About Me

Originally from Rochester, NY, I packed up my life after graduating college and moved to South Korea in September 2010 to follow my heart and my ambitions. I am currently teaching English as a Second Language in a public middle school in Suwon.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Marching into March

Hello all,

Welcome to March! Never has time flown this fast in my entire life. The title of this entry is meant to be a) clever and b) to express the attitude I am trying to hold as I enter yet another month here. The way I think about it, marching usually requires an element of pride, endurance, and perhaps some resistence too. In other words, I am trying to ease my way into March with a steady consistency and strength. The month March means a lot of things this year. First of all,
in just over 2 weeks I will reach my 6-month point of being here. Also, March is when the new school year begins here in Korea, so as I get a rush of new students (and almost twice as many students this year, might I add), I am trying not to panic. Up until a week and a half ago I thought I was just going to be teaching the new 6th graders, but I was informed only through casual mention that I am also teaching half of the 8th grade classes. Um, what? Did anyone bother to tell me that during the 2.5 weeks I sat on my butt at work watching episode after episode of How I Met Your Mother, not feeling guilty because I had already planned 3 weeks of my 6th grade lessons?! So by the time I found out I had a grand total of one day to adjust my already made lesson plans to fit a 8th-grade level, which I'm obviously clueless of. Luckily, today, being the first day of the new school year, my teaching schedule still wasn't set so I have the next 3 days to plan before I start teaching on Monday. I've already planned 5 lessons but I think it would be pointless to continue, considering I need to gage the level of my students before I get too ahead of myself.

Strangly, the last-minute nature of my co-workers and professional environment apparantly doesn't apply to planning for next year. I am already being asked whether or not I will be re-signing my contract to stay another year. Even though I know I have plenty of time to decide (my contract requires that I notify them within 60 days of my contract ending), I'm already starting to feel the pressure. So, in attempt to maintain my marching pace, I am utilising all of my will power to stay calm and recognize how much time I have to decide, and how much things can change within that time frame. It's really hard to look into the future and anticipate big decisions and stay calm at the same time.

After a month of desk-warming and vacation days, the commencement of the school year also means all systems go until mid-July when the next vacation is. Add the 2 weeks of Summer Camp I'll be teaching, the thought of going full speed until August is scary. I really enjoyed my low-key February when I was sent home early 80% of the time, watched lots of TV episodes online, and could join my hagwon friends (my friend who work at private academies and usually work mid afternoon-late evening) at the bars on weeknights. But alas, that is not why I came here. Gotta suck it up for real life!

Lastly, and on a lighter note, March is my birthday month! I can't really say that I'm 'marching' towards the 18th (dubbed "hangover day" by my twin sister & I because we always wanted our birthday to be on a holiday and our birthday conveniently falls the day after the Irish celebration never without green beer, shot-glass necklaces and anonymous kisses from/to people claiming the day as their own). As much as I've tried, I've never been one of those people who can play it cool on their birthday. I manage to slip the information to my friends or whoever I talk to whenever possible that my birthday is coming up. What can I say, I like my birthday. Call it childish or selfish, but I like people to know that its my birthday. As my Mom would say, "so sue me." Happy almost birthday to me!

Speaking of my lovely February, Val and I embraced our overlapping vacations and took an impromptu trip to Busan, a city in the south of the country, right on the ocean. It's a famous vacation spot in the summertime because of its beaches and relaxed atmosphere. Due to teaching obligations we were only in Busan for 36 hours, but it was totally worth it. We took the KTX train there, the fastest, nicest, and newest train in Korea. I wish I could travel on trains more often. It was so comfortable and quiet. The train ride took about 2.5 hours. We arrived in Busan at 8pm Thursday and got a taxi to our hotel on Gwangalli beach. From our hotel room we could see the famous Gwangan bride, the longest bridge in Korea. It is lit up beautifully at night, as is the city of Busan. The minute I stepped off the train I felt more relaxed. The air in Busan just smells and feels cleaner. The buildings are shorter so you can see more of the sky and the mountains (during the day). Everyone seemed to be less in a hurry. In the 36 hours I was there, I saw signs for two art galleries, a music school, AND a dance school. I haven't seen ANY of that in Suwon. People stared less at me/us in Busan. I admit, my paradise perception of Busan may have been a little skewed by the fact that it was easily 10 degrees warmer down there (60-65 degrees, I would guess), we were on the beach and on vacation. But I remember the feeling I had when I stepped out of the train station when we first arrived- I could just feel that I could be happy here. Only hours into our short trip that composed of nothing more than gallavanting on the beach, having ice cream for lunch (a true Waldman vacation tradition), eating the best (and cheapest) Western style food I have ever had in Korea, and visiting the aquarium, I declared that I would seriously consider moving to Busan. We even asked a few foreigners we ran into if they lived there and how they liked it. I heard nothing but rave reviews. One girl's response to my inquiries about Busan life was, "what is there to complain about? You've got the beach and lots to do in the city." So you never know, maybe next year I'll find a job teaching in Busan instead of Suwon. For now, though, I've still got nearly 7 months in Suwon, and I do believe that is enough time to love this city too. Breathe. There's time.

If you're curious, my pictures from Busan and other happenings here are up on my Facebook page. I've started bringing my camera pretty much everywhere I go in order to properly document my life here, for both your sake and mine!

That's all for now.

Bisous,
Melissa