Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Longest Day Yet

I had The class today. The class that makes you wonder why you ever decide to become a Fulbright ETA. The class that you want to skip. That class was today. Class 3-3 was horrific. As a rundown, I got the F word a few times, the middle finger a few times, the F word written on a namecard, students mocking me...shall I go on? Even when I was making an example of a student at the front of the classroom, he was trying to mess with me behind my back; he kept moving the screen and even tried to shut off the projector when my back was facing him. I could have strangled these kids today. I had to have six sacrificial lambs in that class and I still did not get all the respect I wanted. I even had them stay after class and told them how I was disappointed in them and they were being disrespectful and should be ashamed. That didn't work either; they kept talking through that. I have NO idea how to get through to these kids. There is NO respect, in any shape or form that I can see. I hope it'll get better but I'm not holding my breath.

Since I started teaching last Thursday, I haven't really felt that drained from teaching until I taught Class 3-3 today. I was so tired when I left school for the day. Luckily, today was the first meetup of the Mokpo Mafia/Po Po crew. We met at Cafe Bene near the water and then went out to dinner. While walking, I got more glimpses of all the things there are to do in Mokpo; I'm amazed every time I see something because Mokpo is really just so much bigger than I imagined... Tracey and I left directly from school so we could walk slowly and check out the gym (Hue Spozone) that we were going to both get membership to. We stopped by a bookstore too and it was really therapeutic for some reason. It was drizzling and Tracey had left her umbrella at home so we were sharing my umbrella. By the end of the night when we walked home from dinner though, it was a complete downpour.

It was so great to see some familiar faces and talk in English at a normal speed about anything and everything. We ate Italian food (Igio Pasta?) so it was a good break from Korean food. It was also therapeutic to share our experiences with one another and empathize. When I had filled out my placement form, "being close to other ETAs" was not ranked highly on my list but now that I'm here, I see how important it is. I am so blessed and lucky to have so many ETAs around me. I was just so happy to see everyone (minus Sara who couldn't join us today). I walked Tracey home so she wouldn't get drenched by the rain before I walked back by myself around 10pm. It felt a bit odd that I hadn't seen my host family at all all day since I usually spend a lot of time with them so I sat and chatted with them for an hour or so after my shower. Both my sisters are going back to college this weekend so that's a bit sad. Even though it's only been a week, I feel pretty close to them. They come back pretty often from college on weekends but I plan on traveling so I'm hoping to make a schedule where I can at least spend one weekend at home per month when everyone in the family is together.

Instead of being productive, I'm wondering how this year will progress. I start my second lesson tomorrow and I'm a bit nervous for that one. I think the first lesson is easy because it's always an introduction. I've never had so much freedom to make whatever I want. I really get to teach these kids whatever I want to. That's... scary.

1 comment:

  1. 화이팅! You're fortunate to be such a tough cookie. I'm sure your students will come around to respecting you soon. You can do it!

    On an unrelated note, I do want to see your "smart teacher" look with the fake glasses! (I have my own pair that I'm going to bust out soon -- so that I can wear contacts but still look like "smart teacher".)

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