Kate Teacher - the adventure begins

I made it.  What up, Korea?  I'm surprised that I'm not really having any culture shock yet.  I feel totally comfortable and ready to start remembering the things I need to know (jet lag has done a number on my brain).  It's been a whirlwind.

So far I've had a couple of hours of training at work and I even taught a few classes, covering for a teacher who went home sick. "Taught" is a term used loosely since I was covering without a lesson plan.  Really, we just chatted and played.  The kids were cute and when I asked what they knew about me, they said "You're Kate from Texas, you like dogs and don't eat meat."  Spot on, kiddos, spot on.  They asked a lot of questions, like why my hair is yellow and if I'm married or have a boyfriend.  And when I responded "no" to that, they told me they felt sorry for me.  Evidently we are not through with those questions/reactions.

Yesterday we  took a field trip to the amusement part in Gyeongu.  THAT was nuts.  At first I didn't recognize whether the kids I was watching were ours or not since I had yet to meet most of them.  I just kind of took charge of anyone who was shorter than me.  I got a few crazy looks from some as they ran back to their parents yelling about the crazy yellow haired lady who was trying to kidnap them.  But, by the end of the day I had a good grasp on who was who and their silly little personalities.

They are hams, all of 'em.  Ulsan is actually the wealthiest city in Korea and many of these kiddos have lived abroad in America with their parents, so we are pretty lucky with their advanced language skills.  This guy (I won't be posting any kids names) picked up a lot of tidbits from living in America and his sense of humor about is hilarious.  Here he is "being emo" aka cutting his wrists furiously and emotionally in a corner:

I mean.  So weirdly witty.

This little guy jumped to the top of my favorite list.  He was so intrigued with the clown:

Here's the whole crew:

Kids who look tired but are actually freakishly energetic at the end of a long day.

I'm not totally sure how much I can post of the kids on a public blog...I know at home it might not fly, so if this post comes down, just know that they are all pretty awesome.