First day at the Knox School

There I was, naked and sweating, nodding my head to the haunting melody of the equally naked singing old man. But I'm skipping ahead.

Today was my first day at Knox, the hagwon I'm teaching at. This week is mostly observation as I get to know the students whose teacher I'll be replacing. These little buggers are beyond adorable. Korean children are the cutest children I've ever been around. Their English is really impressive. I've decided if I ever need translation at a store or restaurant, I'm gonna be looking around for a kindergartner.

Speaking of restaurants, I've tried a few more Korean goodies. Most especially of note is the sweet and sour double bacon sammich at McDonalds. Yeah, I ate at a McDonalds, but I ordered things that don't exist back home. There is a suspicious sign on the wall back in the employee area that reads "D-Day 19". Next time I'm in there I'm gonna take note as to whether this sign is counting up or down.

I've also done several Korean barbeque meals. Now, this is not true BBQ; it is grilling, and they do it damn well. Pork belly and onions and garlic, along with grilled kimchi, all for the wrapping up in lettuce leaves. This stuff is cheap and yummy. I'm gonna be living like a king, at least in regards to dining.

Yesterday being my last day of tourism before the job began, I made it a goal to find one of the famed Korean saunas. This was an extraordinarily difficult task given my apparent inability to mime "sauna" but my two plus hours of searching were all worth it when my tired body hit the steaming water. In Koren saunas, everybody gets naked with their own gender-folk and soaks in differently temperatured pools. There are also these terrific steam rooms, where I encountered the old singing man.

Back to today's workday, I got assigned to replace a particularly organized Canadian gal. I worked up a decent week's lesson plan for the first graders and was shocked when she just up and used it. Seems that I think just like a seven year old Korean child! Did I mention how adorable they are? Because they are. Also, they all pointed out how tall I am.

Right now we are experiencing the monsoon season. Most tourist literature touts Korea's Four Unique Seasons, but I'm thinking monsoon is the fifth. It is warm and pouring and will apparently keep going like this for another couple weeks. Walking home from work in shirt and tie, soaking from a combination of sweat and rainwater was not at all pleasant, but I'm still digging the novelty of everything enough (the street my hotel is on is like walking through the inside of a pinball machine) that I wasn't bothered.

By this time next week I will be teaching classes completely on my own, but for the rest of this week I'm gonna stay paired up. So far, so good. I've always had strong positive inclinations toward teaching and I really think I'm gonna dig this English instruction gig. Until next time, your working boy, Matt.