Chuseok Jal Boneyseyo!

Another week is coming to an end here in Korea, so I'm dropping you a note with the news of this week. It's been another good week here, and while it's only Thursday, I definitely feel like it's time for a weekend. Since last week was the first week of the semester, a lot of time and energy were spent on administrative stuff, but the actual class time was quite light. However, it's no longer the first week. There's still a lot of administrative stuff to be done, as students are getting their schedules figured out, but classes are also in full swing.

My upper level classes are all in the beginning of the week, so Monday and Tuesday are a rush to prepare a variety of more challenging materials, and I end my week with my basic conversation classes, which means teaching the same 2-hour lesson 7 times. Each class certainly has its own personality, but it still gets a bit tedious. It's only Thursday, so I have a whole day yet to go, and I can do the lesson from memory. Fortunately, one of my basic English conversation classes has been canceled, and another one might yet be if the only student registered for it can move to another class.

I've learned about a quarter of my students' names. Since many Korean names are gender-neutral, I find that it takes me a lot longer to match names with faces than it ever did in the U.S. I can pronounce Korean names well enough if I can see them written in Korean. Sometimes students think they're helping me by writing their names phonetically in English, but that's actually much more difficult for me to read because there are so many variations in English phonics and transliterations. Korean phonics is much more straight forward. My poor Chinese students, on the other hand, are having their names slaughtered in every class. I'm fortunate that they're all being patient with me.

My biggest news of the week is that I finally have most of my official documents. I'm just waiting my national health insurance card. My passport and Korean registration card arrived from the immigration office yesterday. I was able to get my bank account straightened out with my new information, so I should have no problems being paid this month. To make me feel even more official, I got my university business cards today. They're in English on one side and Korean on the other. It makes me laugh because despite their "officialness," the Korean side lists only my first name in Korean letters. Now that I have my ID card, someone is checking telephone and internet plans for my apartment, which means it'll get done sometime later, probably "right now" at the least convenient time, but it's hard to be picky when other people are taking care of things for me. In the meantime, I have telephone and internet access in my office, and I discovered that I can "borrow" a neighbor's wireless connection at home if I sit on my kitchen floor, which is really the only option since I still don't have much in the way of furniture.

This weekend is Chuseok, a Korean harvest festival similar to Thanksgiving and one of the two biggest holidays in Korea. The day before and the day after Chuseok are also national holidays. Since it's on a Sunday this year, we only end up getting one day off, but I'm still happy to have a 3-day weekend. My Canadian friend and I are going to the islands just off Incheon to do some low-key exploring and hopefully enjoy some nice sunsets over the Yellow Sea, or West Sea as it's known in Korea.

That's all for now. Chuseok jal boneyseyo! (Happy Chuseok!)

One week down

It's Friday afternoon, and I've finished my last class for the week here at the university. What a week it has been, too. I had 13 two-hour classes on the schedule, but for one of my classes, only 1 student showed up, and no students showed up for another class, so it looks like those two might end up being canceled. I'm adjusting to the new teaching load. It's actually about the same amount of time in the classroom as I had in my previous school, but the schedule is a little more managable because I start (and therefore end) earlier in the day, except on Mondays and Tuesdays. I won't be at all disappointed if a class or two ends up canceled, though. In total, I have about 200 students, most of whom are freshmen. A few of my students have lived overseas and speak English quite well. Others find it more challenging. I'm delighted to have 8 Chinese students in my classes. They are much more reserved than the Korean students. At first I mistook this for a lack of understanding, but it seems it has more to do with culture. I look forward to getting to know all of my students a little better in the coming weeks. However, the task of learning 200 new names, many of which are gender neutral, is a bit overwhelming right now.

My students are very curious about my age, and I'm a little conflicted about what to tell them. I have a decade on my youngest students, so that's not a problem, but the older students are not much younger than I am, especially the men who have already completed their two years of compulsory military service. In a society in which age is so important in determining roles, respect, and relationships, its awkward to have such a position of authority over people who would otherwise be my peers. I try to avoid the subject. When they ask, I answer them truthfully, though I confess that I always tell them my Korean age, which is two years higher than my actual age.

