It's great to be teaching again...

Vacation was winding down and the rest of the teachers were preparing themselves mentally and physically for the return to school. Traveling in Asia is pretty cheap, so that is usually what they opt for during their time off. Aaron and Gina traveled down to Southeast Korea to a beach town called Busan (or Pusan). They had fun, but were upset that they couldn't swim because it's still monsoon season. Suzanna, another teacher who I will write about on the "Fellow Teachers" post, went to Bejing. Pat and Dina, a slightly older couple who live together here, went to Guam for the week. I anticipate that I'll be doing a lot of traveling as well.

My last day of vacation was spent reading, writing and sleeping. I wanted to make sure that I was well rested and prepared to make a good impression the next morning. I set my alarm for 8:30 am and drifted to sleep early. I'm finally getting over jet-lag and the time difference, so I probably didn't need to go to bed that early, but I didn't care. I woke up at 5:30 the next morning. I was mad at myself, but knew I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, so I decided to read the news. I still read the news very often as I did there, but realized that since I am not bombarded with the 24 cable news cycle, I am starting to see things a little different. Don't get me wrong, I will not ever change from the bleeding-heart that I am, but being away from television and radio punditry is nice break. I don't have to hear what Rush, Hannity and O'Reilly think. I don't have to get mad at FOX News or Pat Robertson anymore. In a way, I'm beating them. I have escaped their tiring and repetitive opinions and it's great. Of course, it goes both ways and when the mid-term elections near I'd get just as tired of both sides of the aisle, but for now, it's great to be away from that.

I watched the small time display in corner of the computer screen change from six to seven and then to eight. I thought it was time for breakfast and then a shower. 9:00 am rolled around and my telephone rang. It was Rhett making sure I was up and ready for work. I was, and with that push, I was out the door. School doesn't actually start until 9:45, but it's always good to get there early on your first day. I walked out of the apartment and headed up the small street that I live on. I turned my IPOD on, put in the headphones and I was ready to roll. The volume wasn't loud and I could here what sounded like a man yelling over the song I was listening to. The song was Christopher Cross' "Caught Between" (theme from the movie Arthur). I immediately assumed that the yelling that interrupted me was a result of something I had done. I removed my headphones and turned around to examine what it might have been. I have not done anything to make anyone mad yet, but you never know. And there, about twenty feet behind me, was a truck full of watermelons. There were people all around the truck too. Why would this many people buy watermelon from this guy? There are literally hundreds of markets within one mile of here. I waited for a minute to see if I heard the noise again. There it was again in broken English.

"Watermelon cheap, watermelon good, watermelon from farm!" said the voice.

I had no intention of buying a watermelon, but wanted to see what was so special about this guy's watermelons. I headed towards the truck and away from school.


The voice repeated, "Watermelon cheap, watermelon good, watermelon from farm!"

It sounded just the same as before. It even had the same pause between words. By the time I got there some of the people had gotten over the hysteria of his watermelons and had walked on. The man was outside the truck helping people with their purchase when the sales pitch repeated itself. I quickly learned that he had an audio recording of a man's voice in his truck that he would play over a PA. Then I realized that it was this guy who wakes me up several times in the morning with his obnoxious watermelon truck. This made me mad, so I decided not to support this guys business in my neighborhood and I turned around and walked back towards school. I sure stuck it to him.

Let me give you a very brief history of my school. It called The Wonderland Junior English School. It is the second most expensive English School in Seoul and it's been voted The Best by the Korean Times for Kindergarten education. The school recently moved to a new location, and believe me, it's very nice. I was only hired here because I taught last year. Who knew?

Waiting for the traffic light to tell me to cross the street, I was thinking about my students from last year. (By the way, a voice literally tells you to cross the street.) Where are they right now? How was their summer? Will I ever know how they turn out? I miss them, and I think that is a very hard part of teaching. You are put into a room with twenty kids and told to teach them. You are told to be the first to show them the world. I love this feeling, but it's sad you don't know how much you really meant to them. I guess that come the territory. So I crossed the wide street that has two crosswalks, so that pedestrians don't run into each other when walking in the opposite directions. I look up at the modern looking building that said in bold letters, WONDERLAND JUNIOR ENGLISH SCHOOL. There I was, at my new school, where I would be for one full year. I wasn't standing there but a minute when a chubby little Korean girl tapped me on my leg. I looked down at her with a smile.

"George Teacher?" she asked.

I knew teachers had told the kids that a new teacher was coming soon, but I couldn't believe she picked me out.

"Yes, I am George Teacher. What is your name?"

I spoke slowly and just assumed that they put a "teacher" after their teachers name.

"My... name... is... Grace."

I could tell she was happy with nailing that introduction. She did too. I guessed she was about five years old, but I'm still having a hard time gauging age here. Actually, I am twenty-five years old here. In Asia, they do not start at zero, like we do. They start at one. That gives them one of their extra years. The other one comes from the Chinese lunar new year which if it falls on a certain day and you are this old blah, blah, blah, you get the point. People usually don't celebrate their birthday either. They recognize it, but on New Years Day, everyone becomes one year older. I'll be 26 in October (my birthday). Watch out Kristin, here I come.

So little Grace scurries inside and I, not knowing where to go, follow her. The school has four floors. The bottom floor is where Mr. Won, the director, and other Korean teachers park and have their offices. I slowly walked up the first flight on stairs, acknowledging how modern the school was. The steps alternated between colors: three red steps, three yellow steps, three blue steps, three green steps. It does that all the way up to the roof.

