thehumanprojectworld-blog

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

Retro Cafe, the Han at Sundown

Really fun day, yesterday! I met with a new friend and we went to a place called Retro Cafe located on the further western end of Gangnam. It’s a place to drink coffee or tea, sit back, and play retro video games! The nostalgia that permeates this little space has to be felt by every patron as they sit on Sega, or Super Nintendo, or the original Gameboy reliving all their childhood memories. I know I was certainly feeling it; I got to play so many games from my early days of video games, when I was only 4, 5, and 6 years-old.

And playing the games is completely free! As long as you come in and buy a coffee, or something else from the cafe counter, you’re free to stay as long as you like and play as much as you want. Insane, right? Talk about a cheap, fun way to pass an afternoon. A $4 iced cappuccino and as many games as I wanted to play, and I was there for 6 hours. Haha. SNS Super Mario, the first, second, and third Megaman!!!, SNS Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, the first Mortal Kombat, Star Fox 64, Bomberman 64, Mario Kart 64, and so many more - it was heaven!

On display around the cafe are all the boxes of all the games the cafe has available. Which, as you can see, is a lot.

And of course, because I’m a dork, I had to take some shots of the game systems and the games themselves.

And, for the true retro game enthusiast, there’s an array of old games for purchase - and they’re all in remarkably great condition.

I found a Japanese version Kirby’s Pinball for the Gameboy I couldn’t resist. It was just $5.

After spending some 6 hours at the cafe, my friend and I decided to eat and see the Han River. It was right at sundown time, and the Han was only one subway stop and a short walk away, so we bought some Korean street food and found a spot next to the river to eat and enjoy and people watch.

On the small mountain in the distance, there’s a tower - Namsan. It’s a well known spot in Seoul for looking out over the city. I hope to visit it soon at night to see Seoul all aglow.

Fun shot looking straight down the subway express train compartments; the cars aren’t separated with the usual sliding doors so it’s just a straight line down. And some night shots of the street. It was a fun time!

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

A few night shots from a stroll around the neighborhood. The subway was packed!

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

Nearly a Month

Already my time here in Seoul approaches a month, but I'm still surprised, everyday, to wake up in such a large, bustling, vibrant city. It's still surreal, it still feels like just a dream I'll be waking up from soon. There's still so much to do and see, but this month passed by so quickly, and I wonder if I'll be able to do everything I want to do. I guess I better start organizing my thoughts and begin planning, a bit, to make sure I get to do most - if not all - of the things I'm hoping to accomplish. First on the list: A weekend trip to Tokyo? I'm dying to finally see Japan. I mean, Seoul is great and there's a lot left to explore (and I definitely plan to explore), but I've wanted to see Japan for a really long time and now it's only a 3-hour flight away. And it's only a weekend trip, no big vacation plans or anything, so maybe in the next month or two I'll be able to do a quick getaway - see a thing or two, try some authentic Japanese food, find out how rusty my Japanese really is. Haha. We'll see! Going forward, I want to post more consistently (sorry, that flu-like cold kicked me around almost for as long as I've been here) and I'd like to post videos. I need a selfie-stick for that, though, so it's going on my list of "Things to Buy." I get paid this Friday! Woo hoo, first paycheck. We'll see if it's something I can afford.

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

Korean people are in love with food. I mean, in love. It is never a bad time to eat. This is something I observed in my school alone, in which 58382939 snacks are provided per day, plus lunch. I mean, around 2pm, it just seems like snacks run amok of the school! Up front at the reception desk there’s a corral of drinks from whoever made the drink run, plus some snack or other, and in the lunchroom the lunch lady has made a snack. Then, in an hour, after lunch lady has cleaned up and left for the day, there’s usually some kind of cake or pastry or something. Then up front? A new snack as well. One day I had cake in the back, and came up front to a teacher asking, “Teacher, do you want a drink?” And was promptly led to the awaiting kiwi icee. And if I sit down to do my computer class and the lunch lady is there? Forget about it. My Korean grandma turned surrogate Polish grandma has already made a snack for me, put it in front of me, and given me a spoon. It’s inescapable. I will eat her snack if it’s the last damn thing she does. Or I do. Or… something.

