Day 33

I had a bit of a scare this morning. I woke up and Jina wasn't there. I knew that meant she hadn't come back from when she went out to see YooJin. After a moment of panic, I realized I could text her. Right after I got a text back from her, she walked into our room. She was out so late that she just spent the night in YooJin's dorm room.

Today, I didn't have anything to do other than go to my elementary school at 2pm. I sat around, ate some food, wasted time on the internet, my usual.

I went to the bus stop at 1, in order to be on time, since I'm still not sure how long it takes to get to my school. I was very proud of myself for being at the right bus stop, and knowing when to get off the bus as well. I arrived 30 minutes early to school, so I walked around the area, taking a few pictures, so that I could remind myself of where the school was.
While I was wandering, there were a lot of students around, since the younger kids were going home at that time. One of the girls who attends my elementary school saw me and said "Woah! Mi-guk [something I didn't understand]" Even though I don't know the rest of the words she used, I know she said "American" and was amazed. It made me smile to know that I might be teaching her later.
I still had a lot of time to kill after taking pictures, so I went into a book store, hoping to find a childrens book, so I could practice reading Korean with small words. I found the perfect book.
It's called Happy Birthday To You! and it's about the characters from the Dooly cartoon. Even better, the book is written in both Korean and English, so I can know what I'm saying and learn structure without needing someone to read it to me first (although, I was thinking I could still have Jina read it to me so I know how everything sounds).

After buying my book, I couldn't think of any way to kill more time, so I went to school 10 minutes early. When I got there, the English teacher was teaching, and they weren't sure what to do with me, since no one really spoke any English. They asked if I spoke Korean, but I said no. ..Sort of. I didn't really say anything. I just looked confused, even though I knew what they were asking.

When the English teacher finally came, she told me about the planning room on the second floor, where I should wait. I guess I can do lesson plans there.
After that, we went to the English classroom and she told me I should stay until 4 working on my lesson plans. Then she left to go teach another class. While I was working on my first lesson, some kid came in with a piece of paper that I guess was a note. I couldn't read it, and he didn't speak any English. We both stood there looking very confused before I realized I could just take it to the teacher next door and have her explain it. Thankfully, she was another English teacher, so she wasn't too confused when I spoke.

For my first lesson, I'm just planning on introducing myself and letting the kids introduce themselves to me. I made a ppt with some information about me, talking about where I'm from, and what I like to do. After it's over, I'll ask the kids to make name-plates to use for the beginning of the semester, until I start to learn their names. I also want them to draw some of their favorite things on their name-plates. My examples were: Sound of Music, ice cream, kiwi, books, Dooly, and Disney princesses.
I'm hoping it is okay to spend an entire lesson on introductions. I don't know what level my students will be, so I don't want to plan any English lessons that might be too hard or too easy.

I'm starting to get used to riding the city buses here. There are few seats, so each time I've come back from the elementary school, when everyone else is getting out of school as well, the bus is so crowded, that I have to stand up for most, if not all, of the ride back. I don't mind it. It's just difficult to do in heels. Today was the first day since I've been in Gongju that I haven't worn my heels.

I have to go to school again tomorrow, since I didn't go on Thursday. I don't mind, even though it is Sat. The English teacher seemed shocked that I was so calm and cool about coming to school on Saturday. She kept saying "Didn't it mess up your plans for this weekend?" She was even more shocked when I said my plans for the weekend were to go to church here and explore the city a bit more, since I've only really seen a few streets.
I think tomorrow I'll have lunch at Lotteria and watch to see if there is a later bus that will get me to school closer to when I need to be there. If not, then I'll just have to figure something out.

Gongju really is an interesting city. It's small in the sense that there are no shopping malls or department stores. But it's big in that it has a lot of land area occupied. There are tons of city bus routes and tons of people. And the night life seems big. Not like Seoul or NYC, but it's difinitely more hoppin' than CoMO. I can't quite figure out how to describe the size. The streets and shops downtown remind me of a very small town, similar to Fulton. However....that's about all that seems small-town about the place.