Wait, I've come to my 1-month anniversary already? (28. July)

Oh wow, it's been a month since I returned to Korea . . . Already . . . Whoa . . .

What's happened? Here are a few summaries:

Yesterday was the last day of school for the 1st semester. The day before was the last day of actual classes at the school.

After classes were done, the principal treated all the teachers out to--no, actually we did not go to a staff dinner (where you potentially get ridiculously drunk 'cause you're not allowed to decline)! We went out to a movie instead! The movie was "군함도" or "Battleship Island." It was intense. You can see the trailer here. Of course, the movie was in Korean. Even when the Japanese spoke Japanese, there were Korean subtitles. I understood one whole line in the entire movie and the subtitles were too fast for me. That didn't really matter. I got the story just from watching what happened. I can almost bet you I was the only foreigner in the entire building at the time. Cool experience though!

Today was the first day of summer vacation. That meant coming to a virtually empty school to desk-warm.

What is "desk-warm" you may ask? It is when you come to school, to your room/office/desk and just stay there until they tell you you're allowed to leave (if that happens before 16:40). 

What do you do? You can plan for the summer English camp, the following semester, the following winter camp, your summer/winter vacation, your next steps in Korea/post-Korea, or whatever else. I take this as an "I can do just about whatever, 'cause they're paying me to spend time here." I want to learn about investments and how they work. I'm going to research that anyway, might as well do it at school where I'll "be paid" to do so.

If you have nothing to do, this can be torture. So best start thinking about what you'll do later on down the road, research, and if you need to study, do so during this time--if you've already planned out your first few classes for the following semester. 

My first summer camp will begin Monday. It'll run for 2 weeks. The theme for camp is the five senses. Week 1 will be for the 3rd & 4th graders, whereas Week 2 will be for the 5th & 6th graders. So there's the good news: prepare for 1 week and do it twice, just add more challenging content the following week.

Wait, "first summer camp?" That implies there's more than one. What about the second? That camp will be at my Friday school. This will last for 3 days in the 3rd week of August. What will I do? The same as in my main school! Just adapt it to fit the 3-day schedule. It shouldn't be too bad.

Switching off school, I've explored my area a bit and learned where the bus terminals and train stations are. I even took pictures of the bus schedules to better plan potential weekend getaways.
Speaking of "weekend getaways," I'll be heading off to Seoul as soon as I get out for the day. I got my bus ticket, so I shouldn't have anything to worry about--until I arrive at Seoul. I need to make sure I get a ticket back for Sunday. Then, I need to make my way over to my friend's place, where I'll be staying. I expect to arrive around 23:00 tonight. Why so late? My bus will leave at 17:20 and it's a >4 hr. ride from Masan to Seoul one-way.

Then again, that's not so bad. Only >4 hours to cross 85% of the country from south to north? See why it's great to travel within Korea?

Whew, I'm gonna be so exhausted tonight, but it will be good to see her and her family again.

Brief Overview of My First Week (3. - 7. July '17)

Whoa . . . I'm just finishing my second week, and I'm going to write about my first? I guess I have been kind of busy lately.


Let's start off at my apartment.

When I wasn't teaching, I was cleaning/moving in (much much much more cleaning than moving in). I have this thing; when I move into a new place, for me to make it "mine," I have to clean it. Even if it is already clean, just passing a wet cloth over the counters and the floor or whatever is needed, so I can actually say that this place is "mine."

Well, I moved into a place that was inhabited by a guy. Another man lived here (I believe for a few years) before him. I know there are very clean guys out there, but neither of these would have fit into that category.

I had moved into this place on a Friday. It wasn't until this past Sunday (2 weekends later) that I finished cleaning the place (as in, it took about +/- 10 days).
When I first stepped in, it didn't look so bad. If I hadn't moved any of the furniture, I wouldn't have changed my mind. The first thing I moved was the bed to clean under it (hey, I've got dust allergies, so I need to take care of myself). After going through the entire apartment (luckily a studio apartment), I found enough dust bunnies to stuff a pillow or two. After scrubbing the floor (yes, on my hands and knees scrubbing) I saw it shine in a way I didn't know it could. After cleaning the windows (both inside and out), I realized it wasn't so dark outside. My windows were just tinted--with filth. Once the kitchen sink was cleaned, I thought it was a mirror for a short moment. I refused to cook in the kitchen until I cleaned it--it was that bad.
Anyway, the darkness has passed, and everything is clean enough to impress a mother-in-law.

Now to my schools.

