[3・・・2・・・1・・・ GO ;D]

so, let's start from the beginning. i went to korea for 3 weeks as a part of my ESL teaching round this semester. i was at a city called jeonju, about 2 hours away from seoul. it was semi-remote, but not totally country though. there were a lot of farms and harvests around, but there was also a downtown and wasn't a totally isolated area. accommodation was free and all meals were provided as i was homestaying with my supervisor and his family. they were really sweet. they had two children, 7 year old son and 9 year old daughter (in korean years. babies who are born are seen to be 1 year old rather than zero months, so minus one year and you get the western age haha.) and on monday-friday the grandmother and grandfather would stay over to help take care of the children.

i was placed at a private middle school and even though it is 'private', it's not the same as the private schools that we have in australia. students don't need to pay 10k a year to attend and the wages of private/public school teachers are pretty much the same. sure, there are schools in korea where students are expected to pay high fees equivalent to those of australian private schools, but there are a lot of private schools that aren't like that. i tried asking my supervisor what the difference was b/w a private and a public school and he just told me that it just had to do with how many owners there are; owned by one person or by many people and that was it haha. so anyways, the school i was placed at was called shin heung middle school. it was co-ed and had about 900 students from years 7-9. classes were large. 35 students per class on average.

[week 1]

my first week was pretty damn hectic. i landed on a friday and i thought i had the weekend to recuperate and prepare myself for school on monday but that wasn't the case. i was practically on the go for about 22 hours straight. it took about 9 hours from melbourne > hong kong, 3.5 hours from hong kong > seoul, then another 4 hours to get from the airport > jeonju! I WAS SO EXHAUSTED! and the worse thing was that i got my flight schedule muddled up LOL. i thought that i was flying off friday midnight, so saturday morning right, but that wasn't the case haha. i was meant to be flying off on friday morning! i will never forget how much i panicked that night haha. here i was, sitting at my computer watching anime only to get an sms from fiona saying "i'm at the airport. call me when you get here" which left me going what-the-f*ck O_O? if she didn't message me then i would have totally missed my flight! thanks fi~~!!

so anyways haha, back to the main point haha. i met my host family at about 10 that night and after all that travelling i just really wanted to shower and sleep! but, sleeping was out of the question haha. i was told that on saturday it was my host mother's father's 80th birthday and they wanted me to go along. the grandmother and grandfather lived about 40 minutes away from where we were and typically, koreans are early birds, so i ended up having to wake up at 8am the next day. we had 'breakfast' at 9am and the reason why i put breakfast in inverted commas was because the amount of food that was served WAS NOT BREAKFAST MATERIAL! haha gosh. but throughout my stay, i realized that this is the korean way of life. they love eating and don't get me wrong, i do too, but not that much! i normally skip breakfast in australia, so having to eat a meal that is equivalent to a lunch and possible dinner at 7am in the morning was really difficult to do! anyways, so i spent that saturday meeting the whole family, then during the breaks b/w meals, my host family took me to a nearby museum and we also went to some festival. i can't remember what the festival was about but they had like old school rice mills, swings, huge dragon thingies made from sticks and a lot of people flying kites.

on the sunday, i went with my host family to church (a lot of koreans are really religious christians). i went to the morning and evening worship service, meaning, another early morning for jess. the morning service started at 11am from memory, but they have breakfast, so i had to wake up earlier to eat with them. i was open to try anything, even church, but it wasn't my cup of tea. firstly, i am not religious so services like these doesn't really mean much to me and secondly, the whole thing was in korean T_T. so i ended up just sitting there for 2 hours listening to the pastor give what seemed like a rather passionate talk about something or rather in korean. then i had lunch at the church and my host mother took me home for a couple of hours before we headed back out again for the evening service. they had something going on that day so there were performances in the evening. people singing, playing instruments and dancing (i found this to be really hilarious LOL HAHA the dance was so tacky that i couldn't help myself hahahaha).

