Settling In

This post is being written from our rooftop as it seems to be the best place to get a wireless signal. It is a beautiful night, perfect temperature, and a little bit of a breeze. We can look out over the rooftops and red neon crosses of Seoul towards the mountains in the background.

This week we are beginning to settle into our lives here in Seoul. We are both getting comfortable using a little more Korean, well Matt is probably the most comfortable. We spent time substituting and getting ready for the start of the new semester this week. We received a list of our classes that we will be teaching. As mentioned before, Matt will be teaching kindergarten in the mornings and Eileen will be teaching preschool. In the afternoon, while we both have a range of classes, Matt ended up with much more of a range. We teach classes like writing, reading, vocabulary, phonics, listening, speaking, science and a few others. Monday, tomorrow, is the start of the new semester. We have a feeling that it is going to be a very busy week.
We had the experiences this week of trying out a few new Korean restaurants in the area. Some of this was done with our co-workers, and some was with our friends Justin and Joy. While Matt worked with Justin one summer in Cleveland, we now found out that we live about 10 minutes apart. It is a very small world.
On Saturday, we had a very adventurous and tiring day. First, we got up early and took a subway to downtown Seoul to get a health check so that we can get our Alien Registration cards. It was interesting. Everybody changes into these little robes and you get sandals to wear around. There were 4 of us that went together, and we were the only foreigners. Matt looked great in a robe that was much too short and sandals that could have been a couple of inches longer. It was almost like visiting a luxury hotel. We kept expecting them to take us to the spa. You waited around on these comfy little couches and benches while they sent up and down between two floors to little stations. They drew blood, checked our eyes, took an EKG, did a chest X-ray, and a few other tests. The only one that we really couldn't figure out was that they took a chest measurement. None of us could figure out what this could possibly tell them or how they could deport someone for having a chest that was not the right size.
Afterwards we explored an area called Insadong. This is an area full of great traditional shops and teahouses. We ate lunch in a little out of the way place and enjoyed some tea at a cute little shop. There is also a temple and palace in the area, but we were all pretty exhausted and decided that we would have to come back another day. Eileen was on the look out for good souvenirs, and made note of where to return to. We spent an hour getting back home on the subway and then took a much needed nap. In the afternoon we experienced Korean baseball. You get off the subway to be greeted by numerous vendors selling squid jerky, bibimbap (Korean sushi), beer and water. Then you get your tickets, ours cost $4, and find a seat anywhere you like. It is held in what we think was an old Olympic stadium. The fans cheer constantly for the whole game. When their team is up to bat, they cheer the loudest. There is a cheer master leading all of these cheers that everyone knows, and cheerleaders to help as well. I hardly watched the game, and mostly watched the crowd. It also made it interesting that this game's theme was Christmas. It was quite the experience.
Sunday has been spent recuperating, grocery shopping, cleaning, and doing some much needed things around the house. Please check out the link on the right hand side of this page to look at all our new photos. Every time we take more, we will do our best to get them up.

A guided tour

Here is a movie of our apartment. We have been trying for days to get it up and this is the best we have found so far. You have to copy and paste the URL into address bar. Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1026070815104

After 1 Week

We have officially been here one week. On Monday we started our training. We have been meeting with some of our supervisors during parts of the day and observing other teachers the rest of the time. We still don't know what classes we will be teaching, but we should find out this week. We do know that in the morning Eileen will be teaching preschoolers and Matt will be teaching kindergarteners. As far as our school goes, we feel blessed to be where we are. It is a great school that is very professional and high quality. We use North American curriculum and textbooks, as well as, many books that the school has published themselves. Over 1000 students from the surrounding area, a very nice area of Seoul, attend our school, or hagwon, throughout the week. In the mornings there are preschool and kindergarten classes done in English only from 9:30 - 1:30, including lunch. The evening school program, for elementary to middle school age students, runs from 3:00 until 10:00. We only teach until 7:30 and kids only go for up to 3 of those hours. Students in Korea go to public school for what we would think of as "regular" school hours, then they attend a multitude of academies throughout the week. We are an English language academy which is important as English is needed to get into the best middle schools, high schools, and universities.

One thing that surprised Eileen about the schools was the amount of tracking. By tracking we mean, kids are labeled from the best to the worst and placed in classes accordingly. Every child is tracked down to the very class. No two classes are labeled the same. Giving out homework is very important to parents and they will complain if there is not enough. We were told that if we do not give out enough homework, even if we feel bad, we are really doing a dishonor to the students as they need that to keep up with their peers. We have been very surprised by the abilities of our students. Preschoolers, who enter in March not knowing any English, are by now reading out of a first grade text book. Almost all students seem to be advanced compared to their American peers, and this is their second language! Preschoolers are not just ordering the months of the year, but are also spelling them correctly! We enjoy the staff and the students at Kangnam Poly.
We also had other adventures this week that included going to get a pizza (which apparently Koreans love) that had the only toppings we could make out, pepperoni. We are learning that it is probably a good idea here not to order something unless you know what is in it. We are very fortunate to be able to eat both lunch and a light dinner at school. This has allowed us to try a lot of different Korean foods. The staple, kimchee, takes some getting used to. Matt is trying to like it and Eileen is wondering whether she should even keep trying. It usually consists of pickled cabbage in a spicy bean sauce. In fact a lot of things have cabbage. And if they don't have cabbage there's a good chance they have squid. But we have found some things we do enjoy. On our first full day in Seoul, Mark, a director at the school, took us out for a type of spicy grilled pork called Galbi. You really only order a main dish in Korea, but you are served 7 or 8 side dishes. Later in the week on Thursday, we even got to try some yummy Korean lamb kabobs at one teacher's going away dinner. It is pretty cool that at a lot of restaurants the food finishes cooking right in front of you at your table.
We have posted pictures so that you can follow our adventures! The link is on the right hand side of this page under our picture. We will try and update more often so that the posts will not be as long, but we only have internet every once in a while. That will hopefully change in the future.

We made a list because there are so many cool things that we see all the time and wonder, "why don't we do that?":
Cool things that we see in Korea that we don't have in America

1. Side mirrors that fold in on cars (to make for close parking and maneuvering while driving)
2. Mirrors on the backs of all vans and SUV's for easier backing up

3. Lights all around parking garages to tell you where there are spaces so you don't have to drive around for an hour looking for a spot.
4. Escalators in grocery and department stores that are magnetized to hold onto the magnetized wheels of the shopping cart so that it doesn't move as you go up and down a floor.
5. Sidewalks and even subway floors that are designed with the visually impaired in mind.

6. McDonald's delivery

7. Lots of stuff that saves energy.
8. Driving ranges that fit in between city buildings

9. These plastic accordion things on all the hinges of the doors in our school to stop fingers from being smashed, and foamy stuff on the other side for the same purpose.

10. Korean "crayons" that are in a plastic pencil like case and you just turn to push up the crayon. It saves crayons from breaking and kids from complaining that they need to sharpen their colored pencils.

Stuff that we haven't seen that we miss from America
1. Separate showers and bathrooms
2. Dryers
3. "Normal" pillow cases
4. "Normal" fitted sheets and top sheets
5. Mattresses that don't only come in super extra firm
6. Skim milk
7. Deodorant

We're Here!

While we only have a short while to update, we will let you all know that we are here and arrived safely. We luckily had a weekend to get over jet lag and get somewhat accomadated to our new home. It has rained every day, we got here right at the end of the rainy season but luckily the guy who owned our apartment left like seven umbrellas so we are staying dry. We will have to update more later when we get another break. We are keeping a list of all the cool things we have seen so far in Korea that we are suprised are not being used in America.