One Down, Eleven to Go

I’ve been in Korea for five weeks now, and tomorrow will be the one-month milestone for my time in Daegu (as well as my first payday). It’s incredible to me that I’ve already fulfilled 1/12 of my contract. I’m feeling pretty comfortable here these days; I know where to go to buy anything I need, and I think I finally have most of the little quirks of my studio figured out, or at least the ones I can’t ignore (the latest issue was last weekend when I thought my washing machine was broken. My landlords happened to be wall-papering next door, so I called them in and we all had a good laugh when they discovered that the water valve going into the machine had been turned off. They blame me, and I blame the hot-water mechanic). Now I need to work on expanding my comfort zone – I have yet to use the subway by myself, and I also want to figure out the country-wide bus and express-train system so I can start moving around and see a bit more of Korea outside of Daegu.

For the first time, I’ve been feeling a little homesick over the past few days. Since my Internet is working I talked to some people from home for the first time last weekend – my friends Michele and Erika, my sister Jessica, and my parents. School this week was also difficult and just dragged on. The kids are stressed about mid-terms next week and don’t feel like listening to me just now, and while sometimes I really like my lesson topics and it’s easy to think of explanations and activities, sometimes I’m just at a loss for interesting things to do – and that happened with every one of my classes this week. So I’ve just been trying to get more sleep (it’s a constant game of catch-up from the weekends) and stay active – I had dinner with Hyun Joo last night, and tonight a bunch of the EPIK teachers are meeting downtown for Indian food. There’s also talk of visiting an amusement park this weekend, which by definition should cheer me up J

My school schedule for the next few days is also sure to cheer me up. As I mentioned before, next week the students have midterms on Monday and Tuesday. Even though there aren’t any classes, all the teachers have to come to school until around noon, except me (this has happened to me before – a few weeks ago I had a random Friday off, because the students were being tested for physical fitness all day instead of having normal classes. All the other teachers had to be at school to help with the testing, except they told me not to come. I’m not sure really sure why, but I’m telling myself that they’re just being nice). Anyway, so I have Monday and Tuesday off, and then next Friday and the following Monday schools are closed for Chuseok. Chuseok is a Korean harvest festival – like Thanksgiving – and most Koreans eat a big traditional meal and visit their families and ancestral hometowns – again, like Thanksgiving. I’m really looking forward to having the time off and maybe traveling somewhere over Chuseok. I have no ideas yet, but since most places will be closed, and most people will be gone, I’d rather not sit at home alone for four days.

My fellow EPIK teachers are really fun and awesome support, but I owe my non-EPIK friends so much for making me feel comfortable and welcome here. All the teachers at Jeil, even the ones who don’t speak English or that I don’t teach with, are so friendly and considerate, and bring me little treats or coffee and try to include me in things. My co-teachers have been wonderful – Carrie and Bosun are so helpful all the time, even with stuff that falls outside their job duties like making phone calls for me, driving me around, or helping me with my studio. And all four of my co-teachers are very patient with my attempts at teaching and creating lesson plans – I learn so much just from watching them and taking in their feedback.

Hyun Joo, or Jessica (her English name) has also been amazing. I’m so, so glad I met her. She’s taken me around to different restaurants and tea/coffee shops, shown me a market near our building that gives you a free garbage bag if you spend \10,000, shown me another big bookstore with a great English-language section, introduced me to some of her friends, and overall has been very thoughtful, kind, and a great source of information. She told me that she worries about me – when I mentioned that I don’t like to cook she brought me some sweet potatoes and yogurt, and when I mentioned that I had been feeling homesick this week she bought me a little miniature tree from a florist!

Thanks for reading and stay in touch! Email or message me on Skype if you want to set up a time to talk – I can also call land-line phones for about 2 cents a minute, so don’t hesitate to ask!