Yesterday I found out where I am going to be teaching! Apparently I will be located in the middle area of Busan, and will be teaching at two different elementary schools, Anrak and Dong Sang. I am so excited! There are definitely pros and cons about teaching at two schools, but I think the pros will outweigh the cons for me. I will be compensated more, first of all, which is great. Second, I will have more to do (kind of - the lesson plans will not be very different because they are both elementary schools, but I will have to deal with two different administrations and that will take an extra effort), but I will also create relationships with two different schools, which is great (especially if I don't particularly mesh with my co-teacher or principal in one of the schools, then I can just focus on the relationships that I have at my other school). Also, I will see more of the city by going to two different schools, even though they are pretty close together. Lastly, I have the opportunity to create great relationships with not just one but two co-teachers, for apparently many English teachers find these relationships very rewarding.
Another very exciting thing happened today...I was at breakfast carrying my books in my Ironman satchel, and someone comes up to me and asks me where I got the bag. We started talking and apparently he does half ironmans!!!! AND - he is planning to go to Hainan, China to do the half ironman there, AND IT IS THE SAME TIME AS THE IRONMAN!! Which means that I will have a travel buddy! I am soo excited about this! He also knows of a few races around the area which is great. However, he is looking to possibly go pro, so while I plan on trying to run with him a bit and possibly bike when I visit Jeju (where he will be teaching) or when he is in Busan, I will only be able to train with him when he is on his chill days, because...well, let's just say his goal time is crazy fast and there is no way I would keep up with him. But that could give me incentive to get a lot better fast!! Wow, I just can't believe that happened. That really made my day.
Orientation is taking a lot out of me. It is very informative, but some of the things they are telling us are kind of freaking me out, like sometimes the co-teachers don't stay in the room with you although they are technically supposed to. Also apparently sometimes teachers as well as parents will come sit in on class to watch us, which I am kind of nervous about, because since parents but such a high emphasis on education they are very particular in what and how their children are being taught. I know I will have some problems - it is inevitable - just everything coming all at once is making me very nervous...but I am still very excited to get to my schools, meet everyone, and start teaching!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
First Day in South Korea!
Wow. I'm finally here in South Korea. It is kind of surreal - it hasn't yet hit me that I am in this country half way around the world from my home town and that I won't be returning home for 12 months. I am so excited, so nervous, and so tired!
There are 400 English teachers here at Orientation. We are staying at Konkuk University in Seoul for the next week and a bit to learn teaching methods and such. It is so beautiful here! The campus is amazing - waterfalls, a lake, lots of green - I plan on taking some pictures tomorrow :).
Today I had my first Korean breakfast, and it was AMAZING. We had options of kimchi, rice, beef and potato soup, somewhat-spicy vegetables, eggs, greens...some mixture of like mushrooms and octopus...(I know, doesn't sound like breakfast, right?) and a few other dishes that I can't recall - more Western in nature though - but I just hit up the ones mentioned above - and I was a HUGE fan. The octopus was kind of intense, especially since one piece was like chewy and bony and I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be bony, but I ate most of what I had anyway. (Octopus might take a little getting used to but I am definitely up for it). And with the silverware (spoons and forks...I think there were forks? Maybe not...), there were also metal chopsticks (for recyclable reasons), which I was all over (my hand is going to cramp up withint the next few days I'm sure because I definitely don't think I am doing it right...). Basically, it was a incredible breakfast experience.
I also found out today that I will be teaching in two separate locations, which I am very excited about (and it also includes a bit of extra pay incentive), because if things are rocky at one school then I can have the other place to hold up my spirits. But since I love multitasking and having my mind on more than one thing at a time, this is a perfect situation for me. I will find out exactly where in Busan I will be teaching in a few days. I'm so excited!
Well, I am so incredibly exhausted so I will forego telling more about the past few days until I am in a more comprehensive state. :)
There are 400 English teachers here at Orientation. We are staying at Konkuk University in Seoul for the next week and a bit to learn teaching methods and such. It is so beautiful here! The campus is amazing - waterfalls, a lake, lots of green - I plan on taking some pictures tomorrow :).
