Coffee Helps

Today we went on a field trip to a very bizarre but fabulously fun place. We foreigners generally don’t have a clue where we’re going for these, and the explanation we got this time was no better. “Flour”, was all Jennifer said when we asked, in a tone of voice that said she thought that [...]

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The children at school love to sing. They pick up new songs incredibly quickly, and can remember all the words even when they struggle to remember simple spoken sentences. I’ve found a way to bond with my new classes, by splitting the textbook work into sections, and spending the time in between those singing and [...]

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I’ve been meaning to tell you about Konglish for ages now. In case it’s not obvious, Korean + English = Konglish. Konglish is occasionally frustrating, often confusing, and almost always entertaining. It’s one of the main reasons for misunderstandings between Koreans and foreigners. And for an English teacher, it’s a daily battle that will probably [...]

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…going to the doctor for every little cough and sneeze, that is. Not in Korea! Oh no – in fact, here, they wouldn’t have it any other way. So there I am in the doctor’s chair, much like a dentist’s chair only in a doctor’s office and with no little sink thing to spit into. [...]

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Much as it’s become rather more stressful and tiring than at the beginning, I still love my job, for the most part. Teaching English as a foreign language feels like it’s what I was born to do. I don’t see myself giving up and leaving the country because of work problems. In fact, if my [...]

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I was very confused when I first came to Korea, because of – well, because of lots of things, actually, and to be honest there are always plenty of opportunities for fresh confusion to arise. But some things baffle me more than others, at least until I find out what the craic is with them [...]

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I am undefeated at this one! I announce gleefully as someone selects Wii Boxing as the next game. A group of us are hanging out at Smile, and I’ve never forgotten how impressive I was when I last encountered Wii Boxing. Not only did I knock Terri out in about 10 seconds, but I thrashed [...]

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Musical class is unrecognisable as its former self now that I’ve had training and been given a course complete with music, dialogues, and books. I’ve gone from sitting with my head in my hands with a crowd of unruly children running and shrieking all over the place for lack of enough material to keep them [...]

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Ugh, my head hurts. This is, once again, almost entirely the fault of the great chasm that exists between the languages of Korean and English. The main problem with today has been trying to teach first graders who genuinely believe that they have a better understanding of English than I do. It’s not entirely their [...]

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I went to Seoul today for the grand finale to St. Patrick’s week. Yes, it may only be a day-long holiday in its home country, but here in Korea they’ve been going crazy for it all week. It was quite a shock to my system to see not just a pubful of Irishness on Wednesday [...]

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