Holler Back...

Been awhile.  I've no excuse, other than laziness.

I made a video with random things from first month.  The video includes orientation, where we dyed scarves, learned how to make tofu, did a little farming, and played traditional games.  Part of the video shows a little around the area I live.  The mountain and farm shots are the view I have on my runs each day!  It is really beautiful, and I hope I never get bored of the beauty.  The very last part of the video is a "salmunori" presentation from a group of high school kids.  This was part of orientation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_gtIqEtys8&context=C49b52daADvjVQa1PpcFP_qPj-4RhTmkUmBtyqH3UyZQ7OqzB0d9I=

Can't figure out how to put a link on this page for some reason.  Well you can just copy and paste the link, or you can go to youtube.com and search mrwilson35253.  I only have 1 video so you should be able to find it easily.


So.........things are going pretty well.  I have not seen any other foreigners in my little town yet, but I have met one guy who lives in the area.  I am slowly meeting more people.  It is much different than last time.  Last time I worked with 5 other foreigners, so I had 5 instant people to hang out with.  I've never had to work so hard to make friends, but I'm alright with that.  I wanted this experience to be new and different, and it certainly is.

School is going fairly well.  It definitely has it's ups and downs.  I had a really bad day last week, for no particular reason(think I might have just been PMSing), but this week has gone remarkably well.  One of my co teachers actually told me my teaching style was very good.  It is somewhat hard to tell when a Korean's compliment is genuine, because they sometimes say something when they are actually thinking the opposite, but I think she was genuine.  That's what I'm gonna roll with anyways.
The actual teaching this time is a bit different.  Last time I was at a private school, called a hagwon.  Hagwons are run as a business more than a school, because in the end, they are businesses.  Every thing at a hagwon is about pleasing the parents.  Fortunately, I was at a really great hagwon last time I was in Korea.  However, being at a public school definitely has it perks.  Less working hours, more vacations, no demanding parents, etc.  This is just my third week teaching, and I have already had 3 random classes cancelled, of course I'm never told why, but I really don't care why.  It is a free period for me!  I teach anything from 2-6 classes per day.  On average, there are about 33 kids in each class.  I only see each class once a week, and some I only see once every other week.  Doing the math, I have about 825 students.  In the hagwon, there were kids I saw every day, and could really get to know.  It will be much more difficult to get to know 825 kids I see only once a week.  There are a couple boys who love coming to my office after lunch to chat, and it's pretty easy to pick out the annoying kid in each class.  It will take some time, but I hope I will be able to get to know at least some of them.

Okay gonna wrap this up.  Last thing for now.  I heard a lot of complaints about school lunches before I got here.  I was scared about having to eat octopus and squid and fish with bones in it everyday or something.  However, my school lunches are AMAZING!  Lunch is the best part of my day.  With that said, there have been two somewhat iffy things on my tray.  We have soup every day, and on Tuesday I was eating my soup, and saw these little black things.  They kinda looked like wild rice, where sometimes it's black and kinda splits and curls up.  You know?  Well, I must have been making some sort of face, because my co teacher asked if I knew what it was.  I said no.  She proceeded to tell me, "shells from the river".  I'm thinking snails or something?  Whatever they were, I ate them, and they weren't too bad.  Today, there was another weird looking things.  I thought maybe they were little minnows fried up in a sauce.  I tried them and they weren't too bad.  I asked my co teacher what they were: "Umm well, in Korean ________.  Umm glow strings, maybe?  Glow strings."  I just said, "Okay."  I've just made a deal with my stomach, I'm not gonna ask, I'm just gonna eat, please don't disagree.  So far so good.  Knock on wood, fingers crossed.
On a somewhat related note, I have managed to find a regular toilet in my school.  Most of the toilets are squatters, which I'm not a fan of.  After 2.5 weeks of holding my pee all day, I've found relief!  Twas a good day for me.

Again, much longer post than intended.  Must be better about writing, then they won't have to be so long.  Hopefully you can check out the video.  I'm gonna have to try to figure out how to load it on this page.  It is nothing too special, but I'm hoping my video/editing skills will bet better as time goes on.

Hope this finds you well...Talk to you again soon...