First Day of Teaching. And Drinking.

Well today was the day. The day I officially become an active, employed, certified teacher. I have 7 classes today, from 2:10-8:10 with a one hour break. It's not as bad as it sounds, it actually goes by super fast, classes are only 40 minutes. It started off well with me being told I was teaching the wrong class, in the wrong room. Because of this, I had no idea what I was going to be teaching (even though everything at my school is laid out and planned from a very structured book I had no idea what was going on). As goes the first day really. C'est pas grave. I finally got into the groove of things and landed with my feet on the ground. My day started off with the little ones, (as the day goes on my students get older I go from 5/6 in the morning and gradually work up to 12/13, but we'll come back to those students later, unfortunately) but anyway, the little ones have so much enthusiasm and energy. I love when they finish a worksheet and scream "teacher....finishie!!!!" (they can't say finished). Don't have the heart to try and correct them either. That is one phonetic mistake I will let slide, it's too damn cute.

My next few classes were young ones too, an 8 year old try to lock me out of the classroom and I couldn't push the door in because he was pushing against it, but a little girl came to my rescue and pulled him off. 8 year old Korean boys are strong, but apparently not as strong as 8 year old Korean girls. For the most part my early afternoon classes were lovely. The kids did what I asked and weren't too loud. But then came the middle school classes, and with them, the teenagers. I have always laughed off teachers who complain about middle school aged kids, I mean how different could they be right? Ok well, I am eating my words. The first class of surly teens I was blessed with had a wonderfully sweet front row, with a back row full of challenges. Overall, they were actually much better than I anticipated. Texting and cell phones are going to be my new enemy though, we'll see how that battle goes. The only challenging thing about my next middle school class was that no one remembered there books. Thanks guys. Cause I don't have a book either. That was a fun class.

Like I said before, overall a really positive day. I met a lot of very sweet kids, and even the ones who weren't I am hoping will warm up to me soon and vise versa. Or at least bring their books.

After work I was invited out by my Korean coworkers and one of the other foreign teachers. We went to a BBQ chicken restaurant of all places. I stuck to the service food and a side dish of mushrooms my coworkers had ordered for me because they felt so uncomfortable with the fact that the 2 Americans weren't eating. Love Korean hospitality. I really do love my new co workers though. They were all so awesome and it was a blast wasting away the Friday night over massive pitchers of beer and shots of So Ju. Kombae!!! This was not only my first night out with the office, it was also my first experience in a Korean restaurant bathroom, which is slightly more glamorous than a hole in the ground, in the fact that it flushes. I would like to announce to all of my close friends reading this, that to your surprise, I was actually very good at this and had no problems throughout the evening. Who knew? I guess So Ju makes the impossible possible.

Another successful day in my new home where I can check off even more firsts. Keep them coming Korea!

~Sarah