Settling in

I have been here for three weeks now. Its funny how time doesn't ever seem to do justice to the amount you have been through. I am feeling very comfortable getting around, have bought a few shirts to better fit in with the styles of my female coworkers (long baggy-ish shirts and sweaters in bright colors, if you can imagine). I am being shown new food all the time. My favorite snack is gimbap. They even have it at the 7-11 and convenience stores. It is sushi rolls with kimchi, something pickled, and a meat (cooked). Its fantastic. The ones at the store are genius! To keep the seaweed from getting wet, they have this intricate way of wrapping plastic between the seaweed and the rice. Opening them takes a little skill, but it’s a fantastic reward in the end.

Teaching had been going well also. I am making sheets for the kids who will be taking TOEFL in the future. They are working on speaking and writing with me, so I have made sheets on how to write a good introduction, what the skeleton of an essay looks like, and how to do well on a speaking test. It’s a lot of fun to try to break these things down into ways that they can understand. I have to follow the book that they have, but I have worked the things I make into the curriculum. Speaking classes this week were a lot of fun. I took the clock down from the wall, because they will be able to see the clock and I want them getting used to seeing the timer and planning what they have to say based on how much time they have left. I point to when they are starting, tell them when they have to be done and put my other finger on the place that I want them to start saying there last sentence. Then they begin. I showed them how to turn the questions into about 3 or 4 of the sentences that they will be saying, and how to take notes to get that are not sentences, but trigger words. There English is not amazing, but I figure, as they get better at English, they will have already learned how to test well and hopefully they will not be so nervous when it comes time to take the test in a few years.

Anyway, I am enjoying myself. It is still cold at night, but warm during the day. I don’t see much of the daylight during the week since I am in classes so late and sleep in, which I find to be fantastic.

Next week I will meet a German lady that one of the guys I work with has been tutoring in English. He is leaving next week and actually doesn’t speak much German, but understands it enough to get the job done. I am hoping that I will be able to work with her. I don’t know what level she is at or what kind of help she needs, but I am secretly just excited to be able to listen to and possibly talk in German a bit. And I can speak English! So we will see how it goes. Well, that’s a long post… I guess I will but it off here. I plan to add more to the Market Days post this weekend… Tomorrow is another market day, so I will go and get some inspiration!

Later.