This one's late coming, but it's been busy times out here, 13-hours in the future (for my East-coast folks). The future is good though. Last week was my first on the job, and it was an absolute blast. The days are long, for sure. My first alarm goes off at 5:30, and, depending on how motivated I'm feeling, I'll get up between then and around 6:30 (like today :/). I'm on the clock at work at 9. Those that have lived with me before may remark that three and a half hours is a little longer than it normally takes me to do my hair, but I'm really trying to maximize my mornings. Not only because it's my favorite time of day (it's quiet), but because it's really the only time I have to myself during the week. We finish at KCTY at 7:30 PM.
Maria and I finished up one day earlier last week (maybe Tuesday), went to the grocery store that's right by the school, walked straight home, cooked, ate, and by then it was 11 PM! So not only do I normally not have a lot of gas left in the tank after getting climbed like a jungle-gym by <1st graders for 10 hours, but there just really isn't a lot of time to work with. Hence the 5:30 alarm. I made a lot of personal goals for this year before coming over: studying for and taking the GRE, writing more (this blog and some fiction) and submitting to publishers, getting back on the horse with regular exercise, mastering some sweet Taekwondo moves to surprise my dudes at the airport with. Most of these I'm actively chipping away at, but after getting a hold of this 50+ hour work week (or after it's gotten a hold of me), a lot of that kind of thing has got to happen in the mornings and weekends -- if it's going to happen. And didn't I also plan to spend my weekends island hopping and contemplating Buddhist temples?
That said, I don't want to come off too melodramatic about the hours. The planning isn't that intense. It's a little crazy that I teach reading, writing, grammar, science, vocabulary, and a magazine class to 8ish different classes a day, but I'm pretty sure elementary teachers in the states do that kind of thing like everyday. The kids are AWESOME! Most of them speak great English. I'm in there alone with no co-teacher, and it's fine. Better than fine. It's often a lot of fun. The curriculum is pretty laid back, which is a little contrary to the super hard-nose MO that I've heard so often associated with Korean ed -- and that's totally a thing. I talk to some of my older kids, and their schedules are nuts. I'm talking public school from 7/8-3, then a few private academies until 7:30 (the government mandates that all private academies close then in an effort to spare the kids studies until 12), and then it's off to some extracurricular (musical, athletic or otherwise) until 10ish. So that's a long day.
I'm sure it's shorter for some kids and longer for others, but that's some of what I've heard. KCTY is, mostly, an English academy, so all the courses (even the science) is just geared towards reading and writing English more proficiently. For my little kids in the morning, we'll read the same short story for 2 weeks (doing vocab and crafts and such along with it), whereas my 5th graders are moving through grammar pretty swiftly (and it's all stuff I did in the 7th grade). The work ethic is great. The head teacher kept using the phrases "well trained" when I asked her about management or discipline issues, and I guess that's about the size of it.
My co-workers are cool! There are 8 English teachers at KCTY, and we all share resources (and a pretty small office/workroom). Many of them are Americans, but there's a British guy as well and a Canook. Those from the states are from all over. California, Wisconsin, South Carolina. Fun people. We went out for fried chicken pretty early in the week (courtesy of the school director!), and hit up a Korean BBQ Friday to celebrate the week. The BBQ probably deserves its own post, but I'll summarize.
Korean BBQ for Beginners:
1. Find an establishment called Dinomeat (yes, there is a dinosaur on the sign)
2. Take off your shoes (what do you mean you wore chocos and don't have socks? There are donor sandals. Or does that family over there just all wear the same shoes? . . . Go barefoot.)
3. Turn on the GAS GRILL that's AT YOUR TABLE! A foot in front of your face, like your own personal hibachi grill, except it looks like a regular grill.
4. Go up to the counter with your meat tray (that's a word I wish I could use more), open the slide glass door and use your tongs (not your hands, you animal) to dole as much meat as you want on to your meat tray (!) until you've amassed a formidable meat pile.
5. Take the meat pile back to your table (use both hands because the meat tray now weighs as much as one of those baby triceratops from Jurassic World)
6. Grill and devour the meat (there as scissors to clip the various cuts of meat in to more manageable pieces, but you're buzzing pretty hard so probably just go for it)
7. Fumble hopelessly with impossible Korean metal chopsticks
8. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
9. Pay $18 USD. For all of it. It's all you can eat, my friend.
The first rule of Korean BBQ: Don't talk about Korean BBQ (in comparison to BBQ back home, because it's just different. Not so sauce/rub oriented).
The second rule of Korean BBQ: Don't talk about Korean BBQ (while you're chewing Korean BBQ, it's rude, dude).
The third rule of Korean BBQ: What ever you leave uneaten or uncooked YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR in addition to the 18 bucks (so eat it all, or full your pockets, lest they be emptied).
My stomach was bulging. I had been living off rice and seaweed for 11 days, and after that bombardment of heavy protein I was feeling a little worse for the wear. But when you weigh all of that against the Law of Friday your new British friend tells you he's a semi-professional darts player (how many leagues are there?!), and officially the best foreigner in the country (I haven't played any on the record games yet), there's only one place you can go -- and it's not to bed. Not yet.
So we went to a foreigner bar, pretty conspicuously named "Travelers." There were, as the name would imply, a lot of non-Koreans, including the barkeep. Turns out Mr. Semi-Pro was all hat and no cattle. Daniel (co-worker from Wisconsin) and I beat him straight up (and by straight up I mean that the wager was for the two of us to get HALF his score between us, and we squeaked it out by LITERALLY ONE point. The guy is a machine).
