My co-teacher is Mr. Song - he's a kind, soft-spoken, and fatherly man. He's the homeroom teacher over the 6th grade and maintains a very busy schedule - though he never hesitates to take time out of his work to help me adjust to my new life in Korea. The first couple weeks he took me around to the bank, the phone store, and even invited me to his house for dinner one night with his family.
Mr. Song's house is very nice and modest. He lives up in the mountains where most of his neighbors are older retirees and farmers. He keeps his own sizeable garden where he grows all his own produce. Before dinner, he showed me is garden - he's very proud of it and told me it's most peoples dream to own one. Among all the veggies was a small bush with purple flowers. Mr. Song explained that they are a very rare flower in Korea and his wife's favorite. There are many herbs and root vegetables that grow in the mountains in Chuncheon and he explained that he came across the flower bush while he was up in the mountains one day. Since his wife likes them, he uprooted the plant and transferred it to his garden for her. It was very sweet.
We had a traditional dinner with his family and a girl named Yeonjae - a 16 year-old from the local middle school who takes my bus (she helped me figure out my route) and wanted to practice her English with me. It was really lovely except for all my blunders with the chopsticks and how to eat certain things. Mr. Song's son was really shy except when he made remarks about my poor etiquette under his breath. :/ Oh bother. Mr. Song is very patient with me and always tells me not to worry when I don't know the customs because they understand that I'm foreign and still learning.
Mr. Song kind of got stuck with the co-teacher responsibility since he's the only teacher at my main school who has a good handle on English. I think he wasn't really prepared for the responsibility but he's been very nice about it.
The Schools:
So, I'm at 3 schools here in Chuncheon. My main school is Cheonjeon Elementary. Each of my schools only has one class for every grade and they're typically a lot smaller than the states. Cheonjeon has around 12 students in every class and I teach 3-6 grades most days (I'm at Cheojeon Monday, Wednesday, Friday) plus two "extra" or "after-school" classes consisting of 30 1-2 graders on Wednesdays and 3-6 graders Fridays.
My first few days at the school, I mostly spent desk-warming in the library since the English room was under construction and the school hadn't been expecting me for another week. I spent the time trying to figure out how to lesson plan (having absolutely no prior teaching experience) and getting ot know the students in the school. The kids are funny - a lot of shy ones but they all have very distinct personalities and I've already made a few buddies. The teachers are very welcoming too. Despite the language barrier they were quick to include me at lunch, using whatever English they could and even invited me to badminton. There are two female teachers - Hannah and Ms. Hwang - who are around my age and speak a bit of English and are very friendly towards me.
We have something here called "Korean Surprise" where you never know what will happen throughout the day. Classes could suddenly get cancelled, schedules will change, or you'll suddenly have an extra class to teach with little to no warning. My first week teaching, I had a lot of trouble getting used to the bus system so I was late a lot due to getting off at the wrong stop or missing my bus. Finally, there was a day when I got off the bus on time and knew I'd have an hour to lesson plan so I was feeling pretty proud of myself. Then I got a call from Mr. Song - asking where I was. Confused, I told him I was just a few minutes away walking toward the school. He said "Oh, but the students and teachers are waiting for you to give a speech". I asked him if they could wait a few minutes and he said "No, that's no good." So I begrudgingly said "Well, I guess I could run" even though I was carrying 4 heavy textbooks and he said, "Yes, run." and hung up. So, I booked it to the school to find all the students standing at attention and the Vice Principal waving me forward. My first big Korean Surprise would be delivering a speech while fighting off an asthma attack from running 3 blocks.
My second school is Sangcheon. It's a lot further out in the boonies from Cheonjeon but the classes are a lot bigger. I go there on Tuesdays and teach 6 classes back-to-back, which is exhausting but goes fast. The teachers are great - Ms. Kim at the school teaches 4th grade and speaks English well so he's been my ally. She even gives me a ride to and from school so I don't have to take the bus.
Odong is my third school - also in the middle of farmlands. I take the bus with one of my students, Sarang, and her little brother and they're a very goofy pair that love to entertain me while we wait at the bus stop. The staff is very friendly and constantly offer me treats and hot drinks while I'm in the teacher's room. The class sizes are tiny. Sometimes as few as 4 students per class. It's a completely different dynamic than I'm used to at the other schools but means I get more one-on-one with the students.
My bus stop at Odong:
My first week, I visited Odong with my Vice Principal. She speaks little-to-no English, so when Mr. Song told me to go meet her in the office before going to school, we had the following exchange:
Eventually we broke the ice on the car ride there when I told her in my very broken Korean that I was trying to learn the language and she told me "I like you. Because you work hard learn Korean". Since then I've learned to communicate with her and the other teachers through Konglish and lots of hand gestures.
The apartment:
The apartment I inherited from the previous teacher was beyond my expectations. Most single apartments in Korea are a tiny square box with just enough room for a bed, mini-fridge, and a tiny gas stove. My apartment, however, is on the edge of the building (above a convenience store) and is long and skinny rather than super tiny. It also came with all the kitchen appliances I could need, a gift of wine and chocolates from the teacher I replaced, and -best of all - a really nice bike.
It has a small nook with a TV and window seat, a small kitchenette, bathroom, and a separate little room that holds my washing machine (they don't use dryers here so everything is hung up to dry). It's positively cozy and the perfect amount of space.
I wasted no time in unpacking and getting settled. The bike worked great too, I pretty much spend all of my free-time taking it out to explore the many bike trails around Chuncheon.
The city:
Chuncheon is very beautiful - it's often called the Romantic city or the Paris of Korea. Two rivers wind all throughout Chunch, which are met with beautiful bridges decorated with lights and flowers. The bike trails also follow the rivers before delving into downtown so riding to the grocery store is always scenic.
The people are very easy-going (they make me look like a freak constantly rushing around) and everything is simple. The city-center holds many traditional markets where street food and produce are sold as well as hand-made goods and little restaurants.
Foreigners are rare here so I've had to get accustomed to weird looks when I walk around and people wanting to speak what little English they know to me. I also get a lot of funny remarks about my looks. Coming from a country where I'm nowhere near being a minority, this is completely new territory for me and I don't always know how to react.
Anyway, I quickly fell in love with the city and aside from some frustrations with the language barriers and my commute, settling in has been incredibly easy.