then on my first monday, it was orientation day. my supervisor took me to shin heung to meet the principal. i also met a few other english teachers there while i was at it before he took me to the meeting point for our orientation. i got to see the other student teachers and then the minister of education gave a speech welcoming us. all the student teachers were also asked to go up one by one with their supervisors to say something about each other. after that, my supervisor disappeared somewhere (he did this a lot -_-) and i was handballed to angela and her supervisor, joong ja for half a day. i tagged along with angela to her school which was fun XD as expected, the students didn't approach me b/c i don't look like a foreigner but once i said HELLO i would get this "OOOOOHHH" reaction and was looked at like i was from another planet -_- joong ja also asked if i wanted to meet the students so i said SURE THING! thinking that all i had to do was talk to them right, but then i ended up finding myself TEACHING A FRIGGIN CLASS ON MY FRIGGIN OWN WITH NOTHING PREPARED O_O hahahahhaha. i was crapping myself man. she introduced me and then she just said, go for it. my reaction then was seriously "........." so i ended up having to think up of something on the spot, which wasn't pretty hahaha. anyways, that was definitely an 'experience' i guess haha. oh, and in the morning while i was at shin heung meeting the principal, i was also broadcasted over the school LOL without being told earlier! i mean if i'm going to be broadcasted over the school, i would have liked to have had some time to collect my thoughts and think of what to say! Then I was asked by my supervisor, “jess where’s your lesson plan”. My response “…….” – WHAT lesson plan?? I haven’t even met his classes yet nor did I know how their English was like! that just shocked me a bit. I felt like my supervisor didn’t really know what I was expected to do -_-

then on the first week, I ended up teaching 5 classes when I was meant to be observing. I did an ‘introduction’ about myself and Australia for a full 45 minute period ;_; I also took a couple of 1^st grader (year 7) classes and I didn’t mind that as much since they were excited to see me haha. But mainly, I took the 3^rd graders (year 9), well I asked for it haha. I didn’t want to take ALL of his classes and my supervisor had 4x3rd grader classes anyways, meaning that if I prepared a lesson plan for one class I could modify it and reuse it again for the next three classes *-* so I did that haha.

[week 2 and 3]

I have to say though, the students were GORGEOUS <3 there were smartasses and some unfriendly ones in the classes I took, but overall, I enjoyed my time with them. I took classes 3-1, 3-2, 3-3 and 3-4. by far 3-3 and 3-1 were my favorite classes!

3-3 was a GEM! They were so enthusiastic, they participated, they cooperated, they were friendly, they accepted me straight off and never looked at me like “pft” or rolled their eyes. They were simply just awesome :D they were also chosen to be my exhibition class, so I was really happy about that! I wish that I brought more koalas with me though!! I loved this class and I miss these students so much! They were also more than willing to take a photo with me too! Well 80% of the class was hahaha I had to like nag the other 20% ~_~ and during my exhibition class, I used a song, sisqo – incomplete to be my ‘warm up’ activity and just to have a little bit of fun. I gave them a cloze activity to do and since we didn’t do a rehearsal I was starting to get a bit worried because while I was playing it, no one seemed to be writing anything down! I was thinking, omg omg omg. What if no one answers me!! BUT! This class blew me away and practically most of them were able to answer all of the missing words! I was so shocked considering we never practiced it!! Their listening skills were definitely good!

As for 3-1, I loved these guys but they were a tad quieter and less cooperative as compared to 3-3 haha. It wasn’t a bad thing though. they still listened to me, smiled with me and participated, or pretended to do the work haha, when I told them to. Some of the students' English levels were pretty good. I gave out an introductory letter during my introduction class and the students had to complete it saying what their names are, what they liked/disliked etc. I had one girl who wrote and I quote, “I would like to be a baker. To be a baker is just an impossible dream” – I was wide eyed and my jaw dropped. HOW NATURAL does that sound?? *thumbs up to her* this girl was super shy though. I had to like nag her to take a photo with me and she still didn’t LOL and when she did she used the bloody jacket to cover half of her face >_> but I was glad that she went in for the class photo^^ taking a photo with this class was like a life and death matter I swear haha. I have never seen people SO SHY! My gosh hahaha. So anyways, there was another boy who was like a smartass but an interesting smartass hahaha. Quote, “he is fat but his father police so I no touchy him” LOLOL hahahaha. Okay, so his comment was mean but I couldn’t help but laugh LOL because he was seriously trying to express it hahahaha.

