Having gone through 6 days in my homestay, 3 days at school, 2 days of teaching, and 10 different classes of crazy middle school girls, I can say with fair certainty that my new adventure has officially begun. And already I'm a bit winded! <--let's just hope that's because I'm sick :(
Teaching, I've decided, is a lot like running the 400m in track. It's fast--you hear the whistle, you start running, and you really can't slow down. But it isn't quite a full on sprint, either. You must pace yourself lest you cramp up or tire out before the finish line.
Anyway, it really does feel like a race. The days are flying by! And maybe like a dream, too? Everything is sort of familiar and sort of strange at the same time. I have a home, a room, a job, a schedule, a phone (finally!), and a host mom who cooks for me and makes me drink tea and eat porridge and go to bed early when I'm sick... But everything is in a foreign language, I don't ever fully understand what's going on around me, and I can only walk about a block in each direction before I get lost. Life is at once vivid and blurred--very dreamlike indeed.
I've resorted to speaking like a 6-yr-old child: short, broken sentences that mostly consist of a verb and a noun (and usually not in the right order, either). Food--eat! Go--school?
Maybe throw in a few other words for embellishment. Medicine already have. Now I sleep. Yes, meal very tasty!
Impressive. I know.
In any case, it's almost dinner time (thankfully--so hungry!) Yaaaay for internet and blogging again! Did I mention that there are 7 people living in this tiny apartment? Host mom, host dad, 3 kids, grandma, and me! But it's still somehow quite comfortable. Or did I say that I have 700 students and that I literally am the sole person responsible for teaching them ALL English listening and speaking (they only get reading/writing/grammar in their other English classes)? Well...I just did.
Ok that's all! (for real this time)
나중에 쓸 거예요!
8 years ago
