oh hey.



What are you doing tomorrow?




What am I doing? Oh you know, just going to CHINA.




!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Happy Chuseok.

Megan Teacher

Oh man.

I have just experienced the busiest two weeks of my life. This post should really be about 5 separate posts, so I’m really sorry because it is way too long and disorganized. Really, you should probably take a break somewhere in the middle, and come back later to finish it.

It’s so hard to think back so long ago....

I graduated TESOL. I have an official certificate and a flower to prove it. Actually the flower is pretty much dead at this point. It was a long month of that...

In case you have never heard of k-pop, you should know first that it is really the only music here in Korea. I have met very few people that do not listen to k-pop. Most k-pop bands have between 5 and 12 members. All of their music videos and performances include choreographed dancing. Also, you should know that it is the best thing ever. Here is a sample from one of the most popular k-pop bands, Shinee. My kids love them.




I am fully aware that I am ruining any sort of reputation I formally had concerning my music choices. I still listen to great music. It seems that Korea has brought out another side of me that I was not aware I had.


One of my friends was able to get us tickets to go to the biggest k-pop festival of the year, called Korean Wave. This is a big event. I’m not really sure what to compare it to. Maybe a concert where Nsync, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake got together. I think that could be close. We got there really early to get the full festival experience. Instead we ended up standing under a tent with some shirtless old men while it poured the entire day. It was so bad I had to buy a poncho, though I was still soaking by the end of the day. Only my dad will be able to fully grasp how big of a deal it is that I was wearing a poncho. I even took a picture.

But finally, it was concert time. Over the course of 2.5 hours, myself and about 50,000 other people (pretty much all Korean middle school girls), were able to see 20 different k-pop bands and singers. It was awesome. I took a lot of video to allow everyone to experience the greatness of k-pop. As soon as I learn how to use my movie software, I will post the video...

What was not awesome was the three hour subway/taxi ride that it took us to get home around 3:30 am the night before my first day of teaching.

And so, Monday morning I got up earlier than I have all summer (7AM!) to walk the 30 minutes to my school. Not only was I mostly asleep, running late, and incredibly nervous, but it was pouring! If you haven’t figured it out, because we are in the rainy season, it is always pouring here. And so began my first day as a middle school English teacher. It was intense. It is still intense. Over the course of a week I have 22 classes of 7th graders and 8th graders. Each class has around 36 students in it, all with varying levels of English language knowledge. Some of the kids do not speak at all, and I have one boy who has studied in the US for 6 years. I’m pretty sure he speaks better English than I do. He even knew who Radiohead was!, though he was the only one. I have a badly written textbook for each grade that I can get ideas from, but I write all of my own lesson plans and teach pretty much on my own. I am attempting to learn the kids’ names, but that is going to take a very long time. Not only do I have a total of 756 students, but all of them have Korean names, most of which I can’t pronounce.

Overall though, school is really great. I get to walk in everyday and feel like a celebrity. Kids follow me around everywhere and are a never ending source of compliments. The kids are hilarious, and are unbelievably excited that I am in their school. One of the funniest things is after lunch, because all of the kids roam the halls while brushing their teeth. Every kid does this. And the teachers too, though they usually stay in the bathroom. After the first day, I would hear kids whispering my name up and down the halls and I have never waved or said hello to so many people in my life. Some of my classes have taken to erupting into applause every time I speak. I have been given random gifts from both teachers and students all week; spicy shrimp puffs, pieces of seafood, rice cake, sports towels, facial moisturizer.

On Wednesday, I was finally able to move to my new apartment. For the first time in 5 weeks I got to fully unpack and stop living out of my suitcases. I have lived in four different places since I got here. And, as of yesterday, I even have air conditioning and internet! Once I decorate it, I will take pictures! The first night I moved in, a typhoon hit Korea. It was very very loud, and has pretty much represented the weather since then. We are supposed to have another typhoon tomorrow. I’m actually pretty sure we had one yesterday as well. From what I can tell, this is very common.

The food in Korea continues to be quite interesting. Especially now that I eat in the cafeteria at lunch everyday, I have gotten to try many new things. And because Koreans are constantly concerned if I am not eating everything there is to eat, I have learned to like many things that I would definitely not eat at home. Mom -- Would you believe that I eat onions, peppers, cabbage (usually in the form of kimchi), and various forms of fish on a daily basis....and that I like them?? I even ate some sort of egg today and decided it was acceptable.

The Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok is coming up in September. The holiday is on the same scope as Christmas in the US. So from the 21-24, pretty much everything in Korea closes down so that people can go visit their families. This includes school! Since this is the only real break I get until January, I will be going to Beijing, China for 5 days! I have already gotten my visa and plane ticket and I am so excited. In less than a month I will be standing on the Great Wall and people will be seeing me from space. Awesome.

Yep. I think that is all for now.

That should have not all been in one post.