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Published: March 10th 2011
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English Zone
My classroom I know I'm overdue to tell you all about my “Korean life”. I bet you want to know about my apartment, the area where I'm living, my school and school life, food, The Korean Person, and everything else new that's going on. If you don't, then just stop reading now. Stop.
Okay you kept reading, so let me get started. Don't expect to find out about everything in this one post. I will write it and then probably think of 100 more things I could tell you. One of the biggest problems already is how familiar things are that were strange at first. I think this post will just be about school, city, and apartment, and the rest will have to wait.
It all begins with my school. I wrote before that I was placed at a private all-girls middle school in Daegu. (It is strange that I got placed at a private school, but apparently the Korean govt places us at all schools, not just public ones.) Daegu is one of the few places in Korea which sometimes have more than one foreign English teacher at each school, so I was conveniently placed with another foreigner. He is
an Australian named Brenton. I feel we get along pretty well, which is good, because we share an awesome office/lounge and the English Zone, our classroom. Another plus is that he was an IT major, so he is technically savvy with our Korean-language computers. Our classroom and office are easily the nicest in the whole school, even though we're in The Dungeon (basement). We even have control over our own thermostat, which is rare in Korea! The thing is, I came in with really low expectations about my school and apartment from some horror stories I'd heard. So far, I have lucked out on each level.
My first day of school was March 2, but I started teaching classes the next day. Korean middle school students have English class about 3-4 times a week with their Korean teachers. Then one day a week they have class with us, the Native English Teacher. In our contract, we are supposed to teach up to 22 classes/week. Brenton and I have 12 classes each, plus we each teach the Korean teachers twice weekly, for a total of 14 classes. This is really rare and lucky, because some of my friends are even
working over the 22 classes per week and get overtime pay. I teach 1st grade of middle school (7th grade) and half of the 2nd grade (8th grade classes), and then Brenton teaches the other half of the 2nd grade and all of 3rd grade. So I only have to make 2 lesson plans a week, one for each grade I teach. However, I have 5 different coteachers. The coteacher is a Korean teacher whose subject is English. We are meant to assist them, but in middle schools, generally native teachers (me) are given pretty free reign to teach the class. The Korean coteachers may be completely on board and stand in the front, help translate, and encourage the students, or they may sit in the back and fall asleep (yes both of these have happened already).
Daegu is the 4th biggest city in Korea, with about 2.5 million people. That means it is about 10 times as populous as the city of Pittsburgh. And I always thought of Pittsburgh as a decent-sized city . . . My apartment is 7 subway stops away from the downtown, so it generally takes me about 30-40 minutes to get there (including
walking to the station). My actual apartment is in a residential area. It takes me about 5 minutes to get to the main road, where there are pharmacies, buses, bakeries, banks, and the subway stations close to me. But even in my backwater area, there are little shops all around. My school is about 5 minutes' walk the opposite direction from the main road.
The first evening I got to my apartment, I had to go out and get toilet paper and other essentials. I had my address and a map and a picture of the address sign on a neighboring building. So I went to find a mart (corner store-ish place), which I did eventually. Of course after turning right, left, left, right to find the mart, I didn't know how to get back. I asked a lady in a stand and she motioned in the general direction. So I found my way back (it was dark at this point). I got back in the building (using a code). I hauled all my new goods (including about 36 rolls of tp) up the 2 sets of steps, and typed in my code for my apartment door. Nope. Wouldn't
work. I had tested it before I left to make sure I would be able to get back in. I tried the numbers again. No. At the same time my neighbors were carrying in groceries and passing my door. I had said hi and bowed to them when I came in. After watching me struggle for probably 5 minutes while passing by, the wife motioned for me to show her the paper. She plugged in the numbers *plus* the asterisk and there it was. I had forgotten the darn asterisk. I was very grateful that she just came over and helped me, out of the goodness of her heart. Although I was upset that I had forgotten that small step, I was proud of myself that I had made my way around the neighborhood, used a bit of Korean, met some neighbors, and made it back in one piece.
My apartment is another knock-on-wood situation. The apartment building is brand-new. All the appliances are new. It is a decent size as well. The only downside of getting a new apartment is that I didn't inherit it from the last native teacher. Generally they leave a lot for the next
My Office
My desk. You can see one of the two black leather couches. teachers. So unfortunately, I don't have many dishes, cleaning products, microwave etc. My first paycheck is my ticket to the second-class essentials like a toaster oven and possibly a dish rack.
I have had many successes in the less than 2 weeks that I have been here. I can work my hot water and my heat. I have found out how to switch keyboards from Korean to English. I learned how to use my washing machine. I have now set up 2 bank accounts and one online checking account. I have my residency card, I got internet in my place, and a cell phone. I can semi-work Powerpoint and Word in Korean. I can get to 2 subway stations and barely get lost. I know the best local mart. I almost-automatically bow at people I know. I can take subways easily and have a transport card. I'm making improvements daily with chopsticks.
There are things I need to work on. I'd really like to meet some Koreans in my neighborhood and be much better at the Korean language. I'd like to get along better with my coteachers (more than saying hello every day). I need to figure out
the bus system to get to the nearest Tesco/Walmart-like place. I need to set up a game plan for travels around Korea. But for being in this country less than a month, I've learned an incredible amount. More later : ).
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Stephanie
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Questions
Really great blogs! Thank you for all of the information. I was thinking about teaching in S.Korea and had a couple of questions that I had about the EPIK program that you used. Was there a program or fee associated with it? Also how happy are you with the process and where you ended up? Everything looks great!