Meanwhile, in Metropolis...

As promised, today I will be writing about my week-long obligation.

You see, as a middle school teacher here in Busan, I am required to do mandatory training through the Busan Educational Training Centre for EPIK. This would not be so bad if not for the fact that it's always in the afternoons from 2:30-5:30PM. Moreover, I am located about 40 minutes from the meeting point by subway. What this amounts to is me scarfing down lunch in under 15 minutes and running from the school to the subway to make it for training. We then take a bus to "Metropolis Center", wherever the hell that is, to take our course. This also means that my afternoon classes are either shunted to my morning or unaccounted for. This makes me feel a little guilty because I feel like this screws over my co-teachers. Fortunately, I have most of my classes in the morning anyway, so it could be much worse.

Now, during the training we have been getting talks from very experienced teachers and supervisors. Topics include motivating your students, the national curriculum, using teaching materials/resources, etc. I've gotten about 3-4 new ideas for lesson plans from listening to people, which definitely helps! One thing that I've learned that I should consider doing is adding funny .gif files and lolcat-like photos in my stuff to maintain interest. Having said that, I will be modifying my Halloween lesson very soon!

One thing that amazes me about this training is the mentality and behaviour of the teachers here. It's odd that, as much as they complain about inattentive and disruptive students in their classes, they talk over the very people teaching THEM! I mean, I know that it's the end of the day and that none of us really want to be there, but do you really have to act like the very students you gripe about?! Such hypocrisy really makes me wonder how many of them take their jobs seriously!

Anyway, having gotten that rant out of the way, I/we have an announcement: we are joining a "zombie walk" next weekend! Ideas include zombie Ash and Misty (Pokemon) and zombie Abe Lincoln... though we will keep everyone posted on that. Even though the walk is on Nov. 2nd I am just so bleeding excited to be celebrating Halloween here! Also, we got paid today, so that definitely helps us get the materials for the costumes!

So, aside from getting costumes, this weekend we are also planning on getting a Costco membership (that's right... it is spreading like a malignant cancer!) and seeing the Busan Fireworks Festival! Apparently the city spent something to the tune of 1.5 million on fireworks, so this promises to be an amazing show! They are forecasting rain then, but I am optimistic that that will change. We will definitely update after that!

By this time next week, I will have accomplished the following: I will have joined a gym, I will have gotten a haircut, and I will have gotten a phone.

Annyeong hi-gyesoyo,

-Garrett