Sunday

Please see my last post for pictures from Friday and Saturday!

Sunday I went to Seoul with Sarah and Lindsay. Our quest was to find Costco. And that we did.

Alcohol at Costco. Very cheap.

I've heard of soap on a rope...

I was tempted to buy it (pause) NOT.

The 3 of us taking a break.

Water from the vending machine was 200 Won. That's 17 cents Canadian!!!!!!! (.10 Euro for those in the Netherlands!)

Jong Ji (Stop)

That (along with the previous post) was my weekend!! It was fun!

Until next time...

The weekend

So I had a really busy weekend, but I had a lot of fun!!! I took tons of pictures, some of which I will put in here. If you want to see the pictures more clearly or bigger, you can click on them to open up a new window that will show you them much bigger.

I went up to the roof of my building on Friday and took some nice pictures. It was slightly terrifying.

Here in Korea, space is limited. This lady is utilising her roof to dry her clothes! I just happened to glance down and see her working away...

Next, we went to Karaoke. This was a little different than back in Canada. In Korea, or at least at this Noraebong (Karaoke), you pay a fee, and you get a private room with really loud music and tamborines and other really fun things! Here are some pictures.

The hallways were glass with a bunch of things about a foot underneath the surface. You took off your shoes at the front reception area and go barefoot throughout the building

That was just Friday!!

On Saturday, we went to Itaewon. Itaewon is a very multi-cultural (for Korea) city that is sort of part of Seoul. It was really fun. Here are some pics.

Hard Rock Cafe, Seoul!

Street vendors on the left, busy little shops on the right

This is their currency (Won). I mentioned that one might call them "Won"derwear.

Taking advantage of the bustling market, this man drives a cart of fruit through the crowds of people, who can barter down to much lower prices than are on the signs.

Saturday night we went to a foreigner bar called Rhythm and Booze. It's American owned, and it has a "North America-esque" feeling to it.

Then came Sunday which I will have to put in a different post, because my computer is starting to get overloaded! One moment please...

A Rainy Day in Korea

So here are some more pictures I took. I went to E Mart again for groceries and this is my experience!

Rainy day? Park under the overhang of a building!

Isn't this such a good idea???

Remember those ramps in E Mart? Well today I had a shopping cart, and I used the ramp. It is magnetic, so your cart doesn't go scooting down the ramp!

More pictures to come!

My first day at school

Yesterday was my first day at school! It went pretty well considering I haven't taught since May. I had one class that had 9 students in it, and another with 4. They have small class sizes because it's a private school ('hagwon').

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I teach those two classes. Each period is 2 hours and 50 minutes! That is quite long in my opinion, but the students are used to it.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I teach 3 classes which are 1 hour and 50 minutes. That is what I will be doing today. Hopefully it goes well.

Also, this is my second weekend in Korea. I think I am going to Seoul this weekend!!! I am excited for that.

Well, as always, I have some new pictures for all of you! Please enjoy!

The elevator to my school - I'm one the 3rd floor

The lobby / reception area of my school

My classroom!!

They have very strict rules! English immersion or they get in trouble!

The mailboxes in my apartment building. They don't really lock them or anything, everyone's mail is just hanging out!

This is the place we went on my very first night in Korea.

Sarah and I sitting at the table in the restaurant

We ordered drinks! I had Soju, which you can only find in Korea. It is in the green bottle, at tastes like a milder version of vodka. (Not very tasty). Sarah had Cass which is Korean beer.

Then the food came! Again, the grill in the middle and little side dishes along the outside for everyone to share!

Another restaurant. The staff of our school went to say goodbye to the teacher I'm taking over for.

This is octopus. My lifetime motto is "try everything once". So I did. I think I ate the one next to the brocolli.

Next time I think I'll go sans octopus.

That's all for now, I will be posting shortly about a walk I took to Emart again!

Thanks for reading!

Some more exploring

Well, it's Wednesday now, and I have been here for five days. I have done some more exploring, and I've expanded my comfort zone to a little over a square city block. In that square city block, I have found several more sculptures, a mcdonalds!!!, and I've seen some more interesting things. Here are some pictures!

Another sculpture (these are everywhere!)

A little snowman display outside of "The Mall". It is supposed to be the snowman from the movie "The Snowman" based on book by Raymond Briggs. I remember that movie from back in the day!

My adventure to McDonalds - this is the pedestrian bridge that crosses above a busy street.

A few buildings that are lit up. These are really bright, but my camera didn't really show it well.

We made it!

This is my friend's Bic Mac. It's wrapped in cardboard, then wrapped in paper!

