First Week of Classes

It's quite daunting to realize it's been a mere week since the last post. To call it a whirlwind doesn't do the days justice. Actually, this initial week was quite light, with only 22 classes as my after-school classes won't start until next week AND Thursday was a holiday for my school. So, I only had 17 classes when my normal load will be 26.

The Teachers
I was walked to my first class on Monday by that hour's co-teacher. I was assured many times that the first week would just be observing and settling into my environment. However, upon reaching the classroom, that co-teacher just introduced me to the students and then said 'Bye!' This is technically illegal and all of the teachers know they are supposed to stay with me and c o - t e a c h. Of my five co-teachers, only two have stayed with me in classes. My main co-teacher Lee and Ms. Park, whose English is near perfect and I have the most classes with (7).
Lee is now my hyung nim (big brother) and Mr. Gyeong is my hyung (brother). The discrepancy is because of age and closeness, since Lee is older and my main co-teacher. Mr. Gyeong isn't one of my co-teachers, but a friend and drinking buddy of Lee who shares the upstairs teaching lounge with us.
On Wednesday, feeling comfortable and complacent in the teacher's lounge between classes, I was reminded that I was in a foreign country. The teachers were all rapidly talking to one another and in unision, their heads swiveled to me. "Fuck You, Fuck You," they said. "What does it mean?"
In the instant between sentences, I was afraid I had done something wrong. It turns out they thought it meant roughly, 'you're crazy' and were using it in response to students incorrect answers. I hadn't laughed that hard since being here and it was an awkward couple of minutes as I sat here tearing up with laughter as they waited for me to regain composure. The dawning realization on their faces as I described it as the highest insult and sexual in nature, was priceless.
As I finish writing this, yet another anecdote evolves... Apparently Friday is Ask-Out-The-Foreign-Teacher Day. First the math teacher, then the social studies teacher, then the science teacher. I have three lunches booked next week now. Are they all aware of each others' invitations? Or did I just committ a social no-no? They all came in such rapid succession, I feel like the staff was given a memo on Monday on when they could approach me about these things and have been waiting since.

The Apartment
My landlady has scolded me twice now for using my air conditioner, which I pay for, too much. So I went and bought an electric fan yesterday in the hopes of keeping her satisfied. I'm in a small apartment building unlike the popular high-rise block apartments that define the skyline here. I've explored my immediate area and have the essentials down now. The supermarket, the internet cafe, a couple restaurants where I know the menu, etc.

The Students
My fellow teachers have been sharing horror stories on Facebook this week of their student encounters. So far I have nothing but positive experiences to share. I'm teaching all three grade levels here and the students are grouped by boys/girls and low/high language levels. This week was the same lesson plan for every single class, designed to introduce me using content that allowed me to gague their ability.
Each class has been impressive in their willingness to talk and try. We were all warned repeatedly of how shy Korean students can be with uncertain material. The educational atmosphere here rewards perfection and regurgitation, not retention and creativity. If students can't be totally correct here, they know not to speak in front of the class -- that's a difficult environment to reshape.
As a native speaker I'm here specifically to strengthen their speaking and listenting skills while Korean teachers work on reading and writing. I don't plan on letting this week's momentum dissipate though, and will expect the same level of participation from here on out.
The boys classes are all great and their enthusiam is obvious. Sharing my small repetoire of Korean with them gained me instant credibility and attention. The girls classes however, are a little more awkward. For the time being, I've resorted to just ignoring the 'handsome teachere' comments and giggling. I've never been asked so many times if I'm married or have a girlfriend in one week. It's a little depressing to be reminded I'm single 87 times in 5 days :). Today, Friday, has been the first day where students aren't gathered at the window into the teacher's lounge, all clammering for a peek inside. It's a very welcome respite.

On a final note, I was asked today to be a judge in the semi-finals of the National English Competition held later this month. I of course agreed and will be conducting interviews with students and helping to decide the outcome. It's supposed to be hush-hush, so as to avoid favortism. This is exactly the kind of extracurricular I'm dying to get involved in and gain some TEFL experience outside of the classroom and on a grander scale.