Anyway, the Korean love for food reached a new high tonight. I went out with a friend who just wanted to chat, have a drink, relax - you know, hang out. And I tell him I’ve already eaten dinner, I just want a snack. Nothing too heavy. “Oh, me too,” he says. “I’m not that hungry. A snack is good.” Okay, well, after we picked the restaurant, and discussed the food options, he ordered this (the above photos) kimchi-ohtaenggook:

Yes, a complete stew. It’s a kimchi-style fish cake stew, and in the Americas a stew is a frakking meal. Not so with Koreans. To them? It’s a snack. It came out, and I’m eying it, and I’m just blank. I’m staring. I’m literally full to the rafters from dinner, and there’s this boiling stew in front of me I’m expected to eat half of. I mean, it’s ordered, it’s here - if I don’t eat my half I’m a weakling and a food waster, two of the absolute worst things to be labelled.

Meanwhile, as I deal with a cultural life crisis, my friend - who is full and only wanted a snack - is chowing down as if he never actually ate a day in his life. I mean, I simply don’t know the answer; Korean people are incredibly thin and slender, but they appear to eat every hour of the day. The 2,000 calories a day rule does not apply to these people: 2,000 calories a day? What’s that? And I’m over here some round, curvy American white girl thinking I’ll never survive this; I’ll be fat in a month.

Help me.

But no. The food is amazing and I love food. Going out at 10pm for soju and a “snack?” That’s the life, right there.

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

How My Recruiter Botched Everything

This recruiter - whew. Where do I begin? From the start I was uneasy about this guy. So uneasy that, even though his agency was the first one I applied to and they got back to me within a day, after I had my phone interview with him I immediately went back online and applied to 10 other agencies. He rubbed me the wrong way, just straight up didn’t like him. He came off as a person trying to sell me something, and of course that always makes one feel uncomfortable. I honestly didn’t expect to accept any of his offers because even after telling him I wanted to work in Seoul - and ONLY Seoul - his first job offer to me was in the suburbs outside the city, which he explained was no big deal because it was an “easy” 30 minute ride into Seoul. I mean, that may be true; Korean public transportation is great. But still. It’s not Seoul. After work, if I want to get to the city, I have to take a train to first get to the city, and account for the train ride home and just - it’s not the same as now, when I get off work and want to go to Itaewon and it’s just 10 minutes away. Anyway, I didn’t feel like this guy really listened to me (and there were other issues besides), so I full on pushed his agency out of my mind.

Well. He set up two interviews for me with schools in Seoul, and so I gave them a shot. Both schools offered me contracts. I held out a little before accepting, seeing if any other jobs came through, but there’s a bit of pressure to accept a contract once it’s offered, or deny it, in a timely manner. Obviously. You can’t leave the school hanging around forever wondering if you’ll accept. I did a few more interviews but they didn’t pan out (honestly I think I gave the worst interviews of my life), and then this recruiter emails me asking if I was going to accept one of the offers. I turned down one of them straight away - the school had a bad reputation with other foreign teachers in the past, so even though he tried to reassure me they’d changed, I just didn’t want to go for it. It didn’t sit right with me. So, he asks about the first offer. I told him I wasn’t sure because I couldn’t find any information about it when I tried to search it, so I didn’t have a whole lot of information to base my decision off of, and I think it’s a pretty damn big decision to make.

Fast forward a bit, he contacts the school about my concerns, they give me the email of their current foreign teacher, and I’m able to ask him questions about the school and how it’s run and etc.. The current foreign teacher (who I have a separate bone to pick with; this guy) tells me he likes the school, it’s great, he recommends it - I accept the job offer. I sign the contract. I believe in the school and the foreign teacher I spoke with, so it’s all done.

