Well I've been here for about a month, and I have really been enjoying myself. I just finished my first month of classes at Connexus, and for having only been a teacher for a month, I did pretty well. Each month students have to evaluate all of the teachers, and my evaluation was really good (The only criticism that I received was from one class who wanted me to correct them more, but other than that they liked the class). I still find it kind of funny that I'm a teacher, because a year ago if you asked me if I wanted to be a teacher, I would have surely said no. In fact, it didn't quite sink in that I was a teacher until I finished my first day.
Besides teaching I have had some good experiences, and very few uncomfortable ones. Right now the only thing that I am a little frustrated with is that I can't speak Korean yet, but of course that is to be expected. Scott Lehman, my friend and ceramics buddy from Goshen, is here in Seoul, and we've hung out a couple of times. Surprisingly enough we were chatting online and I found out that his hotel was only one stop away on the subway from where I work, which is crazy considering Seoul is one of the top 5 biggest cities in the world!
I've found that part of the reason why I've been doing so well is because I have found a lot of things that are similar to cities in the US. Seoul is a very modern city, and so a lot of technology is just as good if not better than what you'd find in the US. I also like the food, which is really important when adapting to a new culture.
Korean food typically consists of rice, stew, and side dishes that you share with everyone that you eat with. It might seem different to most Americans, but I grew up eating rice and stew at home, so it wasn't very hard to make the transition. The most common side dish is Kimchi, which is spiced fermented vegetables. Anywhere you go for food it's usually a side dish and Koreans love it. I think it's good, but I don't usually eat a lot of it.
My favorite dish so far is called Sam Gyeop Sal, which basically tastes like pork chops, but you add other things to it. When you go out to a restaurant and order it, the table has a fire pit in the middle of it, and the server brings out hot coals and a grate for the fire pit, and takes slabs of pork that looks like thick pieces of bacon and lays them on the grate to be cooked. After the meat is cooked, you take a piece of lettuce and put the pork in it with onions, garlic, and this spicy bean dip and roll up the lettuce and eat it. It is absolutely phenomenal!
Most of the people that I have met are very nice, especially the students. Most of my students are between the ages of 20 and 30, and so it's easy to relate to them. Their age also makes it easy for me to teach because I don't have to focus on discipline within the classroom. The students are also pretty smart, and work very hard. Just the other day we had our last day of class for the month (classes usually last about a month before we switch and have new classes), and so for the last day I tried to teach one of my classes how to play Settlers. Now Settlers is a game that is pretty complicated, and so it was challenging trying to teach the students how to play the game in English, when some of them still have difficulty speaking and learning the language. But they figured out how to play, and I was surprised that I didn't win considering I was the one teaching the game. Oh Well.
There's the update. I've been pretty busy, so I haven't had much time to write. If there is anything that you are interested in hearing about, please feel free to comment or write me an email.
Friday, August 28, 2009
KAC, Connexus, and Teaching
So I thought I'd write some general info about what I've been doing, and the organization that I work for:
As you know already I am an English teacher, and I work for a company called Connexus. Connexus began in 2005, and is a language institute that encourages learning English through discussion rather than drills on writing and grammar. Because of this my greatest assets have been that I speak English and that I can facilitate dialogue with people (Basically, my ability to talk a lot has been immensely helpful). One student the other day said that he really enjoyed the discussion aspect of Connexus, because many English schools here stress writing and grammar, and do not emphasize discussion as much.
The Korean Anabaptist Center (KAC) is a Mennonite organization that started in 2001, and Connexus was established by the KAC. Both organizations are located in the same office, but KAC works more with religious activities, and Connexus is the English teaching organization.
The founders of KAC and Connexus are Kyong-Jung Lee, and Jai Young Lee. They both run KAC and Connexus, but Kyong-Jung manly handles KAC, and Jai works more with Connexus (Surprisingly enough i played soccer at Goshen College with Kyong-Jung's nephew SaeChan).
I only work 4 days a week, but I spent a lot of time at Connexus during those 4 days. Usually on a typical day I arrive at Connexus at 10:00 a.m. and leave around 10:00 p.m., which sounds like a lot, but not all of those 12 hours are spent working. Every day I teach three classes that are 1 1/2 hours each, and one class that is 50 minutes. The rest of the time I'm at Connexus I spent preparing for class, eating, and browsing the web. Some days I'm busy most of the day, but I also have days where I'm not as busy, and spend some time relaxing and watching youtube videos.
As you know already I am an English teacher, and I work for a company called Connexus. Connexus began in 2005, and is a language institute that encourages learning English through discussion rather than drills on writing and grammar. Because of this my greatest assets have been that I speak English and that I can facilitate dialogue with people (Basically, my ability to talk a lot has been immensely helpful). One student the other day said that he really enjoyed the discussion aspect of Connexus, because many English schools here stress writing and grammar, and do not emphasize discussion as much.
The Korean Anabaptist Center (KAC) is a Mennonite organization that started in 2001, and Connexus was established by the KAC. Both organizations are located in the same office, but KAC works more with religious activities, and Connexus is the English teaching organization.
The founders of KAC and Connexus are Kyong-Jung Lee, and Jai Young Lee. They both run KAC and Connexus, but Kyong-Jung manly handles KAC, and Jai works more with Connexus (Surprisingly enough i played soccer at Goshen College with Kyong-Jung's nephew SaeChan).
I only work 4 days a week, but I spent a lot of time at Connexus during those 4 days. Usually on a typical day I arrive at Connexus at 10:00 a.m. and leave around 10:00 p.m., which sounds like a lot, but not all of those 12 hours are spent working. Every day I teach three classes that are 1 1/2 hours each, and one class that is 50 minutes. The rest of the time I'm at Connexus I spent preparing for class, eating, and browsing the web. Some days I'm busy most of the day, but I also have days where I'm not as busy, and spend some time relaxing and watching youtube videos.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Roommates
Today I was just thinking about the fact that I live with 3 other guys, and all of us are from a different country. My roommates are from Canada, South Korea, and North Korea, and all of them are pretty cool.