This is a delivera vehicle in Korea! What a good idea! It's these guys that you see driving along the sidewalk and weaving through traffic! No wonder they get to your place so fast!

That is all of the pictures for now. I'm sure I will be taking many more! I always have my camera with me.

School

I have been at the school now since Saturday. For Monday and Tuesday, I have done observations. Today is also an observation day, and then I start to teach on Thursday. I'm looking forward to it, because I will actually be teaching in my own classroom. Last year I taught for 13 weeks in total, but I always had an associate teacher with me. I really appreciated the associate teacher's advice, but after 13 weeks I think I am ready to "spread my wings" and take on my own classroom.

I will have to tell you what that was like when I teach tomorrow. I will also take some pictures (if I remember) today of the school.

They do some things differently here in terms of teaching. They have a pretty strict time-management schedule that you have to follow. You have to do certain things at certain times throughout the lesson. I think I might tweek it just a bit. For example. They have a homework check at the beginning of class, followed by a shared story reading, and then a quiz about the story. Then they have grammar until the end of the lesson.

From what I've seen, the teachers just jump right in to the story readings or grammar lessons. I think I will use what we call a 'hook' at teacher's college. Something that grabs their attention and is more interesting / fun than the content. It's also known as the "Engage, Study, Activate" method. They seem to just jump into the Study section of it, without engaging the students first.

Anyway, there will be lots of stuff that I try out, and hopefully it works. Also, I plan on using "manipulatives" or "props" if you will. I think that students remember things better when they have something they can see to go along with what they're learning. I have to teach the words itch and itchy for example, and I am going to bring in my scarf. You know, things like that.

Alright. I am going to go now. Like I said, I will try to take pictures of the school today.

Thank you for all your comments!

Comments

Hello! I have been busy, but I will update with a full blog later. I have a lot to do today! But I thought I should let everyone know exactly how to comment.

At the bottom of each blog entry, you see something like this picture. At the bottom next to the time, click where it says "3 comments" (or whatever number it might say at the time. It will bring up any comments that have been made, as well as a box where you can type.

Type your comment in that box, and when you are done, click the drop down menu at underneath that says "comment as". Select Name / URL. Type in your name in the name field, and leave the URL field blank. Then just click continue! Anyway, hopefully that helps!

Your comment will be viewable once I approve it!

Have a good day!

Sight seeing / E Mart solo mission

Alright. Today is Sunday, and it was a day off for me. It's only 12:51pm, so my day is only half over. I got up nice and early today. I went for a little walk today to E Mart, and I took a round-about way back home. I came across some nice picture opportunities.

I also braved a trip to E Mart on my own. It was much less busy today than yesterday. I didn't venture down to the grocery floor, but I discovered the first two floors. They had almost everything we have here! The containers all look the same, but the language on the labelling is different. It is pretty interesting. I bought an alarm clock, paper towels, a beach towel (I've been using tiny little towels after showers), and a cup for the washroom to hold my tooth brush and tooth paste.

Here are the pictures from today (thus far...)

Tony the tiger! This is what I have been having for breakfast

E Mart!

Another view of E Mart just down the street a bit, looking up at the sign.

A sculpture in front of E mart

Another sculpture at the other end of E Mart

This confused me the first time I stepped on it. It was VERY busy the first time I was on it, so I just looked at the front part. I stepped on, expecting it to descend and form into steps. That didn't happen!

It's a ramp that is used by shopping carts! Very smart. If I was there alone I would stand on the back of the shopping cart and ride the ramp down!

I wonder if you get in trouble for that...

The Hyundai Department store. It's very very big. Probably around 4 or 5 levels, but I have only explored the first of those. They have a burberry store there. My goal is to make enough money over the year to justify buying either a tie or a scarf!

Entrance to a pedestrian only section. There is a significant amount of litter everywhere. I have a few theories on this. There is a severe lack of public garbage cans. The reason for that is that you need to buy special garbage bags - ones that have your area of the city printed on it. I suppose the city doesn't fund the purchase of these bags, or doesn't want to have recycling mixed with garbage. (That's a big no-no here too).

This is a pool hall. The national symbol for a billiard hall is a red, blue and green ball next to each other. There are several of these around. They are very popular.

Also a popular practice is parking on the corner of intersections. I've seen this a lot. Sometimes people will park perpendicular to this van's direction and fit up to 3 cars on the corner!!

As I mentioned above, It is only 1:16pm. I will be going out later with my camera. I'm sure I will get more pictures!! Keep checking and commenting!

Oh, to comment, go to the bottom of the post, and select the option that says Name/URL. You fill in your name (The URL field can remain blank). Then click submit. Your comment will be posted once it's approved by me! It's that easy!

Keep in touch,

Ian