Then during one lesson where my supervisor said that he wanted to go through the mock exam with the class, I sat in an empty chair next to this boy, sang min who was awesome. This boy touched my heart man. During that class I had a piece of chalk and I don’t think that sang min was listening to my supervisor properly because I ended up correcting his answers for him. The exam questions were in Korean but earlier that day I asked my supervisor to give me a copy of it because I wanted to see if I could do it and I answered all the ones that were in English ahaha so I marked the correct answers for him. When I did he was like “OH CRAP” hahahah it was funny. Then he started communicating with me with notes (students are much better at communicating via notes rather than speaking and listening^^) and he was telling me that the boy to my left, hwang jang, was his best friend and I was like cool! I also found out that they have known each other for 10 years. It was nice to just KNOW one of my students! And because of that, the next day, which was my last day, sang min wrote me a letter and gave it to me out of the blue. I totally did not expect that!! He was the first one to give me a letter and in the end was the only boy who did! All the other letters were from the girls. It was just a sincere letter wishing me a safe trip home and to be happy in Australia^^ he also said that I was his best friend *tears* I regretted not giving him my email. I would have loved to have kept in contact with him. But out of all the letters and people who were saying that I was their best friend, I would say that sang min was probably the only one that I felt like those words meant something. Having a random, written conversation with him for like 20 minutes had an impact upon him and I was glad that he was able to spend some time to write me a letter. His English level wasn’t very high so that letter must have taken a lot of effort :) I was very touched *tears* and I gave him a koala hahaha.

I only brought 24 koalas with me. I ended up giving it to the students who wrote me a letter and to my two favorite classes 3-1 and 3-3 hahaha. in 3-1 I made some students rock off for it XD and that was fun hahaha and in 3-3 I asked them random questions about myself and first one to put their hand up to answer got one :D hahahah sigh. I’M SORRY TO THE STUDENTS (who I wanted to give one to) WHO DIDN’T GET ONE!! I really wanted to give you one though ;_;

As for 3-2 and 3-4 well, yes. Hahaha. I had mixed feelings about these classes. They were less cooperative, looked less interested and I just didn’t feel that comfort level while I was with them. Particularly 3-2. it got to a stage where I dreaded taking them. They just didn’t do the work and it was just pissing me off so much. Don’t get me wrong, not all the kids in these classes were bad, but the ones that frustrated me really made me feel like UGH I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE.

I mean in 3-2, this one boy turned his head on me and started to play with his hair. HOW FREAKING RUDE! Regardless of what culture you are from or whether you know or don’t know English, that gesture is just PLAIN RUDE. I was so angry! Then another boy, I got him to stand up to read aloud, why? Because he spends his time sitting in class doing jack all. So he gets up and starts reading, but he doesn’t do it properly. I mean I think I am a pretty fair person. I encourage my students to try and even if you are struggling with reading aloud or speaking, if you TRY to pronounce the word or have a go, I will still give you the thumbs up. But this boy just didn’t do it properly. He wasn’t even trying! After every single word he asked the girl next to him. HE IS IN 3^rd GRADE!!! THIS TYPE OF WORK SHOULDN’T BE ANYTHING NEW FOR HIM!! And he was just taking his time doing it, laughing and just not doing it properly. The whole class had to just sit there and wait for him to take his little sweet time -_- then this other boy who was a total smartass I told him that if he didn’t want to be here then he can leave. I then told this to the whole class. I was sick and tired of students who were disrupting other students who actually wanted to do the freaking work. My supervisor backed me up and started telling them in Korean how I felt about the lack of participation and after that, some of the students seemed to have reflected on their consciences and started to do the work a little bit more. Having the sheet on the right side was definitely an achievement T_T

