Thursday, 21 January 2010
Saturday, 16 January 2010
One month down...
As of tomorrow, i will have been here a month. It doesn't feel like a month in terms of work but in other respects it's been ages.
Since my last blog, i haven't really done anything of note. Running quite a bit - aiming for a half-marathon in March in Busan i think. I've been eating alot of BBQ - the 1st video i posted on this blog. I am now a official Alien in South Korea complete with Alien card, bank account and mobile phone. Now all i'm waiting for is the next pay. I got paid on the 8th but only for the days i worked in December so i now need to wait 'til Feb 1oth for Janurary's money. Once that comes in 1st stop is the Guitar shops - woop woop!!
The teaching is fairly non-complex now, i finally know what i'm doing and what is and isn't expected of me. There's some of the kids i hate, some are borderline retards and some you can easily hold a conversation with. I've started question time with them at the ends of lessons. It's always the same 3 questions:
"Why...come...Korea?"
"Tall....how?" - "Basketball?"
"Teacher Girlfriend?"
Ask me something different for a change kiddies!!!
The way they get your attention is absolutely mind-numbing. They just constantly say one thing 'til you acknowledge them - "Teecha, teecha, teecha, teecha, teecha......................." SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! Wheest! Also, i'm sure i get sworn at in Korean many times each day when i'm shouting at them for not shutting the hell up so i tell them, say whatever you like, i can't understand you whether it's Korean OR English coming out your mouth. Also, it's hilarious to the kids when we speak Korean to them.
On Wednesday 13th there was a gathering of most of the non-Korean folks from our area of Daegu, Chilgok. It was a fairly good night. Me and Tom joined up with the others a bit later at WaBar. To be honest the whole affair was a bit cliquey at first and we felt the uncomfortable - everyone looks up, stops talking for a second, then turns back to who they were talking to. Eventually other people acknowledged our being and we met some new people.
Then it was on to The Beatles bar. This place is awesome. You can play any music that can be found on YouTube. About 25 of the 'Group Outing' descended upon Beatles bar which made it a tight squeeze. This place is about a third of the size of Nice n Sleazy in Glasgow.
Then lastnight, Saturday, Myself, Tom and Jeff headed into Downtown. Watched Liverpool scrape another point, then joined up with Whities again. However, the most random thing that has happened to me so far is meeting other Scottish folk. I expected to meet Scottish people eventually, i'm here with two of them, but lastnight this guy had heard me talking and asked where i was from. 'Kilmarnock' i said.
'You kiddin'? I'm from Irvine.'
The short conversation was alcohol fuelled but we covered all the important topics. Turns out he's a Kilmarnock fan too. So picture the scene. Standing in the middle of Downtown Daegu, South Korea, Adam from Kilmarnock and Stuart from Irvine talking about whether or not Calderwood is a good choice, should Jefferies have left etc. Also, i vaguely remember looking at my watch, subtracting the 9 hours, realising it was about 6pm UK time and then wondering if we'd humped Motherwell or not. Anyway, the whole thing was just bizzare!!
Then once we'd stumbled upon another bar, again, a guy heard my accent and the same events proceeded. Andy is originally from Aberdeen but now calls home Prestwick. I was talking to them both about the difficulty of our accents over here. Not just with the kids but with our peers also. It was refreshing not having to curve my accent to be understood.
On a whole, my first night out in Downtown was good, here's to many more...
Since my last blog, i haven't really done anything of note. Running quite a bit - aiming for a half-marathon in March in Busan i think. I've been eating alot of BBQ - the 1st video i posted on this blog. I am now a official Alien in South Korea complete with Alien card, bank account and mobile phone. Now all i'm waiting for is the next pay. I got paid on the 8th but only for the days i worked in December so i now need to wait 'til Feb 1oth for Janurary's money. Once that comes in 1st stop is the Guitar shops - woop woop!!
The teaching is fairly non-complex now, i finally know what i'm doing and what is and isn't expected of me. There's some of the kids i hate, some are borderline retards and some you can easily hold a conversation with. I've started question time with them at the ends of lessons. It's always the same 3 questions:
"Why...come...Korea?"
