Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Orientation and some other good stuff

So since my last post I have had a pretty nice week(ish). Last wed-friday I attended an orientation which was pretty cool. I only had to go to school Monday and Tuesday.. and the orientation was a great way to meet other English teachers living in my area and get a few good teaching/Korea tips. We were staying at this retreat hotel place and during the day we had some speakers and classes and then at night we all hung out at the convenience store drinking and getting to know each other. Overall it was fine, albeit a little boring at times, but it was cool only to have a two day school week.
Friday night after orientation I grabbed dinner with some friends (some new that we met at orientation) and then we bar hopped around Suwon. I went home earlyish cause I had to go into school sat morning for the staff picture (LAME). So sat morning i drag myself out of bed before 8 and put my suit on and head to school for the picture. One thing that made it a bit better was the TON of compliments i received! They really do love me at my school.. and Koreans are so funny because they are super modest and are heavy on giving out compliments but often refuse compliments given to themselves.. multiple teachers came up to me and complimented how 'so handsome' i looked and when i complimented them they replied 'no.. not as good as you!' I wasnt gonna argue with them.. HA This place is a ridiculous ego boost. After the staff picture, I needed to get my individual picture taken for the school year book as well (i guess the other teachers already had theirs taken) so in front of most of the staff i had my own little photo shoot! Pretty hysterical.. i could hear all the teachers commenting about it in Korean.
Later that day i met up with a few friends and went into insedong which is a  neighborhood of Seoul. It was a cool place and has lots of traditional shops and street vendors. (If i had pictures i would post them) So we got dinner and walked around and then just headed home and called it a night. I was exhausted from having to get up so early and my friends were tired as well.
Sunday was great! I joined and played on an ultimate frisbee team! The park we play at is on the bank of the Han river in seoul and was really scenic. The game was a lot of fun too and i met some really cool people. It was great to be playing sports outside.. i havent really done that since ive been here.. Definitely made me miss James Madison park.
After the game me and some of the other players ate at this 'western' restaurant which was great! I got a bbq quicken sandwich with cheese and peppers and onions and it was pretty fantastic. Dont get me wrong, i LOVE korean food, but it was also great to switch it up a little bit.
This week at school has been a pretty big joke. My kids have speaking tests and i am the one grading them. So for class i just sit in a room and the kids come in one at a time and answer two questions and i grade them. REAL easy but a little boring. BUT out of my 12 classes, i see 7 of them twice a week.. and the 2nd time that i see each class this week they have a study hall so i dont even need to go! So today, for example, i had one class in the morning.. and now have been/will enjoy a solid 7 hours on my computer in the office. AND next week the kids have midterms so i dont need to do ANYTHING! Literally i am going to sit at my desk for 8 hours a day on my computer. AND i just found out that on friday the kids are going to some amusement park which i will be going to also! Im sure that is going to be hysterical! SO over the course of 4 weeks.. with chousouk break, orientation, speaking tests and then midterms.. i will have taught a TOTAL of 3 days of school! WHAT A JOKE! AND i am getting paid!! Not too bad..
Also, they are really starting to like me at my school. I brought gifts for some of the teachers/principals at my school from my trip to Jeju (koreans love gifts) and I really think they are paying off. My principal the other day gave me a nice ballpoint pen! And the head teacher, my korean 'mom' yesterday gave me a HUGE bag of fruit! TONS of grapes, apples, and what she called pears (but really looked like giant apples). Pretty sweet! And the kids are still hysterical. Yesterday i left school with Joseph a little early cause we had to run to the bank.. and when we were walking out all of the kids were outside because they were having a fire drill.. as we walked out.. literally past all of the students in the school, no less than HUNDREDS (yes plural) of kids were yelling out to me as i was leaving 'HI NATE' 'NATE!' 'WHERE YOU GOING NATE' 'TEACHA NATE' 'NATE HI!' "NATE NATE NATE"!!!! I legit felt like a celebrity walking down the red carpet.. it was hard not to smile :).
I am finally meeting up with my cousin Adam tonight for dinner in Seoul which will be nice.. and this weekend i am going to some Seoul Global Gatherings music festival.. im REAL excited for that. And i am staying busy during all of my free time at school researching fantasy sports and Dori and my's trip to Cambodia/Thailand over winter break! (IM SO EXCITED!) If anyone has any tips/recommendations for cambodia or thailand please let me know! With all of the exciting sports stuff going on in MN (MOSS IS BACK! TWINS PLAYOFFS) I do wish that i was closer/more able to be a part of it.. and hearing how much Jeremy is loving madison makes me miss that too.. Jeremy/Melanie have an AWESOME weekend with gab! I wish i could be there!! BUT i am feeling more and more comfortable in Korean culture/society which is nice.. Hope all is well with everyone.

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