But there were some beauties in 3-2 though. This one boy who always called me “teacher teacher pls help” was awesome hahahaha. I loved him because he just showed the will to have a go! He knew that the sentences didn’t sound right and he was more than happy when I corrected him^^ another two boys who came to the English festival voluntarily I might add were awesome. They definitely had a lower English ability but they were gorgeous. They would always listen attentively and was just more than happy to be in my class^^

Now, now, now. The last class, 3-4. this class wasn’t as bad as 3-2 and there were a few students who I adored in this class. The girl who made me an origami rose <3, the girl sitting next to her who would always listen and smile, the two girls who were fantastic at English and who participated, the girl who made me homemade cookies *cries*, the boy (who I found out too late ;_;) who could speak Japanese, the boy (who I found out too late again ;_;) who was interested in Japanese and Korean dramas and the two boys who I had a random, written conversation with on my last day XD everyone else was pretty meh. The girls in the second row of this class though weren’t very friendly. They were the typical “eye rollers” and they just pissed me off so I didn’t bother with them -_- then I had a smartass in the class, actually I had a couple of them, one whom I sent out of the room. First he was mocking me so I got him to stand up, then while he was standing he was having a conversation with the boy next to him without shutting up. I gave him “the look” a few times, meaning, BE QUIET but that didn’t work so I was like that’s it, leave. I have to say it was hard to communicate though because he didn’t understand English and I couldn’t speak Korean. I kept asking, WHY THIS BEHAVIOR? WHY SO SILLY? But he just didn’t get it OR he pretended to not understand. Who knows. I just know that I wasn’t able to get my point across. I let him back into the class and he was a bit more … tamed I guess. It was my last day and I just didn’t want to bother with him anymore. If it was my class for a year, then things would have been different but since it wasn’t and I wasn’t going to see them ever again, I cut myself some slack and lessened the burden for myself.

anyways back to the students who I got to know too late. This was probably the only thing that I regretted while I was there. I understand that it is an uncontrollable thing because only time can tell whether or not students will warm up to me or not, but I just felt like it all happened a bit too late. I only really started to get to know some of the students in my third week which was a shame. The boy who spoke Japanese approached me and started having a conversation with me in Japanese^^ now if I knew this sooner, then maybe, I would have been able to communicate with him even more!! As for the boy who was interested in dramas, he who couldn’t speak Japanese, was forced to speak to me in ENGLISH! Yes that’s right! He approached me numerous times within the last two days and talked to me in English because we had a common ground – dramas. Man, if only (yes, I’m starting the – if only – talk now haha) I knew this sooner then maybe I might have been more useful for him! He could have practiced speaking in a conversation so much more!!

And the last boy who practically ignored me and showed no interest every single time he was in class, surprisingly warmed up to me on the last day. WHY? Because I found out that he was dating this girl in the 2^nd grade homeroom class that I observed XD it was the cutest thing when I found out hahaha. I was like AWWW!!! And they match too! So here I was in class, my supervisor was saying something or rather in Korean, then the two boys waved me to come over so I did and ended up having a random written conversation with them XD. I pointed to the boy and wrote “your girlfriend in 2-8?” and I think his English was quite low so the boy next to him translated most of the time XD but when he understood what I wrote he was like all smiley and was like HEHEHE YES hahahaha. So I was like, “do you <3 her” and he was like “yes” XDD AWWWWW. And I had a photo of her as well and he wanted to see so I took out my camera and showed him and he was like all TEEHEE sorta thing LOL. He was adorable. I think that because I knew something about him, he started to accept me. I mean he took a photo with me O_O - I KNOW. Weird huh? I was taking a photo with this other student and then out of no where he comes next to me and takes a photo with us^^ I felt happy!

