If you don't have anything nice to say....

... don't say anything at all.

That philosophy has kept me from writing all last week but I have changed my mind. All of the emotions I have experienced these last 11 days happened and are all a part of the "living abroad" experience.

With each passing day I am gaining a better grasp of the city layout but not the bus routes (At any given bus stop dozens of buses pass by every minute and they all end up somewhere else). While I am on the topic of the bus I am going to get this off my finger tips: the buses here are psycho, suicidal even. The driving "rules" are more of guidelines and the buses seem to get away with more then the cars and taxis. First off the buses have about 18 to 20 seats (as opposed to Chicago's 40) and the rest of the occupants are expected to hang on for dear life while the bus driver speeds up through traffic and weaves through the cars. Then they slam the breaks on at the last possible minute. I am surprised I haven't witnessed a crash yet! Every time I have to stand on the bus I spread my legs wide and shift my weight low to the ground, hoping not to fall when the sudden stops come. The only thing I can compare it to is the force you feel while on a roller coaster. You can try with all of your might to keep your body pressed against the seat, but there is always that moment when you are helpless and air born.  But I am slooooowly excepting the fact that I will be taking the bus everyday. This city is just too big to walk, no matter how much I dislike the bus.

I'll be honest, on Tuesday I was ready to throw in the towel and fly home. Curling up in bed with Moose defeated sounded 100 times better then going back to school. I wouldn't say I am enjoying teaching, but I can say I don't hate it anymore. I think my main problem was the expectations I had for the Korean classroom were not what I experienced on a day to day bases. The majority of the kids are loud and disruptive. I even saw two fist fights break out during the middle of class. (Both of which started while the Korean teacher was teaching). My main task in each class was to introduce myself. So I made a power point with pictures of myself and my interests. At the end of my introduction I asked if the kids had any questions for me. The most asked questions were: "Do you have a boyfriend?" and "Do you know Gangnam Style" (See youtube if you don't already know this VERY popular Korean song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd-HdjiMZcg) I'm not sure if there is a correlation between the answers to those two questions. Ha. But thankfully I knew about Gangnam style because as soon as I did the hand motion to the dance they kids got really excited.

Last week was also an odd week for the Korean teachers because the 6th grade was on a 3 day trip (so I only had two classes to teach on Thursday instead of five). And the 5th grade teacher wanted to keep her classes during the english hour so they came to the english room in the afternoon. And I had to help prepare for two open classes with the 3rd/4th grade teacher. From what I have pieced together (nothing was told to me besides the fact that we would be teaching in front of other teachers) an open class is where teachers come and watch you teach a class that the teacher has preselected and has already prepared the class for the work. Basically the teacher practices this one lesson for a week on different classes and then picks the best behaved class to teach in front of the other teachers. Then after the open class the teachers all sit in a circle and give feed back. Both open class meetings I sat in was all done in Korean besides the little side comment of, "Danielle, you did well. How do you think it went?"

What puzzles me is I have a hard time seeing how this is a proper assessment of my teaching or my co-teacher's style. Because everything was practiced! We wrote out a script days before and we practiced it for days as well. We even practiced in front of another class! The amount of materials prepared of the open class was more too. We even used the white board, made a mini movie, and used magnetic objective and terms.... I wish we put that must effort into each class.

As for the social aspect of my life, I am thankful I was able to meet up with one of the American teachers I met on the plane ride to Ulsan on Wednesday. And also a girl from South Africa that I met at church last week on Saturday. It was refreshing to speak English and share classroom stories. The best part of the week was going to COSTCO with Portia and her friend Jenane! I got Quaker oatmeal :) There is nothing more comforting then oatmeal (well maybe oatmeal and coffee). I also got meat that I recognize. Honestly, my change in attitude is largely due to the fact that I have eaten well these last few days. I tried to meet with the other teacher that I flew over with on Sunday, but the bus I needed to take was a half hour late (another annoying aspect of the buses, sometimes they never show up) and so we weren't able to find each other. Thankfully we have a raincheck for Thursday.

Today after the second open class I went out to dinner with the 3rd/4th grade co-teacher. She is such a sweet heart. She took me to an Italian restaurant because whenever the kids asked me in class what my favorite food was I'd say: spaghetti. She has also been giving me little Korean snacks to take home. I think she is worried because I don't eat nearly as much as they do during lunch. After dinner we walked around the University that I live near. It was a great way to end a stressful day. I will admit: I am enjoying the 60 degree evening weather in Ulsan compared to the 30 degrees my family is getting back home. :)

On a very unrelated topic I am loving the "October Baby" Soundtrack.

I think that is it for now. Bless!