A Day of Firsts

Song of the Moment: "Jolene" - Ray LaMontagne

#3: Koreans are all 2 years older than Americans. Koreans believe that your life starts in the womb. Once you are born you turn 2. Just one of the MANY quirky things that surround the Korean culture.

Yesterday was my first day as a Hagwon teacher. My first official class was a group of 10 students around the Korean age of 7 or 8. They did not speak any English and my first task was to teach them the ABCs. That's like trying to teach me the Korean alphabet. It sounds so much simpler than it really is. I had Elle (my supervisor and translator) in the room with me so that helped a smidge but it sure showed me what those kids go through everyday trying to learn a language that I take forgranted. I never realized how difficult it would be to teach a child the meaning of the word "school" or the english word for colors... something that I naively thought would be simple. It will definatly be a process and one that I will hopefully get better at as time progresses. Hopefully is the key word here.

My introduction to my first Korean resturant and bar in happened last night with my newfound group of teachers. An amazing dinner of the foreigner staple of "Cheesy Rice" followed by an evening at the local foreign bar named Whistler rounded out of my first official day. I even met a teacher who grdadutaed from Ball State and even knows a few of my friends from home! Can you say small freaking world?! I can. Small freaking world. The ironic thing is he used to play in a band at Docs that I have seen before. How two Ball State grads ended up on the other side of the world in the same city is beyond me.

There are so many foreign teachers within close proximity to me that it is amazing. It makes me feel so much more at ease knowing that there are other people around me that are going through the exact same thing. They understand the culture shock and the little things Koreans do that we don't understand. They get it that using chopsticks is a skill that evolves over time... kimchi is an aquired taste...squid is something that new teachers will probably have a problem with...using a squatting toilet will take time to use properly...and so many more. Oh the crazy life we lead in Korea :)