I AM AN ENGLISH TEACHER!!!

So it's been a long time coming. But I did it. I got it all sorted out. I won't go into too many specifics, but I got my ARC - Alien Registration Card shortly after receiving my job offer from EPIK. Then there was some mandatory training I had to complete which has kept me pretty busy the last month or so. I completed a 17 unit pre-orientation course online (which I got an A for by the way) and then got shipped off to Daejeon in the center of South Korea with all the other new English teachers. It was quite EPIK so to speak...

So on the bus this American guy sits next to me. He seems decent enough so we start chatting. It turns out he left the military to become a teacher here in Korea and has a girl down the south side of Seoul that he met back in the states. So when we get to the training grounds it looks like the EPIK program has taken over this university for just over a week. It's a pretty cool place, the dorm is nice and warm, and there are a couple of nearby bars. Ben and I make some new friends and go out drinking almost every night. It is good.

The course itself was pretty intensive, not only were there teaching classes but also a bunch of cultural and language classes as well including Taekwondo and a field trip to a cultural village or something... anyway that all basically means 7am starts and 8pm finishes for about a 8 days. It was pretty awesome really. Though I am disappointed it has taken me this long to get this far.

So after all of that here I am sitting at my desk! In my new Elementary School! I teach 3rd and 4th grade English with a co-teacher for each grade. I really like one, but the other one seems a bit quiet. Only time will tell. This first week I am here I am basically desk warming. Even as I write this I have managed to catch up on all my blogging for the past few months! All I have to do tomorrow are 2x lesson plans and 2x slide shows - maybe 1x slide shows. From the look of my normal schedule I'll be doing about 5 classes a day Monday to Wednesday with 1 extra class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, then 3 on Thursdays followed by one club activity class on Friday (meaning I have the whole day basically desk warming and lesson planning).

They have kept me busy the last few days though, with asking me to complete a year plan for my after school programs. One of them is going to be all about film and art! and I managed to slip in a few outdoor activities too. I hope this works!!

The other night all the MEN went out (there are only 16 of us in a staff of over 60) and had dinner and drinks with the Principal. Mate. That. Was. Nuts. It's a school night and we're all getting plastered and end up in a Norae-Bang (karaoke bar). So today I'm feeling a bit seedy which is pretty standard. I think most of the men are. Anyway this boys club is nick-named the Palgi (erection) Club. It's all pretty laid back and I think I made a good impression on my Principal and have the photo to prove it.

Anyways that's that for now.

Lotte World

So Luke came over for Christmas and we had a blast. We even went to Lotte World after I came back from Japan! Which of course was awesome!! Soph loved it as well, though she's been there a fair few times. This place was indoors and outdoors and had a lot of really cool rides. Of course because it's freezing going outside is not recommended during winter ^^

Anyway have a look at some of these pictures, as you can see there is a big hole in the middle of this place which looks down onto an ice rink. The ice rink itself is part of this huge underground mall which the park is built on. Anyway, lining up for the rides takes forever. Sometimes up to 2 hours. So we only really got a few in there... well, we were pretty clever I think and got about 6 or 7 rides in.

We did miss out on the roller coaster but luckily one of my friends invited me to go out there again and we did the roller coaster. It was as amazing as I had hoped it would be ^^

We also climbed up this amazing mountain just outside of the city. There was a huge dam and we caught a ferry to this trail and walked up to this temple high up near the top of this mountain. It was epic!!