Ski Trip

Over the past weekend I went on a ski trip with five other teachers from work. We went to a ski resort called Phoenix Park...not really too sure where it was but somewhere in Korea. We took a bus there early Saturday to ski or snowboard for the day. I tried snowboarding for the first time and had a blast! I was surprised how well I did and would like to do it again.

This week at work is a short week...only 4 days!! I head to China on Christmas Day and can't wait. It will be nice to have a vacation and to see my friend Sarah after so many years.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and safe travels wherever you are going!!

Here are some pictures from the ski trip:

Wednesday Night

Hi everyone, it is Wednesday night here in Korea and I wanted to share a few pictures.
Still very busy here but it is almost Christmas break! My last day of work is on Christmas Eve! Yikes, I know!!! On Christmas day I will be heading to China for a week. I am so excited and it will be nice to have a break from work.
On Christmas Eve, we are having a concert at school. My kinder class, The Hippos, are going to perform Twas The Night Before Christmas. They have all memorized their lines and we came up with some actions to go with it. I will post pictures after.
They are darling saying their lines and are going to be wearing santa hats so it will be very cute!

My Aunt Susan sent me a Christmas care package and in it was a "grow your own Christmas tree." So, I have my very own Christmas tree in my apartment. It grew in about 12 hours and should last about a week.

Here are pictures of the tree and my kinder class!
I will be sure to post after the Christmas events at school and my trip to China! I hope everyone has a great Christmas!!

A Much Needed Update!

I have received a few e-mails from friends saying I need to update the blog more so here it is! Everything is good in Seoul and I can't believe it is December!
For Christmas I will be going to China to visit a friend. She lives in Guanghzou, which is in the south. We are also going to go to Hong Kong for a few days, which will be cool to see. Other people have told me Hong Kong is awesome.

Teaching is still going well. My classes were changed a little last week. I still have my kinders in the mornings then elementary kids in the afternoon. I teach 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. They still amaze me and sometimes when they ask me how to spell a word I have to look it up myself!

My weekends have been busy and go by fast. Since I work A LOT during the week, it is nice to relax and have some time to myself. Today (Saturday) I am going to get my first haircut in Korea. I am going to an English speaking salon, some girls at work recommended. It should be interesting and I will be sure to post a picture after.
I am also meeting my friend, Emily, tonight for dinner in the foreigner area of Seoul. It is called Itaewon and where a lot of the American soldiers go. I have been there before and they are a ton of different restaurants like Greek, Italian, and Mexican so it will be good to have some familiar food.

A few people have asked for my address so here it is:

Colleen Callahan c/o Poly School
Gyeong-gi-do, Seong-nam-si, Bundang-gu
Jeongja-dong 17-5 Sigma Tower 5th floor
South Korea

I know, it is long! Feel free to send a letter. It is always nice to walk back to my desk after teaching and see something from the USA!

I hope everything had a great Thanksgiving. It did not feel like Thanksgiving at all! It is starting to feel a little like Christmas because the weather is getting colder and I am starting to see Christmas decorations around. I am glad I am able to go to China for my break and see my friend, Sarah, who I met during sophomore year of college and have not seen her since. It will be cool to travel to another Asian country too.

Hope all is well and I will try to update more. Things are very busy with school and going well. Sometimes I still can't believe I am in Korea!

Time is flying by

Time seems to go by faster in Korea. Maybe because I am always busy! The past week of teaching went well. The kids are cute and still amaze me with how much English they know. One of the rules at school is they can't speak Korean, they have to speak English all the time while at school. One day one of my students was writing in what I thought was Korean but, he said no this is Chinese. He is only 7 years old and knows three languages!! Americans are dumb! Some of my students say they go to a Chinese academy in addition to English school and regular school! It is crazy!!

Another funny story that happened at school this past week was in my second grade social studies class. We use North American textbooks at the school and we were discussing holidays and talking about Thanksgiving. Most of the kids said they have never had turkey before! It is something they don't eat here. They were asking what I do with my family for Thanksgiving and one boy said he celebrates with his family here but I find that hard to believe.

This past weekend I was able to go to Seoul to met my friend, Gena, who is in college at one of the women's university. She showed me around her school and we went to a jazz concert near the campus. It was good music and some of the songs were in English which was nice. They played some Christmas songs too. It was nice to go to the city and see a new area. I doubt I will ever see all of Seoul since it is so big! Gena told me that half of the population of Korea lives in the Seoul area!

Here are some recent pictures to enjoy!

Swine flu

No, I don't have the swine flu thank god but, my school has been closed for morning classes on Thursday and Friday. That means I have had the past two mornings off which has been great. Every since I got here 3 weeks ago I have been BUSY!!!! It has been nice to sleep in and relax the past two mornings.

I am not sure how many kids at my school are sick but, just to be safe they cancelled the morning classes. I am still teaching my elementary kids in the afternoons. I am becoming more and more comfortable with how the school works and how to teach the kids. The other teachers say it takes about a month to get the hang of things.

Last night I went out to eat with other teachers and we went to a Korean BBQ place, where you cook the meat at the table. It is so good and there are about 20 side dishes. It is a cool and unique experience. Something you have to try if you ever visit Korea.

