A week ago...

I wrote it... but forgot to post it!

Wow! Do these weeks ever fly by!

I’m still a little behind in getting blog posts up, and I know at least my mom is interested, so here goes.

My last post was the 22^nd of March, about a week and a half ago. Since then:

We got paid on the 25^th! We get paid on the 25^th of each month. Between us it’s decent. We get more than others because of where we are and how many schools we teach at. So in total, we get an extra ~$500 per month for being rural and teaching at multiple schools. Neither of us are complaining! We don’t make what we did at home, surely, but we also don’t have the same bills that we did at home! And living rural means it’s easier to save as there aren’t as many expensive things (entertainment, retail etc) to spend our money on. We’ve literally JUST sent the first chunk of money home (to cover the bit of the mortgage that our rent checks don’t and to cover things like insurance and car payments). Banking here is a challenge (well EVERYTHING here is a challenge really). It’s tricky to get things set up and their online banking is ultra-secure. When you sign up, you get a special card that has a bunch of random codes associated with a number (1 through 20 or something) and each time you log on, it will ask you for another random one. We’re also still learning the ATMs, because even though we’ve only been to ones from our own bank, they’re still sometimes a bit different.

Teaching is going fine so far. No huge issues there and still enjoying it! It’s a pretty straight forward gig at the end of the day (except for the unexpected surprises). I typically teach here at Yongkang Middle School for periods 4, 6 and 7, plus one in the morning at Buyeo. Well my Buyeo class was cancelled today because the students are on a field trip, so I came here early. I was here about 10 minutes before the first class. My co-teacher asked if I could teach the first period instead of the fourth. Same grade, so I said yes (really what other option do I have?). Just little things like that that add a bit of stress every now and again. This wasn’t a big deal though. I also found out on Tuesday that I’ll be teaching Korean Teachers on Fridays for 2 hours (after my 5 classes) and that I need to produce topics for 15 lessons immediately. That was a bit stressful, and I’m still confused as to exactly what I need to do.

Julia’s teaching is quite similar. She teaches almost exclusively from the textbook, so she can prepare 3 (maybe 4) lesson plans per week, whereas mine are sort of all over the place. Her classes though are much larger than the majority of mine. I have 6 classes that are 30 – 35 students, but the rest are anywhere from 7 – 17, which makes classroom management a breeze, especially when some of your co-teachers are barely in the room. 

That reminds me. 

Anyone that is applying to teach in Korea with the EPIK program MUST be open to absolutely anything. The thing you keep hearing is that it varies, and boy does it ever!

When we first applied, and before getting place and getting here and everything, we pictured ourselves teaching at one elementary school, with one co-teacher, in Busan. Then we found out we weren’t in Busan, we were somewhere in Chungnam. Then on the last day of orientation, we found out we were in Buyeo (in Chungnam province) and were teaching middle school, and at multiple schools (Julia: 3, Brian: 4). I (Brian) have 7 co-teachers including one school where I actually don’t have a co-teacher at all. At one school, I teach from the textbook, at another I teach from two storybooks, at another I teach from one of the same storybooks plus a different one, and at the fourth school I teach whatever I want, to the same 11 students for 3 periods in a row. How’s that for variety?! What I’m trying to say is, be ready for anything, and expect the unexpected, and just roll with it.

I must say though, living in Buyeo is awesome. After a recent trip to Seoul, I’m glad we weren’t placed in Busan (maybe I’d have a different opinion if we went to Busan). The city is massive. There’s lots to see and do, but almost TOO much. Too many people for our liking. We’re settled in here in Buyeo and have found some incredible recreational paths and lots of hiking trails. The town has just about everything we really need.

I have class in 5 minutes so I’m going to have to cut this short… but hopefully post something again on the weekend!