One Month Update

Nothing too exciting has been going but I know you guys want to hear about everything so I will update you!

I am not going to lie, the last week of my first month I got a little frustrated with teaching. I just felt like I was struggling with trying to be a fun teacher, but still trying to have control over my kids as well. It’s hard because the Korean teachers want you to make sure the kids aren’t bored, but they also want you to get as much workbook pages done as possible, so it was just frustrating. I had felt like all I was doing was yelling at the kids and they just were not listening. It makes it even harder that I can’t have small talk with them like a normal kindergarten teacher would because their interactive skills aren’t that high yet. I am not complaining, just venting! :-) On a better note, the days after have gotten much better after I got confirmation from my co-teacher, Sonny, that I am doing a good job and I just need to stop worrying so much!

One thing I have had to get used to with these kiddies is their bluntness. I have had two students now come up to me and rub my belly saying “Amanda Teacher Pregnant?”….”Ummm no Amanda Teacher is not pregnant, Amanda Teacher just has eaten too much of your good food!”. As embarrassing as it is, I still manage to laugh and then slap my gut for a bigger effect. Haha! I have also been told by the students I am a “long neck” and that they refer to my skin color as black since I am tanner than most of them right now. Gotta love ‘em.

One thing the Korean students here really go all out for are their birthdays. It is a HUGE deal when someone has a birthday. We take time out of the day to have a little birthday party for them. The mom of the birthday student usually brings in a nice big cake with drinks for the teachers and students. It is traditional for the kids to bring in a photo album or a poster board of basically a story and pictures of how they have grown from a baby to their age now. They then present their poster or photo album to the entire class. They speak in Korean when they tell about their childhood, but their pictures are always cute to look at. It is adorable and the cakes are always delicious! The whip cream in Korea here is lighter and whipped which makes it easy to consume more than I should.




Last Friday was another outing with some of my fellow English teachers. We went to our favorite bbq meat place again and met up with a few people. I have been meeting quite a few people from England which has been interesting and entertaining to hear their rich accents! I feel like I am the youngest out of most of the people who have been meeting which sometimes surprises me. The weekends and mainly weeknights are the best times to see all the foreigners come out. On the main streets the foreigners are more abundant and travel in packs! It is kind of easy to add on to your group just by walking down a busy street. Later on we ended up at a bar that the entire back wall of the bar was lined with old records. You could basically request ANY song, I am talking ANY, and they would play it for you. Good times.

The next Saturday my Korean Aunt came later on in the evening and wanted to take me to dinner and to get a massage or “massag-ee” as she would say. An offer I could not refuse. She took me to a king crab buffet that is literally right outside my apartment which could be dangerous because I LOVE crab legs. They gave us plastic gloves which were nice because I always manage to cut myself when I am opening them up and a pair of the best crab cutting scissors ever. I should have taken a picture of the scissors, but one blade of the scissors was short, while the other blade was skinny and long, perfect for opening crab legs. I am not sure if this is just in Korea, or I have been sheltered in the states and just have never seen anything like this before!

Now I may have told some of you about my last “massage” experience in Korea. It was a total nightmare. I can’t believe I still even call it a massage because it was more of a form of torture. My mom set me up to have a massage at a spa a few summers ago and it basically consisted of me being naked and having them rub my entire body with a brillo pad…yes a brillo pad…the same brush you would use to clean a crusty casserole dish. I started crying which didn’t help because I had a hot muggy rag over my face the whole time. Needless to say I was VERY hesitant about this second massage place my aunt was going to take me to. We walked in and the place was extremely nice and seemed legit. They had footbaths while you waited for your massage and lounging chairs. My aunt and I were going to get the massages side by side. It started out normal with an actual massage table and massage creams but once again, I felt like they were literally trying to see if they could make me cry. It wasn’t a brillo pad this time; it was just extreme pain from how far they were driving their knuckles and elbows into my back muscles! I think it is the culture here that makes a Korean touch very rough! I have even noticed it with my Korean family and other Koreans. A pat on the back is never a pat on the back, it’s more like a hard slap on the back. Or when they grab your arm for something, it’s more like--let’s see how much I can dig my fingers into your skin. My aunt told me she wants to try to see if I will like one more massage place so we will see what my pain threshold is there.

Missing you all! XOXOXOX

P.S. I am still trying to sell my car back home. If anyone is interested or know of someone who is, let me know!