My first week in Bucheon.

I've been here almost two months now (geez, time flies!), but in attempt to illustrate my culture shock into Public school life, here are some photos.


First of all, random teachers I didn't even know would pull me into pictures with them. Notice my bewildered expression.

Second, I was regularly kidnapped to go to staff dinners. Sometimes the food was good, but other times it was boiled pork. :(

One day, I somehow ended up sitting next to my vice principle, who kept filling my glass with makali (a very alcoholic rice drink) and saying "One shot! One shot!" >.<

This is actually quite normal behavior for an employer in Korea. Needless to say, I was quite dizzy after that dinner. x.x



Then, at my school, I found the textbooks I was supposed to use. Some of the pages were...puzzling, to say the least.

Then, to make matters even more difficult, I got bit by a random dog. And it HURT. Click to enlarge, if you dig this sorta thing.

                                           Day 1                                                     Day 3


Yeah. So all of this, on top of learning a new job and moving to a new city.

Now you see why I didn't do blog posts for so long?


:P

My school.

Hello all!

 I thought I'd give you a small peek at my school today.

 I don't have many pictures yet just because I've been so busy...but since finals are coming up, I may have a chance to take pictures soon!


 For now, here's the front of my school:

 It's 5 stories high!





 Here is a typical school lunch, which costs me about 2 dollars a day:

 And yes, that's octopus. And gimchi and flavorless soup and some green things. :)





 Here is me with some of my fellow teachers. :)

 And here are some of my boys being...boys.


 

I might sound weird to you in this video...that's my 'teacher' voice. AKA, speaking English slower than normal and using single-word sentences.


It's a pretty nice school...I think I got lucky! The other teachers always complain that our students are too rude...but I think they're hilarious.


...Of course, that's partly because I can't understand what they're saying mostly.

Although I do have one class that decided I looked like Peter Parker on my first day...they make spider man gestures whenever I walk by.

Little jerks. >.<

Gilbert Blythe

Hello, Darcy here.


Most of you have heard by now, but I have a new brother.

Taren left one day saying she would come back with a 'friend.' She said a woman found some kittens and there was a very energetic one.

We were both expecting him to be a bit older (and bigger, so I could fight him), but you know Taren - once she saw him, there was no going back.


So now, I share my house with 7-week-old Gilbert Blythe - a name Taren chose from a book she likes.

Korean boy wanted to name him Heathcliff, but Taren said she didn't need two cats named from books she doesn't even like...whatever that means.


Anyway, Gilbert, or Gil as I call him, is very strange.

For some reason he screams whenever I pin him to the floor and try to clean him.


The first day he wouldn't even come near me, but now we do everything together.

We sleep....

We eat...

And we play all night long!

Taren has been looking tired these past few days. I think it's because she's so happy that we get along and play all night.

Taren says she will do an update soon.

I'll talk to you all later...I have a kitten to bother.

I did something silly....

I have no shame.

Shabu-shabu

Wow.

I am so bored today. I think I'll do another post.


Not about my new job. I don't have those pictures on my computer yet, and I'm still at work. My classes are finished though, don't worry.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but for some reason when I'm at work, I pretend to do work, and then I go home and actually do it in my free time.

I have serious issues.

Anyway, I was browsing through my pictures and found these amazingly delicious-looking ones of some of my favorite food in Korea. And, since I am hungry and bored, I decided to torture myself by doing a blog post about it!

I seriously have issues.

Anyway, here is a picture of some of my adult students when we went to...

Shabu-shabu!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shabu-Shabu is actually Chinese food, but it's in Korea, so whatever. And yes, those really are my students. They build airplanes. And I gave them English lessons. And this was my goodbye dinner when I quit my job.

My life is weird.

Okay, so what they do is give you many things:

Dok and mandu (aka rice cakes and pork dumplings):

And some raw sausage:

AND OF COURSE.....the BEEF!!!

Then they give you a pot with the broth and a bunch of vegetables. They light your table on fire so that it starts cooking.
THEN you put the meat and dumplings in when you want, let them cook, and EAT EVERYTHING!!!

The Korean men got two kinds, because they were afraid I couldn't eat the spicy one.

I could.

Oh yes, I could. And it was amazing.

I'm hungry....and hey, it's almost 4 30 and time to go home!

Awesome!

Bye!

One month of agony/bliss complete!

Hello all.

