A day in the life of...

Rumor has it that some of you diligent followers would appreciate a more practical post about my job, school, typical day, etc.  Your wish is my command.


Kyungwha Girls High School is a private school but is different than working at a private "academy" or "hagwon" because it's not supplementary education but a normal high school. It's like going to Central Catholic instead of Hughson High - get it?  There are only 3 grades in high school here, and that's what they call them - grade 1, 2 & 3. None of that freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior nonsense. I only teach grade 1 students, so kinda like freshmen in high school.  There are about 1,500 students total at Kyungwha and I see about a third of them.  I teach a conversational English class in which I'm not supposed to be teaching them specific grammar points because they have regular English classes to do that.  Instead, I'm there to get them practicing their speaking and different common phrases.  Technically, I'm supposed to have a Korean English coteacher to assist with classes and/or jointly lead classes.  However, my school gives me random economics or geography teachers who don't speak English and sit in the back and grade homework.  That's a whole other topic I'll get into some other time.

My classes are about a 38 student average and are mixed level.  This makes for some tough teaching. Picture me (who doesn't have a teaching degree, let me remind you), in front of almost 40 high school girls who don't really speak my language and trying to teach them in a fun way (since they don't get a grade for my class) about English.  Let's be honest - they would much rather just speak in Korean to their friends about boys...which is what often happens.  I've made progress in finding ways to control the class and keep them engaged, but it's not easy.  The average of 5 wonderful students a class who actually desire to learn English make my day.

However, even thought it's difficult at times, I'm really enjoying my classes.  I'm gaining confidence in leading the girls and planning the lessons for each week.  I don't have to follow a textbook which is really helpful - I can  make the lessons as fun/boring/difficult/easy as I think will fit with my classes.

side note: Education is VERY important to Koreans. Many people think that the more hours you spend at school, the smarter you'll be - no matter what. So students will easily be at school from 7am until 11pm studying.  They are monitored by the teachers and legitimately study.  Because of this, students are always falling asleep in class - and I don't blame them! I never realized how easy I had it in high school...these girls study as much as I did in college!

So here's a typical day in my life here:

6:45-7:15am - slowly roll out of bed, depending on how many times I press snooze.

7:00-7-50am - get ready for the day - I basically wear business casual and wear jeans on fridays

7:55-8:15am - walk to school.  Depending on how late I'm leaving determines how long it takes to get there...I've made it in 12 minutes when I was running behind.  I see the same people on my walk to and from school and some of them I say hello (in Korean) and bow :] friends!

8:15-8:30am - change into slippers (we don't wear our shoes at school, I wear things like addidas slipon sandals) and get set up for my classes.

8:30 -12:20pm - class periods 1-4.  I'm lucky and only teach 12 classes a week (our contract max is 22 a week so I'm spoiled) and 5 teacher workshops where I meet with English teachers for 30 mins and just chat in English about topics/articles I find and prepare. In a typical day, I teach 1-3 classes and may have 1-2 teacher workshops.

12:20-1:10pm - Lunch. Everyone eats the cafeteria lunch - which I have mixed feelings about.  If I didn't eat the cafeteria lunch I would never try half the Korean food I've already had.  However, this often results in me being hungry later on because I didn't eat much at lunch.  I never thought I was a picky eater...until I came to Korea.  Apparently, I don't really like seafood other than salmon. whoops.  I eat in a teachers cafeteria and the food is buffet style that I serve myself.  The students actually eat in their homeroom classrooms so they haul the food in big pots to their classroom and eat at their desks. Like I said, such a different experience than my high school days. Right after lunch, everyone brushes their teeth. It's normal to walk around with a toothbrush hanging out of your mouth and talk mid-brush.  I like to go out and brush with the students (they have big sink like things with lots of faucets in the quad) because it always surprises them that I'm out there and they get all happy.  Most teachers just brush in the teacher's room sink, but that weirds me out.

1:10-3:00pm - Class periods 5-6.  Either more classes or back to emailing/lesson planning/skyping/reading/facebooking I go.

3:00-3:20pm - Students clean the school.  No, I'm not joking.  They sweep, mop, empty trash, and generally clean the entire school.  This was just happening as I was typing and I noticed that they even wash the dishes left in the teacher's room sink.  Guess where my dirty coffee mug will be tomorrow...

3:20-4:30pm - Class 7 and clean up my stuff and wait for 4:30 for it to be time to walk home.

4:30 - whenever - So 4:30 I'm off work and head back to my apartment.  While I try to keep busy during the evenings, I'm realizing that living alone can be pretty boring.  Some evenings I'll meet friends for coffee or dinner and others I'll stay home and eat something in my apartment.  I'm not a great cook and because the gas stove is expensive, I use it minimally. (plus there's no oven).  Consequently, my meals are pretty basic.  Scrambled eggs, pasta and zucchini, salad, and cereal are pretty normal meals.  I don't mind - at least it's not rice and seaweed!  I've been working out pretty regularly too - going for runs to Duryu Park and doing my p90x videos so that's been good.  Starting next week I'll have a gym membership and can go to a gym near my house 3 times a week - I'm excited...they have a lap pool, treadmills, etc, free weights and machines, yoga classes and dance classes - and I definitely plan on making a fool of myself and trying a dance class.  Nevermind that I can't dance OR that the classes will be in Korean! haha

I'm usually in bed by the wonderful hour of 11 and often it's even earlier!  It's this weird thing....I get enough sleep at night - and I'm not exhausted during the day! What a phenomenon!

I hope that this gives you a better glimpse into my normal routine of life here in Daegu! :]