"New teacha"

The resevoir at night...sort of hard to see but the water sprays up with lights. It's really nice in the evening

The street my school is located... my school is just to the left of the long orange sign near the left hand side of the photo

My neighbourhood

The resevoir across the street from my apartment

What I see when I walk out my front door. There is a bigger mountain around the back of my apartment.

So it's almost the end of week one and it feels like i've been gone for weeks already!! My apartment is already beginning to feel like home and I've become pretty acquainted with my surroundings so now I feel comfortable walking to the 7/11 on my own, or grabbing a coffee from the "Starbucks" down the street (it's not really starbucks but its Korea's version... basically an overpriced coffee shop where students hang out with their laptops, etc...only difference is that there are no Jews inside haha).

So before I came to Korea I thought it would be nice to buy something that highlights Canadian identity... and what better than bringing little glass bottles of maple syrup?? Yesterday I gave them out to my head teachers and principal. For the most part, they all had the same reaction... they smiled said thank you and asked what exactly they do with it. Apparently maple syrup is a rare commodity here in Korea and one of the teachers thought I had given her a bottle of perfume!! Just thought that was kinda funny... but they do know what pancakes are... and that pretty much sealed the deal.

Anyways, yesterday I had a full day of just shadowing, where I sat in the back of the class room and observed class after class after class. Each teacher whose class I observed, introduced me and had the kids ask me one question each. So you think I would have been asked the basics, like... what is your name? or Where are you from? or even How old are you? Oh no. These kids are a lot more daring and asked me questions like, "Why does new teacha have strange hair?" and "What is your favourite exercise?" and "What is your husbands name?" or my favourite was... "How much do you weigh?" haha! They are all adorable... but just don't really get it..

Not sure if I've mentioned this before but most students have English names, however those who do not get to choose any name they want us to call them, and that will be their name for the remainder of the year. So I have some students named Picachoo, George Washington (this kid is OBSESSED with American presidents.. he wanted Obama, but that was already taken), there is also Nala and boom boom... they do get pretty creative.

So today was my very first day of teaching!! I shadowed 4 classes in the morning and taught 1 in the afternoon. It was a grade 5 class and they were all very well behaved... all 6 of them! This would be my smallest class which is why I think they started me with them. I showed them a short movie (about 5 minutes) and while the movie was running, asked them to write out 20 key words that were longer than 3 letters that they heard while the movie was running. Then I asked them to make sentences with 3 of the words they chose. I also got them to repeat a few sentences after me and then they got into groups and did some Q and A with each other. Each class is 45 minutes but the time really flys by!! The class ran smoothly and I felt pretty good about it. Tomorrow I teach 3 classes and then Friday is a full day!! Most of my classes are grades 2-5, however on Friday I have a grade 6 class which I am DREADING. The grade 6's are learning about Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address... things that were wayy over my head when I was that age! These kids study soo hard it almost makes me appreciate my childhood. Since the academy I teach at runs from 1-9pm, the kids go to a public school in the morning and then come to us! So they have double the (home)work... its nuts. I'll defiantly try not to assign too much homework... I really feel for these kids.

Also, every single kid in the school walks around wearing a sars mask (don't know how else to describe them... but you know what I'm talking about). Since they are soo popular in Korea (i mean EVERYONE wears them... even in the steets), some of the kids have BEDAZZLED them!! Like they buy cool fabrics at the store and some beads and decorate their masks!! It's soo funny!! It's also kinda difficult to understand them when there's a mask covering their mouth, but I make due.

Yesterday my head teacher went out and bought me a cell phone! (if you haven't already seen my facebook status). I was super happy about that because I didn't think I would get one for at least a month! Makes it a lot easier to get to know people out here when you have a cell.

Well I think that's about it... i decided to bring my camera to school with me today so I could take some pictures on my walk. Hope you like them!

Write more soon.

Signing off,

Gillian