Okay, so I kind of feel like a really stupid American tourist (which I guess basically I am), but here’s the reason why. Remember how I said I couldn’t figure out the hot water, how to turn on my shower or how my stove worked? Well yes, I couldn’t figure these things out because I’m retarded – I fully admit it. So last night one of the Korean teachers came over to my apartment to help me figure these things out. I had figured out the hot water on my own, but the shower was still a mystery to me. So Yung comes in and turns on the shower in about two seconds. Turns out you have to lift the knob up, not turn it. Do you know how hard I tried to turn that knob? Really, really hard! For the stove he came over and turned the gas on – yes it was really complicated, let me tell you. But in my defense I’ve never had to do that at home. Also my refrigerator wasn’t working, so Yung opens it and turns the knob to “on”. Again in my defense the thing was in Korean. How was I supposed to know that’s what it said? I need to study Korean. So in the span of about two minutes Yung had solved all my problems that had plagued me for two days. When he left I could only shake my head at myself and laugh – they were definitely palm to forehead moments. But at least this morning I could take a decent shower and cook eggs – I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I’ve now finished three days of teaching. I see each class only once a week, so I teach the same lessons all week. There are two lessons depending on which grade they are in, and each class is at a different level. With some classes it’s like pulling teeth to get them to talk or answer questions; they are so quiet I get sick of hearing myself speak. The more advanced classes tend to be more talkative, and I really like that. When I told one of my students to explain in English, he told me to study Korean! Further proof I suppose, but so far so good. We’ll see how things progress as the weeks carry on.
3 comments:
Did you ask the little punk if he speaks Russian? Or remind him that you have only been in Korea three days while he has been studying English for years? Grr! Teenagers can be such PITAs!
that's so cool that it is one lesson plan a week. what a stress relief. I am envying you right now--sooo cool! Don't worry about not understanding korean appliances. when i was in uruguay, the stove had a glass cover over it. you are supposed to open the cover and it is used as a splash guard for the wall. i thought it was some high tech glass looking stove, so i turned on the stove and placed a pot on the glass. 5 minutes later... EXPLOSION! I exploded the glass off the stove! My boss's mouth dropped when I tried to explain what happened in spanish. good times. :)
"Dan" is Genny by the way :)
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