My recruiter starts telling me about the things my school will help me with: paying my apartment’s rent, paying for my plane ticket, helping me get a bank account, helping me set up a phone service, and basically assist me with completely adjusting to this new beginning I have undertaken.

Except he never actually told the school about any of that. Not a thing. The school thought they were getting a teacher already acclimated to Seoul living, and that they didn’t really need to help me. For them, they had two responsibilities: pay my monthly rent and pay my plane ticket. I found all this out this morning when the CEO and his son accompanied me to the immigration office so I could apply for my Korean I.D. card (which is needed for a bank account, phone plan, etc.). And they’re looking lost - as lost as me and I’m not even a Korean native. So, I get thinking: “Didn’t they do all this for the previous teacher? Haven’t they done it before? Why does this seem new to them? Aren’t they supposed to know this stuff?!”

I begin to get frustrated; I’m a short-tempered person who knows not patience or control, so the cartoon fumes are seconds away from boiling out my ears. After we finish at the immigration office and get back in the car, I ask the CEO’s son if they did all this for the prior teacher. “No,” he says. “He was already living in Korea, and we didn’t need to.” Still. I’m thinking, how have they not done it at least once before? Well, I think it’s obvious on my face I’m upset - I don’t hide my anger well. So, a conversation begins about what I was told the school was going to assist me with, and what the school thought their obligations were. And then - voila! - it comes out that they were never told about any of the extra responsibilities.

The way the recruiting office works is there’s a Korean office - who dealt with the school - and the American office - who I dealt with; the American office (which my recruiter belongs to) did not take the time to pass on any information to the Korean office, it appears. So, in turn, it did not get to my school.

….To be cont. It’s 12:39am already, and I have work.

Back again.

Okay, so to sum it up: my recruiter told me the school was going to assist me with a lot of things, and the school was never told/had no idea.

Yesterday, after the conversation with the CEO and the revelations that graced both sides, I tried to get in contact with my recruiter, but his number is an American number, and the phone in the school’s office wouldn’t connect international. I guess the CEO was really intent on connecting this call - and I don’t blame him - because about two hours later he reaches my recruiter on his cell phone, interrupts me during a class, and passes his phone to me. 

Oh boy. The ensuing conversation is the stuff of legend. The kind of asinine nonsense you can’t make up. 

I open with a nice explanation on the situation: hey, bro, dude, guy-that-was-supposed-to-help-me - my school was somehow never informed about the list of things you told me they’d help me with, and we ran into a huge pile of problems and frustrations today down at the immigration office. Then we further worked through the issues over some coffee at a cafe, and I missed the first 4 hours of my work shift. :D Wherefore this is the case?

Okay, so his response as to why my school hadn’t been informed yet/why this confusion arose: “Oh, you know what? You probably just talked to them about it before we could.” 

Oh, wait wait wait wait.... wait. So. I signed the school’s contract in March. I worked with you for the next 4 weeks on planning my arrival; I compiled a stack of paperwork and sent it to the Seoul office for my Visa application. Even if my arrival hadn’t been delayed, and I showed up at the end of April as originally planned, there was still a 3-4 week period in which you and the U.S. office could’ve rung up the Korean office and said, “By the waaay~ (insert mini music note) We promised this new teacher some things, make sure the school knows about it.” And yet somehow, that didn’t happen. To make matters even better: my arrival WAS delayed (see my post about the airport debacle where I mention I lost my passport), which ended up giving you another 2 weeks to communicate with the Korean office and my school, and you still didn’t. Somehow, my speaking with them about these things a week after my arrival - a week into my new job in a new country - is the first they’re hearing about it. Somehow I reached them first. I beat you to the punch.

Somehow.

Well that’s good to know. I mean, we wouldn’t want to be prepared or anything. hur hur We’ll just wing it; see how it all turns out.

