(no subject)
Wow, I guess I have not posted for a while.
I've moved into my new place, which is...bearable. It is very small and I have to commute on a packed train every day. And when I say packed, I mean I have to turn my head sideways so I don't get stabbed by the shoulderblades of the 6'4" guy in front of me, and I can feel the heartbeat of the person standing behind me.
I can walk it, it's just over three miles, and it takes an hour and two minutes. But it's still cold and windy and there's yellow dust blowing down from China these days. Of course, the main reason I have not been walking is because I can't seem to wake up the extra thirty minutes early that would be required.
Also, I have been planning to try the bus. No idea if it will be better or worse.
Good things about my apartment: it is easy to clean, it is cheap, it's two minutes flat to the subway station, and I have an American neighbor downstairs, who is a sweetie pie.
My job has way more pros than cons (great principal who really cares about education, small classes, two preps, decent American textbooks, magnetic walls, good organization, smart and well-prepared teachers, better salary and benefits, good cheap lunch every day, better equipment and facilities...it goes on and on. The only difficulties are: we have to share classrooms and schedules with the homeroom teachers (who change things without notice and are often unwilling to accommodate us when we come in to teach in their classrooms), and the students I have are extremely energetic and have a fairly low level of English skills, so they don't listen well, and cannot sit still for more than ten minutes in a row. We're playing a lot of Simon Says in the middle of the class, just so they can move in an organized way. I also have to prepare a LOT of them. They have short attention spans, so I have to make up about four or five different things for them to do in each class, so they don't get distracted. And I have been spending a massive amount of time telling the students to stay in their chairs, not write on the board, not poke each other, not speak in Korean, stop chopping up erasers with rulers, not eat paper...you get the picture. It's wearing me out.
Also! I am planning my wedding! (Ahem. OUR wedding...) We are going to meet our wedding planner on Saturday. I have a feeling I am going to be a bit of a bridezilla, mainly because Korean-style weddings are not my style. There is a lot of pink involved, and there tends to be a lot of stuff just for show, but which has no real purpose (like you order an eight-tier cake, but only the top tier is edible, the rest of it is frosted styrofoam. Why, people? Why?). So, I don't really want to waste my money on that.
My Korean is getting better in baby steps. I had the guts to call the gas company when I couldn't understand the sticky note on my door. So the gas company lady came over and showed me how to check the meter myself every month, so they didn't have to keep bugging me. Awesome! It was the first time I've fixed a problem over the phone, totally in Korean, without asking for help. Of course right after that I went to dinner with David and three of his friends and only understood about 20% of the conversation. Oh well. Baby steps.
I just bought the Korea University Level 3 textbook, so I can study with my new coworker Nancy, who also has a Korean boyfriend. And I bought a TOPIK (Korean version of the TOEIC) book, so I can finally start studying for that (you need to attain a certain level of Korean in order to get permanent residency).
And...I've been watching a lot of "Secret Garden," which was a very popular drama for the past year, but the main actor has to go do his army service for two years, so it's not being filmed for a while. And army service changes people, so it might never start again. Who knows? But anyway, I'm watching the old episodes with subtitles. I still can't do it subtitle-free. There's too much slang. (Yesterday I learned the word you use for "guy" when you are about to insult him.)
And I've been reading on the train a lot. I finished "Middlesex," and "The Happiness Project" which got much better about halfway through. Now I'm reading "The Magician's Assistant," bu Ann Patchett, who is one of my absolute favorite writers.
Question: do you reread books frequently? I don't. I'm not sure why. Maybe I think I am missing out on time that could be used reading a new book?
Ooh ooh! We won an Arbor Day trip! Apparently Arbor Day is a much bigger deal in other countries. It is a trip for couples just before or just after their wedding day. We get to go on a trip to the middle of Korea, plant some trees, have free lunch, and come back home feeling accomplished. I am so happy about this. Also there is going to be a lot of publicity, so I might be on TV. Actually, that is part of why we probably got picked, because I am non-Korean, so it'll look good in the ads. Good times.
