Oh SK... You amaze me!

There is so much stuff crammed into every nook and cranny of the South Korea I have seen so far. Apartment buildings are 10+ floors high. Stores go up as high as you can imagine in buildings, and people still go to them. Schools start on the second or third or fourth floor of buildings and huge beautiful parks spring up in the middle of it all. To this point, South Korea has presented itself to me as a country filled with contradictions. Some examples:

Koreans really do not like overweight people. The are (overall) a skinny nation, although more peole are overweight now than ever before. Contradicting the hate of obesity is the fact that processed, fried, and chain food can be found on every corner of my town. They even deliver McDonalds here! And because children are always at school or academy, they don't really get proper meals Monday through Friday. They eat cheap fried stuff from vendors by the school or chips and the like from the Buy the Way convenience stores. I think obesity will hit Korea like a ton of bricks... and probably sooner than they think.

Korea is a beautiful country. It is over 60% mountains, but so much of the country is developed that I have not seen a mountain or natural green space yet! My walk to work is between dozens of 20+ story apartment buildings. There are nice trees and a nice path to walk or bike on. Every block or so there is a little park for children. It seems quite peaceful, but it is impossible to escape the fact that the city is just beyond the trees. While in Lake Park today (largest man-made lake surrounded by a big man-made park), I was struck by just how close the city is. My apartment building was visible to me the whole time. It is nice to be surrounded by green, but depressing to think that reality and concrete are waiting around the corner.

The week went really well by the way! I taught "for realz" on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The kids seemed to respond to me really well, although I am worried about the level of questioning I ask. I need to work on making my questions more open ended for the students so they really get the most out of them. For a while this will mean more planning for me, but I don't mind if the students are able to get more out of it. Teaching in SK is 100% different than teaching in the US though. In the US I had the responsibility of teaching and entertaining the students. Here it is straight business, although I cannot help but feel bad that the kids don't get much fun in their day. I introduced them to tongue twisters this week as a side note to the book we are working on. They were very excited and amazed when I read "Peter Piper" for them. I believe the tongue twisters will help them with their pronunciation of some words. Hopefully it will work.

Being broke in SK really sucks. I love the idea that when I get paid I will be able to eat out with my friends, go any place in the country (for the most part), and not think about money. Unfortunately, until October 10 I am completely broke. It is even more stressful than being broke at home because at home I know I have people I can turn to.... Here it is just me. My parents are sending me a little money (which I feel terrible about) and I have a feeling I will be eating an awful lot of ramen in the next 4 weeks. Once I get paid though, it will be VERY nice!

I cannot think right now of other things to update you on, but if you have any questions put them in the comments and I will try to answer them. Talk care of yourselves!