Okay. I say this, though with decidedly more diplomatic grace. (How? I don’t know. I’m not a tactful person. But one of my students had wandered into the room and could hear the conversation. And even though he probably wouldn’t understand a single thing, I still felt bad swearing and getting angry in the presence of a kid, especially not a kid that is mine. And, on a whim, I guess I felt the urge to try my hand at social decorum.) His response: “Yeah, well, this stuff is kind of standard, so we just expected they’d know. When we work with new schools, we go over these things, but this school was already established, even though it’s our first time working with them. So, we thought they’d know.”

Oh good. So, you just said that with new schools you like to make sure they know what’s-what and then in the same breath also admitted it was your first time working with the school. Even if the school was in operations for 100 years, and had experience with foreign teachers, it’s your recruiting agency’s first time working with this school, and you did not verify what they did and did not know before sending some stupid, bumbling American halfway across the globe to work for them - and you also told that stupid, bumbling American a whole bunch of comforting things that were not true, that you never verified, and that you never communicated with the school. Excellent. Professionalism at its peak.

(The bitter, resentful sarcasm is coming out in full force; yikes.)

I even straight asked him: “So, it’s your first time working with this school, though?”

“Yeah.”

“But you didn’t go over any of this with them?”

“Well, no. Obviously, from this, now we know they need to be told. So, next time this won’t happen. But yeah.”

You know, I sure as hell hope so. This shouldn’t have happened in the first place; any self-respecting agency that has years of experience doing this kind of work should’ve handle the situation, not been lazy, not glossed over things, not dropped the ball, not lied, and so on. I think the point is made. But seriously - if this happens again? That’d be tragic. Just straight Shakespearean tragedy. 

The CEO asked me for a list of the things the recruiter promised me, and I told his son I’d comb through my emails and copy and paste everything into one, large email and send it to him. He’s going to translate and send to his dad - the CEO - who is then going to file a nice, angry complaint with the Korean office about this recruiter. 

:D

The recruiting agency is AskNow. (asknow.ca) And my recruiter was Brant Kim. Take my post for what you will; everyone makes mistakes, and everyone deserves a second chance. But use this as a guide when trying to pick out the right agency for you; some agents are only out to make money, and they act as the middle man between you and your employer, so it’s their job to communicate well between the two sides. If they don’t, it can cause a lot of frustration and problems, and even create bad-blood between you and your employer. Luckily, I’m honest and forthcoming and I wasn’t too scared to bring these things up with my CEO and open a dialogue about it. But I know not everyone is as loud as me; quiet people, polite people, anxious people may not feel confident enough expressing their concerns, so situations that start off bad only get worse. This is just something to take note of when using this agency. If you can’t directly contact the school to make sure everything the recruiter promised actually reached them, keep the emails in case you also need to show proof and write up a large complaint.

 #whenthecustomerisACTUALLYright

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

On Tuesday, a friend and I walked about Seoul, and we came across this stream called 청계천 (Chuhnggyechuhn). It's definitely not the Han River, but still a really beautiful piece of nature that runs through some of the busier, more modern neighborhoods of Seoul, adding splashes of color and life amongest tall apartment buildings and department stores. The truly surreal part comes from descending the ramps placed here and there and finding the sounds of the city only feet above muffled, as if one has just stepped over an invisible threshold been transported to another world, or crossed over into a giant, see-through bubble. It really is this peaceful bit of nature nestled down in the city, with fish and plant life and all. It's a really great place for a walk and a cup of coffee - which is exactly what my friend and I did. We ate lunch, bought coffee, and came across it as we walked. It's really enjoyable - a simple pleasure.

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

On Tuesday, a friend and I walked about Seoul, and we came across this stream called 청계천 (Chuhnggyechuhn). It's definitely not the Han River, but still a really beautiful piece of nature that runs through some of the busier, more modern neighborhoods of Seoul, adding splashes of color and life amongest tall apartment buildings and department stores. The truly surreal part comes from descending the ramps placed here and there and finding the sounds of the city only feet above muffled, as if one has just stepped over an invisible threshold been transported to another world, or crossed over into a giant, see-through bubble. It really is this peaceful bit of nature nestled down in the city, with fish and plant life and all. It's a really great place for a walk and a cup of coffee - which is exactly what my friend and I did. We ate lunch, bought coffee, and came across it as we walked. It's really enjoyable - a simple pleasure.

