20 Days In

I've been back a few weeks now, and things are finally starting to fall into place.

My apartment is much nicer than the "accommodations" I was provided with last year. It's still kind of a dump, and the couple that left didn't exactly do a stellar job of cleaning, but I'm just happy to have 3 rooms instead of one. Living in a closet isn't exactly condusive to a positive attitude, you know?

I'm really struggling with the social scene- it's totally different people and a completely different vibe than last year. Keith and I were discussing it the other night- every year, you get a bunch of young punks who think they're the shiznit and strut around like their shit don't stink. By the time they've started to settle down and act human, it's a year later, they're out and are replaced by a pack of thugs exactly like them. Then you have the guys who are 40 and 50, acting like they're 22 and hitting on anything that walks. There's not a lot of happy medium to be found.


I admit that I made my fair share of mistakes last year, but I have made a genuine effort to atone for most of them. Unfortunately, sometimes, like last weekend, it comes back to bite me in the ass.


On the plus side, school is going pretty well. All hagwons are managed with a certain amount of madness and circular logic, not to mention a complete lack of time management and organization. Several things have already changed at my school since I signed my contract, which irritates me but isn't worth getting worked up about. However, my boss told me the other day that she knows I've been working hard and that she appreciates it, and that's something I never heard from my previous institution. Some of the classes are easy almost to the point of boredom, but some of them are actually above my head. I'm having to do a lot of review about past participles and second present possessive or whatever that crap is. Some of my kids are reading condensed versions of Wuthering Heights, Around the World in 80 Days, Lord of the Flies (which I accidentally called Lord of the Rings all through class, my kids think I'm crazy.) I love it, I can't believe I actually spent 30 minutes last week discussing Wuthering Heights with some 12 year old Korean kids! I was pleasantly surprised with their insights about character, plot, motivation...just goes to show that the classics are exactly that for a reason. They speak to everyone on some level. I live for those moments. The only real challenge I'm facing is that the prior teacher didn't exactly make them work- they spent a lot of time playing games and coloring, and were allowed to leave class early. They also received workbook pages for homework, whereas my boss has requested that I make them write short essays. So they resent me for making them do actual work, and they are too young to

If I may toot my own horn for a moment- a relative newbie approached me last weekend and asked for advice about managing his classes. It was our first time meeting but he said that I seemed "very confident" about teaching and he'd been looking for someone to give him "practical" advice. It's rare for someone to see me as a, I don't know, it was just really nice that someone thought I knew what I was talking about. And I do. I'm not the best teacher in the world, I haven't studied for it, but I rarely have a problem with students. Mostly I just love my job and I love my students and that's half the battle right there. I'm still trying to get into my groove in the classroom and get a feel for the students, I'm definitely not at the top of my game right now, but it'll come.

That's just how I roll.