Annyeonghasseo!

I'm showing off a bit by titling this blog in Korean as I don't actually speak Korean.  I can read it though.  Well, I say I can read it, but it is is more of a level lower than my youngest phonics students and I think that if I actually read something Korean to a Korean then they would probably just look at me as if I'm on something.  Like once I was trying to order cheese seasoning for my chips, I was really proud of myself for reading the word in Korean, but the lady on the other side of the counter taking my order was just looking at me blankly with an utter confused look on her face.  I kept repeating it, but after no luck (and her starting to laugh at me.  Yes, she laughed at me),  I just found the word on a menu somewhere and pointed it out to her.  She then laughed (again) and said 'oh cheese!!!' Apparently 'cheese' is the same in Korean as it is in English. Typical!

Anywayyyyyy, I digress.

~~~~ARRIVING~~~~

WHAT AN EXHAUSTING WEEK!!  I got up at 5am last Saturday and left for Heathrow (such a lovely and not dull at all airport).  We said our goodbyes (boooo ;(( ) and were on our way.  The first stop on our incredible journey was Istanbul where we had to wait for  6  l o n g   h o u r s  before getting our connecting flight.  We had a snack in a restaurant and had a beer.  I still had some Lira left over from our holiday in Turkey last year, so without thinking I put the money down and we made our way to the gate.  At least, that's where we thought we would be heading until the waiter caught up with us and insisted that the money I had used was 'charity' money and has not been valid for over TEN YEARS!  How embarrassing.  I must have gotten swizzed by a dodgy tour salesman in Turkey.  Luckily I had some 'real' money, so gave it to him, apologised greatly and made a swift getaway.   The next flight was ok, although I was sat there wondering if our pilot was a trainee as the seatbelt light was on for the whole journey (about 10 hours).  Like the first flight however, I was sat next to someone with incredibly bad b.o.  And they say Koreans don't get b.o like westerners - WRONG!  It got a bit better as the air-con came on, but still.  Ugh.  

When we finally arrived in Incheon at 5pm the next night, we were expecting to be picked up.  Our taxi driver had made an epic fail and got there too early, couldn't find us so went on a new call.  Grrreat!  So after a little panic, we got in touch with the teachers at the school who arranged that he come back.  After another hour or so he came to get us (phew!).  He did however come just as I was about to use the toilet.  He seemed to be rushing, so I decided to try and hold it in. Oh my god!  The journey was actually only just over an hour (but it felt like foreverrr).  We went straight through the center of Seoul so there were a lot of pretty lights to keep my mind off the toilet.  It was pretty late by the time we arrived at our apartment so we basically just went to bed.

17 hours later........we woke up!!  I have never in my life slept for such a long period of time!  We had a look around our new school which is just a 3 min walk from our apartment (ooh yeaaa).  That night and the next night and the next night and the next night I hardly slept.  Damn you jet-jag.  It's now Sunday and I am overrrr it, yippeeee.

~~~~TEACHING~~~~

So my basic schedule is to get in to school about 9ish to do prep then have the first lesson at 10.  The lessons are 30mins each, so lots of rushing around between classrooms.  We stop at 12 for lunch (help the Korean teachers serve up some food), then start again at 1.  We then have 3 more kindie lessons followed by about half an hour of craziness of giving the kids a snack and getting them ready for the bus.  The next hour is pretty good - some nice peace and quiet (apart from a handful or two of children who stay for afterschool lessons) to do more prep for the elementary classes.  We have 2 classes of elementary kids and then finish at 5.30.  Ahhh, home time. 

The Children:

Hmmmm, how to describe them!  They are all incredibly cute.  So cute I could eat them.  I jokingly told one class that in England, we eat 'children' ice-cream.  I had to take this back very quickly and let them know I was joking as a few actually looked quite scared!!  The first day, we had a 'bubble man' entertainer come in to the school.  The children were beyond excited, it was so adorable watching them go crazy over a few bubbles!  After just a few hours with these kids, they love you and want to hug you all the time.  It's so sweet.   Well, most of them are like that......

There are two classes of extremely young kids (like 3/4yrs old).  They  like  love to scream.  And I mean screaaaam.  In the mornings when they get dropped off there are usually a few crying at the same time.  My ears!  They (usually) quieten up apart from the odd moment.  They are so young though - one girl who we like to call 'the dribbler' for obvious reasons, sits in her seat creating a lovely pool of drool around her.  Another one, who does not like to sit in his seat now has the nickname 'the runner' also for obvious reasons.  He sees an opportunity to run and boy does he take it...all around the school....running around with a cheeky little grin on his face.  Cute, but impossible to teach. Also in that class is a crier.  One that doesn't stop unless she is being cuddled.  I can't imagine how I am going to teach these kids 'rhyming English words' in a couple of weeks when they hardly even know Korean!! 

The rest of the classes are a little bit older, so a lot easier to teach.  Their English is also so good for how young they are, for example, they will ask nicely 'Teacher, may I go to the bathroom please?'  I was really impressed, this is actually better than the much older students I was teaching last year.  I am teaching Creative Arts and Total Reading.  This weeks art project was 'popcorn trees.'  The first lesson was to cover popcorn pieces in glue and glitter.  My first mistake was to open a bag of popcorn and expect the kids to use it for 'art'.  The first bag in each class ended up being eaten :-)  My second mistake was to give a glue stick (you know the clear liquid glue sticks) to 'the dribbler' (who is about 3years old).  She squeezed the whole lot out on to the sheet of paper (which ironically I had put out to protect the desks) and then proceeded to glue to paper to the desk.  Then, when I took it off her she started to cry.  I managed to make her stop by supplying her with popcorn to snack on.. phew.   But what a mess!  

I could write for longer, but I'm tired and I have just spilled tea all over the bed and my left foot so I am going to say goodbye for now.

Annyeonghi gyeseyo  (goodbye!!)