My roommate from Canada is named Marvin, and he is an English teacher like me, so we see each other every day. But he's pretty busy, so we don't actually see each other outside of work. He's a nice guy, and has helped me get adjusted.
Yoon-Seo Park is my roommate from South Korea, who works for the Korean Anabaptist Center, which is tied to Connexus, and the KAC people work in the same office as the Connexus teachers. He's hilarious, and also pretty crazy, so we've got some things in common. He refers to himself as my host father, and often times at lunch he tells me "eat well because there won't be food at home." Because of this so called parent-child relationship to him, he calls me Park Je Shi (or Jesse Park, but in Korea the name Jesse is pronounced "Je Shi").
Songuk is the one from North Korea, and he's a really nice guy, but doesn't talk very much. I also don't see him much, partly because I've been pretty busy with teaching, but he's kind of a mystery. My roommates and I have this running joke that he's a spy for North Korea, but I'm pretty sure that's far from the truth. In fact, he left North Korea a long time ago, and has lived in China and South Korea ever since.
Well that's a little info on my roommates.
My roommate from Canada is named Marvin, and he is an English teacher like me, so we see each other every day. But he's pretty busy, so we don't actually see each other outside of work. He's a nice guy, and has helped me get adjusted.
Yoon-Seo Park is my roommate from South Korea, who works for the Korean Anabaptist Center, which is tied to Connexus, and the KAC people work in the same office as the Connexus teachers. He's hilarious, and also pretty crazy, so we've got some things in common. He refers to himself as my host father, and often times at lunch he tells me "eat well because there won't be food at home." Because of this so called parent-child relationship to him, he calls me Park Je Shi (or Jesse Park, but in Korea the name Jesse is pronounced "Je Shi").
Songuk is the one from North Korea, and he's a really nice guy, but doesn't talk very much. I also don't see him much, partly because I've been pretty busy with teaching, but he's kind of a mystery. My roommates and I have this running joke that he's a spy for North Korea, but I'm pretty sure that's far from the truth. In fact, he left North Korea a long time ago, and has lived in China and South Korea ever since.
Well that's a little info on my roommates.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Back To The Future! (for the first time)
I made it!!! And I made it just in time for classes!
I was able to get everything together that I needed to submit to the Korean consulate in San Francisco by Wednesday, which was amazing considering what I had to do to get everything together. When I showed up to the Korean consulate on Wednesday with all of my documentation, they told me that I didn't need to be interviewed (they require some people to be interviewed before going to Korea), and that they would have my passport ready by Friday.
So on Friday I picked up my passport at 9:15 a.m., and hopped on a plane to South Korea that afternoon at 2:00, which didn't give me much time to get to the airport, but after what I went through to get the visa to leave, I was determined to make my flight.
The flight was 12 hours, and I didn't sleep for the entire time I was on the plane (I was awake for about 22 hours). Jet lag kicked in upon arrival to Korea, and it didn't help that I went to church on Sunday morning after arriving on Saturday evening. Fortunately church was interesting, but I didn't realize that it would be 4 hours! It wasn't so bad, and there was a potluck afterward, so at least I was well fed.
Unfortunately because I was scheduled to teach on Monday, and because I arrived on Saturday evening, I didn't get much orientation. The first couple of days involved introductory activities that involved simple discussions in English, so even though I wasn't well prepared, it wasn't so bad. Also Connexus ( the language institute that I work for) has a lot of the curriculum already prepared for me, so it's not as bad as it could be. Also the other English teachers from the US and Canada have been really helpful to me in telling me things that I need to know.
So far I have been enjoying being here! I've been thinking about my experience on SST in Ethiopia, and I think that I am much more prepared for an experience like this now than when I went to Ethiopia as a sophomore in college. It's also helpful to be in a place that has a lot of similarities to the US.
I was able to get everything together that I needed to submit to the Korean consulate in San Francisco by Wednesday, which was amazing considering what I had to do to get everything together. When I showed up to the Korean consulate on Wednesday with all of my documentation, they told me that I didn't need to be interviewed (they require some people to be interviewed before going to Korea), and that they would have my passport ready by Friday.
So on Friday I picked up my passport at 9:15 a.m., and hopped on a plane to South Korea that afternoon at 2:00, which didn't give me much time to get to the airport, but after what I went through to get the visa to leave, I was determined to make my flight.
The flight was 12 hours, and I didn't sleep for the entire time I was on the plane (I was awake for about 22 hours). Jet lag kicked in upon arrival to Korea, and it didn't help that I went to church on Sunday morning after arriving on Saturday evening. Fortunately church was interesting, but I didn't realize that it would be 4 hours! It wasn't so bad, and there was a potluck afterward, so at least I was well fed.
Unfortunately because I was scheduled to teach on Monday, and because I arrived on Saturday evening, I didn't get much orientation. The first couple of days involved introductory activities that involved simple discussions in English, so even though I wasn't well prepared, it wasn't so bad. Also Connexus ( the language institute that I work for) has a lot of the curriculum already prepared for me, so it's not as bad as it could be. Also the other English teachers from the US and Canada have been really helpful to me in telling me things that I need to know.
So far I have been enjoying being here! I've been thinking about my experience on SST in Ethiopia, and I think that I am much more prepared for an experience like this now than when I went to Ethiopia as a sophomore in college. It's also helpful to be in a place that has a lot of similarities to the US.
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