Yesterday was the first day of English class at Bonghwa Elementary. I prepared a little powerpoint introduction of myself (I thought it was quite brilliant). It was a good thing I brought my laptop with me because after 1 class, the heater messed up the electricity of the room and the teacher's computer wasn't working anymore. The kids loved my powerpoint and surprisingly, they understood almost all of it.
It was great being in front of a class again, but I was very frustrated during a lot of it. The kids were not necessarily naughty or anything, but they would NOT stop talking. I was frustrated because my coteacher was not doing anything. Every once in a while she'd say "be quiet" but did not enforce it so kids were talking like crazy while others were giving their introductions. I was almost willing to condone corporal punishment because it was so noisy! Anyway, other than that, the day was fairly boring.
At lunchtime a random teacher kept talking to me in English and invited me to all of these things (and her house) because she wanted to learn English. I don't mind, but it's a little overwhelming having all these people clinging on to you because they want to learn English so desperately. It's flattering but sometimes I need my space fo realz. I've gotten over the gist of my sickness, but now I have a visit from Aunt Flo (which might explain my abnormal foul mood and complaining), so I was cramping and not very hungry (not to mention this school's food isn't as good as my base school) so I ended up throwing a lot of food away. This teacher kind of scolded me and said that everyone eats their food otherwise it is wasted. I just said I wasn't really hungry, but I was really just thinking (and PMSing) "BACK OFF! THIS FOOD IS TERRIBLE AND I'M CRAMPING AND DO NOT FEEL LIKE BEING ADVENTUROUS IN MY FOOD TODAY SO LEAVE ME ALONE!" But I just bowed and walked away.
I then had to walk back to my base school but took a detour and walked alongside the river. It was a site to see because the city is small but very open to the mountains. And lucky for me, it was a GORGEOUS day. There were mushrooms everywhere! Apparently, Bonghwa holds an annual Pine Tree Mushroom Festival because they have a lot of those growing on the mountains. It's too bad I don't like mushrooms.
When I got to my base school, I asked my coteacher for her and my schedule. She hands me mine and it's got 2 more classes added to it: 2 days of after school English conversation and 2 days of teacher's study. And of course, she just walks away and doesn't inform me at all about it. Turns out I have to teach another conversational class to students and then on top of that stay late to teach English to some local teachers. I don't mind doing it, but I really would like to KNOW that I have to do it instead of one day being asked to stay late and teach without even being aware of it. Oh and then also having to wait for the teachers to choose a textbook. It's so great only knowing what's going on with my job because I ask and never because they decide to let me know even when they know themselves.
Speaking of which, I loved walking out of the school to FINALLY go home and my coteacher saying "oh yes, we are going to another dinner." Ugh, I just wanted to go home!
But yea yea, I guess "that's Korea for you."
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