I feel like a rock star or better yet, a super famous person! No, I haven't just become famous or won the lottery. I have little groupies of children. When they see me in the halls of the school, I hear, "Hi, Hi," from loud children. They group around me and stare in amazement. The reason for this is because I am the first native English speaker at the public school I am teaching at. I feel extra special, but the "Hi, Hi's" may get annoying after awhile. As I have no privacy or anonymity anywhere. Do I have to say "Hi" to every girl or boy that says hi to me? Well, I feel bad if I don't, but then again, It may come down to just nodding my head after awhile.
As you can probably tell, I really lucked out at my new school. My co-teacher is extremely nice. He asked me if there was anything else I needed for my apartment, after he took me shopping my first night I met him. I wasn't sure what to say, but I did mention that a couch, table, and bookcase would be nice in an extremely nice way. He said he would see how much money was in the budget that was given to the school for getting me. He let me know the next day that he would take me shopping in the afternoon. I was supposed to be in school all afternoon, but not teaching.
We went to a store called "Homever," which made me laugh at the name. Like the stuff will last forever in my home, so I hoped. He told me to pick out a couch, and although there wasn't too many choices, I wasn't going to be picky. I mean for God sakes, I WASN'T PAYING! I ended up picking up a nice couch, (I can't believe how cheap couches are here), and a bookcase, and a nice small table. My apartment will be quite full now, but so comfy!
This afternoon, my co-teacher told me I could leave the school to go and pick up my Alien Registration Card. I left at noon, and didn't have to go back to the school. Yesterday, my co-teacher gave me a school calender and told me all the national and school holidays on it. I thought to myself, "Holy cow" I am sooo lucky. We have so many days off, it's not even funny. In March and April, we don't get too many days off, but after that, we get lots. Wohoo!
I'm settling in nicely here, and the weather is starting to get warmer. But, what drives me nuts, and maybe others who are reading can relate to this, my Korean co-teachers, blast the heat in my office. Even when it's not really cold in there, they turn the heat on full blast. It is so hot in there, it is like an OVEN. I can't stand it. When they are not around I turn the heat off. They will probably do this in the summer too..haha. Grr! I have no air conditioning in my school or in my office! What will I do?! I will fry, that's what. It gets sooo hot in Korea in the summer.
Deep thought: Are Korean's body temperature different than ours?
