I can hear the sounds and see the light coming from the thunder outside my apartment window. I've never quite experienced weather quite like this. When it rains, it pours. Add some humid temperatures, a sense of dampness from the rain and some loud and bright thunder sounds and be magically surprised. It's not a good feeling to walk around at night. An umbrella helps but no one wants to walk in this rain.
I'm feeling this particular mood because I am a little overwhelmed with all that I have to learn during this past few weeks. I've almost worked at this private English academy for a month and I've learned quite a bit about the atmosphere of this particular franchise. I've learned much gossip about former teachers and learned quite a bit about the students and how to handle them. I'm learning to lead others for the first time when I don't even know how to lead myself. I'm learning about the failings of the franchise because of missed or bad communication. Over planning and under planning. Korean communication. No one ever directly tells you what they want. I need to take into account everything that has already happened and be super observant about what they do rather then what they say. Oh well!
There has been pluses and minuses throughout my classes. Luckily, this all gets better with time. I am coming at a time where these students were not given a proper transition between teachers. I popped right in at the most awkward time so some of them are still giving me a hard time. Children are loyal to their teachers and by this time I think they are getting used to the idea that I will be here for awhile. I am starting to understand what some of the children want from their teacher while giving them appropriate praise and rewards in class.
On a lighter note, I have been on a few adventures! I was in the process of getting my alien card. The first step was going to get a medical exam at the hospital. I went with the principle who does not know English. How awkward. All I could do was smile and nod. It was really awkward when I want to communicate that I cannot do this urine test because I needed to drink more water but she tells me no. She thinks I don't understand and she points to her butt and says, "shit". Really? I gave up communicating by that test. All I can do is look confused.
The elementary kids had an overnight camping trip. It consisted of cooking contest, two games, a talent show and a hike to the nearest mountain. I was told to make this simple Korean dish when I have never made Korean food in my life. What were they thinking? I have only been here for....four weeks? It wasn't that our team made the recipe wrong... The product was this spongy brown triangle thing that needed to be stuffed with rice and seasonings. Well, in the beginning, I observed that all the kids went out to make rice. One boy was in charge of that. I asked him if I could take this pot of rice to the team. He said it was. So, I took it. Another Korean teacher later told the group that the rice that I picked up had not been cooked yet. I ruined that. Technically, that wasn't entirely my fault because this boy told me the wrong information. Yet. I was blamed for bringing the rice and ruining their dish. Opps. How on earth could I explain myself with such limited English? They remained angry at me but I think they got over it.
I was also invited to take part in the talent show as a k-pop dancer with the older kids. They needed audience members so I and this other teacher danced. I didn't care. It was a talent show!
In the end, I got to read to the first grade boys a bedtime story. I read them the magic school bus series about stars. The teachers asked what the boys liked about their camping trip and a few of them liked the story. I was so happy that they enjoyed it. I had no idea if they were actually listening or not since they were acting so silly during the actual reading time.
Today was the Kindergarten Festival. The seven year old's seemed happy to see me. They made ponchos out of shopping bags and played pin the tail on the donkey. It was a good time. At least, I thought they had fun? I asked my co-teacher if she had fun and she could no give me a straight answer. One of the boys came up to me with a high five and said, "You are good!".
I really like kindergarten. They are such simple people.
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