Blogs from Suwon, South Korea, Asia - page 2

* Said TWO students to me this week, each in a different class. Can I help it if the easiest way to explain some Vocab words is to draw them? Can I help it if I don't have enough time to make perfect likenesses? I cannot. Classes are getting better. I'm starting to feel out that balance between fun and work where you can joke around with your students without them demolishing the building. It's nice. The great thing about teaching English as a foreign language is that any conversation, no matter how off-topic, helps students practice their speaking skills. So what if we were talking about human/dolphin reincarnation rather than the chapter of the book we were reading? So what if they were explaining some of the quirks of Korean Middle Schools? I was speaking, ... read more

Wow, what a day. What a week! Between trying to make up study guides and trying to evaluate students after only two weeks of teaching, this week has been very busy. I usually get off at 9, but today it was 10:45. I was doing student evaluations. I feel guilty because my plan was to go into work early in order to work on them before school, but when I woke up this morning I decided I really didn't want to. I was actually ten minutes late to work. When I finished my student evaluations, which were mostly, let's face it, generic and contrived, I realized that Rina (my boss' wife) and her son Paul, and her niece were all waiting for me so that they could leave. I still feel awful about that. It rained ... read more

I know it's silly, but I feel as though today was my actual first day in South Korea. I say this because it was the first full day that I had internet at my apartment. It was the first day I went to Seoul. It was the first day that I realized I could get comfortable in my classes and be a good teacher. It was my first solo walk home, and I didn't get lost. I would rather claim today as my first day than the others. I'm not saying that the four other days I have been here were bad. they've been really good. Everyone here has been so nice. I just have had the feeling of being in Korea much longer than I actually have been. Because of that, I have been hard ... read more

Spring is generally my favorite season and it is in full force here in Seoul. We are finally coming out of the cold days of grey skies and uncomfortable wind. We haven't gotten to the rainy, sultry days of summer. The sun is shinning and last week the whole city was white with cherry blossoms. At times, it looked like it was snowing cherry blossom petals. Absolutely lovely! I took a hike in Suwon (a town just south of Seoul). There is an old fortress there built in the 1700’s that has a lovely walking course on the walls. There is beautiful scenery and the cherry blossoms abound. What a nice time to be in Korea! This week all the cherry blossoms have already fallen and the trees are finally showing their greenery. Soon the skies ... read more

Not too much new to report, I mainly just wanted to post a whole bunch of pictures that I've taken with my new camera (which I love!!) There are loads of settings on it but all the directions are in Korean so I've been fooling around with it trying to figure things out. Sure I could look up everything I need to know on the internet, but thats just not as fun. Two weekends ago a few of us went hiking with a Korean hiking group. It was really great. Talk about hardcore hikers though. No such thing as stopping to enjoy the scenery, lets just race up the mountain. Needless to say we were one of the last few people to finish the hike. I 'm going to say its because we stopped to look ... read more