Awkward....

Sooo layin in bed last night and just when I'm about to hit that really good deep REM sleep I hear something like hammering on the wall...unfortunately it wasn't hammering because then I heard *cough* moans :-/ and of course this went on for a while...I need thicker walls...lol

My First Week Teaching

Ok so this past week didn't go so bad, my hours are 1st class 430pm-730pm and 2nd class 730pm-1030pm. I had elementary and middle school students, and I had two half days plus Friday off. It was the last week of the term so they gave some teachers vacation time and me and the other two new recruits were subbing for them. It was nerve racking a bit since they weren't my students and it was the last week so they didn't necessarily have to behave. Luckily, everything went pretty smoothly.

Monday
I had only one class and it was with elementary kids. So my first day was a half day. The kids were a bit shy at first and obviously wondering who the heck I was and where their teacher was. After explanations and introductions things loosened up. They were pretty good kids and funny.

Tuesday
I had a full day this time, the earlier one was elementary and the second was middle school students. The first class had 11 girls and 1 boy, lol poor boy. I noticed that the girls are a lot easier to handle than the boys. Not to say the boys are hard to handle, all the kids you tell them once they listen right away, but I barely had to scold the girls. Anyway, they were hilarious, my favorite class. All of them were so curious lol during the breaks  I told them they could ask me questions about myself and they didn't hold back lol "Teacher how old are you?" "Teacher do you have a boyfriend" that question had the funniest response. Once I said no the whole erupted with "EHHHH??!?!? WHY NOT YOU'RE SO PRETTY??!?!?!?" lol Now, the later class was the COMPLETE opposite. Though I was warned that the middle school kids tend to not be very talkative but it's still a bit discouraging to have a bunch of blank stares looking your way. Though the life of a student here is nothing like that of one back home. They're up more than 12hours studying and going to different academies so by the time we get them they're pretty tired so I understand.

Wednesday
I had the kids I had on Monday again and I got them some candy to give out when they answered questions correctly or participated by reading or something like that. It was their last day so they were a bit rowdy but we had a good time. I had a full day this day as well but the middle school kids I got this time were very talkative which was good. Oh, there was this one little boy in the earlier class that loved to talk lol I nicknamed him Motor Mouth I challenged him to stay quiet for 5 mins. He did it, but man as soon as those 5 mins was up smh lol

Thursday
I had a half day with the class from Tuesday 430pm. The material we were going over was about modern day pirates O_o strange topic & I had to explain to them what torture was...I've noticed the kids here have a pretty morbid sense of humor it takes some gettin used to. Anyway, had them do a game where me & the one boy in the class were guarding the leftover candy & they were pirates trying to steal it...having 11 young korean girls staring at you about to attack is pretty friggin scary lol Well that's it for my first week...tomorrow starts a new term & I get my own room & students. I'm pretty nervous about it but I'm sure it'll be fine once I get the hang of things. Oh and the Tues & Thurs class they decided to draw me lol

Something I Forgot...

I forgot to show you guys the little presents my mother snuck into my suitcase! There was a snoopy doll that plays music and a little skunk thingy and two cards...check'em out ^_^

So cute right? 

Encouraging words from my Momma ^_^

A donut shaped Vday card she also put in there lol

Training is OVER continuation lol

Right soo here is a video of us going to training seems to be having difficulties...soo here's the one us coming back =^_^=

Ok I think it's working...us going to training...

Training is OVER!!!!!

Woo hoo!!! It's done and I can finally get some rest...well sort of lol I meant to write sooner BUT there is no internet in my apartment yet and I was too lazy/tired from going out with co-workers on Saturday night to come to the cafe yesterday. Oh yeah, most random thing happened this morning, I went to the cafe but they weren't open yet so I came back to my place and when I got there I held the door open for this Ahjumma (Middle aged lady) who had like a lil cart thingy and then I helped her at the elevator. So in order to thank me for my help she gave me these two lil vegetable box thingys. One was pretty tasty, I think it had carrot in it, the other one not so much lol kind of tasted like dirt but I drank it all not wanting to be rude lol 

Ok so about training, it wasn't as bad as people kept saying, I mean yeah it was tiring but no different from when you're in college doing school work really. Granted everyone handles stress differently but really the key is to just do what you need to do. Stressing over it doesn't help so just do it to the best of your ability and there you go. I teach my first class today and I'm nervous though I'm sure I'll be fine ^_^

Me and the Roomies!

I have some pictures for you guys! It's of the hotel and the commute to the training center there's a video of that actually (but I'll put that in a separate post) sooo enjoy!

On the subway lol

This train car market was always there when we waited for the train home

One of the views from the train

Another view

The station training was at

The view from the station

Me and my another girl's room 

The toilet seat is heated! It's amazing lol

There were these buttons that did different things on the toilet lol

Our living room

Our kitchen

The other girls' room

The view from our hotel

I Have Arrived!

The Flight
The plane ride over wasn't bad at all; the staff was nice and I was quite comfortable throughout the flight. I was a little crammed but that's what happens in Economy class seating lol Before the flight I was able to meet up with someone who is doing the same teaching program as me. I also met a man returning to Korea after working in the US for a couple of years, he was very nice and offered to do language exchange but I'm going to be in Daejeon and he lives in Seoul.

Arrival at Airport

I met up again with the girl who was on my flight and we headed to the baggage claim where we ran into 6 more people from the program lol No one picks you up from the airport you have to catch a bus and then a taxi to the hotel, so it was nice to be with other people. I took a picture of the bus ticket which looked pretty cool.

Seoul

Sooo we finally got to the hotel and my suitcase broke :-( This really sucked btw and now I have to buy a new one at some point. Dropped off stuff and went to dinner...I had this chicken cutlet thing and it was friggin huge! I wished I took a picture of it lol The following day me and my roomie from the hotel met up with a friend of hers and went shopping at Yongsan. After shopping we went to a place called Gyeongbokgung Palace. Today starts the first day of training so wish me luck  =^_^=

Bus Ticket to Seoul

View coming out of Yongsan Station

Entrance to Gyeongbokgung Palace

I need to pack...

I would just like to say that as a female packing sucks! Travelling internationally you're only allowed two bags that are 50 pounds,1 carry-on, and I think like a purse or something. Now if you're just visiting someplace then it's actually a pretty good deal since then you can be sure to leave room for souvenirs and such. However, when you're moving countries it's a pain in the...well you know lol I went through this moving to and from New Zealand and I swear I'm crazy for dealing with it again. I have a game plan which I hope works because last time I had to pay an overweight fee and those things are not cheap. I believe the fee was over $150 and I definitely don't have the money right now to pay it.

The plan is to separate! Separation is going to be key here. It's winter now so I only need my winter stuff (i.e. shoes, clothes, and coats). The rest I'm going to put in a box and have it shipped to me later. If I do this efficiently I should be able to fit the necessities and not go over. Well, wish me luck people because if I have to pay a fee I'm screwed ....