Arrival in Cheongju

We left Jeonju University early Friday morning with the rest of the EPIK teachers headed to Chungbuk province. The bus had a movie screen like an airplane and soon we were watching X-Men: First Class, which was in theaters in May. Two hours later we arrived at a cultural center in Cheongju, the main city in our province. All of the supervisors in the Office of Education and our co-teachers were there awaiting us in the auditorium.
After unloading the luggage truck for all the women, we were placed in single file and paraded onto a stage to be introduced to everyone in a role call. Our co-teachers raised their hands as our names were called, signalling us to find them afterwards.
My co-teacher Lee Kyu-sup and I went to lunch near his apartment. Floor seating in a walled area is used in place of tables or booths. Next we visited our school, which was in session and quite the unexpected surprise. I was under the impression I'd be meeting everyone the following Monday, but there we were, during lunch so all of the students were out and staring. That only lasted a few seconds though and their inhibitions quickly faded. They all rushed in with giggling and a few English phrases. I was like a deer in headlights as my co-teacher watched from afar and probably enjoyed himself immensely.
None of the other staff speak any English, so when meeting them and the principal and vice-principal, I just stuck with my memorized Korean greetings and smiled through 10-minute conversations. I have my own desk in an upstairs teacher's room, which is very preferable to the downstairs one where the vice-principal's desk watches over every teacher's open cubicle there.
I have an even mix of grade 7, 8, & 9 classes, which are referred to as Middle School G1, 2 & 3 here. Twenty-two teaching hours interspersed from 8:40am - 4:40pm, M-F is my weekly schedule, however I also have four after-school classes. These are made up of volunteer students who are much more motivated from G1 & G2 students. I have complete control over what to teach in these and receive about 30,000won/hour for them, which adds up to a nice overtime bonus each month.
The school is about 1.5km from my apartment and will be a 20-minute walk in the mornings. On arriving, my apartment was just four walls and appliances. A couple hours later though, the mattress, frame, wardrobe, table & chairs were all delivered and assembled by a team from the furniture store. I was supposed to receive cooking items, silver and plateware but it looks like I'll have to find a store for those. I explored my neighborhood and found a market close by for some essentials.
Lee picked me up for dinner and I met his wife, also a Middle School teacher. We were in the busy, popular area of town that looks like a miniature Las Vegas with karaoke (noraebang, singing bar) everywhere. The dinner table had a coal pit in the middle and we grilled our own beef to the accompaniment of a dozen side dishes and sauces spread across the table for common use. It was incredibly delicious.
It's amazing the level of conversation you can create with very limited vocabulary and gestures. I was starting to feel like a caveman with so many hand movements and grunts when shopping at the supermarket, so dinner conversation was a welcome change. Dinner was followed by another bar for a drink afterwards. The table next to us had about a half dozen Korean men in their fifties and a fight broke out with one getting hit upside the head with a shattered beer mug. The staff and other patrons quickly diffused the situation though and everyone looked very ashamed that I had to witness such an out-of-character scene. To lose control of ones emotions is considered extremely uncultured here and rarely seen, even with drunk people.
Saturday I got to explore my area a bit more and was picked up in the afternoon to join Lee and his 20-year-old son in their team's weekly soccer match. They were all kind enough to humor me with a starting position as left defender. Luckily I didn't cost our team any points and actually helped a few times to their excited reactions by heading the ball out of danger.
They played four 30-minute periods though, which seemed like forever to this newbie. We won handily and Lee's son scored 3 of our 5 goals and one assist. Soccer is huge in Korea but with the pressure on students, they stop playing sports around 6th grade (end of elementary) and don't pick them up again until after the first year of college.
Dinner after the match was a bubbling, hot soup of boiled beef, onions, peppers, sesame powder, noodles and rice. There was another spicy soup with bean sprouts, radishes(that felt and tasted like potatoes in the soup) and cow organs (intestine, stomach, etc).
Sunday has been laundry and another trip to the market for some basic food items. I eventually won my battle with the washer but I'm afraid my winning series of button pushes was random and I won't be able to easily repeat it.
I'm putting together a short introduction powerpoint of myself for this week's classes and going to bed early. Tomorrow is going to be a trip.

Closing Ceremony

Field Trip videos

Field Trip

Instead of doing the laundry I desperately needed to do, I edited photos last night of our field trip. It was meant to be a day of rejuvenation and respite from our lecture days here on campus. We began at a local market, ripe with smells of strange spice and fish. Next we toured the Gyeonggijeon Shrine followed by a music and dance performance that quickly dissolved into an interactive celebration, drawing us all into the act. We then had some time to explore a plateaued park overlooking the entire area before descending for a crafts session making our own traditional fans.
A short bus ride later we arrived at the Moak Mountains to have 'fun stream time.' Above the steam and picnic area was the Keumsan Temple, which would have been more impressive if not for the few hundred EPIK teachers infesting the grounds at once.

Sunrise

Tae Kwon Do

Our group got to have a Tae Kwon Do session led by a member of the Korean national TKD team as well as members of Jeonju University's competitive team. Ninety minutes of very politely phrased, but strictly-paced cardio gave us all a great work out.