Update on my Korean Adventures #3.
I sent this e-mail to most of the people in my address book but in case you missed it here it is again.
Hello again everyone.
The adventure continues in Korea but things have slowed down a little bit. I decided to try and star saving a bit of money. After all that was the point of coming here. I got my first pay packet a couple of weeks back – it is quite interesting to be given your pay in cash. I only worked for a week so my stack was smaller than the others but there is a certain WOW I feel rich factor to be given a big wad of cash!!
The teaching has been going well. I have put in a fair bit of extra time to try and get organized. Being organized is very important because while there is a little less planning than in North America (largely because the school supplies all the books and resource materials so you are not spending all weekend doing this like at home) I still have three different classes to try and make sure learn something. Being a private school the parents have more of an active say so the teachers are asked to bend to ever changing parent wills. Ahem – in other words lots of hoops. Korean society is built upon saving face as well so things are not always directly said so getting clear direct answers is somewhat difficult. So far it is not bothersome to me – I figure hey the parents are paying something like $1,000.00 a month to have their kid go to the school so they ought to have a big say. An example is that last month the principle wants us to teach mainly grammar so we focus on that but then the parents say too much grammar more conversation so now we have to do that.
I also had my first Parent Teacher Interview. Wow what a strange experience. I have 9 students in my K7 class – 7 mothers come to my class for the last period of the day and sit in the student’s chairs. I am sitting in front of them all with the Principal as they talk in Korean and I wait until someone grills me about something. Hahahahah – I can laugh about it now but I was nervous. Then I tell each mother how their child is doing in front of everyone. Of course the one mother whose kid who is having the most difficulty in my class is one of the moms who does not show up. Well of course – I would not want to go and talk to the teacher in front of every other parent and hear that my child is the only kid not “getting it.” Plus, the Principal does most of the talking so they can more or less put everything into the best possible light. But I keep remembering that it’s a different culture and it’s their way so I just roll with it. Tell me what to do and I’ll just do it. It keeps me sane. LOL
I did get a chance to go out to the Electronics Mart – no I did not buy anything. The place is in Yongsan and has its own major Subway stop. They have a massive 5 story shopping mall with an IMAX theater combined with a normal movie theater. The movie Crash and the Wedding Crashers just opened and the Constant Gardener is coming soon, which is funny since you can buy the DVD for about $5.00 from any number of street vendors. The E-mart district takes up about 4 city blocks of multi story buildings. Think 4-5 Eton Centers downtown Vancouver of nothing but cell phones, computers, cell phones, stereos, video games, cameras and did I mention the cell phones! They even cell their transit swipe card as an option. You can get the card (credit card sized) or a small round version that you connect to a cell phone. I am probably the only person who does not have one. I saw a kid about 7 years old with one so I may not be exaggerating.
Last weekend I finally went to Lake Park. I will post pictures of Lake Park which is right near La Festa. LaFesta is the major shopping and nightlife area of Ilsan and both of these are about 20 minutes from my house. Lake Park has a big Cactus greenhouse that is open to the public so I walked in and saw an incredible variety (at least to me) and many were available for purchase. I bought a small one (three different cactuses). I figure it should be tough for even me to kill a cactus.
Well I’m hoping to go out more this weekend and explore the nightlife.
Hope everyone is doing well and I’ll chat again soon.
Cheers,
Richard.
Hello again everyone.
The adventure continues in Korea but things have slowed down a little bit. I decided to try and star saving a bit of money. After all that was the point of coming here. I got my first pay packet a couple of weeks back – it is quite interesting to be given your pay in cash. I only worked for a week so my stack was smaller than the others but there is a certain WOW I feel rich factor to be given a big wad of cash!!
The teaching has been going well. I have put in a fair bit of extra time to try and get organized. Being organized is very important because while there is a little less planning than in North America (largely because the school supplies all the books and resource materials so you are not spending all weekend doing this like at home) I still have three different classes to try and make sure learn something. Being a private school the parents have more of an active say so the teachers are asked to bend to ever changing parent wills. Ahem – in other words lots of hoops. Korean society is built upon saving face as well so things are not always directly said so getting clear direct answers is somewhat difficult. So far it is not bothersome to me – I figure hey the parents are paying something like $1,000.00 a month to have their kid go to the school so they ought to have a big say. An example is that last month the principle wants us to teach mainly grammar so we focus on that but then the parents say too much grammar more conversation so now we have to do that.
I also had my first Parent Teacher Interview. Wow what a strange experience. I have 9 students in my K7 class – 7 mothers come to my class for the last period of the day and sit in the student’s chairs. I am sitting in front of them all with the Principal as they talk in Korean and I wait until someone grills me about something. Hahahahah – I can laugh about it now but I was nervous. Then I tell each mother how their child is doing in front of everyone. Of course the one mother whose kid who is having the most difficulty in my class is one of the moms who does not show up. Well of course – I would not want to go and talk to the teacher in front of every other parent and hear that my child is the only kid not “getting it.” Plus, the Principal does most of the talking so they can more or less put everything into the best possible light. But I keep remembering that it’s a different culture and it’s their way so I just roll with it. Tell me what to do and I’ll just do it. It keeps me sane. LOL
I did get a chance to go out to the Electronics Mart – no I did not buy anything. The place is in Yongsan and has its own major Subway stop. They have a massive 5 story shopping mall with an IMAX theater combined with a normal movie theater. The movie Crash and the Wedding Crashers just opened and the Constant Gardener is coming soon, which is funny since you can buy the DVD for about $5.00 from any number of street vendors. The E-mart district takes up about 4 city blocks of multi story buildings. Think 4-5 Eton Centers downtown Vancouver of nothing but cell phones, computers, cell phones, stereos, video games, cameras and did I mention the cell phones! They even cell their transit swipe card as an option. You can get the card (credit card sized) or a small round version that you connect to a cell phone. I am probably the only person who does not have one. I saw a kid about 7 years old with one so I may not be exaggerating.
Last weekend I finally went to Lake Park. I will post pictures of Lake Park which is right near La Festa. LaFesta is the major shopping and nightlife area of Ilsan and both of these are about 20 minutes from my house. Lake Park has a big Cactus greenhouse that is open to the public so I walked in and saw an incredible variety (at least to me) and many were available for purchase. I bought a small one (three different cactuses). I figure it should be tough for even me to kill a cactus.
Well I’m hoping to go out more this weekend and explore the nightlife.
Hope everyone is doing well and I’ll chat again soon.
Cheers,
Richard.
posted by Richard Austen | 7:46 p.m.
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