I've got 2 schools. Both are elementary. I teach in my main elementary school Mondays - Thursdays. The other smaller school is where I make a weekly appearance every Friday. I teach 5th and 6th graders in my main school (four classes of each grade, so eight classes total. Oh, and each class has 25-28 students). I teach 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in the other school--only one class of each (there are 4 in 4th grade, 7 in 5th grade, and 14 in 6th grade).
As you can tell, both schools are very different. My main school is within the city, about a 15-min. walk from my place. The second school is about a 15-min. bus ride from the stop that's about 10 min. away from my place (in the same direction as my main school). That school is just outside the city.

This is very different to my experience in Gangwondo (강원도) last time. I had 5 schools (2 elementary, 2 middle, and 1 high). Only 1 class in each grade and I saw each school/students once a week. I was paid a lot more then, but I like this arrangement more. I can actually form relationships here. Who knew?

I teach 22 hours per week, which is the max. If you teach more, then you (should) get overtime pay.

The Korean school year is from March - December. I came in towards the end of the 1st semester (early March - late July). The second half runs from the end of August to the end of December. You can see, I've got about 2 weeks of teaching left before summer break. So I've got a nice 1-month summer break ahead of me, right?

WRONG!

I've got to prepare and teach summer (English) camp at both of my schools! I've got a 2-week summer camp in my main school and a 3-day camp at my other school. My co-teachers and I have already been working hard on them, planning the activities, ordering the materials needed, and so on.

I could have 1 week (5 work days) as my summer vacation. We'll see. I still need to request it (Korean school bureaucracy--just accept it) and have it approved. There's some stuff I'd like to do during this time, like visit friends and get my wisdom teeth pulled out. Looks like it'll be tricky planning both. Oh, decisions, decisions . . .

*Random story*
I went to get my teeth cleaned at a dental clinic near my main school. Either there was a misunderstanding or they only clean teeth by drilling along the gum line. It was nerve-wracking, not gonna lie. But I only paid less than $15 for the whole thing (I've got the national health insurance. Wonderful thing--especially since I am uninsured in the States). So both I and my wallet survived the experience.

My First Jimjilbang experience (2. July '17)

That's right. I finally did it. It only took me over 3 years to gather up the courage to finally go and try a jimjilbang (public bathhouse) in Korea.

"Courage?" Actually, "desperation" would be the correct word.

Hey, I see you jumping into conclusions over there! Hear (read) me out first!

The shower drain was clogged and there was no point in showering there since the floor would start flooding with less than a liter.

Remember, this is the beginning of July. The heat--and especially the humidity--are up there. I was working hard in my new apartment, since it looked like it wasn't thoroughly cleaned some tenants ago. Then, I was unpacking too and putting my clothes and stuff away into their newly designated areas. After I finished unpacking, I started to really clean. This was all I was doing a couple of hours before Sabbath started on Friday, Saturday night, and most of Sunday.

I'm proud to say I got a lot done and organized, but I still have a lot to do before I can say "I'm done."

Then Friday night, I found out how bad the shower drainage was.

The teacher I replaced warned me about this and I got the Korean equivalent of Draino and applied it on Saturday night (I was too tired and disgusted to be bothered to do it immediately). Sunday morning, it was fine--except for the grimy clean-up work I had to do. Even while cleaning it up, the drain was clogged again. This time, when I waited, the water eventually went down within an hour. Promising...

So, about 2 days of constant motion and action and manual labor + hot apartment with an air conditioner that's expensive to operate (and hardly any breeze ever enters the windows when open) + the heat and humidity of southern South Korea + a shower that's basically broken = a grossly sweaty, sticky, serious situation.

I needed to call the landlord (or somebody), but I didn't (and still don't) have the contact details nor the language proficiency to do it. Hence, I couldn't wait for Monday, when I could make my plea to my co-teacher. However, I still needed to get through Sunday night. So I did it. I packed a change of clothing, money, my water bottle and went out the door to a Jimjilbang I saw on the main "downtown" area. I figured a bigger one might be better able to help foreign jimjilbang virgin.

It was a little weird, but I was too desperate to be clean to care. I didn't know I had to bring my own stuff, or I could buy packets there. The entrance cost me about 5,500 Won and all the little packets and stuff about 4,500 Won. I read on a couple of blogposts (mainly this guy's) that one should shower 1st. Perfect for me! That's the reason I came! Then one can enter the pools. Each pool has a different temperature. There were 2 saunas as well. The ladies there directed me to what I should do; when, how, where, etc. Before that night, I would've been so feed-up and just left, but I came in knowing they would want to help me, not insult me. Shew, I went there by myself and was naked in front of them all in many different ways (so were they, it is a public bath, after all). 

I can honestly say it was actually nice. A couple of ladies helped me around at differing stages of the process. One even scrubbed my back (which is normal). I think I'd do it again, just not sure when.

My jimjilbang virginity had come to its end.

(Side note: my shower was fixed that Monday afternoon. I've been enjoying blissful, cold showers in the comfort and privacy of my home, just as I should.)