The big highlight of today was finally meeting all my co-workers for the next year. I did study my Korean this morning as part of my new dedication to the language, but I was really just filling time until my co-teacher came to pick me up at 11. He even brought the principal! There was all this fuss because apparently my phone doesn’t get good reception here, which I am fine with but is evidently unacceptable for the American sonsangnim. I guess there is going to be an antennae installed here...I’m not really sure what’s going on, as usual.
Anyway, I was taken to the school for the big meet-n-greet. The principal made a long introductory speech. He was talking about a lot of other things, I think, and maybe even introducing another teacher, but I was really nervous and it felt like I was standing up there being scrutinized forever. I gave a short, ugly speech in Korean, which I think they all found highly amusing, and was then introduced separately to every teacher and staff member—20 in all, I think, and approximately equal numbers of men and women. I was surprised that many of them seemed young. I am not the best at guessing the age of Koreans and they usually look younger to me than they actually are, but still...I was expecting to teach with a bunch of grandfathers in the countryside, not people my parents’ age or younger. I think it’s going to be a lot more fun this way. They were all excited to meet me, and one second grade teacher, Kim Jeong Sook, gave me a mug as a present. It was really nice. I think she is the teacher who wanted to host me but wasn’t allowed because of her bad cooking. My co-teacher says she really wants to be friends. We have desks right next to each other, so I am sure we will be seeing a lot of each other. I am looking forward to being able to talk to a woman, even though she is hesitant with her English. We’ll work on it.
On a more humorous note, I have definitely noticed the natural tendency toward coupledom in Korea. I had witnessed it before, certainly, what with everyone my age I see on the street wrapped up in someone of the same sex. There is even a “couple tee” phenomenon in which couples buy identical t-shirts (and sometimes even complete outfits!) and wear them together. It’s sooo weird. I cannot imagine any American guy I know doing that. Well, besides the two ETA guys I know who bought matching couple tank tops as a joke. Anyway, when I was out at the pool last weekend the host man definitely introduced me to his friend by saying, “Meet my friend. He is single. He is not married.” This man was definitely on the other side of 40. And today, when my co-teacher was introducing me around, the only thing he says about the third grade teacher is that he is single. Repeatedly. It’s so funny. I think they can’t stand to have single people around and thus try to set them all up. I did end up talking to the guy for a while because he helped me decipher the teacher names. I am determined to memorize them very soon. We had a long, semi-awkward conversation, but it was nice. Mostly, he flipped through this English book with questions written in English and Korean and asked me some of them, like “What is your favorite music?” and “What kind of music do you like?” and “Did you see Harry Potter?”
I have just been chillaxin the rest of the day. Tomorrow is the big first day! There will be an assembly first thing tomorrow morning, during which I will be introduced to all 188 students. Hopefully not individually introduced. And I dearly hope I will not be required to make a speech again. It’s enough to have 20 adults laughing at me. Two hundred future students should not witness my humiliation, too. They’ll never respect me! I will not be teaching this week, but instead will be observing the third, fourth, and sixth grade classrooms during their English hours (because English is already taught in these grades) and preparing the textbooks and lessons. It seems pretty chill and that’s fine with me. Apparently, though, I am expected to team-teach with all nine other teachers. I don’t know how that’s going to work at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up doing many of the lessons on my own. But we will see. My schedule is pretty sweet, anyway. I only have morning classes on Monday, Thursday, and Friday and one afternoon class each on Tuesday and Wednesday—a teachers’ workshop and a special class for accelerated English students. Those will be more fun, I think, because they will be without textbooks.
Though I am still loving the whole small town thing, it definitely has its downsides. I don’t think I will be able to do the extracurriculars I was thinking about joining—yoga, ceramics, or maybe even volunteer work. I am still thinking about TKD and am going to ask my co-teacher about it. It just might be weird if I am in class with my eight-year-old students. I guess if they’re cool with it, then I am, too. I was thinking today that a good thing to do might be to ask my host mother to teach me to cook Korean food. She really is a great cook and I would love to be able to take that back with me when I go, since I do love to cook, too. Also, it would probably help our relationship, which is no small consideration. I am hoping she will be flattered. So if all goes well, I will be a Korean chef extraordinare by the time of my return!!!