The first week of classes is done and although it was a crazy and frazzle-filled week I think I came out all together in one piece. For the most part, the kids are well behaved. I have kids ranging from 8-16 years old and the majority are like little robots. The program has "programmed" them so effectively to repeat any word the teacher says in english if the tone and volume is juuuust right that i'll say something to myself out loud not intending to have a chorus of little korean children echo and, VOILA, the echo! I started to give instructions to the class on the next section in the book and said, "Ok, so in section B...," and before i knew it, the 13 eight year olds repeated my instructions like their little lives depended on it. Needless to say I had a great laugh while they all sat dumbfounded as to why their teacher was laughing at their military-like obedience. I've established myself as "their" teacher already and a walk down the hallways of the school between classes rarely escapes a ,"Nathan-Teacher, Nathan-Teacher!!" from an excited little group of korean students which is always followed by a high-five or fist-pound. Just keepin' it real.
The staff has been real nice so far. We all work with a korean co-teacher who teaches are same students but in a class of their own. They work extremely hard and have been very helpful so far. The foreigner teachers have been very welcoming and helpful too. They've helped me navigate through the enormous mountain of resources and materials we are given to teach the classes and have made sure I get to the right classroom when i'm supposed to. I think i'm starting to get the routine down somewhat but it couldn't have been done without their help.
I was invited out to grab some food and drinks with them last week and had a lot of fun. We drank some various korean rice wines, one delivered to each table in a small foot tall bamboo shoot that tastes like apple juice, the other had a milky white appearance, was delivered to the table in a big bowl and was dished out to each person at the table in smaller bowls. Both were tasty and rather potent. To accommodate booze, we had pancake looking dishes that had kimchi and squid inside. Also quite tasty. The korean staff gave me a quick crash-course in the korean writing of "hangul" and I learned that if you need something at your table in a restaurant in korea you simply yell out at the top of your foreigner lungs, "YOGIYO!!!" The staff had me do this as a part of my initiation and I let out the loudest "yogiyo" in my life!
Although their social habits of eating at 11pm and drinking until 3-5am won't exactly mesh with my lifestyle completely, I appreciated their invite and have felt welcomed by the staff over the last week.
Apart from school, life here is starting to become more like "real-life" in korea and not simply a visit. I've managed to live off of $65 per week (including a few nights out at restaurants, drinks, groceries and public transport...not too shabby). However, the fine print is that this has included dinners at home of water from the tap, walnuts from the store, an apple and jam sandwiches. Not exactly fine korean cuisine, but it's helping to get me through this first month without pay. I don't get paid until the 1st of August so i'm sure once I receive the check, the purse strings will loosen up somewhat. However, I do love me some jam-sandwiches and walnuts. Nutritious and fun!
I've done some more exploring of my part of the city and ventured into the downtown last Friday night with a guy from my school. I met a guy who puts on open-mic nights so i'm sure i'll be back downtown again for that but, for the most part, the downtown is filled with foreigners who have boozed up and are looking for a fight, night clubs and then more boozed up foreigners. Not exactly my scene but it was good to see it for myself for the first time. Only so much "Lonely Planet" and "Frommers" can depict in 2 pages on Daegu, South Korea.
Daegu, South Korea is big but with every passing day of me acclimatizing, it is gradually getting smaller. My apartment is still small but very livable for me. Although the knob to switch the sink water to the shower head water has still escaped my memory to switch which has found me ready to head out the door for work suddenly drenching myself in water. Oh well, we live and learn. I've also learned that when it rains here, it rains HARD! It's monsoon season and rain has been a-plenty! I've also learned that everybody uses an umbrella and not a raincoat here. I learned this the first I went out in the monsoon and was the only schlub walking around in a coat, meanwhile getting completely drenched to the bone while an old man in shorts and a t-shirt, but with an umbrella, sat looking at me puzzled to his core what I was thinking, or doing.
I've also been going to a church a few subway stops away where I have met some great people. I'll be helping lead worship next sunday and had a great time with some of the members last night. They took me to a HUGE market place in Daegu called "Seomun Market" where you can literally find anything and then took me to dinner outside of the city up in the mountains where we feasted on duck, grilled at our table, kimchi, rice and sweet potatoes. Best meal i've had yet!
God has been great to me and with the connections i've made so far i'm excited to see where this adventure takes me next. Right now i'm gearing up for my next 2 work weeks where i'll be working double-shifts (9-1pm and then 4:00-10pm) Should be exhausting but for only two weeks and the added pay I can most definitely bite the bullet and get 'er done! I'll have pictures of my neighborhood and apartment coming soon. Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers. I hope this post finds all of you doing fantastic!
-Nate
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