Another Trip Around the Sun…

I’ve completed my first full week of teacher.  I now have my full schedule.  Despite the early disappointment, my 3rd school turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  I asked my various partners about taking charge of the comprehension part of the lesson. For the most part they did it brilliantly, eliciting ideas from the students about the pictures in their text, and then eliciting the students ideas on what they had seen and heard during the introductory videos.  Although it was in Korean, it was a good use of L1 (mother tongue) in the classroom as it gets the KT actively involved with the students in the lesson and creates a more comfortable environment for them.  It may not be ideal from the standpoint of creating a strictly english environment but it is suitable compromise.

Also… I’ve taken another trip around the sun. So I’ll take a moment for some reflections on my thirties so far.

30… Miserable.  I was in school for an extra semester I hadn’t budgeted for, and we had a serious illness in the family.  I wasn’t fit to be around.  K gets credit for tending to a brooding birthday pup.

31… Happy!  I was halfway through my first year in Korea.  Family illness had since been resolved. Living the dream, travelling in an exotic land visiting temples and mountains and making friends.

32… Miserable.  Signing on for an extension at my hagwon has proved a mistake.  My sweet extra job is gone, and there’s no intention of finding another one for me (which had been promised prior to my extension).  I’m not happy with my living situation which was imposed upon me by my boss, but I also don’t feel comfortable confronting the roommate about those issues.  So I basically moved all my stuff out and kept the old room as storage.  At this point I’ve woken up from the dream.  The highlight of the day?  A student whispering ‘motherfucker’ at me in Korean as I’m helping him with his workbook.  K gets a lot of credit, she was the only good thing about number 32.

33…Happy!  I took six months off after my second year.  I got my CELTA, visited my folks in Canada for three weeks, and landed a well paying job in the public school system, everything was looking up.  I also got an ‘ipod touch’ from K.  Awesome Awesome device.  My first taste of the apple Kool-aid.   A few months later and I would drink the full cup and buy a mac-book.  A great trip around the sun.

34… So far so good.  I got into a masters program, this was my big goal for the year.  Some good wishes from loved ones.  K doesn’t know what to get me.  It’s ok though, I kind of feel like the guy who has everything these days.