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

I wanted to actually do some fun posts, now! Haha. After two long, boring ones. This delightful dish is called ttalk-kalbi; it's chicken, veggies, and tteok (rice cake) that are stirred and cooked in a metal skillet over a fire right in front of you - the customer. It's spicy, but definitely bearable, and the tteok was amazing. There were also huge chunks of onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, and cabbage, so it's not only amazingly tasty, but also packs a surprising amount of nutrition. Especially when considering the side dishes that come included, which are kimchi, radish kimchi, bean sprouts, etc. Pretty rich in minerals and vitamins, and probably low on calories. I mean, don't quote me, I'm just thinking so because most of the ingredients are vegetables. I ate this with a friend last Monday. The restaurant is literally 5 minutes from my house. I'm not sure on the price, but my friend and I split the bill, and my half came to a whopping $7 - and that included a bottle of soju, too. Really affordable, really delicious.

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

The Airport Fiasco

So, this may or may not be a long post. Haha. I feel like I could probably skip over detailing this in a post, since it really doesn’t matter in the long run, but I kind of want to remember the whole day it took to arrive in Seoul. For some odd reason.

My flight out of McCarran was at 7:50. I arrived around 6:30, I believe, so I had plenty of time. I did have to take time to un-stuff my luggage - my checked bag was 58 pounds and on international flights for United the limit is 50, otherwise the surcharge is $200 - but when I got through security and all that I had 40 minutes to get to the gate, and honestly I never board a plane until all the groups have been called because you end up just standing in a long line anyway. So, I figured I’d sort of leisurely stroll over to my gate, grab a bottle of water beforehand, no rush. Well, as I stop for my bottle of water, I go fishing around for my money - I thought I’d been really clever when I used a sort of thin fanny pack that goes around the waist, under the clothes, to hold my important stuff for easy access: Passport, money, other form of I.D. Except it wasn’t around my waist, I came to find, as I’m trying to buy my water. I figure I shoved it in my backpack after going through security. Nope, not there. As one could imagine, I’m freaking out at this point. I have no idea what has happened. Then. An announcement over the P.A. tells me to come back to the Terminal 3 Security Checkpoint. 

Okay, well, good, because obviously they’ve found my missing stuff. But bad because I have 40 minutes to get all the way back to the security checkpoint, pick up my stuff, and hurry all the way back or I miss probably the most important flight of my life. I hurry. I’m carrying two heavy pieces of luggage overflowing with my stuff - I literally mean overflowing; I couldn’t even close my backpack all the way, and my carry-on I didn’t dare open for fear it’d never close again - and I’m hurrying down the long stretch of hall that is the second half of the D-Gates, desperately trying to get back to the security checkpoint 3 flights up. 

Well, I get there. They pass me my stuff. All is fine. I open it, there’s my debit card, my cash, my driver’s license (thank god it was in there so they could easily identify who the thing belong to), but my reprieve from utter fear is brief as I realize the most important thing of all is missing: my passport. Now, I should interject here that before my trip, I lost my passport. Yes. I renewed my passport (it expired on my birthday, 2016) in September in preparation for this big move to Seoul, but ended up losing it. And it was a stupid way to lose it. I tucked it away somewhere “safe”, and when time came to find it, I couldn’t remember where I’d put it. I never lose things; I searched through all my stuff for a week and a half and could not find this sucker. Obviously, this is a big deal: I’m two-three weeks away from moving overseas and I have no passport. So, I had to rush it - that’s another story. But the thought I’d lost my passport AGAIN just sent pure terror through me; how could it have happened again? 

