Figuring things out

Today was a pretty busy day. I was finally able to figure out some things that have been plaguing me ;-)

First on the list was trash. In America, it is pretty easy. You throw everything into the little bag you buy at Wal Mart, and throw it into the can and that is the end of the story. If you are feeling particularly industrious you can choose to recycle as well. In Korea you have to buy special bags based on where you live and this is how you pay for trash removal. Recycling is mandatory, and there are bins for large glass bottles and small glass bottles, large plastic bottles and small plastic bottles, newspaper, styrofoam, metal, normal paper and shiny paper. There is also a bin that is for compost/food waste and then a special area where you put the trash bags with anything that doesn't get recycled. As if this isn't confusing enough, all of these bins are in different parts of the apartment building. I spent some time wandering around while carrying my trash trying to figure it all out. But, I think that I got it!

I also did two loads of laundry today. I was able to loosely translate the buttons on my washing machine, and my clothes all stayed the appropriate color! The washing machine is so tiny that one pair of jeans and four or five t-shirts is a full load. I think that I'll be doing laundry much more frequently, especially since everything has to air dry. 

There is a Craigslist that operates in Seoul, and it is primarily used by the expat community. I found a girl who was selling a complete set of sheets (that's right, two pillowcases a top sheet and a bottom sheet) AND an electric blanket for 22,000 won. That is about $18. She lives about an hour away from me by subway, so I spent two hours riding around on the subway today. 

I also spent a lot of time writing a syllabus. Yesterday we had an orientation of sorts at KBU. At one point during the orientation, someone walked in and said "Who is going to volunteer to teach the IT English class?" None of us really wanted to, but that wasn't an option. Of the available teachers, I am the most tech savvy, so it was decided that I would teach this class. It is a MTW class, so I didn't have much time to prep. I think that the syllabus is done, but it is more vague than I would like. I'll definitely be working on this class a week at a time as the semester progresses.

For the other ESL classes, I actually found out that I don't really have to do any planning. One of the other interesting things we discovered at the orientation is that they are changing the way these classes are run. Previously, each teacher would plan their own curriculum and do whatever they wanted. Now, we have a part time coordinator and she is responsible for choosing the books and writing the syllabus and exams for all of the classes. Elli, our coordinator, didn't find out that she would be doing this until yesterday morning. So she is working on choosing books and planning everything over the weekend and we should get our books and curriculum just a few minutes before we start teaching. It will definitely be an interesting day ;-) 

I also spent some time making a movie tour of my apartment today, but my internet connection isn't strong enough to upload it. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do that at school tomorrow. 

I think that is just about all of the exciting things I have to report right now! I'm sure there will be more news on Monday. Lets hope I'm not so exhausted that I can't write ;-)