the Start

My life in Korea as an English teacher has officially started. 

I live in a city called Masan, which is about an hour and a half from Busan. Where as, I teach in a school with only 25 students from grades 1-6. This school is in the real countryside. Teaching has been challenging, due to my lack of skills as a teacher, but it's an experience. I also have an extra challenge compared to other foreign English teachers: pretending I don't understand or speak any Korean with the students. Ugh, it's so hard! Especially when the kids are so cute and are so attached to me that I just want to start creating relationships with them, but our conversations and interactions end with "Hello teacher!" and some sort of body language to try and explain something. Also, it's hard memorizing names when all the boys in one class choose English names that start with 'T' and three letters long like Ted, Tip, Top, Tom, Tim, Tap. Seriously boys! haha.

I am also living in my own studio apartment, which is also an interesting experience. After what feels like a long day of teaching, coming back to try and make dinner for myself is a pain. First off, I don't have cooking skills to start off with and secondly, ingredients which I used at home to make a simple meal are not easily accessibly here. All the home cooked Korean food I have eaten in my life was by my very own mother. After many loose attempts to try and learn to cook Korean food from my mother, it was hard due to the fact that Koreans don't really cook with a recipe for anything. They just do it. 

It's only the start of really living in Korea, and I have a lot to explore. I'll continue to keep updates about how things are going. 

my school

the city where I live

students at my school :)