First Day of class/work

(This is Kyle speaking) Currently, I am on my first lunch break at Cheon Cheon Elementary School. Having walked into school today (work), I had no idea what to expect. I guess that the first thing to note is that each time that I enter the school’s campus, I am swarmed with small children that are extremely eager to say something to me in English. Their words typically consist of simple greetings such as “hello,” “hi,” or “good morning.” However, I have been caught quite off-guard with a phrase that everyone, both male and female, from the students, to the teachers, to the administrators all seem to use….. and that is “handsome” or “handsome boy.” I am not joking when I say, that even as I am writing this on my laptop in my homeroom, there are both boys and girls peaking their heads through the door and yelling “handsome boy.” Needless to say that this is all very strange to me and at this point I am not sure if this “handsome” thing is all one big running joke that I am not in on.

Regardless, the day has not been so bad. I began the day by introducing myself to the entire school via their television broadcast system, however the microphone was not turned on so no one heard what I had to say. It was easy for me to forgive the staff for their technical difficulties, considering the entire broadcast crew was around eight years of age. 

So far I have cycled through four different classes of around 35 kids each and have just one left. Some classes are better than others, depending on the age, co-teacher, and kids in attendance. The children can become quite rowdy at some points but nothing that is uncontrollable………

………Now I have officially finished my first day as an English Teacher in Korea; sort of. For this first week I have been instructed to just observe the classes that are being taught. I am assuming that next week is where the true challenges will lie. I began work at 8:40 this morning and have finished by 1:50, not bad at all. I hope to post some pictures of both my classroom and my school very soon. I am soon going to be off with my main assistant Jay, who plans to take me to the hospital for my physical along with some other errands (bank account, cell phone, etc).