New School Year

So this past Wednesday was a regular Wednesday. We taught the same classes we do every day, although many of us played games or colored with their children. This was because Thursday was a new school year. One day, the kids are on one schedule, and the very next day, they have a totally new schedule. New classrooms, new classmates, new teachers, new books (although our school is very disorganized and didn't actually order the books to be in for the beginning of the semester..they, of course won't be here for another week or two).

We didn't receive our schedules until after school on Wednesday, giving us no time to prepare for our new classes on Thursday. It didn't help that they don't have books for any classes either, so we are again playing games, getting to know kids and their English level, and coming up with busy work until their books do come in.

The two teachers that left a few weeks after we arrived are coming back this week. The school loves them, as they should (they are excellent teachers), and they packed their schedules with hours. Everyone else had their schedules butchered with no chance of getting overtime. Wednesday night, I was upset. Maybe that's an understatement. I was looking at flights home, cursing our school, and thinking of any way we could get out of this place and leave them hanging. After talking with Jared, I decided to go to school on Thursday and give them a chance. When I arrived, I saw they had changed the schedule again and taken more classes away from me. Again, I got upset. They have only given us positive feedback (while others have received much negative feedback), but didn't reward us in any way. I thought (and still think) it was rude!


I was embarassed and took their scheduling way to personal. But by Thursday night, I realized it wasn't meant to be personal. They did mean to load up the new teachers with hours because they are amazing, but besides that, they just didn't think. Like I said, they are completely unorganized and don't worry much about the foreign teachers. So we finished out the week, working very few hours. It seems okay now, though, because any hours less than 30 a week, we get the base pay. You only get overtime if you work more than 30 a week. Now I have a huge gap in the middle of the day where I can work out, which is kind of nice...so I'm done complaining.

Jared and I have signed up to take an online TEFL/TESL course, which we started a week ago. It consists of 20 units with a worksheet to fill out at the end of each unit (to organize thoughts/notes), then a 6 hour test at the end. I just finished unit 2 and it is hard! I didn't realized I knew so little about the English language..like 'gerunds.' I know I learned about them before, but it seemed like a new concept to me this time.

Hmmm...what else? We are still going hiking most weekends. It is a 3 day weekend now, so that's nice. Today is Korean Independence from Japan day. We are going to dinner with a coworker and his girlfriend tonight.

Jared's back has been hurting recently (he thinks related to a ski accident 20 years ago). Yesterday, our Korean friend took us to a back specialist that practices Korean tradition medicine. He got acupuncture in his back, and today got acupuncture in his back, hands, feet, and stomach..and they burned these incense on the needles which created a relaxing smell, as well as heated the needles. It looked painful to me, but Jared says it helps. He is supposed to go everyday for the next week.

After coming so close to giving up and coming home, I again realize how much I miss everyone. I had to pull myself away from the thought of leaving, because I became so excited to come home...but things are okay. It will work out. We will finish the year here, and will have fun doing it. :)

Random

We have been hiking every Sunday now for the past four weeks. We have been going with our Korean friend and her kids, and are so happy we have finally found some trails and mountains to explore. This past weekend, we went to Gyeongju, a city we had visited before to go to temples. This time, we hiked up above a temple and visited the Seokguram, one of the most special hand-made Buddahs, high on a mountain. It was very nice. We had a great lunch, then headed back down.

On our way home, we stopped at this cool rock beach. There were a ton of people flying kites and hanging out. We got coffee, hunted for special rocks, and hung out for awhile. I will try to include some pictures of this beautiful beach.

A couple weeks ago, we were hiking up Munsu Mountain, the tallest in our area, and were almost to the top when we saw a kitten. It looked to be around 3 months old, so not tiny, but small. It was just sitting on the side of the trail. We sat there watching it, but it didn't move. A minute or so later, a man walked up past the kitten, called for it, then then kitten followed him. We were above them, so we could watch them for quite a long time. The kitten followed this man, just like a dog would. It was the first hiking cat I've ever seen...it put some thoughts into my mind about future hiking cats that I will have. :)

An interesting thing we found out about Korea is that if you have a smaller car (and most do) that runs under 1000cc, you become part of a 1000cc club. The government gives you many benefits, including about 30 cents off each liter of gas. I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

Anyway, this is all pretty random. We still have 2 weeks until the new school year starts, which is something to look forward to. New hours, new classes, shake things up a bit.

We hope to be getting the Nintendo Wii soon. I would like it for Wii Fit, but also for the classic Super Nintendo games...

We miss you all!