First Month

My first month has been a total whirl wind. I can't even believe I have been here for a month! I feel truly blessed to be here. My job is so fun! I love waking up in the mornings to know I am going to see my little Elephant class (Indy, Naomi, Tommy, Leo, Shayna, Lucy, Evan, Jasmine, Ben and David: you will hear so much about them so I might as well introduce them). Every second day we get to wait for them at the entrance of the school and they run from the buses to jump on us and give us hugs, can you really tell me mornings get better then that?

I teach them phonics, and a themed book (last month was about safety, travel and transportation), I play with them, water gun fights, we colour, etc. What is most distinct about my school versus other private schools (hagwons) is that in Reggio Emilia form, their is a huge artistic focus and a focus on the children's specific interests. At the beginning of this month we asked them what they wanted to learn about and they chose art. Eileen teacher (my korean co-teacher) and I have been teaching them about Vincent Van Gogh, they know more about him then most adults do! They tried out pointillism and we even made a mural of "Starry Night". We have now moved on to teaching them about Keith Haring, pop artist extraordinaire.

We had a birthday party last weekend for the three kids in my class born in August. The parents, who are extremely wealthy bought a ton of food, not to mention a cake, presents (for everyone not just the birthday kids, and not excluding myself or Eileen Teacher). Shayna and Jasmine each wore pink princess dresses. While Indy, the birthday boy continued to be the little hellion he is every day.:) haha

My apartment is perfect. I think I set my expectations really low, reading all the blogs about horrible apartments teachers had received, when I arrived at mine I couldn't have been happier. It is one big open room, I have made it my own, decorating of course is one of my favourite things to do. I got these green wall stickers, creating a tree on my wall with a saying right above my bed "There is a pleasing sense of happiness under the leaves of this tree"

Everyone wants to know about the food, so here goes... Kimichi, i dont like it. hahaha. I gave up my vegetarianism when I came to Korea, I really wanted to make sure I could try everything and experience the culture, and what can I say, Im weak. Korean food hasn't been anything special, my favourite dish is bi bim bop, its like bean sprouts, a little hot sauce, egg, and some other vegetables mixed together. Those of you that know me know I mostly like junk food, and other crap, and I miss our poutine... haha

The weather here has been crazy, so so so hot, plus 30 or higher everyday is not manageable. My air conditioning at my work has been broken a couple times and that has been insane. Currently its rainy season, so its been raining off and on, really hard rains to. If you have been looking at my facebook you will have seen my status saying I fell down 15 stairs. haha no joke. It was raining really hard and these stairs were covered in water and I sliped and couldn't regain my balance. I have bruises all over my body, huge bruises, needless to say I have never been so mortified. Which is why Im putting it on my blog? haha.

Shopping is amazing here, I love korean fashion. Like anthropology back home but 80% less in price. I was hoping to leave my shopping addiction in Canada, and at banana republic, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Actually on that note, everything is cheaper here. We never cook because its so cheap to get food, even drinks and alcohol are extremely cheap. To go site seeing, taxis! Everything!

And for my younger friends, night life here is incredible. haha so trendy and cool. I went to a bar completely made out of doors. The tables, the chairs, the walls all made out of doors. There is this one place called vinyl where you can drink mixed drinks from bags. hard to explain!

My coworkers have been really helpful showing me around and now that I'm more settled I have made some friends of my own. Actually some korean girls who are showing me around, taking me to the most beautiful places in seoul. I feel really lucky to have met them. Uhhh and of course on the friendship note, Tia has arrived, two weeks ago? safe and sound!!! she even still talks as much? no way hey! Im extremely lucky to have her here.

Whats next?
 This friday I am going out of province with Tia and our korean friend Jamie and her friends. For sunday we are going to the DMZ. The demilitarized zone in north korea. Looking forward to both:)

There will be less talking and more photos on this blog shortly...

Alright Tata for now! and hope you all our in the best states! and if not don't be afraid to contact me!