Getting to Know Mokpo

Haha, the title rhymes. I'm way to proud of myself for that one. Regardless, I'm sitting here relaxing in a coffeeshop (7 Monkeys Coffee ???) which I though I'd mention is a very...strange...thing to do in Korea. First of all, it's borderline taboo to go to a coffee shop alone. Second, you really only go if you're a) a woman, or b) a man who wants to

ostentatiously flirt with his girlfriend. I don't really fit any of those categories so I guess I'll just be the social outcast and enjoy my airconditioning (surprisingly hard to come by in Korea), free wireless and delicious green tea latte. What do I care? Back to the important stuff though: I bought a bike on

Sunday. I got a yellow and back Lespo road bike from one of the shops in down (yea, I know, yellow. But this one actually looks pretty snazzy). This is a huge step forward on several accounts. Now I can get into downtown (like a 20-30 min walk) a lot faster and also come home from work early (1.25 hour walk, which sucks...I've done it twice now). I'm actually too big for the frame, materials, etc-- but getting a bike that actually fits me here--in the land of small people--would be damn near impossible. I really haven't been

out very far from home yet, though, because I've made a point to spend some time with the homestay family (TV, games, dinners, just talking)--I figure getting to know them and forming good relationships now will pay off in the future. On that note, they really are a great family. The kids are so well behaved, and yet smart, interesting individuals that its almost shocking. By no means do I think all Korean families are like this, so I guess I got lucky. The mother mentioned that she stressed etiquette very early on....so I take note.

On the flip side, I guess I've been ignoring the elephant in the room: school. My first day of teaching was Monday and by now I'm definitely starting to settle into a routine. They've got me teaching a total of 18 hours a week (the rest of the time I can pretty much do anything I want...which naturally means reading about NCAA football and why the Bucks are going to win the championship). I get out early (like 1) 3 days a week, and stay till 4:30 on Wed/Thu.

School is

definitely good, but to put things bluntly: I am teaching all the better-school rejects. It's a vocational school to begin with, so the majority of students are not college bound (or so I'm told) and in the words of my host mom (who teachers there as well), "most of the students come from bad or divorced families"...I'll let you interpret that as you will. It's really not all that bad though; as with any school you have your trouble makers, your girly boys, manly girls, and everything in between. English level is definitely on the bottom end on the spectrum, though there are a few students in each class that seem to have a decent grasp of the language. This of course presents a conundrum that--as I now realize--almost all teacher face: who do I teach to? Should I keep

yelling at the talking students in the back and push the sleeping students out of their chairs...or do I spend more time with the students who actually want, and might benefit from the extra attention. I guess the best answer, which I've heard before, is to "teach to the middle." Hopefully I can find ways to both do well and have fun with it--though I can tell you that about half the students in each class have no intention of learning English.

I've been pretty longwinded with this post so far, so I'll leave with the "What do you know about America" responses (to the question that I posed at the end of a few classes, to fill that last couple minutes before the bell rang). Obama always comes in the first two or three. Las Vegas shows up in every class, as does the Statue of Liberty and Harley Davidson. Aside from that, I've gotten "Mad cow disease" (if you remember, about 2006 or something like that, there was a big scare here over MCD), New York, Apple and Lebron James, among others. It's always interesting to know what foreigners think of us.