Korea.: the beginning

Seeing all the blogs online about traveling really makes me want to have one too so I will start one. I guess it could be helpful for others who might be interested in traveling and teaching in Korea... and I am sure some people at home do care about what I am doing here in Korea.

I've been in Korea for 2 months. I got here on August 4, 2012 about 5am at Incheon International Airport, South Korea. I was at our TaLK national orientation for about 3 weeks then headed to our regional orientation. Orientation was a bit long but I guess they were trying to prepare us for our lives in Korea. I think they did a pretty good job about warning us that no matter how much we learn at orientation, you can never be fully prepared.

I've been living in the city Pohang and teaching in the city Gyeongju since the beginning of September. I teach at Oksan Elementary. The school has a total of about 75 students (1st-6th). The few days were pretty much what I expected; awkward conversations with other teachers. It's awkward because of course I do not know how to speak Korean. They are really friendly though. I know they were trying to be as welcoming as possible. The students can be really rowdy but I think they are good kids... most of the time. I see the students about 3 times a week and each time for 40minutes.

Monday through Friday, I take a bus for about 20 minutes to another bus stop in HanDong or Angang. On Monday and Wednesday, I get off at HanDong and then walk about 20 minutes to school. On these two days, I teach in the morning and eat lunch at the school. The food is not that bad and is pretty healthy since it's cooked by the ajummas (old ladies) at the school. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday I get off in Angang and my co-teacher would pick me up from the bus stop.

My co-teacher is really friendly. She has been so helpful to me. She took me to go pay my bills, open a bank account, get my phone. We also went to lunch and shopping the first weekend I got here in Pohang. She wants to be English teacher and I think she will be a good one. She's really hard-working. I recommended Hunger Games to her and she went out and bought the books. She's said it's pretty tough to read it in English so she got the books in Korean to compare the two books.