Hello, that was my attempt to cover my butt for not posting for, what, a month? :) But really, so much has happened that there's no way I can attempt catch up, so I'll just start here, at the beginning of week 4 in Mokp'o, South Korea, where I teach English at an all girls high-school.
So first thing's first, when you're born an only child and then your parents both pass the 50 mark, you're not really expecting to acquire any younger siblings. But lo and behold! I now have two. I'm thinking I might have been placed with a miracle family, because when I was 7 and 5 years old I'm pretty sure I was still eating bugs, but my little sisters are super smart and super cute. It's a full house here in Mokp'o with the two girls, the parents, and the grandmother who tries to feed me every waking minute. :)
Speaking of Mokpo, it's a city of fish and ship-building (SCORE!). I live right on the water by perhaps the most famous site in Mokpo (besides Yudal Mountain) which is a fountain that puts on music-laser-light shows every night!
Shazam!
and this: 
Yeah, I live here.
And oh! The famous food here is called 산낙지 (Sannakji) or, um, this: 
Basically, you grab a live octopus, drop it down your throat, and hope it doesn't try to climb back out. I have not yet tried this delicacy, but soon, maybe, or maybe a little later...As for teaching, I also got lucky there. Though my girls are a pretty low level in English, they're smart and sweet otherwise. So in the behavior aspect all is well. But teaching English to students who cannot speak it, when you cannot speak their language, feels kind of like trying to clean your toilet with a toothbrush. You need to clean it, you want to clean it, but you ain't getting nowhere fast. All I can hope for is they learn just a little, and I make it fun enough that they want to learn more. To me, instilling interest is maybe the most helpful thing a teacher can do for a student (thank you Shady Hill, I think I understand you now). Bored students = grammar and vocab whooshing over heads and smashing into windows (which are never open).
Oh and something else in line with the toothbrush in the toilet, you know how it feels when you tell a joke you think is hilarious, and then the person you're telling it to does that awkward laugh, where you know they didn't get it, or they've just judged the integrity of your being and are now laughing at you?......Try showing a picture of you sticking chopsticks up your nose to 36 teenage girls, and then making a joke about how they should tell you stuff about Korea or else you would eat like this!!! and then have them all stare at you blankly: no laughs at the joke, no laughs at the picture, and you're pretty sure they all now think you like to stick things up your nose for fun.
Try it.
But in all seriousness, I think students (of any age) appreciate when the teacher isn't afraid to laugh at him/herself. I know for a fact now that many of my girls who might otherwise space-out, will now pay attention, because they are wondering if I will do something so very odd again. And I will, always.
Aha! Well there was a sum-up of about 4 weeks on the job and too many new experiences to count. I promise I'll keep up better next time and talk more in depth about a few things, rather than hurling a ton of vague things across your computer screen. So goodbye for now, and now you may envy my dinner last Friday night.
Shabu Shabu!-Annie