Overall I had a lot of up’s and down’s with the students, with my supervisor and with my host family but in the end it was a valuable experience. I was able to experience first hand the Korean school culture and though it was hard to swallow at times - the discipline and punishment issue (yes they still physically hit their students and make them kneel or go down on all 4s in a push up position for a whole period), it was nonetheless an eye opener. This blog is way too long so I’m not going to crap on about how frustrated I was with my supervisor and even though I said that I didn’t learn anything from him; that is not entirely true. I ended up learning what NOT to do as a teacher so I guess I got something out of that. By far though, my students were the highlight of my stay though. I was ready to go home but on the last day when I received all these letters, gifts and just a connection with some of the kids, I felt like I didn’t want to leave. They were all lovely and I wish them all the best in the future for whatever they choose to do from the bottom of my heart. Students of Shin Heung Middle School – I’LL NEVER FORGET YOU!! KAMSAMHAMIDA!

ooooh yeah. exams = nil. bro's b'day present = bargain. wrapping for bro's b'day present = super bargain. bag for self = super bargain x2. hanged with grace = priceless.

what more can jessmen ask for? - it's bloody great i say. also found out that i don't need to do psy2112 so i am god damn relieved. so now i don't need to go all the way to caulfield for one bloody subject -content-. now my timetable looks so much more cleaner! let's just hope i get my preferences or this overly excited jan will turn into a not happy jan. but god damn do i feel good right now. -shares joy-

edit:

can't believe i almost forgot. thumbs up to beyond awesomeness. i don't think i'll get sick of this for a while he ... he ... he :)

not a happy jan right now!! why do you ask? well....the information will not be disclosed. i just felt like typing in my pretty pink space.

So i knocked one exam down and totally died, but what can you do. totally had no idea where the blue diamond room was and when i found a big sign that said "blue diamond room" it had a weird arrow that pointed to the steps so i was like huh? asked a girl sitting there and she was there for the same exam and she had no idea too! great stuff i say! so i just hung around and waited for the swarm of people to start moving, went with the flow and eventually found the room. it's like so hidden. i didn't even notice the door to the stairs when i first got there. then just went to buy chicken feet for my dad, eat nandos and had ice cream with a few friends, watched svu and now attempting to force my ass to do a summary and it ain't happening. that was pretty much my adventure for the day, damn exciting, can't you tell by my enthusiasm. until next week, ja ne.

waiting for n263; b182. i hope it's not going to be a cliff hanger for b182 or i will be angry and  i really hope the pace of the story doesn't slow down or i will be angry x2. truthfully i have no faith in the progress of the storyline when n263 comes out; the rate that it's going right now...i won't be surprised if gaara is still not rescued by n270. if it doesnt conclude by n270 then...i have no comment. if only studying could be as enjoyable as manga. i can remember more or less of the events and even the script of some chapters yet it's nearly impossible for me to remember one word from my text. i am in dying need of a photographic memory.

OK, so i picked up some assignments over the last couple of days and yes, im shocked. all that paranoia and worry for nothing. i did better than i thought i would, so i'm happy. now i'm motivated to study for exams just to keep my grades up haha. pretty much finished my last two assignments, all that's left is to hand them in, so yes, i have no more excuses to put studying off. damn me, anyways, nap time. studying will come after my nap.

Gianna's nominated this week! muahaha! it's about time i say! i'm so cruel, but aye, that's big brother for ya.

on a more studious note, i've finally finished my rda assignment, all that's left is a few touch up's and a final check so i'm semi relived. my next goal is to finish my lab report, prepare for my listening and speaking test, then hopefully, if  i can find the motivation, yes..long behold..study for exams. such a depressing topic and one of the most depressing times of the year. the next breakdown will come in november. curse it curse it curse it, i say! i should really stop being so cynical, lol i'm shortening my own lifespan.

Well instead of finishing my assignments I went to the jap fest today and it was alright. Alot of food stalls, some cultural performances and more food stalls. But hey, I'm not complaining, food is heaven. Waited a LONG time in line to get some takoyaki haha and boy was it worth it. Anyways I should really crawl back to my books and focus...FOCUS...god damn, curse uni.