I've moved into my new place, which is...bearable. It is very small and I have to commute on a packed train every day. And when I say packed, I mean I have to turn my head sideways so I don't get stabbed by the shoulderblades of the 6'4" guy in front of me, and I can feel the heartbeat of the person standing behind me.
I can walk it, it's just over three miles, and it takes an hour and two minutes. But it's still cold and windy and there's yellow dust blowing down from China these days. Of course, the main reason I have not been walking is because I can't seem to wake up the extra thirty minutes early that would be required.
Also, I have been planning to try the bus. No idea if it will be better or worse.
Good things about my apartment: it is easy to clean, it is cheap, it's two minutes flat to the subway station, and I have an American neighbor downstairs, who is a sweetie pie.
My job has way more pros than cons (great principal who really cares about education, small classes, two preps, decent American textbooks, magnetic walls, good organization, smart and well-prepared teachers, better salary and benefits, good cheap lunch every day, better equipment and facilities...it goes on and on. The only difficulties are: we have to share classrooms and schedules with the homeroom teachers (who change things without notice and are often unwilling to accommodate us when we come in to teach in their classrooms), and the students I have are extremely energetic and have a fairly low level of English skills, so they don't listen well, and cannot sit still for more than ten minutes in a row. We're playing a lot of Simon Says in the middle of the class, just so they can move in an organized way. I also have to prepare a LOT of them. They have short attention spans, so I have to make up about four or five different things for them to do in each class, so they don't get distracted. And I have been spending a massive amount of time telling the students to stay in their chairs, not write on the board, not poke each other, not speak in Korean, stop chopping up erasers with rulers, not eat paper...you get the picture. It's wearing me out.
Also! I am planning my wedding! (Ahem. OUR wedding...) We are going to meet our wedding planner on Saturday. I have a feeling I am going to be a bit of a bridezilla, mainly because Korean-style weddings are not my style. There is a lot of pink involved, and there tends to be a lot of stuff just for show, but which has no real purpose (like you order an eight-tier cake, but only the top tier is edible, the rest of it is frosted styrofoam. Why, people? Why?). So, I don't really want to waste my money on that.
My Korean is getting better in baby steps. I had the guts to call the gas company when I couldn't understand the sticky note on my door. So the gas company lady came over and showed me how to check the meter myself every month, so they didn't have to keep bugging me. Awesome! It was the first time I've fixed a problem over the phone, totally in Korean, without asking for help. Of course right after that I went to dinner with David and three of his friends and only understood about 20% of the conversation. Oh well. Baby steps.
I just bought the Korea University Level 3 textbook, so I can study with my new coworker Nancy, who also has a Korean boyfriend. And I bought a TOPIK (Korean version of the TOEIC) book, so I can finally start studying for that (you need to attain a certain level of Korean in order to get permanent residency).
And...I've been watching a lot of "Secret Garden," which was a very popular drama for the past year, but the main actor has to go do his army service for two years, so it's not being filmed for a while. And army service changes people, so it might never start again. Who knows? But anyway, I'm watching the old episodes with subtitles. I still can't do it subtitle-free. There's too much slang. (Yesterday I learned the word you use for "guy" when you are about to insult him.)
And I've been reading on the train a lot. I finished "Middlesex," and "The Happiness Project" which got much better about halfway through. Now I'm reading "The Magician's Assistant," bu Ann Patchett, who is one of my absolute favorite writers.
Question: do you reread books frequently? I don't. I'm not sure why. Maybe I think I am missing out on time that could be used reading a new book?
Ooh ooh! We won an Arbor Day trip! Apparently Arbor Day is a much bigger deal in other countries. It is a trip for couples just before or just after their wedding day. We get to go on a trip to the middle of Korea, plant some trees, have free lunch, and come back home feeling accomplished. I am so happy about this. Also there is going to be a lot of publicity, so I might be on TV. Actually, that is part of why we probably got picked, because I am non-Korean, so it'll look good in the ads. Good times.