Hi, everyone!! Greetings from Korea. I've completed my first week of teaching and, surprisingly, I actually enjoy it! But we'll see how I feel in about three months! The days are long and tiring but reasonably rewarding. And it's nice to have income again. =)

As you've all come to expect, this email is long and has a few funny stories in it. If you don't want me to send you emails, please let me know and I'll take you off the list.

To lead off, here's the update on teaching:

The first thing that you have to understand is that these kids are Korean but go to high school in America. They come from reasonably wealthy families and have been sent off to boarding school or something similar so that they can get a "better education". Now the kids are "home" for their summer break, and Mom and Dad figure that there's no use having the kids sitting around doing nothing, so may as well send them off for more schooling! So in general the kids are 15-17 years old and speak perfect English and dress and act like teenage kids in America.

I teach three classes a day. The first is a combined SAT Verbal and Math class that runs for four hours, so you can bet it's pretty exhausting. It's also hard to fill four hours when the class is usually held for two hours. So I have to be a bit inventive, like playing games or making them do practice tests. Whereas most of the teachers get blank stares, I am either lucky enough or good enough that I have gotten the kids out of their shells and most participate in class. Sometimes it gets out of hand and I have to calm them down, but I suppose that my act has been to be cool and to be "one of them" so they treat me like that. I think it's because I'm a guy, I'm reasonably young, I answer their personal questions, and all of the girls have crushes on me. Okay, I made up that last bit. They DO think my tattoos are bitchin, though the other day I was told by my boss that I need to cover the one on my wrist because "there were complaints". Whatever.

Unfortunately things in that class DID get out of hand one day last week. We were playing a game and the kids were making lots of noise and I asked them a number of times to quiet down. Then I made a ruling in one team's favor and the other team freaked out and started yelling at me. This is not really acceptable behavior in a classroom so I told them to stop. It happened again a minute later and I blew my top. I broke out the F word a few times and that certainly let them know I was not pleased. Since then, though, they have been pretty good.

The kids in that class are generally pretty good at math but their writing skills are horrible. I think I have one of the "average" classes: the kids all got around 550 in math and 350 in verbal. So they LIKE the math but unfortunately I do need to spend more time on the verbal and vocabulary stuff (which isn't my strong point, either). Like most kids, when I assign them vocab words to learn and then give them a quiz, they cram in the moments before and simply recite the definition out of the book, rather than really knowing what the word means.

Anyway, the other day one of the words was "specious" and the definition in the book was "having the ring of truth but actually false". So for the quiz most put "having the ring of truth" but some kids just put "the ring of truth". I thought this was funny, in sort of a Lord of the Rings sort of way. BEHOLD! The RING of TRUTH! So I asked the kids, what does "ring of truth" mean? And I swear, half of them really thought it had something to do with a ring you wear on your finger. Too funny.

After I teach that class, I have about an hour for lunch. Most of the teachers go over to a big mall next to the office, where there is a totally massive foodcourt. It's like being in New Jersey. In addition to countless little Korean and Asian places, they have Popeye's, Sbarro, Hardee's, BK, and KFC, as well as Pizzeria Uno, TGI Friday's, and Bennigan's. Bennigan's!! In Korea! Truly there is no god. You will be happy (and surprised) to learn that of all those, I have only been to Hardee's and I SERIOUSLY regretted it 20 minutes later. Yuck.

Then I have to rush back to my SAT Math class. I have the "top" class, ie. the kids that scored around 700. So it's mostly guys and I would say that most of the kids are bored the whole time, but these guys like me (because I *am* a bit of a math stud compared to your average high school junior!) and they definitely want to learn how to get a higher score. Unfortunately there is one trouble-maker in the class and he is very disruptive. The other day he was 45 minutes late for class and I should have given him detention (they actually have that here!) but I didn't. I told him if he was ever late again, even by a minute, he'd get detention. I haven't seen him in three days. So maybe he dropped the class, I don't know.

Speaking of detention, I am the only teacher so far who has NOT given out detention. All of the other teachers say I need to do it in order to show the kids who's boss, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I guess I want to be liked rather than respected (or feared). I suppose eventually I'll have to break the seal, though.

By the time 4:00 rolls around, I am pretty wiped out but still have one class to go. This is my SAT II Math Ic class (formerly known as the Math Achievement Test) and it is my favorite. There are only four kids in the class and one hardly ever shows up. Two are living in Connecticut and I think one has a crush on me (serious!) so the class is a lot of fun. They are average kids so they have a lot of math to learn and I think they enjoy the class.

So at 6:00 every day, all of the teachers look exhausted and we all trudge home. I am pretty much the resident soccer nut and sometimes I am the social director, especially since I go out drinking EVERY night and so people just go with me. It works out well that way. =) Sometimes I worry that we all spend TOO much time together but I suppose that will work itself out.

In case you haven't heard, World Cup mania has gone up a notch over the past few days. Last Monday afternoon was the USA-Korea game. It was at 3:30 in the afternoon, so I let my class out early. Unfortunately I got busted and was told that letting the kids out 30 minutes early was not allowed. So we found a radio and listened to the game in Korean. Then for my 4:00 class we did the same thing. I had no idea what was happening but it seemed like a good game. It ended 1-1 and so there were no celebrations but no riots either. It all worked out okay.

Friday was a different story. Korea was playing Portugal and would advance to the next round with a win or a tie. All of the teachers went to a restaurant near the office and it was so exciting. Korea didn't even really need to try to score a goal but when they did, the place went nuts. At the same time, the US was losing to Poland BUT if Korea won, then the US would advance, too. So when Korea scored, *I* was going nuts because it meant that the US would advance even though they lost. I was very, very drunk on soju and a few of us were singing "Kamsa hamnida, hanguk" ("thank you, Korea"). Everyone in the restaurant thought we were hilarious. Well, I like to THINK that they did.

Anyway, when Korea won and thus advanced to the second round, we all literally ran out into the streets and the celebration began. Remember I said that there was a big commotion when Korea won its first game? That was nothing - NOTHING!!! - compared to this. There were literally tens of thousands of people in the streets, and my friends and I were screaming at the tops of our lungs and singing and high-fiving everyone who walked by. I didn't have my camera but I don't even think that photos could have done this justice. It was amazing. Then, with everyone whipped into a frenzy, it got even crazier. There weren't a lot of white people in the streets (go figure) so we stood out just a little bit. But it was great. Men, women, and especially kids were running up to us and hugging us and jumping up and down with us and I swear it was like being one of the Beatles in 1965. We stayed out for THREE hours, just running up and down the streets and singing and going crazy. After that we consumed a LOT more beer and I think I went to bed at about 3:30. Sadly, it was a "school night" and the next day I was feeling a little yucky, to say the least. But it was SO much fun.

Korea plays Italy Tuesday night and I think they have a decent chance of winning, but it's not likely. But if they do win, I can only imagine what it will be like. Oh please, God, let Korea win so we can celebrate some more!

Anyway.... having only one day off a week is a bit of a drag and getting up in the morning is generally no fun, but all in all I'm really enjoying it. I like teaching the math stuff and hopefully I'll get to do that next term (which starts July 1). If all goes well, I could conceivably come back to work for Princeton Review in Korea (or San Francisco or Boston or wherever), though I guess that's a long way away. For now I am enjoying the challenge of the work but like I said, we'll see how I'm doing by the end of month #3.

That's about it from here. I hope everyone is doing well and I hope to hear from you soon!!

Chris