Day 15: Thursday, September 8

Girls’ Night Out

Work days are shorting on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Wonderland, so a couple of my female co-workers (Sara, Nicole & Hilary) and I have deemed Thursdays as Girls’ Night.  This week we had originally planned to enjoy dinner and a movie out, but since there aren’t any new movies screening in English in the area, we decided to go out for dinner and a trip to the Forever 21 in Myeong-dong.

For dinner, we went to a delicious pub called Beer Halle.  The four of us shared beef nachos, garlic pizza, Caesar salad, fries and a pitcher of Cass, the domestic beer.  The food’s quantity and quality was amazing and just what the doctor ordered :D

Ta-da, Beer Halle!

From left to right: Hilary, Sara and Nicole posing before dinner

The inside decor of Beer Halle

Then on our way to Forever 21, we found a jewellery store that specialized in fantastic, yet incredibly inexpensive earrings.  I ended up getting three pairs of earrings & four magnets for my bar fridge for a total of 5,000 won ($5).  Across the street, at the three-story Forever 21, the prices and sales were similar to home so I picked up a couple of t-shirts for $2 apiece and a work-appropriate tunic.  After enjoying a delicious Western-style dinner, a successful shopping trip and a night of laughs with the girls, the 40-minute subway ride home felt well-worth our time in Myeong-dong.

Nicole & Sara in Myeong-dong

Typical Street of Myeong-dong... Thursday at 930pm and it's still packed with people

Day 11: Sunday September 4

Nesting

This was my first weekend in my new apartment, and I approached it like any other temporary home I’ve moved into in the past, particularly with the first step: mandatory cleaning to a Hip-Hop/Dance compilation (including some Run DMC, Salt N Pepper, Michael Jackson, Girl Talk, etc).  After scrubbing my wardrobe-desk combo, it felt lovely to be able to finally unpack my suitcases.  Having only two suitcases certainly limited the amount of clothing that I arrived with, but the feeling of hanging my handfuls of apparel made my new apartment feel like mine; I guess the old adage of “home is where you hang your hat” is right! 

My desk & wardrobe area

My bed & bedside table (the floral comforter was a happy coincidence that came with my apartment)

While it was nice to have hangers hung, items folded, and objects tucked away in drawers, it was also very tiring so I decided to postpone the de-webbing (as in spider webs) of my kitchen and bleaching of my bathroom for another day.

The thing to the left of my sink is my washing machine, compact right?

My bathroom, pre-bleaching

My shower (also known as my bathroom); yes, my shower head is affixed to the wall beside my sink and everything gets showered on.  My toilet paper is currently residing in my kitchen.

 

Day 10: Saturday September 3

School Schedule & a Sleepy Saturday

I am realizing now that I should take a step back to explain my work schedule at Wonderland.  First of all, I have a BT (Big Tree) class of ten 6 year-olds that come to school at 9:20am and leave Wonderland at 2:20pm.  All BT classes are named after fruit, so Wonderland is divided into classes like Peach, Raspberry, Cranberry, Apple, Lemon, Persimmon and Blueberry –which happens to be my favourite kind of fruit and the name of my BT class –and they are decided by age and years at Wonderland.  Each class has a Korean teacher who speaks English to them and then a Foreign teacher who is played by yours truly.

Aside from the first 20 minutes of BT, when the children are welcomed off the bus and have their milk & morning snack, all Wonderland class sessions are 40 minutes long.  So, after my Blueberries have settled in and done eating, I teach them from Tiny Talk and/or Jack&Jill texts from 9:40 to 10:20.  The next session is either Phys-Ed, Kinder with a Korean-speaking teacher, Music Play or a special activity (lead by me on Thursdays) –it all depends on the day.  From 11 to 11:40, I teach my Blueberries writing, Situation English or Arts&Crafts –once again, the schedule is dictated by the day of the week.

The children have a 30-minute lunch from 11:40am-12:10pm while being supervised by Korean teachers, then 30 minutes of Story Time, Play Time or Screen Time lead by a Foreign teacher from 12:10-12:40pm.  I’m responsible for the Story Book section on Mondays, Screen Time (wherein we watch an English animation movie) on Wednesdays, and Play Time on Thursday and Fridays; Tuesdays are reserved for the Foreign Teacher staff meeting.  The afternoons are mostly run by my Korean co-teacher April, meaning that I have a break from 12:40-2pm when we come together for home time.  All the BT children collect in the play room for our weekly song & actions (this past week was B-I-N-G-O), and then they are escorted downstairs so they can safely get on their bus (I’m responsible for bus 2).   

