Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Children are assholes
They've gone from being cute and well meaning to little jackasses with every intention of making my life as difficult as possible. My best student is autistic. He jumps up and hits mr playfully every so often. He's seriously the best behaved. What did I get myself into? What are these imps going to turn me into? I already feel myself getting sick and I've had a headache for days
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday = Freedom From Tyrannical Children Day
It's my day off so obviously I chose to get up at 8:30 to go to the hospital at 9. Woke completely panicked because my room is bathed in an early-afternoon glow. Looked at the clock: 6 am. Curse myself and go back to sleep. Alarm goes off at 8:25; got it right this time, woohoo. The director picks me up at 9 and we're off the the hospital where we're pin-balled from room to room. Fill out a form, go to the desk, go to an exam room, fill out another form, get my height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, and eyesight checked, strip into a gown, get a chest x-ray, slide past a bunch of half naked middle-aged ladies in the changing room, go back to the front desk, pay a fee, go to another exam room, given a cup to pee in (the director was very embarrassed to say pee to me), get to the bathroom and it's squater, squater, squater, bingo: handicapped people aren't expected to squat, bring the dixie cup of pee into the worryingly crowded room, manage NOT to spill my pee on anyone, and get my blood taken by a young guy who looks like a mad scientist (I seriously contemplate whether he's recently been electrocuted recently). Then we're done (yay!) and off to the bank to open an account.
We drive through the town a bit on our way to the bank. The director points out his old high school, the "baseball" (they're definitely playing soccer) team is playing in the field behind the school. We also pass the town hall and the primary school university (?) on our way. I notice we're definitely headed out of town. This is an almost daily occurrence now; I think we're going somewhere nearby, then we're practically in the boondocks. Maybe I'm just not a trusting person, but I panic each time. The bank we go to is quite a ways from the city. After some overly sweet, but free, coffee I'm left alone to play chirades with the teller. It only takes her telling me what to do and gesturing 3 times for me to figure out I need to enter a PIN into the number pad she's pointing at. There was confusing moment when I tried to motion to the teller that I wanted to put money in my account. She thought I was trying to pay her. Awkward, again (that seems to be the theme of my stay so far).
On the way back into town we drove along the river and fields of lily pads. It was absolutely beautiful. I told the director and he promptly screeched to a halt and told me to take a picture on my phone. Took me awhile but I finally figured it out and not have a picture on a phone I'll have for a year and will never be able to see anywhere else. There's also two pictures of a topless guy lying down taken from above. I'm beginning to wonder who this phone belonged to before me. Or if it is new, as the director said, what the hell was he doing with it before he gave it to me?
We stop at the DC store down the street and the director buys me a rice maker and an electric tea kettle. The rice maker was really expensive and I'm uncomfortable that he's willing to spend that kind of money. But it didn't seem to mean much to him. He told me to pick one out and I just stood there dumbly so he exclaimed that I liked purple out of all the colors and bought a purple one that was certainly not the cheapest. I'm laden with guilt every time I look at it. We got the cheapest water boiler though, so I feel better about that at least.
I got home and skped with the parentals and then Jesse who figured out that I could watch hulu... via screen-share with her computer. It was great, we were just hanging out watching TV together. Hopefully we can do it again soon.
Then I braved the outside world. Bought some groceries (milk, ramen, and instant coffee) and a few things for the apartment, which is still pathetically sparse. The lady at the Buy The Way down the street totally loves me. I successfully communicated a hello, thank you, and goodbye (kinda) in Korean with her. I was very proud of myself.
A few hours later (after making a pitcher of coffee to be chilled for future consumption) I braved the outside world again. This time just wandering around. Successfully walked to the Tous Les Jours bakery before panicking about potentially running into my coworker at her mother's hair salon around the corner and crossing the street to walk back. On the way back I discovered TWO pet shops with puppies in the windows. NOT GOOD. Almost bought a pup on the spot. I'm going to have to steer clear from there for now on.
Got back, washed a pot for ramen later on, and was ATTACKED BY A SPIDER THAT CAME OUT OF HIDING! DAMNIT!!!!!! I was so happy that they ran away to their corners. THIS IS NOT GOOD. There are at least 4 that's right FOUR spiders that call this little studio home. I'm doomed. Don't stand a chance in hell.
Ef, what am I going to do now?
UPDATE: ONLY TWO SPIDERS BUT ONE CALLS THE ENTIRE CEILING HOME! IT'S PLAYING CHICKEN WITH ME RIGHT NOW. I NEED HELP ASAP
We drive through the town a bit on our way to the bank. The director points out his old high school, the "baseball" (they're definitely playing soccer) team is playing in the field behind the school. We also pass the town hall and the primary school university (?) on our way. I notice we're definitely headed out of town. This is an almost daily occurrence now; I think we're going somewhere nearby, then we're practically in the boondocks. Maybe I'm just not a trusting person, but I panic each time. The bank we go to is quite a ways from the city. After some overly sweet, but free, coffee I'm left alone to play chirades with the teller. It only takes her telling me what to do and gesturing 3 times for me to figure out I need to enter a PIN into the number pad she's pointing at. There was confusing moment when I tried to motion to the teller that I wanted to put money in my account. She thought I was trying to pay her. Awkward, again (that seems to be the theme of my stay so far).
On the way back into town we drove along the river and fields of lily pads. It was absolutely beautiful. I told the director and he promptly screeched to a halt and told me to take a picture on my phone. Took me awhile but I finally figured it out and not have a picture on a phone I'll have for a year and will never be able to see anywhere else. There's also two pictures of a topless guy lying down taken from above. I'm beginning to wonder who this phone belonged to before me. Or if it is new, as the director said, what the hell was he doing with it before he gave it to me?
