1. Day off…. Sweet! My elementary schools started vacation earlier than my middle school and so today I had no class. Mind ya, I had to visit Dankook University for a brief orientation.
2. Orientation at the university consisted of me sitting around with Ki-Dong (one of the teacher’s assistants) and casually chatting about what to expect, what do to, and all the luxeries that come with the job. Here’s the key pointers I was particularly interested in:
- - Classes are TWO HOURS long!
- They've already got me a new flat-screen computer for my desk in the staff room... nice!
- Picking up extra classes is super easy and the extra pay is great.
- I’m not required to spend endless countless hours in the office but am instead allowed to come right before class and leave right after… sweet
- I only work 4 days a week… most sweet!
- It only costs me 950 won (that’s like 95 cents CDN) to bus it home (10min ride... great!)
- They basically give me a textbook and tell me to teach it. What and how I do it is solely up to me… cool. So there’s a lot of flexiablity and lee-way.
- I get to create my own exams for the students to take. Talk about power….ha, ha, ha.
- I’ll be working with 11 other English foreign teachers and so I won’t be forced to figure things out solely on my own… there’s a team backing me up.
- THREE MONTHS of uninterrupted, totally mine, totally paid for holidays… need I say more! ㅋㅋㅋ
2. Quickly came to the conclusion that Ki-Dong and I are going to be great friends after I realized just how honest he was about the job. I really respect him for his honesty and eagerness to help me out. He’s a pretty cool dude.
3. Holy uncomfortable moment in the university teachers’ room. As Ki-Dong and I sat there talking, we were interrupted by this Korean Prof. who, I personally though, was being rude to some random first level English student. The boy was arguing his mark cause apparently he presented a doctor’s note for a missed class. Instead of the Prof. being cool about it and trying to explain it in simple terms, he ratted the student out and cursed. I don’t really care for a tough guy or a Prof that acts all tough to their students.
4. Much respect to the student though. He had written out various sentences prior to meeting the Prof. and so I thought that showed a lot of effort on his part. I felt bad for him and so when everyone had stepped out of the room, I was there left with him. I tried my best attempt at translating into Korean for the student what the Prof. had said. He was really thankful for my explaination and I was really humoured at my choppy translation...ㅋㅋㅋ.
5. Well my meeting at the university sent me home on a huge high but then I crashed and burned in the afternoon when I met up with Ryan. We had some unresolved business to take care of (which is still unresolved). I was super nervous but excited to see him but no sooner did I get into his van than things turned sour.... real sour.
6. In the heat of the moment, it's fair to say that both he and I said things that we later regretted. A second after I had said it, I shook my head and knew I went too far. We both did and for my part, I really am sorry. I don't want things to end on this sour note.
7. I was in no mood to go out and so I stayed in for most of the evening. I tried to cheer myself up by cooking up a big pot of macaroni and cheese.... the real stuff, by Kraft! Thanks mom!
8. Kim Tae came over and so I shared my macaroni and cheese (this stuff is like gold) with him... only cause he brought over banana milk though...ㅋㅋㅋ.
9. Agreed to play a silly game with Kim Tae. I'm not too sure who invited this game but Korean's sure love to incorporate "rock-paper-scissors" in various games. Tonight's game involved push-ups and "rock-paper-scissors". It started off with us doing a round of "rock-paper-scissors". The loser then had to do 1 push-up. Then step one is repeated but the loser then has to do 2 push-ups... this continues until the last loser does 15 push-ups.
10. Our game ended with me being the biggest loser... Kim Tae did a mere 33 push-ups and I ended up doing a grand total of 87! I'm super woman! ㅋㅋㅋ
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What should I call my little puppy?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
-- Allan Chalmers
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