You are Sexy

So I've been teaching for three days now. I've done the same basic lesson with modifications here and there. I write my name on the board, introduce myself and then say how much I love it when people speak English. I repeat how when they talk English it makes me happy. When they speak Korean it makes me sad. It is important to speak English because it becomes easier the more that they do it. Then the order of things is often moved around but I flash up a picture of America and tell them where I live, then I tell them a few things about it. Then I show them the flag. Then I play the game two truths and a lie. Lots of repeating here, and saying things over and over. I write an example on the board, "I am a boy, True" and "I am a girl, False", but the Korean teacher still explains it often. Then my three sentences are, 1. I have one brother and one sister, 2: I do not like Kim Chi, 3. I have traveled to many countries around the world. Then I ask them which is the lie by raising their hands or shouting the number. Then I tell them that #2 is the lie because I like Kim Chi. Then I show them a picture of my family and point out that I have one brother and one sister. I point out my mother and father and then ask them if my family is handsome. I ask them if my sister is cute (the boys go whooooaaa), then I ask them if my brother is cute (and the girls go whooooaaa). Then I show them pictures of where I've traveled and ask them questions about them. Then I ask them to take out their notebooks and pens and write two truths and a lie of their own. Then I either put them into groups of four to ask each other or I go one by one and have them read outloud to the entire class.

I've altered this hear and there based on responses that I've got. My first class was hell. The students were wild, I wasn't organized, and ended up with a lot of free time. They didn't understand and it was just chaos. Things are manageable now. The 9th grade girls all fawn over Derek. When I mention that he's sixteen just like them they go nuts. Then they ask if they can have his phone number. Last period, I had a student profess her love for me. Then she asked if I knew the Korean word for "Freaky". Not sure what that means, but she lives in a building right near me so hopefully I haven't germinated a budding stalker.

The walk to school sucks. It's about a half a mile walk up a hill, err...I mean mountain. Some inclines are 45 degrees. I'll get used to it eventually, it's just terrible now. I always get to school a little sweaty. The mountain affords a great view, but everyroad is so steep.

I met Danny and tane at Nampo-dong yesterday for dinner. I found out that danny lives in my area, about a mile away. Once again, not very far but it involves a lot of hills. We walked around for a long time looking for a place to eat and after lots of walking in circles we found a really nice sushi place. So incredibly cheap. It would have cost about 60 bucks in America but we got it for $18 between the three of us. Then we went looking for a bar and went to a place called "Hollywood" because we were looking for decent beer and they brewed their own. But we got trapped. It's one of those places where you HAVE to order food along with drinks and all the food was priced above 12,000 won ($12). So we got a ton of bar food (prawns, popcorn, sunchips, mealworms, curried potatoes, sweet pretzels, and other things). That food was free, but we had to pay for pizza potatoes. Just think a hollowed out potato half with pizza ingredients. Then we hopped the bus and went home.

I'm going to go get my medical check later on today. They're going to do a physical, HIV/AIDS blood test, drug test, dental, and a chest x-ray to assess the state of my health for insurance purposes. Let's hope I don't get denied anything. It'll cost 70,000 won but I found out that I'll be teaching after school classes for 3 hours a week and get 80,000 won each week for that. But, paid at the end of the semester. So it'll be a nice little bonus come January.