Today I had my first Korean breakfast, and it was AMAZING. We had options of kimchi, rice, beef and potato soup, somewhat-spicy vegetables, eggs, greens...some mixture of like mushrooms and octopus...(I know, doesn't sound like breakfast, right?) and a few other dishes that I can't recall - more Western in nature though - but I just hit up the ones mentioned above - and I was a HUGE fan. The octopus was kind of intense, especially since one piece was like chewy and bony and I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be bony, but I ate most of what I had anyway. (Octopus might take a little getting used to but I am definitely up for it). And with the silverware (spoons and forks...I think there were forks? Maybe not...), there were also metal chopsticks (for recyclable reasons), which I was all over (my hand is going to cramp up withint the next few days I'm sure because I definitely don't think I am doing it right...). Basically, it was a incredible breakfast experience.
I also found out today that I will be teaching in two separate locations, which I am very excited about (and it also includes a bit of extra pay incentive), because if things are rocky at one school then I can have the other place to hold up my spirits. But since I love multitasking and having my mind on more than one thing at a time, this is a perfect situation for me. I will find out exactly where in Busan I will be teaching in a few days. I'm so excited!
Well, I am so incredibly exhausted so I will forego telling more about the past few days until I am in a more comprehensive state. :)
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Advice for Cyclists Traveling with Bike, Part 1
Ok, this may seem like common sense, but if you are anything like me, you may be the type of cyclist/triathlete who likes to take apart/fix/service your bike - and if you are, then you may already know that taking apart/fixing/servicing sometimes ends up being creating-new-problems-that-would-not-have-wasted-4-hours-of-my-time-if-I-had-just-let-it-be. Admitting the following is a bit embarrassing if any fellow cyclists are reading this, because the chain is not known as being one of the more difficult parts to service (at least I was under that impression) - but, I had bought a new chain a month or so ago, and since I have already serviced most other parts of the bike in the last few weeks, I figured it would be beneficial to replace the chain before leaving (my reasonings for servicing the bike before leaving is - I would rather make mistakes in a country where I know I can at least somewhat explain what went wrong, rather than going into a foreign bike shop, pointing, attempting to speak the language but probably mistakingly offending someone or something, and ending up crying out of frustration and hunger...if you don't know me then disregard that last comment...) (and don't worry I know this is a run-on sentence - I don't plan on teaching my methods of blog-syntax in English class) (where was I?)... Chain. Right - so apparently, there is about 4 different ways to thread the chain into the derailleur pulleys - and I succeeded in putting the chain through each of those 4 ways at least twice...honestly, it should not be that hard! But once I looked at my other bikes that were not massacred for a long time, I discovered how the chain is supposed to run through the derailleur. But alas - when I had tried the first time to replace the chain and did it incorrectly, I used the only pin that I had (I thought Shimano gave you an extra pin with each chain but it must have fallen out...). So I tried for about an hour to re-use the clipped pin (which I knew was a no-no but I tried anyway) and failed.
Next step was taking the bike to the shop to get another pin - you might think that I would just have them fix the chain due to my time shortage (bike shop visit was yesterday, 2 days before departure) - but they couldn't find a pin for a 9-speed, so they gave me a power link. I asked them if I should expect any problems with putting it on, and they said no - so I'm figuring - I'll have a few but will definitely figure it out. But I failed to respect Murphy's Law...
So - I found out at the shop that I had also neglected to cut the chain to fit my bike (I nievely thought all 9-speed chains were the same length...thinking about it twice...shame, shame, shame on me...), so once i got home I lined up my old chain with this new chain and cut the extra links off. HOWEVER, with a power link, you have to accomodate for the extra link that is being inserted (the power link itself) - WHICH I did, BUT...I think there is something specific about the inner and outer plate positioning when inserting the power link (because when I took it back to the shop the mechanic mentioned that - but I don't really understand this part - I think I was putting it on such that both ends of the power link were the outer plates - that was probably my problem...) But anyway - I couldn't snap one of the sides of the power link together. So I had to go BACK to the shop (I went to a different one though - partly because it was closer than the first but also to save a bit of embarrassment...but embarrassment is how you learn too so I generally embrace that...) - and I found out that because of my failure to understand the plate positioning (it may have included roller issues too) that I cut the chain too short!!! So I had to buy a NEW chain - decided to just have a mechanic install the chain, now with a master link.
