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Published: September 12th 2010
Orientation
Our EPIK Orientation group! Class 4 were the best!Dear Blog Readers,
Apologies for the lack of an update for a while. We have been unable to get the internet installed in our apartment until we obtained our Alien Registration Card. I guess that means we’re now officially aliens in South Korea?! We have plenty to talk about!
Orientation has finished! The last week was really long and packed full of information. We had lectures from 9am until 5:30pm and then we had Korean lessons in the evening. It’s unfortunate because we’re really wanting to learn Korean but after having lectures all day, we are so tired that nothing really goes in so we’ll have to start from scratch once we get settled in.
We’ve covered all aspects of teaching, from project based learning to adapting to multiple intelligences. We’ve also had interesting lectures on co-teaching and how to adapt to the new culture which have been great. We were also given the opportunity to do a practice lesson in front of our class which was good practice and we performed really well and got great feedback which is encouraging for when we start.
On Thursday, we finally found out where we will be teaching for
Chillaxing
Chilling out on our last night in Seoul at a bar with Jeremy and Daniel. the next year and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the results! We’ve been placed in a region called Boeun in the Chungbuk province. Laura is going to be teaching at three elementary schools and I’ll be teaching at 3 middle schools. One of these schools is our main school and the other two are secondary. The bouen region only has a population of 34000 so I think it is about the most rural areas in South Korea! In the evening, we were treated to a closing ceremony which had traditional Korean fan dancing, a talent show and an amazing a capella group who were superb.
On Friday, we loaded up our things onto the buses and had a final assembly where I was given an award for being a class representative which was great. We were then taken to a place near the largest city in Chungbuk called Cheongju where we were finally introduced to our main co-teachers. My co-teacher is called Pak Eun Bee but her English name is Carrie. She’s great and was very nervous about meeting me but as we chatted on the way to the school, we both relaxed and we now get
First meal
First meal in Boeun from left to right - Lennord, Laura, Me, Eun-bi (my co-teacher), Sunni (English teacher at Boeun Middle School) and Angela on really well.
I was then taken to my main school - Bouen Middle School - which is an all boys school with about 1000 students in total. I talked to the Principal and was introduced to the Vice Principal and everybody else in the staff room. Everybody was really kind and pleased to meet me. I was then taken to my apartment and found out that Laura and I are sharing a really nice apartment in the middle of Bouen on the 6th floor which overlooks the town and surrounding area. Our co-teachers and the landlord were busy going around the apartment and making sure it was OK for us. They even made our beds for us! The kindness that has been shown here is unbelievable!
Our flat is pretty small. We have a small room which we can put a computer in and some storage space for clothes. Our kitchen is a small corridor and our cooker is just two hobs. We then have a bathroom and our main room which has our bed, TV and wardrobe which we’ve decorated to look more homely. We then have a little balcony area which has our robot-like washing
Boeun
The view from our balcony of our apartment overlooking Boeun. machine and drying area.
We then got a knock at the door and met our neighbours who are Lennord and Michelle. They are from South Africa and have lived in Bouen for 3 years. They have been great in giving us a heads up and telling us about life in Bouen, and most importantly, what the previous Guest English Teachers have done.
Unfortunately, in my case, the previous GET was absolutely horrific. He has completely destroyed all of the relationships between the foreign teachers and the Korean teachers and there has been considerable unrest in the schools against having foreign teachers because of the damage that he has caused. This means that I’m already starting work on the back foot; however, the kindness that has been shown so far has been amazing, especially considering what has happened previously, so I hope I can go some way in rectifying the situation over the next year.
Lennord and Michelle took Laura, Angela (the other EPIK teacher in Bouen) and I to a restaurant for our first traditional Korean meal. Two of the teachers at my school, Carrie and Sunni, also came with us which was great. The food was
Fountains
Laura playing in the fountains.. good but very very different from home and not very similar to the food we were given at Orientation. They then drove us to a local supermarket to stock up on some food.
On Saturday, we had our first lie in for a while and had a wander around Bouen. We had lunch in a small restaurant and scouted out all the best markets. Lennord and Michelle then took us for a drive around the surrounding area and we visited a sacred tree (it was part of the Korean royal family for the region). We then went up some hills and got some great views. They said that the local buses don’t go up these roads and suggested getting a scooter to explore some of the roads off the beaten path so we’re going to do some research and see if it is possible to get one so we don’t miss out on the beautiful scenery.
On Sunday, we decided to take the bus to Cheongju because we were told that there was a HomePlus who are owned by Tesco so that we could get things for our flat. We had lunch at Mr Pizza which was really
Toaster
Me holding the toaster outside Homeplus in Cheongju. good and then spent a couple of hours getting cool things to make our flat more homely. In the evening, we cooked our first proper Korean meal and watched TV - we have about 3 English channels - Discovery (with Bear Grylls!!!), CNN and National Geographic.