I go searching through my stuff in panic, and there it is, tucked into the protective case surrounding my phone. I’d tucked it in there when collecting up my things from the checkpoint. I’d taken it out to use as my I.D. to get through, and then just had it in hand, and the waist-fanny pack I’d had to take off because I had change inside and it didn’t go through the x-ray machine. But ok. All my stuff is in order. Lesson learned: stop freaking out, stop being nervous, and just slow-down and be level-headed. I think I was so hyped and nervous and anxious that I was finally moving, I was finally about to begin this wacky journey, that I was making completely dumb mistakes. Either way, I had my stuff. I hurried back to my gate.

I know I have enough time so I stop for my bottle of water - which I desperately need now, after running across the airport like a maniac. I get to my gate - flight delayed by an hour. HA. I did all that running and panicking and the flight wasn’t even on time. There were some bad weather conditions around San Francisco, so pretty much all flights going in and going out were delayed. The problem was my flight in San Francisco was a direct flight to Seoul, so if I missed it - then what? I had to line up behind some 50 other people suffering the same problem, and a United employee booked me on a second itinerary just in case I missed the San Fran connection. I know it was the best they could do, but it wasn’t ideal, so I was really hoping to make the connection. We board the plane in Vegas at 8:50, and head out. No problems. We land and I’m checking the time and I begin calculating how long it will take me to rush off the plane and sprint down the airport to reach my gate because we landed earlier than expected and I have time to make my connection.

Well, just kidding: there’s a plane in our gate-spot, so we’re stuck on the tarmac, waiting for this other plane to vacate, for 40 minutes. Yes. Sitting there for 40 minutes. Everyone on the plane must be landing in San Fran for a connection flight because I swear, every leg is shaking impatiently in the aisle, fingers are drumming on seat head rests, everyone is checking their phone or watch every minute, and the huffs and sighs and eye-rolling that’s going on could put a group of angsty mall-rat pre-teens to shame. Obviously, I realize, I’m going to miss my connection flight and will have to take the back-up plan. It’s not so bad; as long as I arrive, then I arrive, no matter through which airport it takes.

Well, realizing I missed my original connection, and after sitting anxiously on the plane for 40 minutes, I need to use the restroom. I come out, look up my flight information, find the appropriate gate, and get moving. Well, just so happens the back-up flight to Tokyo (Narita Airport) is at Gate 101 - the very last gate San Francisco airport has to offer. My flight from Vegas landed at gate 68. My airport marathon begins anew; at first I was slightly at ease, but after getting a glimpse of the airport map, and realizing just how long of a way I had to go, I started power walking like no one’s business. I make no jokes, and embellish no tales for dramatic affect, when I say I arrived at the gate for my back-up flight with 6 minutes to spare. A whole 6 minutes. We sat so long on the tarmac on the plane from Vegas, that not only did I miss my original connection flight, but I damn near missed the back-up flight, too. Well, I made it, all the same. The plane is flying to Japan - but who cares? Tokyo isn’t far from Seoul, and the real struggle is just getting my ass over that Pacific Ocean divide at this point.

Sadly, there was a casualty at the San Francisco airport: my beloved black faux-leather jacket. While gasping for breath at the counter and trying to explain my situation to the United employee about my missed flight and the delays, I think it slipped right off my arm. And I didn’t notice because I was just happy I’d made it in time and the employees weren’t shaking their heads at me, arms sternly folded, telling me it was too late. I also told the flight attendant I’d lost it once I reached my seat, and they searched the walkway leading up to the plane and the plane aisle, but found nothing, so I assume it was at the United counter in the airport somewhere, forgotten and left behind. Tragic. I could really use that jacket; it was the only one I packed, and the weather here in Seoul is not exactly “summer” weather, though Korean people tell me it’s summertime. HA. Please spend a day in Vegas in May, with the 90 degree Fahrenheit heat, and then explain to me how 70 degrees with clouds, or full on rain with wind gusts, counts as “summer.” 

(Note to self: You still need to buy a new coat. The weather is rainy and cloudy and low 70s/60s, so you might want to invest in one.)

