, and so far I think I've been leaning towards too hard.  I like the story-writing tests, but some words (especially nouns and adjectives) are really easy to use without really showing that they know what they mean.  I've been writing questions like "Why did you thrash a rock?" and having them rewrite their stories with my corrections and answers to my questions.  They also take a long time to grade because I'm correcting their grammar, spelling and sentence structure (sometimes extensively,) and interpreting what they're saying and their understanding of the words can take a lot of thought.

One small problem that I'm noticing is that the classrooms get really dirty REALLY quickly.  Each room has one small trash can, but while we're not responsible for cleaning the rooms, the cleaner only comes in once a week.  Things are nice on Monday, but by Friday the rooms are pretty filthy.  The students aren't always tidy eaters, of course, so certain snacks (especially noodles, rice and anything with sauce) can get everywhere.

Speaking of dirty, my washing machine is driving me up the wall.  Even after cleaning out the lint filters as best I can, my clothes still come out dirty.  I'm going to have to re-wash a pair of pants because the outside is covered in soap that didn't get washed off.  I've not sure how much of it is the machine and how much is my not knowing how to use it correctly, but it's really aggravating.  Baron still needs to come over sometime and help me get rid of the old TV and such, so hopefully he can help me figure out what the problem is, whenever that happens.  I'd hate to have to go to the trouble of getting a new washing machine, but it's hard to live like this when I don't know how to get my clothes properly clean.

I should be getting my alien registration card soon, which means I'll be able to set up a bank account and get a new phone.  The phone will be a little pricy, but so far my expenses have been relatively low.  I've only needed to withdraw 400,000 won (~$400), and combined with the 200,000 they gave me to get started and the $200 I took out at the airport, I've spent about $700 this month.  My first paycheck is coming on 4/8, and that'll give me roughly $2000 more to work with.  In another two months, they'll repay me for the plane ticket and I'll stop having to add to my apartment's security deposit, so my monthly salary will go up to ~$2200.  Despite what I said about about food prices before, I can eat out for $7-9, sometimes less.  For a quick meal, I can get two things of triangle kimbap (rice and fish wrapped in seaweed) for 1400 won at a convenience store.  Taking the train into Seoul only costs about $3.50, and the subway is only $1 for the closer stops.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Status Update 3/23/2013

Things are slowly getting easier.  The confrontation of discipline is still stressful for me, though I'm getting better at it and having to do less of it.  I have one class that I really gel with already, and they're great.  My youngest kids are best when I give them some sort of activity (they breezed through 12 pages of the workbook yesterday,) but they're a lot more restless when I start asking them questions about the book we're reading.  About half the class would rather chat with their neighbors or play with lint than talk to me, though, so it's my most discipline-heavy class.  My oldest kids also do their best to ignore me, and while I respect the fact that they're here against their will until 9 pm, they really frustrate me.  Baron keeps telling me not to try to herd cats and that it takes about two months for them to see me as their teacher, while Julie wants me to be tougher with them (she basically acts as the principal/yeller-in-chief.)  They also have their own ideas about how we should teach our classes, so there's a lot of mixed messages right now.

I spent the Saturday doing laundry and grading test papers - I had two classes write stories using at least 10 vocabulary words from the week, and it's slow going because it's often hard to interpret whether the students are using the words correctly or not.  One student wrote a page about how she didn't know what any of the words meant and how much she doesn't like tests (I had to give her a zero,) and another gave up on writing a cohesive story and just started tossing out all 20 words (he got a 5/10 because I was generous.)  I also stopped by a nearby street/farmers market and picked up a few things, including a big bag of grapes for ~$10.  It's looking like I'll be grabbing dinner with one or two of the other teachers tonight as well.

Food, cooking and scheduling are also being challenging.  I'm trying to adjust to a schedule of going to bed around 1 am (if I can finish eating a quick something by 10 pm) and waking up at 10 am, though that generally means I'm finishing breakfast at 11 am and thinking about lunch around 1 pm (so I can be at school and preparing for my classes by 2 pm.)  I don't have the obnoxious early Saturday schedule I had with AEON, but the timing of my work schedule is still at an awkward time and not having a dinner break is rough.  I get a snack with the kids at 4 pm and one at 5 pm, but I only have time to eat if I don't have to prepare anything for class.  If I need to get up early for anything, I have to skip dinner and go to bed hungry.  I've actually been going to bed earlier on the weekends than during the week :)  I make sure to clean the house and cook on Sunday, though my pots and bowls are smaller than in Japan, so I haven't made more than two servings at a time yet.  (Plus, it's hard to get online to check recipes.)

