Good news and Bad news

Let's sensationalize my post like a news program and start with the bad news.

One of my first grade (6th grade U.S.) teachers, Kimberly (her English name), went to the E.R. last night! The doctors told her she has a form of Hepatitis. Hep A from what I'm told. I hope she gets better soon. Since that is highly unlikely she is going on leave. And the school is starting to look for a new teacher. (She was a substitute for the year, too).

In the meantime Ms. Yoo and I are going to have to take over her class load. It's more of a pain for Ms. Yoo because she has to double her class load all because I cannot teach alone. I don't know any of the Korean alphabet, Hangul nor can I speak Korean. And the students Kimberly taught were not advanced English students. So, I am going to have to really put my mind to work to learn Korean.

For those of you who don't know, Hep A is generally caused by contaminated drinking water in developing countries. Korea is very technologically updated. But the water
treatment in Korea is behind the times. Only 50 years ago South Korea was a struggling nation. To give you a better example of how this affects me, I boil all the tap water I drink. At work we boil a couple liters for us 4 every morning to drink throughout the day. After lunch at work I even brush my teeth with the boiled water.

I'm a little worried. I had the HEP A vaccination shot around a decade ago for an interesting non-traveling related reason. The vaccine is suppose to prevent cases for about 10 years. So, I'm borderline. But I don't want to jinx it.


Ok, now, the good news.

I am getting ahead in my lesson plans. I have a lot more free time! Perfect to study Korean...

The children still love me. They like my class. They still scream 'HELLO. Justin!' or 'Very handsome!' when they see me. The honeymoon isn't over, yet.

Here's the two best parts.

First, we had a school assembly on the massive dirt sports field (common for most poor Korean schools) to introduce all the new teachers. There are about 8 new teachers including myself. We stood up next to the podium while the principal introduced each of us in Korean. I had no clue what he was saying even the names sound like foreign words to me. Of course, I was the last one. He began to introduce me and the students started screaming 'YAY' 'JUSTIN!' so I bowed and raised my hand high like a second rate dictator. And I started to walk away. One problem. The principal hadn't actually called my name yet. Great. He stopped me. And signaled me back a couple steps to my original spot. Good one. I just made a great impression with my Principal. So, he finally listed off my name. And the girls erupted into loud applause. I can do no wrong with these girls.

My head is already too big.

My favorite part of last weekend.

I went to Costco in Korea. Yeah, Costco. Kirkland signature, more ground beef than you could possibly use. It was packed full of Koreans. And It was huge. It was inside a 5-6 story building. You had to ride the escalators all the way to the bottom 3 floors where Costco is actually located. One floor is dominated by the tire center. The prices range from really cheap to way overpriced. Like the safer short ribs I have seen are not cheap in Korea. They are actually imported from the U.S. Let's cut to the chase. Yeah, they had everything you would expect Costco to have. Muffins, wine, sausage, beef, squid?, beef jerkey (so expensive 15000 won for a pack of Oh Boy Oberto's), and the most important items of all the 2000 WON COSTCO HOT AND DRINK and 1000 won ICE CREAM. They had Caesar Salads, Pizza, Chicken Bakes, and Bulgogi bakes. I really want to send Bulgogi bakes back to you all and get a review.

Costco was a blast. I went with my coteacher and her friend's family. The father told me to call him whenever I want to go to Costco so he can practice his English. English is my best asset. Now, I just need to find a Korean beezy to 'protoss cannon rush.'

Yeah, I just went there.






Notes:

Are these posts way too long? I feel as if I'm writing a book every time I post.

Let me know if you want me to cut it down into more reasonable parts.