(no subject)
Okay so here is an update on my life...
I am WICKED TIRED.
Starting March 3, I have been teaching six classes of honor's club, and just two regular classes. This means I get to work with smaller classes, smarter and better-behaved students (although they also are capable of more complicated insults), and I get to teach science, writing, and literature, instead of just reading, writing, and speaking. Although we still have a set curriculum, I get to decide how to teach each lesson. We get to do science experiments!
However, it also means that I am doing a massively huge amount of prep work and staying an extra hour at work almost every day. It also means that I have to spend a lot of time negotiating with the pickiest parents in the country (Daechidong is already the richest, most intensely educated square kilometer of South Korea, and I am working with the parents of the HONOR'S CLUB kids. Yeesh.) They are the kind of parents who demand that teachers give more homework, and then pull their kids out of the program after a couple months because their children are too exhausted.
So, exciting, interesting, demanding, and exhausting. That's work. My cousin Mike will be joining my company at the end of May, if all goes well, so that will also be exciting. My next-door neighbor Jenny switched academies so I currently have no one to cook for. Alas.
Well, technically I can still cook for people but it requires much more planning. David and Ashley came over for dinner/movie on Saturday and I made my own pasta, which did NOT come out well but which they ate anyway. How sweet. I also made sweet mango rice for dessert, which I just realized I had more of and therefore am presently consuming. We watched Hamlet 2, which was bizarre and very entertaining.
Sundays I usually spend with David, and I did again this week. I went to Ansan, where he lives, and we walked for a long time and talked about my theory that no person can be all three: attractive, intelligent, and kind. If they could, it would be unfair. And everyone has to pick two. He said in Korea people want everything: to be beautiful, smart, good at music and sports, and have a lot of friends. I told him it was impossible. He said yeah, but that is what all Koreans want.
His mom fed me and sent me home with kimchi and spicy dried squid, which I happen to really like. David had planned to give me mint-flavored coffee for White Day but I was really tired so he gave it to me early. We also worked on my homework (don't worry, I help him with English a lot too!) and watched a show called Global Talk, wherein women from other countries, who can speak Korean well, discuss various topics of global interest (men, traditional songs, food, etc). I am SO JEALOUS of those women. There were three Americans. One of them was half-Korean so I am not jealous of her. But the other two...
Korean classes are very hard. I can only understand about 60% of what is going on any given day. My class doesn't have a lot of structure and the vocabulary is way over my head. And we are supposed to learn 4 new grammar points every day, which...I can't handle. Also I have not been able to do my homework on a regular basis. So, I am thinking about retaking level two.
Poll
Daylight savings time started last weekend, so now I am only 13 hours ahead of EST.
Additionally, I just joined a gym. Don't ask me when I am going to work out. I don't know.
ALSO! I still miss America and my family and friends.
Jason and Anthony will be here soon! Woohoo!
I am WICKED TIRED.
Starting March 3, I have been teaching six classes of honor's club, and just two regular classes. This means I get to work with smaller classes, smarter and better-behaved students (although they also are capable of more complicated insults), and I get to teach science, writing, and literature, instead of just reading, writing, and speaking. Although we still have a set curriculum, I get to decide how to teach each lesson. We get to do science experiments!
However, it also means that I am doing a massively huge amount of prep work and staying an extra hour at work almost every day. It also means that I have to spend a lot of time negotiating with the pickiest parents in the country (Daechidong is already the richest, most intensely educated square kilometer of South Korea, and I am working with the parents of the HONOR'S CLUB kids. Yeesh.) They are the kind of parents who demand that teachers give more homework, and then pull their kids out of the program after a couple months because their children are too exhausted.
So, exciting, interesting, demanding, and exhausting. That's work. My cousin Mike will be joining my company at the end of May, if all goes well, so that will also be exciting. My next-door neighbor Jenny switched academies so I currently have no one to cook for. Alas.
Well, technically I can still cook for people but it requires much more planning. David and Ashley came over for dinner/movie on Saturday and I made my own pasta, which did NOT come out well but which they ate anyway. How sweet. I also made sweet mango rice for dessert, which I just realized I had more of and therefore am presently consuming. We watched Hamlet 2, which was bizarre and very entertaining.
Sundays I usually spend with David, and I did again this week. I went to Ansan, where he lives, and we walked for a long time and talked about my theory that no person can be all three: attractive, intelligent, and kind. If they could, it would be unfair. And everyone has to pick two. He said in Korea people want everything: to be beautiful, smart, good at music and sports, and have a lot of friends. I told him it was impossible. He said yeah, but that is what all Koreans want.
His mom fed me and sent me home with kimchi and spicy dried squid, which I happen to really like. David had planned to give me mint-flavored coffee for White Day but I was really tired so he gave it to me early. We also worked on my homework (don't worry, I help him with English a lot too!) and watched a show called Global Talk, wherein women from other countries, who can speak Korean well, discuss various topics of global interest (men, traditional songs, food, etc). I am SO JEALOUS of those women. There were three Americans. One of them was half-Korean so I am not jealous of her. But the other two...
Korean classes are very hard. I can only understand about 60% of what is going on any given day. My class doesn't have a lot of structure and the vocabulary is way over my head. And we are supposed to learn 4 new grammar points every day, which...I can't handle. Also I have not been able to do my homework on a regular basis. So, I am thinking about retaking level two.
Poll
Daylight savings time started last weekend, so now I am only 13 hours ahead of EST.
Additionally, I just joined a gym. Don't ask me when I am going to work out. I don't know.
ALSO! I still miss America and my family and friends.
Jason and Anthony will be here soon! Woohoo!