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Maria and I finished up one day earlier last week (maybe Tuesday), went to the grocery store that's right by the school, walked straight home, cooked, ate, and by then it was 11 PM! So not only do I normally not have a lot of gas left in the tank after getting climbed like a jungle-gym by <1st graders for 10 hours, but there just really isn't a lot of time to work with. Hence the 5:30 alarm. I made a lot of personal goals for this year before coming over: studying for and taking the GRE, writing more (this blog and some fiction) and submitting to publishers, getting back on the horse with regular exercise, mastering some sweet Taekwondo moves to surprise my dudes at the airport with. Most of these I'm actively chipping away at, but after getting a hold of this 50+ hour work week (or after it's gotten a hold of me), a lot of that kind of thing has got to happen in the mornings and weekends -- if it's going to happen. And didn't I also plan to spend my weekends island hopping and contemplating Buddhist temples?
That said, I don't want to come off too melodramatic about the hours. The planning isn't that intense. It's a little crazy that I teach reading, writing, grammar, science, vocabulary, and a magazine class to 8ish different classes a day, but I'm pretty sure elementary teachers in the states do that kind of thing like everyday. The kids are AWESOME! Most of them speak great English. I'm in there alone with no co-teacher, and it's fine. Better than fine. It's often a lot of fun. The curriculum is pretty laid back, which is a little contrary to the super hard-nose MO that I've heard so often associated with Korean ed -- and that's totally a thing. I talk to some of my older kids, and their schedules are nuts. I'm talking public school from 7/8-3, then a few private academies until 7:30 (the government mandates that all private academies close then in an effort to spare the kids studies until 12), and then it's off to some extracurricular (musical, athletic or otherwise) until 10ish. So that's a long day.
I'm sure it's shorter for some kids and longer for others, but that's some of what I've heard. KCTY is, mostly, an English academy, so all the courses (even the science) is just geared towards reading and writing English more proficiently. For my little kids in the morning, we'll read the same short story for 2 weeks (doing vocab and crafts and such along with it), whereas my 5th graders are moving through grammar pretty swiftly (and it's all stuff I did in the 7th grade). The work ethic is great. The head teacher kept using the phrases "well trained" when I asked her about management or discipline issues, and I guess that's about the size of it.
 |
| On an unrelated note, I found corn bread, though it's not quite like I remember |
My co-workers are cool! There are 8 English teachers at KCTY, and we all share resources (and a pretty small office/workroom). Many of them are Americans, but there's a British guy as well and a Canook. Those from the states are from all over. California, Wisconsin, South Carolina. Fun people. We went out for fried chicken pretty early in the week (courtesy of the school director!), and hit up a Korean BBQ Friday to celebrate the week. The BBQ probably deserves its own post, but I'll summarize.
Korean BBQ for Beginners:
1. Find an establishment called Dinomeat (yes, there is a dinosaur on the sign)
2. Take off your shoes (what do you mean you wore chocos and don't have socks? There are donor sandals. Or does that family over there just all wear the same shoes? . . . Go barefoot.)
3. Turn on the GAS GRILL that's AT YOUR TABLE! A foot in front of your face, like your own personal hibachi grill, except it looks like a regular grill.
4. Go up to the counter with your meat tray (that's a word I wish I could use more), open the slide glass door and use your tongs (not your hands, you animal) to dole as much meat as you want on to your meat tray (!) until you've amassed a formidable meat pile.5. Take the meat pile back to your table (use both hands because the meat tray now weighs as much as one of those baby triceratops from Jurassic World)
6. Grill and devour the meat (there as scissors to clip the various cuts of meat in to more manageable pieces, but you're buzzing pretty hard so probably just go for it)
7. Fumble hopelessly with impossible Korean metal chopsticks
8. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
9. Pay $18 USD. For all of it. It's all you can eat, my friend.
The first rule of Korean BBQ: Don't talk about Korean BBQ (in comparison to BBQ back home, because it's just different. Not so sauce/rub oriented).
The second rule of Korean BBQ: Don't talk about Korean BBQ (while you're chewing Korean BBQ, it's rude, dude).
The third rule of Korean BBQ: What ever you leave uneaten or uncooked YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR in addition to the 18 bucks (so eat it all, or full your pockets, lest they be emptied).
My stomach was bulging. I had been living off rice and seaweed for 11 days, and after that bombardment of heavy protein I was feeling a little worse for the wear. But when you weigh all of that against the Law of Friday your new British friend tells you he's a semi-professional darts player (how many leagues are there?!), and officially the best foreigner in the country (I haven't played any on the record games yet), there's only one place you can go -- and it's not to bed. Not yet.
So we went to a foreigner bar, pretty conspicuously named "Travelers." There were, as the name would imply, a lot of non-Koreans, including the barkeep. Turns out Mr. Semi-Pro was all hat and no cattle. Daniel (co-worker from Wisconsin) and I beat him straight up (and by straight up I mean that the wager was for the two of us to get HALF his score between us, and we squeaked it out by LITERALLY ONE point. The guy is a machine).
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| My coworker. Nice guy. |
We laid on the couch all day Saturday. No regrets or apologies there. Sunday I got some writing done, and we ate Japanese, which tasted a lot like home, truthfully. Fried rice is fried rice is fried rice, it seems.
Big things on the horizon include planning our first big vacation (4 days or so) at the end of September, and trekking in to Seoul proper this weekend. Stay tuned.
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| Super dope, homemade pad thai! |
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