Hello Becca Teacher!

Thus far, my workload has been pretty minimal. It seems like the school is pretty laid back and the teachers just kind direct me in the classroom where needed. I really don't mind this though, I'd rather be eased in then thrown into teaching a class by myself like some of my friends have. Although, after school classes will probably be starting soon and those will be taught completely by me. These classes consist of students who have a higher level of English and are also meant to be fun, so I'm actually looking forward to getting those started. So far this week I've taught 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students and so far so good. The 4th and 5th graders are so cute and eager to practice their English. I made a small powerpoint to introduce myself to the students this week and they love seeing pictures about me. They especially loved pictures of my family, my house, the Steelers and the the Pens!

My BFF Jeiong Sa-In on the Right!

After I got through the powerpoint, we always let the kids ask me questions. They asked lots of questions about Peter, who they were very interested in. And they always wanted to know, how tall I am, how old I am, am I married, and do I have a boyfriend? I got great feedback from the kids and they seem to really like me far, although it could just be the blonde hair... But still, I've made a new best friend; a fifth grade boy named Jeiong Sa-In. He now comes into my classroom everyday after lunch, writes his name in English on post-it note on my desk and writes "best student" beneath it. He then comes around my desk and asks me how my day was so far. If other kids come in my room, which they often do, and start too get rowdy, he takes care of it for me. He's pretty adorable!

And here's something I'm sure you'll find interesting. At the end of the day, the students go around and sweep all the classrooms. Also, on my way to school in the mornings there is always a class outside walking the sidewalks picking up trash with a teacher. This also seems to be most teachers method of punishment. If you continue to act out in class, then you'll be assigned extra cleaning duty. I keep imagining what would happen if you ever tried to make a kid in the US clean their school as part of the normal school day. I think I would be laughed at by the kids and then probably have several very angry parents knocking down my door.

On Monday, I had my first big grocery shopping outing by myself. I took the subway the one stop up to the Home Plus and successfully managed to buy a few things for the apt that I was missing, like forks- I've only been using chop sticks for 2 weeks now, but for some things, you just need a fork- and got some much needed food. Since I had a pretty hefty load of groceries, I hailed a cab to take me home since it would only be a short a ride. The cab drivers here don't speak english, so taking one is always an adventure. Also, apparently the Korean Government has decided to allow cab drivers to watch TV while driving passengers, this, in addition to other ridiculous driving habits of Koreans, is part of the reason I think my chances of getting hit by a car in the next have gone up tremendously. Now that I have my address written down to show drivers it's easier to get home, but I don't live in a major apartment complex so it's been pretty hit or miss if the drivers recognize it. However, what I don't get, is they all have GPS systems in their car,  and it seems that half of them don't even know how to work them, so having my address doesn't necessarily help. When all else fails I tell them to go the subway near me and direct them from there- problem solving skills! At least the cabs are cheap and the drivers are very nice. The guy yesterday helped me load and unload all my groceries. 

So far I haven't been able to find a gym close to me, but a couple of teacher's have offered to look around for me seeing as everything is in korean, making is very hard for my to even identify one. I ventured almost an hour yesterday to a subway stop called "sports complex" just find that everything seemed to be locked up...epic fail. In the mean time I've been doing work out videos from youtube in my apartment. So far my favorite video's are Tiffany Rothe dance video's, today I did the ballerina legs, mountain climber and booty buster videos. Comical, I know, but I've got to do something! Thankfully I've found a group of people that play beach volleyball every weekend and am excited to check it out this weekend, hopefully make some new friends, and get some exercise outside!