 My afternoon classes are split into two different schedules: Monday/Wednesday/Friday and then Tuesday/Thursday.  On M/W/F, I teach six classes back-to-back from 3:05pm to 7:30pm and on T/T I teach from 3:05pm to 5:15pm (including a Reading Lab).  The classes that come in the afternoon have already been in public school all day, so they require a lot of engagement to get through their 85-minute tutorage: 40 minutes with their Foreign teacher, 40 minutes with their Korean teacher and a 5-minute break in between.

All that being said, Friday was busy-busy at work until I supervised play time after lunch and the lull allowed me to focus on missing home.  As the BT kids were whizzing around me with lego and faux kitchen utensils and dinosaur books, their childish joy fell short of contagious.  In fact, it caused this strange juxtaposition of children’s laughter and tears welling up in my eyes.  After convincing myself it was neither the time nor the place, I pulled myself together and prepared my textbooks for the afternoon classes.  Suddenly it was Friday night and I’m out having dinner with Nick&Nicole, Sarah&Chad and Hilary at an Indian place in Beomgye.  The Tandoori half-chicken was so delicious and paired with a giant basket of butter Naan for only 10500 won, aka $10.50.  We ended up at Sara’s place playing Soju catchphrase until 2:30am wherein I was alcohol-exempt on account of jet lag.

The foreign teacher gang... what you don't see is the Britney Spears MTV concert on TV

Nearing the end of my meal... the naan shown here is only 1/3 of the original amount and the pop was complimentary :D

After a late night Friday and an early morning Saturday, Hilary and I decided that a late-afternoon trip to the grocery store and simple conversations about what can be learned and explored in this country would be ideal for a sleepy Saturday.  Ultimately, the learning and exploring will continue another day because Hilary and I enjoyed a homey evening in, watching The Switch and drinking tea in our comfies. 

Day 8: Thursday September 1

Long Day Learning Curve

As mentioned previously, Thursday was my first teaching day and the teaching part of it was slow-going, but still left me feeling excited to do my job.  Thursday evening at Wonderland, however, was not very as fun.  In truth, my day already seemed very long because it had started at 7am with a complex, yet incredibly successful trip to the Seoul Immigration Office for my Alien Registration Card.  My Alien Card allows me to be recognized as a citizen of South Korea so that I can have a bank account, utilities, etc which means that the faster my card arrives, the sooner I will be able to have internet in my own apartment –yay!  

Then, with almost perfect timing, when I returned to my motel room to change for work, James (the maintenance man/helper at Wonderland) was knocking on my door to take me to my apartment.  He quickly swept up my luggage and almost as soon as we got to my apartment, I was heading to Wonderland to teach.

So when my workday ended at 6pm, I still had lesson planning, book collecting (and labelling) and a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor Ann.  September marks the beginning of new textbooks, so I have one or two textbooks per class to organize; two textbooks multiplied by eleven classes equalled piles of label-less books on my desk.  Needless to say, I didn’t leave work until 930pm and I was tired from feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with my learning curve.   

Fortunately I was going home to my new apartment –not just the motel –to put my new jammies and sleep in air conditioning.  Once I had completed my busy day of submitting an Alien Registration Card application, moving in to my new apartment and carrying on my first day of teaching at Wonderland, I was very happy to snuggle into a newly-made bed and sleep comfortably in my Gwacheon dorm-sized place.

The Immigration Office (the large sign is helpful when your only direction is "go straight for 10 minutes")

Subway sign and shops... typically full of people & good prices

Day 5: Monday August 29

Observation day at Wonderland

After a day of observing my fellow foreign teachers' classes today, I feel like I was meant to be at Wonderland.  Not only is this job well-suited for me because it is a teaching position, it is also complimentary because of the other educational roles I have taken on in my past;  Residence Assisting, Montessori supervising, GirlsLEAD-ing, and tutoring have all helped to perfectly prepare me for the task I am embarking on here.