I'm getting to know the other faculty and staff, at least well enough to recognize them and say hello on campus, and I frequently run into students both on and off campus. I'm becoming a somewhat familiar, though still stare-worthy, face, and I've heard from several sources that I am indeed the only foreigner in town. The other foreign English instructor at the university lives in a larger city, but I decided to live within walking distance of the university. There's also a foreign German instructor whom I've seen but haven't met, but he lives in Seoul and is only on campus one day a week.

My apartment is coming along. My bathroom and kitchen are unpacked and ready to go, but everything else is still in boxes since I don't have any furniture. I have no closet space, so yesterday I bought a spring-loaded suspension-rod contraption. After much trial and error (and completely giving up on the installation instructions, which were, of course, in Korean), I finally got the thing set up so that I'm reasonably confident that it won't come crashing down on my head again. Just to be safe, I moved my bed to the other side of the room. My clothes are now hanging, and putting the suitcases away has made me feel a lot more settled. My apartment is still quite empty, but the first weekend in October, I'll get a desk, table, and chairs from another teacher who is leaving. I'm making a list of other things that I need. For now I have a bunch of pillows along the wall. They used to be accent pillows on my couch in my previous apartment. However, the couch belonged to my previous employer, so now I just have pillows. I'm trying to figure out what else I can do to make my place a little less stark and more like home. It's hard to decide what to invest in to make myself comfortable, while knowing that my stay here is temporary and that I can't take things with me when I leave.

I'm still waiting for my Korean registration card to arrive. (They had misplaced my passport the last time I was in the immigration office. However, they assured me that I'd have it back, along with my ID card, by the end of next week.) Until I have my official registration number, I can't make any kind of legal contract. (The real estate office accepted a photocopy of my old card and my thumb prints for the lease on my apartment.) Fortunately my office is less than a 5-minute walk from my apartment, and my key card allows me access to the building anytime, so it's not really so inconvenient to come over here in the meantime.

Now that the initial shock of leaving the US again has worn off, I'm really happy to be back in Korea and getting settled again.

First day of school

It's 8:30 PM, and I just finished my last class of the day. So far, so good. I think I'm really going to enjoy my English discussion class. Several students in that class have lived in English-speaking countries, so their level is quite high, which makes it a lot easier to relate to them. My non-credit continuing ed. class is another matter entirely. There are a couple strong students, but most are struggling quite a bit. It's going to be a challenge to choose a textbook for that class. My other class today was mostly first-year English majors, with a wide range of maturity levels.

I've discovered that in addition to managing the university's computer system, I need to figure out the computerized photocopiers in Korean as well. I knew how to use the one at my previous school, but these have completely different menus and buttons. If I didn't have quite so much on my plate this week, it would be more of a fun challenge.

New stomping grounds

I moved into my apartment today, so I'm trying to make myself feel at home. My building is just down the street from the main entrance to the university, less than a 5-minute walk from the foreign language building. The jury is still out on whether or not I like my new place, but in general I'm pretty happy. It is by far the nicest place I saw and my only decent option.

Positives: across the street from the univeristy, new building, low deposit, more space (2 small rooms, bathroom, kitchen, and laundry room--my old apartment was a studio, so this is a big improvement), good natural light, washing machine, air conditioner. Negatives: no bathroom sink (seriously!), no chain on the door (yet), higher rent than I was hoping for but not out of my budget, dorm-style refrigerator with no freezer, far from a downtown area, no hot water (yet), no closets. It's not particularly accessible by public transportation, but the university regularly runs a free bus between the campus and the nearest train station. It's an unimpressive, quiet neighborhood with a very small-town feel (for those of you in Galena, think East Dubuque, without the charm ;))--well, quiet except for the military aircraft that do drills overhead throughout the day--kind of reminds me of the 3 years my family lived on an army airfield when I was a kid.

I do have a spare room in my new apartment, so if you'd like to come visit, I can offer more space and privacy than before, though no furniture yet and no bathroom sink.

I'm fairly certain I'm the only foreigner in town. I get a lot more stares, pointing, nervous giggles than I have in the past. The campus is on a hillside and has a very pretty park, and right now the rice fields in the area are beautiful. I guess the long and the short of it is that it's going to be just fine, though with a few disadvantages. I have no furniture except for my bed, so my task now is to find a few inexpensive things so that it's a little more livable. I just moved in this morning and spent the better part of the day trying to get things as organized as possible without furniture or closets. I'm hoping to get my phone and internet hooked up early this week.