We stop at the DC store down the street and the director buys me a rice maker and an electric tea kettle. The rice maker was really expensive and I'm uncomfortable that he's willing to spend that kind of money. But it didn't seem to mean much to him. He told me to pick one out and I just stood there dumbly so he exclaimed that I liked purple out of all the colors and bought a purple one that was certainly not the cheapest. I'm laden with guilt every time I look at it. We got the cheapest water boiler though, so I feel better about that at least.
I got home and skped with the parentals and then Jesse who figured out that I could watch hulu... via screen-share with her computer. It was great, we were just hanging out watching TV together. Hopefully we can do it again soon.
Then I braved the outside world. Bought some groceries (milk, ramen, and instant coffee) and a few things for the apartment, which is still pathetically sparse. The lady at the Buy The Way down the street totally loves me. I successfully communicated a hello, thank you, and goodbye (kinda) in Korean with her. I was very proud of myself.
A few hours later (after making a pitcher of coffee to be chilled for future consumption) I braved the outside world again. This time just wandering around. Successfully walked to the Tous Les Jours bakery before panicking about potentially running into my coworker at her mother's hair salon around the corner and crossing the street to walk back. On the way back I discovered TWO pet shops with puppies in the windows. NOT GOOD. Almost bought a pup on the spot. I'm going to have to steer clear from there for now on.
Got back, washed a pot for ramen later on, and was ATTACKED BY A SPIDER THAT CAME OUT OF HIDING! DAMNIT!!!!!! I was so happy that they ran away to their corners. THIS IS NOT GOOD. There are at least 4 that's right FOUR spiders that call this little studio home. I'm doomed. Don't stand a chance in hell.
Ef, what am I going to do now?
UPDATE: ONLY TWO SPIDERS BUT ONE CALLS THE ENTIRE CEILING HOME! IT'S PLAYING CHICKEN WITH ME RIGHT NOW. I NEED HELP ASAP
First Impressions
So this is friggin ridiculous. My first day here I start teaching. Just thrown into the lions den without any combat training; and that's just barely a metaphor. Seriously, these kids are nuts.
The first class of my first day it is next to impossible to make any of the kids pay attention. They're all yelling at each other from across the room, literally ignoring my pleas for silence. One kid curls up into a ball on his chair and refuses to budge. Great. The rest of my classes go ok, except that they ran out of one of the exercise books so they made a photo-copy for me. The first exercise: dictation. I have to read out loud to them. OK but read WHAT exactly? I very unstealthfully look over the shoulder of one of the kids in the class and read some of the lines from the previous page. They all notice, they all comment, and simply copy the lines from the page before. Awesome. The final class period is private tutoring, helping two girls with their pronunciation for an English competition. One girl is so shy she only reads the first page, speaking softer and softer until I can barely hear her. Then she just stops... that's it. No second page for her apparently. Awkward, to say the least, and she'll be reading in front of judges I presume? Not sure how that's going to go. The director comes in and comments on how quiet it is in the room. I guess he wants them to read louder since he's practically yelling the passage the girls have to read. The girls are giggling wildly: English is not his strong suit.
After school the director and I get dinner together. There's an uncomfortable language barrier. Who ever heard of a director of an English school who doesn't speak English? You'd think he'd at least flip through some of the seemingly millions of exercise books around the school. But he's nice, or at the very least generous.
He pays for our meal and his wife gifts me some towels and treats when he drops me at my apartment. His younger daughter runs up yelling what I'm assuming is "Daddy!" in Korean, and then stops short as soon as she sees me and runs away. Beware the big scary white girl. He shows me how to turn my hot water on and his wife says she'll buy me some dish soap (or "oil" as he calls it) and they leave with the little ones. Such nice people, but he puts me on edge for some reason.
The first class of my first day it is next to impossible to make any of the kids pay attention. They're all yelling at each other from across the room, literally ignoring my pleas for silence. One kid curls up into a ball on his chair and refuses to budge. Great. The rest of my classes go ok, except that they ran out of one of the exercise books so they made a photo-copy for me. The first exercise: dictation. I have to read out loud to them. OK but read WHAT exactly? I very unstealthfully look over the shoulder of one of the kids in the class and read some of the lines from the previous page. They all notice, they all comment, and simply copy the lines from the page before. Awesome. The final class period is private tutoring, helping two girls with their pronunciation for an English competition. One girl is so shy she only reads the first page, speaking softer and softer until I can barely hear her. Then she just stops... that's it. No second page for her apparently. Awkward, to say the least, and she'll be reading in front of judges I presume? Not sure how that's going to go. The director comes in and comments on how quiet it is in the room. I guess he wants them to read louder since he's practically yelling the passage the girls have to read. The girls are giggling wildly: English is not his strong suit.
After school the director and I get dinner together. There's an uncomfortable language barrier. Who ever heard of a director of an English school who doesn't speak English? You'd think he'd at least flip through some of the seemingly millions of exercise books around the school. But he's nice, or at the very least generous.
He pays for our meal and his wife gifts me some towels and treats when he drops me at my apartment. His younger daughter runs up yelling what I'm assuming is "Daddy!" in Korean, and then stops short as soon as she sees me and runs away. Beware the big scary white girl. He shows me how to turn my hot water on and his wife says she'll buy me some dish soap (or "oil" as he calls it) and they leave with the little ones. Such nice people, but he puts me on edge for some reason.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)