As for food, I can get about 14 bananas for $4-6 (the price varies for some unknown reason) from the closest market, though they go brown fairly quickly, so using them all up has been an interesting challenge.  I finally found soy milk, and while it has a different flavor than American soy milk, I'll be glad to stop relying on low-fat milk (fat-free milk basically doesn't exist here.)  Broccoli costs twice as much to get half as much, and I haven't found cauliflower yet.  Garlic always comes pre-peeled in bags of 25-30 cloves or more, which sounded great at first until I found out that it also goes moldy quickly that way (I'm experimenting with sealing it in a Ziploc bag to keep it fresh.)  I can't buy canned tomatoes, so I've been cutting up fresh ones (they come in big bags of 10,) but bottles of sauce are everywhere.  Sliced meat is almost nonexistent except for small, expensive packages of sliced ham (pork is easily the most common meat here,) and like Japan, there's no such thing as whole-grain bread.  I have an 8 kg bag of brown rice, but my rice cooker doesn't handle it very well (it wants to boil over, and it's a pain to clean,) so I've mostly been cooking rice porridge in a pot.  Cereal is pretty expensive ($5-7 a box, though I can buy big double-packs of Special K for about $13,) and Korean food labels almost never list sugar or fiber.  I've doing a lot of experimenting to figure out what is relatively healthy and what is loaded with sugar.

All in all, it's been a lot of adjusting, and there's still a lot more to do.  The kids make me grouchy on a regular basis, but I'm happy to say that things are more pleasant and less stressful after my third week here!

A Clean(er) Apartment at Last!

From March 10th:

Yesterday was a weird and busy day. I knew the cleaning lady was coming,
but I didn't know when, and I'd stayed up late the night before at a bar
with my fellow teachers. I was on the toilet when she showed up at 11 am,
unshaved, unshowered and unbrushed, but I hurried out so that she could do
her work. Julie told me to give her my key and to pick up the spare key at
school around 3 pm, so I had a lot of time to kill. I brought my laptop
along in the hopes of finding a wifi connection somewhere, but the internet
cafe refused to let me in (I later learned that many of them have a "no
foreigners" policy), the school was locked up and the library's wifi needed
a username and password I didn't have. I wound up reading in the library
for awhile, then got lunch and went to school.

Baron gave me the spare key when I arrived, and then asked me to help him
find all the teacher's manuals around the school. After that, we spent a
couple hours going over how to teach the reading classes and properly use
the teacher's manuals. (I'm not sure they know what a weekend is anymore.)
He gave me some 'homework' to come up with questions, vocabulary and simple
explanations for the first several 1st grade lessons, then sent me home.

Once I did get back to my apartment, I was amazed by the difference. There
were some things even the cleaning lady couldn't get rid of, but overall it
feels like a new place! I was finally able to unpack and put everything
away, as well as throwing away all the small junk I didn't want and washing
the dishes I wanted to keep. I snuck in a load of laundry while I was
running around, too. A couple hours later I could finally relax and settle
down for dinner and a shower. There's still a few big items that I need
help getting rid of (an old TV, a beaten-up coach and a dirty toaster oven),
plus I need to replace the toilet seat and get a drainer installed. Still,
it feels a lot more like MY place.

Today's been a slightly lazier day. I went to the supermarket and finally
got a clock and some food disposal bags, so now I can throw out my food
trash. I spent about an hour working on my 'homework', and I'm hoping to
work on my screenplay after dinner.

Wrapping up My First Week at Baron's

From March 7th:

I'm having a hell of a time getting online these days, but I should hopefully have a real connection Sunday or Monday. I can't wait!

Yesterday was the first day I actually thought went well. I played a word linking game (bag, giraffe, eagle, etc.) with all five classes since we didn't have books ready yet, and the kids loved it. One class was so impressed with the board full of words they came up with that half of them got out their phones and took pictures of the board. Another class wanted to have each person take a turn in order, and while it was a good idea, I hit a snag: four boys were working together to make sure that the next girl got an 'X' word every time. The rest of the class soon cried foul, though I wasn't very successful at disrupting them. Still, I have some idea for next time.

I also got my medical check done yesterday (a short interview, chest x-ray, blood and urine samples, hearing and vision check,) as well as getting a temporary, pre-paid phone (a smart phone will have to wait until I get my alien registration card in a few weeks.) The medical check took all morning, and we grabbed some surprisingly expensive McDonald's from a drive-thru on our way back to work. (McDonald's is considered a pricy restaurant here - Baron told us a story about a kid who was thrilled to have it for the first time because his family's finances were too tight to afford it.) I'll have to go back next week to get the results, and then I can get my alien registration card a couple weeks after that.

