No More Procrastinating

So, I was going to wait until I could post properly, like when I'm all settled and have things to say. But then I realized if I did that, there would never be another post on my blog again! So here we are. First post from Korea again. It was so exciting coming back here for me and I didn't really expect it to feel so great. Walking through my old neighborhood and eating at old restaurants had the same vibe it does when I return to the States and go to my favorite places. Korea really has become another home for me, which is good since I'm kind of stuck here for a while!
We went to Wonju on Tuesday and stayed with one of Kenny's good friends, SuYoung. She just had a baby six months ago and he is the cutest thing, with the obligatory XL Korean head that is completely flat in the back. And he is happy! He never full out cried while we were there, only whined a bit during the night and never for more than a few seconds. The last time Kenny stayed with a baby was during his time in NY before we left. And that was NOT a happy baby. I was afraid he'd be against having kids FOREVER after that. But Dong Myung was a beautiful baby, smiling and laughing all the time and sweet even when he was tired. Not that I'm ready to have kids now, or even soon, but I'd like him to at least be open to the possibility. AND, I kept saying I wanted to name our baby Ready. Not in English, in Korean. In Korean is sounds like June Bee. And I love it. But I do concede it would be a bit ridiculous if our kid's name meant ready and she would probably get heck for it at school. But at Yonsei ELP (my new employer, WOOT) there is a student named JuBi. And it's perfect! It has all the sounds I love, and maybe sometimes I'll still call my kid JunBi just for the heck of it. So, baby fever flare up there for a minute.
Anyhow, Wonju. Yes. It's beautiful. It's in mountain country, so the husband is thrilled. My job is SO MUCH BETTER. It's a bonified English department they've got going on with every teacher having their own classroom. In the teacher's lounge, every teacher has their own desk and computer. It's extremely organized, perhaps a bit micromanaged, but hey. I'm appreciating the micromanagment after the zero management at Haba. It's definitely paperwork heavy, but that will keep me on task and focused. I really want to be a better teacher, and I think this job will help me become one. All my coworkers I've met so far have been so kind and generous.
Our apartment freaking rocks. The master bedroom is a little small for our queen sized bed, but we'll make it work. Having the second bedroom cum study is so exciting and fun for us. And I'll finally have a place to put all my books. We have a bathtub (have I mentioned how rare and awesome it is to have a bathtub?) and a nice size veranda that stretches the length of the apartment. The building is set back off the road and surrounded by forest, so the noise is negligent at this point. We're on the 7th floor, which is in the middle of the building and means cooler summers and warmer winters. No airconditioner, but fans were in the bedroom and living room and it was really comfortable. So we might end up buying one if sleep is impossible, but we'll try going without first.
The only negative I've found so far is that our apartment is a good half hour's taxi ride away. There are buses, which I assume will take a bit longer. I was looking forward to walking to work, but that looks like an impossibility at this point. Having my mornings free is working out well, since we're waking up at 6 am consistently now. Things seem pretty good, and there's a possibility that the school will hire Kenny as well! So, we're on the right track for having the same schedule anyway.
Well, new chapter of my life begins officially on Saturday- Moving Day! And I will be instated as The Wonju Wife! And settle into a routine and start writing here more regularly.
Dearest Readers, I think about you more than is appropriate and find myself talking about the Internet in Real Life, which is SO against the rules and makes Kenny say, "Is this a real friend we're talking about or some person you met online?" Ah, well. He can judge all he wants because he just doesn' t know how awesome you are!
Later lovies!

In Preparation

I mentioned before that I have secured a job teaching in Wonju, a city an hour and some change outside of Seoul. What I didn't tell you is that I'm teaching a seriously weird schedule and a serious spectrum of ages. I teach Monday thru Friday from 2:30 pm-9:00 pm. And I will be teaching (if I am remembering right) fifth graders through adults. At first, I was disappointed about the schedule, but did some thinking. Really, this works better for me as I am in a much better mood generally after the noon hour! This gives me my mornings at home with the husband. We've already been looking at some races to run when we return to Korea and we'll be able to get up early together and train together. We'll also have lunch together, which we're planning on making our "big" meal, instead of the usual big dinner. Kenny will be looking for a teaching job as well, one that has similar hours (keep your fingers crossed and those emergency prayer lines open!). So, despite my hardwired distaste for regimens and discipline in general, I am actually looking forward to a schedule and a new and interesting one at that.

However, I am also completely scared out of my mind. I am NOT a teacher. Something that the Korean English-worshipping population does not take seriously. At all. I mean, I have a year's teaching experience under my belt (which has substantially widened! I think I've gained all my weight back to be the size I was at the wedding!! AHHH! I hate America! Or myself and my lack of self-discipline and inability to delay gratification. But hating America is easier. So, yes. I hate America!!). But that year was spent barely surviving 3, 5, and 6 year olds who inspired many What the Crap Wednesday posts back in the day. I constantly felt I was letting my kids down and yeah, maybe they can read now, but I just don't feel that was my doing. That was more like a kids being kids and getting smarter by being alive kind of thing. So, I'm completely intimidated by the idea of stepping into a classroom again, as a teacher. To temper this intimidation, I decided to do some reading.

I found a book called Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by an amazing man named Rafe Esquith. It's kind of his teaching manifesto and method in a short, well-written, and brilliantly inspiring book. He teaches in Los Angeles and every one of his students speaks English as a second language. But they do Shakespeare plays put to music that they play themselves and they make huge awesome art projects and they watch films and write about them and how they relate to their lives and they read novels and they have a classroom economic system that teaches them about how to earn, save, and spend money and THEY'RE IN THE FIFTH GRADE. They're like, 10, people. I haven't even gotten the hang of the whole earn, save, and spend thing yet! This book is serious. And it makes me wish I was a real teacher here, teaching all the subjects. But I'm not. I'm going to be a pseudo-teacher in Korea, teaching English.

This year should be better than last. I am at a serious school, Yonsei ELP, a partner with the Yonsei University in Wonju. They have a real curriculum that I will teach from, which I'm excited about. I always wondered how much better I could have done had I had sufficient teaching materials last year. And I'm not teaching spoiled, sometimes lovely, most of the time riotous small monsters called children. I mean, I guess fifth graders are still children, but you know what I mean. I'm not teaching preschool and kindergarten anymore. I read the book. Finished tonight actually. But I'm still not feeling super-duper prepared. And of course, why should I? I read one book.

But this was a good book, and I am walking away with more of a teaching ethic than actual material to teach with, which hopefully I won't need to get on my own. And there was one part that really confronted me with my own behavior lately. Esquith talks about the Six Levels of Morality and lists each level. In the sixth level, "I Have a Personal Code of Behavior and I Follow It" Level, the kids behave not for reward, not to please someone else, and not even just because they are considerate of other people. They behave because they know what the expect of themselves and they just do it. And I realized sometimes I'm not even coming close to functioning at Level VI. And it hit me here where Esquith discusses characters from Arthur Miller's play The Death of a Salesman:

Later in the play, as Willy desperately tries to understand his failures and those of his own children, Bernard shows up but is in a hurry. He is a lawyer and has a case. As he rushes off, Bernard's father mentions that the case will be tried in front of the United States Supreme Court. When Willy marvels that Bernard didn't mention this astonishing fact, Bernard's father tells Willy, "He doesn't have to. He's doing it."

And I thought of how many things I'm mentioning, but not doing. I want to shut up and just do it. And with that ladies and gents, I'm shutting up. I'm going to do.

But I'm still scared as all get out about teaching.