Autumn is here! Technically. Autumn has already come and gone; the trees are bare again, the days are gray and every single person I see looks at me with astonishment, asks, "Cold?!" and points to my short sleeves or lack of a jacket. I usually point at my own face and say "Canadian," which is often enough to explain it. I think I appreciated autumn a lot more this year than last one. I traveled around more and took in more of the scenery. Chloe and I went to a park overlooking Seoul one weekend which was quite gorgeous. The park was several paths through a type of wheat field, with an excellent hilltop view overlooking the Han River. As I was typing that sentence I realized I should just post a photo, but nonetheless felt it necessary to continue typing in order to point that out.
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| This is much more enjoyable than my writing |
Oh yeah, and then my corworkers and I climbed a mountain! Our boss took us to a park in Cheonan as part of a team building exercise. We split into separated groups and raced up the trails along the mountainside, trying to beat each other to each checkpoint. Our team eventually won despite our lack of athleticism and my four or five heart attacks.
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| Not pictured: out of shape, heavily panting camera operator |
It was nice getting out and appreciating the scenery a little more. Last year I think I spent most of my time bumming around Pyeongtaek or taking trips into Seoul. It wasn't too long after I had moved here so I was a little wary about travelling outside of my bubble. Korea is a lot of cities and towns, but has some real natural beauty once you get outside of all that.
So that's a few things that have happened since my last post, but I guess the biggest change has been the start of the new term. As of Monday this week I have all new classes, students and a new classroom on a different floor. And we have two new teachers! They've been settling in this week, learning the ropes and getting to know the students. It's interesting; you forget how many little things are involved in this job until you have to explain them all to a new face. All the grading, paperwork, reports, meetings, lesson planning, mock teaching, and then the seven hundred things you have to remember when you're actually running your class. It's overwhelming how much you get used to with experience, and how much becomes second nature over time. Still, the new teachers are adjusting well and seem to be coming along excellently.
It's nice having some new faces, especially given who they replaced. I won't go off on a rant here; I didn't start this blog to shit on people who unquestionably deserve it. Suffice to say our previous teachers were so clueless and incompetent they practically un-taught their kids to speak English, and now the rest of us have to sweep up the pieces of their idiocy. Their methodology and class management were so atrocious that we frequently reference them as benchmark examples for shitty teaching. Like, "Make sure you cover as much of the material as you can during your class. You can't just skip over sections you don't feel like teaching the way Such-and-Such used to." Fortunately for us they had the decency to leave early, so hopefully the door of Korea hits them in the ass on the way out. But you know...not gonna go on a rant...
So that's life here these days! Hope you enjoyed the pictures and skipped most of the words.
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