On the walls, there is wallpaper with classic Warner Brothers cartoon characters saying different things in English. It actually looks nice. I'll try to put a few pictures of the inside of the school on webshots. The second floor is the main floor. This is where all the action is.

I walked up to the very nice glass doors that separated the stairwell from the classrooms and teachers offices.

"Here we go." I thought.

I was greeted by Annie, who is the Korean equivalent to an assistant principal. She smiled at me with her big shiny braces that, judging by the shape of her teeth, were just put on recently. She introduced herself and led me to the offices. We walked past the front desk where three women diligently answered phones. We came to a door that read: Teacher's Offices. It swung open and there I saw Dave and Mike covered in kids. They were everywhere. I looked at Annie and noticed she was not too happy about this.


"Out, out, out!" she yelled.

The kids left right away and we pressed on. She showed me to my desk.

"You will be here."

She pointed to my new desk. I was happy with it. It was loaded with supplies, a computer, textbooks and a nice new chair. It was secluded too and, best of all, it was right next to the window. Annie walked off and I went to sit down. It was comfortable and the air conditioning vent was aimed right at me. I looked around my desk and after deciding that I was satisfied, I did a little three-sixty spin in my chair. This was going to be great.

Next to my little space was Rhett. This will be good, after all, he's been here for four years and he can kind of take me under his wing and show me the ropes.

Rhett leaned over towards me.

"You want to help with morning warm-up?"

I didn't have a clue what that was, but didn't want to be a pain on the first day, so I agreed.

I followed him out of the office, past the front desk and into this room that was surrounded by glass. It kind of looked like a racquet ball court, but without the high ceiling and this room was furnished with a huge screen for the kids to watch movies on a rainy day. In the room there were kids everywhere. They were jumping, running, screaming, playing and just being kids. I followed Rhett to the front of the room and, once there, the kids knew it was time to start and they all sat in rows with their own classmates. Rhett pointed to what would be my class. I eyed the kids with stern but playful look. The looked back and laughed. I returned the laughter. Rhett looked at me.

"Are you ready?" he asked with an odd smile on his face.

"What have I agreed to do?"I whispered back with a suspicious eye.

He just smiled and gave me his goofy chuckle. The music started and then, without any warning, all those kids started singing. The sound bounced off the wall making it even louder. I couldn't tell what the song was, but I pretended to know it. The first song ended and then they started "You are my Sunshine", which led to "Head, shoulders knees and toes" and to more English classics. Kay (the Korean teacher who was playing the piano), Rhett and I danced, played, sang and even acted out a couple of impromptu skits.

It was fun and when the twenty minute warm-up was over, Rhett smiled at me and said "You're doing this with me everyday." I said okay. School had officially started.

The bell rang and the kids ran off to find there classrooms. I found where I would be teaching and peaked inside. The classroom was small. It had only a felt board, a huge blackboard with the Wonderland logo on it, and a large table. The kids were all sitting around the table and quietly talking. I opened the door. The kids looked confused, but interested.

"Good morning guys!" I said clearly.

"Good morning George Teacher!"

I smiled and walked to the front of the classroom, their eye's glued on me the whole time.

"That's right. I'm George Teacher and I'm your new teacher."

Of course, I didn't know any names, so I had them tell me their names while I wrote them on the board. I asked each child their name and while I was writing their name, I would intentionally misspell it and look back at the kids. They loved it. The room would erupt in laughter when each name was spelled wrong. I would have them tell me the correct spelling, but the seed was planted. They liked me, knew I was fun, but understood, as all Korean children do, that school is for learning. I'll get into specific teaching methods and styles later as I learn more about each child's abilities and needs.

I taught that class for two forty minute periods and then they go to my Korea partner for an additional forty minutes. I originally thought that the Korean teacher was in the class with me, but she's not. Communication will not be a problem because they are not allowed to speak Korean in school. After that class, I went to my other Kindergarten class. I did the same thing with them and it went over just as well. I didn't know what was going to happen with lunch. In my contract, it says that I must serve lunch to the kids. I wasn't sure if that was going to be in a lunchroom, or like it was last year, right there is the classroom. I was in the middle of the class and all of a sudden, an older worn out Korean woman with wild grey hair and a mean look opened the door. That's right, lunch ladies are the same everywhere. She was carrying a tray with our lunch on it. She looked at me like I was supposed to be doing something, but soon realized I had no idea what she was looking at or what I was supposed to be doing. She sighed and put the tray down in the center of the table. The bell rang and the kids rushed out for their five minute break they get after every forty minute class.

I inspected the food. It was rice, boiled fish, fried tofu, a soup, some onion thing, a fruit and vegetable paste, bananas and water. It looked alright. The bell rang again and the kids rushed down the halls and returned to their rooms to eat. They all sat down very quickly, reached into their colorful Wonderland bags and pulled out their Wonderland trays, spoons and chopsticks. The kids had their own cups and some opted not to use the Wonderland chopsticks and had brought their own. Some had bunnies of their sticks, while other sported Sponge Bob Square Pants sticks. It was cute. I walked around the room serving the lunch to them and, when they had all they needed, I served myself. It was very good. When they finish lunch they are free to go play until the bell rings. This is when most of the teachers go get something else to eat, or go smoke, or do anything they have not had time to do.

I watched the kids run around. They are wild and very affectionate. The bell rang again. This was the bell for the final class. I was 1:00pm and their day was almost over. Class ended at 1:45 and after lining up, I said they could go.

"Thanks George Teacher!" they all said as they left the room.

"Have a nice afternoon kids!"