"Tall....how?" - "Basketball?"
"Teacher Girlfriend?"
Ask me something different for a change kiddies!!!
The way they get your attention is absolutely mind-numbing. They just constantly say one thing 'til you acknowledge them - "Teecha, teecha, teecha, teecha, teecha......................." SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! Wheest! Also, i'm sure i get sworn at in Korean many times each day when i'm shouting at them for not shutting the hell up so i tell them, say whatever you like, i can't understand you whether it's Korean OR English coming out your mouth. Also, it's hilarious to the kids when we speak Korean to them.
On Wednesday 13th there was a gathering of most of the non-Korean folks from our area of Daegu, Chilgok. It was a fairly good night. Me and Tom joined up with the others a bit later at WaBar. To be honest the whole affair was a bit cliquey at first and we felt the uncomfortable - everyone looks up, stops talking for a second, then turns back to who they were talking to. Eventually other people acknowledged our being and we met some new people.
Then it was on to The Beatles bar. This place is awesome. You can play any music that can be found on YouTube. About 25 of the 'Group Outing' descended upon Beatles bar which made it a tight squeeze. This place is about a third of the size of Nice n Sleazy in Glasgow.
Then lastnight, Saturday, Myself, Tom and Jeff headed into Downtown. Watched Liverpool scrape another point, then joined up with Whities again. However, the most random thing that has happened to me so far is meeting other Scottish folk. I expected to meet Scottish people eventually, i'm here with two of them, but lastnight this guy had heard me talking and asked where i was from. 'Kilmarnock' i said.
'You kiddin'? I'm from Irvine.'
The short conversation was alcohol fuelled but we covered all the important topics. Turns out he's a Kilmarnock fan too. So picture the scene. Standing in the middle of Downtown Daegu, South Korea, Adam from Kilmarnock and Stuart from Irvine talking about whether or not Calderwood is a good choice, should Jefferies have left etc. Also, i vaguely remember looking at my watch, subtracting the 9 hours, realising it was about 6pm UK time and then wondering if we'd humped Motherwell or not. Anyway, the whole thing was just bizzare!!
Then once we'd stumbled upon another bar, again, a guy heard my accent and the same events proceeded. Andy is originally from Aberdeen but now calls home Prestwick. I was talking to them both about the difficulty of our accents over here. Not just with the kids but with our peers also. It was refreshing not having to curve my accent to be understood.
On a whole, my first night out in Downtown was good, here's to many more...
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Into the swing of things....
Today is the 8th, which means i'm 10 days short of being here a month now - feels like longer.
The way my work comes into play i basically write off Mon-Fri as doing anything time. I'm usually up 'til 4/5am. The alarm goes off at 12pm and i start at 2.30pm. I finish at 10pm which really doesn't leave time or the notion to go on and do anything else. On Wednesdays we bother...we have a 'dress down' day (woop!) and so once we finish we generally head for some cheap grub and then to a watering hole.
My weekends so far have been spent heading into the centre of Daegu to catch up with Ally and Katie. I live about 20 mins away in a taxi which isn't really the best.
The picture above shows a yellow dot (ME) and a red dot (Ally nad Katie).
My working week is generally non-complex if i'm honest. Mon, Tues and Wed entail a unit of whichever workbook that certain class is doing. Thursday is reading or speaking tests which eats up 20min lesson times and Friday is pop-song day. This week is - No Matter What by Boyzone. FANTASTIC!
One major draw-back of this place is the fact that they don't tell you anything! Me and Tom keep getting into bother for things we're doing wrong but these are points that are either skimmed over quickly or not brought up. The Director was angry at me for not being in the school 30mins before my first class even though i was here at 2 and started at 2.30?!?!?! And also, we were told we had 20min classes but now getting a swearing for not keeping them 25mins. All. Good. Fun.
Morale in this place today is at a low, lets hope it gets better.
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