Two weeks down, 50 to go...
Already there have been ups and downs. The ups being a satisfaction buzz after a really good lesson or after a tequila in a gay bar in Seoul. The downs being walking out of a lesson thinking "either I'm the worst teacher in the world or those kids are retarded", or the day after the tequila in the gay bar in Seoul.
It's around this time that I fully expected the reality of my situation to have hit me square-on in the jaw. And I predicted correctly. It's the 'taking stock, missing home' bit that had to be done eventually. Anyway enough of the melancholy...
My second week teaching was pretty good. I was, however, led to believe that Korean kiddies were well behaved and respected their elders and teachers in particular. This, unfortunately, is not always the case. Don't get me wrong they're nothing compared to the English chav back home but some have a penchant for being ceaslessly annoying. Others are just so bored with having information stuffed in every orifice that they sit looking at me as if imagining I'm being eaten by a grizzly bear. Herein lies the main problem: by the time most of them reach 'middle school' age they've had the life sucked out of them. They've been educated to death. It's actually a relief sometimes to walk into a classroom with screaming children because at least there's sound. I spent 53 minutes last week hearing nothing but my own voice and the steady whirr of the air-conditioning. Still that's thankfully just one class, 90% of them are really good and very rewarding. I have one class with the tiniest little girl who looks either scared or in awe of everything. I thought for the first week that she was actually incapable of speech but I got her to talk! I sat in front of her for two weeks holding up cards going "Whats this Ji Woo? It's an apple. This one? It's a tree." She just sat and smiled at me. But on Friday in the quietest whisper I started to hear real English words! I must have looked so happy and impressed because after that she was laughing and talking away for the whole lesson. There's another class where I can basically talk in my own vernacualr and just have a laugh with them. You see ups and downs, it's a theme.
Went to visit Ris this weekend at his place. Two hour subway journey even though the map shows them to be a Harrogate-Leeds kind of distance, thoughts anyone? Anyway didn't do a great deal, just sat in his hamster cage of an apartment. It really does remind me of Bruce Willis' appartment in The Fifth Element, just without a bed that goes into the wall.
I'll finish on a happier note-I've booked a holiday! Have a week off at the end of the month and am visiting the island of Jeju-Do. Certainly looking forward to that.
Only a few pics for your perusal this time round and of nothing hugely gripping either-I'm really selling it aren't I?
neol ijeul sun eopseul kkeoya guys.
Oh yeah forgot to say I can read hangul now, just need to work out what the words themselves mean now...
The view from my apartment. Pretty? No.
My lovely room...
At least it's bigger than Ris' entire appartment
A nice park type thing near Ris
The bright lights of Jeong Wang
The lovely exterior of ELL (still no ones guessed what it stands for), the insides nicer honest.