New Movie!

Our new movie is now on YouTube! Just follow this link:
Welcome to School!

Korean Sushi...

This is Octopus:

This is MaryAnne before trying the Octopus:

This is MaryAnne after trying it:

This is MaryAnne wishing she'd never tried it

Teaching impressions so far...

Our classrooms are on the 2nd floor beside each other

Well, we have finished our first week of teaching and it has been extremely interesting and a big adjustment. Koreans have a much different way of viewing education than we are used to. High school students begin school at 7am and don't leave until midnight, 7 days a week with one day off a month. They take studying very seriously and everything is about memorization regardless as to whether or not you really understand the concept.

This is our school:

The students we teach are very intelligent in a lot of ways. 7 year olds can read and write in both English and Korean and probably do about 3 hours of homework a night. At the same time, they are very babied. Parents sit in on our classes (extremely annoying and obnoxious). I had one girl in my class sneeze and her mother came up and blew her nose for her. Some of the parents will talk to each other at the back of the room, answer their cell phones, send text messages and the worst part is they try to whisper the answer to their children when I'm asking a question. We've been told just to be very firm to them and ask them to leave if they're being disruptive, but it's school policy that the parents can sit in on their child's class.

By middle school, the children seem almost void of any emotion whatsoever. They have little to no enthusiasm about anything and it is almost painful to try to get them to talk. If you ask them a question, they whisper the answer and avoid eye contact. They seem more comfortable taking notes from a board than interacting with each other or the teacher. Of course, it has only been a week so this may change with time and how well they get to know us.

There are lots of advantages though! We get a $50 budget every month to spend on our class, we can order any books we want without question, there are only 23 teaching hours a week and after we get used to the classes we teach, there is little to no prep time. Teachers who have been working there longer than us pretty much do their lessons on the fly and take no work home. The Korean children are also VERY respectful. The biggest discipline "problem" at the school is not doing homework. I think it would be unheard of for a child to talk back to his/her teacher (probably because they are terrified of us -- not sure why yet). Anyway, here are a couple pictures of my 5th Grade students:

More updates....

It has come to our attention by a couple of our readers that this blog sucks! We're pleased to announce that starting today, the blog will be updated on a more regular basis with lots of updates and more importantly, lots of pictures.

Stay tuned!

The cost of glasses in Korea

Eye exam: Free

Frames: $15

Lenses: $10

Time: 15 minutes

Overall, a very fun experience! They had high-tech equipment and both of us got stylish new glasses!

Our First Movie!

Please follow this link to see our first movie, "Welcome to Pohang!" on YouTube:
Welcome to Pohang!

We've arrived!!

Well, we got here on Monday morning Korea time and it is now Friday afternoon. Today is really the first day that we seem to be on Korea time. We went downtown and it is actually not as small as we thought. There are tons of places to shop, a really cool market with food, clothes, household stuff, etc.  There are movie theatres with current, english movies and the tickets are about $4 each. You can also get a large popcorn and drink for $3 or $4 (as well as a side of squid). There are tons of bars, clubs, restaurants, you name it in the downtown area, but also a lot where we live.  There's a bus right outside the apartment complex which costs 1000 won (less than a dollar).  It's a less than 10min ride and you're already downtown so you could walk it in about 30mins.  

Today for lunch we went to a very traditional Korean restaurant where you have to sit on the floor and take your shoes off.  Unfortunately, MaryAnne had to go to the bathroom in her bare feet (there were however slippers by the bathroom entrance you put on).  We're trying everything offered although we definitely like some things more than others.  The kimchi is VERY spicy and not like anything back at home at the sushi restaurants.  Then there was a large bowl of soup with noodles that had a grated type of seaweed on the top.  The noodles had a very gelatin like texture to them and I have to say, it was definitely NOT my favourite! There was a "korean pizza" that was pretty good however.  It was basically spring onions and squid in dough and then fried.  Everyone shares from the "pizza" with their chopsticks.  It will definitely take some getting used to, that's for sure!

There's an "E-Mart" next to our apartment complex which is essentially like a really fancy Wal-Mart.  They have pretty much anything you could need and so we do have some comforts of home (last night was a peanut butter and jam sandwich for dinner).

We start teaching in two days so tomorrow we will go in and set up our classrooms.  We will teach everything from little kids to adults, some in groups no bigger than 15 and some one-on-one.  

We've started taking pictures and videos and plan on uploading some today so check back soon.

In general, the Koreans are some of the friendliest, most polite people we've ever met although a woman did push me off the bus this morning and I almost fell down the stairs (this was my true initiation into Korean culture although we have yet to experience someone spitting near us).  After we got off the bus, the same woman put her arm around MaryAnne and said several things to her in Korean.

Well, there are lots of things to say, but not enough time, but please download Skype (even if you don't have a webcam) and we can talk for free.  Our username is lamashere...we basically leave our Skype on all the time and the best time to  call us would be at your night time so from 6pm onwards. Hope to talk to you soon!!