Similar to being on the Res Life Staff, Wonderland really emphasizes the importance of treating co-workers like teammates.  Also, in working with and living so closely to the other Foreign Teachers, your co-workers feel like family.  Working with children aged 3 to 6 at Montessori has certainly given me the patience and child-like attitude that is necessary to teach my Blueberry class of 6 year-olds.  GirlsLEAD camp caused me to become accustomed to long, high-energy days wherein a smile is just as important when you start your day as it is when you end your day at 730am; after all Wonderland’s motto is “Everyone Smiles at Wonderland”.  Even better, GirlsLEAD Barbados taught me the important lesson of being observant of cultural differences and using cultural elements (like food, customs, etc) to connect with the children.  Also, since my afternoon classes are smaller in size –on average 8 students per class –tutoring throughout the last couple of years prove to be great practice for me to be able to help my struggling students keep pace with the rest of the students in my class.

Ultimately, I look forward to the opportunity to use all of these skills and strategies I’ve acquired when I start teaching my classes on Thursday.  I’m also really looking forward to eating the 42cm pizza I just bought for 11,900 won ($11.90) with thin crust, spicy sauce, cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms and peppers –after I’ve picked off the olives, onions, and ground meat balls. This pizza is made up of 8 giant slices that I plan to eat all week long, especially when the lunches provided at Wonderland smell a bit too much like raw fish gruel or I want to opt out of using metal chopsticks :D   

Day 4: Sunday August 28

Successful Sunday Abroad

Sunday brought a tear-free day –yay! I woke up, went to Starbucks for Passion Iced Tea and met up with Hilary to spend some much needed time on the internet.  To be honest, if I were to put blinders on, only looking at my computer, my other senses would have convinced me I was home.  The smell of coffee brewing, the sound of jazz in the air and the ceramic mug resting comfortably in my hand –Starbucks is Starbucks.  I might have thought I was visiting a local Chapters if it weren’t for the Korean families walking past and staring at me in my Starbucks fishbowl.

The short time I spent in Barbados last summer somewhat acclimatized me to the feeling of being a minority, but here is an act of “othering” that is actually quite flattering.  Instead of hoots & hollers, there seems to be a genuine interest that involves many, mostly personal, questions because I am a waygook (foreigner) not to be confused with a megook (an American).  As promised, the Canadian flag patch on my backpack has made me a welcome traveller.

After a significant amount of correspondence, Hilary & I decided to take a trip to Myeong-dong to practice navigating the subway system around Seoul.  Myeong-dong is within Seoul and can be accessed by subway lines #1 and #4 (which runs through Gwacheon).  As my trusty KTO (Korea Travel Organization) travel guide says “Myeong-dong has long been the trendsetting center of Korean fashion... Every back alley has cafes and restaurants serving snacks and delicacies for when you need a break from shopping”; what better place to window shop, people watch and eat a spicy potato spiral on a stick. 

After an invasive 30-minute subway ride back to Gwacheon –personal bubbles are not a part of Korean culture, particularly in limited spaces like subway cars –we met up with Sara at her apartment.  The apartments of foreign teachers are equipped with hot plates and only the select few get a microwave, like Sara, so we opted for microwave-baked brownies and a couple hours of girly chatter.  Overall, a very successful Sunday abroad.

A busy Myeong-dong street with street vendors along the left

The spicy potato spiral stand (note: the potato/hot-dog combo)

Me eating a spicy potato spiral... mmmm

Day 3: Saturday August 27

A lesson in homesickness...

The roller coaster continues. I was both tired and sad, while also being relieved that I would be meeting up my new foreign teacher friends for dinner (possibly Indian food).  Thankfully, my principals thought I should take the day to rest rather than be on the Fun Day with Dad field trip that the school had organized.  I was (and still am) really missing my family & friends, including the cuddly nature of my kitty, Lily, and there is really no way to soothe that lonely feeling when you have a day to be by yourself.

I ended up napping from 4pm to 10pm Korean-time –aka 3am to 9am Canadian-time –and woke up to the sound of Sara & Hilary (who arrived here a month ago) knocking on my motel door for dinner.  Since it was late, we opted for the 24-hour McDonalds and ordered a “Shanghai Chicken set, zero soda” (Spicy Chicken Burger with Coke Zero & fries) for 5,200 won which is roughly $5.20 in Canada.  Hilary & I ended up talking at McDonalds –which played Western music like Beyonce & Bruno Mars, by the way –until 2 am then walked our separate ways which is actually incredibly safe here because it is well-lit & well-policed with the use of CCTV (the security cameras mounted everywhere).  It’s funny how feelings can fluctuate from incredibly lonely to excited for the next adventure when homesickness is looming.

My new shower shoes for less than $3 despite their Adidas-like appearance