Hey, I'm alive!

Man, I've been meaning to toss some words on here for a few days now. Thanks to Lizzie's 8am debate class, I'm up super early and I've got a minute to drop a line. SCHWOO.

Since work started, my days have been packed! Let me tell you...about it. I teach "7-year-olds." That's their Korean age, so they're really 5. I am the native English speaking teacher for DOLPHIN CLASS. That means our classroom has dolphins plastered all over everything and my littles have an animal name to respond to. Our class also has Eva, a Korean teacher fluent in English (and she really is fluent!!!! hurrah! And awesome! hurrah!!!). She teaches 2/5 of the classes and we manage the classroom together. She also has to deal with the moms. And finally, our third adult in the room is Amy. She's an assistant teacher and helps the kids with bandaids and eating and she helps decorate and clean. Some of the assistant teachers speak English, but Amy doesn't. She was formally a kindergarten teacher, though! And the three of us are generally always in the room with the kids. It's not a bad system. ^_^

So, I've got the same 16 little dudes from 9am until 2:30pm every day. I was a little worried about it before I started and I'm only a few weeks in, but I really love it right now. Sure, teaching these kids all day is NOT easy, but it feels really cool getting to know these kids so well. They're SUPER adorable (even when I want to push them over by their giant bobble heads) and they'll be plenty of pictures (and stories) to follow.

I also took some videos of the graduation ceremony from this past February. I'll upload one o' thems ever. Maybe. ^_^

FIRST FIELD TRIP IS THIS FRIDAY! I'm excited to play with these guys! I've got to make them learn shit or plan for other classes all day and we never get to chill. Stoked.

AND THEN AFTER 3pm! You'd think I'd have time to plan shit and be the best teacher ever, right? NOPE!  I've got 3 to 5 elementary classes to teach each day, including surprise mandatory overtime 3 times a week (I do need the money, though.... sigh). On Tuesdays,  I teach 6 of my own kids held after school for extra reading and these kids CANNOT COPE. BECAUSE THEY ARE 5-YEAR-OLDS.

Oh, Korea.

Also adding to the hilarity of everything is that my school is in a massive department store in the wealthiest area of the second largest city in Korea. These kids are effing RICH. One of them has a fur coat. Their moms are insane. And they're in constant contact with us. Also, most of the kids have a nanny (and moms who stay home), which cracks me up. It also accounts for the constant contact I mentioned earlier. ^_^

So....I like it. It's a lot of work, but I don't worry much about planning and the kids are SO smart and interesting. I feel like a good teacher this year. And I'm setting up a studio space and Lizzie and I joined the gym across the street. Even some drawing is happening. I'll take it!

Ok, time to get ready for work!

Later!