Finally, Nathan posted something

Hey everybody!

Sorry for not posting for a while. Stephanie and I have both had legitimate excuses though:

1) Stephanie's shins were critically bruised after an encounter with a group of vagrant Korean children, so she...couldn't post. And there was something wrong with the scripts on her computer.

2) I was dumb enough to allow the tech guy at my school to connect my laptop to my school's wireless network. I should have anticipated contracting every virus/spyware/adware from the computers of my tech-UNsavvy teacher colleagues. Sure enough, my computer became so infected after two days that my computer has been virtually crippled. The computer at my desk at the school is also way too slow and incapable of doing anything.

Long story short, I have been mostly without a computer since I have been here, and that has been wonderful. It's kind of like being in Malawi, actually. We have begun to start using the internet again now that we had internet installed in our apartment.

I want to post two things. First of all, we have finally begun teaching at our schools. I have co-ed classes, and my day looks a little something like this:

a. Wake up at 7:15
b. Ride bike to work to start at 8:15
c. Sit around at my desk and prepare for my lessons. I teach 4, 5, or 6- 45min. classes per day.
d. I eat lunch at 12. It usually consists of kimchi (pickled, spicy, fermented cabbage), some unrecognizable fish dish, and an extremely salty soup. There are usually two other options, and they vary from a meat to seaweed.
e. Leave at 5. (Except on Mondays: I teach the English teachers' conversation class from 4:30 until 6)

My classes are all about equal. There are usually a few kids that are exceptionally attentive and studious. Then are those that are pretty freakin rude (probably like me when I was in 7th or 8th grade). I find ways to get their attention besides just yelling all the time. For example, today I pegged a kid in the head with chalk. And I found a big pair of thongs and pinched another kid's neck. Nothing too serious, but it at least keeps them on their toes. They don't what I'm gonna do next! What a wacky teacher guy!

They're also tickled by my age and by the pictures I have shown them of Pittsburgh. Don't ever take our city for granted people, the pictures of New York didn't inspire any oohs or aahs. But Pittsburgh - day or night - blew the kids away.

I have designed my class so that the kids will play games every day in my class. I have every class of 8th graders and 2 classes of 7th graders at some point during the week. I only see each student once per week. so, they can look forward to games in my class.

A few reasons that I decided to use only games. First, the kids have to take a gigantic exam at the end of 8th grade in order to enter high school. They study all-day everyday for this exam throughout this current semester, so they don't really care about conversing in English since they be tested on it. It might as well a class that they can look forward to instead of treating it as a blowoff class. Second, 80% of my kids go to "academy" after school. This is another 5 hours of prive school to hone their academics. The kids are thus in school from 9am until 10pm everyday + Saturday! Sometimes also includes Sunday. The kids seem like drones that are just moving through the motions of the school day.

More to come later...in the meantime, check out this cool video!