honestly part 3

whats been the hardest/most frustrating part of the teaching experience?

teaching is hard. getting the kids to listen to me. there are some kids who want to learn and they work hard, they sit still and they try. there are other kids who scream and yell in class and im like, how can you refuse to even give me enough respect to not yell in class? you dont do that for your korean teacher, why are you doing that to me? trying to keep their attention and explain things when they dont want to know it, and i dont have the power, the korean or the evil eye to keep them in line. some classes i dread and i am just like, God please help me. im doing my best but its just not good enough sometimes...or maybe i dont have enough sticker charts.but they are so freakin cute! seriously!but the rabbit class which is all 5 yrs brand new to going to school - that is my biggest challenge bc how do you teach them english and entertain them? that i dont know. i just dont know. so i dont really like teaching them. hahhahaha but they are the cutest! between that and getting fondled by every student. well it makes for an interesting work enviroment. but the good news is - this is not untypical. erin and her friends were sharing the same stories...so i felt like, ahh, ok, i mean its not good but its not weird. :)

have you felt homesick at all?

i can't say i dont. but luckily for me i am honestly a pretty like, introverted independent person who doesn't mind being at home alone. and when i get sad i email people or listen to music. and i try and remember that in the states i was applying for jobs in Vermont, Arizona...really anywhere i could find the specific job i wanted. so i was on my way out. :) and you can't live at home forever. and you can't always be with your friends. and honestly i was getting pretty sucky at keeping in touch in the states, but moving to korea kind of makes me reinforce the ties that matter. so no more hitting the ignore button on my cell phone. no more staring at my inbox without replying to emails. im pretty on top of it now. sometimes obsessively...haha, but that can't be so bad, right?