My first week at school:

I got a very bad cold the day before I started my new job, talk about bad timing! I just had to suck it up and try to get into a routine.  I had to teach 16 periods of 40 minutes each, but going forward I am teaching 22 periods of 40 minutes each a week.  So it leaves me with loads of time to do lesson plans.  I teach the 22 classes in 4 days and have Fridays as my deskwarming day.  We use this term – deskwarming – for days when you do not have kids and don’t have any work to do and need to keep yourself busy and most importantly you must look busy.  I have to be at school 8 hours a day according to my contract.  I can facebook, watch movies, learn Korean or do whatever I’d like. 

Working at my desk

Today, I heard children playing the violin and so I decided to follow the sound with my co-teacher (who I only teach with twice a week) right behind me. 

My co-teacher, Min-Jong and I in my apartment.

It was so beautiful; I just sat down and listened.  I then asked my co-teacher (Min-Jong), to ask the lady if she will teach me and she said yes! I then got permission from my main co-teacher (Ms. Moon) and she said she had to get permission from the school, if I am allowed to go for lessons or not.  The school said yes and I will start with my lessons on Monday during deskwarming.  I will have lessons twice a week , 8 times a month and this for only R300 a month!! I thought this is a bargain! 

The violin teacher(on the left) with one of her students.

Because I don’t teach on Fridays, I will mainly use Fridays as my lesson planning day.   The kids are really sweet and I am enjoying teaching them.   I had to do an introduction lesson with each class, introducing South Africa, myself, my family and my interests.  They really enjoyed it.   The animated movie Frozen is really big here and because I have quite a difficult name, my co-teacher suggested that I use the main character, Elsa, for my introduction as my name sound similar to hers and it will make it easier for the kids to remember my name! It paid off...  This meant that I had to listen to the song “Let it go” quite a lot of times!  

My classroom, with my Co-Teacher Ms. Moon

Some of my 6th graders.

It is quite a challenge to make lesson plans on a computer that is in Korean.  You are probably thinking what do you mean? I mean that every single program is in Korean, so if you open a word document at the top everywhere where you see English imagine another language... That is how my computer functions and it isn't that easy to just quickly use it for something.  It takes time.

The Powerpoint Presentation.  Look at the headings of the programme in this photo and you will see it is in Hongul.

My washing machine is also in Hongul.  As well as my microwave.

While waiting in the queue at the cafeteria to get lunch, I got asked by my co-teachers what my blood type is.  I said A+ and then my main co-teacher said that she heard that South Africa only has O blood types.  I only found out after that in korea your blood type is very important and they read it like the west reads the horoscope.  Blood type is very important to them, and it is also here where the west got their belief in what food is right for you according to your blood type.  I never knew this until I read up about it, because I was curious why my co-teachers so desperately wanted to know what blood type I have.   They also analyse your personality by your blood type.  According to the website Koreans are very superstitious about blood types.   “The concept of blood types determining personal traits has a dark history. It was allegedly used by Nazis and Japanese Imperialists to promote ideas of supremacy over different races and countries in the 1920s and 1930s. However, some decades later, the idea was resurrected by Japanese author Masahiko Nomi in a much more positive and innocent way that holds much more in common with the ideas of the Zodiac than the ideas of racial dominance it once connoted. There is now a plethora of media that surround the idea including songs, books and films. This new, positive linking spread from Japan to Taiwan and South Korea. In today’s South Korea you’d be hard-pressed to find any native who doesn’t know their blood type.

The linking of blood types and personalities is prominent with the basic blood types: A, B, AB and O. The descriptions given are not a full and absolute list – much like the horoscope superstition, the blood type superstition can have adjectives that replace each other and sometimes contradict each other. It has also been suggested that people possessing certain blood types should stick to certain dietary choices. However there is no scientific evidence to back this up.” Read more at: http://beyondhallyu.com/culture/its-in-your-blood-the-link-between-blood-types-and-personalities/

The cafeteria at my school.

Min-Jong getting food.

I get lunch at school every day.  I need to pay for it at the end of the month and it works out to be about R27 per meal, which is much cheaper than what I would be able to get elsewhere.  Even if I made my own sandwiches at home, it is still cheaper to just eat at school.  The food is as I describe it interesting.  Definitely very Korean.  They eat rice with every meal.  I thought that after my African trek I am done with rice.  Well, not quite as some days I only eat rice as the flavours of the food is still very foreign to me. Other days the food is so good that I don’t touch my rice! And I end up going for seconds or even thirds!  Today was an interesting day again.  We got fish that tasted like “stink gogga” which is a stinky bug for those that don’t understand Afrikaans.  I gave it a skip after I ate all the potato in the stew and one small fishy.   I only ate the rice and a banana, my very first banana in Korea.  Fruit is so expensive here I cannot afford it.  I saw oranges the other day for R180 for 6! And strawberries for a very small tub are on average R50! And that is the cheapest fruit you can get here.

