a day in the life of a guest English 선생님 (teacher)

No matter what sound I choose for my alarm clock, I still cringe when it goes off, somewhere around 7:35. My family knows how much I love my sleep, and surfacing before 9 is somewhat short of a miracle. Snooze has quickly become my frenemy, despite years of making fun of others for hitting that button multiple times (why don't you just set it for the time you actually want to get up and sleep a little more?). My workday begins at 8:30, so I shake off the blankets of sleepiness and head to the bathroom to get ready in the now 20 minutes I have left before I need to walk out the door.

What this picture doesn't show are my adorable Hello Kitty bathroom slippers that I slip on whenever I go into the bathroom. Those with a keen sense of observation, you will notice that my bathroom lacks a shower. Or so you think. There actually is a shower, consisting of just a shower head. The bathroom is the shower. The shower is the bathroom. Hence, the slippers are important for keeping your feet dry when the floor (and everything else) is all wet.

After making myself look fairly presentable, I head to the kitchen for a quick bite of breakfast. The American way is to have a bowl of cereal, enjoying your choice from an entire isle at the grocery store with a hundred different options. Although Korea has very few, rather expense, cereal options, I am lucky to find Frosted Flakes quite easily. I have a feeling that after a year, I may not want to see another box of Frosted Flakes for a while.

I sprint out the door at about 8:15/8:20. It takes about 8 mins to walk to school, for which I am very grateful. Here are a few pictures from the walk yesterday morning.

In case you can't tell, this is a huge hill. At the top of the hill is my school. On the way, I happen to see many of my students. Quite an unfortunate occurrence as I am winded from the hike and have to say "hello" while trying to catch my breath. I think my students are terrified of seeing me outside of class because they may actually have to talk to me and that would just be terrible. It's funny seeing their faces of surprise when they see that teacher exists outside of school. (Or when I sit next to them on the bus for a whole 20 mins..)

Every morning, these students greet me with "hello teacher" or "good morning." I think they are there to monitor the length of students' skirts. However, I am not 100% sure on that....

And so the chorus of "hello teacher" begins for the day. Students always greet their teachers by bowing to them in the hallways. I think I offer a bit of a conundrum for some, especially when walking with a Korean teacher. The greetings go something like this: a respectful and quiet "annyeong hasayo" (bow to Korean teacher) into a "Hi teacher!" (quite loudly, to me). The commence the giggling. So many girls, so much giggling.

Whenever I see another teacher or administrator, I bow to them and greet them in English or Korean, depending on who it is. Many teachers say "Hi" or "Hello" to me, but I am hoping they will feel more comfortable with me if I make an effort in Korean. 

My teaching is fairly solo. I teach with a co-teacher, which translates to me teaching and my co-teacher standing in the back to regulate classroom management. For the most part, things are going well. I have definitely learned quite a bit in the last four weeks about myself, teaching, students and Korea. I know there are many ways to improve, but I'm enjoying myself along the way.

Many may be surprised that there is always one student sleeping in my class. And you know what? I generally let them sleep. For those who don't know, students here work incredibly hard. They go to school, then they go to after school school (called a hagwon) that usually is until 10 pm. Then they go home and do homework for both. The next morning they do it all over again. Students here are fantastic at school and studying, but it comes at a cost. The sleeping students are evidence of that. If you want to know more, watch this 12 second video...

School ends at 4:30. It seems for many weeks, I was so tired (or as my Irish friend would say, "wrecked") that I would put my pj's on the second I got home and watch t.v. or read a book. I am trying to get a little better at going out with friends during the week and exploring my area. It's hard when all you want to do is cuddle in a warm electric blanket that some nice stranger was kind enough to give you. 

Love from Korea.