Other than that, things are still going well. It seems like I am always busy and the time goes by fast. I am looking forward to the weekend but, I know it will be over so fast. All the teachers say time flies by here I understand it really does. There is always something to do at work and since we are there ALL DAY the weeks fly by.

I'll update you again soon and please update me on things going on at home too!

A good weekend and good fortune

It's Sunday night in Seoul and I am gearing myself up for another week of work. I really like teaching and the kids are so smart. The days are what gets me. I have to be at work at 9 AM and I don't leave until 7:30 PM!!!! I do have a lunch break and an hour afternoon break but it is still a long day and that is normal for Koreans to work. Let's just say my last job was not like this!

This past weekend I met my friend Emily, who is teaching at another Poly school in Seoul. We met at the Olympic Park. It was nice to see a familiar face from college and interesting to hear how our schools are different though they are both Poly schools, just different locations. We went out to eat at a restaurant and had the Korean style of sushi. The only difference was the fish was not raw but it was still wrapped in seaweed and very tasty.

Today I took the subway back to Seoul to meet Gena. She is a friend of a friend and she is Korean. Gena's major in college is English Education so her English is perfect! It was nice to go out to lunch with someone who knew exactly what everything was. I had noodle tofu soup and it was delicious. Korean food is extremely SPICY and HOT!!!! The soup was boiling when it was served. I am getting used to the spices they use in everything and so far I have had some great food. I am proud of myself that I have not gone to a Western style restaurant yet but, I know the day will come soon when I am craving American food.

Here is my random/cool/good fortune story of the weekend. Last night when I was riding the subway back to Bundang, a young woman asked me in English if I needed help. She saw me looking at the subway map. I knew where I was going but, talked to her for a few minutes. She spoke English and asked why I was in Korea, etc.
Today I am getting off the subway and walking out of the station when a Korean girl flags me down. It was the same girl from the day before! She saw me and recognized me. It was a different subway station from the first time I met her. I was on my way to meet Gena and she was going on a blind date at Outback Steakhouse. Talk about random. Seoul has 15 million people and I run into the same person two days in a row at different spots in the city!! We talked some more and exchanged e-mail addresses. She was so nice and said she can show me around Seoul. We both couldn't believe we saw each other again and she said it must be good fortune!

It was a good weekend and I am looking forward to seeing more of Seoul!

Halloween Party

Pictures

Helen Keller Teacher

Yesterday, I had my first day of teaching my afternoon classes.
They went well and one girl said she wants to call me "Helen Keller teacher."
Not sure why????
Monday I will start teaching my kinders in the morning. The kids are adorbale and this morning one little boy asked me if I knew Abba songs then broke out in singing, Mama Mia!
I am still getting into the swing of things at school and have being staying until 8 or 9 each night. Hopefully when i know more of what I am doing I can leave on time!!!

I can walk to school which is great. It takes about 10 minutes. But, I enjoy the walk to see my neighborhood and relax. The other teachers lovingly refer to my apt. area as the ghetto. I guess it is not as nice as where some of them live. Oh well, it is fine for me and considering I have not spent much time in my apt. yet I don't mind.

The school gives us lunch everyday which is nice because my "kitchen" consists of a stove and fridge. Not too sure what I will be cooking. Today we are having tofu and it is really good. Of course, rice too. So far I have enjoyed the food. It is spicy but I am getting used to it. The BBQ was very good!

I am posting this on my lunch break so I gotta run but pictures will come soon!!

I am in Korea!!!!

Finally I can post! So far so good here.
I made it safe and sound Friday night to Seoul. I arrived at 6 PM then was taken to the south of Seoul, Bundang, which is where my school is and where I will be living.
It took about 2 hours because of traffic but normally it would only take 30-40 minutes. There is always traffic here and of course people everywhere!

I moved into my apartment Friday night and had the weekend to unpack and get organized. I found the grocery store and E-mart, which is like a Super Target. My apartment is very small but I don't need a lot of space since it is just me. In my bathroom I have a Korean style shower....just a drain on the floor and a shower heard on the wall. I have to make sure everything is put away or it will get wet. Once I get the internet at my apt. I will post pictures.

Monday I was taken to the school headquarters in Seoul for training. In the afternoon I came back to my school to observe some classes. The kids are sooo cute and smart. The two classes I was in all of the children were fluent in English.
The days are very long here and I am going to be extremely busy.
I don't have my exact teaching schedule yet however, I should be teaching kindg. all morning then have lunch/planning time and then teach older kids in the afternoon.
These kids come just to Poly School for English after their regular school.
Most are fluent and have lived in an English speaking country or have studied English for years. They are amazing!

Today I am sitting in on more classes and getting my class schedule. I should have a few more days of observation then I will have my own classroom...wow!!

Things are going well and I am picking up a few Korean words. I am learning more and more everyday and had my first Korean meals Sunday night and yesterday.
Sunday I went out to eat with another teacher who lives in my building. He took me to a Korean bbq place, where you cook the meat at the table. It was delious and comes with about 20 side dishes.
Yesterday, when I was in Seoul I went out to lunch with other workers and they took me to a traditional Korean restaurant. We took our shoes off at the door and sat on the floor. When Koreans eat, they eat! Not too much talking goes on and once you are done eating you leave.

I will post again soon and will try to get pictues on here.
Hope things are going well back in the USA!!