Busy Week in Korea

Even though we had Monday off, it still seemed to be a busy and full week. We are still staying late everyday and trying to fall into a routine, but we are really enjoying our school. This weekend we had to go to school on Saturday for professional development. It was an interesting day. We learned more about how to grade assignments and the importance of grading for the sake of aiding the student in the future and demonstrating to the parents that we are getting involved with every student. We also had breakout sessions about team building, the preschool and kindergarten programs, technology, and cultural differences. The cultural differences seminar was interesting as their are many small things that we didn't even know about. They started off talking about things Koreans do that we might find odd or offensive, but are just part of the culture here. Some we could relate too. On the subways, if you want to get off you have to push and make it known. Also, it is not odd here to bump into someone and just keep going. Personal space is not such a big deal. We learned that we should not point at our students (which we do all the time like when calling on them), write their names in red (as only people who are dead have their names written in red), toss or throw things to students, and few other little things. Korea is a very communal society and values that highly. It is also a highly competitive society. We know that our kids take a lot of tests, but we also learned that tests will continue throughout their lives. The college entrance test is about the biggest things ever. So big and important that planes are rerouted and traffic is redirected to make sure the students can concentrate. In their jobs, Koreans will often have to take a standardized test to get promoted or even before they will look at a resume.
After our workshop, the school took us all out to a big lunch/dinner at On the Border. It is an American restaurant chain with Mexican food. It was delicious!! We left very full and happy.
We are spending our Sunday at a local coffee shop, updating our blog, writing September report cards, and making some travel plans for this winter.