Two Week Mark

I've officially been teaching in Busan for two weeks now but honestly, it feels much longer.  I have already stepped into a groove with my teaching, my free time, and in general, my life.  It's amazing.  I know I was a little butt-hurt from not being able to speak Korean that well (from the post "Culture Shock") and I swear I have been as good as my word.  I've been studying about 45 minutes a day and I already see a huge difference - in a good way.

So, as I promised, here are some much wanted pictures of my school.  The more I reflect, the more I realize I am so lucky to be in the position I am in.  My Co-teacher helps me when I need it with classes, she doesn't generally thrust things on me and expect me to just figure it out, and she genuinely wants her students to learn English.  She has surprised me a few times too with her generosity.  She heard me say I liked bulgogi so when she was at the supermarket, she bought me some and dropped it off at my apartment.  When she came into the English classroom and saw me studying Korean, she bought me a book to work out of so I could learn more.  On a side note, the book is like a kindergarten writing book but its colorful and has lots of stickers - so I'm down ^_^

So here is my beautiful school, that I am so in love with....

It's so nice to be out of the city for school and have that ocean breeze always bringing in some fresh air :) except when its smoggy - then I don't like that.

This school is pretty big for the whole 38 students it has to accommodate.  But once again, I am happy that my classes are an average of 6 kids a class.  I love my students and I especially love trying to figure out their personalities.  The exception is my 4th grade class.  Those children are fun outside of class and inside class, they are little monsters.  It's a challenge to get them to cooperate.  And it's not like I can threaten them in English...like they would understand.  I'll find a productive way to get them to behave.  I just need a little time to figure it out.

Finally, here is my classroom!  Lots of books to pick from, a million different audio tools, visual guides and games.  It's adorable.

And that is my desk in the bottom right corner....I was on facebook but shhhhh don't tell my Co-Teacher :P 

The teaching is beginning to get easier as I understand the students and their varying levels of English. That's about all I can say now about school.  

                -OOOOO but before I forget!  Korean cafeteria food is not the garbage americans serve   to their students.  It's fresh and delicious and full of healthy things that I would never eat otherwise hehe.

With my free time, I have managed to book myself up in a typical Jade Marie fashion.  I guess I just don't like having too much down time.  Since joining the MMA/BJJ gym in Busan, I have been going to at least two classes a day which amount to around 3 hours of practice.  It's what I did for wrestling so it's not a big deal to me.  I'm enjoying getting into shape for realsies.  Not just practicing when I felt like it and stopping when I was tired.  I am pushing myself a little bit harder everyday and if I know my body correctly, after next week, I'll be in such a good groove I won't even realize my body aches or how tired I am.  

Learning jiu-jitsu is fun and I think I am starting to understand it.  It's hard trying to learn the rules to a new sport when the rules are explained in Korean but luckily, it's close enough to wrestling that many conceptual things aren't too difficult to grasp.  I also choked out my first guy today in sparring - rear naked choke - it was exciting.   But I have to remember that when the people in my gym see me getting better, they will start going harder on me so I'm trying to not get too excited.  I'm jsut working hard.  

Joining the gym has made me want to see what I can do in the span of a few months.  For the first time ever, I made a list of goals and I want to start accomplishing them.  Yes, they mostly pertain to my fitness but honestly, that was the one thing that I couldn't really maintain in the U.S. so why not start trying here, when I am in a new place with a fresh start? I'm already eating loads of vegetables from my school lunches and I've bought post workout friendly food for after practice.  In just a week I already see a difference.  I'm sticking to my no-scales rule though.  I still get anxiety about seeing a number.  But me feeling good in my skin is what I'm after and I feel really good right now :)  I just want to see how much better I can do and push myself again.  I missed doing that.  

So it's way past my bedtime and I actually have to get up and look pretty in the morning (I never had a job where I had to do that before).  So good night everyone, or good morning, wherever you are.