There are many lessons learned from this experience.
1) I love pins. Call me conservative, call me old-fashioned (or call me slightly slow - it applies here) - but if worse comes to worse, at least I know I can replace a chain with a pin, because now I know how the chain is supposed to run through the derailleur pulleys...oh man...
2) I now know what a power link is, and I now know that I have to research a master link and know the crap out of how that functions...
3) Don't underestimate the power of a simple looking contraption - chains can be more intense than derailleurs and hubs (in my case probably only because I didn't have as many problems with the latter two)
4) I hate to say it, because I love adventures, but taking apart something on your bike that you have not much experience with two days before packing up your bike for a year is not entirely the best idea if you are short on time. However, now if I encounter a problem with my chain, odds are I will know what is wrong, and will probably know at least how to go about fixing it.
Now I have successfully not only wasted 4 hours dealing with chain problems, but I also spent a good amount of time writing this entry (especially since I tried to research chain anatomy to figure out how to explain exactly what went wrong when I tried to put on the master link, but I could not do this in a period of 10 minutes...oh dear...) when I still have packing to do! SO! Off to go pack up my bike! :)
Next step was taking the bike to the shop to get another pin - you might think that I would just have them fix the chain due to my time shortage (bike shop visit was yesterday, 2 days before departure) - but they couldn't find a pin for a 9-speed, so they gave me a power link. I asked them if I should expect any problems with putting it on, and they said no - so I'm figuring - I'll have a few but will definitely figure it out. But I failed to respect Murphy's Law...
So - I found out at the shop that I had also neglected to cut the chain to fit my bike (I nievely thought all 9-speed chains were the same length...thinking about it twice...shame, shame, shame on me...), so once i got home I lined up my old chain with this new chain and cut the extra links off. HOWEVER, with a power link, you have to accomodate for the extra link that is being inserted (the power link itself) - WHICH I did, BUT...I think there is something specific about the inner and outer plate positioning when inserting the power link (because when I took it back to the shop the mechanic mentioned that - but I don't really understand this part - I think I was putting it on such that both ends of the power link were the outer plates - that was probably my problem...) But anyway - I couldn't snap one of the sides of the power link together. So I had to go BACK to the shop (I went to a different one though - partly because it was closer than the first but also to save a bit of embarrassment...but embarrassment is how you learn too so I generally embrace that...) - and I found out that because of my failure to understand the plate positioning (it may have included roller issues too) that I cut the chain too short!!! So I had to buy a NEW chain - decided to just have a mechanic install the chain, now with a master link.
There are many lessons learned from this experience.
1) I love pins. Call me conservative, call me old-fashioned (or call me slightly slow - it applies here) - but if worse comes to worse, at least I know I can replace a chain with a pin, because now I know how the chain is supposed to run through the derailleur pulleys...oh man...
2) I now know what a power link is, and I now know that I have to research a master link and know the crap out of how that functions...
3) Don't underestimate the power of a simple looking contraption - chains can be more intense than derailleurs and hubs (in my case probably only because I didn't have as many problems with the latter two)
4) I hate to say it, because I love adventures, but taking apart something on your bike that you have not much experience with two days before packing up your bike for a year is not entirely the best idea if you are short on time. However, now if I encounter a problem with my chain, odds are I will know what is wrong, and will probably know at least how to go about fixing it.
Now I have successfully not only wasted 4 hours dealing with chain problems, but I also spent a good amount of time writing this entry (especially since I tried to research chain anatomy to figure out how to explain exactly what went wrong when I tried to put on the master link, but I could not do this in a period of 10 minutes...oh dear...) when I still have packing to do! SO! Off to go pack up my bike! :)
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