Classes at Konkuk Uni

Orientation has been underway for about 4 days now, and everyone is settling in to the schedule of four-90 minute classes a day. I personally love it - I miss school so much! I love learning and studying, so all of this is very welcome on my part.

We have had a lot of different classes over the past few days. Every lecture is different, and not necessarily connected to the others, but they are definitely all helping us to prepare for life in South Korea as English Teachers. Some lectures talk about culture, some talk about classroom management, some of curriculums in different types of schools, some on history, some on teaching strategies, etc. Most of the classes are really fun! I personally love the elementary school-oriented ones - not just because I am going to be teaching at that level, but because we get to do all of these games, and LOTS of songs!!!! AND, LOTS of moving around and dancing!!! I'm SO excited. I think I will be doing the "Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes" song so much that the children will be experts on these body parts.

Learning about what to expect from Korean culture is also exciting me very much. I can identify a lot with many of the cultural trends here - for example, whomever invites one out to dinner is most often expected to pay, and thus it is a nice gesture in turn to return the invitation (that is how I always liked to carry out my dates in the states - it just seems more of a bonding experience if checks aren't split). Showing respect for elders is huge here too, which I think is a great way to go about things. Respect is shown in a lot of different ways, from handing and receiving things with two hands to someone older, of higher status, or to a stranger. I actually really like the way this feels doing this - it feels almost natural. Also, refusing to drink with people is a sign of disrespect here (unless you do it the proper way), and I think that is very interesting. I'm not saying I want to get drunk every night, because that definitely is not going to happen, but I just think that is a very interesting cultural element.

So much more to tell about the weekend, but for now I am very hungry and am going to go eat my breakfast of rice and kimchi and vegetables with chopsticks :)