Today was a tougher than yesterday because I still didn't have books for most of my classes and I couldn't rely exclusively on games again. My 1st grade class got photocopies of the first story and immediately declared it too easy, blazing through it in about 15 seconds flat ("It is Mom. It is Alex. It is Dad", etc.) I did start to train them to raise their hands when they want to answer, and I refused to pick anyone until everyone was quiet and in their seats, so Hangman went well. I had to separate a few kids who weren't paying attention, but I at least felt comfortable doing so.

My other classes went okay, but I have a class of 14 for science and writing four times a week that I know is going to be major trouble. The worst is a kid with serious authority issues who was the ringleader of the 'X' gang mentioned above. I gave them an assignment to write about music and he flat out refused, saying he doesn't like music because it's boring. The class has been begging me to let them play a freezing game (like red-light-green-light,) and I refused to let them play until everyone wrote something and shared it with the class. The main troublemaker dragged his feet long enough that we ran out of time anyway, and thankfully I don't have them tomorrow. About half the class is pretty good and a few are real standouts, but they're really chatty and they stick with their friends like glue. I may have to do assigned seating or break them up some other way to cut down on the incessant chatter that my glowers can't curb.

I just want to be Mr. Nice Guy Teacher and I don't like conflict and confrontation, so the discipline is (so far) the hardest part of the job. I know the kids are testing their boundaries with me, and Baron tells me to treat them just like American kids, but I don't know the right responses yet. At least I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it, and my best classes are the ones I have for two hours each on Friday (instead of my 2-1-1-1-1 schedule the rest of the week). I still can't wait for the weekend!

First Day Disasters

From March 4th:

Well, my first day was an unqualified disaster. My first class, a two-hour basics class, was rough because almost none of my ideas worked and I didn't know how to control them. Also, there weren't enough snacks for everyone, so I gave mine to one of the kids. My next class started fine, but I actually passed out about ten minutes in. No one was really sure why, but they thought it was primarily exhaustion and stress combined with a hot room, lacquer and paint fumes from the remodeling, the ventilation system not working right, and me not eating enough/right. I don't remember much, but apparently I turned green (the kids were making zombie virus jokes when I left) and then pale, and I soaked my shirt in sweat.

Julie got me home to rest for a couple hours, then took me to a doctor, who agreed that I was most likely stressed out and exhausted since I seemed to be okay physically. The pharmacist, the father of a student, prescribed some herbal medicine to help me sleep and relax, as well as a big multivitamin. She got me some food and ordered me to get into bed and get some sleep.

Needless to say, this was all pretty scary for me - this has never happened to me before. I'm still feeling light-headed and spacy, though I feel better (and my color has come back) now that I have some food in me. I know that tomorrow will be better, but this wasn't the first impression I was hoping to make.

First Weekend in Korea

From March 3rd:

I finally managed to get online by using the wifi password from the hotel across the street. Even at two bars, it's almost as fast as the connection back home. I'll be glad when I get a real connection set up!

This weekend has been pretty crazy - we went grocery shopping (spent ~$100 on groceries) and got me some new dishes and kitchen equipment, though I haven't put them away yet because the cabinets are still a mess and I don't know what to do with the old stuff. I cooked my first couple meals, though I have to keep it simple because I can't put the dishes away and I don't have a drainer to dry them in. I was so tired that I started cooking the rice without putting any water in first -_- Sunday was a bit more leisurely, and I got to thoroughly explore the local superstore (spent another ~$65 on more kitchen and bathroom stuff, like a new toilet seat and towel racks.) I muddled my way through my first load of laundry (which is still drying,) but I think they came out dirtier than they went in. One more thing to clean, I guess.

I was surprised to find out that we had a 4 pm meeting (at 4:30) that lasted a good four hours. I was apparently wrong about the age of my students: the grades are the equivalent US reading levels, while the students are grouped by level instead of age. My basics class has 1st and 2nd grade kids, while my 2nd grade class has students between 2nd and 7th grades. The biggest class is 12 students, and the smallest has 9. All the students have an English name they chose, so with the Basics kids we'll need to spend some time to get them a name to use. We went over every student in surprising detail (personality, how often they do their homework, whether they're audio or visual learners, and sometimes even their home life) to give us an idea of what to expect. The first week is just introductions and getting to know the kids, so I won't need books or materials for a little while yet.

My class schedule will be very busy, six 50-minute classes in a row from 3 pm - 9 pm every night with 10-minute bathroom and snack breaks in between (the school provides snacks for the students and teachers.) We were supposed to have a 30-minute dinner break, but a new law says that students have to leave hagwons (private schools) by 9 pm. Also, the school planned to expand into the space next door but the deal started to get fishy, so they had to walk away from it. This meant canceling three classes at the last minute, letting one teacher go and giving the rest of us full schedules, so no more dinner break. I'll manage, and everything else seems great, so things are starting to look up!