Thanks, Mom. I'm slowly getting better. Today I mostly stuck to the textbook and observed the other teachers to get a feel for how they want their classes run at the 2nd school. I had games planned but was too nervous to try to do them, especially since I've never been to this school before and don't know the students. The teachers asked for more games next time though so I'll have to start getting creative. This school is bigger than Cheonjeon and the kids were all over me - grabbing my arms and tugging on my clothes. I had a 4th grader basically sitting in my lap during lunch. They're very sweet and affectionate - I'll have to get over my touchaphobia. The handicap boy at this school is super happy, he doesn't do so well with English but he's very smiley and loves saying Hi and showing me his drawings. Or just staring at me, which a lot of the students do anyway.
I taught the 5th graders how to say what they are doing and had them take turns telling the class. One kid has a tendency to get confused and said "I'm eating a movie!" instead of "I am eating pizza" and I lost the class for a minute after that (I couldn't stop laughing either and told him he might get a stomach ache). I still go way too fast for the students, mostly because I hate their textbook lessons and want to get through them and also because I get super nervous. I still get the same questions like "is that your natural hair?" "Do you have boyfriend?" and "how old are you?" and hate giving my Korean age, which is 25 :/
Erica's been helping me a lot with fun activities for lessons. She taught elementary for two years before her current high school so she's got a ton of ideas.
I did find a grocery store. A few actually. I got lost and stumbled upon one on Saturday. Then Erica and her boyfriend, Albert, drove me to the big huge "Home Plus" store and helped me find everything I needed for my apartment. Albert enjoys being a wealth of knowledge, so he talked me through all the best Korean brands and such. Erica also showed me a closer grocery store that I can bike to. I might get a basket on my bike to carry groceries home.
Next week is Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) so we have about 5 days off. I'm already dying for a break and I just got started! I might check out a bathhouse with Erica (I'm a little wary of them though) and go hiking with my friend, Cindy (she's a super granola and wants to climb a giant mountain and campout, which I'm down for... I just might be out of shape).
Anyway, I'll keep you posted.
-Whit
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