I've been in Busan for a bit over a week now.  I am so excited to be in Korea!  Everyone I've met has been helpful in helping me settle in to my new job and my new apartment.  I finally have good internet access, and can plug my laptop in, so I can now get down to blogging.

What to write about first?

I really like my job.  The little kids are adorable.  One of my classes is doing art and science projects with four and five year-olds.  (They are five and six in Korea, because in Korea you are one when you are born.)  My other classes are strictly English classes.  I'm of course still getting the hang of teaching, and probably will be for the next month or two.  The school I work for makes teaching easier by providing a complete lesson plan and materials.  The teacher I replaced did a great job setting me up to be prepared. 

I only have one challenging class so far.  They are a group of twelve year-olds who do not want to do the work, and lack confidence in their English speaking skills.  They are bright kids for the most part, and relatively well-behaved, but they are totally disengaged.  Most Korean kids are in school literally all day, and these guys are my last class, which begins around seven thirty.  When I get them they are tired and ready to go home.  Mostly they just stare at me blankly while I ask them questions to which I get no reply.  There is one girl out of eight who does her homework and participates in class.  With the younger kids there is a reward program for behaving and doing homework, but there is nothing in place for the older middle school aged kids.  Time to buy some candy I guess.

I work with about twelve other women.  That's five other foreign women and seven Korean women.  Oh yeah, there's one male Korean teacher, but we never see him because he gets his own office.  (Bogus, right?  But it is a male-dominated culture.) I have my own desk.  I feel so professional!

The neighborhood I'm living in is called Hwamyeong.  It's a pretty low-key neighborhood, and kind of far away from downtown Busan.  There are convenient stores everywhere, at least one on every block.  They sell relatively healthy, cheap snacks, like gim bop (similar to sushi, but no raw fish) beer, and they sell bottles of soju for a dollar.  Soju is a popular Korean liquor made from rice.  Think really really strong sake.  I like it, but not everyone does.  It is pretty common to see groups of Korean men sitting at tables outside of the corner store drinking beer and soju.

The food is so so so good.  Since I have my own place now I can cook.  I am going to make my own gim bop and some other things.  I am thinking that the cheapest and healthiest way to eat here in Korea will be to eat and cook like a Korean.  Here is a Korean cooking website I *love*

www.maangchi.com

Speaking of, I am going to watch Maangchi cook up some amazing dishes.  I'll write more soon.

Love yas!