Day 3: First Day Of School

Today was my first day of teaching at my new school, and it went smashingly well! My day is divided into 'blocks' of teaching, beginning at 10:30am. The morning is spent with the kindergarten-aged children, who are shy, but polite and very adorable. Teaching English to them is very easy, as right now it is limited to playing games with them that ask them to tell me the colour of the pen I'm holding, or count something, or say 'yes or no' to basic questions I ask them. A breeze!

I was then given 2.5 hours for lunch - wow! I went home and chatted a bit online, talking to friends back home and making perhaps my first new friend here in Korea, Etien, an American who I met online who is in the military here in Seoul. He seems like a really nice guy and almost as lonely as I am! We may get together this weekend to tour the town. I'm looking forward to having some English-speaking company!

My afternoon at REI was great! I had 3 blocks (each block is a half-hour) of elementary kids, and they're my favourite! They're all extremely excited to have a foreigner at their school (I'm the only foreign teacher working at REI - all the rest are Koreans) and they're fascinated by me! My height especially seems to enthrall them, and I am especially popular with my young female students who enjoy taking pictures of me on their high-tech camera cell phones to send to their friends. In each block we played more games, and spent time drawing whatever I asked the kids to draw. The different games test the kids' vocabularies, and allows them to have fun while using English.

I had an hour in between two of my blocks and spent it hanging out with about a half dozen of the kids in the office. Several of them presented me with candy, and even though their command of English is limited, it was fun to ask them questions, and they had plenty to ask me. One of them, a boy also named Scott, seems really attached to me already, but I appear to be a hit with all of them. I took out my Korean Phrase Book (thanks Barb, great gift!) and I had a blast with the kids as they helped me with my Korean and I helped with them their English. They love it when I attempt basic Korean, especially when I occasionally mangle the words.

The other teachers there are really nice, especially one girl Julia who works mainly in the office. Her English is best out of all the other teachers, and she was really friendly. She had plenty of questions to ask me, and was eager to practice her English. She seems really sweet, and also keen to help me with my questions. Every Korean I have met so far has been extremely polite and helpful, and Julia even went as far to accompany me after work to show me where I can buy an alarm clock. 4 of my female elementary kids followed along, and it was fun to wander through the stores browsing. After finding a clock, Julia headed off home, but the 4 young girls continued to follow me through the market, holding my hand and running around me dancing and chasing each other. I went back to the grocery store to buy some more food, and it was fun to shop for food with 3 11-year olds and the one 9-year old! They helped me find food and pick out 'what tasts best' - they especially loved the cookie aisle! They then walked me home and yelled "bye-bye Scott" as they ran off home. SO CUTE!!!

I feel a lot more comfortable here already, and my kids have been wonderful. I think I'm really going to like teaching English to them, and am sure that I will bond to quite a few. I'm looking forward to doing some serious exploring of Seoul this weekend in my free time - if only now I can figure out how to get to the nearest subway station! Step by step I seem to figure things out - I've just gotta learn to be more patient sometimes! It's in my nature to 'land and conquer' immediately, but Seoul is going to take some time. As my Mom used to always tell me while growing up "patience is a virtue", and I definitely need to practice that here. But so far it's so good, and I'm looking forward to my day tomorrow.