My first day on Monday was not as intense as I first thought thanks to the short introduction that I had on Friday. The principal introduced me to the staff and then to the entire school and I showed off my best Korean which went down brilliantly. I had the rest of the day to sort myself out, have a look around the school, eat lunch with the other English teacher (Mr Oh) and do a lesson plan for my introduction lessons later on in the week. I also found out how much of a pain in the arse it is going to be travelling to and from my other two schools. I teach at one which is 30mins bus ride away on Monday and in the afternoon of another on Thursday which is about the same length of time in the other direction. The other schools are much smaller and I could
Sangnisam National Park
En route to the top of a mountain in Sangnisam National Park. be teaching to classes of only about 10-15 students but I hope that they will go well.
Three teachers were leaving the school on Monday so we went out for a farewell dinner in the evening which was brilliant. I had a really good time with all my co-teachers and tried not to do anything that would offend the culture or custom. The food was great, we had to BBQ our own pork at the table! We then went out to a norrebang which is karaoke in Korea and it is huge! So having a great meal and singing and dancing with your principal isn’t that bad a first day on the job!
It was my school’s birthday on Tuesday so I had the day off! One of the English teachers came round to our flat with a document and she even brought us a cake to welcome us! I then went to Laura’s school as we, and three of her co-teachers, drove to Cheongju to the immigration office to get our Alien Registration Cards which went smoothly thanks to their help. We should get them by the end of next week which will mean that we can
Communist Pose
Overlooking the fields. get our own internet and mobile phones. We then went to an awesome place which did really good cakes and hot chocolate so we will definitely be going back there soon! Downtown Cheongju is great! Our co-teachers then took us to Homeplus again to make sure we had everything that we needed before driving us to the bus station (Laura’s even made sure we got our tickets correctly!).
Wednesday was my first day of lessons and the first time I met my co-teacher Mr Shin who I co-teach with for 8 classes. He is great and really kind and our lessons went really well. The students loved seei ng videos of York City FC playing and we told them that the people of York went on a pilgrimage to America and created New York. One student asked me if I knew David Beckham. Obviously, I told him that I did…and that he was my older brother…and they believed me. Haha. I’ve also been given a couple of extra classes where I’m teaching some advanced students which are really good. The flexibility and freedom that I’ve been given has been amazing.
The typhoon that is hitting South Korea at
At The Top
After 3 hours of trekking in the humidity! the moment has brought with it torrential downpours and window rattling winds which makes getting a good nights sleep pretty tough. The weather is also ridiculous as the temperature pretty much stays constant in the high 20’s and with humidity well over 80%!
On Thursday I had my first classes with Carrie which were really good because she’s given me a lot more responsibility and I take the lead in the classroom rather than the partnership-like role that I assume with Mr Shin. My initial lesson has been the same with all the classes and grades which is basically an introduction lesson and getting the students to ask questions, etc. I’ve also shown them videos of Dom playing the drums which they absolutely love (do some more!!) and can’t believe that the drum kit is in my house. One of the questions in my worksheet was, “What is my little brother called?” and my favourite answer so far, with no hint of irony, is, “His younger brother is called Bum.”
On Friday I had my classes with Mr Shin before he took me out for lunch which was really good and I now know the name of my
View
View from the top of the mountain. favourite pork dish so far in Korea - it’s called Dongas and it’s a breaded pork cutlet with sauce and rice. In the evening, we met up with some other foreign teachers for drinks and some fried chicken which was great and definitely a useful source of information from some ‘veterans’. Basically there are about 12 foreign teachers in Bouen (quite a high number considering the size of the town - a testament to how seriously the government are promoting English teaching in the country!). Laura, Angela and I are the newest and the others have been here for 5 months or more.
The food here has been pretty good which has been a surprise considering the bad things we had read and heard before coming here. Kimchi is the national dish and it is basically a fermented cabbage which is covered in a spicy red pepper paste. Laura hates it, I don’t particularly like it but I’m trying to eat it at every meal so my body gets used to it! Some of the dishes are very odd and not particularly good but the sociable aspect of eating here makes even the most horrific dish palatable. Everybody shares
Foreign Teachers Meal
Gathering all the foreign English teachers in Boeun together for the first time since we arrived! the meals and everybody pours each other drinks out of a sign of respect. The atmosphere is always great and everybody has an awesome time regardless of age or position in society.
We’ve plenty more to talk about but I’m sure that’s enough for one blog! Please send comments and ask any questions you want so we can answer them in the next blog!
Tink and Laura
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Lauren
non-member comment
lol wow you look like superstars in them photos! What kind of things did you take ot show the kids? i dont want to tell them about the history of scunthorpe!!!