Another day, another update

Yesterday was my first day of teaching and overall it was a good experience.  I taught 6 classes and it was basically 2 great ones, 3 decent ones, and 1 awful one.   We have a teacher's meeting this afternoon where we get our schedules for April so I'm just hoping I don't get stuck with that class permanently.  It is so strange because you teach such a range of skill levels that you really have to have a different game plan for every class.  In some classes they barely understand what you're saying, in others they could easily read English novels.  Most of the kids are terrified of speaking English to a teacher so they "play dumb" even though when we're doing workbook exercises they just fly through the material.  I hope that in time they become more comfortable with me and we can have more free talking time.  Oh, I should mention I observed Tom's kindergarten class yesterday.  Basically Kindy here is just English babysitting.  We sang songs, colored, and watched Dumbo--not exactly stressful.  Unfortunately for kindy you have to teach 10-2 and then normal classes start at 3 so it is a pretty full day.  Not something I would want to do long term but I could see myself doing it for a month or so to earn some extra scratch.

After classes last night I went out with Tom and Charlie.  It was Tom's last day and my first so we figured that re quired some drinks.  We ate some delicious chicken galbi and then hunkered down in a pretty cool hooka bar near Suwon Station (see pictures below of the neighborhood).  Smoked some hooka, had some beers, and just enjoyed each other's company.  I also had my first experience with Korean girls coming up to practice their English.  The only other people in the place ended up being a group of 20-something Korean girls who came over and struck up a conversation.  Their English skills weren't great but they certainly trump the 3 words I know in Korean so we got by.  We talked about Obama, Eminem, and Korean pop music.  They taught us some new words and helped our pronounciation a bit.  It is so funny that I made fun of Koreans saying "Kebbin" because I'm 99% sure that everything I say in Korean just comes out a jumbled mess and probably sounds worst than Kebbin to their ears.  Also, there are a few students named Kevin at my school so everyone there is able to say my name correctly.  It is somewhat scary that Tom is leaving because he's been not only our guide but he knows enough Korean to order food/give cabs directions/etc and Charlie and I are going to be on our own from here on out.  Our plan is to make friends with a Korean asap.

Last night we also got to see the Red Light District (RLD) in pretty much full swing.  Now prostitution is explicitly illegal in Korea and there are signs everywhere alluding to that fact.  Despite all that, there is about a 3 block radius where there is nothing but pink windows with girls sitting scantly clad in them.  Also, there are at least a dozen "sexy motels" with female pimps named "Madams" out front trying to seduce you in.  Seems so incredibly hypocritical that a place like that would be allowed to exist if prostitution is illegal.  I guess the police just kind of look the other way if it is contained to just this area.  There is also an area in Seoul called "Hooker Hill" which is the same exact setup, only on a hillside.   The girls were "meh", mainly because I know most are probably victims of some form of human trafficking and zero are there under their own free will.  Most were actually Thai or Phillipino instead of Korean.  They tend to leave the foreigners alone but a few did say "Sexy Americans" or something like that when we walked by.  We just avoided eye-contact and walked straight ahead.  I guess I would say it is like Amsterdam but much more pathetic and seedy.

We ended the night by Tom taking us up to the roof of the building.  What an incredible view of the city.  I'll go up again soon and take some pictures but it was the first time I could see Suwon as a whole and get a feel for the lay of the land a bit.  I am getting pretty good at finding my way around and having a sense of direction but seeing Suwon from a rooftop gave me a whole new perspective.

Ok, time to get some food and gear up for another day of teaching.  Only 4 classes today so should be a breeze.  Take it easy, but take it.