Quite a bit has happened over the past couple of weeks. Let's discuss it, shall we?
I am now safely ensconced in Gyeong Am Girls' High School, in the teachers' lounge. Beside me sits one of my illustrious co-teachers, Go. I have six total, including the one at Dosan Middle School. My classes at Gyeong Am total seventeen with ten students each - at Dosan, I have three classes with fifteen students total.
Teaching has been committed. There's a learning curve involved, as I have to learn how to speak with EFL students who are much younger than I and who are not exposed to English every shining day. The bad news is that I'm pretty beholden to the textbook, although it looks like one week out of three, I can do my own thing. Provided classes aren't cancelled and suchlike.
Since the last post, I have discovered the other downtown of Andong, where I can go and try to find clothes and have a teeth-grinding fit when I find that nothing nice fits me, and commit acts of noraebang. (Noraebang, to those unaware, is karaoke.) There is a swell place that others have found with such timeless Korean hits as Don't Stop Me Now and The Immigrant Song, along with other songs with music videos that have nothing to do with the lyrics.
I have also ventured out of town, on my own volition. This was to visit my most esteemed brother Brady in Tongyeong. The journey stressed to me two things: a) payphones are clever devices for eating your change and allowing you to exercise your imagination by guessing what the other person said on the too-quiet line, and b) cellphones are useful devices for not sitting in a Lotte Mart for an hour more than necessary. I only applied for my ARC on Wednesday, but I cross my fingers every day for it to show up at my school so I can act on these revelations.
Otherwise, the trip was fun if short. Brady has a cheerful pack of friends for whom the maxim 'you can dance if you want to' doesn't go far enough. He also treated to me to fine Tongyeong cuisine, including a pork spine soup (I forget the name; it's tricky business trying to navigate that meal with chopsticks) and shabu shabu. He has LG-brand shampoo in his bathroom. Yes, as in the electronics company.
This weekend, I will remain in Andong, for a posse of South Africans are descending upon our city. Also, I will be playing host to the illustrious Jouelle! We will party and feast upon the fuzzy peaches, as true Canadians must.
I have to go now, for it is class time now. Keep everything safe in the meantime.
