A day in the life of an English Teacher...

Alright folks get ready for the crazy excitement that is the daily life an English teacher!

Ok, well hopefully it will at least be somewhat interesting or maybe slightly educational?

The day starts like most others around the world, with groaning and hitting the snooze button a few times.... er... I mean with birds singing and a hop out of bed.... yup, totally.
First thing is to get the gas in the apartment going.

Boiler for shower.

Stove for eggs.

Kettle for coffee.

Just remember to turn everything back off as soon as you’re done so you don’t owe an arm and a leg for gas at the end of the month!

Then it’s off to catch the bus. The 705 or 452 will do (skip Line 2 since it’s more expensive). 

I get off the bus about 15ish minutes later and walk across the street to the school. Students are distributed around the yard playing soccer, jumping rope, on the playground equipment and usually yelling “Hi, Bethany Teacher!” when I get there. I’ll admit, it’s kind of a nice greeting every morning.

I’ve pretty much established my classroom arrival routine by now: 

Walk into classroom.

Turn on computer 

(side note: The first three weeks my computer are all in Korean. I am counting my blessings that I used Word and Powerpoint so much back home that I’ve memorized where everything is in the programs! Oh but I do constantly forget to press the key that switches the keyboard from typing in Korean to typing in English, I’ve typed a lot of nonsense Korean since I’ve been here!).

Switch from outside shoes to indoor shoes.

Check the schedule and lessons for the day.

Classes start at 9:00 and from that point on I’m either teaching up front or sitting in the back planning. I’m still adjusting to the amount of time during the day I have for planning. After what I was use to as a US classroom teacher (i.e. no time. ever.) this is pretty different.

Around 12:15 my co-teacher and I wonder down to the cafeteria for lunch. As we walk to the line I usually do a quick evaluation of the menu checking for food familiarity (do I know what it is or do I get to be adventurous today?) and try to guess the required level of chopstick proficiency needed (will I be able to eat it without looking silly/dropping food in my lap?). I actually really like lunchtime since it brings a chance to get out of the classroom and “talk” with students in a different setting.

School ends at 2:30 but most students stay around for after school activities. These include English classes, Chinese classes, taekwondo, and my favorite out in the yard- Samul Nori! The 5th and 6th grade students all participate in the drumming and are really quite impressive!

My school day ends at 4:30 and it’s back to the bus stop for the trip home. Sometimes I’ll hop on the red express bus to get to downtown Daegu for a “waygook” meetup of some sort- also known as a chance to speak English at a normal speed over a beer. 

If I actually have to cook dinner I usually grab my backpack and take the 20 minute walk down to the Lotte Super.

On my way I get to enjoy the view of the mountains.

Perhaps explore down a new street or two.

Sometimes I get distracted by the pizza place before I get to the grocery store...

After dinner is usually devoted to some writing or catching up on Korean TV...

... yes, I’ll admit it, I‘m sadly addicted to Korean variety shows and dramas. Hey, it’s all about being in the cultural while I’m here right?

So there you have it! Ok well, day to day life may not always be crazy and adventurous. In all honesty I love that some things are finally starting to become "the norm".  It's starting to feel like I have some ownership over my daily routines, the neighborhood I live in is starting to become "my neighborhood", and Daegu is slowly become not just an amazing adventure but a wonderful home.