Term 2 - Teaching Schedule

Our terms last for 13 weeks. During week 11 the students take their level up tests. If they pass, they move up to the next class but if not, they have to retake the same class again. We make sure that the students don't have the same teachers in a row but sometimes you may have them again depending on how the cookie crumbles. The first class is only for Junior Level aka elementary school students from 4:00 to 6:55pm. The second class is for Senior Level aka middle school students from 7:05 to 10:00pm.

Here is my not-to-awesome schedule:

Mon EC4 (English Chip 4)

Reading Birdie

Tues EC3

Reading Par

Wed Memory Tera

Off early!

Thur EC4

Listening Birdie

Fri EC3

Listening Par

Sat Memory Tera

Off early!

Sun NO WORK!!!!

Seoul Day 2

Leah and I woke up late on Sunday aka noon. (It's okay though, it's my only day off. I'm allowed to get my full 8 hours of sleep.) We take the bus back into Soeul and meet up with Jessica and Jenny in Itaewon aka the foreigners area. It's near an Army base and has a Taco Bell, english bookstores, sports bars, mexican restaurants, clothing for giants, and more! We went during the day and had a leisurely lunch at a sports bar and watched DVR'd college football games and indulged in some Budweiser. Mmmmmm!

Jessica then took us to the Gagnum Underground Market. It's a narrow market about 600-800 meters long (I'm guessing, I didn't get to see it all) full of cheap clothing, shoes, and home decor. It's full of people and get this, it's not air conditioned! This is when I start missing the good oldUS of A but I did find a dress and a bunch of earrings. After that, we all went our separate ways. I stayed with Jenny on Sunday night so I could be closer to the train station in the morning. We went to Home Plus and bought some veggies for her to make some soup with. Her crock pot rocks!

Woke up late on Monday morning but after a 45 minute subway ride, make it to Seoul Station and hop on the KTX at 11:30. I was back in Daegu by 1:15pm and at work at 1:50. Pretty good timing eh?

Fun Fact about Korean couples: They like to go out and about in public wearing matching shirts. There are even stores that just sell Couples Tees... if anybody needs a set to cement your love I'll hook you up!

Weekend in Seoul

This past weekend I traveled to Seoul to meet up with a few buddies from training aka the week from hell and to take in the sights and sounds of the city. Yes I did stay in Seoul for a week during training for my job but let me tell you, we did not leave our hotel for nothing. Training week was hard since all of us were majorly jetlagged and freaking out about the intense workload being thrust upon us. We kept getting told that only 87% pass that

first week and let me tell you, a few of us were freaking out. But more on that later....

As we all know, I am the Queen of Procrastinating. When I should have been packing for Seoul I was watching "He's Just Not That Into You" on TV. My packing was officially finished by 4am Saturday morning. The only problem: I had to be at work by 8:30am to teach at 9am. Good thing I only have one class on Saturdays. As soon as that bell rang at noon, I quickly changed out of Teacher wear and into Tourist gear. I hopped onto the su

bway, took it to the train station, quickly bought my ticket from the machine, and hopped on the 1pm train to Seoul.

The KTX train goes as fast as 300KM/hour so obviously, the train is the fastest way to Seoul. I took a nap and arrived in Seoul at 2:45. Yes everyone, I arrived in Seoul even before the second class was out at 3pm at my school. Technology is awesome! After I arrived at Seoul Station, I hopped onto the subway and proceeded to ride another 50 minutes to Gangnam where my pals Leah and Jessica were waiting for me. Leah is from England and is super nice and smiley. Except when she gives you the creepy British eyes...you know that look. Jessica was my roommate at the Coatel Hotel during training. She was the best roomie ever!

We had coffee drinks and gabbed at Angels-In-Us, a delightful cafe chain filled with cherubs, feathers and fake flowers galore. It even had a gold, glittery toilet seat in the loo. Ahhh Korea, trust you not to forget about over decorating the bathroom. Jessica and Leah had heard about a show called Nanta and bought tickets for the show. It's the oldest Korean show running and has been performed all over the world. After a walk in the rain and a taxi drive to point us in the right direction, we arrived at the theater. It was a bit pricey at 50,000 won but it was AMAZING! (click the link to see a preview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XQ-hFrhE_Q)

After that, we proceed to get lost (like all good little tourists do) but we did see import car dealerships. It was the closest I have ever been to a Ferrari... I hope that wiped my face smudges off the window.... We finally located the subway station and were on our merry way to the bus stop. Jessica went back to her place and I went with Leah to hers. Leah lives in Dongton which is 30 min bus ride outside of Seoul. Her town is pretty cute, it's all brand new and designed as an eco-city. Lots of green space, trees, fountains, and wide streets for parking and driving! There was even a scrap booking store! A tropical storm went through that night so it was pretty fierce and wet. But well worth it to see some great friends!

Outback, Korea Style

Dear Outback Steakhouse,

I first want to say thank you for boxing my leftovers up for me. You could just drop a box by my table but Noooo, you go above and beyond that. You take it away and reappear a few minutes later with a giant bag filled with boxes. As I glance inside I see that my chicken tenders are separate from my salad (awesome) and you even threw in two loaves of you yummy bread and some to go ramekins of honey butter. Awww, you shouldn't have. That really made my night

Fast forward four hours: Mmmmm, it's Midnight and I'm ready for dinner. I do believe that I'll just have my delicious blue cheese salad leftovers to abate my hunger. GASP! I open my take out carton and what do I see? A plain garden salad staring up at me sans blue cheese dressing! "What happened to my salad," I ask myself. Where did he go???

I can only assume that you didn't deem my salad tasty enough to take home. Albeit, he was drenched and a little stinky but darn it! He was MINE! After I mourned the loss of my beloved salad I vowed never to get attached to my future leftovers ever again. But thanks again for the bread. It looks pretty amazing. Oh, never substitute my food ever again! I paid 16,000 won for it and I want every last won!

Love, Erica

P.S. Maybe you added another chicken strip to the box.......

A lot of learnin' left to do...

Two days shy of the two month mark here in Korea and today I realized something. I love it here. Even though the weather can be unbearable and the language barrier is about as penetrable as the DMZ, this country is pretty enjoyable.

Today the weather wasn't unbearably hot and humid like it has been every day since I arrived. The weather was 77 when I went to work today at 3pm and when I was off at 7, a nice breeze was blowing making me change my mind about taking the bus home. I decided to walk and stop in shops along the way. I bought some large potatoes and some leafy greens from a few vendors off the street and wandered into an accessory shop. I don't take too much time out to fix my hair for class so it's usually a huge fro. I went into the shop and the shopkeeper spent 10 mins combing through her stock to find a clip that could accommodate my thick hair. Usually I do not have any patience for that and if I was in the US I would have left politely. But since I can't make small talk I suffer through it just to be nice. Good thing I did. I bought a nice clip and she even gave me a free hair tie. I think she thought my hair was a mess and wanted to help as much as she could. Nevertheless I will buy all my hair clips from that store from now on.

I'm just now beginning to become comfortable with my surroundings.