Min-jong and I with a typical meal at school.  I still dish selectively and you will see I dont have seaweed soup nor Kimchi.  They eat soup with every meal.

Ms. Moon at lunch..  The very red dish on the right is Kimchi.

When I arrived at my school the very first day, I asked my main co-teacher -Ms Moon - about the previous teacher that was teaching in my position.  She gave me vague answers, but never his surname etc.  I thought that if I had his surname I could track him down using facebook.  I got the feeling that they don’t want me to contact him.  But because she never gave me his surname I couldn't do that.  On Thursday last week one of the boys that is in a younger grade than what I teach, was playing in my class.  I was busy with a lesson plan and the next moment he gave me his phone and pointed to it saying ‘Tim’, I didn’t understand, but the next moment I was speaking to the former teacher! The little boy had phoned the teacher! I was so surprised and I immediately asked for his details.  I met up with him that evening and it was so nice to chat about the school and life in Korea.  He happened to be leaving Korea and because I had nothing in my flat he said that I should come by on Saturday and choose what I would like.  When I got to him the Saturday he gave me everything that I need! Blinds that fit perfectly in my flat and that are exactly the size that I need! (My school’s handy man came to fit them this afternoon) He gave me an oven, toaster, microwave, coffee machine, iron, plates, cups, cutlery, cups, glasses, you name it for free! I really couldn’t believe it and was so surprised! 

My blinds going up!!

View from my Apartment window.  I can see the sun set.  Unfortunately they are building and I won't be seeing the beautiful mountains for much longer... :(

I had no idea that Koreans have bleach in their normal tile cleaners.  

I used the tile cleaner for cleaning everything including my grey blinds!   Luckily I noticed just in time and had to wash it off quickly and spread the runny grey over the rest of the blind

 and hope that what I did will not be too visible! I did that to my other blind too, but I am in luck as when the handy man from school installed them he put the back side in the front so it is perfect as I don’t see the bleached side and I am so proud of my flat now! It feels like home, if you want to come visit, just let me know! It is small, but I am quite lucky as I have been in two other Epik flats and mine is easily two or three times bigger than theirs! I am really happy with my new little studio apartment.

On Saturday night my class at the orientation had a little reunion and we went to a Noribang (Nori  means singing and bang means room, so we went to a karaoke lounge).  A South African girl came to sleep over as she lives on the other side of Busan an hour and a half from me by subway.  

Susie and I having supper at my regular Kimbab restaurant.  It is like Korean sushi.  I always eat the tuna Kimbab.

We had so much fun and I made a new friend – Nathan.  Nathan lives in my area and he is also teaching here.  He took me to a Korean bbq restaurant on Monday night and I have to admit it is the nicest Korean food I have had so far!  In the middle of the table is a braai(bbq) with coals underneath.  You order your meat and side dishes.  They bring you leaves that look like mulberry leaves and salad like leaves.  You then braai(bbq) your meat and fry your garlic and kimchi if you’d like.  Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish which I haven’t managed to get in my body so far, although I tried it fried and it wasn’t so bad.   Kimchi is an acquired taste and is basically made out of cabbage leaves that are fermented in fish paste, chilli and garlic. Yummy right?  They serve kimchi with every meal!  So sooner or later you either have to get used to it or you have a problem for life.   When your meat is braaied (bbq) you then take a leave place the meat inside with other things like a whole garlic clove that is fried with different sauces and some other side dishes.  You wrap the leave like a parcel and eat it! I loved it, it was really yummy!!

My first Korean BBQ.

Nathan at our table.

Tomorrow I am off to the beach and Nathan is going to show me a path that links the area where I live with the area with the school.  So I am considering hiking back home some days after school.  I have two days at school where I start early and this means that I end earlier.  So I only work until 4 and I am thinking that in summer this would be perfect for going to the beach and then hiking back home.  It is still very cold here! It rained a lot this week and the rain made it just a lot colder.  We had a couple of days that was zero degrees and one day that was thirteen degrees.   I am guessing that it should start warming up soon because April is spring and we all know what spring brings:  CHERRYBLOSSOMS!!