Working Girl

I am very lucky to work in what appears to be the prettiest building in Mokpo. The school only opened in September and everything is brand new. Mokpo is an old city so I consider myself fortunate to work in a wonderful building with air conditioning and marble floors. My work schedule is from 2:00pm-10:00pm M-F, I work these hours because my students go to regular school earlier in the day. I teach a range of English levels from 6 year olds learning the alphabet to 10 year olds who speak perfect English and have to write essays and learn science. My little kids melt my heart but the older kids are just such rock stars in English that I really enjoy talking with and learning from them.

My coworkers (Steve and Marie) are an amazing, awesome, great couple from Chicago. They are a blast to work with and they have made my transition into my new job so comfortable. My manager Amy is only 12 days older than me and we get along great. I had to learn not to talk too fast to anyone Korean because it is hard for them to understand. Now every foreign teacher talks in slow motion, cautious to annunciate each sound clearly and slowly. We even talk like that to each other out of sheer habit. Amy is so close in age to me that we have fun comparing what we loved growing up, for example we loved Britney Spears and her favorite rapper is Eminem. She just got her license last month and driving with her in Mokpo has been beyond scary but cars and traffic laws in this city are a whole other can of worms.

Back to my cool school, I have my own classroom and 10 minute breaks in between each hour. I have a little cubicle and my own computer and I basically teach certain books the way I feel is best. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Daebul University (my employer) buys our dinner because we don’t have a break long enough to really go out to eat. This is so awesome because we save money! I have been in love with my job so far even though the days sometimes feel very long. We will see how I feel in a few months from now, but so far so good.