Korea update

I'm getting pretty used to things here. Classes are becoming easier since I am learning the routine. I also now know almost everyone's name, though I still need to consult the attendance sheet occasionally for some of the older kids. I have two kindergarten classes that I teach twice a day (all classes are 45 min), eight classes of older kids that I teach on either M-W-F or T-Th, and one class of older kids that I teach for a two-period block on Wednesday mornings. The classes range from five to twelve students, with most classes having nine or ten kids. The supervisor of the kindergarten and the supervisor of the older kid classes each observed some of my classes and gave advice. Apparently I am adapting fairly well all things considered, both in terms of teaching--judging by their feedback (especially about keeping the class on track and orderly)--and in terms of moving to another hemisphere--in comparison to how my fellow foreign teachers describe their first weeks.

The foreign teachers are very nice and friendly. We have 'family dinner' once a week at Lindsey's apartment. John and Bo live in the same apartment complex as I do, and are both good to talk to. Bo shares my love of hiking and John and I can be huge nerds together. Lindsey and Lauren are generally interesting and easy to talk to, though we don't share any single issues to bond over. Lauren and I go to Korean class every Tuesday, along with a bunch of teachers and ex-pats, including a few teachers from the other school. The two YBM ECC (my company) schools' foreign teachers also meet up once a week to hang out. One of them briefly went to school in the tiny town of Milton-Freewater Oregon with my good friend Ben from Reed. I really like some of the teachers from the other ECC and want to hang out with them more.

Tomorrow is my birthday. Tuesday is my light day in terms of teaching, so I get to sleep in, but it is also the day I am a student of Korean, which is much more difficult. Today was the birthday of Bo (he also turned 24) and Tom, a teacher at my school who is Korean. Tomorrow is also John's birthday, so all five foreign teachers went out to dinner to celebrate our triple birthdays. We had tasty tasty Indian food. Tomorrow we will probably get cake at work, judging by the precedent of today and last Friday, which was the birthday of our manager, Maria. I am of course getting an amazing present tomorrow of an Obama presidency (after work we will probably go to an American-style bar in our building called The West Wing to celebrate birthdays and the innauguration). However, I am greedy and want more, so for my birthday I would love to hear from you, either in email, in the comments, or (ideally) on Skype this weekend (my user name is landon.goldberg), and by 'weekend' I mean your Friday or Saturday evening, which are my Saturday and Sunday early afternoons. Actually, this weekend is the lunar new year, so we have next Monday and Tuesday off as well, although that also means that Bo and I (and maybe others) will be out hiking a lot in the 'mountains' around Daejeon.