Classes start on Monday. I'm excited and terrified. Overall, I'm glad to be back in Korea. I've had a little time to catch up with friends over meals, and it's so good to see them again since they have become the Korean extension of my family and help to fill the void of being so far away from people I love.

Progress

It's been an incredibly busy transition back to Korea. Every day this week has been so busy that I pretty much collapse as soon as I get back to B. and S.'s apartment, where I've been staying temporarily while I look for my own place close to the university.

There was a new faculty orientation at the university on Tuesday--2 hours entirely in Korean, followed by a lunch with the dean and other administrators--another 2 hours entirely in Korean. Every couple minutes they'd stop, look at me, and ask "Do you have any questions?" I didn't understand 99% of the orientation. I just smiled, nodded, and figured I'll figure it all out as I go along anyway. I'm finding that I'm expected to be a lot more self-sufficient than I was at my previous school. In fact, I'm expected to do a lot of things that Korean faculty members do at the university, including using the university's computerized student records system, which is, of course, all in Korean.

In addition to the three other new faculty members at the orientation, I've met two of the Korean English professors (both fascinating women whom I'm delighted to be working with), a handful of university administrators, and the other foreign English teacher, with whom I share an office which is pretty much a disaster area. I spent the better part of yesterday trying to get my part of it cleaned up a little.

I found an apartment yesterday. One of my friends helped me look for it, and I'll sign all the papers for it today. The only hitch is that I don't have my Korean registration card yet, and immigration has my passport while they process it, so I'm hoping they'll accept photocopies of my documents. I'll be really happy to move into my own apartment as soon as I can. It was so generous of B. and S. to let me stay here, but it's also really awkward living in someone else's house.

My new apartment is right next to campus in a relatively new building. It has two small rooms, connected by a small kitchen, with an enclosed balcony. It's in a very quiet residential area. The downside is that it's a long walk (across rice fields) or a bus ride (free shuttle from the university) to the nearest subway station and downtown area, but it's really not too far, and I decided I'd rather not try to commute from a busier, more interesting area everyday. From my apartment, the subway station would be an easy downhill bike ride, so I'm thinking about getting a bicycle once I'm a little more settled. It was a little more expensive than I had hoped. I was hoping to find something less than my housing allowance that so I could also apply it to utilities. My rent is exactly my housing allowance, so utilities are coming out of pocket, but this was by far the nicest apartment I saw.

I ended up accepting all of the overtime they've asked me to teach at the university, so I'll be clocking 26 classroom hours each week, which doesn't include preparation and grading. I'm a little bit nervous about it but am also glad for the extra income. I'll teach 8 sections of freshman English conversation, and 1 section each of English conversation (for sophomore+ English majors), advanced English conversation (jr and sr English majors), advanced English discussion (like debate--also for jr and sr English majors), and a non-credit English conversation course through the university's continuing ed. program.

Not so sure

It's a little strange to be back in Korea. After looking forward to coming back all summer, now that I'm here, I find myself wondering if this is really where I want to be and what I want to be doing. I'm hoping this will wear off as I get over jet lag and get busy at the university. (Being wide awake at 3 AM is not necessarily a good thing for someone who is already prone to serious introspection.)

On the ground

I made it back to Korea safe and sound. When the plane landed in Seoul, I felt that as much as I was leaving home, I was also returning home. It was more or less an uneventful trip. Y.I. met me at the airport. We dropped my things off at the apartment where I'll be staying temporarily and then went out for dinner. The apartment I'm staying in is a lot of fun--huge by Korean standards (4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, big kitchen), and my friends have this great collection of very colorful comteporary art. Tomorrow I'm planning to visit the public baths and then go to the cathedral in the evening. It's good to be back.

I hardly slept on the plane, thanks to the Indian woman sitting next to me who looked like she could have stepped right out of a National Geographic photograph. She smelled like it, too, that is if National Geographic photographers could also capture the smells of their subjects. So that means I'm going on about 26 hours without sleep, so I'm going to call it a night.