Through the Breach - First Week COMPLETE!

    Well, its come and gone, the first real trials of my being here in South Korea and for the first time in a very long time, I can safely say I'm beat. The first week of teaching has shown me quite a few things I still need to learn and perfect to truly get the best of my abilities crafted into becoming the super best teacher than I can be. Most of my class are pretty easy, the real trick however is just managing the time and organizing assignments, can get quite overwhelming considering some classes have tests far and few while others often have tests almost every other day! Test's aren't easy, teaching English requires a mix of sternness of with a hint of joy and entertainment. As one of my teachers put it, "Enterdication", the mixture of Entertainment and Education. Oddly quirky to hear, but a good mentality of what the teachers at my Hogwan want to do. I've heard many horror stories, but I can safely say that my school is one that puts the kids first and wants them to succeed.Now, with a week done, there is much I've got to consider to adjusting my own paper work, from class schedules to how to handle the students, all of which will continue to be developed and crafted to the best possible style of handling a classroom.


Perhaps by fate, or more of a reward for my hard work, I had been told earlier that my Recruiter from SeoulESL wanted to meet this weekend. We were going to a park near Yeouinaru Station, a rather pretty place to be, despite being yellow grassed and littered with sleeping Cherry Blossom trees. According to Nicky, the park and street nearby will look beautiful during the spring, so I have to make a chance to go and see it, perhaps even Bicycle out there as it has a bicycle lane going through the park itself. 

An hour ride through the subway later and I ended up at the park, a nice little place, having picked up a throw blanket for 10 bucks in a shop, I was ready to sit out in the slight bitter cold of the Saturday mid-day. Sadly, I don't have many pictures of the park itself, suffice to say, nothing like hanging with a bunch of Canadian, American and British men and women who like to strike up conversations on news, drugs, and insanity shenanigans that have always been fun to be a part of. Everyone there seemed nice, shared some drinks, some food, and got quite plastered on the traditional drink, Soju, a rice brew like Sake, but a little milder, to have a good time.

It didn't end there though, a little later, we went out to a FISH market.


As you can figure, with fish being a major import and export of Korea, there were quite the selection of fishy delights for all kinds, from shrimp and prawns to live fish and squid, everything for everyone and quite a nice bit too. We enjoyed a nice spread of food in a nearby restaurant that caters to people who buy from the fish market, and were given even more Soju and fish, and after a fun and exciting evening, I settled myself and went on home.

Now, another thing I really like about Korea is how open and friendly the natives are. On my trip back, being as drunk as I was, I had dozed off on the subway heading back to the line I needed to transfer to. When I woke up, I realized I had passed my station, ending up on Ogeum Station when I needed to get to Suseo, but reading the partial English map, found it to not be that far away. So a quick skip and jump and I lept off the train. Climbing the stairs brought me to a bit of a conundrum, there were TWO Sets of stairs going down, and though I was looking around, a Korean Native came over and asked me if I was lost. I showed him on my map where I had to go and he pointed me in the right direction there after.

Thanks Korea Man!

Again, the kindness of Korea's is second to none and I for one am glad someone took the time to help me out. Once I got home, I hit the sack, and now, with Sunday coming to a close, its on to my second week of class!