Hey everyone,

So I have just finished my first week of teaching and I'm feeling a lot less nervous than I was at the start of the week.

I have to teach in two schools here. They are out in the middle of the countryside and about a 20 minute bus ride from my house. The first is an elementary school and the other one is a middle school. Unlike the UK, Korea splits its education system into three schools - elementary school for 4 years (primary school), middle school for 3 years (early teens) and high school for the remainder of schooling. Both schools I am in are very small with only about 30-40 students in each school! In fact one of my classes is only two students. In the morning I teach my "normal" lessons using the textbook along with a co-teacher. In the afternoon I teach my own planned lessons (with no Korean teacher to help translate). In total I teach 22 periods each week (40 mins each in elementary school and 45 mins each in middle school). In Korea many children will go to school for the day and then go out to private schools (Hagwons) in the evening until 10pm at night. Education is a very highly valued in Korean society. Because many poorer students can't access this extra schooling, the public schools put on after school classes to give them the same chances. The schools have a lovely atmosphere and the kids all call me "teacher" or "teacher matt". The Korean word for teacher is "seonsaengnim."

I have three co-teachers - one for elementary school called Miss Moon, one for middle school called Sarah and then one who helps me teach phonics at the elementary school on Thursday afternoons called Ashley. They are all very nice people and have been so helpful. Both Miss Moon and Sarah have taken me out for meals this week, and I also had a welcoming dinner this evening with the headmaster of the middle school which was very nice. On Thursday Miss moon helped me go to the Immigration office to get my Alien Registration Card (basically an ID card for foreigners which then allows me to get things like a bank account). It didn't take too long which was good.

I had my first "Korean surprise" on Tuesday....this is basically a way of coping with the chaos that often happens in Korea and was suggested by one of our orientation teachers. Every time something goes wrong or they spring something last minute on us, she suggested we close our eyes, say "surprise" and imagine confetti falling around us. When I got there on Tuesday I taught my classes as normal in the morning and then at 12pm, they announced I would be teaching 2 more classes that afternoon (originally I thought those started next week) so that was a big surprise and I had to quickly put together some lessons. I managed it thanks to the help of a site called waygook.org. However I think that a lot of what I said went over the kids heads and when I got them to do a test on Thursday in the phonics classes, I realised that some didn't even know the alphabet so it's back to basics for some lessons next week I think.

On Thursday evening I went out to Daeboreum which is the festival of the first full moon after the lunar new year. This is a time to pray for peace and good fortune in the coming year, to ward away misfortune and to welcome the full moon. In Eonyang they had a big bonfire, fireworks and traditional dances. Apparently one should eat Bibimbap on this day too.

I think I'm gradually getting better at Korean customs like one should always give and receive money with both hands, you should always take shoes off when going into someone's home, school or the restaurant (in school we wear flip flops everywhere instead) and always pouring or receiving a drink with two hands. In Korea you don't pour your own drink on a night out, instead others pour for you and you pour for them. Sharing both food and drink is very important here - its part of the Confucian emphasis on respect, politeness and communitarian ethics.

As I said in a previous post, I have pretty much given up my vegetarianism/ veganism for this year and have been eating quite a bit of meat which I'm sure my body is going to punish me for. There have been quite a few delicious meals though like a Korean beef bulgogi which Eonyang is famous for and from my estimates about 2/3 of the restaurants in the town seem exclusively focused on it. The seasoned vegetables are also delicious here. Tonight for the welcoming dinner there was a grill on the table where we cooked the beef and then put small pieces inside a lettuce leaf along with vegetables and hot pepper paste to eat. It seems to be a very popular thing to eat here and was both filling and delicious!

Anyway, that's enough from me for now. Tomorrow I'm hoping to go exploring in Ulsan properly and so I'll update you more when I have something else interesting to say.