Dear Mama.... Love from Korea (Phone Woes & Field Trip Week)

October 21, 2013

On October 21st, I decided to take it upon myself to go back to the KT Olleh phone store in Hongdae, Seoul.  I thought I remembered everything about how to get there from the last time I went with my friend. That was a FAIL! I only ended up riding the train for two hours because I did not know which stop to get off at. I was so sure that there was an actual stop called Hongdae so I looked all over the map for it but could not find it. When I got home I looked it up and realized that there is no stop called Hongdae because Hongdae is a nickname for the area, the actual stop is called Hongik University. The one good thing about the week is that my co-teacher finished helping me set up internet banking. Of course, as usual, I learned that I had to go back to the bank to get a special card in order to use internet banking on my Mac but when will I ever have time to do that? The bank is only open Monday through Friday from 9am-4pm while I am working. I have to be satisfied using internet banking at school for now. I have to say that I really expected Korea to be more tech savvy and not have you rely so much on face to face interactions. It turns out that this is not that kind of country…you would rarely, if at all, see an automated check out line or kiosk.

This week was a more relaxed week because I did not have class until Thursday. The sixth grade and fourth grade classes had a field trip. I did a lot of lesson planning for the next week and my syllabus for my after school program but, of course, some of it became a waste of time because at the end of the day on Friday my co-teacher tells me that I will be teaching a different lesson for next week. AHHH!!! On Thursday and Friday I only had fifth grade classes and I planned, what I thought, would be a fun lesson. When I tried playing it with the first class, I quickly realized how complicated it was and, therefore, not fun. Good thing I had a back up lesson for the next classes which was way more fun. I also changed the seats of my fifth grade problem class so they all faced the front. That worked a lot better and I was able to directly see the students who were not paying attention. It was just so much manual labor switching the desks and chairs around….PHEW!

I also returned a too small coat I bought and I realized that sometimes it's convenient to be a waygook (foreigner) and act like I don't understand. I think they were trying to talk me out of the return but I just kept making a confused face, saying I don't understand lol and they gave up and processed the return. On Friday, my co-teacher also took me back to SK to try to set up my phone service but of course, they did not have a plan where I would be able to keep my phone, so she told me we would go to KT next week…yet another weekend of waiting to get phone service. At least I have internet at home!!!!!!!!!!!

On a side note, I discovered some new favorite spots in my neighborhood, Taco Cielo, Misoya, Papearl and Kyobo bookstore. I can get my Mexican food fix, yummy pork cutlet and art supplies. It's exciting how every week I keep discovering new things about the neighborhood I live in. I also signed up for Korean Lessons at Talk House near my apartment. They start November 4th!