It's May 25, meaning it's exactly one month since I started teaching at this public middle school.

I don't have any pictures today (as I'm making this post from work), but I can still tell you a little about my school. :D


It's a Public middle school, which in Korea means I'm teaching grades 7-9 (Although they call it first-third grade middle school). I have been EXTREMELY stressed this first month, but I think I'm getting into the hang of things.

Apparently the previous American 'teacher' before me would play a funny video or something for the children, so it was more like play time. Some of the students complained that I'm more like a 'real teacher.' I don't really see the problem with this.

So even though I'm not quite as entertaining as the previous teacher, the students still seem to like me. I get told I'm beautiful almost every day, and just about every single day a group of boys will declare their love for me before running away in hysteric laughter.

The second graders (8th grade) are really fun to teach. The Korean teachers say they are rude, but I think they're hilarious. I prefer an energetic class to a sleepy one...although in Korea children sleeping (actually SLEEPING) in class doesn't seem to be a problem. It drives me crazy.

The third graders (9th grade) are the most sleepy, probably because they have to study more to get into a good high school. I swear, half of my classes are completely silent and uncooperative, but the Korean teachers don't seem as concerned as me. Just a different culture, I guess.

I haven't taught the first graders (7th grade) yet, but I will starting from June. I'm very excited...they're soo cute, and some of them are still shorter than me. :)

I teach about 24 classes a week, each with 32-40 different students in them. And, I'm only teaching half the school at this time. So needless to say, it's a HUGE school! When I tell the students my elementary and middle school were all in one place, they think I'm joking.

They also think I'm joking when I tell them my hometown has one main road.

This city still scares me to death. I almost get run over by some crazy driver every time I go out walking. It's almost safer to J-walk with an old woman than to actually use a crosswalk.

Driving laws here are more like 'guidelines' than actual 'rules.'
Koreans are pirates.

Anyway, I just want everyone to know that I'm doing well...and I'm getting the hang of my new job.

I am loving it - even though it's stressful. It's nice not to have to worry about getting paid or having medical insurance - it's all taken care of without me asking.

Best of all, I should actually get some vacation time! I could potentially come home for a week this summer, but I think I'd rather come home at Christmas so I can see EVERYONE.

But I don't know...I might need a break from Korea before that.

We'll see. ;)

A word from our sponsor.

Hello everyone.

Darcy here.

Taren is too busy with her new job to make a blog post, so I thought I'd share my experience of the move.


You have no idea what she put me though.


I was living a very comfortable life. Taren had even recently begun filling the apartment with boxes for me to play with, so I was quite happy.

That is, until, she started putting my things in the boxes.

Towels, blankets, pillows...even MY toys. At first I thought it was a game, but I sensed something was wrong.

I grew very worried, and as the boxes slowly began to fill, I could sense Taren's stress level rising.

I may have defecated on floor once or twice.

I didn't think Taren would be mad, but one night she came home looking very flustered and stuffed me into a tiny bag.

I'm not sure what I did to deserve this, but it didn't last long.

After thrashing about a bit, Taren let me out of the bag.

Turns out we were in the car of that Korean boy who captured me from the streets of Seoul.

I may have lost control over myself and yowled like a kitten for 5 to 45 minutes, but eventually I learned to enjoy the car ride.

The next few days were a blur. We drove for hours before finally settling in the home of Korean boy's mother.

There was another cat there named Merry-Merry, and she played a fun game with me. I would pounce up to her, and then she would hiss and pretend like she was going to kill me. Then I would run away. 

It was really fun, but don't think Korean boy's mother liked our game very much. 

Just when I was getting comfortable in my new home, Taren uprooted me again.

She stuffed me back into the bag and we got back into the car.

Luckily, this time it wasn't a long drive.

We arrived at a new apartment, somewhat bigger than our last home. 

I have a huge window to look out of, as well as some large wardrobes I can climb up observe Taren's actions from.

The best part is, this new apartment is only one room, so there is no possible way for Taren to lock me out of the kitchen or the bedroom while she tries to cook or sleep. IT'S ALL ONE ROOM!!

Isn't that wonderful?! I can be with Taren all the time. 

ALL THE TIME.

As fun as that is, my favorite part of this apartment is the view. I can sit up on the window all day and watch the tiny cars go by.

Taren seems to be annoyed with the apartment and the millions of tiny cars outside.

But as for me, I think I could get used to city life.




Meows.