Difficulty Adjusting, But Not B/c of Korea

So, this was my first week of teaching, and the kids and faculty at my school, Bong Gok Middle School (봉곡중학교), are frigin' amazing. There really haven't been any moments that were too awkward, well sort of (I'll get to that). The first day was hard b/c I had 4 classes back to back and so I had little time to reflect and adjust my method of running the class. Needless to say, I think I sucked. The teachers were pretty honest with me if they thought I wasn't doing such a great job. And in the end I prefer this b/c if they say I'm doing a good job, then I know they're being honest. The next day I started my second round of teaching and I made changes in the first class and things went soooo much better and the suckage diminished.

Then tragedy struck. So for those who haven't heard, Steph's James passed away on Tuesday morning from a sudden still currently unknown reason. If you know Steph, and you need her info to contact her, just email me. For everyone else, please, leave no comments on this post. It has been wildly difficult being in Korea this week. Steph is one of the closest people to me, and has been for the past 8 years. If I had been in the States, I would've been at Logan Airport within the hour, T granting. So far adjusting to Korea has been relatively easy for me. Despite all of the cultural differences, I've been trying to approach everything with an open mind and a smile. I really didn't think that I would experience too much homesickness. But I really wish I was back in the USA right now. And one of the most exhausting things is greeting all of my students (all 750 of them) with a cheery hello and saying that I'm great when they say, "Teacher, hello how are you????" I cried in the teachers' office when I found out, and that definitely made everyone else feel really uncomfortable, especially since no one in the office at that time could speak English. (so if you can help crying in front of the teachers, I recommend that.... unless you really don't mind feeling reaaaallly awkward)

So yeah, it's been hard splitting myself in two, one side belonging to my students and Korea, the other side belonging to Steph. Again, please, leave no comments on this post, I appreciate it. Ok, time for bed.... I need my rest in order to match the energy of my students. And believe me, even for me, it is hard!!