The Nice Bungeu Bang Man

I had an interesting experience today that I thought was worth sharing.



This is a type of street food here in Korea that is called 붕어빵 (bungeo bang), which litterally translates into carp bread. It is basically a pancake type batter with red bean paste in the middle that is grilled in a fish shaped mold. It is one of my favorite snack foods. You buy them on the street for 3 for 1000 won (about a dollar). Since you get three, this will usually end up being my lunch or something. Early this afternoon I was coming home from church and went looking for a 붕어빵 vender. It was 2:00 and I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch, so I was pretty hungry. I found a guy who was selling these things for 6 for 1000 won! I was pretty excited. He only had one made, so he gave that one to me for free while I was waiting for him to make more. There was a little stool that he made me sit on, and he offered me some coffee. While the water was heating, he finished my 붕어빵, put it in a bag, and gave me another one to eat while I was waiting for the coffee! The whole time he was talking away. I couldn't understand much of what he was saying. He asked if I went to the nearby university. I told him no, and that I was a teacher at 한국 Kent 위국안 학교. He again said something about the university..... So much for my Korean. After I finished the coffee, he asked me if I smoked and if I wanted a cigarette. In the end, I got 8 붕어빵 (many of them saved for dinner) and coffee and a ciegarette if I had wanted one, all for the price of 3 붕어빵.

The coolest thing about this experience is that it happened right after I tried my 5th church here in Seoul. I haven't really felt very welcome at any of them, and was feeling pretty frustrated. It was sad to me that I haven't felt welcomed at any of these churches, but some random ajashi (older man) who didn't even speak my language could make me feel so at home.



School has been keeping me pretty busy. My students seem to find new ways to challenge me every day. I don't get the kind of support at my school that first year teachers would get back at home, so I'm learning from my mistakes.



Good luck Mom on your first 5K!!! I know you'll do great, but I really wish I could be there to run it with you.

Okay, I'm Back

So I finally feel like I have settled in to my new home job. Time to let others know what's going on.

I am teaching a class of ten first graders. It is nice to have a small number, but it feels bigger because there is so much diversity. The difference between my oldest and youngest student is more than 2 years. At least one never went to kindergarten, so has never had to learn how to do things like sit in a chair or respect a teacher before. Some don't know the sounds of the letters, while some can read at a second grade level. Most students know how to add, but I even have one who is asking to learn how to multiply now. The students have all different backrounds. Taking into account the student's country of citizenship and the countries that they have lived in, my 10 students represent at least 11 countries (India, Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, New Zeeland, Russia, USA, England, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Korea). So while the numbers are small, the range of teaching that I have to do feels like it is HUGE.

The year started off really hard. There was no type of orientation to the school, and no one really telling us all of the things that had to be turned in (syllabus, breakdown of the yearly plan, grading polocy etc..) Basically I would find out about these things when I heard other teachers talking about them. The first grade teacher before me basically didn't use any teaching materials (posters, manipulatives, games and stuff like that), so I am spending a lot of my time making these things as I go along. Now I am sort of in a good routine, but making all of the materials is really time consuming.

My housing here is kind of a bummer. All of the other teachers are in a real apartment building, but I am in a building that has 6 units above a bar. Mine is maybe 2/3 the size of the others. The mini-refridgerator that came in the apartment is useless. There is a problem with the seal or something, so the back half of the fridge is frozen while the front half is warm, and the freezer builds up a nice thick layer of ice (about an inch in a week) around the edges. I ended up having to get a fridge of my own, and still have this worthless mini-fridge taking up space in the tiny apartment. It took me six weeks to get internet hooked up. This is completely rediculous considering that Korea is the "most wired nation in the world." There were other teachers who had their internet in 4 days. Mostly the delay was due to a guy at my school who was too busy to make the phone call. I ended up having to get help from another friend, but even then there were more rediculous delays. (Oh yeah, and then the guy who didn't help me at my school had the nerve to tell me that "you should have called a different company") I'm not quite sure how I got stuck with this place, but there is a chance that I will be able to move to the other building in March.

I am coaching the high school cross country team, which has been quite an experience. I didn't know anything about cross country when I started. Basically the athletic director knew that I am a runner, so when they were looking for a coach he asked me. There is another coach that I am working with (who is equally clueless about cross country) which makes things a little easier. We are both first year teachers at the school, so neither of us felt like we could commit to coaching 100% of the time. This is the first year that the school is offering cross country. We have 7 boys on the team. At the first practice there were 2 girls, but they didn't come back. So far we have had 3 meets. We certainly don't have the best team (There are other teams with 45 boys and 45 girls) but I'm proud of how they are doing.

I'll try to start updating my blog on a regular basis again. I already miss everyone so much. I've bought my tickets home for Christmas, so I'll be there for sure.