I can't believe I've already been here for a month. How time flies by! I think working 10 hours a day helps the time go quickly. I feel like after a month, I'm very well settled into work, and am fairly well acquainted with Pohang. I still have a lot to learn, such as the language, figuring out some of the bus routes, how to read a menu, etc. but that will come with time.
Last night I got to partake in a cultural experience. Not Korean culture, but South African. A friend and I were invited to a South African bri (BBQ) in the town of Gyeongju, which is a 30 minute bus ride away. A group of 12 of us met up at a park along the river, and ate good food, played guitar, and socialized. I was able to learn a bit about South Africa and the culture. Of all the foreigners living in Korea, I think I know the least about South Africans and their country/culture. So it was educational spending an evening with them.
I had a frustrating week at work, and for a seemingly common reason among English teachers. Some of my afternoon classes have not been behaving well, and some students in particular have been pretty awful. Before coming to Korea, I had an expectation that Korean students would be very well-behaved and disciplined. It turns out that I was sadly mistaken. Since my school is for-profit, it is run like a business, and any business's top priority is pleasing the client. Well the clients of my school are not the children but the parents. So we have to do anything we can to please the parents, even if that means not disciplining their kids. There is really nothing we can do to discipline the kids when they are misbehaving. We can't send them out to the hallway, because they'll miss valuable class time. We can't make them write sentences, because that is considered manual labor and barbaric in Korea. There is no such thing as detention or demerits at our school. When we asked our directors during a staff meeting what we can do when our students misbehave, all they said was don't do the things I just mentioned. So we feel clueless and helpless. It has gotten to the point in some classes that it is very hard to teach while certain students are being rude, constantly talking, and sometimes yelling at me or other teachers. We asked the directors if they would call some parents to talk to them about their students' behaviors, but unfortunately, there is no guarantee these parents will be called. Depending on the parents, the directors might decide not to call, fearing that a call would cause the parents to pull their kids from our school. Needless to say, it is a very frustrating situation.
I was challenged to another arm wrestling match last Friday night. This time I won, so I'm currently 1-1 in my arm wrestling record. I'll keep you posted on future challenges.
I must say, I have loved watching CNN's international network here. They cover stories from all around the world, and also stories from America. They have been spending the week doing various focus stories on Mongolia, featuring stories about their economy, traditional music, Buddhism, and other aspects of the country. I appreciate having more worldly news than what we get in the States while still being able to keep up to date with American news.
I've been loving my turkey sandwiches for lunch! God bless Costco.
Looking forward to getting my first pay check next week! And very much looking forward to my trip to Japan next weekend!!
Much love to you all!
Be well,
Roman
ps, a few people had requested a video of my walk to work, so here is a youtube link to it. It's nothing exciting, but you can get a good sense for what my neighborhood looks like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPC23czIoVw
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