Folks, it's official...one month!

Tomorrow marks one official month living here in Gumi and it has been quite the adventure! The first month flew by which makes sense because I have been constantly learning new things and adjusting to a new environment. I've met so many new people and been introduced to being a teacher for the first time. It's truly been a month of learning and stepping up to the plate. I really like living in South Korea and any culture shock has pretty much subsided at this point. There will be random moments in the future where I have no idea what's going on and so the cultural differences take me by surprise but as far as the every day stuff, I have adjusted really well. 

Here's a glimpse into what the first month has looked like:

I started teaching and am on the tail end of my fourth week of being a teacher. I enjoy being a teacher and have had tons of fun with the kiddos, but I have also had my fair share of opportunities to discipline. There are about 3 classes that I just don't know what to do with but I have not reached the end of my patience yet which is a good thing. I've developed a system to where the kids know what they are in trouble and I've also introduced a number of games to my classroom where the kids know when they're being rewarded. 

I have presented a lesson in front of the kindergarten kids' parents, which was yesterday. Let's just say that I can breath again. It's very nerve racking.

I have gone to a massive jungle gym with the kids to celebrate birthdays where we played for a couple of hours. It's amazing how even though we speak different languages, kids like to play and have fun no matter what country you live in. 

I have been asked if my eye lashes were fake because in Korea, they typically do not have long eyelashes. 

For the parents teaching lesson, I had to dress up. So, upon wearing a dress my fourth graders asked me if I was going out dancing at the clubs that night.

This kid put on the superman costume and didn't take it off the whole time! ha!

Every day I'm asked if I have a boyfriend or if I'm married. 

One day, I was telling the kids about how I had chips and salsa for the first time since I landed in South Korea. They erupted in giggles and I was confused so I just kept going. I wrote the word on the board and the kids kept laughing. I finally asked what was going on and they told me that salsa was the Korean word for poop. So, every single class they make fun of me for that. haha good times. Those are things they should tell you before you start teaching.

Our Lunch!

All the foreign teachers at our school!

I have given three kids their english names that will follow them to whatever English setting they encounter in the future.

I have freaked out because my students yelled at me saying there was an insect on me and to describe what it was they said "SUCK BLOOD"! I may have ran to the other side of the classroom. It was a mosquito. They liked my reaction so much they yelled the same thing ten minutes later.








Outside of the classroom:

I traveled with Asha, Mark and Kristin who are all foreign teachers at my school to Daegu and went to Costco. We stalked up on food. To get there we took a bus, train, and a taxi. It was really fun and it's amazing how you don't miss things until you see them. I didn't miss American food at all until I went to Costco and suddenly I have this huge craving for all things American. To get back home, Asha and I each had one backpack. I had a suitcase and Asha had an extra side back all full of food....we are such good little americans. As if people don't stare at us enough...we gave them a show that day! ha! One thing we noticed is that in the cafeteria part of costco, Koreans would pile up heaps of onions, cover them in ketchup and eat it as a part of their meal. The onions are free so they would literally fill their plates...definitely a cultural thing.

We go to the market every Sunday for food for the week...here are some of our findings:

I have been mildly hit by a car. there are many pedestrians here and so cars are used to weaving in and out of traffic. Well, one day a car did not have their blinker on so i anticipated it to go straight and it actually hit me as it turned...

 This is the front of our apartment building!

My friend Lindsay came to visit us this past weekend which was super fun! We went to downtown Gumi and walked around to some of the shops. We found a lot of really cool and unique places. I enjoy seeing how things are spelled wrong in English! ha...

The Train Station
also, we found this shop that has purses for really cheap! We made friends with the lady who owns it and I'm sure we will be going back! 

Lastly, we have a good group of people around here that live close and all go to the same church. We have been able to join their little group and we see them pretty frequently. It makes all the difference to have friends over here. Last weekend we tried a new Italian Pizza place, which wasn't italian but was the closest American pizza we've found so far. We had fun...laughed and laughed...the staff probably thought we were crazy but because we were foreigners they sat us in the middle of the restaurant and at one point I think we had about 5 people waiting on us. It's ridiculous some of the attention we get at times.

We're starting to plan out times to travel. I know that I'll be coming back to America for my sister's wedding. Between now and then we have several other trips plans as well as some big ones for the end of the year...stay posted!

I've had my students begin teaching me some Korean words and who knows maybe one day i'll be fluent! :)