Well, I make the plane to Tokyo. It’s a 13 hour flight, there abouts, and I had not been able to eat all day, so I looked like a complete psycho to the middle-aged Japanese couple sitting in my row as I all but inhaled the terrible food served to us for lunch, and then breakfast. (Breakfast? Yeah, somehow we skipped over dinnertime passing the International Date Line, and even though we landed in Japan around 2:30, they thought we should get a... breakfast. I don’t know. Anyway, thanks United: I was starving and free food is free food.) We landed fine, no waiting on the tarmac, and my flight to Seoul left around 5:30, so I had a bit of time. I was actually able to calmly walk to my gate and rest - what?! - and sit down without any worries. I had time to e-mail my recruiter and give him an update, so he could re-work my pick-up, and everything was good.

Come 5:30 I boarded the flight from Narita to Incheon and it landed at almost 9. Got picked up by someone from the recruiting office who bought me a bus ticket into a city - only $14 and the seats were luxuriously sculpted masterpieces of comfort - and around 10:30 I arrived in my new neighborhood: Sindorim. (It’s spelled “Si” but pronounced “Shi” because when the Korean equivalent “s” letter comes before the kind of Korean equivalent “i” letter, they make a “sh” sound.) The school’s CEO and his son - Dong Jin - picked me up and drove me to a corner mart to pick me up some stuff, then took me to my apartment. The CEO handed his card over to his son, and Dong Jin took me out for a late-night dinner. Then, finally, I returned home at nearly 1, cleaned myself up, organized a slight bit, and went to sleep. 

And that was my flight to, and arrival in, Seoul.

[thehumanprojectworld-blog]

First Week In Seoul: The Adventure Begins

This post is long overdue, and I realize that, but I feel like I’ve been busy non-stop since I arrived. It’s definitely not a bad thing, I just haven’t felt like there’s been a good time to sit down and make quality posts. But! It’s finally Friday, the work day is done, and I’m at home without having to think about my schedule for tomorrow, or having a friend coming over soon to help me learn and navigate the city, and show me all the cool places to eat. So! Post time.

Haha. Honestly, I’m trying to look back on the week and remember all my “first impressions,” but I can’t - it’s kind of a blur, that’s how busy I’ve been. Busy and stressed. I mean, stressed because it was my first week at work, first week in a new place, and there’s a lot to know and learn and adjust to, and I can’t always communicate well with people. I mean, I understand a bit of Korean, and I’m still studying to expand on that knowledge, but I’m not fluent - not by a long shot. And when my friends aren’t around to be the gracious translator, sometimes frustration and confusion ensued. It happens, and it’s to be expected. Still adds a certain level of stress, though.

Work is stressful for several reasons. Haha.

1. I work with little kids - the age range is 3-6. So, as one can imagine, things get loud, crazy, and hectic as kids jump around, pull you along, and throw tantrums over the littlest things. And yes, I had two kids cry on me this week: one kid from my class with Rote, and another from Rosa; both classes have 4 year-olds. (I don’t understand why they named the classes these names.) The first time it happened was Monday - my first day and already kids are just crying out of no where. And I mean out of no where. I was reading them a story (in English, of course) and this little girl close to me is sitting, watching, totally normal. Then her face starts getting a bit red and she’s just crying, just like that, in a blink. She didn’t bawl and make a lot of noise, but tears were just free-falling down her face. I didn’t know what to think; had I said something/done something wrong? But I mean, I’m reading a story about ice cream and cookies - how does that make a kid upset? So, I’m figuring I just scared her, being the new teacher and all. The previous teacher was at the school for a 1 and 1/2, so seeing me, this new face, pop up out of no where can be upsetting to a small child. So, okay. I brush it off. Kids cry, they get upset easily, they’re sensitive. No big deal.

