Junggye Branch Bonding

Me, Marc, & Paula : The Faculty Manager with the newest Englishee teechuhs!

The 3 month mark has hit! It seemed like not too long ago when teaching in Korea was just a thought or backup plan. Now a quarter of my year in Korea is gone! I was skeptical of my new placement, my coworkers, my classes, and my life in general in a foreign country, but my first 3 months have proven that I can make it here.

Kristen & Shadiyah Sandwich with a Slice of Eugene

More Junggye Love: Kristen, Me & Eugene

Lucretia, Kristen, & Me

Lucretia, Kristen & Me: Rarrrrr!

Me & Shakha: Isn't that the sweetest name?

Eugene & Jenny: We Just Wanna Dance

Branch Bowling Tournament: Captain in Stretch Pants

Every November, Chung Dahm gets the 7 main branches together for a bowling tournament. The winner gets to split a pot of 500,000 won between 10 players. I, who is always down for some competitive fun, decide to show up. My Faculty Manager (FM) decides to make me captain of the A team. As the most unskilled branch at the tournament, our strategy was to make the A team the bad team and the B team the winning team. Not even strategy could help us. The A team ended with a total score from 2 games of 600ish, while every other branch had well over 1200. The B team almost made it to playoffs, but were ousted by a mere 100 or less. We were not sore losers, but left our mark at the bowling tournment with empty soju, orange juice, and cider bottles. We were clearly the worst team, but the most fun--and drunk. Nevertheless, it's about sport, fun, and branch bonding. Hopefully next year, we recruit better talent.

Clear Confusion Of Who Is On What Team

This week is Week 13--the last week of the term. I finally made it a whole term! This week should be cake because the students already know if they leveled up and really don't care about the lessons. They just want the party and movie. The first few weeks of the term, I was a horrible teacher, according to my head instructors. Now, I'm a lot more comfortable and have grown quite close with my students. We can joke and they understand me. We can play and stay on task. A lot of them leveled up to Bridge Reading, which I won't be teach next term sadly because I could have had the same students. I've developed such relationships with these students and now I have to start all over again with a new batch of 60+ students next week. Oh icebreakers...