Well I have certainly put this blog post off for far too long. It has been 5 months since I have committed a blog post to this website. In our modern times it is just easier to be active on a social network and making minimal posts than the typical gargantuan meandering posts I would tend to post here.

The Fall semester has begun! A month in and a writing test is already completed. Soon we’ll prepare for our speaking test at the Girls’ High School. Last semester was a mess in several ways. The coteachers were new, the native speakers were new, and the format was new for students. So it was quite a struggle to adapt to each other and complete our tests in a fair and just way. So some mistakes were made and we spent extra time making sure that everyone had a fair grade and fair chance.

You may not be aware if you’re not in South Korea but high school is an extremely stressful time for students. Being accepted into a good university is essential and a small grade percentage can have a huge affect on a students future. This weekend I traveled with my girlfriend to the buddhist temple and saw many people praying for their children to do well on the national University entrance exam or Korean SAT.

For the most part my inclination to write has been tamped because there are quite a bit of Western teachers in Korea. It’s not such a unique position to be in and writing about how unique my situation is is a little difficult. There are many other better blogs that explain what living in South Korea is like. It’s a nice place and I am enjoying my time. If I am going to write about anything especially here it is going to be about my experience and not about retreading the same topics.

Overall I am glad to be teaching and I feel like it is a good experience for me and my future career. My masters’ degree is in Library Information Sciences and a big part of that is instruction. Librarians or information professionals have to be instructors at times and teaching information literacy or any other topic is not a simple task. This trial by fire in teaching is pushing me to adapt my skills and abilities to a varied audience. Hopefully I can incorporate that into a path in the future.

Suncheon is a good place to be and the food is enjoyable. It is a small town though compared to Coalinga it has more entertainment and shopping to offer. Nature is close by and hiking is a favorite activity for many people.

I’m trying to learn Korean but it is quite hard. Until I can find a someone to tutor me it is going to be slow going teaching myself. However, I am quite interested in learning and the little I do know helps me greatly in this town. In the next blog post there will be more pictures.