2. Fast forward to Wednesday (Tuesday was labelled a National Holiday because South Korea was voting that day for the new President; there was no work and no school) and I’m in Rosa class doing some flashcards of the alphabet with the students. Their homeroom-type teacher (each class is set-up with a teacher that’s the main teacher, and then I come in for 30min. English lessons; I change rooms and go everywhere, the other teachers have an actual class they stick to) was passing out candy, but ran out before one boy - Jooheon - could get a piece. He gets a little emotional, as a kid going without candy in the face of his classmates sucking away on their piece is wont to be, and the teacher takes him in search of another package to give him one. Okay. I start my lesson. I have a set of flashcards with the alphabet in uppercase, and a separate set with lower case; I start with the uppercase flashcards. I finished them. I begin the lower case cards and Jooheon returns; the teacher leaves to take a break. He’s upset that he missed doing the large letters, and begins saying “Hajima, hajima” over and over while trying to force the uppercase letter set into my hands and remove the lower case. (”Stop, stop.”) His classmates rally to me, and begin telling him to stop: “Ahn dweh, ahn dweh.” (Don’t do that.) Tug-o-war ensues between the kids as Jooheon desperately tries to start the lesson over with the uppercase letters, and I’m stuck telling him we did those while he was gone, and the rest of the class wants to move forward. But he’s completely beside himself. He’s trying to yank the cards out of my hands as I ignore his tantrum and continue with the lesson of lowercase letters. So, then I stand up so he can’t reach - the perk of being an adult. But then he begins pushing at the back of my legs to make me sit down; “Anhja.” - “Sit.” Now, as I’m big enough to not be pushed around by a 4 year-old, I’m still able to stand and give the lesson, but he persists, tears streaming down his face, until I finish the lowercase. I move on to my third set of flashcards, which have a picture on each card and a word: picture of an apple, “apple” and the “a” is underlined to highlight the letter. At some point nearing the end of the class period, the teacher returns and can see Jooheon still beside himself. I do my best to explain to her what happened - my Korean isn’t really good enough to explain a situation like this, and she doesn’t speak a word of English. Somehow, the point gets across with some broken Korean sentences and gestures. She asks me to start over for him, so, hey, what the hell, sure. I put the third set of cards away and go back to the large letters. We barely get started before it’s time I go, so I stand and wave good-bye - “Annyuhng” - and clean up the flashcards and stand to leave. Jooheon attaches himself to me, the crying once more in full force (we’d reached a moment of calm when the uppercase set had come out), and yells “Kajima! Kajima! Kajima!” - “Don’t go!” His teacher has to sort of bear hug him to restrain him so I can get out the door. I somehow escape with my sanity and patience intact, and I’m not sure how. 

I guess because: kids are kids, and for most of these little ones they’re too young to even know the Korean alphabet well, let alone know the English one. I learned this week that my job isn’t to be some big, serious English teacher, but to gently introduce them to the basics: the alphabet, some words, some sounds, some spelling, all through games and fun times, and not worry if things get hectic. Hell, not worry if kids aren’t even listening. At 3, 4, and 5 most kids don’t even listen to their Korean teachers, how can they be expected to listen to me, who is speaking mostly in a language they don’t know?

So, after being stressed out over whether or not I’d be able to do a good job, and realizing the lessons aren’t supposed to be that serious or academic, I’m coming to terms with the job much easier. I came with the mindset: do well, work hard, teach them a lot, don’t shame your country or the English language. But really the mindset doesn’t need to be that hardcore; I’ll surely teach them some things, but through games and songs and maybe a bit of bookwork here and there (for the older kids). I mean, today in one of the baby classes of 3 year-olds, they were only just waking up from their naps and all had sippy cups in hand, looking drowsy. Haha. And mid-way through singing the ABC song, one little girl got up, got pulled to a corner, and got her diaper changed. So, I mean, I really learned these are little kids, and they aren’t actually expected to learn that much, the point is merely to introduce these things to them. So, that’s the plan from here on out. I’m not a professor. I teach little kids. Crayons and songs and games should be the main fare for the classroom.