This may be a little premature seeing as I've only been here for something like...5 days.. but I love it here. I love the kids, the job, the coworkers, the tiny apartment. I had zero expectations coming to Korea and I am more than pleasantly surprised. This has been one of the best decisions I could have made (I say this without even a week in, so I hope my feelings don't change after the honeymoon stage).

The Job:

I teach kinder at my school, SLP, but unlike the United States system, I do not teach the same class for 6 hours all day, every day kind of thing. I rotate 5 or 6 different classes and they all have a different curriculum. And my schedule can change from month to month. It is a little overwhelming, but I like the variety; it will definitely not become monotonous ever. I do not sit in a huge classroom with snotty little children all day. We have a huge teacher's lounge with our own desks where we go for a few 40 minute long breaks/planning periods/lunch etc. It's a nice way to socialize with the other Korean and American/Canadian teachers. It feels like an office job part of the time and a teaching job the other half. And there is a lot of cooperation amongst all of the teachers which I think is amazing. The children stay in the same room for the most part and the teachers circulate in and out, carrying these ridiculous little plastic baskets with stickers and markers etc. Also, dress is casual. It's great. I dress up a lot for work, but jeans are perfectly acceptable and it gives me flexibility to change up my style everyday (how very superficial does that sound...).

The Kids:

I love the kids. They dress very eclecticly (one day in their SLP uniform another day in a little sailor outfit). They have the funniest little Korean accents when spekaing in English. The 'le' sound always sounds like an  'r' (for example: turtle=turtur) and they add extra emphasis to the end of their words (for example: look=lookuh). Also they are extremely curious about our looks. They love my hair, jewelry, clothing. The boys especially love playing with my necklaces and bracelets. Thank god I'm fashinonable in the eyes of my 6 year olds students! However, they are also very critical. One day I didn't shave my legs (big deal) and my student, June, rubbed my leg (they are very touchy here) and said "teacher ACK!" So I shaved today. Also they don't understand why I have moles and freckles. They ask me if I have chicken pox. I also got called Dracula for my two top pointy teeth ( I thought those were normal right??) They are very affectionate and say nice things most of the time so it makes up for their criticism. BUT all of the kids at SLP have terrible behavior, but I feel as if I have my classes under decent control for now. They are allowed to run around like wild monkeys during recess but it's inside in the hallways (Korea schools are indoors usually on one floor of a building and not spread out like US)... so I think that gives them the idea they can be wild the whole time.

The Coworkers:

We are all so different. Half are Korean (all female) and half are foreign. A couple are married, a few are recent grads, others are in their thirties. So far, from what I can see we all get along, but I don't know all the drama yet so maybe that's not the case after all. Everyone has been at the school for different periods of time. Jenny and I just got here. A few others have been here for a year or more. Two girls have only been here two months. That's another exciting part of the job... the coworkers are also constantly changing and adding new dynamics to the group. I haven't found anyone I don't get along with yet, which is also a big perk. And my director, Frank, is very kind and with the best intentions.

The apartment:

My apartment is what we would call a studio style apartment. I have a normal size bathroom (right at the entrance) except normal in terms of a "no bath" bathroom. The bath part of the bathroom is just a showerhead chilling in the corner. I will have to provide pictures to give you the real deal. There is a very interesting mirror as you walk in the living space. In the living room, there is a small loveseat, a decent size kitchen (no oven though), a desk/table thing, normal size fridge, big wardrobe. I have a blacony off of the living room with a washer and not much of a view, but very large beautiful windows! My bed is on the "second floor" which is a loft. I walk up a teeny, (frightening when drunk) ladder to my suprizingly large bed. It is such a small space up there that I cannot stand up straight and must bend down when climbing to bed. The space on the "second floor" is spacious enough in width but not in height. So to put it in perspective, if I wake up upright from an oh-so-terrible nightmare, I wont crash my skull into the ceiling, and if I roll off the bed, I wont fall off the side of the loft. I just have to prevent falling off that ladder and all is well. My only complaint about the apartment is that my bedding is pink... not hot pink, or fushia but freaking pale pink. My least favorite color in the whole spectrum of color. My good friend Ashley knows this better than anyone...my issue with pink. I love it though. It is ther perfect size for a single female. It's so much cozier than a big apartment.

I'm still overwhelmed with all the things I'm learning and seeing, so I can barely get everything out in just one blog posting. There will be much more to come!