Today was my first day of walking to school alone and I made it just fine :) I actually was quite a bit early so I found the Starbucks that's nearby and bought a tumbler so I can enjoy tea whenever I want it. They gave me a free drink coupon with it too!
Today was kind of a sad day because they school went on a field trip to a car museum in the morning but I had to stay behind for orientation. I sat with Lucy who is a Korean staff member who will be my supervisor for most of the classes I teach. We went over policies and textbooks etc. Then I had 'prep' time which was a little odd considering I haven't started to teach yet, so I read through papers she gave me and looked through the textbooks. She was very surprised how calm I was about everything and said because of that she is not worried. According to her, whenever a new teacher comes, they are freaking out. Another teacher commented on how calm I seemed to be the other day as well. Everything at the school is as I expected it to be though, it will be mostly just getting in the swing of the routine of the class.
I expected to join the teachers who eat out for lunch today but they were going for Korean food, and surprise surprise, it's my second day and I'm not in the mood for Korean food! Everyone keeps commenting on how tough I'm going to find eating here, but I knew that and am fully aware and prepared for that. I just can't wait to cook for myself! I'm also tired of eating out already. Jess was going to Subway for lunch though so I joined her. After Tomas and I had a terrible experience at the Subway in Miami, I never thought I'd try another Subway outside of Canada but figured I'd give it a shot for a taste of something familiar. I had a chicken teriyaki sandwich which was alright. The chicken wasn't as bad as in Miami, but I probably would only order veggie sandwiches in the future. Their white macadamia nut cookies tasted the same as ever - delish! I thought it was funny that Jess called a combo/meal a "set".
After lunch was more of yesterday, watching how the different classes are run. Nothing much to say about it, the kids seem to be taking a liking me to and I was given more stickers. Some of them are absolutely adorable and the oldest kid in the school is 15 (remember we do elementary in the afternoon, kindergarten in the morning), but what I don't understand is that the oldest kids 13-15 are in what LCI (my school) calls grade 6 ... ?
I was done by 7pm again today and wasn't sure what I was going to do. I wanted to check out Lotte Mart and that was the entirety of my plan. As I headed out, Elliot was just finishing and I asked him where I can use my Canadian debit card (as he is a Vancouverite as well), so he said he'd show me. Jess left at the same time with us so followed along. The bank that my card should work at is right by the school, so that's nice. I probably should have tried actually using it there, but I didn't. From there Elliot was heading into Seoul to see a friend, so Jess joined me at Lotte Mart which is just a big everything store. I just wanted to see what they had for products and prices. From there we decided to continue our American food day and ate at TGIF - it was decent but pricey for what it was and more expensive than at home.
Here is a picture of what a typical Korean building looks like - just chaos. (Also you are able to click on any of the pictures I post to make them bigger.)
After eating, we headed our separate ways and I walked home alone. As we crossed the street after leaving TGIF, an old Korean women started staring and speaking to me in Korean and laughing. I wonder what she was saying!
There is also a river with a walkway nearby that I saw on the way to Lotte Mart that I want to check out soon too, a little bit of nature is always welcome. Also in terms of animals/insects, the only thing that seems to be really common is dragonflies.
I will be getting my official teaching schedule tomorrow, but from the sounds of it, I will be teaching kindergarten from 10-230 (that time includes the one hour lunch and also as part of that time I will go to another class to teach science), then Monday/Wednesday afternoon I will teach ILP (Intensive Learning Program) where the kids learn and preform a play, Tuesday/Thursday/Friday afternoon I will teach phonics and Tuesday/Thursday at 5:55 - 6:45pm I will teach EIC which I don't remember what that stands for but the class follows a history textbook and discusses articles from an English newspaper. There is also a possibility that I may be teaching an afternoon kindergarten class as well. But like I said I will learn more tomorrow.
Tomorrow is also a big day because I move into my apartment!!! Super excited to make it a home and cook my own food and to be able to just relax in my own space. I am such a homebody and even though I'm in a new and exciting country I still enjoy being "home". So I'm looking forward to that very much. I will move in after school and it sounds like my suitcases will be moved for me during the day tomorrow. I should also hopefully have a phone tomorrow as well which will be nice in order to contact the other teachers to hopefully hang out during the break next week.
<3 Goodnight!
Don't forget to get us all your address =)
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