So I've learned that public school teachers in Korea are required to change schools every four to five years. I don't know what teacher turnover is like in America, but I seem to remember getting new teachers/losing teachers being a big deal. At my second school, the sixth grade and kindergarten teachers are both leaving, and at my main school one of the kindergarten teachers is moving to my second school, and the vice principal is leaving to become the principal at a different school. However, most notable is that Mr. Kim, my main school coteacher, will also be leaving. He said that my new coteacher will "probably" be the current third grade teacher. Mr. Kim is moving to a school in Nonsan, about thirty minutes from Buyeo. I asked him if he will be an English teacher there and he didn't know. He said probably a homeroom teacher, but he doesn't know which grade. I find it a little crazy how Korean schools simply shuffle teachers around to different grades and subjects.
So I just took a short walk to the bank on my lunch break to pay some bills, and I ran into several of my students. Say what you like about all the last minute things in Korean schooling, but one thing is undeniable - these kids work ALL the time. They're officially on vacation, but instead of you know, playing with their friends, sleeping in, watching cartoons, etc. they're at their private academies every day. My fourth grade girls told me they're at an English/math academy, and my first graders are learning piano. They go every day.
Speaking of graduations, I graduated on Wednesday from Korean class. We all got certificates and everything. Our final thing was a role play we had to write and perform for the class. Everyone definitely failed on the memorization part and had to hold scripts. Our group of five people did ours based on "What will we do today? Let's go to the waterpark!" Here were my lines:오래간마니에요! (Long time no see!)
오늘은 날씨가 더워요. (The weather is hot today.)
오늘 무엇을하세요? (What do we do today?)
같이 가요! (Come with me!)
어디? (Where?)
The Korean woman holding up the peace sign in the front is Kim Seoyoung, our teacher. The man on the far right is Supervisor Yoon, he arranged the lessons for us.
I had a bad morning on Wednesday. First, I missed my bus by mere seconds. A Korean woman who is sometimes at my stop works at a local high school, so we talk sometimes. We were talking and missed the walk sign, so I didn't cross the street and missed the bus. She reassured me there were lots of buses going to Shibjaga, the place I was headed. We crossed the street and had to run to catch the bus, so I couldn't read the front of the bus to see where it was going, but I figured surely she wouldn't let me get on the wrong bus. Yeah, I should have checked it myself because sure enough she got off, then the bus started heading in some random direction. Great. I couldn't believe I had successfully gotten the bus almost every day for nearly six months only to screw up now that I can actually read Korean. Unbelievable. Anyway, I got it taken care of and was only ten minutes late. I was happy because a few months ago this probably would have reduced me to teary-eyed frustration, but instead I was merely irritated that I hadn't bothered to check where the bus was going.
The second thing is going to cause me a lot more trouble. I've worn out my black dress flats! It snowed here the other day and I couldn't figure out why my feet were so cold - I assumed that it was because snow had gotten into my shoes. Turns out I was right, but it also turns out I've worn out the soles of my shoes! This is particularly troublesome because I have yet to find any shoes in Korea that fit me, and I wear these dress shoes all the time. Currently I'm thinking I could hot glue the soles back together. They're made of several layers, so I think it could work until I find a more permanent solution (i.e. new shoes).
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