Teaching and My End of Town.
~
2003.10.12 03:33 KST (EST + 13 hrs): Suwon, Republic of Korea
Hey everyone, the following are responses to two largely questioned topics.
ii. Teaching Kids:
I am responsible for eleven classes, taught twice each, weekly. Class sizes range from three to thirteen students. I am accountable to my school between the hours of 2 and 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday and Thursday evenings, I teach until 9:30. The staff consists of six teachers: four Korean female teachers (Katie, Joy, Gene and Ivy), one American female teacher (Marin) and myself. I am currently teaching children from the ages of six-ish (?) to somewhere close to fourteen.
At times, I feel like I'm babysitting which -- for those of you who've never had the pleasure -- sucks, at the best of times. Other times, seeing students comprehend the lesson, their eyes lighting afire with understanding and knowledge, fuels the rest of my day. Unfortunately, the latter are often the ones given later in the evening. Oh well, I'm finding my groove and the kids are (hopefully) starting to like my style and respect my authority. Until then, I am fortunately allowed to (lightly) hit children in this country. Hey, don't look at me like that; "when in Rome..."
iii. "The Scene" or more interestingly "Things I Did Today":
Unfortunately, I have to admit that geographically, the curtains are closed on this local party scene. For all intents and purposes, Seoul is the place to go for, well, everything. Nevertheless, slowly, I have begun to explore my local environment, tasting and absorbing what it has to offer. I've found that a quick jaunt outside of my quiet suburb takes me to some rather interesting strips of restaurants, businesses and markets, complete with droves of people circulating, out and about.
In fact, I spent nearly six hours thereabouts, this afternoon, exploring and roaming around UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage Site: Hwaseong Fortress. Honestly, the geek in me found it pretty damn interesting.
After that, a ton of shopping (new Reebok runners, a power bar, a reading lamp, a haircut, three more plants ... all of which were much needed). I even came across a gem of a shop, selling the most excellent and interesting cultural treasures (old masks; framed, tall, Hangeul scripts; agricultural artifacts; and long, wooden character/food "stampers" (like lined-up cookie cutters). I quickly set my sights on two awesome pieces but, unfortunately for me, I misunderstood the price and instead of a lovely mask being 5,000 and the "cookie cutter" thing being 7,000 Won, the gentleman promptly informed me that a "zero" had somehow got lost in the translation and that the prices were, in fact, 50,000 and 70,000 Won, respectively. Ouch. I thanked him as politely as I could and bowed a lot. A shame, really; they were pretty nice souvenirs that would have made superb additions to my digs -- as wall art -- or even gifts.
That's it for now. I have run out of adjectives, synonyms and similes.
Be good to yourselves. Keep doing whatever you each do best and remember to take it easy but take it.
Czech it, from here to there,
S*
Fave current track(s): "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" - The Beach Boys, "Bonita Applebaum" - A Tribe Called Quest
Current read(s) in progress: viceland.com, "The Dharma Bums" - Jack Kerouac, "Toro" magazine
2003.10.12 03:33 KST (EST + 13 hrs): Suwon, Republic of Korea
Hey everyone, the following are responses to two largely questioned topics.
ii. Teaching Kids:
I am responsible for eleven classes, taught twice each, weekly. Class sizes range from three to thirteen students. I am accountable to my school between the hours of 2 and 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday and Thursday evenings, I teach until 9:30. The staff consists of six teachers: four Korean female teachers (Katie, Joy, Gene and Ivy), one American female teacher (Marin) and myself. I am currently teaching children from the ages of six-ish (?) to somewhere close to fourteen.
At times, I feel like I'm babysitting which -- for those of you who've never had the pleasure -- sucks, at the best of times. Other times, seeing students comprehend the lesson, their eyes lighting afire with understanding and knowledge, fuels the rest of my day. Unfortunately, the latter are often the ones given later in the evening. Oh well, I'm finding my groove and the kids are (hopefully) starting to like my style and respect my authority. Until then, I am fortunately allowed to (lightly) hit children in this country. Hey, don't look at me like that; "when in Rome..."
iii. "The Scene" or more interestingly "Things I Did Today":
Unfortunately, I have to admit that geographically, the curtains are closed on this local party scene. For all intents and purposes, Seoul is the place to go for, well, everything. Nevertheless, slowly, I have begun to explore my local environment, tasting and absorbing what it has to offer. I've found that a quick jaunt outside of my quiet suburb takes me to some rather interesting strips of restaurants, businesses and markets, complete with droves of people circulating, out and about.
In fact, I spent nearly six hours thereabouts, this afternoon, exploring and roaming around UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage Site: Hwaseong Fortress. Honestly, the geek in me found it pretty damn interesting.
After that, a ton of shopping (new Reebok runners, a power bar, a reading lamp, a haircut, three more plants ... all of which were much needed). I even came across a gem of a shop, selling the most excellent and interesting cultural treasures (old masks; framed, tall, Hangeul scripts; agricultural artifacts; and long, wooden character/food "stampers" (like lined-up cookie cutters). I quickly set my sights on two awesome pieces but, unfortunately for me, I misunderstood the price and instead of a lovely mask being 5,000 and the "cookie cutter" thing being 7,000 Won, the gentleman promptly informed me that a "zero" had somehow got lost in the translation and that the prices were, in fact, 50,000 and 70,000 Won, respectively. Ouch. I thanked him as politely as I could and bowed a lot. A shame, really; they were pretty nice souvenirs that would have made superb additions to my digs -- as wall art -- or even gifts.
That's it for now. I have run out of adjectives, synonyms and similes.
Be good to yourselves. Keep doing whatever you each do best and remember to take it easy but take it.
Czech it, from here to there,
S*
Fave current track(s): "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" - The Beach Boys, "Bonita Applebaum" - A Tribe Called Quest
Current read(s) in progress: viceland.com, "The Dharma Bums" - Jack Kerouac, "Toro" magazine
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