So lemme catch you up (I know, it's been 2 days, what could have happened?!). Sunday I prayed and vegged out. I haven't had a lot of luck finding a Catholic church here in Dongtan... in fact one website said there wasn't one, so I'm going to have to cast a wider net. The annoying thing is that when I try to look it up on Google, it's all in Korean. That is less helpful than you might believe. I did thank God for a certain sister who loaded me up with plenty of movies on my hard drive. :)
So yesterday was my first day at school, and for those of you who are SUUUPER curious, here's the scoop. I'm going to be teaching what is basically Kindergarten and Elementary school kids. I shadowed some of the elementary classes. The levels are Kinder, Seedbed, Seed, Sprout, and Sapling. I have no Sapling (highest level) classes. I go to work at 12:30pm and we work until 8:30pm. The first class on MWF is at 2:25 and then run until 7:05, so that's the time that I'm actively teaching. For T,TH classes, they start at 3:15 and run until 7:05. The rest of the time is for lesson planning, making copies, and grading. The curriculum is pretty straightforward and seems pretty easy to teach. The kids are way high energy, and trying to match that is going to be interesting for me. I keep on thinking that I might have to channel Mr. Quayle - nothing we ever did phased him. It's also the end of the term - the students will be leveling up and starting new classes on March 4, so I think there's some end-of-term excitement going on, too.
My fellow teachers are really sweet and fun (and I was wrong, the man in the pic from the previous post is also from South Africa. Oops). IT also turns out that Chungdahm April (which is the program that I'm in) in Dongtan is actually the best branch in S Korea. So you know, no pressure to not bring it down!! It takes about 20 mins to walk to work from where I live... in terms of blocks, I'm not 100% sure because we cut thru a park (and I'm not used to measuring in blocks), but I'd guess between 5 and 10. After work yesterday I went to a store called 'Daiso' which is kind of the equivalent of 5 Below in the states. I was able to get a few more things for the apt (a bath mat, yoga mat, more hangers, a scalp massager thingy that I've seen advertised before, etc). Humans are creatures of habit, so I figure the sooner I get into a routine, the more comfortable I'll feel. I also got a watch, which is useful but it's going to take some getting used to. So not a watch person, but my alarm clock that I brought with me runs too slow and I'd like to know that I'm getting up at a decent time each day.
So there's only a bit more that I need to do to get settled. The school is going to help me to get my Resident Alien Card (hehehe, I'm an Alien) and once I have that, I can get a phone. Apparently for unlimited calls, texts, and data it's going to run me about $50 a month. Also when I have my RAC, I can get a Korean bank account and that means I can get PAID! And the school is also going to help me to get Wifi for my apartment, which will mean that I can MAKE SOME CALLS!!!! It's been horrible not being able to at least hear people's voices. Thank God for the internet and (I hate to say it) Facebook. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to communicate at all!!
So that's pretty much it. I got up this AM and did some yoga and realized that it's been a LONG time since I did any yoga. I also brought my resistance bands, so I'm going to have to figure out how those are supposed to be used. A gym membership here seems affordable and you pay by the month, but I'm not much of one for actually going to the gym. I think having my own wake up/wind down fitness thing in my apt will be more sustainable. Also, heat in the apartment works differently than in the states. Here the floor is heated and that heats the apt... which is REALLY nice when your feet tend to be the only things that are cold!! Taking a shower is funny because pretty much everything in the bathroom gets wet (except for the towels, they seem to be out of the spray zone). The shower head is pleasant - good spray. Cuz you know, these things are important! I haven't cooked anything yet - food here is pretty cheap and SO GOOD!!! I think once I have internet, go to the food store everyone keeps on mentioning (Emart, I think it is), and make something of a plan, I'll cook. In the meantime, I can tell you that they do have tortilla chips here, and I found queso and salsa, though I didn't buy them because I was scared I'd be disappointed. I think I'll make NACHOS! Oh and Jude was right - the counters are WAY SHORT! I also had the thought that I might have to learn to like ramen... it's everywhere here!! Also, it's easy to make. I've pretty much just been using my kettle at home for coffee and tea. My fellow teachers told me that the best pizza place around here is... Dominos. It kinda killed my soul a bit, but now pizza sounds AMAZING!
Oh, also the school is treating us to lunch on Thursday and Friday is a national holiday so there's no school on Friday. It's Korean Independence Movement day. Apparently this doesn't happen often, so it's a bit of a treat for everyone.
And that's pretty much it. I'm still working on my mental map of Dongtan so that I can get around better. It's all still so new!!!
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